Devil Cultivator Chapter 2 Howl’s Feather

Howl remembers how he and the 3 other kids signed the 5 year long waver inside the building in front of the militia representative, before signing they were repeatedly reminded of the dangers and risks the job involved and that it was very likely that they were going to die if they joined the militia without even completing the 5 year sentence.

There was also no games or fun involved in being a militia men other then hard training everyday, bad food and lots of pain, the adults weren’t obviously going to immediately employ these green horns out in the field but instead they would first give them a 6 month long training period before they would send them out to a low level mission.

Howl at the time didn’t know what the low-level mission entailed, but since he wasn’t going to get send instantly into the field but trained before going, he threw away all of the remaining hesitation he had and signed without thinking or reading the waver.

His unhesitant demeanor impressed the representative at the time and made him take special notice of Howl in case they would see each other again, in all those years the militia representative had acquired a special eye for those who had potential and Howl was one of those with that said potential in them if only a little.

Howl had a goal after all and this goal was powerful enough to drive him forward without fear, to gain strength he knew he had to first understand how to get it in the first place and the training would most likely teach him exactly that.

The other 3 on the hand weren’t as determined as Howl, suffice to say they were incredibly nervous at first which only got worse when the militia representative started to warn them about the dangers, since Howl was the first to sign the waver in such a brisk and undaunted manner they couldn’t help but stare at him in half-amazement half-surprise.

None of them exactly knew each other too, even though they did live in the same orphanage for all their lives, they merely recognized each other but they never got to know one another since they each individually inhabited their circle of friends which they never left.

The other 3 wanted to talk to Howl and ask him how he was so fearless in regards to joining the militia and whether or not he had something that made him feel confident, but since they didn’t know him very well and because they stood in front of the militia representative who was still waiting for the reply of the other 3, they couldn’t do anything until they made a decision.

In end it was the girl who was the next to decide, she signed the waver just like howl but before signing it she read it very closely while occasionally asking questions regarding terms she didn’t completely understand, the militia representative already used to his job patiently explained each and every question she had in regards to the waver, everybody listened in too to get a better understand as well, Howl who didn’t even read the waver and merely signed it especially kept his ears open since there were a few things that still interested him and it couldn’t hurt to know more.

After finally seeming to understand the entire waver the girl very slowly signed the waver with much concentration, her hand writing was very exquisite and obviously very well practiced comparison to Howls which looked more like a scribble then a signature.

After finishing her signature she quickly walked towards Howl ignoring the other two before introducing herself to him.

-Hi, my name is Ashley whats yours ?

-Me ? I am Howl.

Howl was a bit surprised by her sudden introduction like that but he responded quickly and told her name taking her hand in a handshake, touching her hand which felt rough rather then soft, Howl realized that it was the first time he had ever touched a girl before, he usually together with his friends never interacted with other girls since they wouldn’t have similar interests as the boys which is why he never cared all too much.

But now that Howl was officially a adult he was starting to get to the age where he would mind those sorts of things, he wasn’t exactly nervous or excited, but felt rather novel about the idea of interacting with a girl.

Ashley herself wasn’t really pretty but just average, nevertheless Howl wouldn’t know since he didn’t exactly care about those sorts of things and in his opinion she had her own charms.

Ashley was a caucasion, she had black hair that was tied in a ponytail, small but smart brown eyes and a non-distinctive but sharp nose with rosy but pale lips, her skin was more pale in comparison to the other children who frequently went outside bathing in the sun, she was also skinny, lacking curves in all the places that made her a woman which made it not immediately obvious she was a girl, her height was almost similar to Howls who was 140 cms tall.

In comparison Howl was the exact definition of farm boy, coming from a oriental descend he had short brown hair coupled with similar brown eyes and a astute nose, his skin was more then tanned from all the farm work he did outside the orphanage under the sun, he had a tough robust body on him with a very lean shape that edged to the muscular side and his hands were extremely rough full of calluses.

Ashley noticed the calluses on Howls hands and immediately realized that he must be one of the orphans who manages the farm work outside the orphanage, she made her assumptions from there before retracting her hand and engaging in small talk with him to figure out what kind of person he was.

While this was happening the other 2 boys also finally decided what they would do, having already heard the conditions of the waver from Ashley they signed the waver at the same time even if a bit fearfully.

Having done the deed the 2 boys quickly joined both Howl and Ashley, introducing themselves, Howl and Ashley quickly came to know that the boys were called George and Fang, George was caucasion like Ashley while Fang was similar to Howl, oriental.

George used to do the chores around the orphanage while Fang was responsible for cooking.

And talking with Ashley, Howl came to know that she was the one who was responsible to teach the younger kids on how to write, read and do math explaining why her hand writing was so refined.

Now that everybody had signed the waver, the militia representative didn’t waste anymore time and simply announced to them the following things.

-We will leave in exactly 1 hours, a militia man will wait hair whenever you are ready, but after 1 hour you will be taken and send to the garrison for accommodation, until then I want you to take whatever it is you have with you, it cannot be anything the size of this sack so be selective of what you are going to bring since everything else is going to be abandoned.

And with that he distributed a small hem sack to the 4 for them to decide what they would bring with them.

This seemed to be pretty hard for the other 3 but for Howl who didn’t have a lot of things other then a couple of spare clothes and your basic everyday items the sack was perfect to fit everything he needed.

The rest of the children who choose to be protected by the town for the next 20 years also held the same sack as them heading towards the orphanage to take whatever they had for their new life.

None of the children saw the younglings from the beginning when they came with carriage, the caretakers had probably relocated them temporarily so that the children who had passed the Blood Baptism wouldn’t meet them which Howl and the others were familiar with since they also experienced the same thing every few years.

Now that everything had calmed down a bit and everyone had time to think without the supervision of the adults, it was unavoidable that grumbling was starting to happen accompanied with occasional curses.

-They never told us ! WHO WOULD HAVE KNOW THIS IS WHAT THE BLOOD BAPTISM IS !

-To think we were all excited about this day to come, I feel like a fool to think that being a adult was going to be something awesome..I wish I never became a adult..

-Yeah, and now we even have to do what the Town tells us for the next 20 years, who knows what they will make us do and by the time we’re done almost all of our time would be gone too…(sigh) there goes my plan of becoming a merchant.

-Hey don’t be like that at least you are still alive ! Think about the others who didn’t make it, especially Egil who was killed by that shitty adult…fuck ! I swear one day I am going to take revenge and kill that guy !

-Says the person who didn’t do anything even when his friend was being abandoned and killed.

-Wha !? What did you just say !

A heated almost violent discussion surrounded Howl as he packed his things into his sack, he completely ignored what everyone was saying and simply did what he came to do, but just as he finished packing his things I noticed from the corner his eye a empty and orderly bed next to his own bed.

For a moment he could see the shadow of a person flash before his eyes sitting on that bed laughing and smiling at him, but at the very next second he blinked and it disappeared.

Sadness started to envelope him the moment he realized, the bed he was looking at belonged to one of his close friends called Biro. Howl remembers that when they were brought to the area where the Blood Baptism would take place, Biro and him were chatting non-stop, talking about all the things they were going to do the moment they became adults and free to do whatever it is they wanted to pursue.

Howl himself before the Blood Baptism wanted to become a farmer and open his own farm with his own land since he was familiar with the procedures that went with farming from all the farm work he did in the orphanage.

Biro on the other hand wanted to be a painter, Biro loved drawing more anything else, his skills were so good that even Howl who had close to no artistic sense found his drawings to be enchant almost life like, and it wasn’t only him, everyone else thought so too be it the children or the caretakers.

Howl was 100% sure that after Biro becomes a adult he would become incredibly successful with his drawings and maybe even famous.

But now…that success and fame Biro chased all this while through his paintings had stopped, it was end of the line, the moment the Blood Baptism began when they entered the forest and encountered the Demons who ambushed them, Howl lost his sight of Biro in the sudden confusion.

It is only now that he remembered him and thinking about it Howl started to doubt whether or not he and Biro were truly close friends at all with the way he forgot about him so quickly.

Who knows maybe he had already died or he was still alive out there in the forest slowly dying from his heavy injuries, in either case Howl could do nothing about it, no amount of feeling sad and pained would get him to Biro, his weakness was to blame for not being able to protect the person who he thought as a friend.

And this enraged him even more, Howl felt pathetic because of his own uselessness, he swore that he would not do the same mistake again, but at the same time he started to think that maybe having friends is weakness in on itself, maybe being alone would further his path to strength ?

Howl approached the nightstand next to Biro’s bed, each bed had the exact same nightstand where the children could store things inside, the nightstand was locked with a combination code only the person that it belonged to knew, both Biro and Howl knew each others combination code since they were close friends.

Howl crouched down and opened the nightstand hearing the familiar clicking sound as he inserted the right code, the moment he opened the nightstand he saw all of the writing and drawing utensils Biro had gather from all of these years, sketches were drawn on plates of wooden bark Biro would use instead of paper which was expensive and not something a child their age could get in the first place, the drawings range from animals to people and then to everyday house hold objects, the quality of the drawings were superb, drawn with only a piece of coal.

Howl looked at every picture very carefully while smiling sadly before finally putting them back where they belonged.

When he was finished he was about to close the nightstand, but as he was about to do so he noticed a distinct black and white striped feather placed on the very bottom within a large space that only held that feather and nothing else.

Howls eyes lighted up the moment he saw that feather, he remembered that it was him who had given Biro this feather on his 9 birthday, at the time Biro talked to Howl and told him about all the kinds of quills and inks that existed, which was better for what or how each could be made, Biro himself got that knowledge from a specific book about writing that one of the caretakers was kind enough to bring to Biro to study.

Howl wasn’t interested about any of that but since Biro was his friend he listened intently just to be kind, as it turned out him listening to Biro came in very helpful when Biro’s birthday was starting to get along, in this world birthdays are only celebrated at the age of 9, 1 year before the Blood Baptism which would be the day a person would official become a adult.

Howl remembered the things Biro had told him and knew exactly what kind of gift to give him on his 9th birthday, which was the feather of a Striped Winter Owl, using the feather Biro could make a decent quill for himself and since Howl had seen some Striped Winter Owls near the forest, he took the next opportunity when they were supposed to go out gather firewood to also find a owl and maybe a feather.

It took him quite a bit but ultimately Howl managed to do it somehow by chasing the owl and throwing rocks at it to disturb it and force it drop its feathers through the chaos.

Biro was incredible elated when Howl gave him the feather, he said that once he gathered enough money he would immediately hire somebody to reinforce and make a proper quill out of the feather.

Which was now impossible since he was not here anymore.

-Biro, I am sorry for being weak, I am sorry that I wasn’t a good friend to you, no matter where you are I hope you are at peace right now.

Closing the nightstand Howl took his sack and silently headed towards where militia man was waiting for him and the others, everybody made way for Howl when he came close, since the very beginning nobody talked to Howl or even attempted to, the kids that knew him also didn’t talk to him for one reason or another as they all felt like Howl had changed somewhat, he became different, previously he used to have a gentle atmosphere about him that was easy to approach but now he exuded a oppressive aura that surrounded him and was shaped like thorns.

People who recognized him also noted that he had changed his look, now wearing a gray bandana over his forehead there was a black and white striped feather on his head which was gently swaying with his step.