Brand looked at the three young warriors in front of him. They were looking at him with a respectful expression now, compared to the scornful ones earlier.
Strength speaks in this tribe. The strong respect the strong.
Brand checked on the warrior's injuries. There were no significant injuries inflicted throughout the fight. Even Edd only received a strong blow to his stomach. That's all.
"I have gained." Brand bowed with respect. The trio fought well, even though one of them went mad in the end. He would later attempt to replicate the skills employed by the trios.
He began to imagine coating himself with energy on top of the Scarab Shell. That would be cool and aesthetically pleasing.
Next, the trio started to settle things among themselves. Eddy knocked Edd's head after he learnt what Edd did.
"What would happen if your slash went stray and hit the crowd?" Eddy was lecturing Edd for his rash behaviour.
This was a rule set in the street. Weapons were banned if the duel took place within close proximity to civilians.
"You should always keep this in mind, isn't it?" Eddy questioned Edd. "You were even the one who always lectured the rules to Ed and the other younger ones."
'Really?'
Brand took a closer look at Edd. He found that Edd had a pair of dark eye circles, which were abnormal, and he appeared lethargic..
"Hmm…" Brand whispered in a low voice. "We would go walk around during the night, Sera."
He decided to look around at night, also to get to know the tribe better.
"Karl," Elder Camila called out to her attendant, and one of them stepped forward.
In an instant, Brand could feel the atmosphere shift. The trio that had been noisy just a moment ago fell silent and looked at Karl.
The crowds were looking at him with admiration. The reactions were completely different from when the trio came out.
Brand knew it instantly. The villagers love Karl, and the trio feared him.
Karl stood straight, his hands behind his back, displaying a confident body posture. He wore a necklace made of wolf fangs and strapped a dagger to his waist.
"He seemed to like wolves a lot." Seraphine pointed at all the wolf-themed clothes on Karl.
"Karl Rok." The young man with a wolf tattoo spoke after approaching him.
"Brand Essen." Brand introduce himself.
He was getting a bit uncomfortable as Karl leaned his head very close to his. Their forehead were almost touching. Was he trying to size him up?
Karl then stepped back and spoke. "Your head mattress and pelt were excellent."
"…"
Brand was taken aback, although he himself also found his wolf mattress to be nice-looking.
"Thanks…" He muttered. "Yours were great as well."
***
"See that big hut over there?" Karl pointed to the giant hut with vast courtyards, with targets, scarecrows lining up in a row.
"That was the training facilities of young warriors." He proudly claimed.
They had been walking around for a while, with Karl leading both Lena and Brand. It was not like he had a lot of free time, but Elder Camila asked him to do it personally.
Karl would rather spend time on training than otherwise. Nevertheless, he accepted the request because he was curious about this young man, Brand Essen.
Strength aside, this young man has a great sense of aesthetics. The skinning of the wolf pelt didn't look like it was done by the craftsman in the tribe. He might be the one who skinned the wolves and sewed them together, albeit the lineworks were rough.
There were bloodstains that smelled like the wolves had just been slain recently. This made the whole thing more impressive to him, to craft this head mattress and pelt, out in the open desert. This was a madman.
He had heard rumour that those who they perceived as missing and dead had returned to the village. Conveniently, the guy informed them that he had amnesia. This screamed suspicion in his eyes.
But Karl was not worried at all. He was strong, and he was confident that with the strength Brand displayed earlier, he would win. The problem was that Brand did not show the full extent of his strength. Throughout the fight, Brand seemed to focus on neutralising the Ed brothers instead of fighting actively.
He wanted to see his strength, so he led them to the training facilities first. The inn can come after that.
***
"Do I want to test out the training facilities?" Brand repeated the question Karl asked.
It did seem interesting, but he wanted to look around more. Besides, Lena kept glancing at him to urge him to decline the offer. She wanted to quickly settle down, because she was bringing the three thousand Shelis along with her!
"I thought Elder Camila asked you to bring us to the inn first?" Brand asked Karl hesitantly. He could feel Lena's aura spreading from behind. Did Karl not feel it?
"Sister Farah, it wouldn't be long. I promised." Karl told Lena, and he smiled at Brand. "We're exchanging greetings here."
"Your favourite weapon?" Karl asked and pointed to the weapon racks. "Those were made of wood, which were designed to break after dealing a certain amount of damage. "
"The first to break their weapons wins." Karl declared his fighting intent to Brand. "How about it?"
Brand pondered for a while, as the guy in front seemed fixated on fighting him. Lena, who was impatient not long ago, started to arrange a seat for herself. She was actually excited to see another fight again and check her surroundings to see if there were people to witness the battle.
"She wanted to bet again, huh?" Seraphine flew to Lena and examined her Shelis.
Before Brand replied, Karl had already picked his weapon and was waiting for Brand to be ready. He even readied his fighting stance and gave a smug look to provoke him. Was he worried that Brand would reject the duel?
"That's perfect timing to test things out." Brand grinned and picked up a sword as his weapon.