Leaving the smithy in silence, I held my newly acquired weapon onto my embrace. I smiled at its effectiveness and was very happy. Although the process of getting out of the place was hard, Master and I took over an hour staying in that place, everything was mainly my fault though.
No, Old Man Roel was at fault. He kept insisting that I change Geoffrey's name and I also insisted on using that name. In the end, we argued for over half an hour until finally my Master intervened and just gave it a name, himself.
At first, me and Old Man Roel refused his naming because we both agreed on the fact that this guy might name it ridiculously. Like his swordsmanship, in which is apparently...The one that he planned to teach me. Seriously, how bored or lazy is this guy to come up with a name for a swordsmanship like that?
Anyways, as my Master intervened, to our surprise, he somehow gave a decent sounding name which made me and Old Man Roel agree on using that instead. He named my sword [ Flesh Eater ]. I liked the sound of that, so Old Man Roel finally let us go after giving the scabbard and let me have the sword for free.
Strolling around the Town with my master standing beside me, I spotted a crowd gather in the plaza. of course, being curious as I was, my Master and me headed towards the crowd and checked what was the fuss all about.
They were all reading something on a bulletin board. Yawning, my Master lost interest and said that he will be off somewhere. Separating from me, he tossed some pouch full of money towards me and disappeared, somehow when he gave me that pouch of money...I felt strange, as if it was one of his pranks where he suddenly put laxatives on my food. But the trap might not go off if I just don't open this. So I decided to store it in my pocket for now. This bastard thinks he can fool me? I will have you open this one yourself when we meet up again.
"I will go meet some friend, You go treat yourself somewhere. Consider that as my congratulatory gift. By 5pm, be sure to head back to the Front Gate"
He said before disappearing somewhere with a cryptic look on his face. Meeting a friend? How surprising...he actually has a friend? Thought this guy was just an old virgin hermit.
Anyways, shaking the thoughts about my master, I decided to think about myself today and scooted inside the sea of crowds and tried to satiate my curiousity by also reading the notes in the bulletin.
[ Now that the Midterms season is nearing and The First Semester is nearing its epilogue, The Academy is holding a Tournament for talented applicants who aspired to become a great warrior someday! The Application Day will be held at the same day as the midterms of The First Years. Be sure to pass with flying colors! ]
[ BREAKING NEWS: 44 teenagers who had just awakened their Blessing have gone missing... ]
[ The Marquis of Illburg is finally returning from the Garvia Continent, this time they brought revolutionary tools with them! Called the Photographs! ]
[ HOT TAKE: Lucas Garvel, The Chosen One had successfully learned the Third Technique of The Valiere Family Swordsmanship which was infamous for its difficulty! The Sword Saint had high expectations of his beloved Disciple! ]
Reading through the series of news posted on the bulletin, I struggled to find the news that the crowd was making a fuss for, so I decided to eavesdrop on their conversations instead.
"Are you going to have your son apply for the tournament? Maybe you will also have a chance like Baron Garvel!"
"Yeah, Baron Garvel is like the Hope for us Commoners....he showed us a way to rise from our situations!"
As I listened unto their conversations, I lost interest. It turns out that it was just some talks about The Academy tournament, I thought it was something interesting. Though the news about Lucas was indeed interesting.
'That guy really made it...'
With a smile, I thought about the things that happened in the Academy. I finally remembered the things that we went through as that guy pestered me to a spar so many times only to get beaten up by me really badly. And now, he is learning some high level techniques? The Valiere family at that. He really struck it big.
I started to grow envious towards Lucas as I thought about The Valiere Family Swordsmanship and remembered the words of Old Man Roel.
'Did the woman from Old Man Roel's story used that swordsmanship too? If so, I am envious'
I chuckled inwardly and just shrugged my envy off. I was envious yes, but it did not shake my beliefs on treading this new path that I just found.
Shaking my head out of those thoughts, I looked around on the bulletin more for gossips and soon spotted the most eyecatching one. It was a sketch of me.
'Huh, seems like I still have that wanted poster huh'
I looked around, nervous if people noticed that I looked the same as the one in the sketch. I did not wear a mask right now because of my master's words that people do not recognize me, but I just can't help but be cautious.
Pulling the hood over my head, I grabbed the sketch out of the bulletin board without anyone's knowledge and then slipped out of the crowd and sat on a bench near the fountain.
Staring at the sketch of a man with a slick back hairstyle, I must say that he looked really good and by the sketch alone, his appearance screamed with dignity. But...
Walking over to the fountain, I stared at my own reflection onto the waters and compared my current appearance to the one in the sketch, and boy I was delighted and sad.
I was delighted because I looked really different than the one in the sketch, and sad because I did not look dignified as before. I wondered, where has this man go? My current appearance now looked like a ragtag drifter as soot and dirt covered my face. It did not looked as flawless as before.
I really looked different.
While I was chuckling to myself and quietly storing the sketch away, at a distance....I saw a green haired man of my age emerging out of a dark alley, he met my eyes before he was dragged inside again.
I was surprised and looked around me if someone else had seen it, but it seems like there isn't.
With a frown, I decided to investigate this thing myself as I infused Ki on my legs and rushed towards the direction where they disappeared.
The moment I arrived there, I saw the same green haired man facing against three hooded figures. The Green haired man held daggers on both of his hand, by the sound of his breathing and the bruises on his face, I could tell that he had been fighting these guys for a long time already.
Staring at the three hooded guys, I unsheathe [ Flesh Eater ] from its scabbard and decided to help the green haired guy.
"W-who are you?"
Surprised at my sudden appearance, The Green haired guy uttered as he kept his guard up around me.
I just casted a glance at him and kept quiet before infusing Ki unto my arm and legs. While the golden hue of energy finally wrapped itself around me, I stared at the hooded figures and scanned their levels.
They are all at Elite Red Stage. How weak.
Throwing one last glance at the beaten up green haired guy, I hummed to myself before rushing forward to destroy the three assailants.
The first assailant rushed towards me with its blade on hand and tried to slash me, but I was faster....I was able to easily dodge the slash by shifting to the side and then delivered a liver blow to the first attacker. Then right after the first attacker was done in one blow, the second attacker came up and in a swift movement...it tried to throw a flying kick, but it just missed when I ducked down, rushed forward and delivered a kick on that assailant's spine, making it tumble away.
These guys are weaker than I thought, or am I just stronger?
I shook my head out of those thoughts and did not let my guard down when I saw the third attacker throw a dagger right to my direction. I could easily block it with that speed using [ Flesh Eater ], but I was tackled by the green haired guy.
"Dodge!"
He shouted as he pushed me out of harm's way and we landed on a pile of broken crates. What is this guy doing?
Just when I was about to complain about this guy's behavior, I saw the three assailants running away. With the first one being carried because he fainted. Seeing them run, The green haired guy then looked at me with an innocent expression.
"Are you okay? Thankfully you weren't hurt!"
The green haired guy uttered with a sigh of relief, as I heard the knights coming to our direction.