21 - 26
Chapter 21
A Fleeting Moonlit Dream (7)
With the candlelight put out, the silvery moonlight creeped onto the surface of the dusty table.
Sitting by the table quietly under its illumination, Lorist thought that the moon was really bright tonight.
Sounds of a horse cart could be heard approaching from a distance. Quickly, the sound stopped nearby and a high-pitched neigh of the horse followed by the sound of an opening door rang out. Lorist listened to the familiar sound of a set of footsteps thumping up the building at stopping outside the door.
The door slammed open and candlelight filled the room, dispelling the subtle, mystical illusion of peace created by the moonlight.
Miss Windsor stood by the door wearing a sleeveless white dress. This must be one of the dresses I've designed, but with a little more golden thread embroidery than I had drawn. The pure white dress somehow looked seductive and tempting when she wore it. Probably due to her rushing back from a party somewhere, she appeared to be breathing heavily.
Both of them understood that if they missed each other today, they would probably never be able to meet again.
With a calm voice, Lorist said, "Could you blow the candle out? I think I prefer the soft glow of the silver moon tonight."
Blowing the candle out and placing it in a corner, the young mistress of the Windsor house silently walked into the moon's gentle embrace and stopped still in her tracks, silent like a quiet moonlit night.
Neither of them made a sound. Lorist felt a thousand emotions as he looked at the girl before him who used to be the most important person in the world to him that had left him for another man. When he initially heard about the affair, he rushed to her side with a frantic heart. But now, while it still pained him to remember their past, he no longer felt any desire to be with her.
"Should I address you as Lady Marchioness?", said Lorist, disrupting the silence in the room.
"You already know?" said the girl as she raised her head.
���When I was at the Relic Islands three months ago, I met a group of mercenaries from the Jigda Kingdom who said that the marquis of the Lorf house was going to host a banquet by the end of the year at the capital to celebrate the marriage between him and his second wife. They were on the islands on behalf of the Lorfs to obtain some precious materials for the banquet. During their free time, when they were guessing the identity of the second wife, I already knew it was you."
Breaking into a light smile, Lorist said, "You did pretty well to keep the news hidden. I believe that no one else in the city knows that you've accepted the marquis's proposal three months ago, including even your handmaidens. Lina even told me to not break up with you just now, hehe…"
"I don't have a choice, Locke. I know you hate me for leaving you for power. It's what I had to do for my family," said the girl as she sat down on the floor, tears flowing down her face. "Ever since you left, he used his family's influence to force the other four lords to return the dominion to the Windsor house. But the dominion was still under relentless attack from the lords and greatly wounding Knight Hurd in the process as well as throwing Knight Somm into disarray. They sent their forces masquerading as bandits and burnt our farmlands as well as sold the people they captured to the slave traders. There's no way the dominion can flourish with all this going on.
"It was at this time when he offered me a suggestion. If I were to agree to marry him, he will mobilize the family troops to help the Windsor house out on behalf of familial ties. I have agreed to his proposal and the moment we complete the ceremony back in the Jigda capital, the Lorf family will declare war against the other four dominion lords. At that time, his armies would surround the dominions of the other four lords and wipe out the four family's influence, giving the Windsor dominion time to recuperate and rebuild."
The girl continued to chatter rapidly, seemingly in a hurry to finish what she had to say, "Only Suzy knew about my agreement to marry him, everyone else, even Lina, was kept in the dark so that the four dominion lords won't know about the marriage alliance that is to be formed. He told me that it would only succeed if the marriage came as a surprise, and that once the marriage is announced, the Jigda nobles wouldn't have time to react to the sudden attack. Once the four dominion lords have been defeated, we will get the official sanction from the royal family to rule over the dominions so that no other nobles can have a say in it. With the Lorf family as a backer, tragedies like the one that happened to my father would no longer occur to the Windsor house."
Lorist struggled to hide his amazement at the delicate planning a setting up of the whole plan. His initial plan was to use the rebels to slowly bleed out the forces of the other four dominion lords and eventually overwhelm them with the full force of the resistance army when the time was right and send a representative from the Windsor house to hold peace negotiations with the other lords. After that, the Windsor house only had to maintain an elite military force to defend themselves from other invasions or attacks as their dominion spent time redeveloping.
But an intervention from the marquis had disrupted the whole operation and forced the four dominion lords to return the ruling rights to the Windsors and effectively got them to owe the Lorf house a favor. Following that, the Windsor house would then add the rebel soldiers to their military ranks to bolster the dominion's defense. The four other families of the previous dominion lords would naturally be pissed at the affair and the damage done to their forces and would naturally cause as much trouble as they can to mess things up.
The situation at the dominion suddenly underwent a huge change: the resistance army had become the official dominion's garrison force while the forces of the previous lords had become the rebel forces. Unable to cope to the sudden change, the Windsor family could only endure the situation. Suddenly, the marquis of the Lorf family would then descend like a messiah and propose a marriage alliance to the Windsor mistress and promise to mobilize their armies to defeat the enemies of the Windsor house and wipe the four families out, following which they will return the lordless dominions to the royal family and divide the remaining land between the Lorf and Windsor houses, gaining the Lorf house both a righteous name as well as making a loyal ally out of the Windsor family.
Was he going to kill five or even six birds with one stone? Lorist only let out a long sigh in his heart. As an outsider, he felt that the Lorf family may have been plotting this ever since the WIndsor house started the operations of the resistance. They had unnoticingly went with the flow and slipped themselves into the heat of the action and effectively took over the entire operation. It was clearly apparent that the Lorf family had the most to gain out of the whole affair. There was much more to the character of the marquis of the Lorf family than meets the eye.
Seeing the girl who earnestly thought that the intervention of the Lorf family was beneficial to the Windsors, Lorist suddenly felt disillusioned. Was this truly the girl that he had loved so much in the past? Was this the angel he held so dearly deep in his heart? Vain and clueless, she was still unaware that she had been used as a pawn in someone else's plan. Poor young mistress, what are you good for other than your beauty?
Don't act like you're sacrificing your own happiness to enter this marriage alliance with the Lorf family. Isn't this what you wanted in the first place? As the marchioness, you will be hanging around the likes of the royal family day in and out and stand high above so many others in a position worthy of much admiration and envy. Wasn't this the life you had always desired? Oh naive little young mistress… this would not solidify your family's power at all, nor will the parties you attend glorify your family's reputation either. Fully relying on the Lorf family is akin to being unknowingly used by someone else and finding nothing wrong with it. There is no better ally than yourself. When will you understand that simple fact, young mistress?
Sigh, this has nothing to do with me anyway, thought Lorist as he shook his head lazily. He suddenly thought that the whole thing about breaking up with her was rather laughable. Now that he had finally let go, he felt much relief and catharsis, as if he had managed to set aside a great burden.
"What's wrong, Locke?" asked the girl curiously after seeing Lorist shake his head.
"It's nothing, I'm just feeling a little nauseous after a spending a month or two on sea. I'm still not too used to being on land yet," said Lorist, excusing himself. "Oh, is that man good to you?"
"Yes, he is," said the girl, nodding. "I feel like I'm being lovingly caressed by him in his warm embrace the whole time. He settles everything perfectly for me, unlike you, who always want me to figure out every little thing by myself. Seriously speaking, Locke, being with you is really tiring. I'm always doing so much work while you look like you have so much time on your hands. You always solve any problem that's thrown to you like it's no big deal. I was so envious of you for that."
"Hehe, that's because you're just silly," joked Lorist as he let out a soft laughter. "I'm really curious why his wife supports his proposal to you."
"Oh, you're talking about sister Fina? Having had a miscarriage from horse-riding sometime in the past, she can no longer bear any children. And she doesn't like to attend parties to entertain the other nobles. That's why she hopes that I can attend the parties in her stead and one day bear the descendants of the Lorf family," said the girl with a blushing face.
Ah, I see. The first wife is planning to use you as a tool for child-making and entertaining guests. After delivering your first child, I bet she will offer to help you raise the child since you're so busy entertaining the other nobles at parties and you will even thank her for it until one day when your children don't even want to acknowledge you as their mother, thought Lorist cynically.
"Why have you stopped the businesses in Morante City and sold off the boutique and your mansion?" asked Lorist.
"The devastation done to the dominion is too great and according to Knight Somm, there isn't one building there that isn't damaged in some way. To rebuild the economy of the dominion would cost mountains of gold, approximately 10000 gold coins. Additionally, I will need to prepare some kind of dowry for the marriage so I am currently rather short on cash. That's why that man encouraged me to sell all of it and begin my boutique anew in the capital. He said that the capital was his turf and that he would take care of everything for me," she said with a satisfied expression.
Lorist almost couldn't resist applauding in admiration at the marquis's plan. Not only is he going to return to the kingdom with a beauty in his arms, he has also acquired the gold-laying hen that she had for himself. Once the business gets set up in the capital, the young lady would effectively be demoted from being the business owner to the position of a highly-paid worker, after which all the profits of the boutique would go straight into the marquis's pockets. Lorist only hoped that the marquis wouldn't eat everything up and at least leave something for the young mistress.
"So, why have you come today? Surely not to meet me for one last time? I'm going to move my stuff away tomorrow since you're already going to sell the place. There's nothing else here anymore but our memories together." Lorist realized that he was being too spiteful to the girl. Even if he told her what he thought, she probably wouldn't listen anyway and think that he was just being jealous and trying to cause discord between her and the marquis. Forget it, people have their own fates. My encounter with her was merely like two shooting stars passing by each other, leaving behind nothing but a distinct trail of memories together.
"So what if I wanted to meet you one last time? I have been in love with you for over four years after all. While you have made me disappointed, I will never forget you. You're always like this, unwavering and merciless once you've made your decision. Don't you still feel anything for me? Aren't you going to say anything to stop me from leaving? Ever since the breakup, it's like you lost all interest in me all of a sudden. I know you hate me and cannot forgive me because this was all my own doing. But I still wanted to see you just in case we would never meet again…" said the girl as she raised her voice, angered at what Lorist had just said.
If there's anything she's good at, it's her unrelenting, open expression of how she felt.
"Sigh…" Standing up, Lorist continued, "Wouldn't it have been better to only remember our good times? There really isn't a point to meet up just to end up arguing…"
"There is. I want to see you, to hug you and to kiss you before I leave. I know I have wronged you and I appreciate all you have done for my family without asking for much in return. I know giving you money would just be an insult to you, so I got you a few Battle Force manuals instead. I hope they will be able to help you break through," said the girl as she opened the table's drawer and took out five high-ranked Battle Force manuals. She then turned back and hugged Lorist, burying her head in his chest.
"Can you hug and kiss me one last time?" asked the girl with her eyes closed.
Lorist only smiled bitterly. That girl didn't know that those manuals wouldn't be of help to him at all. Money would be much more useful for him in this case.
"Don't forget that you���re the wife of the marquis now," Lorist reminded her.
"The marriage is not officiated yet, so I'm still a free person," she replied.
Seriously? What's wrong with her…
"No way, I don't want to make a habit out of kissing other people's lovers," said Lorist firmly.
"Locke, come on… Let me spend the night with you, okay? For old times' sake…" said the girl as she tugged tightly on Lorist's waist, refusing to let go…
"Do you think that Marquis who's standing right outside the building can wait all night? I wouldn't mind leaving one last memory with you tonight, but he seems to be rather impatient," said Lorist as he looked at the horse cart parked at the entrance of the building and the Lord Marquis was circling the horse cart as he looked towards the third floor window from time to time instead of coming into the reception hall to wait for Wenna.
"Pffft!" the girl instantly broke into laughter and swiftly stole a kiss from Lorist's lips. Loosening her arms around him, she said, "Alright, we've met, hugged and even kissed. I'm already satisfied. Farewell, Locke."
Her rapid footsteps rang out as she went down the stairs, and shortly after that, the sound of the horse cart leaving slowly faded away.
Sitting back on the chair, Lorist waited for a good while before saying, "Els, how much longer do you plan on hiding there?"
Locke and Els (1)
The curtains in the corner parted as a tall and slender silhouette slipped soundlessly out from the gap between the window and the bookshelf.
"Tsktsktsk, even the seduction of the alluring marchioness couldn't budge you. You definitely have a resolve of steel. It's not like there's a rule that says that you can't keep fooling around in bed even after a breakup… You're such a disappointment, and I thought I would get to enjoy a nice show later tonight… Sigh…"
The silhouette shook his head as if he thought that Lorist just lost a once in a lifetime chance, walked a few steps forward before stopping and slapping his forehead as he said, "Wait, you couldn't have known that I was there. Were you just bluffing? Maybe you wouldn't have discovered me if I had stayed put…"
"Hehe," laughed Lorist lightly. Before, Lorist indeed wouldn't have noticed his presence. But ever since he broke into the Dark stage, his senses have become so sharpened that he could easily detect the presence of any living being that was even as small as a rat, not to say much about a human, within a radius of one or two meters. The shadow who had stood still and quieted his breaths was totally unaware that his beating heart and the circulation of his blood was like a bright light shining in the dark night that easily caught Lorist's attention.
"I noticed you slipping inside the moment the young mistress put the candle away and sat down on the floor. You later sneaked around in the shadows before hiding behind the curtains. Was I right, Els?" Lorist described each and every action the shadow took when he slipped into the room.
"Huh? That can't be… Weren't you looking at your little lover just now? I even tried to avoid your line of sight," said the shadow as he went towards the table and looked at the five high-ranked Battle Force manuals that were placed there, and continued, "Not bad, these Battle Force manuals are pretty rare on the market and it doesn't look like they were copied recently too.The beast skin parchment used in the book looks at least a hundred years old. That ex-lover of yours really tried hard for your sake… She must have spent as much as three to four thousand gold to purchase these original copies from certain noble families."
That shadow in the room was Lorist's good friend, Brennan Evanport, or as most of his friends called him, Els. He was the nephew of the owner of the Red Grace Inn, Brennan Charlando. Having the prowess of a Two Star Silver combatant, he was also a syndicate boss who managed the affairs of the three districts around the area.
The circumstances in which Lorist got to know Els was rather comical. At that time, when Lorist was only 19, he frequently accepted missions from the mercenary guild to earn some extra cash. On one of the gathering missions he took with Charade, the two of them were fortunate enough to encounter a Black-horned Antelope, which was a low-ranked magical beast living in the mountains whose fur and horn fetched a rather high price. They spent several days of effort on tracking and hunting down that beast and brought their catch back to a nearby city with much haste.
Needing to take care of something back at the academy, Charade had Lorist go back to the house they rented to start tidying it up and wait for his return before they sell the catch away. The house they rented wasn't really large and they only used it to store the tools that they might need so that they don't have to go back to the academy that often and rest up whenever they needed to.
Lorist entered the house, threw the stuff in a corner and went straight into the washroom for a bath without remembering to lock up the entrance of the house. Having spent days out in the wilderness, he couldn't resist jumping into the water right away. As he was washing away happily, he heard the door open and close. Thinking that it was Charade, he called out to him a few times but nobody answered. Feeling suspicious, he went out to take a look.
The moment he emerged from the bathroom, he saw a young brunette woman who was breathing ragged breaths. Upon seeing Lorist, the woman almost let out a large scream before she had her mouth muffled up by Lorist as she stared at Lorist's privates.
Embarrassed and awkward, Lorist moved a few chairs in front of him to shield his bottom and put on his clothes swiftly. Before he even finished buttoning up, the woman crawled over to Lorist, hugged both of his legs and begged in a low voice, "Mister, please help me out… Save me, please?"
Having just come out of the bath and wearing nothing but a pair of undergarments covering his groin, given that the woman's face was so close to his wang, it would only take the slightest rub to trigger the male physiological reaction as Lorist was at the prime of his youth. Understanding his predicament, he hastily tried to get the woman to stand up and asked her what was going on.
The woman refused to stand up and continued to sob as she told Lorist what had happened, all while having her arms wrapped around Lorist's legs. According to her, right after she got married to her husband, she caught the attention of a syndicate boss who lusted after her body. She said the boss set her husband up so that he would incur a huge gambling debt which could only be paid off by selling him to the slavers and sending her to work at the brothel. Having no other place to hide, she came into a random house out of desperation to evade her pursuers.
That young woman, clearly noticing the change that was happening at Lorist's lower body, said that she would do anything for Lorist if he would help her out and even licked her tongue flirtatiously.
It was at this moment when someone knocked on the door outside. Lorist helped the woman up, guided her to somewhere she could hide, and assured her that nobody would be able to take her away with him protecting her. Then, he took his sword out and went outside.
This was Lorist's first meeting with Els. Baring his upper body and showing his lean, slender stature, Els had a shirt slung over one shoulder and a chicken drumstick in his hand. He stood there biting away as a distinct smell of alcohol emanated from his mouth; it was as if he had rushed out on short notice as he was feasting away. By his side were a few dejected men who were being scolded harshly by him.
Seeing Lorist come out, Els straight up demanded for Lorist to hand the young woman over. "Don't play the fool on me. I swear I saw her go into your house just now. If you're interested in her body, I don't mind renting her to you for an afternoon for only one large silver. Come on, I know you don't want any trouble too."
Lorist instantly retorted, "Stinking thug, don't think that I'm like the likes of you, always lusting after all women like you've never had one before. Get out of my sight or face the consequences." Within but a few exchanges, the two screamed at each other and started to break into a fight. Much to Lorist's surprise, Els was a rather upright syndicate boss who didn't order all his henchmen to surround him at once but rather just picked one of them who was at the Iron Battle Force rank to take care of him. Maybe he had seen Lorist's Battle Force badge and didn't want to be accused of bullying Lorist.
Naturally, Iron ranks were far from enough to take care of Lorist, and all of Els henchmen lost one after another. Not willing to believe the scene transpiring in front of him, Els himself went up against Lorist, thinking that Lorist would surrender right away given his One Star Silver Battle Force rank. He then subsequently lost to Lorist.
Thinking that he probably lost due to bad luck or silly carelessness, he tried time and again and ended up losing even on the fifth time. In the end, he made the excuse that his footing was unstable due to being under the influence of alcohol. Lorist merely laughed at his relentlessness and his reluctance to accept his loss even though Els himself was the one who begged Lorist to stop thrashing him. Lightly kicking Els a few times, Lorist merely asked that he get out of his sight, but Els still refused to leave and even said that his reinforcements are coming while holding Lorist's legs tightly. He said that if Lorist could defeat his reinforcements, he would leave that woman alone and no longer cause her any trouble.
Hearing that, Lorist could only stay there, given that his legs were being tugged by Els. He couldn't bear to end Els's life with one sword either. Since he wasn't willing to let go, Lorist got back at him by stepping on him as he willed. Els didn't mind it either and even chatted with some passers-by once in a while under Lorist's heel.
Lorist felt that he was really unfortunate to have met someone like this and was embarrassed to have been seen with him by the people around them. However, he noticed that the old couple living nearby did not fear that syndicate boss at all and even teased him for being stepped on by someone else. Els merely made the excuse that he drank too much and wasn't in his best shape today.
It was around this time when his uncle, Charlando, came over. Seeing Els being stepped on by Lorist, he was filled with rage and pulled his sword out without a single word. Lorist kicked Els aside and drew his own sword to face that One Star Gold combatant.
Lorist, initially thinking that Els's reinforcement would only be Silver ranks at best, was rather unlucky to be facing a Gold rank expert. At that time, Lorist hasn't reached the peak of the Iron rank yet and only trained in his family's Blazing Battle Force and not the Aquametal Technique. It did not take Charlando more than eight moves to knock Lorist's sword away and utterly defeat him.
Els stood up with a face full of bruises and gave Lorist's stomach two forceful punches. "Aha, just now you were pummeling me so gleefully. Now it's your turn!"
Taking the blows with much unwillingness, Lorist broke into a barrage of insults towards Els for attempting to force a poor woman into prostitution. Els returned the insults and said that Lorist didn't know what was good for him and bullied people with his strength. Charlando, hearing the contents of the insults, felt that something was wrong, and forced those two to stop and explain the situation to him. After both of them told Charlando their version of events, they looked at each other with much bafflement as the things they had just described were totally different.
Els said with much agitation, "What do you mean I'm blinded by lust and set her husband up and made him incur a gambling debt? That woman's husband was a sailor and is only home once in three to four months! She is also pretty disloyal to her husband and frequently spends nights with many other men. Additionally, she is also a gambling addict! Just last night, she attempted to cheat some money from my casino and was found out by my subordinate! She had already owed three gold coins by that time and wasn't able to repay it. Seeing that she still looked young enough, I was sent her to the brothel to earn some money to pay the debt back. Who knew that this afternoon, she stole the money bag of one of the visitors to the brothel and made a run for it! That was why I was chasing her! With all those women willingly selling their bodies away, why would I go out of my way to force one woman into prostitution!? Just go ask the old couple living next door. They know the sailor, Sur, personally."
Seeing the old couple nodding gingerly to what Els had said, Lorist really wanted to dig a hole and jump inside it to hide his embarrassment until Charlando reminded him to check if that woman was still hiding in the house.
Lorist tried to open the door only to find that it had been locked from the inside and even felt that it might've been barricaded by some furniture. She didn't answer him when he called either. Having run out of options, Lorist circulated his Battle Force and knocked the door open only to discover an empty room. The woman was gone along with his money and valuables in the room. Even the fur and the black horn of the catch he had just brought back was missing.
Upon further investigation, they discovered that the woman had escaped from the window at the back of the house. But, how had she carried all the things she stole?
After another few hours, one of Els's subordinates brought a horse cart driver over who said that the woman that came to him said that she had been locked inside the house by her husband who wouldn't let her go visit her sick mother. She said that was why she had to leave the house with her dowry from the back window as the front door had been locked by her husband. When questioned about the weapons that she had brought along with her, she said that her husband used to be a mercenary who now only lays around at home and refuses to go take up some missions and that her husband had used her dowry to purchase these weapons. To prevent her husband from losing it through his gambling addiction, she said that she had to bring those things away and only hand it back to him if her husband would one day regret his ways.
The crowd merely sighed in admiration of her dauntless behavior of taking all those stuff with her and leaving through the back alley when the fellows were out there fighting. The alley was only ten or so meters away from the house and she could have been easily discovered should she make the slightest mistake.
Lorist wanted to cry his lungs out but couldn't let out any tears. His attempt of saving a 'helpless' woman had cost him over 10 gold coins. Looks like he would have to starve himself quite often in the near future.
Didn't the books always say that good people end up being rewarded for doing good deeds? Lorist had to admit that he was a little swayed by the woman as she looked rather good and also had a pretty nice figure. Given that Lorist still hadn't slept with a woman at that time since he came over to Grindia, he reacted rather easily to that woman's hug. He even thought that he might have been able to take the woman as his personal maidservant after he chased the thugs away. The stories in the books were lies… Not only did I not get the damsel, I lost all my possessions to her too, thought Lorist as he sulked on the ground with much regret.
The cart driver said that the reason he got here so quickly was because the woman had already got off the cart by the river two districts away. But, nobody had any thoughts of going after her as that river was a pretty well-known port in the area. Once she got on a boat, she would probably end up sailing to one of the many lake cities of the Falik Plains and would never be easily found again.
Els pat Lorist on the shoulder a few times as he felt a mix of anger and amusement, and said, "Alright, the merchants have a saying that goes, 'losing money is better than losing one's life', which is usually uttered after an encounter with bandits. I wish the same to you since you are in such a predicament. I won't hold today's grudge against you since you've probably suffered enough. Alright guys, let's go back."
This marked the end of Lorist's first meeting with Els. Both of them lost something during this encounter; Els lost the battle while Lorist lost his money and valuables.
Locke and Els (2)
The second time he encountered Lorist, Els was naked and seemed like he was running away from something. Lorist could not find any words to describe a person who was covered in plaster and running around without any clothes on.
It has already been a month since the incident where Lorist attempted to save that thieving woman from Els. Charade had only just recently stopped bringing the whole matter up over and over again, much to Lorist's relief. Additionally, he was fortunate enough to find himself be employed by a nobleman to train his son in the ways of the sword with a salary of three gold Fordes a month. Originally, that noble had wanted Instructor Claude to be the tutor but as Claude didn't have any extra time, he recommended Lorist to the noble instead.
One night after he finished tutoring the nobleman's child, Lorist was in the mood of getting some food on his way to the academy.
I recall that there's a stall just around the corner that sells salted beef kebabs. Charade bought them for me once before and they tasted pretty good. Alright, let's get some of those along with a barrel of ale before heading back to the academy to have it with that fatty. The moment he finished his thought, a naked person covered in a layer of white appeared to be rushing towards him.
Sol, I think I've just seen a lunatic. Lorist hurriedly took a few steps back and prepared to evade that crazy fellow.
Who knew that the moment that man passed by Lorist, he looked him in the eye and instantly stopped before saying, "Hey, it's you, my brother! Thank goodness, help me out a little and lend me your jacket."
Lorist was just about to shake that man off when he felt that he had heard that voice before. Huh? Isn't this Els? Els, who was taking deep breaths beside him, was covered in white plaster from head to toe and looked like a piece of abstract artwork.
"What are you up to now?" asked Lorist with a hint of surprise in his voice. Since when had any syndicate boss ever shown any dedication or interest to street art?
"Don't even talk about it. You just have to know that I lost a bet with someone. Now, quickly lend me your jacket for a while," said Els with much urgency.
Oh well, since it doesn't look like it'll be raining tonight, I don't see any harm in lending it to him, thought Lorist as he removed the jacket and handed it to Els before he immediately broke into a run and gave Lorist a warning, "You better make a run for it too, otherwise it'll be too late."
Why would I have to run? I'm not crazy like you, thought Lorist as he turned the other way only to find a group of people holding fire irons and metal buckets marching in his way. What are they planning to do? Are they going to help clean the streets at this time of the night?
Before Lorist even understood the situation, some people around him pointed to him and said, "He's with that man!"
"He lent his jacket to that asshole!"
"Stop him! Don't let him escape!"
"Beat him up!"
Utterly confused by the situation, Lorist was surrounded by the group of people who started to hit him with whatever they had in their hands. Shielding his head with his arms, he said, "Hey, stop! What's going on?"
The crowd erupted into a cacophony of noise and not one of them could be heard clearly. Lorist wanted to retaliate but he hesitated as the people hitting him were only normal folk who did not have an ounce of Battle Force. He thought it would be better to hold back lest he accidentally commits manslaughter. Grudgingly, he could only circulate his Battle Force to absorb the hits from the crowd.
One old woman walked towards him with a bucket in hand and demanded that he disperse his Battle Force.
"Huh?" Lorist didn't understand why she would say that.
"I asked you to stop using your Battle Force!" cried the old woman.
"Why should I?"
"If you don't, how can I teach you a lesson? Otherwise, given my age, I would only tire myself out by continuously hitting you like this!" said the old woman with a tone that she used to lecture her grandchildren.
The surrounding people were also tired out and stopped the beating. The people beside the crowd continue to struggle to squeeze in to try to get a look at what was happening in there.
"Where's that prick?"
"Have you got him?"
"Bring him out here!"
As the chatter around him quieted down, Lorist let out a breath of relief, dispersed his Battle Force, and said to the old woman, "Alright, why don't you tell me what's going…"
Before he finished his sentence, he could only see the bucket slowly enlarging before his face and land squarely on it, causing him to see nothing but stars. He let out a groan of pain and could faintly hear the old woman say something along the lines of "That's what you get…"
Bam! Another noise rang out from the impact. "Who asked you to peek at the women's bath…"
Badonk! "…while pretending to be a stone statue…"
Just as he was going to activate his Battle Force again to protect himself, he suddenly came to a realization at hearing what the old woman had said and understood why Els had been running around nude covered in plaster just now. Good Sol, Els… You better not let me find you…
"It wasn't me! Sto– cough…" Lorist let out an agonizing voice.
Having landed on the ground from the swing of the bucket, he desperately tried to crawl out from the crowd as myriads of blows hammered down on his body. In the end, he managed to escape with his clothes in tatters.
Right as he was about to sit down at a corner to catch his breath, a stranger who thought that he was a beggar tossed him a copper coin out of kindness given his pitiful appearance.
Lorist held the coin in his hand and gnawed his teeth as he mused to himself, "Els… You really have done it this time… Just you wait…"
But where was he to find Els? Lorist recalled that Charade had said that Els seldom stayed in a fixed location and was almost impossible to find. While he held the position of a syndicate boss and had three districts under his jurisdiction, the affairs of the districts were usually handled by his subordinates. However, Els greatly feared that uncle of his, who happened to be the owner of the Red Grace Inn.
I know, I'll just head to his uncle's place. Given his upright demeanor, if he knew that Els was fooling around and peeking in the women's bathroom by posing as a stone statue, I'm sure he would teach Els a lesson he would never forget.
Lorist spent quite a little effort to call for a horse cart as most of them thought that he was just a beggar and were unwilling to stop for him. When he finally got on one, he asked the driver to send him to the Red Grace Inn. The moment he got off the cart, the driver reminded him kindly, "Mister, while I'm sure there's a reason why you're dressed like that, you better change before going in or you'll probably be chased outside. I wish you a good night, sir."
Fortunately, Lorist wasn't thrown out of the inn as Charlando recognized him from that time he beat up his nephew. The only question that lingered within that man's heart was how did a person with Lorist's abilities get roughed up to that point? While he wasn't bleeding out from any wounds, his face had been covered in bluish-black bruises.
"How did you end up like that?" asked Charlando.
"Hi, mister. Have you seen Els? This was all his fault!"
Lorist subsequently explained the events that transpired to Charlando and expressed his regret from having offered Els his help and wished that he had just left him for dead.
With a grim expression, Charlando instructed the serving girl, Louise, to get Lorist a cup of blackcurrant ale before going out to look for Els
It didn't take long for him to return to the inn with Els in hand. He was still dressed in his pajamas that had several boot marks on it; it was evident that he had been kicked out of bed and dragged over here by his uncle.
"So you've been peeking in the women's bath while posing as a statue, huh? Instead of spending your time on something worthwhile, you're going around peeping at the ladies?"
Els retorted and said, "That wasn't peeking. I was only practicing my stealth abilities! Who's interested at looking at a bunch of old women bathing…"
Pushing Els in front of Lorist, the old man said, "Speak, what happened just now?"
Els was shocked to see Lorist in such a state. "Oh my, what happened to you? Weren't you looking fine just now?���
Struggling to resist the urge of smashing the cup against Els's face, Lorist said, "What did you think happened? Why was the mob chasing after you? You still dare to ask what happened to me!?"
Els instantly understood. "Oh, so you were caught by them. Didn't I warn you to run away as well? Do you regret not listening to me?"
"Good… Good Sol! It wasn't me who went to peep in the bath!" screamed Lorist, enraged.
"Don't get so angry, bro. Fine, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. How about this, I'll treat you to a drink tonight. Order as much as you like," said Els graciously as he pat Lorist on the shoulder.
Sol… He thinks that I'll be placated by a few cups of ale? Lorist suddenly felt more rage than ever before. Having seen Els's character during the last time, he should've never bothered to come look for him here in the first place.
Stepping out of his bounds, Els instructed the serving girls to treat all the guests at the inn to a cup of ale and bathed in their praises, totally ignoring the grim expression of his uncle.
Giving him a heavy slap, Charlando said, "Where have you got the money to treat these people? You better settle this issue tonight or I'll break both of your legs myself lest you go embarrass me even further!"
Finally entering a serious mood, Els admitted that he had sneaked into the bath as a result of losing a bet with someone. He told the people present of his dream to study the ways of a rogue from the magic era. The rogues of ancient times were not like the common thieves of this age but were people who specialized in stealth, lockpicking, tracking, investigation, traps and even assassination. There were also legends of powerful rogue guilds that struck fear deep into the hearts of many.
Els continued to say that given the dark attribute Battle Force passed down through his family, he believed that his ancestors might have been one of the enigmatic rogues during the era of the magic civilization and said that he aspired to train hard and one day rediscover the lost arts of the mysterious rogues.
One day during a drinking session with a friend, he bragged about how he was the descendant of the mystical rogues that once roamed the world. His friend said that if the skills of the rogue were that potent, it would definitely have been passed down throughout the generations. "Do you remember the book you showed me that told of a tale of a hero of the magic civilization?" asked his friend. "It was said that a rogue had sneaked into the bathroom of a princess from an enemy kingdom and overheard her discussing the plans to take down the hero with her lover. While I won't ask you to sneak into a royal bath, you should at least be able to enter that bath house at that street over there. If you can stay there until the bath house closes without being discovered, I'll believe that the ancient rogues were truly as powerful as you have claimed."
Els accepted the dare only to discover that sneaking in was the easy part. The bath was a really wide room that had no corners for him to hide in and only had a number of bathtubs cluttered around in the middle. There was no blind spot at all.
Later, Els discovered a statue that had been discarded at a corner of the bath which looked more or less like a standing man in deep thought. So in the following night, Els creeped into the bath again, broke the statue into pieces and moved it out of the bath. On the second night, he covered himself in white powder and stood in the very same corner that statue was at.
Els was confident that he would not be discovered by the unsuspecting customers as long as he did not move about too much given the relatively low light in the bath house and the steam that further aided in blurring one's vision.
While everything seemed perfect on paper, there was no way to account for unexpected situations. Coincidentally on that night, two young women walked over towards Els and stopped beside him to share some secrets.
The curvaceous girl told the story of the pleasurable night she had with her lover the night before while the other girl listened with much awe and envy. As the girl told her story, she accidentally knocked the towel that Els had wrapped around his genitals away.
He was startled to find the curvaceous girl pointing at his member as she said to the other girl, "Here, take a look. Men's cocks usually look like that. While it's small and harmless right now, you only have to give it a light rub to get it hard and long. It'll enlarge even more quickly if you use your mouth."
As she explained away, she used her hands to demonstrate it on Els's junk. "Come on, try it out yourself like how I'm doing it. I guarantee that most men would get hard in no time."
The girl merely stood beside the statue with her mouth agape as the well-endowed one continued on, "Pay attention. It's done like this. It's already turning hard. If you go at it longer, it will start to let out some secretions…"
She continued to stroke so hard as she chatted away until the male organ sprayed out a thick, white liquid.
"That was too fast! And this is even smaller than my boyfriend's, how useless and disappointing…" commented the girl.
Els really couldn't take it anymore, especially after the girl made that final comment, which greatly wounded his pride.
Pushing the two girls away, Els leaped towards the exit with a wounded heart as her comment reverberated in his mind.
"The statue's alive…"
"Lady goddess, what in the world is going on?"
"No, wait. That's a man!"
"There's a naked man in the bath! Catch him!"
The curvaceous girl suddenly came to a realization and blushed heavily before saying, "Catch that asshole! I swear I will kill him!" as the whole bath house erupted into chaos.
The stocky women standing guard at the bath house entrance saw Els run past them without a single article of clothing on him and were totally dumbfounded. "Freeze! Stop, you pathetic peeping jerk!"
The rest of the people on the street soon joined the chase.
Having just came out of the bath house without anything to wear, he could only continue running until he saw Lorist nearby.
Their second encounter also ended with injuries to both sides: Lorist suffered physical blows while Els suffered mental ones to his pride and even sulked about the matter for quite some time.
Locke and Els (3)
The skies looked crystal clear with the sun emitting its radiance high up in the sky as if it was foretelling the pleasant weather of the rest of the day.
It was the vacation season for the academy and Charade took up a private request which required Lorist to go all over the place for three whole days to finally obtain the things that they needed for the mission. These items were special trapping cages that were commonly used against small magical beasts. At the moment, Lorist and Yuriy were piling the cages up on a large four-wheeled horse cart.
Yuriy was a student of the Dawn Academy and was also an assistant instructor for their horsemanship course with a Battle Force rank of Two Star Iron. Like Lorist, he worked and studied part time and frequently joined up with other mercenaries to accept low-ranked missions for some extra money.
After loading all 14 cages onto the cart and fastening them on with a long rope, Lorist went over everything they had to bring with them once more to ensure that he didn't miss anything out. Having finished all the checking, he took out a waterskin and drunk a few gulps and patiently waited for Charade to come over.
Private requests were different from normal mercenary missions as the requests were often not processed by the mercenary guilds and were negotiated personally between the requestor and the accepting party. While this allowed one to avoid paying the referral fee to the mercenary guild, it wasn't without its risks. It wasn't uncommon for occurrences like sudden mission cancellations, payment refusals or even threats of violence to avoid payment to happen. But the fee collected by mercenary guilds were often rather high, sometimes even up to 40% of the wages. If the rewards were favorable, certain mercenaries would opt to negotiate the request privately instead of having a guild act as a middleman.
"Hey, Locke my brother, what are you up to?" asked Els as he walked over, wearing a large overcoat and giving the cages on the cart and the carriage a curious look. "Oh, you're going on a mission again, aren't you?"
Lorist felt a headache welling up with Els's arrival as the other two times when he met him had caused him much suffering. During the first time they met, he had lost quite a bit of money. While Lorist admitted that he was partly at fault for that, he believed that had Els not clung to him for so long, he would've been able to return to his room earlier and might've been able to catch the thieving woman red-handed and stop her in time. Their second encounter, however, ended badly even though all Lorist did was lend Els his coat. The part that most infuriated him was the fact that he had been pummeled by normal, non-combatant civilians without being able to resist in fear that he would critically injure them by accident.
Those two encounters left a deep impression of Els being a bringer of bad luck in Lorist's heart. Lorist made a mental note to be on guard lest he get wrapped up in any more troublesome business.
Els was oblivious to how Lorist felt about him and even believed that they had already become close friends judging by the way he intimately referred to Lorist as his 'brother'. Seeing the preparations Lorist was making, he thought that he would offer some advice as his 'senior'.
"Hey, I say, Lorist, there's no point going after small magical beasts like those. As a mercenary, you should set your sights further! Haven't you thought about venturing to places like the Magical Beast Forest at the Sunset Mountains, the Doomsday Coast of the Jigda Kingdom or even the Urubaha Subterranean Caverns? While these places are much more dangerous without question, you'll get much more benefits from those places. Didn't you hear about the Unicorn Mercenary Corps who made it back from an expedition to the Magical Beast Forest? They really made a killing from that trip; all of the members earned up to 100 gold Fordes each," babbled Els, occasionally letting out drops of saliva from his mouth as he spoke.
Lorist rolled his eyes as he heard Els name one dangerous place after another, as he thought, you want an Iron ranked mercenary like me to become the dinner of those savage magical beasts!? And I bet you didn't hear the full story of the Unicorn Corps either. Of the 125 Silver-ranked people in their troupe who went into the Magical Beast Forest, only 43 returned alive a month later! The captain and vice-captain, who were Gold ranked experts, even broke down in tears at the hall of the mercenary guild like little children after making their mission report!
"How do you even have the free time to walk around like this with your position as a syndicate boss? What would you know about the matters of us mercenaries?" rebuked Lorist without holding back in the slightest.
"Heh, I bet your attitude would be different if you knew that I was in fact a mercenary myself, a Silver ranked one at that," said Els as he casually took out a Silver ranked mercenary badge and pinned it on his chest.
"Eh? Why would a syndicate boss like you need a Silver ranked mercenary badge? It's not like you would be using it," questioned Lorist.
"He got his Iron ranked badge back when he was still in the academy taking up missions from time to time. He got a Silver ranked one from the mercenary guild after he became a syndicate boss," answered Charade.
Turning his head towards Charade's direction, Lorist saw that he had returned with Terman and two horses.
Terman was a member of the Enforcement Division with a One Star Silver rank and was also one of Lorist's good friends in the academy.
Pointing at Els and turning his head towards Terman and Yuriy, Charade said, "Guys, this is Brennan Evanport. He's an alumnus of the Dawn Academy and is also your senior. He used to be my classmate in the past but he graduated early to take up the position of a syndicate boss."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Yuwen Ridest. Just call me Yuriy."
"Good day, I'm Waprey Terman."
Els nodded to the both of them and asked curiously, "Fatty, where are you guys going on this mission?"
"We're going to the Calisto Hills to exterminate some Metal-eater Rats."
Metal-eater Rats were, as their name suggested, rats whose main diet consisted of metals. With their size rivaling that of most dogs, they were classified as small magical beasts that lived in swarms in the lower levels of mines. Despite their small size, Metal-eater Rats were notorious for attacking relentlessly until their last breath once agitated. Upon encountering one of them, one should calm down and look as threatening as possible and slowly retreat to a safe distance. However, any person with a Battle Force rank of One Star Bronze could easily dispatch a lone Metal-eater Rat. However, most of the time the rats often appeared in groups and relied on their numbers to swarm their enemies.
Having taken the magical beast biology course offered by his academy, Lorist understood that lone Metal-eater Rats were far and few and would only wander off from their group during mating season. Legend says that the very first magical beast that the first human, who miraculously reawakened the long lost dormant Battle Force within his blood, had taken down was a lone Metal-eater Rat. Had he encountered a whole swarm of those critters, he would have perished undoubtedly and who knew how many more years the humans had to suffer during the dark times.
Given that the Metal-eater Rat was fed upon by many other dangerous magical beasts, they had to be eradicated immediately upon discovery because if the numbers of the rats increase, it would attract the presence of even more fearsome predators to the mines that preyed on the rats and bring further disaster to the mining operations there. One way to get rid of them was to hunt down all the Metal-eater Rat Queens so that the rest of the swarm would leave the area.
One of the more famous mining incidents that had been documented happened in one of the gold mines of the Romon Empire. As a result of not adequately managing the Metal-eater Rat crisis, two gigantic Single-horned Rock Pythons made the mines their home and caused more than 3000 deaths. In the end, the empire's government had to dispatch a team of more than 60 Gold-ranked experts who were led by a Sword Saint to handle the situation, but it was not without a price: the members of the team had suffered quite a number of casualties as well. The aftermath was that more than 40 noble houses that had been placed in charge of the mines had been severely punished and relinquished of their ranks. Following that incident, the mining operations over the whole continent was always highly alert against potential Metal-eater Rat infestations and made sure to get rid of the problem before it becomes exacerbated.
"Why aren't Steve and the others here?" asked Lorist.
"Sigh, do you know about the the nature drawing trip the second year art course students are organizing? Steve brought the Kell brothers along to serve as their guard. That's right, he thinks that going on the trip to protect some beauties is more important than going to clear an infestation out with us," said Charade with a tone of frustration. He had made so much effort to prepare the necessary equipment they would need for the mission but he had forgotten to invite enough people to join them.
Els's eyes instantly lit up. "Hey, fatty, why not I go along with you guys?"
Surprised, Charade said, "Why would you want to come along? Aren't you fine and dandy being a syndicate boss and all? There's no need for you to go venturing with us. Additionally, this is a private request, so the risk involved is much higher."
Lorist instantly objected, "Don't joke around, Charade. Mr Syndicate Boss there only wants to go to places like the Magical Beast Forest and the Doomsday Coast, there's no way he would want to exterminate some petty rats with us in some mines! He's just kidding around."
Els instantly responded in a serious tone, "I'm not joking, dude. To be honest, Charade there knows that I didn't accept the position of the syndicate boss because I wanted to. It was my boys who forced me to take up that post, I really couldn't help it. Since they're handling all the work for me, I've been rather bored recently with nothing much to do. So, I thought that it would be a great idea for me to join you guys on this expedition! How I miss the days when I ventured along my fellow schoolmates. Charade, you've known me for years, so you should be able to tell what kind of person I am. Just let me come along, I'll gladly make up for your lack of manpower! I'm sure I can protect myself well enough given my abilities."
"This…" mumbled Charade hesitantly.
"No way," said Lorist adamantly. If we let this disaster magnet join us, we might as well go laze around at home instead of having to bear the consequences!
"Fatty, you know the type of Battle Force I train in and my unique skills. I will be nothing but help for you guys at the mines," persuaded Els.
Huh? What kind of skills is he talking about? Lorist's curiosity was roused.
"Locke, why do you object to his joining us?" asked Charade.
"I…" It wasn't like Lorist could say that Els brought bad luck just because of one or two encounters. "We haven't been on missions with him before, so I'm worried about our compatibility."
Relived that he thought up a convincing excuse, Lorist wiped the sweat of his face.
"I'll definitely follow all orders," said Els.
"You promise?" Charade asked.
"Promise."
"Alright, welcome to the gang. I, Charade, will be the leader of this party. Go make your preparations and come back here within half an hour. This trip to the Calisto Hills will take about twenty days, you're okay with that, right?" announced Charade.
"No problem. Um, fatt– I mean, leader, I think it would be better for us to meet up at the Red Grace Inn before we leave. We often get customers who make their private requests there and maybe I could ask my uncle to check whether your client has a credible background before we set out. Maybe we might even be able to accept certain requests that can be fulfilled on our way to the mines. Just tell my uncle that I sent you there, he'll know about it the moment he sees Locke," said Els who already offered the party a substantial amount of help the moment he joined.
Charade was instantly moved. He wasn't aware that the Red Grace Inn secretly handled private requests such as these right under the noses of the mercenary guilds. Then again, it was a rather good operation to mercenaries, as accepting missions from the inn usually had much less risks since the owners wouldn't vouch for people they didn't know well enough.
"Alright then, we'll gather at the Red Grace Inn."
Even before Charade opened his mouth, the moment the owner of the inn saw Lorist and heard that they were going on a trip, he brought out a notebook that recorded the requests of many other clients and searched for some that Lorist's party could complete along the way.
Having seen the contents of the notebook, Charade noticed that most of the requests were merely simple errands and 'want-to-buys'. If these were submitted to the mercenary guilds, they would usually be taken up by Bronze or Iron ranked mercenaries. Given the fees of the guilds, there weren't that profitable and so not many mercenaries would go out of their way to work on those missions. If these requests were made at the inn, however, people would be more willing to take them up as they would earn quite a sum without paying any extra fees.
After discussing with his team, Charade decided to take up 17 side missions that would earn each of them an extra gold Forde of income. Charlando also mentioned that while the payment wasn't that high, they were quite abundant in number and he often found it hard to get trusted mercenaries who would be willing to carry them out. If the party was able to complete these without a hitch, he said that they would be welcome to come for more missions in the future.
Els later came over wearing a brand new Fire Salamander leather armor. The skin of the Fire Salamander had the peculiar quality of keeping one's body warm as well as driving insects away and was particularly suited for underground excursions. However, the price of the material was rather high and was not something that most adventurers and mercenaries could afford. On the leather armor was a badge of a Silver ranked mercenary.
Els loudly introduced his new party members to the customers of the inn as if he was afraid that they wouldn't notice that he was about to go on a mission. Lorist felt that it was weird that Els's uncle didn't mind the fact that his nephew was about to join their party and even treated all the party members to a cup of blackcurrant ale whilst wishing them luck on their mission.
Finally leaving from the city gates, Charade approached the cart on horseback and asked Els, who was in the middle of a conversation with Lorist, something, "Why does your uncle trust Locke so easily? He instantly brought the request notebook out the moment Locke showed his face."
Lorist found this part weird too as he had only met Charlando twice, with their first meeting even ending up in them fighting. Why did that old guy treat him so well?
Giving Lorist a lazy glance, Els said unenthusiastically, "That old guy says that Locke was a person of good character, given how he foolishly protected that thieving woman that one time due to his sense of justice. He also didn't resist the pummeling of the crowd of common folk the other time and would rather endure their blows than risk accidentally injuring them. My uncle said that people like that were rare and even asked me to learn from his behavior. What he didn't take note of was how I, a Silver ranked combatant, would rather run away from that mob than simply beating them down in the first place. I believe that on that front, I was behaving way more graciously than Locke was."
"Tsk…" Lorist clicked his mouth and said, "Don't forget that you were running for your life stark-naked at that time."
The gang instantly erupted in laughter.
Locke and Els (4)
The Calisto Hills was situated at the borders of the Falik Plains and was connected to the Tedanini Mountains. It was also in the area between the Dwarven Kingdom and the Forde Trade Union. According to the old legends, the remaining magi at the end times of the magic civilization opened a dimensional portal and sent the other sentient beings on the Grindia Continent to different worlds to ensure that the humans would survive the oncoming tribulations and wouldn't have to compete with the other races. For some reason, however, they missed out the dwarves who had been living around the Tedanini Mountains and slowly, with the passing of two thousand or so years, they had built up their very own kingdom.
Currently, this was the only other sentient being on the Grindia Continent apart from the humans. Given the tendency for the dwarves to reside within mountain ranges, however, they rarely had any conflict with the humans and was even on trading terms.
While the Calisto Mountains was technically in the territory of the Forde Trade Union, the union didn't hold much governing power in the area. Given the nature of the battle-crazed mountain folk, the trade union treaded carefully and was careful not to offend them in the slightest, lest a large scale conflict erupts. At the moment, the council was considering splitting the Calisto Mountains into several districts in the future and letting those who had contributed to the union govern it.
After three days and two nights of travel, Lorist and gang finally arrived at their destination, Baca Village. The middle-aged village chief who was also the requestor and the owner of the mines, Bam, welcomed them.
Bam was also one of Lorist's senior students in the academy. With his father having enlisted in the trade union army to fend off the Krissen Empire's invasion, he retired to the village due to his injuries and resolved himself to make the village prosper after seeing all the progress that is being made at the outside world and barely managed to send Bam to the Dawn Academy. Bam took up two additional professional courses, namely, resource foraging and mine management. However, given that those courses were rather unpopular and the quality of the lecturers were subpar, he only managed to learn those things in theory and never got any practical experience. The academy subsequently discontinued those courses.
After returning to the village, Bam spent five to six years cultivating the skills he had learned and managed to discover several veins of silver and tin ore at a hill near the village. While the excavation amount wasn't humongous, it was enough to support the livelihood of six other villages around it. The discovery of the mines wiped out poverty and famine from the surrounding villages. Additionally, Bam also used a part of the profit from the ore mines to fund several talented youngsters to go to Morante City for further studies.
The whole gang felt that Senior Bam was pretty impressive for his willingness to forsake the possibility of a grand lifestyle in Morante City for the sake of developing his village and community. Yuriy and Lorist were most impressed with how he used the extra money to sponsor the village youths as they understood that the costs of studying at Morante City wasn't cheap.
Very frankly, Bam told them about how he first encountered traces of Metal-eater Rats within the vicinity of the mines. Being an Iron ranked swordsman, he formed a group to go take care of the pests. It was not until a while later that they discovered that the infestation wasn't as simple as they had thought and over the past year, they had killed more than ten of those rats on multiple occasions already. Just two months ago, an attack by a swarm of Metal-eater Rats had killed three and injured five of the miners. That was when he finally decided to end it once and for all and summoned all the villagers who had Battle Force to go on an extermination mission down the mines; including Bam, there were three Iron ranked fighters and eleven Bronze ranked fighters in total.
However, the extermination did not succeed as the swarm of rats numbered more than a hundred and the party of 14 were hard-pressed and not one of them escaped unscathed. Even though they managed to wipe out 30 or so rats, they had struggled to retreat under the relentless attacks of the rat swarm and nine of them ended up with rather severe injuries.
Since that failed attempt, Bam understood the magnitude of the problem and had no choice but to seek aid from mercenaries. After treating all of those who had been injured, the village was only left with less than 30 gold coins and their dire financial straits was further exacerbated by the temporary closing of the mines. Being only able to offer ten or so gold coins as a mission reward, and given the referral fee of five gold coins charged by the mercenary guild, most mercenaries were hesitant on taking the mission up.
Recalling that the students of the Dawn Academy often went on mercenary missions, he reached out to the villagers who were studying there and managed to get in contact with Charade.
Having listened to Bam's description of the situation, the party was convinced that this mission had relatively low risk asBam was a rather credible person. Charade went on to brief the rest of them about the situation: there was an estimated amount of two to three hundred Metal-eater Rats. With their forces of three Silver ranks and two Iron ranks, even if they couldn't wipe out all of the rats, it shouldn't be a problem for them to take out the rat queen and cause the rats to leave the mines.
While a reward of 18 gold coins for the rat extermination was a little lacking, it was already rather favorable for Charade's party as Bam would also be bringing along two other Bronze Swordsmen to guide them in the mines as well as manage their equipment for no extra charge. The most lucrative point of the mission was that any loot or gains obtained during it belonged solely to the party. There might be a possibility of finding gold nuggets and other rare metals in the rat nests which could be sold for quite a sum. The party decided to rest up for the day before setting out tomorrow.
"While the meat of the Metal-eater Rat is a little sour, it is undoubtedly safe to consume and would taste even better if they were made into jerky. The organs and blood of the rat, however, had to be removed completely as high concentrations of toxic minerals resided within them. The rats' most threatening feature are their front teeth which are really durable and can be sold for one small silver each on the market. Their pelt however was worthless as it had a distinct foul smell that attracted insects which couldn't be removed no matter how it was treated, so they are normally discarded."
Within the mines, Els was assigned the role of the scout and vanguard while Charade, Yuriy and Terman were positioned in the middle and Lorist, Bam and the other two swordsmen constituted the rearguard. At the moment, Lorist was telling Bam what he had learned about the rats from the magical beast biology lessons.
"The Metal-eater Rats hate the smell of pine trees, especially that of their roots. The concoction we sprayed around the entrance was to limit the range of activity of the rats and prevent them from running all over the place.
"This was the result of the research that was completed last year by Professor Snade Borg of our magical beast biology department. He was even rewarded 20000 gold Fordes for this. As long as you apply this pesticide on a regular basis at the mine entrance, you would be free from Metal-eater Rat infestations.
"To top that off, it's not that expensive at all. A large bucket of it only costs about 3 gold Fordes and can last for as long as a month. After using this for a year or two, a natural pine smell will form around the mines and you won't have to use it any longer. Senior Bam, please consider this quickly as we have a limited supply. You can only get these from academy insiders so please feel free to make your order with us."
Lorist was really enthusiastic about promoting the pesticide as he stood to gain one gold Forde for every bucket sold. If he managed to sell 12 buckets per year, that would mean an extra 12 gold Fordes of income for him annually without breaking a sweat.
As they descended further into the mines, they wiped out two waves of rats along the way, which numbered up to more or less 200 of them. The performance and efficacy of the team greatly impressed Bam and the Bronze Swordsmen that followed along.
With Charade, Els and Terman standing at three points around him with him in the middle, Yuriy proved to be quite capable at supporting the team and allowed the rest to slaughter the rats without worry. Lorist himself was even more amazing; he moved separately from the rest of them and easily took care of as many rats as those in the formation himself without getting even a single bloodstain on him.
Senior Bam and his attendants were embarrassed at the fact that nine out of their group of fourteen had incurred severe injuries on their previous extermination attempt after seeing how Lorist's group killed the rats easily and effortlessly, as if it were just a common training exercise.
After killing off the remaining rats in the second wave, the party decided to rest for a while as they removed the valuable parts of the rat that could be sold for money. Yuriy took out a large plier and used it to pluck the front teeth of all the rats. Having been told by Lorist that the meat of the rats was edible, Bam requested the group to give the meat to them to help alleviate the food shortage problem in their village.
Having rested up and eaten some dry rations, Charade instructed the group to split up and led Terman and Yuriy into the left cavern while Lorist and Els headed for the right one. Given that most of the rats had been exterminated, all that was left was to take care of the rat queen.
Slinging the bag filled with rat teeth on his back, Lorist casually smeared some of the pesticide on the walls of the cavern as he walked along the path.
"What are you up to?" Els asked.
Lorist responded by telling Els about the effects of the pesticide half-heartedly given that Els would not be interested in purchasing any of it from him anyway. Els doubted the efficacy of the pesticide however and they broke into an argument.
Having walked for quite some time and reaching the end of the road, they didn't discover anymore rats. Els said, "Let's go back. There's no point in remaining here."
Just as he finished his words, the rock wall in front of him suddenly jolted and cracked open with a loud sound. A head of a large beast emerged from the hole in the wall, sniffed the air around it and leaped in Lorist and Els's direction.
"What is that!?" exclaimed Lorist in shock as he dropped the torch in his hand. "Isn't this fellow a little too big? The head itself has a diameter of two meters!"
"Better run!" said Els loudly as he grabbed Lorist's arm and turned to run the other direction.
"Sol, I knew that bringing you along was a bad call! The last two times were bad enough. For the whole of this mission, I've been worried that something terrible would happen. I can finally stop guessing, now that this critter has shown up in the middle of the rat extermination mission…" called Lorist as he ran behind Els.
"You haven't even thanked me for saving you yet! If I were a little bit late, you would've been swallowed whole by now! You even dropped our torch!" replied Els.
"I was suddenly reminded of the Single-horned Rock Python that was said to live in the mines. That thing back there definitely had a long body and a really large head! If that isn't the python, I don't know what is!" said Lorist, slightly embarrassed at the fact that he had indeed been saved by Els's quick thinking.
Els turned his head to the back before saying, "It doesn't look like a Single-horned Rock Python to me. It has a round head and doesn't seem to have any scales or eyes. Its speed isn't that fast either."
"How can you see in this darkness? Do I look like a child that would fall for your lies? And hey, don't run so quickly! What if we run straight into a wall!?" shouted Lorist.
"Haha," Els laughed lightly. "You know that I train in a darkness attribute Battle Force, right? I bet you didn't know that people who trained in that type of Battle Force had night vision. I can see just as good in the darkness as I do in broad daylight! That's my special ability! How is it? Are you envious? I can still see so well even without the torch you dropped."
"Good Sol, I have enough money to buy all the torches I need. I don't need that stinking ability!" Feeling rather envious, Lorist thought, This guy's ability of being able to see in the dark is not at all inferior to my own dynamic vision… And it's extremely helpful in poorly-lit environments…
"Then I bet you were enjoying the sights in the bath on that day. Even though the lighting is pretty bad in there, I bet you could see all of them with perfect clarity given your ability," said Lorist as he panted heavily.
"Can you please not bring that up again? I was facing the wall at that time and couldn't see even one of them…" Just as Lorist reminded him of that incident, Els recalled the cruel and demeaning remark by that girl that deeply wounded his pride and tripped on a piece of rock as he lost focus.
Lorist swiftly helped Els to his feet. "Eh? Locke, are you hurt? Why're your clothes wet?"
Stunned, Lorist felt his body up and said, "Oh, that's not blood. The waterskin holding the pesticide burst and released all of its contents on my body. That fall didn't hurt you badly, right? We better hurry, I'm starting to hear that thing closing in."
"I'm fine. Let's go."
In a short while, they went back to their previous resting place where Charade and the rest were waiting. Seeing Lorist and Els's haggard looks, they broke into a stream of laughter until they heard the rumbling coming from the tunnel behind them and started running towards the cavern exit for their lives.
Despite having a stocky build, Charade was the fastest of them all and escaped the caverns and was followed by Yuriy, Terman, Bam and one of the Bronze Swordsmen with Lorist and Els trailing along at the end. The other Bronze ranked helper who was packing the rat carcasses onto the cart outside the mines looked at their panicked expressions with wonder. What had happened in the mines while he was away?
Charade screamed, "Get out of the way! A magical beast is coming out from the entrance!"
That instantly set the rest of the group into panic. Fortunately, the beast retreated into the mines as if it was afraid of the strong sunlight.
Letting out a relieved breath, Charade asked Lorist and Els what happened. "What was that? How did you end up encountering it? And, what's that smell on you, Locke? Did your bladder go loose?"
Lorist explained, "No, the pesticide got splashed all over my body. It's the one developed by professor Snade Borg. I brought some over cause I heard that we would be eradicating Metal-eater Rats."
"Good Sol! Let me take a look at that pesticide! I think I know what that monster back there is!" said Charade as he walked towards Lorist angrily, seemingly wanting to give him a punch or two.
"Wait, what's wrong? Wasn't it a good idea to bring along the pesticide for the Metal-eater Rats?" asked Lorist as he dodged the fatty's punches.
"Good idea my ass! While that concoction can indeed repel Metal-eater Rats, it would also attract Ground Wyrms! That thing back there was a Ground Wyrm that had been lured over by the smell of that pesticide!
"Do you even know how serious that was? Ground Wyrms are magically mutated versions of common earthworms and they are attracted to the smell of pine tree roots! If you don't believe me, try digging out the roots of a pine tree and see if you find a nest of earthworms there! There are even people in the academy who are using that 'pesticide' of yours as Ground Wyrm lure!
"That professor even lost the 20000 gold Fordes that had been awarded to him after they found out about the unintended effect and caused lots of leftover pesticide to be stocked up at the academy, didn't you know? Sol, only an idiot like you would fall for his schemes!" screamed Charade with all his breath.
Good Sol, no wonder that professor said that he would give me one gold coin for every bucket sold! So, it was a defective product! Holding his head and curling up on the ground, Lorist merely said, "All of you guys, please hit me to your hearts' content. I deserve this."
But nobody went over to beat him up and merely calmed down to figure out how they would solve the problem at hand. Relative to other magical beasts, the Ground Wyrm wasn't too hard to take care of. They decided to lure it out with a large hook and rope after some discussion.
The Ground Wyrm was essentially an oversized earthworm; it was aversive to sunlight and water and was considered relatively harmless to most other magical beasts. It didn't pose that much of a threat to small, agile targets given its large, imposing body and slow speed. Charade and his party spent six whole days with the cooperation of the Baca villagers to put together a hundred meter long rope with a large hook at its end and sent Lorist down the mine with the hook to atone for his grave mistake.
Before he left, Els walked over from the crowd. Lorist asked, "Are you gonna do it for me?"
"I'm going to accompany you down there. If Yuriy and Terman wasn't assigned to hold the rope by Charade, they would've accompanied you as well. After all, we're friends, aren't we?"
It was at that moment when Lorist was moved to tears.
They put the hook down after walking a certain distance into the mines and wrapped it with a bundle of cloth that was soaked in the 'pesticide'. Without much delay, a rumbling sound could be heard from the depths of the caverns and the both of them ran out of it at full speed.
On their way to the exit, the rope snapped upward tightly. Lorist said cheerfully, "It got hooked!"
Outside the mines, Charade was directing the villagers to pull on the rope with all their force. Even after busting their backs for the whole afternoon, the Ground Wyrm simply refused to come out. After a final heave, the people present witnessed blood splatter out of the entrance of the mines as the internals of the Ground Wyrm were pulled out of its carcass.
Looking at the scene with a hint of satisfaction, Charade said, "Not bad, given how its internals were pulled out, that Ground Wyrm's dead for sure. We'll go harvest its skin tomorrow."
Given the amazing regenerative capabilities of Ground Wyrms, the only viable method of getting rid of it was to use a hook to pull the internals out. While the rest of the beast wasn't worth much, its skin could be boiled to extract a strong adhesive which could be mixed with sand to form sturdy building material.
To further make up for Lorist's error, Charade gave the skin to Bam, much to his delight, as he would be able to make new houses for his villagers with the skin of the Ground Wyrm.
After spending another three days clearing out the mines of any remaining Metal-eater Rats, the party put one of the small cages they brought around the entrance of the mines and with a rat corpse inside it. The decaying corpse would serve as an effective repellant for other Metal-eater Rats and keep them away from the mines.
Having wrapped up the whole affair, the gang bade farewell to Senior Bam and started their journey back to the city.
Els's Request
It was only after that incident with the Ground Wyrm when Lorist changed his impression of Els. Following that, they went on more missions together and eventually their friendship developed to a point where they could talk about almost anything.
The passage of time was indeed fast. He was only 19 at that time whereas in the present, he was 24. That span of five years was enough for Lorist to mature from a greenhorn mercenary to a veteran one.
Lorist wondered to himself why he recalled the events of the past all of a sudden for no reason. Was it the due to suddenly cutting ties with Wenna just moments before? After all, the relationship did last for four whole years and it wasn't something he could forget quickly even if he wished to. Only the passage of time could slowly lift the layers of yearning he had for her. He only hoped that he would able to leave this all behind and start fresh when the sun rose on the next day.
"Why have you come to the room? To watch me sulk?" said Lorist as he felt his face for any tears. Good thing there wasn't any, otherwise he would be laughing his ass off by now.
"Well, when I heard about the breakup from Uncle Girald, I thought I would be able to watch a funny scene right out of a melodrama, probably something along the lines of rekindled love and a rush of passion and lust that will end up in an affair between you and that little lady. Who would expect for you to act so cold and for her to be so casual about it and just part with you like that. How disappointing," Els said, spewing a bunch of crap as usual.
"Hehe, I'm sorry I let you down then," laughed Lorist lightly.
"Don't be. I've always known that you're no acting material and wouldn't put up a good show. Oh, and, what's with the duel notices that were put up all over the place? I was just planning to go to the academy and ask Charade what was going on," said Els.
"Well, it's nothing big. That old bastard Levins made a bet with the other academy heads that I could defeat every Silver ranked instructor from the other academies in a duel. He exploited that opportunity to take a registration fee for the duels earn some extra cash as well as to raise the reputation of the academy. That's why he had Charade going all over the place to put up those notices," explained Lorist.
Els did not show any sympathy for his friend's plight and only mused to himself with an excited expression on how he could use this opportunity to make some profit too. Lorist merely said, "There's no way you would be able to make anything in the academy sector. That old fox probably has everything covered and wouldn't let any chance to earn money slip by under his nose. Who knows if he already plans to do something city-wide? Well, the only place where you might be able to set up your operations would be at the inns. Though, it probably would be at a much smaller scale than you had hoped."
"The inns are more than enough. There are 48 districts in Morante City with 3 other new districts with a total of 27 syndicate bosses managing them. I only need to set up one betting operation in an inn across all the districts. As long as I'm willing to offer a cut to the other bosses, they would be more than happy to allow me to run it. Even if that old fox were to try to pull something similar off, without the connections I have, there's no way that he can match the payout that I can provide. We'll see which betting operation will attract more people," said Els with much excitement, impatiently waiting for the days to come.
Sighing in his heart, Lorist thought back at the Els he knew from five years ago who didn't care for any of his responsibilities and only wanted to go adventure to build a name for himself as a legendary mercenary. Right now, however, he had the air of a real syndicate boss who let no opportunity to profit slip by his eyes. It seems that these five years have not only changed Lorist but his friend as well.
"Now that you mention it, your plan seems like it would work out after all. But you didn't even consider whether I was willing to go to duel them or not. Well, not like I have any choice in that matter. What if I were to lose for some reason, though?"
"Hehe, you think I don't know you after all these years? If you were to truly lose, then it would really be the joke of the century. While my darkness attribute Battle Force is harder to train in and Charade has already overtaken me to reach the Three Star Silver rank, I believe that no other Silver Swordsman in the whole city can take either of us on. But against you, however, both Charade and I hasn't even won a single match. Even that one time when we fought you two-on-one, we could only hold on for up to 100 moves before losing to you. I wouldn't believe that you would lose to a Silver rank even if you beat me into submission," Els told Lorist with much confidence.
Lorist could only roll his eyes.
��Alright brother, I won't let you walk away with nothing. How about this, I'll let you take a 10% cut? No? Then 15%! Still won't do? Alright then, 20% is the most I can give you. I'll have to use the rest to feed my men, you know," said Els.
"Alright, deal," said Lorist as he stretched his hand out lazily. "Go look for that fatty tomorrow and ask him about the dueling schedule and get an info sheet on the challengers. That will help you organize the betting better. Oh, and don't forget that he'll pester you for a share of the profit as well."
"I know, he's getting 10% at most. After giving the rest of the syndicate bosses and inn owners their cuts, I'll be left with roughly 30-40%, which is still a rather good haul," Els said as he slapped Lorist's extended palm away. Already imagining the bag of gold coins in his hands, Els started to feel even more pumped.
"Oh, Locke, I almost forgot another thing. That's… Ah, I got you a disciple," Els wrinkled his forehead in thought and said.
"What? A disciple? Are you kidding me?" said Lorist, astonished. Come on, I'm not old enough to be someone's master, am I?
"This…" Els hesitated a bit before grabbing his head in frustration and saying, "Well, it's not anything that formal. You just have to let him follow you around and teach him some moves whenever you can. Treat him as your personal attendant if you'd like. He'll be perfect for the job since he's pretty well built and has rather good stamina."
Hearing Els describe that person, Lorist started to get interested. "Just tell me what this is about."
"Alright, Locke. You know that thing about my subordinates…"
Lorist understood how Els came to become a syndicate boss. Twenty years ago, both his parents were Gold ranked combatants and were a rather famous couple who lead a mercenary group. However, twenty years ago, Els's parents joined the Battle of Whitestag Town. In that battle, the Krissen Empire lost their only Sword Saint, but the trade union's forces did not emerge unscathed from that battle either. Most of the mercenaries hired to join that battle had perished, among which included Els's mother. His father incurred heavy injuries and died of illness several years later. The only one left in their mercenary group was Els's uncle, Charlando and several other Silver ranked mercenaries. Charlando was hurt in his leg and became a limp who was unable to progress from the Two Star Gold rank any further.
With their ace fighters gone, the mercenary group could only disband. Having considered the worst scenario, Els's parents had previously made some arrangements for the remaining members of the group prior to their deaths: they provided the relatives of all members with housing in the same district. Even after the mercenary group had disbanded, the relatives of the members looked out for each other and they were also taken care of by the Morante City administration for the contributions of their family members who were in the mercenary group.
Having started an inn to be able to better educate and look out for the offspring of the members of the mercenary group, Charlando placed his hopes on the children and hoped that they would one day take up the banner of their group once again. Els was the unofficial leader of the group of children as he was the eldest and was also the strongest among them. He also cared for them a lot as if they were his blood-related siblings from a young age.
Seeing the kids grow and mature and given that Els was going to graduate from the Dawn Academy soon, Charlando was elated and predicted that the glorious days of the mercenary group will once again come. What caught him off guard was the event that made Els take up the position of a syndicate boss.
The Forde Trade Union had a unique governing system which handed the administration rights of the various districts to several syndicate bosses who had their own underlings and groups. While that legitimized the syndicates and greatly decreased the crime rate, bosses who operated beyond the law wasn't unheard of. One such person was the syndicate boss in charge of the districts Els and his buddies lived in.
While the syndicate bosses have the right to impose taxes on the citizens on the district, this one was even worse in that he even collected taxes for clothes-drying, land-occupation and even for road repairs, and incited the rage of the citizens in the district and almost let a violent conflict erupt. Els's gang even resisted and sent the tax collectors to the medical centers given their youthful recklessness.
However, the syndicate boss wasn't pleased to hear that and believed that Els represented a bad example to the rest of the citizens of the district and was the main culprit of the resistance he was facing. Intending to forever remove the pain in his ass, the boss started to think of ways to handle him. It was at this moment when one of his subordinates brought him news that angered him greatly. It seemed that the whole district was planning to protest in an effort to force the city council to remove the syndicate boss from his position.
Having already paid a management fee to the city council that he hasn't earned back from the taxes he collected, the syndicate boss racked his brains and came out with an idea: he planned to kill Els and make an example out of him to deter future protesters.
But his gang alone didn't have the power to take Els down as he had a Gold ranked Swordsman standing behind him. Unwilling to hire professional killers for a large sum, the syndicate boss resorted to setting Els's house on fire and hoped that he would perish in the burning embers.
Unfortunately, just when his subordinates arrived, they were discovered by Els and his gang and were beaten up to the point when they confessed their boss's intentions. This incited the citizens and prompted them to surround the mansion of the syndicate boss to remove him once and for all. Unable to escape, the boss was captured by Els and had been clobbered to death by the raging citizens before Els could react.
With the position of the syndicate boss now vacant, the elders of the district discussed with one another and picked Els to succeed the position. Els, not wanting to disappoint the people, could only take it without complaint.
Given that he didn't accept the position willingly, Els slacked off on the responsibilities of the syndicate boss. Luckily, he had many trustworthy subordinates who handled everything without problem and didn't cause him any worry. In the years to come, Els only found out that the other two districts had also fell under his jurisdiction without him knowing. That was how Charlando's ideal mercenary group morphed into one of the most active and developmental district syndicates of Morante City instead.
Back when the mercenary group disbanded, a Silver ranked member who was a good pal of Charlando prepared to return to his homeland in the Romon Empire. Before he left, he expressed his hope that the descendants of his comrades would one day take up the banner of the mercenary group again. Just three months prior, Charlando met a beggar from the Romon Empire who revealed that he was the son of that comrade from the Romon Empire.
Upon further questioning, Charlando got to know about the death of his comrade just the year before. After returning to his rural village, that Silver Swordsman joined the garrison there and settled down two years later and birthed a son that was the beggar in front of Charlando. Just two years ago, an epidemic broke out in the village and his mother passed away, followed by his father who held on for half a year. At his deathbed, he instructed his son to go to find Charlando in Morante City to join the mercenary group.
While it would only take less than half a month to go to Morante City from his village by way of a carriage, the son wasn't aware of it and traveled for half a year on foot all the way and begged when he ran out of money for food and slept outdoors in the wilderness for the whole of the journey. It was already quite a feat that he wasn't captured by slave traders for the whole time.
Having heard the arduous journey that the child of his comrade had experienced, Charlando let out a stream of tears and treated him with utmost care and even told Els to regard him as his own brother. After learning that the mercenary group would no longer be formed, however, the beggar flipped out and refused to join Els's group. Troubled, Charlando could only send that child to school only to receive a notice that he had been expelled as a result of beating up all his classmates.
"This is already the third elementary academy that he has been expelled from. To think that we've hoped that he would be able to apply for a place at Dawn Academy after a year of the elementary course… It looks like that won't be happening anytime soon. The old man asked him what he would like to study. He only said that he wanted to learn the ways of the sword and become a mercenary one day to venture about on the continent. The question wasn't on whether he had the will to learn, but rather one of his talent…"
Els continued his rant, "That kid lived all his life in the rural village and played around in the forest a lot. Coupled with his carefree parents, he developed a stubborn and wild personality and will not stop after he set his mind on something. I believe that a stick would be more threatening in his hands than a sword at this point. He's already a Two Star Bronze fighter at the age of sixteen and has a really large build that made him look almost twenty. Given his innate strength, you'd think that he would be a talent worth cultivating. But in actuality, he's pretty slow and will forget a move he was taught within ten minutes. The way he swings his sword around like a crazed barbarian really irks me.
"Even the old man can't do anything about it. That's when I thought: if there's anyone who can teach him the sword, that would be you," Els declared.
Letting out a loud laugh, Lorist said, "Even a Gold Swordsman like old Char wasn't able to teach him swordsmanship. What could an Iron rank like me do?"
"Locke, I know you're different. Your swordsmanship skill definitely exceeds that of my uncle. Just do me a favor and give him a chance, if he's really not swordsman material, you can send him back to me then," begged Els.
Lorist thought deeply for a bit before nodding and saying, "Alright, I'll give him a chance."
Author's note: Most high ranked academies in Morante City like the Dawn Academy doesn't simply allow one to apply as a student. An applicant must be able to pass an entrance test that determines their level of intellect and cultural knowledge. That's why there are many elementary academies in the city that specializes in preparing the students for the tests, much like the tuition classes that prepare students for university entrance tests in Lorist's previous world.