A Duel!?

This day was like a normal routine day. I and rose were getting along quite well. I even started to help her with cooking, the dishes, and also with cleaning. Just like I used to do before I got transported to this New world. The day ended without anything problematical. After doing the dishes, I went to bed. And unknowingly, I started to get attracted towards rose, and I wasn't even fully aware about it. As I fell asleep, I was having a dream, everything was blank, like a white canvas. "Did I transported you here in the borderland just for you to make? Did you already forgot your purpose here? That's quite heartless of yours to forget your so called best friend, or should I say, Late Best Friend?" Those words woke me up the very Core, the words were of nobody another than the God himself. Those words were like knifes being stabbed directly in my heart, harsh enough to leave a scar on my mind. Before I noticed, I already was full of tears.

The next day, while I was shopping in the market district with rose, some local cheap thugs cornered us into a quite narrow alley, to rob us off our belongings and money. Those guys seemed too scary, but I tried to stop them as chickening in front of Rose felt like an wrong option. Just as I resisted, they started to use violence against us two. One of them punched me in the face, knocking me down to knees and then started kicking me while I was down. Meanwhile, the other two were troubling Rose. One of them pulled a knife out of nowhere and hold it around Rose's neck. Slowly pulling the knife closer, he already decided to kill us both right at the scene. Seeing her like that revoked the same emotions in me which I felt when Dale was being killed.

All the fear, all the anger, all the pain, all the agony and All The Regret came to me all at once. These emotions were too much for my mind to handle alone, they even made an impact on my mana reserves, making them release mana on a whole new different level. My body released too much mana in a short time. But this time it was a little different, my body wasn't glowing and emitting light, but instead it was absorbing light like it was the darkness itself. It was the Dark Mana. This sight was too scary for the hooligans that they ran away from being scared to death. Not just the hooligans, but it was felt by everyone across the Borderland. Rose was scarred by this too. With a face reflecting fear, she asked, "Who and what are you?" "A LOSER!!!" I yelled with anger and sorrow mixed in my mind about myself. And this was my answer to the lady's question. "I'm a Loser! What kind of person save people precious to him? I couldn't even save my best friend when I had the chance." Soon, my vision began to blur, not due to the after-effects of using excessive mana, but because of the tears overflowing my eyes. "I thought I'll lose you her too and all the pain I felt back then when losing the person precious to me came back. Why? Because I lov-" I was about to confess my feelings to her when I was interrupted by the local guards rushing toward us with a sword in their hands ready to slash. There a strong looking rugged man with a beautiful sword with them. He was none another than one of the Black Knights, Black Knight El Cid Compeador! And the beautiful sword carried with him was the famous and great sword, Colada! "Good afternoon, young couple. Are you two alright? I sensed a burst of Dark Mana, which I was unfamiliar with. Do by any means, you know what happened?" The Black Knight said with a friendly smile on his face. "Dark mana? What is this? Some kind of local cuisine?" I asked as I was then not knowing anything about the borderland and magic. El Cid was shocked by my response along with every solder accompanying him. Meanwhile Rose was being interviewed by the other guards. "Gentleman," he responded "I assume you know nothing about mana and magic. Is my assumption correct?"

"Yes sir,...…um...….. What should I call you sir?" Everyone around was shocked by my narrow knowledge but El Cid's reaction was different. "Ha Ha Ha," he burst into a laugh and added, "My apologies, I forgot to introduce myself earlier. Well, I do not usually need to make myself introduce. So, I am Dark Knight El Cid Compeador, the chosen owner of pure sword Colada. By the way, you could call me Rodrigo. Well, Gentleman will you mind introducing yourself to us?" I felt like we could be friends. I answered, " Sorry I forgot too. I'm Alex Huston, and you call me ...um.... Yes, you could call me whatever you want sir Rodrigo."

The solders were still amused and surprised by how I was talking with Rodrigo so casually. Their mouths were wide open too. Rose, after her interview with the other guards was finished, invited Rodrigo to her house for further talk. And over a cup of tea, he taught me many things about mana and magic, like how can it be used, where can it be used and How can it be used in a combat. He also told me about the political structure of the borderland. He taught me that the king is the most powerful person in the Borderland, both politically and in combat power too. He also told me about the military structure and ranks. Depending on the type of the mana user, he is posted in either Black Military or White military. Each military consist of ranks with the lowest being the solder/guard and higher is the rank of unit commander and at the top is the 'Strategist'. The Strategist is the second most powerful person in the Borderland and also the wisest man.

After he taught these things, the group of guards who were interviewing Rose, gave the report to Rodrigo. He went through the report, and his next words stuck like a bolt out of the blue. He said, "Alex, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL! Would you mind accepting it?"

"HuH!? A Duel!?"