Chapter 14 - Competition
The next day when Marc and Rofta came to the stone site, they saw Antonio who was in a happy mood? They weren't sure, because this old man's mood swings were too often.
"Good morning" greeted Antonio.
"Ok, this old man is scheming something," thought Rofta when he heard his normally grumpy boss.
"Good morning," greeted both Marc and Rofta back.
"So move rocks down the mountain today too?" Rofta just wanted to finish the work and get off.
"For you yes, but not this little demon! He will just sit on the ground and watch the others work!!" Antonio said which surprised Rofta a little. His brain went overdrive thinking of reasons for Antonio's change of tone.
Marc was just about to celebrate that he won't have to work anymore, that was until Antonio said something he couldn't take lying down. "Rofta, you are a lot better and stronger than this little demon. That's why I don't need him to move stones anymore. He's totally useless…" Antonio said with one closed eye while the other secretly looked at Marc's reaction.
"Eh?" Rofta exclaimed in surprise, and he immediately knew what this old man is doing.
"What do you mean he's better than me? I won't believe it before I see it, so let's compete!!" Marc got agitated, and his fighting spirit ignited so he challenged Rofta.
"No, you will just wreak the place again! I have already assessed Rofta to be better than you, so just sit down like a good little boy." Antonio further added wood to the fire.
"I refuse geezer, either we compete or I will wreak this place again!" Antonio shuddered a little after hearing Marc's threat before calming down. All is happening according to the plan in his mind.
"Well if you insist so much, then so be it." Antonio shrugged his shoulders while saying.
"I insist!!" Said Marc with crossed arms and a straight back. If he was higher and had a more mature face, he wouldn't look like a kid throwing a fit right now.
"So how do we compete?" This time it was Rofta who asked. Ever since Marc and Rofta met each other they have been competing in everything they could think of. Rofta doesn't want to confess it, but they are definitely friends and rivals at the same time.
"We have gotten a new order from the Capital. And they want 1000 of our biggest stones that we can cut and transport. If you look up the mountain 200 ready to be taken down. Each stone weighs 500 kg and you two will compete in who takes most of them down the mountain. The stones MUST be on your back the whole way down. And little devil NO throwing or rolling stones with your strange Paw Magic got it!? In fact, the use of magic will be forbidden for both of you." Antonio explained everything he had prepared in advance.
Rofta shuddered though after hearing they have to move so many 500kg stones. "Good lord, I won't have a back and kneecaps left when we are done. But I'm not going to lose!!"
"Well, are you ready? Ready, set, GO." Antonio counted down before Marc and Rofta stormed up the mountain.
The first to get up the mountain was Marc.
…
I'm not going to lose to Rofta. He's strong but I'm stronger and I will show that old geezer.
I was the first who reached the top of the mountain. I should just quickly take the nearest stone and run down with it and win this shit.
Going closer to the stone I did, not lifting the stone I could. Wait fuck off Yoda!! Damn, I'm fired up! Igneel and Natsu would be proud of me right now.
But after trying to lift the stone multiple times with brute strength I remembered that my grumpy boss only said no magic, so I guess it's fine to release Magic Power to strengthen myself. But just to make sure I looked and Rofta, and he looked at me like an idiot.
I just scratched the back of my head in embarrassment. It was stupid of me thinking I could lift a big stone that weights 500kg without the help of Magic Power. I'm not Eddie Hall, yet.
Release!!
After confirming it by looking at Rofta who already released his own Magic Power I did the same and grabbed each side of the stone and semi threw it on my back.
Ugh, this heavy but I'm not going to lose, Plus Ultra!!
And I began slowly going down the mountain looking like a ninja with a stone on his back, running in slow motion from Naruto. Rofta is a few meters in front of me, I have to catch up.
…
That idiot actually tried to lift a stone without releasing any Magic Power? Although the old man in my village could easily lift it or even crush it with his bare hands.
"How do you know if you don't even try?" Marc once asked me that when I turned down his suggestion of using my Inverted World Magic to invert other senses too, like the sense of time.
I told him it was impossible without even trying it, but I guess he does have a point. Why should I limit myself? I'm going to burst out of my little bubble and get stronger, much much stronger.
Release!!
I was the first to release my Magic Power and grab the stone with both hands around it, and walk down the mountain with it resting on my stomach.
Not on my back like Marc just did, it looks embarrassing…
…
"Guess Genno hasn't lost his touch. He still has that talent of reading people's personalities," Muttered Antonio to himself with a smile of satisfaction on his face, though he's still afraid of celebrating too early like last time. Everything can happen with that little devil here.
Then he heard the sound of armor rattling and turned around to see Genno coming. "I thought you had a shift early in the morning?" Asked Antonio.
"I traded it with another knight's shift that starts in the afternoon. I wanted to come and see how's going with little Marc young-in." Explained Genno to his old friend.
"It's too early to say, but right now everything's fine. You want to bet on who wins?" Antonio asked while shaking his pouch with Jewels in.
"Sure, I bet a 1000 Jewels on Marc young-in then." Genno quickly agreed and stated his bet.
"You picked the little devil? I don't think he can keep his focus for more than 2 hours, so I pick Rofta. He's a well-mannered kid and doesn't make too much trouble. 1000 Jewels on Rofta." Genno couldn't help shaking his head and think "Well mannered? He's always about to call you "geezer" or old man when you talk. He just calls you sir because he's afraid of you deducting his pay…"
…
In the corner of a bar in Maquarry, 5 men were sitting around a table looking at each other.
"Gegege, so what job did we get this time leader? Kidnapping, assassination, or intelligence gathering?" Asked an ugly man with two different sizes of eyes while looking with excitement at his leader.
"Assassination. We are going to assassinate workers from Calcul-Stone Company and spread the word around the city, so no one would dare to work there anymore. Out client wants to give a blow to the Kingdom of Fiore's economy. At first, I considered burning down one of the kingdoms biggest wheat fields, but it's too heavily guarded with strong mages." Replied the leader who had a really long face with small eyes and chin-length black hair.
"Gegege, fantastic so does it have to be a clean death or an ugly death?" Asked the ugly underling while the other 3 just sat and listened for instructions. Though they couldn't talk even if they wanted, because none of them have a tongue. It was cut off in case they are caught and interrogated. They can't write either. The only thing they can are listening and killing.
"Make it as ugly as you can so other citizens can see it and will spread the news around. We begin the operation in 4 days." said the leader.
"Gegege, fantastic, truly fantastic." The ugly assassin couldn't help licking his lips creepily in anticipation.
…
While the assassins conversed, Marc and Rofta had finally reached the bottom of the mountain with their first stones, before they stormed up the mountain again while pushing each other out of the way, despite being plenty of space to run on.
"Fuck of lanky, can't you see I'm running here!?" Yelled Marc to Rofta.
"Huh? Did I just step on a bug?" Rofta fired back after stepping on Marc's foot.
"Argh, my foot!!" Marc yelled in pain on the ground holding his foot. More precisely his toe, before quickly getting up and caught up to Rofta for revenge.
He went behind Rofta and in one quick motion pulled his pants down making him fall over before yelling "Timber!!" Which lumberjacks yell when a tree is about to fall over as a warning.
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(A/N: It's not that Marc is easy to bait in general, but he's easy if being set up against Rofta because they are rivals. Marc will be the one doing the bait if it's not related to Rofta 🤪)
(A/N: We got a look at the first villains and I want you to decide if this should be Marc's first kill or wait?)
(A/N: I'm thinking of creating some OC dragon characters but I need some reference material. Please post some characters you like from other manga, anime, or even just artwork you love. I will post the first one I remember.)
(Words: 1636)