CH14: A Champion!

***

CH14: A Champion!

Codename: Agent Zero.

I hadn't heard that in a long time.

It used to be my designation back in Taskforce 47.

Although I didn't intend to join the House of Death just yet, I had to let DarkBlade know who to watch out for.

Ingratiation Tactics 101: The mark has to know who to favour.

I had to come up with a codename for him to keep tabs on. And what better codename than the one I used for more than a decade in my previous life, don't you think?

After DarkBlade left, I heaved a massive sigh of relief.

Although his mana itself couldn't pressure me, his presence alone did the job.

If I were to describe how I felt, it would be something along the lines of a lowly peasant meeting a King for the first time in their life.

The peasant would feel a massive amount of pressure and nerves, even without the king doing anything.

And in this scenario, I wasn't even considered a peasant. I was lower.

I wasn't even a G-rank peasant while DarkBlade was a freaking Lord ranker.

Anyway, after confirming I didn't sheet my pants, I left the field. I still had a couple of things to do.

First, I had to recover the client's stolen loot. Second, I had to repossess Karl's loot.

I hope you're not thinking I'm a good guy who would return the stolen loot.

If you are...

*

I made dam sure I wasn't being followed by DarkBlade or anyone for that matter.

Then, I made my way to the abandoned house Karl hid his loot. I went to the back of the house where I accessed the underground cellar.

Karl's loot was in a large trunk.

The trunk was 2m long, 1m wide and 1m high.

A trunk large enough to hold a person. Yet it was filled to the brim with precious gems and metals.

I thanked Karl, God bless his soul.

The guy worked tirelessly for years to provide me with the capital I'd need for my Assassin career.

Sure, my parents left a bit of money for me, but I couldn't use them for my work. It could be tracked back to me.

Arun surprisingly has a good banking system that makes tracking money transfers no different from my previous life.

I needed to gather funding discretely for my operations and these precious items would provide this just fine.

Now the problem was getting it out of this neighbourhood discretely. I'd have to do it over a period of time.

I guess a week would be enough to move everything without alerting the people living in this slum area.

I just hope Karl wasn't devious enough to leave clues to the loot in the case of his death. That would be a real bummer.

I took the amount of loot I could fill into a small bag that would go unnoticed. I made sure to include my client's stolen gems as well.

I made my way out of the slum and headed to the posh area of town to meet my client.

This time, I decided not to break in through the window. I knocked on the front door.

The Client's butler let me in, no questions asked.

I met the client in his posh mansion study and presented him the loot.

Karl's severed head and the bag of his stolen gems.

The Client presented me a bag of the metals. I said some few useless words to confirm the contract was done, then I left the mansion.

I retrieved the bag of the gems I took from Karl's stash but didn't take to the Client's home.

I know the Client was a gems dealer, and he could probably help me fence the stolen loot but I decided against it.

I didn't know the price of the gems for one, but most importantly, the gems were stolen from stores in Pyremonte. I doubted the Client would be willing to accept such hot goods or be able to dispose of them in the short time left before I wanted to leave the town.

If it weren't for Karl's loot, I would've left the next day. I had already spent more than three months in the town. I very much wanted to return home.

I still couldn't get past my fear of a potential toxic metal poisoning with how densely metallic the air feels.

I knew the price I was going to get for the Client to dispose of the gems within a few weeks to a month was going to be peanuts. I'd rather take my chances loading the goods home, then finding the chance to dispose of them at a later date.

It took me about three days to repossess all of Karl's stolen loot.

I spent the day roaming through Pyremonte's shops, buying useful looking things, and spent the nights moving the loot.

I acquired a longsword, a bow and quivers of arrows as well as two empty chest and another field with meteoric Iron ore, Iron ingots, Steel ingots and an assortments of other metallic ingots.

I had no choice.

I needed the certificate of purchase and receipts to explain bringing three chests onto the train.

I shared the Karl loot into the chest, added a false bottom then shared the ingots into two chests while I filled the last one with my clothes, weapons and other personal items.

Fortunately, I got on-board without too strict an inspection and even got help bringing in my chests; perks of paying for a personal compartment.

It was a quiet journey back to Pryford.

*

I took in the familiar fresh air of my beautiful hometown of Pryford.

It lacked the overt development and facilities of Pyremonte, however, the familiar rolls of brown brick buildings interlaced with be trees and other plants relieved whatever fatigue I accumulated in the last three months and more.

I called a carriage in front of the train station, which was pretty much the taxi of this world. The carriage was drawn by horses.

Only that these horses were bigger and more muscular.

It went without saying that they were stronger and faster than the horses of my previous life.

Not just the horses, it was the same for all animals. They were bigger and stronger than their counterparts from my old world.

Most of them tend to be meaner too.

Only animals raised in captivity can be domesticated. No one so far has been able to tame any wild animal (beast). They all seem to hate humans for whatever reason, even the herbivores.

Interestingly, the animals domesticated in Arun are the same one domesticated in my previous world. The herbivores anyways.

The carnivores are a bit more tricky.

According to the books I read in the Library, you're only allowed to keep a carnivore as a pet only if you're strong and/or said carnivore was raised from birth.

You were responsible for whatever the animal did. So, if the animal attacks someone, you're arrested for assault and the animal is put down if the situation is severe enough.

Anyway, I got on the carriage.

We quickly left the hustle and bustle of the town centre and headed to the more quiet neighbourhood where my home was.

Soon, I could see the house in front, on a short hill.

The familiar scenery stood in its lonesome on the short elevated ground.

The carriage dropped me off in front of the house.

The elation from returning home only lasted for a short moment before it was wiped out.

The front lawn wasn't high like I expected. It was recently cut low. I could smell the characteristic smell of freshly cut grass.

Even more telling, the front door was open!

I was considering how to handle this when I saw someone come out of the house.

He was dressed in a royal blue Noble's suit. The suit was complete with the hat, waist coat, cane and all.

The way the man carried himself showed he was a person of status.

"You must be Amelia and Xander's son." The man said.

"Who are you?"

"Someone who knew your parents very well."

"Why are you here?" I didn't let my guard down

"Oh," He smiled. "I'm here to kill you, Leo, son of Xander."

Before I could even process what the man said, Eight rings shot out of his body to announce he was likely at Champion-rank.

"Can I say something before you kill me?"

"Your last words? Are you going to ask why I want to kill you?"

"No. Whatever the reason you have, it doesn't matter because I am weak and you are strong. Nothing would change even if I know why you want to kill me."

"Ha-ha... Like father like son. You're truly your father's child. Lord Lionheart would be proud! Tell me, young one. What do you want to say?"

The man's words shocked me.

I knew my parents were a big deal, but I didn't expect my father to be a Lord when he died. If he were still alive right now, it's possible he'd be a Champion ranker like this unknown man already.

Unfortunately, it didn't help me get out of the pickle I was in.

"Since I'm going to die anyway, how about a challenge? No weapons, no mana. Just a honest exchange of fist between men."

"A fight between men? I'm generous not to call you brat, boy." The man chuckled nonchalantly. "You just said I was strong and you were weak. Then tell me this, why should the strong listen to the weak?"

"Because it is boring to kill an ant... Because it is more fun to kill a prey that can actually fight back even though its fate is decided."

The man stared at me silently for a moment.

Then he nodded.

"Fine. You stood tall and unwavering even under the pressure of my Mana rings. You deserve respect. I'll humour you."

The man placed his cane by the door before removing his hat and jacket. He put them on a rocking chair by the door. Then, he folded up his shirt's sleeve.

I also removed my jacket and hat. I directly threw them down on the lawn before walking towards the man as I also folded my sleeves.

You must be wondering why I'm fighting this unknown man.

Why am I not attempting to run away?

It's because I knew I can't.

The Hunter Union calls those who have the full strength of a proper combat 8 mana rings 'Champions' for a reason.

The man didn't just release his eight rings for flex. He also unleashed a disgusting ability belonging to Champions.

A Field Domain.

Champions can manifest their mana rings to lock down an area of space. This was called a Field Domain.

Unless someone had a Field Domain of their own, forget about just walking out of one.

The only ways to get out of a Field Domain was for the Domain owner to let you out, or for them to die.

In other words, once you're trapped within a Field Domain, there was only one result.

A fight to the death with only one winner.

The Champion.

Hence why Hunters with 8-rings are called Champions.

I had no other choice but to fight if I wanted to survive. I know I can't defeat the man if we fight normally. That's why I decided to seek the slim chance of survival in a small hypothesis of mine.

But Fork! Other reincarnators meet weaklings first before facing higher rankers as they get stronger.

I only stepped out of Pryford once and I've seen a Knight, a Lord and a Champion. What next? A Hero would appear?

I got my game face on as I prepared to face the man.

(To be continued...)