A Lifetime of Memory (19)
"Hey kid, I've been observing you for the past few days, I don't know where you came from, but I can day that I'm impressed, you've still tried to keep your uprightness and morals no matter how harsh life had treated you" As the man wearing distinguished clothes reached out his hands to Simon
...
"Oh, can't you speak? It looks like you're about to pass out from dehydration - here have some water" The man then brought out a pouch that contains water and directly poured the water to Simon's mouth.
Glup! Glup! Glup!
Puwaaaah!
"W-Who are you??" Simon still a bit wary of the man asked in hesitation.
The man then replied in a proud tone of voice, "I'm the personal butler that serves the current 12th baron's first son of the Avilla's. Now would you like to join the knighthood of the baron in this territory and fight evil together, how about it son?"
And seeing as he has no other choice for now, Simon agreed in hesitation, "Fine I'll come with you"
Not knowing that decision of his would forever change his life...
...
After entering to become a part of the baron's forces, Simon was fed three times a day, while also making sure that he was given the daily necessities so that he would develop as a prim and proper gentleman.
However, the price for all of that was a grueling training, that tempered both his body and mind, and although at first his progress was much slower than his peers, he did not give up or showed any hints of quitting.
Instead, he proved them wrong by beating them on the one on ones that would be held every weekend.
And slowly but surely, he had developed his own swordsmanship by taking down those genius swordsmen around him, it had developed to a point that it could even pose a threat to other knights that were clearly much stronger in the aspect of both magical and physical prowess.
It could be described as a swordsmanship that throws the enemies off guard by a continuous sudden shift in movements that were supposed to be predictable, his strokes and attack did not have a fixed pattern, even down to the way his body momentum changes, which made it a venomous poison to those who were proud and arrogant of themselves.
But, nevertheless, the baron's first-born son still saw the potential in him and appointed him as one of his most trusted aides, a knight assassin that attends to him personally.
However, the abrupt end of his journey at the kingdom of humanity, caused him to not be able to name his swordsmanship style, as he had felt that it was incomplete and the amount of experience that he had gained was inadequate.
...
Swing! Schwing!
Splat!
Thwack!
Over the years, as the baron's son took over to clean up after his late father's corrupted deeds, Simon's battle sense grew to the point where there was an immense gap between his raw power and fighting experience, he made no excuse to continue improving.
Still the cost of it all, was that through the missions that he was sent to accomplish, the blood that splattered from his blade were innumerable, enough that even no matter how much he swings his blade to clean it, it'll probably be remain drenched.
As it did not matter how rotten the blood that was spilled, it'll probably remain sticking and, in the end, harden.
"You stupid-stupid-idiot bastard!!! Why'd you have to offend him?! Right when we were about to finish negotiating to turn our business into a legal one?!!" As the father pointed at the bloody mess that his son made.
"W-What's the problem father?! He's just a guardian knight of the baron? - Why do we have to be wary of him - The baron probably has a lot more to repla-" The impudent son replied to his father but was interrupted by his father's bitch slap.
SLAP!
"Anyone? JUST ANYONE?!! - Don't you know who he is? - I saw him once kill three men with a quill - JUST A FUCKING QUILL!!!"The father announced furiously while lighting up the cigar in his hand to calm his nerves down.
The father then clutched his son while writhing in anger and whispered, "You better fucking hide while you still can..."
...
Meanwhile, Simon was discussing the plan with the baron on how to eliminate the last gang made of ruffians.
The baron made sure to thoroughly instruct him on who were deserving of death, those had abused, tortured, and killed the innocent.
And Simon trusted him, because the Baron had never once made a mistake, so that for the very least, it will lessen the burden of the guilt that Simon will carry.
"In the end this is how it's going to end huh? through violence sigh..." The now newly appointed baron said regrettably while looking out the window of the mansion where his father once stood.
His butler who had been through with him since his birth then offered some comforting and encouraging words, "We're just once step away from it my lord, the paradise that you once dreamt of as a kid, we cannot stop now."
So, the baron just vented out his frustration in the cold night sky, "Sigh! What a stupid father he is, to think that he would treat his family so well, but despite that he was cruel to his own subjects and people- Why'd he had to be a corrupted noble! Truly, truly stupid."
As the baron tried to reminiscence of his innocent memories together with his father, but every time he would do so, it would be interrupted by those who suffered through his father's bloody regime, telling him that what he saw as a father figure was all false, it was just a mask hiding behind that facade of sanity, in order to conceal what his father truly is-
A perverse maniac that would do anything to get what he wants.
Creek! Creek! As he closed the window
The baron then slightly hoped that by killing the last collogue his father had, his conscience would be cleared, and that the ghost of the past would hunt him no more.
But before leaving he asked his butler one last thing, "Have you prepared that thing that I told you to?"
"You don't have to worry my lord; everything had already been arranged" The butler replied in confidence!
Shut! Shut!
The butler then thought for a moment before joining Simon on their plan on eradicating the "Savage Hyenas" gang, 'I don't think that what you're asking for is necessary my lord, to the point that you're even willing to offer your head in a platter for your younger siblings, but if your younger siblings should ever come for you for revenge, I'll be willing to offer my neck alongside you'
Swoosh! Swoosh! As the butler jumped out of the window that was left open by his lordship
...
Arghhhh! Ughhh!! Arghhhh!!!
AAAHHHHH!!! The sounds of wails and screams of the low-ranking hooligans echoed throughout the night, they knew that it was the doing of their newly appointed lord
But no matter how much they asked for help, none of the citizens helped, instead they've all just turned their eyes away from them.
They did not care about them; they had no sympathy left for them, after all they had been victims of their cruelty.
"Did you really have to go this far? just from my son jumping you? What more do you need from us just to quell your anger?" The leader of the gang asked.
However, Simon did not reply and with his whole buddy shuddering in anger, he kept on walking slowly towards him.
The leader of the gang then started to chuckle, "Kukuku I see, HAHAHA! - You had no plans pardoning our sins from the start no matter how much we bargained for it HAHAHAHA! - What a fool I'd become I should've seen this coming, maybe my age is starting to get to me HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" As he started laughing maniacally.
The leader of the gang then grabbed his weapon of choice, a heavy mace.
"DIE!!!!" He then rushed towards Simon with the fire element enveloping all throughout his body.
Clang! Clang!
Schwing! Schwing!
Sching! Sching! Sching!
Pssssk!
The leader of the gang then backed away for a second as he got grazed by Simon's sword under his arms and declared that, "That's a nice sword you got there to not burn from my flames - But that's all, you're no match to me, you're weak - I can tell by how heavy you can swing your sword"
Simon then replied in a monotonous tone of voice, "You talk too much, pay for your sins with your death!"
As they both lunged at each other again.
Swhoosh!
Swhoosh!
Clang! Clang!
Schwing! Schwing!
Sching! Sching! Sching!
Pssssk! Psssssk!
But every time both their weapons met, Simon would just dodge with the most minimal movements required, saving his stamina, but at the same time giving his opponent a false sense of hope, because he would only cut his body ever so slowly.
Clang! Clang!
Schwing! Schwing!
Sching! Sching! Sching!
Pssssk!
"Stop fucking moving! You slippery bastard!!!" The leader of the gang shouted in frustration, as all he needed was just to deal a single blow to end this battle-
'One hit! Just one hit!! Why can't I hit him a single time?!! - What the fuck is happening here? It's like I'm fighting a mirage but there are no after images being produced'
Clang! Clang!
Schwing! Schwing!
Sching! Sching! Sching!
Pssssk! Psssssk! Pssssk!
Huff! Huff! Thump! In the end, the leader of the gang had to lean his body towards a nearby wall, due to the bleeding from the cuts all over his body.
Then as he was to pass out from exhaustion the leader of the gang said his final words, "Huff! Huff! - I never stood a chance, you were just toying with me, weren't you?"
However, Simon's expression remained unchanged and did not show any signs of forgiveness and remorse at what he is about to do.
Schwing!
Thump! As Simon decapitated him, and his lifeless head remained on the floor.
Where Simon then burned their entire mansion, leaving not a single trace of the gang
...
"Reporting, the entire estate of our leader has been razed down to the ground" the woman tasked with overseeing their watchtower, reported on their vice leader
"H-Hey boss, why don't we just surrender?"
"We can't! He has killed both our leader and his son, only because my nephew tried to steal his suit, do you think he'll stop now?" The vice leader asked sarcastically
"..."
The vice leader then lit his cigar and said, "He's a man of commitment, focus, and sheer fucking will! - So, stand guard and be prepared for a bloodshed"
"Y-Yes Sir!"
But they were not aware that they should've at least wished that Simon was the one who came after them, at least they had a chance to fight for their lives
Because the one who had been tasked in cleaning them up is even more bone chilling, a man that is a hundredfold stronger than Simon.
"Air Vortex!" In not even a span of millisecond the entire mansion was gone, it was eviscerated into nothingness, it had only left a single gigantic crater where the mansion once stood.
WHOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!!
Of course, it was none other than the butler himself
...