Chapter 378 - 37 - 41

Chapter 37

Ambush on the Streets

The cartwheel which was layered with wood and resin rattled as the carriage traveled along the street...

Within the carriage, instructor Marlin lay upon the front seat and snored softly. Lorist felt incredibly satisfied with this carriage that he had just been gifted with as the build quality was impeccable and the ride was stable and comfy. The horses were well-trained and behaved as well. As for the Reidy, Lorist really didn't expect for his driving skills to be this good. It seemed that taking Reidy in to be his attendant was a good choice after all as Els had said.

Oh, there's a small handle here. The window can be opened after all! Ah, the feeling of the night breeze sure is refreshing, thought Lorist as he opened the window curiously as the scene of the nighttime streets passed by his view.

Huh? "Stop the carriage!" exclaimed Lorist.

"Easy, horsey..." commanded Reidy as he pulled on the reins. The carriage moved forward for another seven to eight meters before stopping completely as the Zeno Horses snorted in dissatisfaction.

"What's wrong, master?" asked Reidy.

Having been accepted as Lorist's servant, Reidy has changed the way he referred to him. In Grindia, calling someone 'master' wasn't a sign of being owned as per the relationship of a master and a slave but rather the sign of trust for the person who would make decisions for oneself to follow.[1]

"Turn back a little bit. Stop at the light pole beside the small plaza over there," instructed Lorist.

"Okay." Reidy pulled on the reins to turn the Zeno Horses in the opposite direction and steered the carriage towards the streetlights by the plaza.

Lorist got off from the carriage and walked towards the bench beside a flower patch in the plaza.

Sitting on top of the bench was an adult and two children who were huddled tightly together. At that moment, the adult moved a little upon hearing the footsteps of Lorist approaching and opened his half awake eyes. Seeing Lorist walking towards him, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. "It's you..."

"Hi. Are those two your children?" asked Lorist, looking like he suddenly understood something.

This middle-aged man was the last person that had challenged Lorist today who had left quite a deep impression given his skills relative to the other challengers. "Yes, this is my son Howard, he's 12 this year. Here's my daughter Alisa, she's 7," introduced Potterfang.

"Are you going to spend the night here with them?" Lorist didn't expect that a peak Silver ranked swordsman would be living homelessly like a wandering beggar. Had Potterfang not impressed him during the duel, he might not have even remembered his face let alone asked Reidy to stop the carriage.

Potterfang's face showed a pained smile as he said, "I have just come over here from the Krissen Empire, so I didn't bring much luggage with me. Also, I was too greedy and believed that I would definitely win against you in the challenge and get the reward money, so I bet the rest of my savings for the registration fee. Before arriving here, I relied on selling my belongings to survive. Up until today, I was quite confident in my abilities. I would never have expected to lose to your hands and disappoint my children. Having lost a large sum of money by betting on me and because of the overdue rent, the landlord kicked me out and left me homeless. Right now, I have nowhere to return to nor any identification documents, so I can only spend the night in this public space."

Lorist understood that had he been a normal Iron rank, he would definitely not be Potterfang's match. However, no one knew that he did not train mainly in Battle Force but rather in the Aquametal Technique from his previous life.

"Couldn't you just accept a mercenary mission?" Lorist asked. It was not rare for skilled mercenaries like Potterfang to be in high demand for various jobs from guarding a residence to helping out in a mercenary group. Many large mercenary groups would even accept an expert like Potterfang without asking him to pay the membership fee.

"I tried doing just that, but it still didn't work out," said Potterfang as he shook his head. "I'm already regretting my decision to travel to Morante City. I didn't expect the 'freedom and equality' I sought so much in Morante City was nothing but a mirage as the local citizens are extremely abhorrent and discriminatory towards us outsiders. I've witnessed several non local mercenaries having trouble finding requests in this city's mercenary guilds and are sometimes forced to accept difficult missions for an unfair price. That was especially the case for a citizen of the Krissen Empire like me, who is even more despised by the city folk among the other outsiders. Even though the war had ended over 20 years ago and the empire is already no more, the people of this city still treat us as enemies. I also have to consider the future of my children so I can't accept missions that are too risky... If I had won earlier today, I would've used the reward money to leave this place and go to another kingdom or nation. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to receive the freedom and fairness that I had sought so much in futility in this city."

Potterfang explained his experiences in a tone that was both depressing and slightly laced with hatred and regret. If he had not been overconfident in his abilities and not caved in to the landlord's encouragement or be blinded by the luxurious prize money, he wouldn't have bet all his savings on the registration fee. Those 10 gold coins would have been enough for him to bring his children to leave this cold and materialistic city and settle down in another small village where he would be able to afford several acres of farmland and a small hut, which would be more than enough for his children to lead a stable life.

Sigh, I can only blame myself for being blinded by greed and losing my ability to think clearly, thought Potterfang as he lowered his head in frustration. No Iron ranked instructor in the right mind would challenge all the SIlver ranked instructors without a certain degree of confidence. Even Potterfang himself didn't dare to claim that he was the strongest among those of the same rank as him. He only understood that fact after he lost the battle, but it was already too late.

"Which part of the Krissen Empire did you come from?" asked Lorist.

"I am from the northern lands," replied Potterfang.

"Wow, that's a coincidence. My birthplace is also in the Krissen Empire. I'm sure they announced my name during the duels in the morning. I'm called Norton Lorist. Have you heard of the Norton family?" Lorist was delighted to have encountered someone from his homeland.

"Norton? The Roaring Bear of the Far Desolate North? I've definitely heard of them, the Nortons are famous nobles who were known for their military contributions. Many commoners joined the army in hopes of distinguishing themselves and gaining a noble title like the Norton family founder and be granted a dominion. But, how many among all those soldiers had managed to achieve that dream? Then again, why is someone like you at the Morante City and accepting challenges from Silver ranked combatants?" asked Potterfang, intrigued.

Lorist smiled and said, "Well, that is kind of a long story. To summarize, I have left my home to pursue my studies here in Morante City ten years ago. Ever since the internal disputes in the empire six or seven years ago, I have lost all contact with my family. You're a northerner too, right? Do you know something about my family?"

Potterfang seemed relieved but shook his head a little after a pause. "Sorry, I have also been away from home for more than 20 years. The northlands are vast. I come from Mond Town, which is quite far from your family's dominion. It would take approximately 3-4 days on horseback to even get there. When I was 21, I left my home to enlist for the army and worked my way up from a common soldier to a military officer and continued living my life in service. Given that I had no other relatives, I got married and settled down in the capital city. Never would I have expected internal strife to consume our empire. During the six years the three princes fought for the throne, the capital was totally decimated. After the chaos calmed down, I went back to the capital only to discover that almost everything I had was lost. With my wife dead, my two children had to rely on scraps and leftovers and somehow managed to survive. Had it not been for the care of certain neighbors, I might have lost even them. After that, I packed whatever I had and made my way to this city in hopes of being able to start a new life here..."

Oh, so he had a military background and is already accustomed to seeing the death and despair on the battlefield. No wonder he was so calm and firm throughout the whole battle. Given his strength as a peak Silver rank expert, he could've easily robbed the common folk and made a decent living for himself, but instead, he would rather live a harsh life with his children in the streets. It isn't easy to find a person that's as upright as him.

At that moment, Reidy came over to Lorist's side and gave Potterfang and his children a look before whispering, "Master, what's going on?"

Lorist looked at Potterfang and made his invitation, "Given that we already had crossed swords as fellow swordsmen, and the fact that we share the same homeland, Brother Potterfang, do I have the pleasure to invite you to come with us as guests? After all, I still have much to ask about the situation back at the empire and we can't be talking here all night long."

"This..." Potterfang seemed hesitant. He understood that Lorist made the offer with good intentions, however his pride wouldn't easily allow him to accept that gesture of kindness given the pathetic state he was in.

A cold breeze blew and the two children sleeping in his embrace sneezed loudly.

Lorist stepped forward and shielded them from the breeze. "Brother, I know that you have your pride as a soldier and isn't willing to accept people's kindness for nothing, but you have to consider the welfare of your children. Even though it's only spring, the nighttime air is rather chilly and your kids will easily get a cold that would cause you even more trouble given your predicament. Also, as a fellow northerner, I can't rest easy if I'm not able to help you in any way. You should know that northerners like us have a warm custom of providing our guests with top notch hospitality. What more is there to think about? Let's go."

"Alright then, please pardon my intrusion," said Potterfang resolutely as he accepted Lorist's invitation.

As Potterfang was about to wake his son with his daughter in his arms, Lorist placed his finger at his lips and shushed before saying, "Don't wake him. Let me carry him."

"I think you can leave that to me, master," Reidy said as he walked towards the child and lifted him up.

Hmm, a 16-year-old like him can carry a 12-year-old boy as if he weighed nothing more than a feather. Els really wasn't exaggerating when he mentioned Reidy's strength and vigor.

Potterfang bent down again to pick up his longsword and his small pouch. As it was his personal belongings, Lorist felt hesitant to help him take it.

"Let's get on the carriage first. My drunk colleague's in there though as I still have to send him home. I hope you wouldn't mind squeezing for a bit," said Lorist while pointing at the carriage.

"Mister Norton, you don't have to be so polite. I am already thankful for your kind generosity," thanked Potterfang.

Lorist turned and walked towards the carriage. "Just call me Locke. I'm not too comfortable with being referred to so formally. It's better if you just call me by name. Can I call you Pot..."

"Watch out! To your left!" Potterfang shouted urgently.

Lorist prepared to dodge as four 30 centimeter blades of light flew into his line of sight.

No, I can't evade these attacks. Otherwise, they would hit Potterfang who's carrying his daughter and Reidy who's holding the son. From the corner of his eyes, Lorist could see Potterfang already turning to his back and preparing to shield his daughter from the light blades. It was apparent that he expected Lorist to dodge and has braced himself to take the damage. Reidy on the other hand was completely stunned from suddenly being placed in a dangerous situation.

Sol, the attackers are Gold ranked combatants. Where's my sword? Lorist reached out for his longsword only to notice that he had left it on the seat in the carriage. It was fortunate that he still wore his short sword on his hip.

Shiiiing! The short sword made a sound as it was drawn out of the scabbard. Clang, clang, clang, clang! Within but a flash, the short sword danced mid-air and struck down the four blades of light. Judging by the strength and velocity of the blades, Lorist estimated that the blades were unleashed by a One Star Gold Swordsman. While an enemy of such caliber wasn't an inherent threat to him, he only had his sidearm with him and wasn't able to react well to the sudden attack.

"Bring the kids to the carriage. Reidy, drive back to the inn and let me handle this, quick!" exclaimed Lorist.

"Huh, you managed to parry my blades of light. I see that you're pretty resilient for a mere Iron rank." Two silhouettes emerged from the dark alley by the plaza and slowly walked towards Lorist's party.

"Relax, we're not here for your life. We did however receive a request from someone to take one of your arms. No worries, I'll make it quick so it'll be over in a second, hehe," said one of the approaching figures with his cynical, confident voice.

"You better be ready to put your life on the line if you want to try," Lorist replied coldly.

"Hehehe, we don't even fear Silver rank fighters. Killing you would be easier than slaying a chicken! At least a chicken would be able to hide somewhere tight. Where would you be able to hide?"

"Apprentice brother, let's not waste too much words on him. Who's attacking first? The sooner we settle this the faster we can return to the girls who are still waiting in our rooms," said the other in a rather frustrated tone.

Upon leaving his daughter in the carriage, Potterfang grabbed Lorist's sword and passed it to him quickly.

"They're here for me, you're not involved in this," said Lorist as he accepted the sword. Seeing Reidy leaving with the carriage, Lorist felt more relieved.

"The light blade just now also came towards my beloved Alisa," said Potterfang angrily as he drew the sword in his hand with a crisp sound. Had Lorist not struck down the attacks, Alisa would've been seriously wounded. Even though the assailants came for Lorist, they didn't care much for Potterfang and his daughter and had no issue with placing them in harm's way. There was no way that Potterfang would let them off with this.

"You better watch out, they're Gold ranks," reminded Lorist.

"Hmph, it's not like I haven't fought Gold ranks before. I've even killed a couple of them on the battlefield," said Potterfang.

"Hehe, you have a big mouth, don't you? I'll see how well you fare fighting against a Gold rank like me. Junior apprentice brother, there's one for each of us. I'll let you handle the Iron rank. Leave killing this Silver rank to me."

"Noted."

Having finished their discussion, the two assailants rushed towards Lorist and Potterfang with killing intent.

[1] This is a rather interesting play on the words for the term 'master'. In Chinese, the term master is 主人. The author mentioned that 主人 in Grindia does not refer to 'master' in the conventional sense but is actually a short way of saying 做主的人, which means 'one who makes decisions'.

Counter Kill

A sword glow flashed as brightly as the stars in the darkness and approached at blinding speed. From Lorist's point of view, the hastily created blades of light seemed to form a large net that sealed off all his surroundings.

The figure that rushed towards Lorist was the annoyed junior assailant. His strikes were lethal and aimed to take his life, despite what the senior assailant said to only take his arm.

Lorist let out a cold snort and drew his sword without backing down. The moment Lorist's sword struck out, the countless light blade attacks that flew towards Lorist dissipated without a trace.

"Wha…" The opponent was caught off guard by Lorist's successful attempt at deflecting the light blades. Not only that, Lorist instantly took the initiative and lashed out at the assailant without sparing a single moment. In but an instant, the assailant took a defensive stance as he struggled to block Lorist's flurry of attacks.

The opponent tried to use brute force and take advantage of the disparity in power between a Gold rank and an Iron rank to break Lorist's stance. However, Lorist's swordsmanship was too unpredictable and managed to suppress the enemy's move before it was even able to be unleashed and followed up with a flurry of incessant attacks like a rush of floodwater which forces its way through any gap, however small. The constant flow of strikes forced the opponent into a situation where he could only defend without being able to counterattack. Lorist's swings also changed trajectory often before it landed and aimed for the attacker's openings, forcing the attacker to gradually move backwards.

The enemy was already sweating all over. Had it not been for Lorist's constant pressuring that didn't allow him to catch any breath, he would've already called for help from his senior apprentice brother long ago. Not even while dreaming could he ever imagine fighting against someone with swordsmanship as fearsome as this that rendered the difference in raw power between a Gold rank and an Iron rank nonexistent. At this moment, Lorist's performance wasn't like that of an Iron rank's at all. The assailant has only felt pressured like this when he sparred against his other Blademaster senior apprentice brother.

Behind Lorist, loud constant sounds of swords clashing rang out and stopped. Only Potterfang's ragged breathing and the other assailant's cry of despair could be heard.

"Ugh… Agh! It hurts… You madman! Ugh… It hurts as hell… Junior, how are you holding up? Quickly settle that bastard and come help me out! This Silver rank is a total madman I tell you! Ugh…" The senior assailant actually got a large cut and groaned away in agony.

Potterfang laughed softly before saying, "Come on. This was how I took care of Gold ranks on the battlefield. I take two of your strikes to deal one back. Three for one if I have to. Let's see who can take more attacks before collapsing…"

That senior assailant no longer dared to attack Potterfang head on and only gritted his teeth as he circled around Potterfang while unleashing ranged light blade attacks as he called out for his junior to help out. He even berated his junior nonstop for taking so long to kill a mere Iron rank.

Little did the senior assailant know about the junior's woes. Hearing that Potterfang got injured, Lorist increased the ferocity of his attacks and didn't give too much heed to technique and forcefully struck towards the opponent's chest. The junior assailant hastily took a few steps back while deflecting several waves of attacks with much fear in his eyes. Initially, he was happy that Lorist took the offensive against him and thought that he would be able to break Lorist's longsword with his higher ranked Battle Force. Even if the sword didn't break, he would still manage to make Lorist suffer a huge lost based on the pure difference in power.

Before, the assailant found it hard to parry Lorist's swift and careful strikes. Currently, Lorist no longer cared much for finesse and technique and attacked with brute force. The junior assailant gladly brought his sword to meet Lorist's only to discover that what he had expected to transpire didn't happen and instead, he felt a strong wave of force passing through his own sword that caused him to loosen his grip on his weapon. The longsword was knocked out of the junior assailant's hands and he instantly scrambled backwards in fear and somehow still managed to escape certain death.

Lorist was incredibly frustrated. Before, he had thought his opponent would take quite an effort on his part to defeat given how much he had boasted before. But now, all the assailant did was defend and dodge all over the place without any intention of counterattacking. No matter how formidable Lorist's swordsmanship was, it wouldn't be of much use against an opponent who didn't dare to take a single one of his strikes.

This won't do, thought Lorist as the junior assailant flocked around the place after picking his sword up like a frightened little bird. It seems that I must come up with some other way to take care of him.

Slowly advancing towards his enemy, Lorist swung his sword in an elegant manner like a peacock dancing under the lights of the lamps around him to attract the opponent's attention. Without any giveaway, he slowly raised his left arm. Twang! A soft sound of a spring decompressing could be heard as a thin projectile flew out from Lorist's left sleeve without a noise towards its target.

The junior assailant let out cold sweat when Lorist's attacks intensified. The cries and curses of his senior apprentice brother from afar only served to increase his anxiety. As he prepared to take on the attacks from the approaching Lorist, he felt an urge to scream out loud in frustration. It was like the roles of a Gold rank and an Iron rank had reversed between them!

Lorist instantly leaped towards the junior assailant with his sword letting out a loud swishing sound as the light of the lamps reflected off its cold metal edge. Preparing to evade the flurry of attacks with no intention of parrying any whatsover, the junior assailant suddenly felt a blinding pain coming from his left foot. He quickly lowered his head to look at his leg only to discover that a thin, long black dart had buried itself into his foot and nailed him to the ground.

Terrified beyond his wits as he looked at Lorist's approaching form, the junior assailant quickly begged for mercy to no avail. Lorist's longsword hit his target and broke through the Gold ranked Battle Force aura's defense with little to no resistance and with the sound of flesh being cut, the longsword dug itself deep into the assailant's body.

"You… Ugh… Sh-shameless bastard…" groaned the junior assailant with all the energy left within his body while rolling both his eyes.

Not ashamed at all for using the hidden dart, Lorist said sincerely, "Thanks for the compliment."

As Lorist pulled out his longsword, the body of his dying opponent slumped down to the ground like a sandbag that was leaking sand. Lorist turned to his back and moved towards the grumbling and shouting senior assailant as fresh blood slowly dripped all over the floor from the tip of his sword, creating a trail of crimson in the wake of Lorist's passage.

The senior assailant had taken a slash to his inner thigh. While it wasn't a lethal strike in itself, it sent waves of pain to the senior assailant and effectively decreased his mobility. That strike caused the senior assailant to stop taking Potterfang head on and circle around him instead while he waited for his junior apprentice brother to come back him up. This only served to worsen the wound as every step he took sent torrents of pain down his nerves. It wasn't surprising that he would be grumbling and cursing from all that suffering.

However, Potterfang didn't look like he held up well either as his left shoulder blade and right lower abdomen looked rather bloody. However, the former injury wasn't as bad as it seemed as the cut wasn't that deep. It was a different story for his right lower abdomen however as the injury was created from a piercing attack rather than a slash. It would be bad if that strike had pierced any of his internal organs. The senior assailant also sent one light blade attack after another which caused Potterfang to parry each of them; an action that further intensified the bleeding from his right abdomen.

The senior assailant stopped moving around and launched a few more ranged attacks before looking down to the injury on his thigh. He had already wrapped it with a makeshift bandage made from the cloth from his garments. Blood still leaked out from the bandage nevertheless. The assailant pulled on the bandage lightly and grimaced in pain.

As Lorist slowly approached him, the senior assailant was under the impression that his younger apprentice brother had come. With his head looking downwards, he complained, "What the hell is wrong with you for taking so long to take care of a mere Iron rank? Gosh! This fucking hurts! That Silver rank is a total madman. Watch out when you attack him as he'll take your attacks with his body to land a hit on you! Don't fall for– Ah! Ah! AHHH!!!!"

Upon raising his head, the senior assailant discovered that the figure approaching him was Lorist instead and his face paled in an instant. After stammering unintelligibly for quite a while, he finally exclaimed, "Why! Why is it you?! W-w-w-where's my junior apprentice brother?!"

Lorist pointed to the back with his sword and said, "He's lying on the ground over there. He really did end up paying his life for attempting to take my arm. Well, he failed at it anyway. It's your turn now."

The footsteps continued without stopping.

"You… Don't come any closer…" said the senior assailant as he pointed his sword towards Lorist and scrambled backwards in fear. Having heard of the death of his junior, his mind was already in a chaotic state. Lorist's form slowly morphed into that of a demon king in his vision.

The senior assailant retreated to the flower patch behind him before stopping and looking around. He threw his sword towards Lorist and circulated his Battle Force before stomping down to the ground and leaped, enduring the excruciating pain as he made his escape.

A sharp sound reverberated through the plaza as a longsword flew through the air like a javelin and penetrated the senior assailant's back and reemerged from his front chest. The assailant let out a deafening cry as he crashed towards the flower patch in mid-jump before struggling to get up and finally exhaling his final breath. The longsword was actually Potterfang's. When he saw that the senior assailant intended to escape, he flung his longsword without thinking and collapsed on the ground afterwards.

Lorist knocked the senior assailant's airborne sword away and thought that that the assailant had successfully escaped. He was surprised to discover that Potterfang had thrown his own sword and taken the senior assailant's life.

"That sword was very well launched. It was really impressive," praised Lorist as he made his way towards Potterfang quickly.

Potterfang let out an unenergetic laugh as he said, "It's nothing special. I learned back when I was in the military. Even so, I still couldn't match up to you. Even though we both fought against Gold ranks, you actually emerged unscathed and helped me fend off my enemy whereas I got a few injuries myself and only got the kill when the enemy was frightened into escaping by you."

Lorist helped Potterfang up and carefully placed him on the bench before inspecting his injuries. The slash on the left shoulder blade wasn't that detrimental, however seriousness of the jab to his right lower abdomen couldn't really be determined under the poor lighting of the street lamps.

Seeing Lorist so worried about his injuries, Potterfang felt moved and said weakly, "It's okay. I've already taken that into consideration when the sword came at me. It shouldn't have injured any of my internals and will recover after resting for a month or two. I've been hurt worse when I was in the military and still managed to survive to this day."

Lorist removed his linen undershirt and used it to wrap up Potterfang's injuries before going to check on the corpses of the assailants. He returned with two bags of money, two swords and two Gold ranked Battle Force badges.

"Weird, these swords are rather common but the badges have a different design compared to the ones issued by the trade union… They're pretty rare around here," said Lorist.

Potterfang also nodded his head helplessly, unable to recognize where the badges were from.

The two pouches of money contained more than 20 gold Fordes and 30 plus large silvers. Lorist put the gold coins and large silver coins into two different pouches and handed the one with the gold Fordes in it to Potterfang. "Brother Potterfang, let's split the two pouches of coins among us. I won't hold back and will be taking the one with more coins in it."

As Lorist stuffed the bag with the gold Fordes into Potterfang's shirt pocket, Potterfang was totally stunned as he wore an expression of immense gratitude. "Mister Norton… You…"

Lorist interjected and said, "Just call me Locke. The moment you fought alongside me as a comrade, you've already become my friend. And friends don't speak so formally among one another."

"Okay…" Potterfang's face revealed a smile. "Alright, Locke. you can call me Pog. That's what my comrades in the army used to call me."

"Alright, Pog," replied Lorist.

Sounds of horses galloping on the road could be heard. It turned out to be Reidy who drove the carriage with many people within it as well as several others holding on to the luggage racks on the roof and the back. Seven or eight people loudly rushed over with Els and Charade running at the front. They all let out a breath of relief when they saw Lorist unharmed.

"Where's the enemy? Did they run away?" asked Charade as he breathed raggedly.

"No they didn't. Look, they are lying down dead within the plaza," said Lorist as he pointed towards the dead bodies. "Do you have any medicine?"

"Yes, yes…" said Charade as he scrambled to take the medicines out from his pockets. Els waved for Terman and the others to go inspect the corpses.

"Daddy, daddy!" A boy and a girl rushed over and held Potterfang's hand tightly while letting out streams of tears from their faces. This was Howard and Alisa, Potterfang's beloved children. They had been jolted awake during the carriage ride and saw that their father was no longer around. Had it not been for Charade who told them they were on their way to rescue their father, who knew how much harder they would've cried? Nevertheless, they still burst into tears upon seeing their father's injured state.

"Don't cry, Howard. You're a boy. You must learn to be strong and protect your sister in the future. Boys can't simply let out tears like that. Daddy's fine. It's only a couple of flesh wounds that aren't really anything to worry about," said Potterfang as he stroke both his children's heads.

Charlando limped over with a cane in his hands and said, "I know these two. Just this evening, they were the first to arrive at the inn and sat at a corner by themselves and drunk without talking to each other. I've been eyeing them for quite sometime but I stopped thinking too much about them since they didn't bother the other guests. They started to leave the moment Lorist came back in after checking the carriage out and even paid the money to Louise!"

Charade said, "Did they leave the inn early to ambush Lorist on the way? Lorist, do you have any leads from their corpses?"

"Other than the money pouches they carried, there were two of these badges and nothing else. Oh, the swords they used were pretty common too," said Lorist as he tossed the two Battle Force badges over to Charade.

Flipping the badges around, Charade said, "The design is indeed different from the normal ones, but I can't remember where these badges came from…"

As he passed the badges to Els, Charade grumbled, "Hey, this is your territory you know. Thank goodness Locke is fine. Otherwise, let's see how you will be able to make up for it to the rest of us. Quick, bring these two bastards' corpses away and try to see if we have any clues on where they're from."

Els took the badges and said, "Wow, they're indeed One Star Gold ranks. I was rather skeptical when Reidy said that two Gold ranks ambushed Lorist… What's more surprising is that both of them ended up dead! Sol, Locke. You're truly a monster!"

"Hey, Brother Pog here is injured you know. Had it not been for his help, I wouldn't have fared this well either. Help me bring him to the carriage first and send his children and him back to my house. By the way, where's Instructor Marlin?" asked Lorist.

Charade replied, "He's still sleeping very soundly within the carriage…"

Aftermath

Escorted by Charade and Els, Lorist, Marlin, Reidy, Potterfang and his children all returned to the Dawn Academy Gold ranked instructor residence. After returning Instructor Marlin to his home and asking Charade to call the academy herbalist over to look at Potterfang's wounds, Lorist let out a breath of relief.

Pulling on the rope that was connected to a bell in the management office, Lorist called Kelly over and instructed her to look after Potterfang and his children for the next three months. He let Potterfang and his children use the guest room on the first floor while Reidy took his luggage to the servant's room on the ground floor and went to look after the Zeno Horses afterwards.

After everything was settled, an hour had already passed. Lorist also asked Kelly for supper to be prepared for the group before sitting down on the couch in the lounge. Bringing over the a bottle of unopened macks extract, Yuriy put an iron pot into the fireplace in the lounge and started making the drink and added milk and honey crystals into the pot nonstop. After a while, a thick, fragrant smell spread throughout the whole house and even lured the two children and their father upstairs to come down.

Pouring the children one cup of macks each and telling them to go check out what Kelly was cooking for supper in the kitchen, Lorist started describing the whole encounter with the assailants to the group, including the fact that one of the assailants said that their junior apprentice brother wanted them to take only one of Lorist's arms. However, Lorist had no clue about anyone he had a grudge with.

"No one has has a grudge against you?" Charade said derisively before coldly laughing. "This isn't about vengeance or anything you know. You might not have realized it, but you've already become a huge pain in the neck for many people, especially so with the case of the duels. Your relationship with most of the Silver ranked instructors of the academy was already bad enough, and right now, it's not an overstatement to say that you're an existence like that of a nightmare for the other Silver ranked instructors in the whole Academy Sector. After only dueling for a month, you have already defeated all the Silver ranked instructors from 13 academies. It's quite possible that the ones whose turns are next wish to cripple you to end this whole dueling event prematurely.

"As for the challengers that don't represent the academy, do you know how many people have lost fortunes for betting against you? During the last month itself we managed to get a profit of 18000 gold Fordes from the betting pool! I bet many of them are hoping that you will lose so that they can earn some of their money back. For that, they won't hold back at all and will throw everything they can at you. From today onwards, you must be really careful for your safety. The Enforcement Division will have a group of people following you at all times to ensure that nothing bad happens to you. Terman, send some elites from the Swordsmanship Society to accompany Locke as well. With that many people following him around, I doubt that many will dare to cause any sort of trouble.

"Alright," replied Terman.

"Don't do that, it's horribly inconvenient for me to have so many people following me in and out all the time! It'll be fine as long as I don't leave the academy right? I'm pretty sure that I can keep myself safe here at least," said Lorist quickly. I can't have a horde of people by my side all the time! Imagine how it would feel when I need to go to the washroom!

"While it is indeed safer in the academy, it is still not completely foolproof. Don't worry Locke, I'll just have the people follow you around in secret without crowding around you. If we don't do at least that, the old bastard will really give us a harsh scolding by the time we report the incident to him tomorrow. Who asked you to be such a precious money-maker for the academy? The old bastard is quite fond of you, you know." The group laughed out loud when Charade said that.

"You don't really have to let him know about it, right? Can't you not spread it at all?" asked Lorist.

"We must definitely let the news get out as best as we can! That way, we can let the others who are plotting against you to rethink their plans. If we were to keep this hidden, it'll only let them think that you're afraid of future attacks and they'll try even harder to hurt you!" said Charade. "Also, Els, make sure you get rid of the corpses of the assailants and spread the word that they ran away after seeing reinforcements come for Locke, but still managed to injure him quite badly. Put a bounty of the two if you have to. Make sure nobody knows that they were killed by Locke."

"Huh?" Els didn't understand why Charade wanted that done.

On the other hand, Lorist already had an inkling on Charade's plan. "Sol, the fatty's going to rip people off again…"

As expected, Charade said, "If word gets out that Lorist managed to kill 2 Gold ranked fighters, then who would continue to bet on his loss?! Think about it, who would bet on a Silver rank's victory against someone who has killed two Gold Swordsmen?!"

"Oh, I see," said Els as he slapped his head in understanding. He then asked, "Fatty, would anyone believe that Locke survived the attack unhurt as he is?"

Charade suddenly had an idea and turned to look at Lorist, then to Yuriy before saying, "Yuriy, get me a chicken tomorrow morning. We're going to help Lorist with his 'injuries'. Brother Locke, I'm afraid that you will have to play along with us in this."

Lorist furrowed his brows and said, "Hey, you guys are really too much!"

""It's fine, we'll just say that you got injured during the assault and wrap you up in some bandages and sprinkle some chicken blood on it. Oh, and Terman, notify the herbalist to not tell anyone about Lorist's condition unless they pay up. And in the event that they do, make sure the herbalist says that Locke got the injuries Potterfang currently has. Locke, try harder to show that you're hurt in the duels during the morning and make them think that you'll be unable to keep up. Hehe… Think of all that money that'll fall into our pockets!" Charade and Els's eyes radiated a golden light.

Even though this method was rather shady, Lorist didn't oppose to it since he would be getting a cut of the profit anyway. As for the ones who would lose their money to the betting pool, he couldn't care less about them and even believed that they deserve it for not having the eyes to discern his true abilities.

Charade poured another cup of macks and continued while sipping his drink. "I have two suspects in my mind who could have plotted the attack just now. One of them is the Saint Marceau Academy. The academy challenging Locke tomorrow, the Clearwater Academy, shouldn't be much of a threat to him. However, the 15th academy that has accepted the challenge, the Saint Marceau Academy is our academy's number one rival. That's why they are my prime suspect. Then again, if they were involved in this, I doubt that they'd send those two losers to deal with it. It doesn't fit the academy's modus operandi."

Lorist raised a voice of objection. "Hey, those two were One Star Gold ranks you know."

"Even so, they are still losers for having been defeated by you. If I were there, maybe I would even manage to kill one of them myself," boasted Charade.

"Ugh…" Based on the junior assailant's performance, Lorist had to admit that Charade did make some sense and that he would probably win if he fought against the junior one. Apart from being very good at dodging, the junior assailant didn't leave any other impression on Lorist.

"There is another person I suspect," said Charade. "Do you remember Sandoz?"

"Who's that?" asked Lorist while shaking his head.

"Oh, you…" Charade was totally frustrated. "Didn't I tell you that once before? It's that assistant instructor that riled up the dual elite course students to surround and attack you whom you later beat up, remember? After recovering, he got accepted by the Kalia Kingdom's Sword Saint as a disciple and he's now at the peak of the Silver rank. This time, he's back at the academy to duel you for revenge! Sheesh, I even reminded you about him once before you know."

"Oh, his name was Higuita or something, right?" said Lorist.

"It's Sandoz Hirda, not Higuita," said the fatty as he fervently shook his head. "You even got the name wrong… It seems that you really don't hold him in any regard at all…"

Lorist's face reddened in embarrassment. Due to being dragged along by a friend to watch a soccer match in his past life, the goalkeeper Higuita left quite a deep impression on him. Now, they very sound of Hirda's name makes him think of that goalkeeper.

"It can be seen that this fellow is exceedingly ruthless in his methods from how he gathered all those people to beat you up three years ago. Even though he should be quite confident in defeating you during the duel, given his background as a noble, he should be quite adept at using some other underhanded plot to make his victory doubly certain. I wouldn't be surprised if he dares to try something sinister. The next open match will be the 12th one and he's on the challenger list of your 14th open match. He would probably be trying something within the next few days to weaken you before the match. The only thing that I still can't figure out is the origin of those two Gold ranked Battle Force badges. It doesn't seem like they were issued from the Kalia Kingdom either…"

"Oh well, let's stop worrying our minds over something like this. With my capabilities, no matter what kind of trick this fellow pulls, it'll be useless just like what happened with the assailants just now. It's getting late, so we should all be getting some rest."

"Sol, you're only an Iron rank yet you dare to claim that you're capable? For your safety, I will be staying over at your place tonight just in case. You do have an extra bed, right?" asked Charade. Now that Lorist was an important piece for his money-making scheme, Charade had to make sure that he would not come to any harm.

"Nope, the other servant room is already occupied by Kelly. You can either use the couch or sleep on the floor," replied Lorist.

The next morning, Brad, the Clearwater Academy Head, heard about how Iron Locke, the Silver Undefeated, had been ambushed on the way home the night before by two One Star Gold Swordsmen. Even though help ended up coming for him and forced the two assailants away, Lorist didn't fare that well either and had incurred some injuries.

This was music to the academy head's ears. His only complaint was that they didn't manage to take his life too. Should that have happened, the Clearwater Academy's awkward problem would instantly vanish! What a shame! Academy Head Brad gave a long sigh and sent people to the Dawn Academy to check if the duels will still be held today or not, with the actual aim being to find out the extent of injuries incurred by Lorist.

Academy Head Brad decided that if Lorist really was hurt badly, he will not agree to postponing the duel to another day and insist that Lorist would lose by default for not showing up. If he didn't do something like this in Lorist's moment of weakness, there was no saying whether the Clearwater Academy would become laughing stocks like the other 13 academies before them. Given that Lorist had defeated all 260 of the Silver ranked instructors from the previous academies, Academy Head Brad was quite certain that his instructors wouldn't fare much better either. He was rather pleased by the timely attack that had put Lorist at a disadvantage. It's better if he doesn't show up at all and concede his victory. Well, even if he plans to fight, I'll have to make sure to encourage the 20 instructors representing my academy to do their best, thought the academy head.

If the 20 Silver ranked instructors couldn't even defeated an injured Iron rank, then the logical conclusion would be that the instructors of the Clearwater Academy were useless weaklings. Academy Head Brad wallowed in frustration once again and decided that he would sack these Silver ranked instructors should they all lose to Lorist.

Without much delay, the people he sent came back with the news that Iron Locke would not be postponing the date of the duel despite the Dawn Academy's advice to do so. He was quoted saying that he was only going to fight against Silver ranked instructors and not Gold ranked instructors so there was no need to move the duel to another day even though he was injured.

This news worried the Academy Head Brad as he wondered if it was intentionally leaked by that old bastard of the Dawn Academy. However, the people he sent to the herbalist paid 1 gold coin for information that stated he was indeed hurt. The herbalist even described the injuries Lorist had incurred: there was a slash wound on his left shoulder and a stab wound around his right upper torso. He even stressed that while those wounds posed no threat to his life, it would affect Lorist's mobility quite visibly, especially the one on his right torso, which has made it hard for Lorist to even lift his arm and would require at least two months to recover completely.

Academy Head Brad excitedly brought the instructors of his academy to the Dawn Academy for the duels only to return in the afternoon filled with anger and frustration. Even though the battles were all pretty close and the Silver ranked instructors of his academy had gave the best of their efforts and performed far better than they would usually have, for some reason, all of them lost by a hair's breath. For some reason, Iron Locke's luck was just that good and he managed to gain victory by the narrowest margin despite his impaired mobility.

In the case of the last battle, he even managed to win by using the scabbard he had cast on the ground before the duel started. Who would��ve expected that with his longsword knocked away, he would be able to pick up his scabbard and sheath his opponent's sword in it when the attack came and swing his shortsword to his opponent's neck? Nobody would be satisfied with a victory like that! It was merely a stroke of luck!

Aside from Academy Head Brad, the other academy heads also wore unpleasant expressions when Levins received a report from the finance department of the Dawn Academy.

The report stated that a group of instructors lead by Instructor Marlin had purchased 100 gold coins worth of betting tickets while the members of the Swordsmanship Society had bought 300 gold coins worth as well with the Enforcement Division also chipping in 500 gold coins into the betting pool. The reason was that they wanted to show support for Instructor Locke who has so adamantly decided that he would continue dueling despite having been injured the night before.

After the duels in the morning ended, the finance department of the academy had to pay out 180 gold Fordes of reward for the 900-gold-Forde bet whereas the money earned for the audience tickets and the ones who bet on Lorist's loss only amounted to 63 gold coins, 1 large silver and 3 small silvers. That meant that the academy had incurred a loss of over 116 gold Fordes for the day.

In the afternoon, the Dawn Academy Head issued a new notice that stated that the finance department would no longer be accepting bets for Instructor Locke's victory. That meant that people could only bet on his loss in the future.

"Tsk, who would be so dumb to hand their money over to the academy like that?" said Charade as he threw the notice into the trash.

The Duels Continue

To the audience who were spectating the duels, Lorist who was fighting on the dueling platform looked ragged to the extreme. The bandage wrapped around his left shoulder was stained red with blood while the bandage around the right torso had blood dripping out from it. Lorist was covered in sweat all over and his face looked so pale that it seemed that a single strike would manage to knock him to the ground with his sword cast away, resulting in an automatic loss.

However, Lorist still stood straight up like a mountain with an unwavering expression. Due to his injury on his right torso, his right arm hung limply from his shoulder and could only exert force occasionally when he gripped his sword with both his arms. On the other hand (pun unintended), his left arm had almost no problems in executing all the basic sword moves in a natural, practiced manner that wasn't at all inferior to that of his right arm in its uninjured state.

Facing the ferocious flurry of attacks from his opponent, Lorist stood straight like a pine tree in a storm, not once lowering its head to the ferocious winds. His stance was also stable as an unmoving boulder near the coast that doesn't budge at all no matter how forceful the wave.

The opponent was also panting rather heavily as the continuous attacks from Lorist pushed him into a corner. The opponent wielded a two-handed sword which was suitable for attacking but quite lacking when it came to defense. Lorist's rapid, suppressive attacks for the last ten minutes had frightened him quite visibly. Despite his experience sparring against his colleagues in his academy or otherwise, no one has ever held up against him for that long a time, notwithstanding the fact that Lorist was only an Iron Swordsman.

"What are you doing, idiot! Don't let him catch his breath! Circle around him and continue attacking! Go for his back! He's already bleeding and he won't be able to hold up for long! Don't stop and heighten the intensity of your attacks! Go!"

The Saint Marceau Academy Head's voice rang out loudly from the audience seat. The academy head was already panicking to the point where he couldn't sit still and acted in a way that was not befitting of his status in front of all those people.

It was the 15th academy dueling day and the challengers were from the main rival of the Dawn Academy, the Saint Marceau Academy. It's no wonder that Academy Head Weston totally lost his bearing and behaved like that as the current ongoing duel was the 20th and the last one of the day. The Silver ranked instructor on the dueling platform was the only remaining challenger for the day whereas all the others had already lost. To Academy Head Weston, his hopes on saving the Saint Marceau Academy's face from losing the bet against the Dawn Academy were all laid on that instructor, whose opponent, Lorist, was still standing despite his haggard appearance.

The Silver ranked instructor heard his academy head's bellows and started circling around Lorist and waited for an opportunity to attack. Lorist merely turned his left leg around with his right as the pivot to keep the opponent from facing his back.

"Attack! What are you still waiting for? That bastard is already out of energy! Quick, attack! We're almost going to win!" cried Academy Head Weston as he stomped his feet on the ground.

"Gaarrgh!" cried the Silver ranked instructor as he leaped to attack.

"Hmph!" Lorist merely humphed coldly without taking a step back and pointed his sword toward the opening in his opponent's move.

The Silver ranked instructor suddenly changed his maneuver from a stab to a sweep. Lorist's longsword merely slanted and parried the move.

Clang, clang clang! The two swords let out clear, crisp sounds of ringing metal as they crossed. After ten-odd exchanges, the Silver Swordsman retreated to catch his breath while Lorist's expression looked even more pained as his body swayed about unstably.

"Haha, attack! Quick, continue! He's going to collapse! Haha!" Academy Head Weston was extremely pleased to see Lorist in such a state as he waved both his hands in the air with his face reddened with excitement!

The Silver ranked instructor pounced again using his two-handed sword to execute a wide horizontal slash.

Lorist's defenses still held up without a flaw. However, each parry from his left arm grew weaker and weaker.

The Silver ranked instructor was elated and he put more energy into his strikes. Clang! Lorist's longsword had already been knocked away and his chest was exposed.

The two-handed sword quickly slashed downwards with Lorist already unable to recover his stance to parry.

"It's my win…!" screamed the Silver ranked instructor as he let out a breath of relief.

"He's going to win!" Academy Head Weston gripped both his hands tightly.

...

Lorist took a slight step back…

This was the last duel with an instructor from the Saint Marceau Academy and it had already lasted for about 15 minutes. During the course of the duel, Lorist endured the Silver ranked instructor's forceful rain of attacks without retaliating and defended without moving much from his spot. Everyone present was so focused on the flurry of attacks that they forgot that Lorist wasn't glued to the ground, including his Silver ranked opponent.

With but a simple step back and the two-handed sword barely scraping his clothes and landing on the ground, his left hand that held the longsword which had been knocked out of the way drew a beautiful arc in the air and lightly tapped on the Silver ranked instructor's neck.

...

"Instructor Locke wins!" exclaimed Charade on the dueling platform.

Rattle! The Silver ranked instructor let his sword fall to the ground and gripped his face with both his hands in despair as he instantly broke into tears.

Disappointed jeers and words of praise initially sounded from the audience until gradually a round of applause slowly drowned the whole training hall. This was the audience's show of respect towards Lorist who had managed to fight till the end without losing despite his injuries.

Academy Head Weston balled both his fists and stared at the dueling platform, stunned. From high spirits to despair, from the heavens to the earth. The sudden change in the outcome of the duel had left him unable to accept the reality of the situation. With both his eyes bloodshot and the veins on his forehead popping, he grumbled to himself, "How could this be… Why did you step back… How could you…"

The other Saint Marceau Academy instructors and assistant instructors wanted to calm their academy head down, but they were unsure of how he would react and only stare at him idly.

The Silver ranked instructor on the platform started to feel embarrassed for crying out loud in front of everyone and wiped his face before he left the venue without even picking up his sword. Little did he know that after he stepped down from the platform, chaos erupted behind him. Lorist could no longer hold on and instantly collapsed on the ground unconscious. A few of the Dawn Academy students rushed up to support him and called out in urgency before hurriedly sending him to the medical center.

This scene really shocked the Silver ranked challenger. Had he not listened to the academy head's beckoning and continued to stall for time, he would have been the winner. His emotions started to spiral out of control again as he started bawling nonstop.

Academy Head Weston was also flabbergasted at seeing Lorist hauled to the medical center like that. It was so close, so close! If he didn't attack, he would've won! The academy head only felt regret to the utmost and couldn't catch his breath for a moment. In a fit of rage, he suddenly picked his chair up and swung it at the other chairs around him, causing the people around him to back away in fear.

Terman instructed the Enforcement Division members to not let anyone else into the the medical center before going to check on Lorist. As expected, the scene within was nothing short of chaos. Lorist was pulling at the blood-soaked bandage while screaming at Charade for putting a bag of chicken blood mixed with pig urine within his bandage in an attempt to make his 'injuries' look real. Initially, Lorist wasn't that opposed to that idea and agreed to it himself.

While it did have its intended effect, the clotting chicken blood started to make his body feel itchy and uncomfortable to the point where he almost couldn't hold his urges to scratch himself to relieve the itch. What the audience perceived as a pale, pained expression from Lorist was actually him resisting the excruciating itch caused by the clotted blood.

Lorist heaved a sigh of relief after giving his itch a good scratch when the bandage was finally undone. "It's freaking itchy… I never knew that it was that frustrating… I almost wanted to let my opponent slash the itchy part when I was dueling just now."

Terman brought over a basin with warm water and a linen cloth, twisted and scrubbed the clotting blood off Lorist's body as he said, "That's because the bandage was tied too tightly around your body so the blood clot turned into fine powder when it rubbed against your skin. It's amazing you managed to hold on for so long throughout the duels.

"Then again, your performance during the last one was very convincing. Had I not known that you were actually not injured, I would really have thought that you wouldn't be able to hold on. How did you think of taking a step back at a moment like that? Nobody expected you to suddenly turn the tables by simply retreating like that."

"Hehe," snickered Lorist. "During the last match, I managed to make the audience and my opponent think that I wasn't able to move around by standing still in the same spot and defending for a long time as if I would collapse the moment I moved away. No matter how ferocious the attacks were, I stood there without moving intentionally for a period of time. That created the misconception that I wasn't able to move away which also allowed me to find an opening in my opponent's moves. In sword matches, it's not just one's swordsmanship that's put to the test. The mind is also very important. The more crucial a moment is, the more important it is to have a clear head."

Terman absorbed the words for a while and understood that Lorist was giving him some pointers. He sincerely said, "Thanks."

When Charade came into the medical center, everyone else had their own cup of macks which was a gift from Academy Head Levins to Lorist for defeating the Saint Marceau Academy which took a huge load off the academy head's back. However, the macks was 'confiscated' by Terman and the others who intended to get a piece of Lorist's harvest while letting him do all the work.

"Good news, good news!" said Charade excitedly.

"What good news? Let's hear it," said Terman.

"Didn't Lorist pretend to faint after being declared the winner? That shocked the Saint Marceau Academy Head greatly and cause the last Silver ranked instructor to crumble and cry on the dueling platform like a little child. Academy Head Weston flipped out and started flinging his chair around crazily and ended up collapsing after coughing out a mouthful of blood and his condition only managed to stabilize after receiving some emergency treatment. Academy Head Levins then consoled Academy Head Weston for his loss when he was in his carriage and even said that he would send the invoice for the chairs ruined from his outbreak to the Saint Marceau Academy, which once again caused Weston to spit out another mouthful of blood and lose consciousness. I heard that he would take at least half a year to recover from the shock, isn't that great?"

"Tsk, it's good news to that old fox but what does it have to do with us?" said Terman, annoyed.

Lorist finished his cup of macks and said to Charade, "I've already been here for almost an hour. It's about time you sent me back."

The group then strapped Lorist to the stretcher and hauled him back to his house in the Gold ranked instructor residential area.

Charade said, "Academy Head Levins decided that he would call the open duels tomorrow off to let the others believe that you are truly hurt and send some people to discuss with the other academies whether they are willing to postpone the duels to a later time. Even though the academies would surely deny that proposal, the old bastard said that we'd have to do that anyway to make your injuries more convincing."

Lorist closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of being hauled back to his home while cursing, "Gosh, both of you are really damned foxes who absolutely relish in scheming…"

—————————————————————–

"Injury to the back of the head, Instructor Locke wins. The next challenger, please prepare for your turn," announced Charade on the dueling platform.

For some reason, that particular challenger had his attention focused solely on Lorist's longsword and aimed all of his strikes to it as if he wanted to break the weapon into half. Lorist intentionally exposed several of his openings to bait the opponent but the result was still the same. Lorist then threw his sword upwards and the challenger stupidly turned his head to look up a the sword and Lorist gave the back of his head a palm slap.

This guy really lost too hilariously, thought Charade as he struggled to stifle his laughter while he instructed the Enforcement Division members to carry the person down from the dueling platform. In a low voice, he said to Lorist, "The next challenger is the disciple of the Kalia Kingdom's Sword Saint, Sandoz Hirda. Be careful, the several challengers before him had received orders to keep attacking you nonstop to drain you of your energy. He is also pretty quick with his sword…"

The young noble youth held a longsword sheathed in an ornate scabbard and got up the dueling platform. Standing in front of Lorist, he executed an elegant bow and said, "My dear Instructor Locke, I really didn't expect that you would be able to continue fighting through all those duels and give this student of yours a chance to face you. It really is a shame that the injuries that you have incurred would not allow you to show the full extent of your abilities in our duel."

Lorist merely waved the longsword in his hand as a gesture for him to stop talking and start the duel quickly.

However, the noble youth kept on standing there and continued. "Instructor Locke, the lesson you have imparted in me three years ago has left a really deep impression in my heart. During all these years, every timeI remembered the lesson you taught me, it has caused me to be unable to get a good night's sleep. To repay you for the gracious lesson you have taught me, I have been training without rest, only to think that…"

"Cough, cough, cough…" Lorist really couldn't bear it anymore and kept clearing his throat to stop that youth from continuing his long speech."Um, your name was… Hir-whatchamacallit? Oh, Higuita, are you planning to keep on going until I can't bear it anymore and surrender?"

"Sol, for the umpteenth time, his name is Sandoz Hirda. Seriously, can't you even get his name right?" scolded Charade from beneath the dueling platform.

The noble youth named Sandoz Hirda's face instantly reddened. Instructor Locke never once considered me a rival and even got my name wrong… And to think that I thought that I would be able to give him some pressure and ended up embarrassing myself instead…

Shing! Hirda drew his sword and said, " Since it is going to be like this, then your student won't hold back."

The moment he stopped talking the sword flash came over fast as lightning.

Lorist focused his gaze and lashed out the longsword in his left hand. Clang, clang! Sounds of metal colliding rang out nonstop and within but a short moment, their swords had crossed more than 10 times.

The speed of Hirda's sword was indeed fast, however he only used thrusts and flicks and didn't really use any slashing or sweeping moves. While this way of fighting was certainly fast, it resulted in rigid swordplay. From Lorist's dynamic vision, no matter how fast the sword could move, he could discern each and every strike without fail and parried all of them one after another.

Hirda gave it his all and the sword flashes surrounded Lorist's silhouette like clusters of stars in the night sky.

To the audience spectating the duel, Lorist seemed like he was on a boat sailing amidst savage waves and one small mistake could easily topple it over and result in his demise.

However, to Hirda, Lorist still had lots of moves to pull as his own lightning fast attacks did not seem to pose much of a threat to Lorist. Every time his strike was about to land, Lorist would move ever so slightly and dodge his move by a hair's breadth.

Hirda's emotional state sunk lower and lower. Initially, he believed that his painstaking three years of training would allow him to easily cream Lorist, however Lorist's abilities far surpassed what he could ever imagine. His expression turned colder as he thought, it seems it's time to use that move. He stared at Lorist with a deathly gaze…

Hirda's move suddenly changed from a thrust to a slash. Lorist moved his hand to parry the strike and waited for Hirda's next attack in anticipation.

The challenger gave his wrist a flick and knocked the spine of his sword against Lorist's blade. With a clear ring of metal breaking, Hirda's longsword broke off from the hilt.

Lorist was stunned and thought, why did his sword suddenly pop off? Despite being without a blade, Hirda held the sword hilt up high and leaped towards Lorist.

What's he planning to do now that his blade is gone? While Lorist was still struggling to comprehend that bizarre action, a 'whoosh' could be heard as a small bluish blade shot out from the hilt towards him…

Nobody could believe what was happening even though it transpired right before their eyes. The fact that Hirda's sword hilt had a hidden poisoned blade within was completely unexpected.

Lorist instantly backed away. He could see the poison blade slowly approaching with his dynamic vision. Taking in a deep breath, Lorist tried his best to move his head as the blade flashed past an inch away from his face, letting out a pungent smell into his nostrils.

Bam! Consumed by anger, Lorist propped himself up and gave Hirda, who was elated at the thought of killing Lorist with the poison blade, a savage kick in the chest which sent him flying down from the dueling platform knocked out with blood flowing out of his mouth and nose. He then called Charade to remove the poison blade which was stuck firm onto the ground of the dueling platform.

Charade said, "Brother, that kick of yours was far too ruthless. Hirda's sternum is completely shattered and even if he recovered, he would be a cripple who can no longer train his Battle Force."

Lorist's expression remained cold as ever. "Where's the next challenger? Send him up quickly."

Counting Earnings and Beggars

"How boring…" said Lorist.

Cups and plates could be seen all over the table. Lorist was leaning on the wall stretching and sighing after enjoying a nice, filling meal.

"Sol, you've already a become super rich man yet you're complaining over something as small as this… How frustrating," said Charade as he chewed on a toothpick and looked at Lorist with contempt.

"Hehe, fatty… Am I bothering you? Don't forget that I treated you to breakfast today you know. Other people would be courteous after receiving a treat from someone, yet you start giving me that angry look after you've been treated." Given that Lorist had nothing better to do, he started arguing with Charade.

"I'm not angry at you… I'm just despicably envious and jealous! Back then, you would join me to go on missions all over the place for a couple of gold coins. But now, you've already managed to purchase your own building that costs 5000 and more gold coins without batting an eye! With more than 40 rooms in it, you could easily collect up to 8 gold coins of rent per month! How am I supposed to stay calm about that?! Terman, Yuriy, Steve, don't you all think so too?" said Charade as he attempted to drag the others to his side.

The others nodded and agreed at what Charade had just said.

Yuriy asked curiously, "Locke, how much money did you earn within this month?"

Lorist gave it some thought and shook his head. "I haven't counted it yet, but there should be seven to eight thousand gold coins. I only noticed that I had so much saved up when Els asked me if I was interested in that building. Since I had nothing better to spend it on, I bought it right away."

"I think you should leave the counting to me." Charade was instantly piqued upon the mention of money. "Within the 3rd and 4th months, you've defeated all 27 academies in the Academy Sector and that old bastard promised you 100 gold coins per academy right? That should already amount to 2700 gold coins, correct?"

"Sol, how did you know about that?" Lorist gritted his teeth. The old bastard was afraid that the reward would cause other people to be green-eyed with jealousy so that's why he only notified me personally… How did that fatty know about it?

"You don't need to know how I got the news. That did happen, correct?" said Charade full of smiles as he held his nose high like he knew everything, making Lorist have an urge on giving his face a good punch.

Lorist nodded hesitantly.

"That's only part of the story. You should have earned a decent sum from the challengers that don't represent any academy as well. The number of challengers each month starting from the third is 240, 360, 680, 700 and within the last month itself, which is the 7th month, you had 520 challengers which totals up to 2500 people. By the end of each month, the finance department would give you a commission of 3 gold coins per challenger. Based only on that, you've got another 7500 gold coins down your pocket. So that's already more than 10000 gold coins. It's no wonder that you didn't even blink when taking out all that money for that building," recalled Charade with great detail.

Lorist suddenly remembered that Charade's Enforcement Department also got a 10% cut for each challenger. That's why he was so clear about the details.

"Also, within this month, there has been 18 open challenge days for those not affiliated with academies. Even though there are still tons who want to register, the academy has decided to end this dueling event when the challenger count reaches 3000. After the day after tomorrow which is an open challenge day, you should already have 380 challengers for this month. After defeating another 120 of them, you'll hit your 3000th victory. That's why, you still have another 1500 gold coins that you haven't claimed from the finance department."

Terman seemed to have remembered something as he asked, "I heard that if Locke manages to get a 3000 win streak, the academy would spend another 1000 plus gold coins to craft a life-sized bronze statue of him in the academy to commemorate that. I wonder if it's true…"

"So what if it is? It's not like the 1000 gold coins will go into Locke's pocket, so it's pointless. If it were me, I'd give him the 1000 gold coins and have him stand there all day in place of a statue." Charade absolutely couldn't bear the fact that the reward wouldn't increase the money that they would get. That was the main reason why he was so opposed to the construction of the statue.

"Buzz off, I don't have the time to stand around the academy pretending to be a statue. I'm not Els, you know," barked Lorist. Upon hearing that, everyone recalled the incident when Els impersonated a plaster statue in the female bath house and broke into laughter.

Charade continued to count Lorist's haul, "Locke's largest earnings come from the betting pool Els set up. Though, he hasn't got it yet, and lesser and lesser people are betting on Lorist's loss. He can only collect the earnings by the time the dueling event ends. However, last time when I checked with Els, Locke has a share of an estimated 20000 gold coins at least! Good Sol! I really can't stand the thought of Lorist swimming in a sea of gold coins… I'll never make that much no matter how hard I work in my life!" Charade really felt that he was slowly going nuts.

"Hey, don't say that like you deserve it. I am the one doing all the work up there on the dueling platform you know. Don't forget that you've got quite a sum yourself without doing much to begin with, at least 10000 gold coins. Now that you mention it, each of you here already have made at least a few thousand gold coins yourselves. Even if you can't purchase a building, surely you can afford a nice mansion, right? Fatty, if you want to swim in a sea of gold coins, why don't you take my place on the dueling platform?"

"Sol, if I had the ability to do so I wouldn't have let you take the spot in the first place," said Charade bitterly.

"Then you better keep your mouth shut. Rather than grumbling about how much Locke is earning, you should be training your Battle Force and try to break through into the Gold rank. Brother Locke relied on his own skills to earn that money. You don't know how much risk he has had to take by dueling all those people within the recent months. Do you lot think that any of you can last even one day up there? The people of Morante City don't call him Iron Locke the Silver Undefeated for nothing you know," a voice interjected and heavily rebuked Charade.

"Sol, Els… Since when has it been your job to nag at me?" said Charade as he jumped in anger.

The one who just arrived was Els. He stared at Charade with an annoyed expression and said, "What? You're not content? Why don't we go out and settle it with our fists?"

"Good Sol…" said Charade as he lifted his cup of ale and drank a few gulps in anger. "Your brother here is a civilized person and wouldn't take what a ruffian like you say seriously."

Two months prior, Els's dark attribute Battle Force had finally reached the Three Star Silver rank which prompted him to go seek out Lorist for a duel, only to end up losing flat on the ground as usual. Given that Charade was talking down on him during his duel with Els, he got challenged by him right after that.

Having reached that rank a year before Els and seeing Lorist defeat him without breaking a sweat, Charade believed that he wouldn't have much trouble defeating a newbie like him. Nobody would have expected Els's dark attribute Battle Force to be far superior to normal ones. Coupled with the various rogue skills Els claimed to train in, Charade was totally creamed three out of three times. Not satisfied with his loss, Charade challenged Els for seven more times privately within the coming month. Even though Charade wanted Els to keep the results of the duels a secret, Els didn't bother either.

"Here, it's settled," said Els as he handed Lorist a leather pouch. It contained a deed for the building along with a receipt for the management fees as well as taxes with a few gold coins and some gold coin notes left over.

Picking up a bottle of blackcurrant ale and removing its cork, Els drank directly from the bottle before saying, "The building is already registered under your name. The management fee is 0.5% of the price while the tax is about 10%. There will no longer be any other fees in the future and the change is all in the pouch. Give it a count to make sure it's correct."

Lorist picked up his wine cup and said, "Thanks, Els."

"It's no big deal, brother."

This was the first piece of property that Lorist had purchased in Morante City and it was located at Rose Street which is near the Business Sector. It was a building with Gothic-like architecture that had four floors with 12 rooms on each floor. Originally, it belonged to a count from the Mobia Duchy who decided to sell it in a rush due to some personal circumstances.

When Els heard about that news, he recalled that Lorist had once mentioned that he wanted to buy some property in the city and invited him to go check that building out. Satisfied with the building, he had Els help him out with the purchase. Even though Els managed to seal the deal at only 5400 gold coins instead of the original 7000, the taxes and management fee still didn't make Lorist feel any better. On the bright side, after paying off those fees, the building would truly belong to Lorist and he wouldn't have to pay any other fees for the rest of his life.

"What are you planning to do with the building?" asked Els.

"I'll leave that to Jindoz. Wasn't he going to set up an organization that provides labor services? I'll let him use the building and collect half of the rent from him every month," said Lorist.

"That's a good idea. I'll get Jindoz to prepare the contract for you within the next two days," said Els as he nodded.

"Uncle Locke, I want another large drumstick," said Alisa as she ran over and tugged on Lorist's arm. Before that, she was playing around with her brother Howard in the backyard of the Red Grace Inn.

Lorist's friend from the same homeland, the peak Silver ranked mercenary Potterfang, had recovered after two months of rest. The two of them didn't talk much, but their implicit mutual understanding made them intimate friends. As for Potterfang's two children, Lorist spoiled and took great care of them. Howard was a studious and hardworking child. When Potterfang saw Lorist giving Reidy some pointers in swordsmanship, he told Lorist that he would like Howard to also become Lorist's disciple when he awakens his Battle Force in a few years.

Originally, Potterfang only intended to mention it casually but Lorist reconfirmed it with him in a serious tone. Potterfang only nodded and Lorist instantly got Howard to bow down to him 3 times and had Reidy perform the same ceremony as well. That was how Howard officially became Lorist's second disciple with his senior apprentice brother being Reidy.

As for Potterfang's daughter, Alisa, Lorist cared for her very much and was often reminded of his own daughter back in his past life. That resulted in him granting every request of hers to the point where he had a craftsman hired to renovate the attic into a proper bedroom for the siblings, much to their excitement and joy. Potterfang was even a little jealous that his children were closer to their beloved Uncle Locke than him.

When Potterfang fully recovered and was about to leave with his children, he was stopped by Lorist with tons of excuses. Some of the main ones were the fact that the children absolutely loved it here and the city would be a better environment for the children to grow up as opposed to having them wander around with Potterfang. And, given that Howard is already Lorist's disciple, there was no way that he would leave before he was taught anything right? The other reason was that since Potterfang didn't really have a set destination to go to, he shouldn't let his children suffer along the journey with him. The final reason was the most convincing, that is, Potterfang would be allowed to leave whenever he manages to defeat Lorist.

Seeing his two children so attached to Lorist, he could only reluctantly agree to stay for a little longer until he can decide where he will settle down in the future.

Lorist offered to recommend Potterfang as a Silver ranked instructor for the Dawn Academy, but that proposition was rejected by him as he did not intend to permanently settle down in Morante City. Lorist knew that there wasn't a point in forcing it so he brought him to the Red Grace Inn and introduced him to Charlando so that he may accept private requests there in the future.

It was already the 8th month of the year and most of the courses in the academy had halted for the semester break, except for the Battle Force awakening course that Lorist was in charge of. There were tens of students in the last batch who would awaken their Battle Force by the end of the month, among which included President Peterson's son who had lost more than half of his body weight from 180 plus kilograms to 90 kilograms. While that was still slightly overweight, it was no longer an obstacle in awakening his Battle Force.

Last month when President Peterson came over to check on his son, he shed tears of joy from seeing his son's current physique and instantly took out a couple of gold bank notes as a sign of his gratitude. Had Lorist not stopped him before, he might have already got the 3000 gold Forde reward that the president had promised long ago. On that day itself, the president had forcefully stuffed nine such notes into Lorist's pocket, which was worth about 900 gold coins.

The academic season on the Grindia Continent was rather peculiar and lax. Every year, there were two academic semesters with one longer than the other. The longer one starts at the 3rd month and ends around the middle of the 8th month. On the 9th month, the citizens of the continent celebrate the harvest festival so no activities in the academy would be carried out then. After that, school resumed on the 15th day of the 10th month and ends around the 15th day of the 12th month and the vacation period would start again until the 3rd month of the following year. Lorist figured that the long winter break was due to the culture of Grindians to stay cooped up in their homes during the winter.

Additionally, while the Dawn Academy boasted to have over 5000 students, it was already quite a good number if at least 2000 plus of them showed up for studies during a semester. Most others were usually registered students who worked part time in the academy or took some time off from school to earn some money to pay their fees. Some others were like Charade who took advantage of the cheap housing rent in the academy and even brought their families along to stay there with them, as evidenced by one survey Charade conducted some time ago which revealed some students who had already been there for 5-6 years and were unwilling to graduate because they wanted to live in the student dorms. The lax regulation of the students of the academy made Lorist feel that it was more of a commune than an educational institution.

As Els had mentioned before, Lorist had already become one of Morante City's most well-known personalities with his moniker being Iron Locke the Silver Undefeated, a proud dual Gold ranked instructor with an Iron ranked Battle Force. Some rumors even said that during the year end academy assessments, the Dawn Academy's rank would rise by one place, setting it ahead of the Saint Marceau Academy. The main contributor to that rise in rank was probably Lorist's victories over the Silver ranked instructors from the 27 different academies of the Academy Sector.

After the 7th month, the number of Silver Swordsmen who came to challenge Lorist had decreased quite substantially despite the fact that Academy Head Levins raised the reward prize to 500 gold Fordes. Charlando, the owner of Red Grace Inn even said, "While 500 gold coins certainly seems appealing, most people knew that they wouldn't be able to obtain it without enough skill. Rather than chasing after a pipe dream, people would probably grasp the 10 gold coins that would be required for the registration fee tightly within their hands instead."

That caused Lorist to feel rather bored as he had already been accustomed to dueling people for the past few months. Now that the number of opponents had suddenly lessened, he felt like he had nothing else to do. Even though he wanted to go adventuring with his other mercenary buddies, he was unable to do so as he still had things to settle within the academy. That was why he brought the two kids and Reidy and invited his other friends from the academy to the Red Grace Inn for a feast once again.

Intimately scrubbing the nose of the little girl who was tugging at his arm, Lorist said, "Alright, alright. I'll get my little princess her favorite chicken drumstick."

Looking towards the counter, Lorist shouted, "Louise, ask McDuffin to make me another plate of fried chicken drumsticks."

Standing behind the counter was the new female owner of the inn, Louise, who had just got married to Charlando three months ago. After purchasing another elixir from the Mishla Shrine to recover her fertility, she got pregnant pretty quickly despite not having been married for long. That caused many to praise Charlando for still having 'it' in him despite being of relatively old age. Though, Els privately told Lorist that the old man ordered quite a few jars of Terrence-donkey whip from him. "If that didn't help him recover his sexual ability, then he would only have himself to blame," said Els at that time.

The golden-brown chicken drumstick was quickly served on the table and Alisa took two of them and said that she would give her brother one and ran off. However, a little bit later, Alisa came back and took two more.

"Huh? Alisa, why are you eating that fast? I've only managed to get two bites out of my own during this short time. Could your mouth actually be bigger than mine?" said Els as he teased that cute girl.

"It isn't! Alisa's mouth is small unlike yours. Just now, I gave the chicken to a beggar who looked really pitiful," said the little girl, dissatisfied at having been said to have a big mouth.

Lorist gave the girl another two drumsticks and said, "Now, don't go giving these to the beggar again, okay? If he really needs it, you can ask your brother to give him two copper coins."

The girl took the chicken and replied innocently, "But my brother has already given him his money. He said that he was from the Northlands who had come to Morante City to look for someone called Norton Lorite whom he referred to as his young master. Big Sis Louise said that she hasn't heard that name before and gave him a bowl of porridge. Alisa only gave him her chicken because he didn't have anything else to go with the porridge."