"…So where are we headed next?"(Shin)
"About that, During the training at the Phantom's Dungeon, I remembered a debt that I'm yet to pay back, that's why I'm going to head to the town of Randol to pay back my debts"(Ryo)
"Randol? But that's the opposite direction of the capital, to go there we will have to go south towards the Desert of Death, is that alright?"(Shin)
"Yeah… like I said, I have a debt to pay there, but…. It's going to be an unpleasant visit to that town, so you don't have to come with me there, you can wait for me here till I'm done with my business there"(Ryo)
"No, if possible I want to go with you!"(Shin)
"Me too! I want to go!!"(Loti)
"Got it, let's go out and head there right away!"(Ryo)
We got out of the interdimensional house and got into the carriage and had Shiro pull us there, with her speed we will reach Randol in no more than two days, I plan to spend those two days training my Ryuken to try to enhance my ability to add an attribute to the mana around my body.
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Shin's POV….
Sensei is acting strange today, our next destination is the town of Randol, according to him Sensei had a debt that he wanted to pay back there, but he also mentioned that he remembered the debt in the Phantom's Dungeon, in that place the monsters would try to break your mind with mental attacks showing you nightmares and bad memories from your past, so if Sensei was reminded of his debt in there…. I have a really bad feeling about this.
Sensei spent his time training his Ryuken on the roof of the carriage, and from the inside of the carriage all three of us could feel that he is somewhat sharper than usual, his mana that could be felt from inside here was as if there were knives flying and swirling all around us, it was a little bit hard to calm down.
Our two days journey ended, and we arrived at Randol right after sunrise, we didn't face any dangers all the way to here, even monsters avoided standing on our way leave alone attacking us, since Shiro joined us we have had a lot fewer monsters attack us every day but never none at all and for two days straight, yesterday there was a monster that ran away the moment we appeared along the road leaving behind his hard-earned prey behind which is an impossible behavior for a monster.
At the gate, the guards were slightly terrified because of Shiro but once they took a closer looks they calmed down right away and processed our entry to the town with eyes full of awe directed at Sensei who was sitting on the roof, Sensei was smiling and talking normally like he always does, but for us who could feel his mana, it was as if we were standing in front of an Ancient Dragon that was set on killing us, I have never met nor even saw an Ancient Dragon in my life, but that expression came from Seth-san who was in the presence of one once in the past, and from what he could feel, the amount, speed, and sharpness of the mana around Sensei's body right now is equal to that of an Ancient Dragon's one or even more dangerous and stronger, and what's more, it's all being controlled perfectly by Sensei and it's all packed tightly around his body.
"…So you came at least, Angry Onii-san!"(??)
"…You knew that I was coming here?"(Ryo)
Suddenly, a little girl started talking to Sensei right after we passed through the town's gate, the girl was only seven or eight years old, and she talked to Sensei as if she knew who he was and that he was coming to this town.
"I knew about you since the day I was born, I knew that you'll come to this town and change it forever, that's why I waited the day you'll be coming here and it finally came! Well, I saw you enter the town and that's enough for me for now, see you later!"(Little Girl)
"Who was that? Someone you knew, Sensei?"(Shin)
"…It's my first time meeting her and according to my skill {Analyze}, she possesses the skill {Future Seer} a unique skill on the same level as my skills, {Analyze}, {Create}, and {Control}, her skill allow her to see the future, and in the order of the most important one first, and she just said that she knew about me since the day she was born… for now let's go to the guild and collect some information about the town"(Ryo)
We headed for the guild building to collect some information about the town as Sensei said, on our way there, people kept looking at us …no, at Sensei with awe and amazement, he is someone capable of taming an Earth Dragon, after all, some of them were scared at first but soon that fear turned into amazement once they saw the carriage pulled by the mighty Earth Dragon and Sensei on top of it, once we reached the guild, Sensei parked the carriage in the parking area and then we made our way to the guild door, upon entering the guild we were entangled in trouble right away, a drunk old guy came and tried to pick a fight with us.
"Oi Oi! This is not a place for some brats to come to!! Who the hell made the rule that brats like these had the right to register with guild anyway?! They are useless, after all! I know! How about I teach ya what it means to be real adventurers, Ah? The payment will be all the money ya have on ya and that candy-chan ya have with ya!"(Drunkard)
The drunk guy started laughing as he staggered his way towards us, there Sensei walked towards him, and in a swift motion, he punched the drunk guy in the face, stomach, and back, after that, he held the guy's arm and twisted it behind his back, breaking it, and then kicked him upwards in the stomach launching him towards the ceiling of the floor we are in, right now the drunk guy's head is stuck in the ceiling, his face must be on the second floor right now. The drunk guy had friends in the guild and upon seeing their friend being beaten up like that, they started standing up to take revenge for him, but before that, everyone in the guildhall fell down unable to breathe, the bloodlust that is emanating from Sensei right at that moment crippled all the adventurers in guildhall, they all were clutching their necks in pain because of their inability to breathe at the moment, but that bloodlust stopped right away leaving everyone gasping for air on the floor.
"Excuse me… what's going on in here?"(Old Woman)
"Newbies bullying, that drunk adventurer stuck to the roof, the guy who frequently went around bullying young and new adventurers tried to do his usual business with these three, but he ended like so, and when his friends tried to take revenge for him, everyone in the guildhall started suffocating and writhing in pain…"(Receptionist)
"Suffocating and writhing in pain? You, did you use some kind of magic to achieve that?"(Old Woman)
"Not at all, all I did was release some of my bloodlust at them"(Ryo)
"Bloodlust?! How thick bloodlust can be to cause all of this? What's your rank?"(Old Woman)
"S, here is my guild card"(Ryo)
"S? Oho! So you are the rumored Dragon Slayer and Dragon Tamer Ryo! Well, that explains it! But… I understand you beating this asshole up and then releasing your bloodlust at his friends, but why did you do it to all the adventurers here?"(Old Woman)
"They didn't try to stop him at all, and from what the Receptionist lady said he is someone who has been doing this for many times now, are all the adventurers in this town nothing but assholes finding pleasure in tormenting the weak? If that's the case, I'll just kill every last adventurer who dares to act that way in front of me, is that fine with you all?"(Ryo)
Sensei directed his gaze at the adventurers on the ground as he asked that question, and they all started shaking their heads as if saying 'no no no no'.
"It's a good chance! Starting of this moment all harmful actions towards fellow adventurers are against the guild's rules and those who chose to do them will be punished by revoking their guild cards and a permanent ban from the guild across the whole world, and that includes the bystanders as well, if you happen to see someone breaking this rule you have to either stop him and report it to the guild later on or report to the guild directly if you are not strong enough to stop it, and if you don't agree to this rule I'll be happy to adapt Ryo's way of doing things, so is there anyone against the new rule?"(Old Woman)
All the adventurers present started shaking their heads from right to left at an incredible speed.
"Good, and as a start, the guy stuck in the ceiling will no longer be considered an adventurer and his guild card is revoked, and he is banned from all the guilds all over the world and as for his friends, they are all suspended for three months starting right now! And you Ryo, could you come to my office for a moment? Along with your friends of course"(Old Woman)
"No problem"(Ryo)
We went with the old woman who appears to be the guild master to her office upstairs and there in the center of the room was a hole, it was the hole that drunkard's face was stuck to. The guild master sat on her chair, and we did the same on the chairs in front of her desk.
"So…. To start I would like to apologize for the shameful condition of our guild, and next, thank you for not just killing them outright down there"(Guild Master)
"No… I acted rashly myself, I should be the one apologizing"(Ryo)
"You do seem to be at edge, but…. Haah… you must have a bone to pick with the Lord of this town, right? And a bloody one at that"(Guild Master)
"….How did you know?"(Ryo)
"Let me just say, you are not the first one nor the last to come to this town with that mood, but The Divine Blacksmith, you are the last one I expected to have a debt to pay back to this town"(Guild Master)
"…For how many years have you been the guild master in this town?"(Ryo)
"For 32 years now"(Guild Master)
"…Were you familiar with an adventurer named Marx?"(Ryo)
"…Marx..? Yes, I was, he was a well-known adventurer in this town till the church tried to take his child from him, and he refused, I was at the time outside the town with the Holy Knights fighting a group of bandits that made their base near our town, and on our way back I saw the Lord's gourds chasing after him and his wife Cel, the Holy Knights saw that and went after them right away, I tried to help them but I alone couldn't fight against a whole group of Holy Knights, that was the last I saw of that adventurer and his family, these town's people are all as you saw downstairs, they are not willing to help those in need when they see one, but the truth is that they have no choice but to be that way, they all had people taken away from them by the church and them trying to help prevent that led to a lot of innocent people dying in front of them, that was enough to break them and molding them the way they are right now, and from time to time you see people like the guy who tried to attack you earlier, people who came from different towns and try to take advantage of the condition the people of this town are in, that's why I choose to stay in this town and try to fix things up as much as I could, as the last job I do while I'm still alive"(Guild Master)
"I see…. As you already know, I am The Divine Blacksmith Ryo, Marx and Cel are my parents, I am the child with three skills that the church tried to take from them, the first memory I have is the appearance of my parents sacrificing their lives to protect mine while fighting the monsters in the desert of death, and here I am right now coming back to this town to pay that debt back"(Ryo)
"Well…. That's a surprise! To think that Marx's kid is The Divine Blacksmith himself! But I am afraid that you'll not be able to pay your whole debt back, the Lord that caused that tragedy died five years ago, and his son is the current Lord of this town, and since he took Lordship over the town he has been trying to fix his father's mistakes but…. It's just that he is at his limits already"(Guild Master)
"…I see, but what do you mean by at his limits?"(Ryo)
"…Have you met a little girl that says strange things?"(Guild Master)
"Yes, I did! She was at the town's gate"(Ryo)
"In that case, go to the Lord's mansion yourself and you'll understand"(Guild Master)
"…I see"(Ryo)
Hearing the Guild Master's words, Sensei stood up and went outside the guild's building, and we followed behind him, we headed directly to the biggest mansion in town and found the little girl from earlier waiting for us at the mansions gates.
"You are late! For how much you were going to let me wait?! Come this way!"(Little Girl)
She came running towards Sensei and took him by hand and dragged him after her inside the mansion, we ran behind them passing by the guards who gave us wry smiles and bowed their heads for us letting us in no questions asked, that was strange just now, could the girl be…
"Wait for me here! I'll call dad to come to meet you!"(Little Girl)
The little girl ran off somewhere living us standing there, and moments later she came back with two people walking behind her, a woman supporting a man with her shoulder, the man was thin and his skin was sickly pale and his eyes had a very dark bags around them, the man was so sick he couldn't move by himself, even so, he did come to meet us, that was strange.
"I apologize for my appearance, my name is Kam Randol the Lord of Randol, this here is my wife Mana and my daughter Mina…. A-A-Are y-you really that Angry Onii-san?..."(Kam)
"What do you mean?"(Ryo)
"Sorry, it's just that 'Angry Onii-san' was the first thing that our daughter said ever, and since then everything she says comes true, but the 'Angry Onii-san' was the first one and the most important according to her, and when we ask her about it all she says is that it's not the right time yet, but today she woke up first thing in the morning and dashed outside the house saying 'Angry Onii-san is coming!!' and now she called for us to meet you, that's why…"(Mana)
"This is him! The first thing I saw and I know what he is going to do in this town as well!"(Mina)
"I-I see…"(Kam)
"…First let me introduce myself, my name is Ryo I'm the adventurer known as The Divine Blacksmith here is my guild card, these here are my students Shin and Loti"(Ryo)
"Nice to meet you!"(Loti)
"Nice to meet you"(Shin)
"…Th-Th-The Divine Blacksmith?!!"(Kam)
"….That's a surprise! To think that 'Angry Onii-san' would turn out to be The Divine Blacksmith…"(Mana)
"B-But you coming to this town must have been for a reason, right?"(Kam)
"…Haah….I'm originally from this town, I was born in this town, my father was an adventurer and my mother was a seamstress, and when it came to light that I was born with three skills, the church with the help of the Lord tried to take me away from them by force, to protect me my parents had no choice but to run towards the Desert of Death, the earliest memory I have is the appearance of my parents dying to protect me from the desert's monsters, but to tell you the truth I nearly forgot about all of it until I was reminded of it just recently, that's why I thought of visiting this town to pay back that debt to the asshole Lord and the damn church…."(Ryo)
Suddenly the Lord of Randol Kam, dropped down from his chair and kneeled down on the ground with his forehead touching the floor, seeing that his wife silently did the same right next to her husband, their daughter, Mina was looking at both of them with a smile on her face, it was a kind smile you wouldn't expect from a kid her age.
"I-I-I k-know that I'm a-asking for impossible, but please don't take it on my people! They have suffered a lot because of my father and the church, that's why please if there is someone who deserves to be punished for what happened to you and your parents then please let it be me! You may have my head but please don't take it on my people! I-!"(Kam)
Sensei took Kam-san by the shoulder and made him stand up forcefully, Kam-san was surprised by that but then Sensei took out a red bottle from his pocket and handed it to Kam-san.
"Drink it!"(Ryo)
"…I gladly will!"(Kam)
Kam-san took the bottle and drank all its contents without any hesitation at all, but contrary to his expectations no pain came to assault him, but instead, a feeling of comfort and energy going through his veins was what he felt, that was the effect of the Elixir that he drank just a moment ago, I still remember the feeling I felt the first time Sensei made me drink one. Color returned to Kam-san's skin and power to his eyes, all of that sickly appearance he had before disappeared and a healthy man stood in front of us right now.
"H-How? Wasn't that a poison?...."(Kam)
"Next time let me finish talking….. I came to this town seeking revenge on the Lord that was the reason for my parents' death only to find that he is dead and his son is right now working himself to the bone trying to fix his father's mistakes, and by just looking at him I knew that this man must have overworked himself way beyond his body's limits for his people, and he even begged me to kill him instead of his people. All I have for such a man is nothing but admiration, that's why I'll help you fix this broken town and show that damn church who is the boss, and by the boss I mean you Kam"(Ryo)
"…B-But I thought what you gave me was p-p-poison, that's why I …"(Kam)
"That was no poison, what I gave you was an Elixir I made, I gave it to you to fix that overworked body of yours"(Ryo)
"Elixir?!! To give me such an expensive thing…"(Kam)
"Don't worry about it, it's something I made myself, and it's not as expensive as you think. Now could you tell me more about the church?"(Ryo)
"…T-The church…?... For more than thirty years now, since the current Head priest was given the position, he started going after children who are born with skills, of course, there was resistance from the people and that's when the late Lord, my father offered the church to help them by lending them his soldiers and in return, the church will offer money to him for his help, and since then the church has been doing whatever they wanted to the town and its people, but five years ago I became the Lord in my father's stead after he died, and I stopped all help to the church and even started opposing them directly and that made the Head Priest furious with me and started cracking down on the people more than before, I tried to stop him by using force but I failed…"(Kam)
"You failed? Are his Holy Knights really that strong?"(Ryo)
"More like the Head Holy Knight alone was enough to dismantle all of my soldiers, according to the Guild Master, if he was an adventurer he would be an S rank for sure"(Kam)
"I see…"(Ryo)
"…It's time!"(Mina)
Mina-chan suddenly started running out of the mansion and towards the town, Kam-san and his wife went after her, and so we did, and not only us, for some reason all the soldiers and servants followed after us. We all walked towards the direction Mina-chan ran to, and there we found a crowd of people standing around the Holy Knights and an old man forcefully holding a child in his arms, the Holy Knights were holding down a young man and a woman who seems to be his wife, they must be the parents of that child and right now the child is being taken away from them by that old man.
"Guh!... Return our child back! You have no right taking him like that!!"(Man)
"Hohoho! That I do lad! It's all for our glorious God! This child's skills are far better to be used for the sake of our God don't you think? And in the first-!"(Head Priest)
*Thonk*
"Guh!... Who did this?"(Head Priest)
"Consider this your warning, stupid geezer! You better stop now and you might survive for today!"(Mina)
Suddenly Mina-chan threw a stone that hit the head priest on the forehead causing him to bleed slightly.
"So it was you! The dumb daughter of that stupid Lord! It seems that the time has come to take you as well!"(Head Priest)
"That's impossible, you can't harm me no matter how much you try"(Mina)
"Bullshit! Boys seize her!"(Head Priest)
Two Holy Knights started walking towards her grinning all the while, and all she did was to shrug slightly, suddenly their hands started to twist and break, the two Knights fell down screaming because of the pain, and there stood Sensei between the both of them, even from all the way back here, the mana surrounding Sensei's body that I could feel is the most terrifying up till now, Sensei crouched down and dropped his fists on the chests of the two Holy Knights screaming in pain either to his sides finishing them off by crushing their hearts along with their ribs.
"…Who are you? And how dare you attack my Holy Knights like that? Don't you know who I am?"(Head Priest)
"I know who you are very well, you are the insect I'm here to kill and nothing more"(Ryo)
"I see, you are one of those? Nothing unusual! I'll leave him to you! Deal with him the usual way!"(Head Priest)
"Got it! Be prepared vermin! You'll pay for killing my Knights like that!"(Head Knight)
"Idiots…"(Mina)
The Head Priest ordered one of the Knights to deal with Sensei, and the Knight who moved to fulfill the job was a two-meter tall man who had a greatsword on his back, the Knight unstrapped his greatsword and lunged at Sensei with it, he swung his greatsword at Sensei's head and before the greatsword even touch Sensei's head it turned into dust there and then, the Knight and the Head Priest and everyone present there actually was surprised by that, Sensei just placed his hand on the Knight's face locking him in an iron claw, but suddenly the Knight's head caught fire inside of sensei's grip, the blue flames roared as the Knight screamed and thrashed around, but to no avail, soon enough he stopped moving completely but Sensei's grip wasn't loosened at all and the Knight's head kept burning till only ash was left of it and his headless body dropped motionlessly to the ground.
"…You….How? Who the hell are you?!"(Head Priest)
"I am your assholes of the church and that rotten Theocracy of yours' sworn enemy The Divine Blacksmith! And I am here to kill the lot of you! …now that my introduction is out of the way….{Shadow Arts: Shadow Exchange}!"(Ryo)
The child in the Head Priest's arms disappeared along with his parents and appeared next to Sensei with the child being in his arms, Sensei gave the child back to his mother and asked them to stand back before summoning four of his undead soldiers.
"{Homura Bito}! Deal with the Knights here but leave the Old bastard over there for me!"(Ryo)
The flaming undead started attacking the Holy Knights and killing them easily, the Knights were no match for the four undead soldiers, it didn't take much for all of them to die.
"You stupid heretic! Do you think that you can get away with this!! If you try to lay your filthy hand on me, God's judgment will surely befall you!! You understand?! You are not so stupid to go and incur God's wrath on yourself, are you?!"(Head Priest)
"Your death will not be an easy one, and I have the perfect way to end your life…. With the sign of corruption and the depravity of this one's soul, I call upon retribution, I call upon vengeance, I call upon cruelty, O black coffin, Descend and grant eternal suffering to this one{Nemesis}!"(Ryo)
It was the first time I heard Sensei chant, and it was like nothing I heard before, and after that chant was completed the weather started to change, or more like an eclipse has occurred, the sun was covered by a strange shape, the shape was that of a vertical coffin but it had five thick black chains coiled around the black coffin that appeared in the sky, the coffin was not that big but for some reason, it blocked the sunlight as if an eclipse was happening, the chains coiled around the jet black coffin started uncoiling one after the other, and once all of them were out of the way, the coffin opened revealing blood-red spikes sprouting from the door and the back of the coffin, one of the chains started moving and shoot straight towards the Head Priest and through his right arm, the Head priest started screaming and thrashing around in pain and agony, but that was not the last of it, the second chain came flying towards him and stabbed him in his left arm, the third chain moved and stabbed his right leg and the forth stabbed his left leg leaving only one chain suspended in the air, and finally the fifth chain lunged at the screaming Head Priest and stabbed him through his forehead, strangely that didn't kill him but made him scream even more, all of chains started moving, raising the Head Priest up in the sky and dragging him towards the inside of the opened coffin in the sky, slowly the chains dragged the Head Priest inside the coffin and the coffin closed slowly skewering him with spikes inside of it, but his screams could still be heard from inside the coffin which means that he was still alive, the chains started coiling around the coffin as the coffin moved higher and higher in the sky all the while the Head Priest's screams could be heard till the coffin disappeared into thin air, only then did the screams stop, or maybe the coffin moved to a different dimension where the Head Priest's screams are still going strong.
*Author Note: Thank you DestroyerMon for proofreading this chapter*