"Keep your head up. Never take your eyes off your opponent."
Arnos quickly jabbed the stick towards Master Romeus but halfway tilted the stick slightly to the side. Master Romeus didn't expect this but had quick reflexes and parried off the attack.
"That was good, too bad you're still not quick enough."
He used Shadow Vanish and disappeared. Fortunately Arnos was already ready to defend. BASH! Their sticks clashed together. SNAP! Suddenly Arnos's stick snapped in two.
"Well that's unfortunate, I guess that's all for today. Maybe I'll give you something different to use tomorrow. Those long solid sticks clearly weren't sturdy enough."
"Anyways I need you to do an errand for me before lunch. We don't have much vegetables and meat left. So go to the nearest town which I'll show you and buy some groceries. I would normally hunt but we're running out of essentials too. Don't worry the nearest town is not the city you came from. It's really near here. It'll be quick so when you come back we'll have lunch."
After Master Romeus showed him the map and gave him a compass and a miniature version of it, and some other resources he set off.
Arnos felt that he was much lighter and his stamina was a bit longer too. He also was a bit faster and reached the town soon enough.
'Wow, it really is a small town. Meh whatever I'll just buy the groceries and put them in the void pouch.'
As he approached the market he saw a crowd. There was a lot of people, letting his curiosity overfill him; he made his way over to the ruckus.
"What's going on here?" He asked a nearby watcher.
"Well, that boy challenged the mayor's son."
"But isn't this a small town? Is this match really that important?"
"Hahaha, you're funny kid, the mayor isn't someone to tamper with."
Arnos got closer and could make out 2 people. There was a boy with auburn hair barely standing, clutching on to a small sword. He looked beaten, while on the left was a tall young man. With neatly combed back dark hair. He looked like a noble.
"You dare challenge me? I'm surprised you're still standing. Even after witnessing my skill with this iron blade." He chuckled.
"You... You ruined my fathers hard work! I don't care if you're the mayor's son! You're a brat and I'm not going to surrender!" The boy fired back.
Just as the mayor's son was about to strike down on the boy. A thick stick blocked him. The crowd went silent to see who the newcomer was to defend that boy.
"Hey, hey you're going to seriously injure the kid. Why isn't anyone doing anything?!" Arnos asked around in frustration while still holding onto the stick.
"You dare defend this boy? Do you even know who I am? I am the mayor's son! Damien Troysen. Back out now, unless you want to get hurt." He said arrogantly.
Instead he replied back with a laugh.
"I hate people like you, people who think they're better just cause they have higher status. How bout we have sparring match?" Arnos replied without thinking.
He didn't wait for a reply and asked,
"Hey kid can I borrow your small sword for a minute?"
The boy nodded and handed it over. Since the sword was small, it was quite light which was perfect.
Damien ran at Arnos with full speed and swung his blade. With ease he deflects the blade off and uses his speed to attack him. Damien is caught off guard and gets hit in the side of his chest and falls over. He coughs out some blood, the crowd went very silent. A few whispers flew out.
"Is this kid crazy does he want to die?"
"Wait he actually bet Master Damien?"
"This kid messed up."
Arnos looked at Damien and just smiled coldly. "You should apologize to this kid for ruining whatever he had."
His sword tip was at the tip of his throat.
"Whatever, you'll regret ever messing with me."
Damien just stood up and left. The crowd looked one more time at the mysterious boy who defeated Damien and departed. Arnos turned around and helped the boy up.
Turns out, the boy's name was Donovan. He came from a poor background. His father had spent all of the other night making some fabrics to sell and Damien had stepped and had made them very dirty. Damien refused to apologize and so the naive boy challenged him to a duel. Which up ended like this.
"What is your name mister? You are my savior!"
"Haha, I'm just a passerby. My name is Arnos. Here's your sword back and next time try stay out of trouble. Anyhow I'd love to chat but I gotta go kid, see ya."
Donovan didn't know how but Arnos just disappeared from sight.
He scanned the aisles looking for the things needed on his list. After awhile he payed for the things and left. They were all stored safely in his pouch. He realized that he had taken awhile and it had already been half an hour.
'Oh no Master Romeus will be mad that I took so long.'
"There he is dad! That's the guy who humiliated me!"
"Oh this kid? Oi! Kid you go on your knees right now or I'll have you pay."
Arnos had a cheeky smile and decided not to do anything and just disappeared. He was too tired to deal with all this.
"Where'd he go?"
Ten minutes later Arnos arrived back at the cabin.
"You took very long, good thing training ended earlier or else it would've been 1:00pm by now. Did you perhaps get into some trouble?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Well, kinda..." He explained the situation in full detail.
"Sigh, alright I guess what you did was right. That mayor still is cocky about his status when it's not even that high. You should eat, I already ate because you took so long."
Arnos grabbed one of the sandwiches and took a bite. It tasted nice and delicious. After 1 sandwich he grabbed another one and another. At the end he ate about 5 and drank 2 full cups of water. He then proceeded washing the plates again.
When he finished he found a note on his desk.
'I have another job for you. I need you to hunt some animals, SMALL Animals. Don't get in trouble, I trust you enough to be able to escapes from some sort of predator or beast. Just hunt about 5 animals. Don't over estimate your skill and don't under estimate the animals. Take care I'm just going to have a little chat with the mayor.' After he read the note he smiled secretly,
'Little chat? Ha. Like I'd believe that. Somethings going to happen.'
'Whatever it's none of my business anyways, time to go hunting.'
Arnos walked through the forest. There were weird growling noises from time to time but it was fine. Unfortunately Arnos did not realize he was getting further and further away from the cabin. The good thing was that he had a compass, a miniature map and he borrowed some hunting tools which included a sharp, light dagger, a huge water bottle, all was stored in his void pouch. So far all he came across were some wild moon rabbits. They were quite large and he needed just to find one more but was having trouble.
"Come out, little rabbits or whatever small or big easy animals to kill. C'mon this is kinda boring."
Growllllllll, "Who's there!!" He shouts out.
'Oh, it was just my belly. I'm hungry even though its been like an hour after lunch.'
Arnos kept walking, he even started climbing the trees to get a better view.
Suddenly a huge bellowing growl echoed around the place. He took out his dagger, that definitely wasn't some small creature. Out jumped a deer, wait a deer?!
Standing in front of him was a 2 meter tall deer. With sharp horns instead of antlers and a spike tail. Arnos couldn't figure out what it was but hell did it not look like a deer. If it wasn't the fact that the deer hadn't attacked him and was in a fighting stance and how it had a stature of a deer. He probably would've thought it was some sort of bear. The deer's hooves were not blunt but sharply pointed.
'Damn it, what have I gotten into. Deer's are naturally agile and quick and this deer is like mutated!'
Arnos tried to use Shadow Vanish to disappear and use a sneak attack but it didn't work. The huge deer swung his spike tail at him. He barely dodged it, instead he cuts one of the deer's back leg while dodging. And out of no where, the deer's horns got a radioactive radiant. Out flew some goo, it hit a nearby stump and sizzled into the tree stump.
'ACID?! Now I'm really dead, I need to focus, escape or catch it off guard.'
He calmed his mind and did a very quick Shadow Vanish and went for it's throat. It just misses and slits his neck. The deer does a horrendous screech and pounces on Arnos. He vanishes and appears behind the deer hoping to stab down on it's head but the deer has gotten berserk and it's senses have tripled. The deer swung around and some more acid flew. He wasn't well prepared and some acid struck his shirt and burnt it. "Really? The first Silent Walker gear I ever get and this guy burns it?"
To get back at the deer he stayed still. The deer trots a bit back and charged at Arnos. The deer is almost at Arnos but he still isn't moving. Suddenly he does a quick spin in the air, uses Shadow Vanish and stabs the deer down on it's head. The deer dies and collapsed.
"HEY! THAT WAS MY PREY!" An angry shout flew out.
Meanwhile at the town.
"I'm so sorry I didn't know he was your apprentice." A voice begs out for mercy.
"Even so... You're cocky old man. I could destroy this town in seconds, and you. Boy you think too highly of yourself."
Damien Troysen shivered at the way the young man talked to him and his father. This man was the infamous Shameth Romeus.