Seeing the caged beast's desire to rampage, a soldier walked to him and patted his shoulder. "Captain..."
As if woken up from a trance, he quickly fell out of the daze and stared at the soldier for a second before thanking him.
"We'll be taking all these then." The squad leader turned to Adam and conveyed that they'll be taking the pieces of evidence for intrusion. He also inquired about Adam's rank and class.
Upon realising that the 26-years-old young man before him is a berserker and a level 31 at it, his eyes lit up.
"My name is Edgar Kastin, Captain of the 7th Royal Knight Regiment.
Are you interested in joining the royal forces?"
"No." The answer was instantaneous.
"..."
The surroundings froze.
What did he just say?
Did he reject my goodwill?
Edgar's lips twitched as Adam's 'no' reverberated in his mind.
"Don't take it the wrong way, but I am a wanderer. I roam freely and am only here for a few days or a couple of weeks at best. So I don't have any intention of joining the royal army."
Adam's impassive voice coupled with his revelation that he's an orphan conveyed that he likes to roam around without shackles. Many knights felt a tinge of admiration for the young man who wasn't blinded by the opportunity extended by the captain of one of the royal knight squads.
Edgar also realised the young man's perspective. At once, another desire popped up in his heart.
"Then, would you mind sparing a bit with me?"
Ba-dump!
Every single soldier in the vicinity had their hearts skip a beat upon hearing the captain's request. A shiver went up to their spine after recalling something.
"Sure." Adam had no reason to deny Edgar's request. "But I need to get to the guild and notify the mission completion."
The sparring had to wait because he needs to complete the systematic procedure of mission termination.
"Oh, it happens that I've nothing to do today. Let me accompany you." Edgar exclaimed and turned to one of his subordinates. "Take these two and the evidence and submit it before the king."
The knight nodded and departed with the two captives. The fellow squad members promptly picked up the evidence lying on the ground and followed the lead.
After confirming that they're gone beyond the sight, Edgar turned to Adam. "Shall we?"
The earthling could only nod and walk in front, towards the guild building with the knight squad captain in tow.
But the journey wasn't a silent one.
"How long have you been in Swanhild?" Hearing Edgar's voice, Adam looked over his shoulder. "Oh, a day perhaps."
A day?
A level 31 berserker who single-handedly slaughtered the enemy's silent invasion and caught two of them alive as a part of a mission... just came to the city a day ago?
It was both suspicious and admirable at the same time.
While Edgar was immersed in his ponderings, Adam summoned his interface before releasing the seal on his stats.
/◄▫◆▫◇▫◆▫◇▫◆▫◇▫◆▫►\
▹ Name: Adam (26/M)
▹ Race: Zoomorph
▹ Level: 32 [20,069/21,120]
▹ Class: Berserker
▹ Innate Skill: Auto-Healing
▹ HP: 9,999/9,999
▹ MP: 93/93
▹ STR: 131
▹ AGI: 86
▹ INT: 50
▹ A.P: 1
▹ Magical Arts: ---
▹ Martial Arts: Unarmed Combat (D), Spear Mastery (D), Axe Mastery (F), Sword Mastery (F).
▹ Skills: Scotopic Vision (passive), Sprint (passive).
\◄▫◆▫◇▫◆▫◇▫◆▫◇▫◆▫►/
[The amplification of your stats have come to a standstill. Your current strength, agility and perception is the maximum the armour can provide.]
'Even when the armour is retracted?'
[Yes. Also, I recommend you not sealing your stats away. We can't tell who has the 'Appraisal' as an innate skill. If they find your strength lacking, you'll be bullied easily.
Also, this guy Edgar, I can tell that his strength isn't anything lower than yours. You might have an advantage in agility and perception.]
'Hmm.'
Adam hummed in acknowledgement as he took a peek at Edgar who had his fingers rubbing his chin as he pondered.
'Do you have the appraisal ability?'
[No, but I can sense the relative strength between two or more people in a crowd.]
Adam went on chatting with Endevil about some trivial matters. Before he knows, they had reached the vicinity of the Adventurer's Guild.
"I'll just go in and finish the procedures quickly." Adam turned to Edgar and conveyed that he'll be quick with the process.
But Edgar just walked ahead as he spoke, "Before I became the captain of Knight Squad, this was our home."
Catching a glimpse of a grin on his face, Adam followed the former after realising something.
He silently followed him to the door and entered the building.
[I guess this is the normal atmosphere of the Guild.]
Adam could only agree with Endevil's comment after seeing a multitude of adventurers in different outfits standing here and there. There was quite a crowd in front of the mission boards and the presence of clusters of people in the hall wasn't sparse.
Without breaking the pace of the movement, Edgar walked to the reception where Celestina was standing and clarifying about something to a female mage.
"The retard's still alive."
The strangely familiar voice pulled Celestina's attention as she shifted her gaze to the incoming individual. At once, her eyes went narrow as a smirk surfaced on her lips.
"You came back to get your ass whooped or what, Iron Turtle?"
Celestina's voice wasn't loud but it somehow silenced the noise. At that moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Edgar's face.
The female mage that was standing next to him staggered and took a couple of steps backwards. There was disbelief in her widened eyes.
"Oh my, isn't he the Iron Turtle?"
"Yeah, she called him so."
"Oh my god, it is him!"
...
Exclamations and gasps burst a second later as the adventurers present in the hall began to murmur ceaselessly. Adam was unaware of the situation but he could deduce a few pieces of information with the help of Endevil.
"So why the heck are you here? Just get lost before I pummel." Though the feminine voice was threatening, the intention to mock was evident.
"Wow, calm down bully. I didn't come here intentionally. I came with him." Edgar used his thumb to point at Adam who was standing right behind him. It was after following the line of gesture did she recognised his presence.
"I completed the mission." Adam placed the mission request paper on the table and slid it to her.
By this time, the number of adventurers has somehow increased by a small extent and they were all here to witness the great Iron Turtle.
Celestina picked up the paper and skimmed her eyes through it. Her brows knit and she was about to probe at Adam when Edgar tapped on the desk twice with his forefinger. Exactly two breaths later, he tapped once.
"Got it." The lady's soft voice fell in the duo's ears as she registered the mission as completed. "Anything else?"
Celestina got a hint that the captain of the knight squad is here for a reason. The Iron Turtle she knew of would never walk around escorting rookies.
"Permission to enter the arena." Edgar's voice resonated in the hall and the crowd was dumbstruck.
The battle arena!
A place where two people test their strengths.
But why would the Iron Turtle be asking for... WAIT A MINUTE!
The realisation struck the crowd at once.
On the other side, Celestina simply glanced at Adam before shuttling her eyes at Edgar. "Him?"
The reply was a nod.
Noticing Adam's clueless expression as he perceived the surroundings through the corners of his eyes, Celestina shook her head as she registered their names in a logbook.
"Just go easy on him, Ed."
As Edgar paced at the passage leading to the sparring grounds, Celestina muttered softly. No one heard it, as it was her prayer.
Staring at the fleeting figures of the two strange individuals, she could only heave a sigh.
Just as the duo left, the adventurers went banana!
"Come on, let's hurry up. If we don't, the best seats will be lost."
"What are you staring at, punk? Move your ass or we'll not witness the match of the year."
"Sweetheart, let's rush..."
...
The inflow to the sparring grounds spiked at once. As the multitude of adventurers came dashing into the arena, they saw two people standing at the centre of the field.
One was armed with two swords while the other guy was scratching his head.
"Are there any rules or something?" Adam asked, verbalising his confusion.
Edgar brandished his swords and uttered, "One. Just don't die." Saying this, he attained a peculiar stance.
[The Heavy Shield Stance. Prepare for combat.]
The earthling quickly brought out the headgear and was about to take out his spear when Edgar dashed at him.
'SHIT!'
A quick sidestep manoeuvre, yet Edgar's sword grazed the sturdy metal plates.
Dang~
Before Adam could straighten himself and prepare to defend, the flat side of the sword had smashed hard on his chest.