Those who are easily shocked, should be shocked more often.
Right now, in front of an academy two figures were looking at each other. One was smiling and the other one was looking angry.
The one who was smiling was none other than Dreamer and the one who was angry was the man who stopped Dreamer and Liberi.
After hearing what Dreamer said to him, he was shocked and was looking at Dreamer with his eyes wide open.
"What..what...did you say!?" The man asked in a shocked voice.
"Haha, relax mister. I was kidding, how can I, a normal carriage driver, bust into this great Duel Fencer Academy, I just said it in joke. But, why are you stopping me, mister?" Dreamer replied while laughing.
He introduced himself as a carriage driver and he did this because there were many carriages around the academy and many rich people were going inside with their carriage drivers so Dreamer noticed this and introduced himself as a carriage driver.
"Oh, just a carriage driver! You shocked me for a second there, Haha." The man sighed a relief and laughed lightly as he had got tensed after hearing Dreamer's answer before.
"Haha, mister you are funny. How can someone like me, shock you!? I am a talented man and only artists without talent try to shock people. And mister, you still haven't told me the reason for stopping me." Dreamer asked the man.
"First of all, my name is John Senser and I am the in-charge for the security of the auction that is going to take place here, and I didn't stop you only, I stopped both of you. You and him are together, aren't you?" The man asked while pointing towards Liberi with his eyes.
Dreamer was shocked for a second after hearing this, but he soon calmed himself down and decided to carry on the conversation.
"Haha, yes, yes Mr. John, you are smart! But how did you get to know that?" Dreamer asked the man while laughing lightly.
After hearing Dreamer's praise John started smiling and Dreamer used this chance to use God's Eye on him.
[ Name : John Senser ]
[ Race : Halfling ]
[ Level : 35 (Early Intermediate) ]
[ Soul Level : 2 ]
[ Strength(s) : Excellent hearing and every weapon mastery ]
[ Weakness : N/A ]
After getting the information, Dreamer again looked at the halfling who was still smiling.
The halfling looked like an old man, he had a white beard with white hairs on his head. He was wearing a long red overcoat and brown boots. In his left hand he was holding a spear and his right hand was made of wood in which he was carrying a fish net.
At first glance he seemed like a normal weak fisherman but only some people will be able to tell that he was a strong mid grandmaster rank individual.
[[Author : Reference Art for the Halfling John Senser is given in the chapter comments, check it out.]]
'Liberi, he is strong, stronger than both of us, so we must not do something that will make him angry. So, for now just turn around and say in an annoyed manner and you know exactly what you're supposed to say here, so do it.' Dreamer spoke to Liberi through his mind after seeing the details of the halfling John.
After hearing Dreamer's command Liberi just nodded and finally turned around to face John.
"What's the matter, Driver!? Why did you stop and who is this man?" Liberi said in an annoyed tone just like Dreamer told him to say.
"Sir Dupe, I or more like we, are stopped by this man. His name is John Senser. He is the in-charge of the security here for today's auction but he still hasn't told us the reason for stopping us."
Dreamer explained and he explained in a way that will make people think that he was explaining this to Liberi for the first time.
And he still called Liberi by his fake name Dupe, because they were going to steal the main attraction of the auction and if they tell their real names then it will become hard to live as they were still very weak.
"Huh? Is that so! Mr. John! Is there a problem if me and my driver will attend this auction?" Liberi asked the halfling John.
"That's what I want to know too." The halfling John replied.
"What do you mean by that, Mr. John?" Liberi asked.
"You know, my name is not just for fun. I have this name for a reason." The halfling John answered.
"I am Sorry, Mr. John. But I still don't understand what you mean by that." Liberi said.
"Fine! I guess I can tell you, you see, I have a high sense of hearing and I can hear more than just sounds.
What I mean by that is, I can also hear everyone's heartbeats and I have trained myself in such a way that now I can even tell what the other person is feeling.
Like, I can tell if someone is happy, I can tell if someone is excited, I can tell if someone is angry and I can even tell if someone is nervous just by their heartbeats. You get what I mean. Mr. Dupe!" The halfling John revealed this to Dreamer and Liberi.
After hearing the halfling John's specialty Dreamer and Liberi got tense.
Although Dreamer already knew that the halfling John has an excellent hearing sense thanks to his skill God's Eye but he didn't know that the halfling John can also tell what the other person is feeling.
And the reason for Dreamer and Liberi becoming tense was as this ability of the halfling John made stealing the sword a near impossible task.
Because, if they steal the sword then the halfling John will get to know who stole the sword just by listening to the heartbeats of the people present there as the person who will stole the sword will be very nervous and scared and the halfling John will just have to search the person whose heartbeat is filled with the most nervousness.
"Haha, Mr. Dupe! Why are you and your driver getting nervous right now? Is something wrong?" The halfling John asked Liberi with a playful laugh.
'Liberi! Don't lose your cool, keep calm. No one knows what we are about to do here.
He just knows that we are nervous, so for now just made up a reason for our nervousness and it better be a logical one as he is not a troll.' Dreamer advised Liberi through his mind.
"Haha, Mr. John! Before I tell you my reason for being nervous, let me guess something first. Did you stop us because you felt that we were nervous? Am I right?" Liberi asked with a light laugh.
"Indeed, you are right. I stopped you both for this reason only. As all these people that are present here, some are feeling excited, some are happy and some are just having fun but out of all these people only you two are nervous.
Usually, a person feels nervous when he is about to do something big or when he is about to do something for the first time in his life or when he is about to do something wrong!
So, which one of these things are you both about to do?" The halfling John revealed his reason for stopping Dreamer and Liberi.
"Well, Mr. John. If you really want to know, then we are about to do something big that is wrong and for the first time." Liberi said.
SWOOSH!
After hearing what Liberi said the halfling John turned serious and moved from his spot and like a gust of wind he pointed his spear on Liberi's throat.
'So fast!' Dreamer thought as he wasn't able to see the halfling John's movements.
"You better give an explanation for what you said, then only I will decide whether you get out of here alive or not." The halfling John threatened Liberi in a grim tone while pushing his spear further into Liberi's throat.
A drop of blood can be seen coming out from Liberi's throat but Liberi was looking very calm.
'What are you doing Liberi!? I told you not to anger him but now that things come to this, only your explanation can decide whether we will get your sword or not.' Dreamer said to Liberi through his mind.
"Mr. John. You don't need to get so violent. I am harmless, even if I tried to fight you here, I will die instantly and you know that too. So can you please be kind enough to remove your spear, I can't talk like this." Liberi uttered in a calm manner.
Hearing Liberi's plea the halfling John removed his spear but he was still looking at Liberi with grim eyes.
"Thank you, Mr. John. And now the reason why we are nervous is because we don't have any gold coins with us.
What I mean by this is, when I heard about this auction, I became so excited that I just jumped into the carriage and came here.
But after coming here in this city I got to know that I have come here empty handed so I sent a letter to my family to send someone with money and that person isn't here yet.
So, we are nervous because if we didn't have any money, we won't be able to buy anything from this auction and our coming here will go to waste.
And when I said we are about to do something big which is wrong and for the first time, I meant this.
Because this auction is a big occasion and coming here without any money is wrong and this is the first time, I am attending an auction without any money.
I hope after hearing this you will forgive us and let us in, as I have already written in the letter that the person who is coming to give us money can come inside the academy right away and find me to give me the money." Liberi explained himself to the halfling John.
After hearing Liberi's explanation, the halfling John just kept on looking at Liberi without saying anything and he looked like he was thinking very deeply about Liberi's explanation.
'Nicely done, Liberi! You really are my subordinate. What a reason you made up. Good!' Dreamer praised Liberi through his mind.
'Thank you, my lord for such kind words but still I can't beat you. As I know, you must have already made up a reason by yourself if this halfling still didn't get convinced with my explanation. Am I right?' Liberi thanked Dreamer and asked in a playful tone through his mind.
'Haha, of course. It's in my benefit too as when you will get your sword you will become stronger and which means, me too will get stronger. But still, you gave a very good reason to this halfling. Now focus, he is about to speak.' Dreamer replied to Liberi through his mind.
After a few seconds when Dreamer finished speaking with Liberi, halfling John's gaze softened and he opened his mouth to speak.
"You know, Mr. Dupe. I can not only tell what the other person is feeling by hearing their heartbeats but I can also figure out whether the person is telling the truth or not." The halfling John said.
"Then, what did you find? Mr. John!" Liberi asked.
"Mr. Dupe! I found out that you were telling the truth when you said you don't have any money with you. But you were lying about the letter thing. You didn't send any letter. Am I right?" The halfling John revealed while raising his eyebrows towards Liberi with a smile on his face.
After hearing this question, Liberi was about to answer but,
"Haha, Mr. John! You really are one hell of a guy, a perfect man for security purposes, I must say.
And for your question, yes, Mr. Dupe didn't send any letters to his family as he is an adopted child and the people who adopted him aren't very strong, they do petty work like farming and other things.
So, if he tried to send any letters to his family, his father and mother can't give him any money and as I am his friend, I drove a carriage for him without asking anything in return.
We just came here to look at the items that will be displayed today in this auction and these clothes are the best clothes we have on us and this was also the reason for our nervousness as we didn't want to get caught by anyone but it didn't go as we had planned so here, we are.
But I can say this for sure that if you try to kill us here then we can't do anything about it as we are very weak ourselves. So, the only thing we can do is to make a request from you to allow us to attend this auction"
Dreamer explained himself to the halfling John on behalf of Liberi and he made sure not to tell any lies. He spoke on Liberi's behalf because Liberi didn't know the things that Dreamer knew like Liberi's parents weren't his real parents.
So, if Liberi would've spoken to the halfling John then there was a risk of getting caught as Liberi could tell a lie unknowingly and the halfling John will catch it and as Dreamer didn't want to go back after coming this far, he spoke in Liberi's place and asked for the permission to enter, in a respected manner.
"Well, it's not that I can stop you from entering inside as my job is to stop only those who are suspicious and as you both were nervous, I thought you were planning to do something funny.
But Mr. Dupe, whatever your friend said is true except for two things. One, where he says he drives a carriage for you and the other is your name. Your real name is not Dupe, it's something else, isn't it?" The halfling John said in a serious tone.
"What!?" Liberi exclaimed in a shocked tone.
But the reason for Liberi's shock was not that the halfling John had found out that they were using wrong names.
Instead, he was shocked because the halfling John said that everything Dreamer had said was true so it must mean that when Dreamer said Liberi is adopted is also true which caught Liberi off guard as his parents never even told him about this so how did Dreamer get to know this information and on top of that this information was the truth.
So, while registering all this he let out a shocked expression while looking at Dreamer and the halfling John can also see Liberi's shocked state.
'My lord.....'
'Not now, Liberi. Not now.'
Liberi was going to speak about this to Dreamer but Dreamer interrupted him through his mind as the most important thing now is to get inside the academy.
"You don't need to be so shocked, Mr. Dupe or whatever your real name is, as only the brain has the ability to lie, a heart always stays true and whenever a person lies, their heart doesn't like it and make a sound of discontent and I can hear that sound very well." The halfling John said with a smirk.
When the halfling John said this, Dreamer just looked at Liberi and nodded.
"I guess now that we have already told you many things, it will not hurt to tell you more.
My name is Dreamer Heart and his name is Liberi and I am not a carriage driver in fact I never drove a carriage in my whole life. We used a fake name because we were afraid that we would get caught.
But believe us Mr. John we will not do anything wrong inside. We just came here to take a look at this auction's main attraction, the S rank sword.
So, I said it before and I will say it again. Please let us enter. We only came here for the sword. That's all." Dreamer explained himself to the halfling John and this time he didn't lie about anything.
"Hahahahha, I like your reason. First of all, you both are very weak to do anything wrong inside the auction that is filled with many powerful people and you both came here without having any money just to take a look! This is what I am laughing at. Curiosity is really a bad thing. Haha.."
The halfling John laughed really hard after hearing Dreamer's explanation as he never encountered someone who entered an auction without having any money.
"So! Mr. John, can we go!?" Dreamer asked the still laughing halfling John.
"Fine, you can go. But they are not selling anything for free. Hahaha" The halfling John gave them permission and made a joke to which only the halfling John laughed.
"Thank you so much for your kindness, sir" Dreamer thanked the halfling John and started to go inside the academy leaving the halfling John laughing at the gate.
'My lord, about my parents ho..'
'Liberi, you will get to know everything. But not now. It's my order' Dreamer interrupted Liberi again through his mind as this was not the time to clear such doubts.
They were talking through their mind as, if they talk with their mouths then there is the risk of the halfling John hearing their conversation.
'As you say, My lord. But about this halfling, I don't think he will just let us leave like this.'
'Of course, he will not leave us. He will surely keep an eye on us but we just have to deal with it.' Dreamer answered.
'But my lord, how can we deal with this as when we steal the sword there is a risk of getting caught by this halfling because we are bound to get nervous.' Liberi said with concern.
'Yeah, I know but we just have to adjust ourselves.' Dreamer said.
'What do you mean, my lord? Adjust?' Liberi asked.
After hearing Liberi's question Dreamer stopped in his tracks.
And after stopping Dreamer turned behind to look at the halfling John who was not laughing anymore and was also looking at Dreamer.
And when Dreamer and the halfling John's eyes met each other Dreamer with a serious face answered Liberi's question through his mind.
'Don't worry Liberi, we just have to avoid being nervous. And what I meant by adjust is, a well-adjusted person is the one who can make the same mistake twice without getting nervous.'