Author's Note: We are starting with Alex this time!
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I did as Glaive told me to and held his other free hand. I still can't remember why I feel like the name Glaive is familiar though. I will eventually find out. Before I try remembering who he is, I should focus more on helping him get out of here with the guards.
(Calido, you should go outside and wait for us.)
(Alright.)
I then ask Calido to stay outside as the guards might see him. I don't know how strong Glaive is but, he should be moderately powerful if he was able to kill a few guys before meeting us. I am also interested in how he fights as his ability seems to be very powerful.
"Okay, no we are getting out of here."
"Wait!"
"What do you mean? Are there other people here as well?"
"Yes, there are. They are the guards who accompanied me while we were traveling."
I should tell him as soon as possible as the other thieves are probably about to attack as they might have already found the bodies of the ones this guy took out.
"I see. Do you know where they are? Oh, sorry that should be too much for a blind kid-"
"Don't worry. I know where they are. They were probably taken to a place that is deeper than the place we are in as I remember that they were walking with me before I was locked up here."
I guess he was thinking that I couldn't help him, eh? Well, guess what, in this kind of situation, I am much more useful than you when trying to find the others.
"Okay, I will go find them now."
"No need. Just, give me a few seconds."
"... Okay."
I then focus my power and spread my tendrils from every part of the cave. This is a bit hard as the tendrils I use to help navigate my surroundings are made from my shadow and the shadows of nearby objects or people. I never actually manifested tendrils from a place that wasn't in my immediate vicinity before.
"There are the intruders! Get them now before they escape!"
"Yes! Get them!"
"You won't be getting away this time!"
"We made a mistake but, we're going to fix it by killing all of you!"
Frick!
The thieves just had to appear at the time when I am trying to focus on doing something else that is not fighting. Will Glaive even be able to fight off all of thieves I just heard yelling!? Plus, it is not like all of them have weird shouting issues so, there must be more than only the ones who shouted.
"Kid, I'll protect you while you are lookin for them! Just make sure you try to hurry up, alright!"
"Glaive, I will help too..."
"Don't! You need to rest right now, Alyssia! Please, kid, hurry up!"
This is bad. I can't concentrate with all of the shouting and screaming and fighting you guys are doing!?
"You can't focus?"
I then heard the voice of the woman named Alyssia. What does she want?
"Don't worry, I can help with that."
I felt a surge of power next to me and, next thing I knew, there was no noise. There was absolute silence from every direction. The only things I can hear are the small, faint noises that my body is making like my heartbeat.
Is this her ability? She is able to silence the world around a person? Well, I won't let your help go to waste. With my newfound focus, I scoured the entire cave system until I finally felt a door with bars on them. I snake my tendrils inside I feel the bodies of every guard sitting inside, safe and sound, probably.
"You can stop now, Miss."
After I say those words, my sense of hearing seems to have come back and I still hear screams. It looks like Glaive is a much better fighter than I thought.
"Mister Glaive, I have found the chamber where my guards are!"
"Good, I am just about finished with this fight so, let's go already."
I felt him grab my hand and started running.
"Kid, where is the room? Just lead us to it."
"Okay."
I then started giving out directions to Glaive and we eventually reached the chamber with the guards inside. We broke them out and, they were a bit surprised.
"Alex, how did you find us!?"
"Don't worry, I brought some reinforcements with me."
"Wait, are you-"
"No time to explain. We should get going."
"Wait! We need to get our supply of food and water back!"
"Oh yeah! I will need to get Alyssia's rings back."
I am pretty sure that no one else heard Glaive mutter the other part of his sentence aside from me. I wonder what kind of rings they are to be so important? He did call them disguise rings earlier...
We all walked through the system until we found the chamber containing all of the things we need (only because I helped them through it). When we were walking out of the chamber, I heard a voice in front of us that didn't sound like a voice I heard from one of the thieves.
"You were able to beat all of my lackeys, huh? That means that you guys must be powerful. But don't worry if this wasn't too hard for you. I am about to give you a crisis."
Lackeys?
He is the leader?
"Guys, get behind me."
"We can fight as well you know!"
"Just get behind me!"
What is with all of the shouting in this place? Oh well, never mind. I will finally be able to see how he fights and how he is so strong.
"I'll end this with only one strike!"
"That was what I was going to say. You are about to find out how I earned my title."
I then felt something that surprised me. The battle was over in an instant. I heard something fall down on to the ground after only a few seconds. After hearing that, I finally realized why I thought the name 'Glaive' was familiar to me.
"Lucas was the student of a man named Glaive Kaneduro, who is considered by many to be the fastest and strongest Blink Swordsman in the world."*
That was what Corvin told me when I asked who Lucas was after Corvin lost to him.
"I hear that the youngest person to complete the Proving was only 11 years old when he did it. I believe his name was Glaive Kaneduro, the same person who mentored Vice-Captain Lucas."**
That was what father told me when I asked him some questions about the Proving and how it works.
So, this man is a legend among legends.
"Now that this fight has been decided, let's go."
I snap back to my senses after hearing Glaive say that. This man may very well be the strongest person I have ever met so far in this life.
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After that, we all went back to our carriage, with Glaive leading the way. The guards asked questions about Alyssia but, I guess they really were listening to my uncle when he told him to not discriminate against demons, just like what Cyrus said.
Alyssia, however, acted very awkward with them. I can understand a bit because of the potential discrimination and that she was already locked up when we got here. That was when I heard a dastardly proposal from Eli.
"Hey, Sir Glaive, would you like to accompany us all the way to Quaran?"
"What?"
"I mean, we will benefit from the added protection and you will benefit from having a free ride and you can keep an eye on her. How about it?"
"Hmm. Alright, I will agree to escorting you to Quaran. As a matter of fact, I am heading there as well to return this woman to her husband."
"What? That sounds strangely familiar..."
Wow, I can't believe they were able to get him to agree to escorting us to Quaran. Oh yeah, what time of the day is it?
"What time is it right now?"
"Oh, it is night time."
...
"What!?"
"Oh no!"
"How fast can we get to Quaran?!"
What are they talking about? Wait a minute, what day is it?
"What is the date?"
"It is the 12th Day today. Tomorrow is the 13th Day. Oh, are you guys going to Quaran because of the Proving?"
"Yes...?"
"Then you are out of luck. We probably won't be able to get there in time as the 13th Day is the last day of signing up for the Proving and we are still only about halfway to the city. Sorry."
What?
* This happened off-chapter on the same day as Chapter 23: Day With The Knights
** This happened when Alex was asking his father about the Proving on Chapter 26: Information On The Proving