Chapter 9:
Seems like he has taken the bait" Leinad smiled wryly in his heart.
Leinad had reasons for releasing a trace of his sword intent just now, the first was to get see if he could still use some of his old skills in this body and the second and most important reason was to attract the old man's attention.
Looking at his mother (of this lifetime) lying helpless on the bed he couldn't bear to leave her alone without anyone to take care of her or else she might die.
This wasn't something Leinad was willing to see
It's not as if he was overly compassionate but the truth of the matter is now that he was reborn as her son there were now irrevocable karmic ties between both of them, as they say, karma is a bitch. Mother earth
And as one who held the title
Taking care of her was the least he could do, and now that he was embarking on a long journey he had a feeling he'll be away for a while so he needed someone to take care of her for a while.
Unfortunately, Leinad's predecessor didn't have any reliable friends even if he did they might not be able to deal with the trouble that loathsome Heracles would bring while he was away.
So Leinad decided the best possible caretaker should be the mysterious Old neighbor of his, not only does he have an honest character(at least on the surface) he also possesses nerve-racking strength, and most of all he had free time.
Another point to note was that the current Leinad was disgustingly weak and he needed a backer or else it would be difficult to grow in this spartan environment, he might not even know how he died.
From What Leinad observed in his memories the Old man liked his solitude more than anything and always stay away from people as much as possible
Someone like that wouldn't help without cause, no he disdained to do that after all Leinad and his mother were mere commoner helots in the forgotten corner of great Sparta.
The current Leinad had nothing worthwhile to offer someone that powerful in return for his help at least when he came to material things.
Luckily he could use sword intent, and Leinad was sure the old man would do anything to learn it Leinad was sure the old man was watching him at this very moment!
Thinking up to this point Leinad snickered in his heart, but he remained expressionless as he continued to go about his business in his room.
Sure enough, his guess was right.
Several dozen feet away, in the unremarkable but of the old neighbor, the old man was pacing back and forth with complicated expressions on his face, it showed disbelief, shock, and most of all eagerness!
"Was that sword intent, how could such an untrained Lad have such mastery of the sword, no I must be imagining thinks it can't be!!" The old Neighbour mumbled under his voice, but a hint of doubt could be heard in his voice.
The Old's man doubt was understandable after all this was sword intent, a beyond level mastery of the Sword, reaching this point was an incredulous task even for an old monster like him, Even in the entire Sparta home to thousands of powerful Sword Hoplites the number of people that reached the sword intent level could be counted in one hand, and these people were outright terrifying and had so much influence in the four villages of Sparta!
Sword intent users were powerful to the extreme and had the most powerful offense compared to other warriors, most of them could fight other warriors and beasts with higher realms than theirs
The Old neighbor couldn't help recalling the might of a Blade Hoplite when he battles with a disaster-level iron back Kobodo dragon that attacked Pitana village decades ago.
That Old Neighbours happened to be one of the hoplites guarding Pitana borders when the battle occurred and even now what he witness sent shivers to his spine.
The iron-back komodo dragon that attacked that day was as tall as a small mountain, it had four powerful limbs with ultra-sharp claws that shook the earth when they moved, its eyes were Scarlett red like a blood sun, and its face was like that of a dragon in movies, it's entire body was covered in iron like scale, and its teeth were as sharp as the steel swords!
Ironback Komodo dragons are a species that evolved from normal Komodo lizards and manage to awaken a trace of the mythical Rock Dragons, they are well known to have impenetrable skin they also inherited the thirst for human flesh when they awakened.
That day dozens of Hoplites and thousands of helots died in the hands of the Komodo dragon when it attacked, many of whom were crushed to mush by its powerful legs, and it could have been a lot worse luckily a powerful Hoplite appeared, and stopped the Komodo dragon's charge
The old neighbor remembered how majestic the hoplite looked that day, he wore his ancient diamond plate and was armed with his two-edged short xiphos sword and his impenetrable shield, compared to the Komodo dragon he looked like an ant but that
The Hoplite didn't say anything before unleashing only four predominant irresistible sword strikes imbued with sword intent!
That was enough though!
The first sword slash cut the two left limbs of the iron-back Komodo dragon easily like its scales were tofu
The second cut down the two remaining limbs causing the komodo dragon to crash face first on the ground forming a deep crater filled to the brim with its blood!
The third slash pierced its neck while the last one cleaning decapitated the gigantic head from its body!
Just thinking about how glorious Hoplite was made the Old neighbor boil with excitement.
If he could learn sword intent wouldn't he be that terrifying too? Wouldn't he be able to change his current situation and deal with that powerful enemy of his?
Thinking up to this point old man paused in his footsteps and cleared all the doubt in his mind: "no-no!!, if it's truly sword intent things could get better for me, no matter how little the chances I have to try and find out"
Saying this he decisively left his house, half running half walking unaware that he had a fanatical expression on his face.
He wasn't able to calm down even when he reached Leinad's door, he completely forgot his manners and began to knock vigorously
Leinad was busy packing when he heard loud knocks on his door, he turned to look with a cunning smile on his face as he mumbled: "finally here"
(The Xiphos: a one-handed short sword wielded by ancient Greeks including Spartan hoplites!)
(Pitana : one of the four villages of ancient sparta)