Aldo sat on the ground in utter shock,
He couldn't believe that what happened last night was real, the middle-aged man that gave off an ancient air was real, and this is confirmed by the carcass of the middle-tier beast.
Killing a middle-tier beast can't be done through a stroke of luck.
The power of a middle-tier beast like the one in front of Aldo is not to be underestimated, even an Ego Fighter like him wouldn't be able to kill it even if lady luck is on his side.
It's simply impossible for him to kill such a beast,
'No way... That person is real? Then what he said is also supposed to be real?", Aldo mutters.
Last night just before he falls unconscious after his head is touched by the middle-aged man, Aldo remembered something about him saying to use the power to face the future.
But Aldo doesn't really know what that means, 'What power? I can't feel anything'
Clenching his hands a couple of times before checking his body searching for any visible changes aside from the colorless tattoo, Aldo didn't find anything.
Even when he tries to use the colorless tattoo a couple of times, nothing is working.
His body feels absolutely normal, 'Well, whatever...It's in the future right?'
'For now, let's try and get this middle-tier beast orb, it should definitely cost a fortune!'
Aldo looks around the place and finds a couple of sharp tree branches the leftover from the blizzard, he tries to stab the carcass repeatedly with them to no avail.
Just like when it was alive, its skin is very thick and no matter what Aldo does it didn't budge.
'How powerful is that person if he can cut through this skin easily, it's just not going to tear even if I try to cut it all day', Aldo thought with a sigh, he sat on the ground biting his lips.
After thinking for a while, Aldo finally shakes his head, 'I'll just hide it first'
Since the thick skin of the middle-tier beast is not going to tear even after using all means, Aldo finally gives up and will just come back later with better equipment.
In case he forgot, he stabbed a tree branch there just to pin the place.
Upon burying the carcass with snow again, Aldo wipes the sweat on his forehead.
A smile blossoms on his face knowing that his body has recovered fully, even after burying the carcass back he doesn't feel anything wrong with his body.
It's a miracle, 'Whoever you are, thank you for curing me!', he thought excitedly.
With that, Aldo ran back to the village intending to meet with Laziah.
Last night when he was on the verge of death and decided to let some beast kill him, Aldo needs about half an hour to reach that place where he met with the middle-aged man but now it only takes ten minutes to get back to the village.
Aldo saw a couple of people doing their things but he ran past them excitedly.
'Should I treat my sister to a good meal in Arkney Village? or Should we just spend time and play at the village square with Daley?', Aldo thought while running, he had already started planning today's agenda and even imagining the fun he will have with his sister.
But just as he arrived at the inn, he saw a crowd of villagers already crowding the place.
From afar, Aldo can hear some of their bickerings,
"Did she offend Lord Arter?"
"I don't know but it seems they did, poor couple..."
"I remembered sir Ivor wanted to court the girl but she rejected him for this man, it must've angered Lord Arter"
Hearing the bickering makes the smile on Aldo's face slowly disappear,
Just from the bickering of the villagers alone he already realized that they're talking about Laziah and Daley, and this makes him push the villagers aside hurriedly.
Upon seeing the villagers looking at him with pity, Aldo becomes even more worried.
After managing to go through the crowd of villagers, the scene in front of him makes Aldo widen his eyes in shock as he quickly realized the people in front of him.
There's a bloodied man lying on the ground with two other people on his sides.
Aldo recognizes the two people on the bloodied man's sides to be Uncle and Aunt Liv, this makes his heart tighten as he approached the three.
Walking closer to the scene, Uncle and Aunt Liv noticed his presence.
But without even replying to Uncle and Aunt Liv's gazes, Aldo fixed his eyes on the man that is coughing a couple of times with numerous wounds on his body.
Fresh blood decorates the snow around the bloodied man,
The wounds kept leaking blood like a fountain and when Aldo got close enough, he realized that the familiar bloodied man was Daley.
"Daley! What happened?!", Aldo asks while checking on Daley's injuries.
Aunt Liv who is starting to cry again on the side upon seeing Aldo's arrival, she then said in her shaky voice, "Laziah... Aldo, they took Laziah...", she burst into tears under Uncle's embrace.
Hearing this, Aldo was at a loss for words, he looks at Aunt Liv in disbelief.
"A couple of soldiers came to the Inn forcefully, they barge into the Inn before taking her away. Daley tries to stop them but he's not their match, they have swords", Uncle explained.
This makes Aldo looks at Daley for confirmation,
With guilty eyes, Daley tries to prostrate despite the wounds all over his body before he said weakly, "It's my fault brother... we're too distracted"
"Ivor might've seen us together last night", he added apologizing to Aldo.
Aldo froze on the spot after hearing this, he remembered that Daley and Laziah were playing and talking to each other in front of the Inn forgetting that they had to keep their relationship a secret until Ivor was either eliminated or given up chasing Laziah.
There is nobody at that moment, but Aldo is sick so he might just not realize Ivor watching.
An insurmountable of anger welled up inside of Aldo as he glance at Uncle with pure anger, "Where did they had gone to? Tell me Uncle!", he demanded.
Hearing this, the uncle point in a direction, "They took her there"
"I think she's taken away from the village, you need to hurry!", he added.
Without wasting any second, Aldo scans the crowd with his eyes and finds one of them sheathed with an ax on his waist, he ran and took the ax from the man before he ran in the direction Uncle pointed at.
The man was caught off guard but he didn't have any time to react,
Aldo ran in the direction where his Uncle pointed with all his might, he will not forgive himself if something were to happen to Laziah.
'Please... don't make me late!', Aldo thought while running.
Since his mind is currently occupied with searching for Laziah that got taken by some soldiers, Aldo didn't realize that he runs faster than he used to be.
Each part of the muscles in his legs works in harmony as he runs through the village street.
Not long after, Aldo's eyes turns fierce when he saw Ivor.
Ivor is standing by the other entrance of the village wearing full plate armor, he's looking at the leaving wooden caravan before he sensed that Aldo is running behind him.
With boiling blood, Aldo roared with bloodthirsty eyes, "IVOR!!!"
Hearing his name being called, Ivor looks back and saw Aldo is already leaping at him.
"Give me back my sister!!"
Clang!
Aldo swung the ax he got from the previous villagers furiously but was blocked by Ivor's sword, there was a wide grin appearing on Ivor's face as they both came to a halt with their weapons clashing, "What a pleasant surprise are you here to see your sister off ?"
"You bastard! You said that you love my sister!", Aldo replied putting more power into the clash.
But this sparked a chuckle from Ivor's mouth, he then looks at Aldo mockingly before pointing at his back with his eyes where a wooden caravan can be seen driving away, "It's your fault for not helping me win her heart, If I can't have her then no one else will!"
"The dire fate waiting for Laziah is all your fault, this is the consequences of your choice"
Aldo's eyes turn even more fierce upon hearing this, "DAMN YOU!!"
BAM!
Out of nowhere, a kick landed solidly right on the side of Aldo's stomach pushing him away.
The kick hurts him so much but Aldo ignored the pain and looks up with his wrathful eyes, he saw two other soldiers wearing the same full plate armor as Ivor but these soldiers are wearing a red mail shirt underneath the armor with a lion crest on their chests that makes them look distinctive.
From the armor alone, Aldo realized that these are the soldiers from the Hummara Kingdom.
Since the village here is under the rule of Lord Arter, a knight from the Hummara Kingdom, it's not a surprise to see soldiers from the Hummara Kingdom here as even Aldo saw a couple of them during his time in this village.
But never had he thought that he will be facing these soldiers,
"What do we have here...a fledgling Ego Fighter", one of the soldiers said mockingly.
The other soldier chuckles while looking at Aldo who is holding the side of his body in pain, "How dare you attack sir Ivor, go and get lost before we change our minds"
Gritting his teeth, Aldo stood up stubbornly, "Give my sister back!"
"Your sister? Oh... you mean that feisty girl? The girl that dares to reject our lord's confession?", the soldier replied with a scornful look, they doesn't seem to put Aldo in their eyes.
Ivor who is in the middle then said, "Laziah is already gone, you will not meet her ever again"
"She would end up in other parts of the Hummara Kingdom, maybe she'll become a nun, or even a sex slave, who knows... I don't care about her anyway", he added mercilessly.
This spark the madness inside Aldo's body but before he can make a move,
BAM!
Another straight punch landed right on his stomach forcing blood to come out of his mouth, the punch is very powerful and this shows that these soldiers are also Ego Fighter.
The punch is imbued with a slight bit of energy from the Ego Beast,
Because of the powerful punch from an experienced Ego Fighter, Aldo's body bent but he didn't get to breathe as another punch on the face throw him back to the ground.
"Urghh!", he grunted in pain with blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.
Aldo can feel his stomach and face hurting as he lies on the ground face-first, he heard the laughter of the soldiers and Ivor behind him that seem to find him amusing.
But once again, Aldo pushes himself off the ground with his trembling arms.
The soldiers and Ivor look at this still in amusement, seeing Aldo struggles greatly pleases them, "Alright finish this up, and after that kick him from the village"
"Don't kill him, it will be too kind to let him die. Let him suffer", Ivor commanded.
Hearing this, both soldiers then replied in a union, "Yes my lord, we will take care of this"
Ivor then walks away without even batting an eye at Aldo,
One of the soldiers then walks slowly toward Aldo who is finally stands on his feet, the soldier intends to beat Aldo some more with a kick but then suddenly,
Swish!
"Hmm?", the soldier frown when he suddenly saw Aldo dodges his punch.
Aldo's eyes turn fierce as the air around him completely changed in an instant, the watching soldier on the side widen his eyes when he saw a brief red hue coming from Aldo's eyes.
The soldier blinked a couple of times with a frown, 'Must be my imagination'
While clenching his jaw, the colorless tattoo on Aldo's arm started to glow red as he drives his fist into the soldier's stomach, "Raarghh!"
BAM!!
"Huaakh!!", the soldier spat a mouthful of blood just after the fist landed.
Even under the other soldier's eyes, Aldo's punch that should've been powerless against the armor they are wearing suddenly caved the armor inwards.
The armor that is made of hard steel fails to block Aldo's punch,
It feels like getting hit by a bull that even the armor cracks from the punch.
Crash!
The soldier got sent crashing away a couple of feet from Aldo's punch, his expression is that of disbelief as he didn't expect the punch to be this strong.
Aldo saw this before he looks at his arm in shock, 'Did I just do that?', he thought in surprise.
But just as he got a surge of his confidence back,
BAM!
He got kicked by the steel sabaton that the soldiers are wearing, the kick shook his entire brain as the other soldier didn't sit still seeing his friend get sent crashing away.
It was but just a moment, the kick sent him to the ground again.
Aldo blinked his eyes a couple of times before he realized he was on the ground again, but before he can do anything the soldiers are already starting to kick him repeatedly.
"How dare you attack me back you bastard!"
Bam!
"Beating you black and blue might not be enough, we will beat you until half-dead!"
Bam!
"I'm holding back before but now I won't!"
Curling his body on the ground while covering his head with his arms weakly, Aldo got kicked repeatedly by the two soldiers and it didn't end even after a couple of minutes.
The sound of his bones breaking can be heard as the two soldiers mercilessly kick him.
After what feels like an eternity of getting beaten by the two soldiers, the beating finally ends after each and every part of Aldo's body got broken.
Both soldiers kick Aldo until they're satisfied before the one that got punched spat at Aldo.
Even with him being an Ego Fighter, the pain is still too much for him as his eyes slowly blurred while the two soldiers started dragging him before throwing him out of the village.
Thud!
There is no empathy or even remorse from these two soldiers,
Aldo was left in the snow with blood covering his whole body, the villagers didn't even dare to help Aldo fearing that the two soldiers might also throw them out.
Because of that fear, the villagers only look at Aldo without doing anything.
While this is all happening, Aldo blinks his eyes weakly before out of the villagers looking at him a particular man approaches him cautiously.
But since his vision is blurry, he doesn't know who the man is.
His face is blurry and before the man can even get near, Aldo has already gone unconscious.
Some time passes ever since the incident in the village,
Aldo slowly opens his eyes but instantly flinched upon feeling the pain around his body, but he then adjusted to the surroundings and find himself looking at a familiar roof.
"You're back here again...", a familiar female voice can be heard from the side.
Hearing this, Aldo looks to the side and saw the Cleric sitting by the fire again giving him a nostalgic feeling, "H-How did I get here?"
"You really like to move when you're not supposed to... you're carried here by the same man that brings you here before. He told me what happened", the Cleric sighs.
'It's him huh... I don't even know his name but he helped me this much', Aldo thought.
After sitting up on the bed, Aldo sits silently for a moment before his eyes suddenly widen, "Laziah!! I need to save my sister!", he shouted intending to get out of bed.
This time the Cleric stopped him firmly, "Calm down, you're not saving anybody in this state"
"But my sister!! She's taken by those bastards! I need to go after them!", Aldo replied intending to get out of the bed again but the pain in his body forces him to sit down again.
Seeing this, the Cleric sighs again, "If you go after them now, you're just going to kill yourself"
"It's a miracle that you're still alive and well when you're supposed to die, so don't waste your bonus chance by the gods. Your sister can wait", she added.
Although he's reluctant, Aldo finally lies back down on the bed.
The Cleric finally breath easier seeing that Aldo is lying on the bed, she then looks at Aldo who seems to be really unfortunate, and said, "I know what you're thinking, but the current you are too weak to even be called an Ego Fighter"
"You won't save anyone with your current strength, trust me", she added.
Hearing this, Aldo closes his eyes trying to suppress his anger.
He doesn't know how many days have passed but he still remembers the wooden caravan vividly, the caravan that took Laziah away but he now realized that if he can't even beat the soldiers then how can he save Laziah from them.
It's simply impossible, but then he remembered what the middle-aged man said that night.
"The future will be cruel to you strong one, maybe that is why fate brought me here"
That is what the middle-aged man said,
Aldo's eyes are currently red because of the blood vessel in his eyes breaking, he then takes a deep breath, 'Is this what he meant by that? My future will be cruel?'
'But if this is true, then the power he gave must also be true', he thought.
After calming himself down knowing that he can't really do anything in this state, Aldo glanced at the Cleric and said, "Say... Can you teach me how to become stronger?"