Tension grew between those individuals, Tristan remained silent after Lax's question and those men considered him hostile. Unfortunately, they could not act. He had defeated the class 2 bandit head which had once before beaten Lax to a pulp.
"Do I realize what I have done here?" Tristan threw that question back at Lax. Unease grew within his chest since when he tried to access his memories. He landed at a dead end. They seemed not to exist.
"I don't even know where here is," he revealed, forcing his waist and legs out of the rubble since his lower body had remained buried during those seconds.
Those men took offensive stances at that point even if Lax raised his hand to stop them from making decisions out of fear.
"Oh!" Lax exclaimed, watching Tristan walk down that pile of rubble. His gaze followed the young man's movement and his eyes caught features that could not but remain evident. Tristan's eyes; apart from his general good looks, were enough to put him on a pedestal within the mind of the averagely good-looking person.
"Yes. I tried asking those people but they attacked me…" His words brought him back to the topic of the day. He knew they would not attack. He could almost smell their caution.
"I did not intend to kill anyone," he admitted, ignoring the man he had intentionally thrown.
"I see…" Lax muttered, furrowing his brows in a bit of struggle. He was the leader of that group which called themselves protectors but in truth were nothing of such.
They had gone into hiding when the killer whales surfaced back then. All they did was journey into other smaller areas to help out.
In that portion of the town, they had no honor. Their title as protectors was considered a joke. And truly it was.
"Yes… I hope that wouldn't cause any issues," Tristan swept his gaze on those other men. They flinched.
Not only did they lack confidence, he could feel their weakness. He could not explain how he knew, but he knew.
"Not exactly. The only issue is that man has friends from other places who pose a threat to the people of this area. We are only a backwater town loathed by the others," Lax explained, even if Tristan hardly cared, and his expression showed that truth.
"I understand, but all I care about is where we are. Is this the land of the dead?" He asked and those men could not but be taken aback.
"Land of the dead? Definitely not. This is Shej. A basic town located on the edge of the continent…" Lax revealed taking note of Tristan's height. He didn't look too old but was already taller than him. Lax himself stood at a height of 5ft6. Tristan stood at 6ft.
"Shej? I've never heard of that," confusion sprawled on Tristan's features, but even more disarray entered his mind when he recalled that he could not recall anything apart from his name, his hometown, Medrial and that he fell into the ocean. In short, he wasn't even sure if Shej was a place he had heard of or not.
Stunned by Tristan's words, Lax turned to glance at his second in command. A younger-looking man.
"You don't know Shej?" Lax asked.
"Did I not just say that," Tristan frowned, already getting annoyed. He could see that those men calmed down when they saw their leader speak to him without increasing tension.
"Sorry… it's just I'm certain everyone knows about this town. It's known for its many gang problem. And the most trouble that occurs in the city occurs here…" Lax explained, rubbing his head with internal disbelief, but not at what Tristan had said. There was more.
Tristan ignored the man's words.
"Do you know where Medrial is?" He asked, and Lax shook his head.
"Never heard of it…" he admitted, turning to face the others. "Or have any of you heard of the m... me… Meridal?"
"It's Medrial," Tristan corrected suddenly feeling stressed. Lax flinched and gave a sorry expression. The men from the group all shook their heads.
"You really don't know that place," Tristan furrowed his brows sitting.
"No… Are you from a different city?" Lax suggested. He didn't understand what was going on. It wasn't every day a naked individual popped out of nowhere to eradicate a powerful gang, but he could see that the man before him was lost.
There was also the issue of how they even got there too. A voice had spoken.
"Thank you for your time," Tristan moved away from that topic. Agitation had set in. He hated that he had to go through all that trouble only to find nothing.
Tristan stepped forward and Lax did not do anything to stop him.
"You won't find answers if you get impatient with people. Of course, unless you oppress them with your power… also get something to wear." Lax stated, slightly feeling disrespected.
"There will be enforcers sweeping this place if word gets out of our presence. You'll also be taken away if you're found around its best you lay lo, boy.
"I wonder how this is even happening."
Tristan halted his steps. "Enforcers?" He asked, understanding the word.
"Yes, enforces, unless you don't know about them too?" Lax responded, his mouth open. He felt his curiosity outweigh his tinge of annoyance.
Tristan shook his head and those men gasped collectively. Never in their lifetime had they heard that someone knew not of the enforcers. Even children knew and feared them.
"Those men in geared suits are as the word explains. They enforce the law, except on we low leveled bastards they do whatever they like, and the government doesn't even care," Lax explained, his chest turning hot. He had lost friends to those men in blue suits.
His strong desire to one day get revenge had kept him around even if a long time had passed.
"I see," Tristan replied with not enough drive in his tone. Lax took it personally. His head began to swirl with thoughts, thoughts similar to those of Russ, similar to anyone who had lived in those corrupted and cruel portions of the city all their life.
"Are you one of those academy students or the son of a person in government? I hear the enforces don a different colored suit in the presence of such highly positioned men or women. At least, the equally highly placed enforcers do." Lax explained, narrowing his eyes a bit. He also stepped forward, malice almost manifesting in his chest.
"That man also said something similar… I am no academy student or whatever you call them," Tristan's eyes spoke of growing anger. His situation led him to frustration. Frustration sparked the flames of anger, and anger flared depending on who provoked him.
In truth the reality that he somehow possessed power beyond theirs made him feel high and untouchable.
"Oh… I apologize then." Lax knew when to step back, he wasn't dumb enough to think he could somehow bring down the naked teen before him.
"Still, how did you get to this level?" Lax asked, finding a better topic to pick on.
"Level?" Tristan asked, everything remained confusing, but he soon understood what the man meant.
"You mean my strength?"
Lax nodded, and Tristan glanced at his palms. "I don't know," he admitted.
"All I remember is that I woke up from the ocean and they attacked me afterward," he explained gripping that group with his words.
"The ocean?" Lax asked taking a step back. He glanced at his group members once again and they got the message.
"Yes… I also have memories of this different place, Medrial. And that's all," Tristan continued to stare at his left palm, not noticing that Lax had withdrawn from him.
He felt normal as ever but knew he could attain incredible power by willing it. He did not feel any sort of rush which was the reason he had missed that detail when he awoke.
Tristan eventually raised his head to glance at Lax only to see that those men had banded together, their hands on their blades. They did not emit hostility, but Lax had a cold and dark expression. They all did.
"What?"
"I thought you said there was no problem with killing that man and his group?"
"There isn't… at least for us. But you came out of the ocean. The only thing that was recorded to ever come out of the ocean were monsters, and they wiped out whole cities according to history books, and we have experience," Lax explained, drawing his sword even if he had no real intent to attack.
He didn't even know they had weapons. Those blades had appeared when they encountered the strange boy.
"You don't seem like one, and you say you don't have any memories of where you're from. How do I know you're not just lying and you won't eat us?"
"What in the world are you talking about, you crazy old man?" Tristan's expression contorted in a mix of perplexion and utter annoyance. In reality, he might have lost his memories, but he remained who he was at heart. An irritable young man.