Part one:
"I am glad that you are well. Take a break".
This was written on the S-mail he shared with Simra.
Zafer made sure to not make Simra too worried about his well-being despite the fact that he was lost in the middle of a nowhere.
What's even more concerning was that an enemy opened a portal to this location.
Although there were not many swamps inside of the Pashtrik basin, he could not tell where the portal took him. Therefore he was just following the least muddy path, hoping to find any kind of a guide mark.
Normally when Zafer was traveling on foot, he would have a compass and a map with him, but this time they were left at his inn.
This was the first time in a while since Zafer was wandering alone through the wilderness.
Unarmed, since his iron sword got broken by the Iron Fist anomaly.
One could argue that Zafer's hands themselves were also a pretty dangerous weapon, but not as close as dangerous as they could be, so he still preferred to always carry a sword with him.
After a whole day of careless wandering the fear of coming across wild beasts or bandits went away.
It was weird since the places just like these were the ones that were usually overflowing with danger.
This was the first time he saw absolutely none while traveling, and he was usually traveling through even more secure areas like forests or meadows. Never through a swamp.
The night was drawing closer again, which meant the fog. This will make it harder for him to orientate in space, but he still decided to keep on walking.
At this point he was starting to speculate that he was just going in circles this whole day.
There were a couple of landmarks which he thought he could recognize.
His thirst wasn't that much of an issue, since he still had that backpack with potions, and although they tasted awful, they provided a good alternative for water. For now.
The problem was food.
He had none, and it started to irritate him that there were no beasts or animals at all. His self-confidence about slaughtering one was only growing.
Starting fire wasn't a problem. He was experienced in those kinds of stuff.
Aside from some bugs, the only other sound that could be heard was the one of a wind passing through a specific type of plant.
It looked like a terrestrial coral, and each time the wind passed through its holes, it made either a creepy creaking noise, or a very deep one, similar to the tuba.
There was no end to this unpleasant melody, and it got carved inside of Zafer's head that he was starting to hallucinate hearing things.
Somewhere, when the moon already appeared on the zenith, he spotted a light far away through the dense fog. And those weren't fireflies. He found something man-made.
Now it could be an enemy outpost which would be bad for him, but he still believed that he could sneak up and at least get some information on his whereabouts.
As he was carefully approaching it, he passed near other objects like dilapidated wooden fence, a small boat and chains from which lanterns were hanging.
It turned out it wasn't a camp or anything of that kind. It was just a single house.
He decided to approach the building, carefully looking for any signs of recent human activity, but there were none.
It seemed as if the place was abandoned for ages, but the light source from the inside told him otherwise. Did someone live here?
Darkness covered the whole swamp as a cloud walked in front of the moon.
Everything was almost pitch black.
He approached the tinted window and took a look inside of the house.
It seemed as if there was only one room and there wasn't much to see. A couple of furniture and a single shadow.
He felt a little uneasy but there seemed to be no danger or a sign of paladins.
There was no way that this was a hideout for the world's strongest gang!
He knocked and stepped away from the door.
The silence reigned.
Wooden planks from the inside screeched as someone took strides towards the door, finally stopping in front of them.
The door opened, revealing a small girl that was holding a lantern in her hand. Her eyes were almost totally closed due to her cheeks and eyelids, and her black hair was long just enough to cover her large chest.
She was smaller than Zafer by a whole head!
Nevertheless, the girl was very lean, which was easy to spot due to the tight clothing she was wearing.
"A stranger…" she said with a soft voice.
Zafer's heart skipped a beat. He wasn't expecting this kind of encounter.
"I got lost and saw a light".
"I see…"
Zafer was puzzled by her answer.
"May I enter? I haven't eaten anything the whole day".
"I don't know. I might have to think about that", her worried face frowned.
It occurred to him that she was scared, but she didn't give off that kind of aura.
She was just standing there. At the door.
"What is there to think about? I don't know where I am!", he got irritated.
The girl spoke, "alright. Come in".
As he saw through the window, there was only a single room inside of the house and he scanned it the second he entered. Everything was ruined but the place could be used as a shelter.
There were also male clothes scattered all around.
"Whose are those?", Zafer pointed at the clothes feeling somewhat uneasy.
A myriad of possibilities crossed his mind, but he didn't want to make any assumptions.
The fact that he ended up here was maybe a fate.
"Don't worry about those. We are alone".
Zafer paused for a moment, taking a look through the window, but there was nothing to see even on the other side of the house.
"Do you have something to eat", that was his main concern anyway. If there indeed was an enemy here there was nothing he could do. At least not on an empty stomach.
The girl stood quietly in a place as if she was thinking what to do next.
"I do. Please take a seat", she pointed at a wooden chair near the entrance.
Zafer took a seat and watched her disappear in a dark corner of the room before she returned with a bowl of stew that was already half eaten.
It wasn't even warm.
She stood there in front of him like she was waiting for him to take a bite, "is something wrong?", she asked.
Beggars could not be choosers. A hungry man would not complain, but Zafer's body was giving him a strange feeling.
Was she eating this?
He opened his mouth in order to say something, but before he could even tighten his vocal cords, he spotted something.
The light of the lantern was illuminating the girl's figure.
The large chest of hers were very noticeable given her small and lean body, and exactly on that area was a skull badge with tentacles coming out of its jaw.
Five of them.
Her hand approached Zafer, slowly grabbing a spoonful from the stew and putting it in his mouth.
"Who are you?"
Girl straightened up, "Laura".
She took another spoonful drawing it closer to Zafer's mouth, but he backed away a little bit.
"Do you live here", he glanced at the male clothing once again.
"No", she gazed at his mouth insisting with the spoon.
Zafer backed away again, "then what are you doing here?".
This time she did not answer before Zafer took a bite.
She was feeding him.
"I was waiting for someone, but I don't think it's you".
Zafer frowned, "why not?"
"Because you are way too weak".
His heart skipped a beat as she pushed another spoonful into his mouth.
"I am not hungry anymore", he waved his hand trying to stand up, but he suddenly lost control in his legs, and just fell back on the chair.
The girl followed up immediately "That won't do. You said that you were hungry. Were you lying?".
Zafer was still trying to move his legs, but they were paralyzed. It was the strangest feeling ever. He started to panic from the inside.
"Now I want to ask you something", Laura straightened herself, "how did you really end up here?"
She placed her foot on the chair Zafer was seating on. In between his legs.
She then wide opened her both eyes, revealing a yellowish-green iris with a slit pupil. He felt as if she was gazing into his soul.
This wasn't a clueless innocent girl! Was she even a human?
The atmosphere shifted drastically in such a short period of time it made him a little dizzy.
"I am a candidate for the Temper province. We got attacked and I suddenly passed through a portal that led me here".
Girl seemed interested "Really? Attacked by who?"
Zafer frowned. Simra never mentioned the name of the gang, and he could not remember the name of the cannoneer Zer Ox (the Priest) was talking about.
"I-…I don't know. I was just following orders".
Laura went silent pondering about something. She was taking her time.
"What happened to them?", Zafer pointed at the male clothing bringing Laura back to the room.
"Oh. Don't worry about them. I already told you that we are all alone".
The silence reigned once again.
The badge that Laura had was a skeleton skull with 5 tentacles coming out of its jaw. Although it wasn't an octopus, everything pointed towards the same conclusion.
She was the only person designated Threat Level 5 in the whole country!
"Are you working for the National Security?", he mumbled.
"I do".
Zafer swallowed his saliva, "so you are a Threat Level 5?".
She nodded.
There was no doubt about it now.
Despite her petite body, this girl was actually ranked the 2nd strongest person in the whole world!
Zafer swiftly forgot that he was in an interrogation, and silently admiring her.
The biggest fear Zafer had when he first committed to this business of paladins was if his height and anomalies are going to bottleneck him forever.
These were some things that he just could not control, and the question was if his peak strength is going to be held down by them.
However, now, seeing Laura, he was starting to get hope that might not be the case.
She was the ultimate proof to him that the height didn't matter if he wanted to become a great and strong paladin!
"Um… can you please be my teacher!", he fell on his knees touching the floor with his forehead.
Laura seemed to like this type of attitude and all in all she indeed was someone who deserved a huge amount of respect.
"You are weird. I don't know if I can trust you".
Zafer lifted up his head somewhat scared, "I didn't lie to you!"
Laura smirked, "I know. I can see that".
She knelt down to his level.
"Your primary anomaly is A-6, the Iron fist, and your secondary anomaly is A-11, the Almighty Eye. Same as mine".
Zafer got goosebumps. There was no way anyone could guess someone's anomalies by just looking at them! Was that due to her Almighty Eye anomaly?
"Can you please help me train my Almighty Eye to be as strong as yours!"
Laura stood up.
"No. Yours is an euclid", she closed her eyes again, deactivating her Almighty Eye anomaly.
"An euclid? What does it mean?" he stood up as well.
"An euclid anomaly is when the anomaly is already developed to some extent, instead of it starting at 0. They are unpredictable, hard to control and impossible to train".
Zafer argued, "but I already learned how to control it!".
"Well controlling it isn't a problem. Your repelling ability seems to be quite strong, but you can't learn any other techniques. It's stuck. You can only train your Iron Fist anomaly".
Zafer was confused, "What do you mean other techniques?"
"Anomaly isn't a superpower, but a chain of possibilities which someone can explore", she opened her eyes stretching out her tiny arm towards him, "try to break it".
Zafer was puzzled as he slowly grabbed her arm and squeezed it gently, but as he increased his grip strength, he slowly realized that there was no difference. He felt like he was giving his 100%, but Laura's hand was just the way it was.
"One of the main and easiest A-11 techniques is to cancel other anomalies, but I can also repel attacks like you can, because I trained for it".
This suddenly started to make sense. Laura made his legs go numb and could also tell if he was lying thanks to her anomaly!
"This is absurd! How are you so strong?! How is anyone supposed to fight you?".
"I told you already, you are too weak.", she explained, "I can bet that one activation of your Almighty Eye is enough to overheat you".
Zafer blushed, "well… kind off".
Laura waved he hand, "I can't train you. Ask Mio".
"Who?"
"He is the other guy from my unit. He is also designated Threat Level 5 like me but has the Iron Fist anomaly like you".
Zafer was astonished, "really? I thought you are the only Threat Level 5!"
She smiled, "well he does like to keep the low profile".
If what she was saying was true, then Mio might be a perfect coach for him!
Someone with a weak and useless anomaly like A-6 Iron Fist actually managed to climb to be a Threat Level 5!
Maybe the only limits Zafer had was the ones his mind put on himself.
"Where can I find him".
Laura exhaled.
"In the Koth city. I should also get going, my job here is done".
She slowly walked towards one of the cabinets, pulling out a huge sword with an oblong hole right in its middle. It was the same artifact which that adult man who attacked Temper used to open a portal!
"Your job? What is that unit of yours called?
Every member of the National Security was a part of some unit determining their job.
"The anti-paladin unit", she threw the sword artifact at him, "that one leads to Koth".
Just like there was regular police for regular citizens, Mio and Laura were the police for paladins. They were the only people strong enough to handle them!
Zafer took the sword and penetrated the fabric of space with its tip. The blade of the artifact slowly reached the floor and Zafer opened his first portal. It felt as soft as if he was cutting through a butter.
Part two:
There was this fallacy which the regular people had about paladins, and it was that they got paid by their respective province a huge amount of money for their assistance and skills, but that was far from the truth. In reality it was quite the opposite.
Paladins were indeed very wealthy, but that wasn't because they were getting paid, instead it was because of the status that a faction was giving them. It was this status they were paying the "membership" for, and thanks to which they could conduct some business that would otherwise be illegal.
A good example of these businesses would be a cultivation of magic plants, however, this type of business required a huge amount of initial capital, knowledge about building a farm, time, and effort.
Zafer had none of those, but he still needed money.
Given the past events he realized just how much he is lacking in strength and fighting skill, which meant a training arc was inevitable, and for that he needed a lot of potions and a new weapon, both of which costed money.
The first thing he had to do was earn some cash, and this time he could not just ask his best friend Semi to lend him some. It was a time for Zafer to take his independence seriously.
What he could ask him, however, was a job opportunity.
Unlike him, Semi was a lot more social person, which meant that he knew and got along with a many people. Zafer didn't like some of them, but that was exactly where money was.
Easy opportunities for a weak but capable guy like him.
The city of Koth was the 2nd biggest city in the whole country, and it was located within the neutral territory owned by the National Security.
It was also referred to as a city of paladins.
Two men walked into a pub Zafer was drinking in this whole-time. It was one of the most popular pubs for paladins and freelancers.
Freelancer was a name for people who were training and usually engaging in the same or similar businesses like paladins, except they were part of no official faction.
There were some adult and experienced freelancers that were sometimes hired by the National Security, but most of them were just young people.
Those had it the worst since they were usually pretty weak, had nobody to protect them and had to be really careful how they earn money, especially if it was by illegal means.
Both individuals sat at Zafer's table, but only one of them was known to him. It was his best friend Semi, his first business partner and the one who took care of him ever since Zafer started training.
They greeted each other excitingly.
The other guy sitting next to Semi was someone he never saw before, but could take a wild guess to his identity.
"So, this is the guy I've been talking about. His name is Knuckles", he turned to Zafer, "and this is Zafer".
"I glad to meet you!", Knuckles stretched out his arm towards him.
Zafer shook his hand with a plastic smile, "same", he leaned back, "so how is the farm looking?"
Up until now Zafer and Semi were always sticking together and building magic flower farms. These were illegal but were very efficient at making money.
Unluckily, both of them were too inexperienced and had their farm raided by other gangs or even paladins a couple of times. Each time they had to start from scratch.
This was the first time Zafer was not part of the construction team, as he got replaced by the Knuckles, a new member of their team that Semi met.
This was the first time he saw Knuckles in person, and he definitely didn't look like a fighter. Zafer was kind of disappointed.
They both looked at each other slowly nodding in affirmation, "quite good. The construction is near the end, but we still need to purchase the magic flowers".
Zafer's body tensed up, "have you yet decided on which type you are going to cultivate"?
"The cheap one", Semi said immediately.
"But, as soon as we have enough money, we are going to buy the flame flower", he added.
Zafer's eyes widened, "really?"
"Well", Semi didn't want to admit it, "Knuckles convinced me".
"That's", Zafer looked at Knuckles, "that's great! You know I support that decision!".
"Have you ever cultivated them?", Knuckles was curious about Zafer's passion.
The latter made a brief break as if he was recalling some old memories, "yes… I had a chance to thanks to Simra".
Until it all got plundered.
"Oh right! You are now a Temper candidate!", Knuckles got excited, "how is it? Have you interacted with any paladins?"
Zafer got more engaged, "yea. A couple of them".
"I did with some of them as well! I'm good with Simra, the first officer… I even share an S-mail with the 5th officer", he laughed, "we are writing to each other quite frequently".
Zafer was astonished, "You were that close with the 5th officer?"
"Yes. I know a lot of people, and they know me".
Semi exhaled, "you two Temper fanatics just keep talking. I need to get something done", he stood up turning around to Zafer, "ask him about a job".
He meant Knuckles.
"Yea, that's right. He mentioned you need a job, right?"
Zafer nodded.
"Well, I am no fighter or similar, but there is someone who might have an issue that you could solve!"
Zafer frowned, "who is he? A freelancer?".
This piece of information was very important to him since he didn't want to work with anyone connected to the Nubis province. They were Temper's number one enemy faction.
"No. He is a Temper paladin! A young one, just like us!"
Zafer got surprised, "there are more young Temper paladins?"
Knuckles nodded, "he is on his way. I wrote him to join us".
Finding out that Uk is the same age as him was already quite shocking due to his strength and combat capability, but the fact that there were even more paladins from his generation was too unreal to Zafer.
Young paladins were usually prejudged as being weak and having no experience, and even though that wasn't true for some, it was for the most.
Where were all the adult paladins?
As he was talking with Knuckles about Temper, waiting for the respective paladin to appear, he started pondering about this.
One of the reasons could be that there were no adult freelancers, all of them being already recruited by a province or gang or maybe even the National Security.
This meant that the number of adult members within one faction could only decrease, and not grow, since there were no free adults that could join a faction unless they left their former one or got kicked out.
Whatsoever, it was pretty dangerous for an adult to be a freelancer.
Given that adult paladins had a lot of experience, it meant that they also had a lot of enemies, and being a member of no faction wasn't a good omen for them.
It was like having no roof during a storm.
Although every province like Temper had its own law and police, those were not very effective, and were only eligible for regular folk.
In scenarios where Miyalin, potions or runes came into play, it was a job for National Security police, no matter if the criminal is actually a paladin or not.
The regular police were not allowed to arrest such individuals, and there were only a couple of National Security members that could intervene. Two of them being Laura and Mio.
In a nutshell, this meant that an adult freelancer could get killed by a paladin and face no charges or consequences, even if the murder is made public.
Take Arcanie for example.
Although she turned into an apparition, nobody questioned what were Uk, Zafer and Skil doing there with her before.
The National Security was responsible for arresting paladin criminals, but they didn't really care in cases of paladins killing each other.
They only cared if a paladin was assaulting regular people.
But then, what about young freelancers? They were extremely vulnerable and also had no one to protect them.
It seemed as if they had it even worse than the adult paladins, but that wasn't true since nobody really cared about them.
Sure, the young freelancers were weak and would get beaten up and plundered quite often, but nobody had a need to kill any of them.
Adult paladins could do it easily if they had a reason, but on the first sight they were just bugs to them.
This was a case with Zafer and Semi for example. At the beginning of this year when they were freelancers, they got raided quite often, but never killed.
From their conversation Zafer could see why Knuckles was so important to Semi. He wasn't a fighter but knew a lot of paladins and important people
After a while a stranger sat down with them at the table.
He wore a black-green uniform with a 4-pointed star badge. This was a member of the Temper faction that had a job offer for Zafer.
It was going to be a good and a fair amount of money for the both of them, but it is also going to be a beginning of Zafer's steep descent towards the recognition and fame.
In just two years from now, Zafer's name is going to be well known by every single paladin all around the Pashtrik basin.