With 7 silver coins, he could eat for more or less a month, thus Gray felt that his steps were getting lighter. At night, he would sneak outside to the secret place where he would put his meats for Uncle Ten. When he walked to his house, he could see from a distance that somebody was already there. From the looked of it, that person might be bored from waiting as he’s resting leisurely on the wooden bench while counting flower petals.
“He’ll come, he’ll not come, he’ll come, he’ll not come-“
Gray could hear the words he said when he’s getting closer. Hence when the last flower petal should’ve been ‘he’ll not come,’ Gray said casually, “He’ll come~” Hearing the familiar voice, that young boy got up and told him, “Took you long enough. I almost went home, you know,”
“Ppfft, sorry, Leon. Let’s go inside,” Gray gave a small chuckle and walked first in order to welcome his one and only friend in this town. Both of them were of the same age and childhood friends. However, Leon was different with Gray. His father was a rich man who owned 60% of the land in this town, even the market was owned by him, so naturally the merchants there paid the Leon’s family with great respects. Many people would line up and praise him from the head to the toe. Even the clothes that they wore were totally different, from a glance, people could see Leon’s clothes was made from a high quality of silk. Gray’s clothes? Don’t bother to ask, one could see that even with a small wind, he could freeze in the summer. It was super thin and there’re also patches on some parts.
Seeing the rattan bag full of meats on Gray’s back, Leon couldn’t help, but sighed, “I guess it’s still hard to sell your hunts, huh? Next time, don’t try to sell by yourself, let me help you,” Gray put his bag carefully and gestured to Leon to just sit anywhere and answered, “Did you forget, the last time you helped me, your mother was freaking out and punished you, right? I can still remember her scary expressions, running out from the carriage like that,” Gray couldn’t help, but hugged himself tight and shivered. (ノдヽ)
The incident was totally a legendary moment in the town, the villagers would never imagine that one day, they could see the most elegant woman in this town, stumbling out from her carriage with messy hair and then continued to smack her only son in the public. Both of them were only 12 that year, being angered at like that, of course they could only wail until their throat sore. She also hit Gray a couple of times back then while giving him so many types of curses.
“Right, now that I think about it. It was fun to see her like that. She always acts so elegant and graceful,” Leon couldn’t help, but started to laugh when he also remembered it. After that, his mother was so embarrassed and wouldn’t go outside for months. Of course, his punishment was not light either, but at night, he would sneak out and hang out at Gray’s house. After he’s finally calmed down, he said with a sorry face, “Ugh, I hope you don’t remember too much about the stupid things she said, right?”
“How could I forget about it??” Gray raised his eyebrows in disbelief and continued, “Back then she definitely said that if you’re hanging out too much with me, your future wife would get snatched by me! Now that I think about it, it means she’s praising my handsome look, right?”
“Huh? You must already forget about it. She’s definitely said that if I hang out too much with you, no women would dare came too close because you’re only know how to swing the wooden sword! You’re going to drive them away by brute force, not your handsomeness!”
Both of them kept disagreeing and twisting the incident in order to compliment themselves. At last, they stopped their bluffing with a big laughter and then Gray stood up to pick up a wooden sword. With a gentle motion, he traced it and one could see how worn out the wooden sword was. The texture was uneven and the point was already too blunt. Leon looked from the sideways and thought to himself, only morons would call it a sword because right now, no matter how many times he saw it, it was definitely a bat!
Gray could feel his gaze and swing it a couple of times before he said, “I know why you’re here. Let’s spar!” Hearing those words, Leon couldn’t help, but smirk. As expected from his best friend, he could know it all, huh. He rummaged through a box in the living room and found a wooden dagger. Its state was also very poor, but it still way better than Gray’s. This wooden dagger had always been his favourite weapon inside the box. He’s still far from perfect, but one day, he really wanted to learn how to fully use this kind of weapon. This small yet deadly weapon if one could properly utilize it. “Let’s do a warm up, first,” he said while walking outside towards the yard.
If strangers were looking at them now, they might mistakenly think that both of them were apprentices under a martial school. Their moved were in unison and neatly performed, also the basic of martial arts were conducted flawlessly. One would certainly sure that these two people were already familiar with martial arts. After warming up for about 30 minutes, Gray and Leon stand face to face and held their weapons tightly. Gray was seriously staring at Leon, he didn’t have the usual easy-going smile on his face and totally focus to his opponent. On the other side, Leon was grinning and without hesitating, he launched forward in a second. Gray didn’t show any sign of surprises and defended the fast attack calmly. With a swift movement, he directed his kick at Leon’s side, however the other party could dodge it too.
They were already exchanging many moves, but there’s still no signs of surrendering from both parties. Still, Gray could see that Leon was already breathing heavily. At that moment, he felt proud because it meant that he had higher stamina than Leon, thus he couldn’t help, but to raise the corner of his lips. Seeing his opponent suddenly looked so happy, Leon gave a short snort and pledged that he would not give up! At that moment, he could see an opening and without hesitating, he gave Gray a sweet punch on the face. Shocked, Gray was knocked out to the ground and his wooden sword fell with a thud.
Gray was totally shocked and held his cheek while lying on the ground. He could feel a little taste of iron in his mouth and hear that Leon was cracking up. With an irritated face, he sat up and said, “You! How come you punch me that hard?!” Leon was slightly felt apologetic and offered his hand to Gray, “Sorry, I was too immersed in the moment and forgot that we’re sparring,” After getting up, Gray felt really annoyed and with a fast movement, locked his friend’s head in this arm and delivered a couple of flicks. Leon didn’t know whether to scream or laugh and so with much efforts, he said that the punch was not deliberate at all.When Gray finally felt better, he let go his friend and gave a final kick to Leon’s butt. Leon didn’t avoid it because he knew he was truly wrong. Remembering it, ever since they were kids, Gray never accidentally hurt him like he did just now. That boy had so much control over his body an
Gray didn’t really remember his life before he met his master. All he knew for sure was that he was an orphan. Back then he used to find foods from the garbage pails or pitifully begged the people, some would drive him away and some would throw him the leftovers. He didn’t mind being kicked or cursed at, as long as he could fill his stomach. After all, it’s human natures to feel hungry… He knew not many children at his age would survive living at the streets. Hence, he made a big promise in his heart, when he grew up, he didn’t want to live pathetically like this anymore.He did remember how his master at that time, gave him a lot of foods, water, and even patiently told him to eat slowly. The foods were not leftovers, it was newly prepared, thus the small Gray could still feel the warmth of the meatbuns, entering his stomach. Eating warmth foods may be trivial thing for others, but for him, it was the happiest moment ever. Never in his life, so
The next day, Gray was standing in front of his master’s grave. He murmured softly, “Master, how are you? These days, I’m doing really well,” He kept speaking anything that came across his mind, including the ‘hot gossip’, “People are spreading gossip that I sold cyclops meats! Isn’t that ridiculous, master? I wonder what you would do if you’re still alive…”“Had he been alive, of course he would’ve found the source and confronted them,” A chuckle was heard after an old man finished his sentence. The old man was on his 60s and he walked slowly with a cane. He was the mayor of the town, Mister Charles.When he was young, he was part of the state’s independence movement. Fearlessly driving the enemies towards their defeat, soon he was granted a position as the mayor in a border town at 27 years old. In order to have a peace on this land, he urged the enemy’s king to sig
A woman was stomping her foot angrily. The sounds could be heard clearly in the entire forest. She lost count on how many days she had entered the forest. She didn’t have much arrows left on her back and she couldn’t find the exit. Sometimes, she felt that she’s only circling around the same place and she’s tired of seeing animals and monsters.She wanted to immediately have a warm bath and sleep on the comfortable bed. If only she knew a teleportation spell, she would’ve gotten out from this damned forest long time ago. Even though she had an angry expression right now, one could still see her stunning figure. Her face was truly gorgeous with a pair of clear black eyes. She had a silver braided hair, flowed until her slender waist. Her distinct figure was too much out of place!Looking up, she could see that soon a downpour would fall. So, she fastened her pace in order to quickly find a place to rest. Out of the blue, she could hear a sh
“The exit way,” Sierra answered coldly.She always aimed for the main topic instead of idle talks. “Ah! Of course. I can tell you that tomorrow morning. Don’t worry,” Gray heaved a sigh of relief and stroked his chest. After that, Sierra decided to ask him a couple of questions. Turned out, she’d walked so far and already passed the border between The Kingdom of Bealaris and The State of Etherna.“If I may ask, what is your business here?” Gray asked her. He couldn’t help, but become really curious. It’s not a common thing to meet a mage, especially here in the border towns. His master used to tell him stories about mages.“I’m a traveller. This time, I was unlucky and got lost in the forest,” she said shortly. Gray could tell that she didn’t like talking too much, but after all, when would he get another chance like this? He couldn’t just shut his mouth and let his c
How could she forget about the most crucial part about the Water Bark?!She had completely overlooked the fact that Gray didn’t know how to control his energy flow at all. If he didn’t have any awareness about the energy flow, it meant he completely vulnerable. Sierra muttered some curses under her breath while running so fast. She stumbled over some roots in the dark and because of that, she impatiently opened her right palm and summoned a fire ball. It moved fluidly and floated above her head in order to light the way.The light illuminated a large area and helped Sierra to see clearly. Now, she didn’t have to worry about the roots and retraced her steps to the cave. It took half a day to the exit, then it meant it also required half a day in order to go back to the cave. She couldn’t help, but wonder what would welcome her if she arrived half a day later.She gritted her teeth and ran madly in the middle of the forest. Her braide
Gray couldn’t believe his ears, and rubbed his eyes to make sure that this was not an illusion. He kept looking at Sierra strangely, like wanting to confirm something on her. On the other hand, Sierra just casually sat on the river bank and took off her shoes. Because she was running for hours, now all of her toes were full with blisters and blood. She slowly soaked her feet on the river and let the water stream cleaned it for her. Later, she would treat it by applying an ointment. She didn’t have any changes in her expression, still the same cold and aloof appearance. Nevertheless, her actions were all seen by Gray and now, he felt so overwhelmed by various emotions. Sierra was completely unaware and just focusing on cleaning her feet. Out of nowhere, there was a loud wailing sound behind her back, similar to a wounded animal. She turned her head while frowning and saw the kid was crying so hard, he was even unable to breathe. She gritted her teeth and asked
In the morning, Gray stretched his body and tried to stand up. His body didn’t tremble like before, but his legs still had no power. In a short time, he was sweating and had to sit down again. Sierra just watched the whole struggle with uninterest while eating an apple on her hand.Then, she asked him lazily, “Do you really want to save her that badly?” Wiping his sweats, he answered resolutely, “Yes! I’ve already made a promise, and master always said that a man should never break his words, so I’m going to do my best to exit this forest today!” Sierra looked at his light hazel eyes, and couldn’t help, but feel a little bit of familiarity.Sierra walked around for a moment and found a long stick. She gave it to Gray and said, “Alright, if you say so. You better walk properly or I’m going to leave first.” She knew that kind of gaze, no matter how weak his legs were, Gray wouldn’t give up. Thus, she