The Regression Of A Grand Mercenary - 35 - Snow and Battle on the Road.

Samsel City…

Against the cold freezing wind hitting my face, as I drove the carriage, what stood before me was none other than the city…

While my siblings rested at the back, sheltered by the covers and heated by a small warm lamp, I braced myself against the harsh conditions of a sudden heavy fall of wind and snow.

“…” thinking to my situation, compared to when me and my siblings first arrived here, this kind of issue was something I was more comfortable with more than anything.

Back then, when everyone from the village was drove off by the bandits, we walked for miles on end, with nothing on our backs and tears on our eyes as we lost our homes.

When we witnessed the sight of the City standing before us then, we didn’t really had any impression on it other than the fact that we knew things were going to be different…harder.

On the first day, we slept on the side of the walls of the city, new to the sensation of hunger and thirst, wew tried everything to gain some kind of occupation, but no one wantedd anything to do with us. I was a helpless, incompetent bastard then, so I could not do anything to help my family.

On the first week, we slept on the streets, near the slums. We dug through garbage and ate what we could…rotten or not. By that week, Tilly no longer cried from always being hungry…she was used to it…but more than anything, she could no longer smile like she used to. The only time she would ever any sort of emotion was when her belly was being filled by bread that was five days stale.

And simply thinking about it now…I hated myself for letting them go through such a thing.

That memory…it’s nailed deep into my mind…its not something I could ever forget and I don’t want to forget…Every now and then, it would wake me up in the middle of the night. Leaving me in a cold sweat…

That experience was a lesson…no, a reminder of who I was and what it did to transform me to be better. My pain…their pain…everyone’s pain…

But now, the thought of them…my siblings going hungry…it always passes by my head…I made myself a promise that I would never let them go through such a thing again.

I’ll spoil them to whatever it is they want…support them all for the fact that I could always see them smiling in ways that were never reached in my other life.

“Guys, we’re almost there.” I said as I leaned my head back and saw Tilly being warmed by Theresa under a blanket.

“I-I can’t wait to get inside a warm inn…travelling in this cold weather is too much for me!” said Thalia as she was shivering from the cold.

“Here, I’ll use a bit of my magic to keep us warm.” said Theodore as he made a small fire the size of his thumb.

Meanwhile, Thomas on the other hand was hanging by the back of the carriage, looking to the backroad, all quiet and alike.

“You’ve been quiet for a while Thomas, what’s on your mind?”

“Its just that…I’ve been in the village all my life, and now we’re finally reaching the City…the home of the great spear hero. It all feels so surreal.” he said.

Hearing him express his excitement towards this new journey in his life, I can’t help but feel happy for him. It was nothing like before…

As we rode on, we were slowly getting closer to the City, until suddenly…

*Boom!*

Out in the distance, an explosion was heard.

“!?”

And from that explosion came a wind so strong it shook the carriage.

“Ahh!” Tilly and Thalia screamed out of fear, while Theresa, surprised by all of this quickly turned her head towards the direction of the explosion, but right before she could peek her head out, I jumped out of the carriage and pulled out a sword to parry an incoming attack.

*Shwing!* – *Boom!*

What came to meet my sword was a slashing attack, capable of slicing through flesh and bone…but I deflected it on time.

“Keep your heads down.” I said as I kept my guard up.

Feeling afraid, but courageous at the same time, Theodore readied himself to take action to protect his sisters, while Thomas quickly went and grabbed the reins of the horse as it was wildly panicking from all the destruction happening.

As I looked beyond the source of the attack, it was there that I suddenly realized what was happening.

“*sigh*…right, its that time of the week again.” I said as sighed greatly in relief.

Far out in the distance, two swordsmen were out battling with no hesitation whatsoever.

One was wearing a full body armor, covering his face as he held a large sword over his body while the other was a man dressed in black leather, listlessly controlling five swords with his arm stretched out.

The man in the black leather was none other than Liondel himself, one of the strongest guild members and adventurers of the city, while the other man on the other hand was Oxy, also one of the strongest members of the Samsel Guild.

The reason as to why this fight was happening in the first place was simply because of tradition. A tradition of battle in claiming the place of the strongest member in the guild.

Liondel was ranked around third, while Oxy was ranked in fourth. To claim a higher rank, one had to challenge the greater opponent.

And from the looks of it, Oxy was not yet at the level near to handle Liondel. I remember back when Oxy had challenged Liondel over a hundred times…only then did he finally overwhelm Liondel. Because of his dream to be the strongest, Oxy had never once given up in surpassing those ahead of him. He was a role model when it comes to becoming the strongest

At this time of the year…at this season…at this moment, I can tell that they were arriving at around the 10^th duel.

Both fought with such vigor, but for some reason, I could feel that Liondel was not giving his all in the fight. And more to it, I recognized that the weapons he was using against Oxy was the swords I myself made.

“…”

The ground shook as both fought to dominate one another.

But it didn’t take long before Liondel noticed the presence of nearby civilians, us, and decided to end it all.

As Oxy came about carrying his sword to do a full swing, Liondel countered it with such a force of power, it could have torn the entire land in half with just one of the swords in his control, but all his focus was pointed down to the sword to which OXy was holding.

And in a flashing style, Liondel broke Oxy’s sword in to pieces and Oxy was defeated.

“Haa…haa…I can’t believe it. I thought I could overwhelm you today…but yet again, you have overwhelmed me with nothing but those swords of yours.”

“…11^th duel…you still lost.” he said as he returned the five swords back into his scabbard.

“It must be those weapons of yours. No matter how much I try to overwhelm you, I could never surpass your swords. What happened? Just a couple of months ago, you had a different set of blades on hand, yet for some reason, two months ago, you had not changed your weapon since. What is it with you and those five swords of yours?”

“Their…Good.” said Liondel in a short but confident manner.

“Hmm, now I’m interested. Its not easy for you to let out such a compliment. Tell me, who was it that crafted your weapon?”

“…” and as Oxy asked that question, Liondel consciously turned his face to us.

“Hmm?” and Oxy followed.

As they both looked to us from the distance, I slowly returned back the sword into the scabbard and assured my brothers that the fight was over.

“…A civilian passing through this winter?” said Oxy as he looked to our shabby carriage.

“…” without saying anything, Liondel had put a smile on his face and approached us.

Feeling curious, Oxy followed behind and as they came about, I bowed and greeted the two strong warriors.

“Hello, It’s a pleasure to see you again Mr. Liondel.” I said as a strong wind blew against me, fluttering my cape along the way.

“Hm.” Liondel nodded to my greeting in return.

“I can see from the fight just early on that my product has yet to fail you. I’m truly grateful that you’ve taken great care of my creation.” I said.

“Wait, so its you who sold him those blade?” asked Oxy as he forcefully stepped forward against Liondel with an excited tone.

“…You’re the great standing warrior, Oxy. I’ve heard tales of your great adventures.” I said as I sounded firm to my words.

“It’s great to see that someone recognizes my greatness. But going back to the question at hand, are you the one who crafted those weapons?” he asked as he pointed to the five swords put in Liondel’s scabbard.

“Ah…Yes.”

“Ohh! What great luck! It was not long ago that I’ve faced against your blades…even to when they were nothing but metal in source, they could still hold on against my own strength! You must be quite a talented boy!”

“Its an honour to hear such a compliment from someone as great as you.”

“Think nothing of it. To our meeting today, it is nothing but a great opportunity!”

“And why is that?” I asked.

“I wish for you to craft me a weapon of great quality that would surely overcome this bastard.” he said as he pointed his thumb at Liondel.

“Ah…I’m honored, but forgive me for asking, but aren’t you being too forward with this request. We’ve only met, and I’m not sure my skills could ever satisfy your desire.”

“Create me a weapon, and then we can judge if your worthy or not of my trust.”

“…I…I’m grateful that you think so highly of me, but right now, I don’t have the time to fulfill your request.”

“Hmm, looking at your situation, your travelling with your family?” he said as he turned his gaze to the carriage where he could see my sisters peeking out to see his figure.

“Yes…we plan on visiting the City for personal reasons.”

“I see, if that’s the case. Then I won’t hold you from your visit, but if you do find the time to think about my request, simply find me at the guild house. I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse.” he said.

Despite his large build that is just as similar to that of the barbarian race, he had a calm demeanor around him. He was more reasonable than some.

“I’ll think about it…yes.”

“Good.”

“Oh, and um…since you’re here Mr. Liondel, I have another work at hand that I would love for you to see.”

“Me?…Ah, a sword?”

“Yes.” as I went behind the carriage, I asked Theodore to pull out the sword I made.

As he did, I passed it on to Liondel for him to see its conditions.

“Its made from the materials of an Alba-Fox, more specifically, the sharp edge was made from the fangs and while the rest came from the bones and other necessary strengthening cores.”

“…Impressive.”

“Is this one of your personal reasons for visiting the city?” asked Oxy as he turned to me.

“Yes.”

“Hm, let me test it.” said Liondel.

From it, he he pulled out one of the blades from its scabbard and raised it up to the sky.

“…” without sayign anything, Liondel gently slashed against the falling snow…

And for a moment, I knew what it was that he did.

The test he made towards the blade I created was one of the greatest slashes he made slowly.

To a normal person’s perspective, it would seem that Liondel had done nothing but slash through air and snow…but ot the eyes of the experienced, he had slashed through the material dimension.

More specifically…the dimension to which is holding reality into place.

If done right, a person who had such a mastery over the sword could have killed a being more powerful than a mortal…a divine for example. It isn’t simple to reach this level of mastery I nthe sword even for someone at the 7^th stage of the pure core. I myself in the past could only reach this level on the 8^th stage of the pure core, yet Liondel did it in the 7^th stage. He is truly a master when it comes to the blade.

“You’ve done quite the unnecessary Liondel.” said Oxy as he looked upset.

“The sword…it didn’t break.” he said as he looked at the sword I made.

“Hmm, cutting through the reality dimension without the sword breaking could only mean one thing. This sword is made up its utmost perfect state. You truly did something that only a number of elder blacksmiths could ever reach.” said Oxy as he too observed the sword I made.

“…I thank you for such a compliment.” I said.

“This settles it.” said Oxy.

“What do you mean?” I  asked.

“You have the skill to create the best weapon for me. You can no longer fool me.” he said as he smiled confidently.

“Ah- I wasn’t trying to.” I said.

“it doesn’t matter. I won’t take no for an answer when it comes to my request. I don’t care how much it will take, but a warrior needs his best sword to be the best he could be. Maybe this time, I’ll finally overtake Liondel and many others who stand in the way of my ambition.”

“…” saying those words, I felt like I was going to be taken away by this man just so that I could be ordered to create his weapon, but his eyes of fire suddenly turned calm and he looked to me with a understanding expression.

“But even so, I can wait. You have other businesses to attend to, so I won’t stop you like I said before.” said Oxy as he smiled with a calm presence.

“T-thank you.”

“I don’t have money…” said Liondel as he was feeling anxious about not being able to pay the two swords he was admiring on his hand.

“D-don’t worry, when I’ll visit the guild for Mr. Oxy’s business, I’ll come by to get the payment.”

As I said this, Liondel smiled in gratitude and thanked me greatly.

After this, we continued our way to the village.