by Daman
Wisps of pale green essence coalesced around the man and a roaring gust of wind swirled around his fists.
As the man tried to free his neck under the captain’s foot, he felt a bloodthirsty aura above him.
“A trash like you dares to disobey me? I was giving you face till now, but instead you behave insolently with me!”
The captain savagely bellowed and unsheathed his sword. An extremely violent sword aura oppressed the trembling man on the ground.
Meanwhile both Calron and Fatty felt their anger soar, but they forcefully suppressed it down. They could only watch helplessly as the rest of the crowd.
They felt shame of not doing anything for the man and pity for his dead brothers’ families, but to whom else could they complain? These guards were supposed to be the law!
*SLASH*
A trail of warm blood splattered across Calron and Fatty’s face.
Chapter 24 – The Final Destination
Feeling the warm blood on his face, Calron felt his mind go numb.
This was the second time someone else’s blood was on his face and he suddenly felt the source pool inside him burst with excitement. The Blood Legacy was thirsting for more blood and it started to ignite Calron’s urge to kill.
Fighting the new instincts inside him, Calron bit his lower lip in order to draw pain to distract himself from the bloodlust. Elias had warned him before that it was extremely difficult to restrain the Blood Legacy once one started killing, so he had cautioned Calron to remain alert whenever it activated itself.
Meanwhile, Fatty had tears pouring down his face. This was the first time he had seen someone die in front of him, and his soul shook from the intensity of the grief he felt for the poor man’s death.
“Damn this bastard! He got his disgusting blood all over my uniform!”
The captain spat while looking at the corpse on the ground.
“Take that cage, and let’s head back to our station. I need to change out of this filthy uniform.”
Hearing their captain’s instructions, one of the guards picked up the cage and the rest soon followed behind the captain. The beast inside the cage mewed softly but put up no further resistance.
Seeing the guards depart, the rest of the crowd slowly dispersed. A few servants came on stage to retrieve the corpse and to clean the stage of blood.
“You kids should not have watched that. Here, wipe away the blood from your faces.”
An elderly woman chided the boys while handing them a piece of rag. Sights like these were common for her, but looking at the tear-stricken face of the chubby one, she felt her heart ache for his lost innocence.
The other skinny child’s expression slightly confused her, but she didn’t bother to dwell on it.
“Uh, thank you ma’am! I’ll take my friend somewhere else.”
Thanking the old woman, Calron gently dragged Fatty away from the gory scene. Taking the rag, he carefully wiped the blood off Fatty’s face and used the other side of the rag to clean his own face.
“Hey, Fatty, are you alright?”
Calron softly whispered to Fatty after finding him a spot to sit.
“Huh? Yea, big brother… I just didn’t expect that he would brutally kill him in front of this many people. I’m fine, don’t worry, big brother. This was not my first time witnessing someone’s death.”
Fatty slowly responded after wiping his tears away on his sleeves.
“Let’s go! There is still that place I wanted to show big brother!”
Fatty exclaimed while cheerfully dragging Calron behind him. Calron knew Fatty forced the lightheartedness, but they both needed to forget the gruesome sight from earlier, so he didn’t say anything.
After treading through the various shops, they arrived at an upper district that appeared to have a lot more wealthy people wandering around. The shops were also more ornate than the ones Calron had seen previously at the start of the market. There were also a greater number of guards stationed here.
“Big brother, this place is the called the “Crown District”! This is the only place within the entire Vernia city that sells luxury items like high ranked cores of magical beasts, top elemental techniques and even previous weapons of famous cultivators!”
Fatty’s words sparked Calron’s interest.
Cores? I’m not interested in them for now and Teacher probably has better cultivation techniques anyways, but I do need a weapon! I wonder how long Teacher will take to recover; I wish he were here to advise me on what weapon I should train in.
While Calron pondered this, Fatty jumped up in excitement.
“Big brother! There is the thing that I wanted! Hehe, this is my one lifelong wish and if I fulfill it, then I wouldn’t mind dying the next moment! Let’s go!”
Seeing Fatty’s outburst, several passing customers gave weird looks towards them, but Fatty did not seem to care. Drool was seeping down the corner of his mouth and suddenly Fatty ran towards a shop several meters away.
“Hey Fatty, wait!”
Calron cried as Fatty was sprinting over.
This was the first time Calron had seen Fatty ever put this much physical effort into anything, so after his initial astonishment, he soon ran after him while hysterically laughing. The reason for Calron’s laughter was the way Fatty was running.
Fatty had both his arms pointing back while his upper body was leaning forwards. His chubby legs zigzagged through the crowd and at one point; Fatty bumped into a little girl of three years old and snatched away the biscuit she was eating. The little toddler erupted in tears, as her mother comforted her and spewed curses at Fatty at the same time.
Far behind, Calron cracked up a grin and rushed to catch up to Fatty.
As soon as he arrived near Fatty, the scene he saw stunned him!
It was a food stand.
Various kinds and cuts of meat were displayed elegantly at the side, while several youths were running the front of the shop by taking in orders from customers. There was a sizeable waiting line, so their dishes must be high in demand; however, Calron did not understand why there would be such a fuss for food?
Locating Fatty near the line, Calron walked towards him. Fatty was literally drooling at the sight of meat cooking nearby and initially paid no attention when Calron tapped him on the shoulder. Calron then poked him in the side.
“Eh? Oh, it’s big brother! Isn’t this awesome, look at all that meat! I wish I could stuff all of them into my mouth but big sis only gave me a few silver squares.”
Fatty lamented while looking at the three silver coins in his hands.
“What? You actually have silver squares, and you still don’t think that’s enough? Punk, you want me to smack you?”
Calron exclaimed while pretending to smack Fatty.
For Calron, silver squares were a currency that was only for the wealthy! A poor family only needed bread and some meat for survival, as what use were luxurious items when even their daily survival is at stake?
Calron had never known the feeling of starvation, as his parents would sacrifice their own share of what little food there was, so he would not have to sleep hungry. Recalling memories of his parents, Calron felt his heart throb in anguish, but he forced himself to suppress those memories.
“But these are the meats of high ranked magical beasts! The one I want is that cut of Flame-tailed Buffalo, a third rank magical beast! Its meat is supposed to be juicy and tender, and I heard one of the disciples talk about how it just melts in your mouth. Don’t you think that sounds like the meat of your dreams?”
Seeing Fatty talk so passionately about this meat, Calron felt like slapping himself on the head. He had been wondering from the start why Fatty had been so focused on reaching this place, and after knowing the reason, he didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry.
This Fatty had told me that he would show me something good, but instead he just wanted to eat some new delicious foods! Damn this idiot! He only thinks about food all the time… sigh
.
Calron could only complain inwardly, as anything said to Fatty at this point would just fall upon deaf ears.
“I’ll just take a look around. Fatty, meet me here in an hour, alright? I don’t know this area well, so if you leave without me, I’ll tell Gretha to not give you dinner!”
Faced with threat of no dinner, Fatty abruptly turned his face towards Calron and nodded his head vigorously while stating,
“No need to worry, big brother! I promise I’ll stay here and wait for you, even if I get hungry, I’ll still wait!”
Calron smiled at Fatty’s sudden change of attitude. He learned that anytime you threatened Fatty with the loss of a meal, he would listen to any demands you’d make! Shaking his head with a smile, Calron turned around and left.
………..
After leaving Fatty, Calron wandered the Crown District for a while. He saw many shops that sold items from high ranked pills to rare jewels. He wanted to enter the shop selling the magic beasts’ cores, but the shopkeeper refused to let him in.
“Brat, go look somewhere else! This place is not for some runt like you!”
The shopkeeper irritably gestured for Calron to move along.
Slightly dejected, Calron continued to explore the district. Some of the shopkeepers were nice and let him come in, but most were conceited and refused to let Calron near their shops.
“You’ll dirty my shop, piss off kid!”
Calron ignored those kinds of shopkeepers, and after a while, he decided to return back to Fatty as it was almost the time he said that they should meet.
Just as he was about to turn around, he felt a slight tingle from his father’s locket in his chest.
Chapter 25 – A Broken Weapon
Calron abruptly stopped moving.
This was the first time after his awakening that he felt the presence of the locket again. He thought that it had merged completely into his body, but at this moment he could feel that the locket was still there, lodged firmly on top of his ribs.
He felt faint tremors radiating from it, and was completely lost on what the movement of the locket meant. It was not painful, but it certainly felt strange to have something unknown vibrate inside his body.
Not knowing what else to do, Calron started walking back towards the meat shop where Fatty was.
The further he went, the fainter the tremors became, until they completely disappeared. Feeling as if the locket was trying to tell him something, Calron stopped walking towards the meat shop and instead returned to the place where the tremors initially started.
The tremors once again returned and steadily increased as Calron moved forwards. He used the intensity of the tremors to guide his path, changing his direction when the tremors slowed or moving forward when they increased.
After five minutes of sweating and running around, Calron finally reached the place where the tremors felt as if the locket would soon pop out from his body.
Throughout the entire journey, Calron had been running everywhere like a lunatic, going in one direction for a while and a second later, abruptly changing his path again. The people watching Calron thought he was possessed and silently moved away as soon as Calron ran towards their direction.
Panting and out of breath, Calron looked at the shop in front of him.
It was a broken-down and miserable looking place. Calling it a shop was too generous, as it seemed more like a shack than an actual store. Looking around him, Calron saw that he was back near the outskirts of the marketplace, where he had first seen that sweaty man roasting lizards.
Most of the shops here seemed like they had seen better days, but the one in front of Calron was the worst by a large margin! Seeing as he had no choice but to enter, Calron anxiously stepped into the store.
*Cough*
A cloud of dust erupted as soon as Calron stepped inside, evoking a series of coughs.
“Who are you, boy?”
A rasp voice of an elderly woman sounded in the empty store.
“Um, I’m Calron. I just came here to look around.”
Calron hesitantly replied back. He was not sure if the store was open for customers or not.
“Kekeke, look around to your heart’s content, child, but I doubt you’ll find anything of worth. The guards already took away every precious thing I had.”
The woman said in a forlorn voice as she walked towards Calron.
Hearing the click clack sound of a stick against the floor, Calron looked around until he finally saw an elderly woman approaching him from the side.
Her back was hunched as she rested her body’s weight onto the thin wooden staff. It was surprising that the thin stick did not bend in the slightest.
A pair of dull brown eyes stared at Calron, observing his face and clothes.
“There are only some broken swords and other defective weapons left. My husband was a talented blacksmith when he was alive, but those bastards even took away his blacksmithing tools!”
The old woman wistfully voiced to Calron.
Facing the emotionally wrecked woman, Calron felt sympathy in his heart. This woman was already aged, and who knew how long she had left to live, but even in those last few moments of life, she had nothing but anguish and pain.
“Grandma, is there anything I could do for you?”
Calron inquired while gently looking at the elderly woman.
“Child, you are not even ten years old, what could you possibly help me with? My only wish is for that cursed city Lord to die the most miserable death!”
The old woman furiously rasped. However, after seeing the dejected look on Calron’s face, she added softly.
“However, this place could use a good cleanup before I close its doors. Child, these old bones don’t have the same energy they once used to, would you help this grandma out?”
“Yes! Just leave it to me, grandma!”
Seeing the spirited boy in front of her, even the old lady could not help but crack a smile.
“There should be a broom and some other tools back there, so go knock yourself out!”
The elderly woman cackled while staggering towards a nearby chair.
Meanwhile, Calron rushed to the back to retrieve the broom. The tremors had returned to soft vibrations, but Calron had a feeling that what the locket wanted him to find was definitely inside this shop.
Grabbing the broom, Calron immediately set to work. He swept around the place with the energy only an eight year old would have! Seeing him madly sweep back and forth, the old woman would occasionally burst into a fit of chuckles.
As Calron was sweeping, he was paying close attention to the changes in his locket. That was the reason he intently swept every nook and cranny of the place.
Just as he moved to the back corner of the shop, he suddenly felt the locket wildly shaking!
His heartbeat started to rapidly accelerate with anticipation.
As Calron’s eyes surveyed the area, the only items he could find were pieces of broken equipment and weapons. There were several discarded swords with bent or fractured blades, while the rest varied from incomplete axes to broken bows.
Calron felt his spirits suddenly doused with water. He thought that he would find an extraordinary object that was hidden, something that even the guards had failed to see, but he did not expect to see an assortment of rejected weapons, things that even a beggar would not look twice at.
Noticing that Calron had stopped moving, the old widow looked over and saw that he was just staring at the broken pieces of weapons.
“Those were the failed works of my husband and some other stuff he found when he was a young travelling blacksmith. You can take them all if you want, I was going to throw them out anyways.”
The aged woman indifferently said while returning back to her seat.
Who would want this trash? I thought there would be something good here… could it be that the locket meant something else? No, but I definitely sensed that it wanted me to come here. Why doesn’t it
respond now?
Calron’s mind unceasingly reflected on these thoughts.
“Kid, I’ll get you something to drink. It’s already been an hour since you started and you must be thirsty by now. Just finish up the back and you can take some rest. It’s not like anyone will come here anyways.”
The old woman’s hoarse voice rasped behind Calron.
Muttering a simple acknowledgement, Calron’s gaze remained fixed at the scene in front of him.
Out of utter desperation, he started touching all the weapons to see if the locket responded in any way. He started with the spears, or what remained of the spears, and felt around for any hidden mechanisms.
Slightly exasperated with no real results, Calron moved on to the next spear.
……………
After a few minutes, Calron had reached the pile of broken swords and he still hadn’t received a response from the locket. Growling in frustration, Calron flung the broken sword he was holding to the ground.