While on his knees, something flew and hit his face from around the neck. Just then he noticed something hanging. It was on his neck from the very start. It was at the same place as he put it.
Turns out that rough cloth he used to tie it around his neck was replaced with a proper chain which was not heavy making him think it was not there.
'Oh… I guess I deserved that' as he sighs in relief.
Just as he sat down, he noticed the same waving white string was floating in the air more violently than before, almost as if it was leading him to somewhere once again. Having nothing else left to do, he stood up and walked out the door following the string and found no one out there and the string going downstairs. He heads back to the room to take his sword just in case his master always yelled at him when he was not found with his word.
As he was walking down stairs, a woman named 'Rhina' with orange hair, green eyes and freckles on her nose looked at him. She was the owner of the tavern and knows him as he is well known around the village and she usually lets him sleep in the room when the work is not busy or he is tired from exhaustion after training as the kid rejects it other times for some reason.
She instantly noticed how his eyes, which were always glowing, were dull as he didn't even look her in the eyes but stared blankly at the floor while she was talking to him.
"Why don't you rest up a little more. It has only been a few hours since you came back, soldiers had to delay their mission after finding… you" As she looked a bit sad and concerned about him.
'Few hours?' While his body felt tired and was not able to move before he collapsed, he felt pretty well from just these few hours. Maybe it was due to the mind splitting headache that was now gone, that he felt refreshed.
She insisted to rest up but he rejected it everytime telling her he was alright. She had a worried look on her face as he walked towards the exit but a voice of a man stopped him.
"Listen to the pretty lady, would ya?"
A huge man, with a sturdy build almost like that of a tanker, walked up to him while drinking something as he placed his hands on the kid's shoulder but the kid seemed in a hurry so he tried to push his hands away.
The rumors had already spread throughout the village like wild fire of him being escorted by the soldiers as they were about to throw him into prison for suspicion of some crime.
While the man believed that the kid wasn't capable of such a thing, he had different eyes from his usual. The man still angrily held onto the shoulder as he said "Haha, you should sit down for now, you are badly injured."
'Let it go, I said I am fine' spoke up the kid with a serious tone.
"You already almost died out there, you shouldn't push yourself too hard." as he took another swing at his cup emptying it completely and putting it on a table nearby.
'It will be different this time.' said the kid with determined and resolute eyes.
The man sighed.
"If you have a problem, why not settle it the old way? If you are strong enough, we can settle it with our swords."
The old way is just a name that implies a rule that is made for when someone, usually younger, disagrees with an older person. It is one on one duel between them, any method is fine. It is made just to settle disagreements between party units. The duel itself is rigged for the experienced elder to win as a respect but just out of fairness, the younger are sometimes given a handicap.
Rhina tried to dismiss it as a joke and to stop it from evaluating "Kid you don't have to listen to Cor and Cor can you keep quiet" as she looked coldly towards him.
Cor thought the kid would quiet down after seeing a man of his size but the kid told him to hurry it up as he was still in his bandages and eye covered by one of them.
Thinking he was mocking him, it enraged him further, making him tighten up a fist intenting to strike him but he controlled himself and relaxed it.
Meet me at the arean behind the guild right now. As Cor walked out the door of Traven. He bumped his head on the frame of the door due to his anomalous size and paused for a moment before walking out.
Rhina tried to stop the kid telling him not to do it but it was already too late to step back.
The whole tavern got wind of this and even when it happened just now, people started gathering up behind the dying guild which had a small area enclosed by fences. A place where people practiced and dueled one another.
There stood two people on the fenced area, one was a smiling kid who lost his smile and on the other side the strongest adventurer of the village.
A duel between a member of a ghost mercenary against a grieving adventurer.
Ghost mercenary was just a name given to people who survived the fight against something that took away all their mercenaries. For some it was a way to shame the survivor while for others it was to show their strength.
The outcome of battle was already in favor of the adventurer but as gossip spread fast, people came there to either kill their boredom or try to talk sense into them to stop such madness. But it was too late to stop for either of them.
They both took a wooden sword from the barrel and got ready to fight.
Cor looked at the kid and said "You really intend to fight me with those bandages? Don't be mistaken if you think I will pity and go easy on you. You can not win against me, especially when you have injuries that bad."
While he was showing concern for the kid, he just silently readied his sword and said 'I just have a feeling like I should go right now, or else I will never be able to take another step forward.' as he looked towards him.
Cor looks at the kid in his eyes which were dull but filled with resolution and determination, "I will have to give you a warning. Having resolute does not mean you have the strength to do it. You can still easily die even when your determination is strongest"
Seeing no change in his eyes. He sighs as he thinks for a few seconds. "Very well then, I admire your courage but let's see if you have the power to back it up. If you block three strikes of mine, I will allow you to go."
Which was almost an impossible task for someone who was injured and in bandages but he just quietly accepts it.
As they took their positions, the kid realized the images were no longer there, it hadn't been for a while, ever since he woke up. Not even when he focused on the adventurer.
'... I guess this is too late now.'
The man sprung into action using his wooden sword striking at the kid.
'His sword is slow…? too slow'
It was indeed not fast, it was just strong enough to knock him to the ground if not blocked properly but for someone who just fought against that man, Ignis, whose sword was barely visible and had to rely on reflexes and phantom images alone, this normal swing looked like a child's play.
The sword was easily blocked by the kid.
Cor thought to himself "Ha, I forgot you were part of his group, of course you wouldn't be taken down that easily."
Cor instantly struck him with more strength this time, enough to knock him out cold. But the kid blocked off another strike of his with ease as his sword was much slower than the sword he fought against a few hours ago.
The kid looked at the man as the group of people were gossiping among themself questioning about the match itself and the kid rumors being true.
The kid said a bit loud as the voice was enough to be heard by the gossiping spectators 'Hey… I thought you were trying to stop me. Are you pitying me that much?'
"So you are telling me to give it my all? When you are in bandages? While one of your eyes is covered up. Even I am not that heartless." as Cor smiled, noticing he was saying that for him.
'I do not want to hear loser excuses later on.'
Cor questioned "Are you really injured?"
The kid just smiled and said 'Who knows, I woke up with these and I felt too weird to pull the bandage from the dried blood and you will not attack me on that side which gives me an advantage.' as he smirks.
"Why you think so?" asked the man
'Because you did not strike me at the tavern. That is the sole reason why I even accepted this.'
The man was hesitating about it, for this whole match was due to a stupid argument which attracted a lot of attention.
But this was the first time the kid looked at him in the eyes, eyes filled with resolve and stood firm. He thought if he really intended to go out like this, he would get himself killed for his stupidity.
"What am I doing, fighting an injured kid? I guess we both are stupid. What's with the strongest adventurer of the village. I am just the strongest because I am the only adventurer that resides in this village except for a few others. I just got injured badly before reaching my prime and now I am fighting a kid… Life does have weird turns."
Cor stated "This is the last strike. If we don't take it seriously, you might really regret it." as he takes on a stance of down slash.
The kid readied himself for a strong blow as he took an upper guard, holding the sword with both arms, one on hilt and other on blade as he lifted it in the air above.
"Dont you dare die, you will make me look bad."
He struck down on the kid's sword, so hard that the wood started to crack.