Locks.
There's always a key for every lock in the world.
There's always a key for vaults, which store treasures of man, and memories of the elders.
Secrets of the ancients and things that are never meant to be found.
And, my heart, my powers, myself, my past...
My parents.
Locked behind a door, but a key which doesn't exist yet. It goes against my belief that every lock has a key.
Oh well, guess I'll just have to make one.
Me, Adonis and Jian left for Alterio city, the place where Ray and Eva live.
I want to meet them and talk to Ray about Chris and Tony. Considering he's a doctor, I'm sure he'd know something about those two.
On our way, we asked Jian to manage food for us. Right now, he's wearing a Royal Knight armour so it's pretty unlikely that he'll get caught, unless one of the Aqueogon royal family is present, only then will they be able to sense Jian's voltage and kill him.
"Wait, why can't we just go to the Electrogon magistrate, Aerogon is a bit too far isn't it?" Adonis asked
"That's a good question. The Aerogon is much safer as compared to the Electrogon at the moment. Right next to Electrogon is Terragon and their relations are pretty good in terms of trades and production, but in trust? Ehhh I wouldn't count on it. This is because the next neighbouring Electrogon civilization is Aqueogon. Right now, the Aerogon is the farthest from Aqueogon, that's why it's better for us to head there."
"But they don't let a lot of outsider VoltenCrowns in the city, right?" I asked
"Yeah, but we're the exception. The Aerogon region is a special one. You'll see when we get there. Right now, I'm gonna get our supplies, you and Adonis start training."
Without any other word he left, I didn't get a chance to ask anything else either.
Me and Adonis are now searching for an open place nearby to start sparring, whilst Jian went to to the city
*Jian's perspective
I've trained Adonis well, I can trust that he'll defend himself if we get attacked, but as for Ruven.... I hate to say it but he's gonna be a drag. The boy has potential, but I can't really trust him to fight alone, he Can't manifest his weapon, but if he did learn it, he could be a big threat to the Aqueogons.
If he fought so well against Gabriel's guard, he can definitely defend himself against Gabriel too, but it's still a 50/50
Ray only trained him to regulate his voltage, but he hasn't understood how to manifest his weapon yet, this wasn't a problem for Adonis since he's already been a raging demon when it comes to his parents. As for Ruven, he just needs a little push, but I can't bring myself to do it, nor can I ask Adonis to.
Maybe going to that town would change something?
I'll pray that it can...
Having said that I happen to see a merchant passing by, so I went down to talk to him. As soon as I did, the merchant spurred his horse into a gallop, as if running away from me.
I didn't think much of it. One leap and I caught up to him. As soon as I landed directly in front of them, the horses screeched to a halt.
I started approaching the merchant, an old man, probably in his 50s, fat and innocent looking. There was a girl in the carriage, none of my concern though.
"Hey old man, what goods are you carrying to the city?" I asked.
He covered his head, he probably thought I was gonna harm him...
"No! Please! Take whatever you want from me! Just don't do anything to my daughter!"
"What are you talking about? Did something happen on the way? I am not trying to harm you or your daughter, I just need supplies and I have the silvers for it."
He lowered his guard, then looked at me and said "Really? Don't you want to steal my goods or harm my daughter??"
"I don't. If something like that has happened to you, please tell me, I could help you. I am a Royal knight."
"Really? But I don't have anything I can give you, my goods were stolen...."
"I see, no worries, I'll get them back for you. Which direction were they in? And what goods did they steal?"
"They were north-east from here, they had food, clothes, toys and gifts for kids from an orphanage... They tried to do something bad to my daughter, I managed to convince them to take the goods instead, they didn't listen at first but gave up, I got away with beatings and my goods being stolen."
Ahh, that explained the torn clothes and bruises.. looks like I got a job to do.
"I'll head in that direction and get your goods back to you, but I'll need something in return by you. Is that fine?"
"I'd be so grateful! I'll do whatever you want!"
"Fine then, off I go."
I grabbed a branch, and swung from those, eventually landing on one then leapt away to the north-east direction, I'd assume it's probably some Aqueogonian goons in armor or some low level knights. I'll take care of this qui- actually nevermind, I'll grab Ruven and Adonis with me and make them fight, it'll be a good experience for them.
I found out where the knights were, they were not that far from Adonis and Ruven, so it wasn't a problem to bring them along. If they were far away though? That would have been a problem, I'm too lazy to do that much exercise, fighting Gabriel was already enough.
I retreated at once to bring my two students back and I felt something unusual, it wasn't overdrive, maybe it was from the sparring.
I made my way back to them
*Adonis' perspective
Damn, he's much stronger than the last time I fought him. He fights in an unusual way, it's as if he's on the edge of overdrive and normal combat.
This is not how he used to fight, it's as if he's controlling the overdrive. Whatever happened in that school messed him up big time, he's using his abilities and raw strength to fight me, I have a weapon yet he's still not too bad. He just needs a small push, before he can use his weapon in a proper manner.
*Ruven's perspective
Why can't I use my weapon? I could manifest it without any problem at the school, Am I doing something wrong? Dangit! My ability feels great but without a weapon to channel it in is a bit complicated, It's been hard to do it after I manifested my weapon, before that I could channel my power through my fists, at this rate I will never be on Adonis' or Jian's level....
"Hey Ruven! Your voltage is all over the place! Get a grip will ya?" Yelled Jian from a 10ft distance
"I can hear you fine old man! You don't have to yell that much!"
"WHO ARE YOU CALLING AN OLD MAN CHUMP, I'M JUST 26!"
That's honestly kinda surprising.... Wait. He was 18-19 when he saved me?? He's strong, I guess it's not surprising since he did fight toe to toe with Gabriel
"Wait, what did you mean by my voltage being all over the place? Is that why I can't manifest my sword?"
"A sword eh? Nice, and as for your question, yeah. Once you're used to manifesting your weapon it's not gonna be a problem regardless of the circumstances, but yours is a bit... Special? Well that's probably as close as I can guess. What happened in the school only you know, as if now, we have a job.
"A job?"
"Yeah, a merchant got his goods stolen and the bandits tried to do bad things to his daughter as well, you know what to do right?"
"Wait wait wait, why didn't you handle it yourself? Aren't you supposed to be the fast and the strong one?" Asked Adonis.
"I want this to be a valuable experience on how to deal against enemies. Practical is always better than theory." Said Jian
How am I supposed to do the practicals when I don't even know the theory??
"Ok, enough talking, let's go and ambush them."
Jian said as he headed in the direction of the bandits
We ran after him.
As we were running, I saw something interesting. Adonis had a shadow trail behind him, as if he were blending in.
"You jealous? Slowpoke?" He teased, as a speeded up, catching up to Jian. I couldn't stand it and didn't want to be left behind.
I started regulating my power all over my body and dashed forward, just barely touching the ground as there were streaks of electricity that followed me.
There was one problem. Doing that made the sound of thunder, meaning we had limited time before the bandits ran away. Of course, we had Jian but depending on him everytime would be shameful.
The Bandits perspective.
1- "Hey we got a pretty good loot! Wish we could have that girl as well, she was cute."
2- "Yes she was but this isn't half bad, this is good loot."
3- "this knight outfit works wonders! We didn't even need to fight, all we had to do was threaten him and he folded like a stick."
Sound of thunder is heard
2- "Hey what was that sound? We might have gotten compromised let's get out of here."
1- "I'll grab the loot, let's run."
3- "What's that in the forest? I see something red, like electricity crackling- wait, I see purple eyes too.. red eyes popped up."
Jian throws his sword at one of the bandits and speed blitzes around him, as if teleporting there and striked the cranium with the blunt side.
The purple eyes disappeared for a second and Adonis popped up near the 3rd bandit and did a side jab by the right side of his head, at the muscle which connects the jaw and the cranium followed by a suckerpunch to the guts.
The red eyes, dashes forward at high speed, as Ruven appeared from the darkness and miscalculated the strength of his punch due to the semi-overdrive state and did a full force punch at the solar plexus of the 1st bandit, effectively killing him.
"Wait, Ruven, you weren't supposed to kill him!" Said Jian.
"I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T EXPECT THAT I'D PUNCH HIM THAT HARD!" I said.
"Wow, you might make a good assassin, if you can silence up that thunderclap that is." Said Adonis
"Well, now what do we do about these goons?" Asked Jian.
At that moment an idea flashed in my head
"What if we steal their armour and tell that merchant guy to take one armour back, and tie these three up and have that merchant guy turn them in?"
"That's a good idea, what about the dead guy though?"
A sound of growling is heard, as three beastly bears crawled out of the forest.
"Hey Ruven, I don't think turning them in is really necessary, the beasts are hungry yknow, let's just take their armour and go."
We left with the armour of two of the bandits, grabbed the loot, which was conveniently placed in a cart as they made an attempt to escape. We left them to be eaten. As for us, me and Adonis put on the Armour and we went to the merchant.
Jian introduced us as his students, which really isn't a lie.
Then, the merchant asked us what the favour was, and what happened to the bandits.
"Uhh, we took care of them.. yeah. As for the favour, we need food..."
"Really? That's it? Sure! Wait here, I'll be back with what you need." The merchant said.
And so, we did.
By evening the merchant returned with boar meat, some mutton, bread and gravy packed in a container. He bowed, tipping his hat over, and giving us a card. He said,
"Thank you for helping us. If it weren't for you, maybe those orphans wouldn't have anything to eat, wear or to play with! I give you my deepest thanks. If you need me, my address is on the card."
I felt good, a smile lit up on my face, but it couldn't be seen because of the helmet.
"Actually, we need one more favour." Said Jian.
"How fast can you get us to Alterio?"