"Yield."
Visha rested his sword on Nylon's neck as he said these words. The word itself was short but when Visha said it with his icy tone, a cold sweat broke from the warrior Nylon's forehead. He instantly rested what remained of his spear on the ground and stuttered.
"I.. I concede"
The crowd instantly erupted into cheers! Warrior Nylon was famous around the city as a reputed warrior. To make him surrender in so short amount of time and that too in such a domineering fashion simply overwhelmed those who were witnessing it.
"Visha Visha Visha" they began cheering for him.
"Whoa! what moves!"
"Awesome!"
"You see that!? What swift moves!"
Many amongst the crowd began talking about the short but spectacular exchange.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this exchange is.. Visha!!"
The commentator announced the results in high spirits. He too was touched by what had trespassed.
"This match ends the tournament on this day. I will remind you that the winner of today's matches will again fight again to determine a victor in the day after tomorrow."
This way, the first day of the matches concluded as everybody made their way towards the exit.
"See Sesha, didn't I tell you? The major sects really are strong right?" Surya said in excitement.
Sesha and Surya left the stadium and were currently walking through the market towards the inn. They had not managed to meet up with Rosey and the rest after the matches ended, so at this moment, they were on their own.
"Well, they are a little stronger than the rest."
"What are you saying brother!! A little stronger? Isn't that a huge understatement!" Sesha's reply set him off.
"No, I mean surely there must be guys stronger than him right?" Sesha said unhurriedly.
"Well there are.. but no way they will ever participate in small competitions like those. If you want to see them in action then you will have to go and watch the big tournaments like the Royal tournaments or the Inter Sects tournaments. But that's not the point. Sesha, these warriors are already soo strong! For instance, I bet that the warrior Visha can single-handedly defeat all of the warriors participating in this tournament!"
"That so? You can think what you like Surya but I can tell you this, he will have quite some trouble with the rogue warrior, Asru."
Sesha proclaimed. The warrior Asru who had participated in and won the very first match of the tournament was in no way weaker than the rest of the warriors. In fact, he was stronger than them due to him being in the second realm. But when pitted against Visha? He really would have a hard time against him. In fact, many of other warriors would argue that Visha would easily defeat Asru because he was an entire realm above him but Sesha couldn't help but think that there was something strange about Asru and that he won't go down so easily if they were to fight.
"Hoo.. Do you want to bet brother?" Surya showed a strange smile.
"Bet? Okay. Tell me, what should we bet on?" Sesha complied.
"Let's make it this way, If you win then I will help you search for a job and if you lose, I will still help you with finding a job but until you get one, you will have to help me do the chores of the inn. Agreed?"
This bet seemed really interesting to Sesha and he instantly agreed on it, to which, Surya responded with a sly grin on his face.
As they were passing through the market, Surya spotted something,
"Sesha, you must be hungry right? Let's go eat something." Surya asked him and then led him towards a row of neatly lined stalls from where appetizing smells of different varieties were wafting out.
"Mister, give us two baked corns please." Surya said to one of the stall keeper who was selling corns.
"Here you are," he handed out the corns and said, "that would be two coppers."
"Thanks."
Surya received the corns and gave the keeper two copper coins. He gave one corn to Sesha and began eating another himself as they resumed their walk towards the inn.
"Surya, what value does a copper has?" Sesha asked him.
Sesha knew about money. Money was an important concept of the human world which his teacher had taught to him about, along with various other worldly things, as he prepared Sesha to venture out into the world. In fact, Sesha himself had some money with him, even though he did not really know their worth.
"Hmm.. not much really. With only one copper, you can buy a snack like this corn, have a cup of tea or other things, make some minor repairs and other small stuffs."
"Only that much?"
"What do you expect? It's the smallest currency after all. The really important coin is the silver one. It equals a hundred copper coins. If you have a silver with you, you can probably eat a lavish meal, rent out a small room for a week, buy enough rice to last you for a month among other things. I say, give me five silver coins and I can easily spend a month in this city. Of course, I'd have to be frugal and if I take extra care, I can probably even last for a month and a half."
"I don't have five silvers with me you know." Sesha remarked.
"Of course I know.. I was just explaining, ex-plai-ning! Anyways, to give you some more perspective, mistress gives me ten silvers per month."
"Isn't that a little less?"
"Well it is a little.. But I just can't ask her for a raise anytime soon."
"Is it because you are afraid of her?"
"Yea.. NO!! Why would I be afraid of her!?
"The only reason I can't ask for a raise is Even if it is a little less, I don't have to find an apartment to live and I eat at the inn itself so that way I save some money.. In that aspect, ten silver isn't really less."
"Surya, how much did these passes cost you?" Sesha asked him, showing the tournament pass that he had on him.
Surya waited before answering.
"One of them costs fifty silver coins.. So I bought two for hundred silvers that is one gold coin. Really spent all my savings.." His voice became a little small during the last part.
Sesha was alarmed at this revelation!
"That much!? And you gave one to me!?? Now I am feeling bad for taking them!"
"No no no... Don't be like that brother. Actually, before giving you that, I was about to shred it into pieces." Surya confessed, "But at the end, I couldn't do it. I am honestly glad that you accompanied me to the tournament so please don't feel bad."
Surya was being completely honest with Sesha, which somewhat perplexed him. Earlier, his master had said to him that humans usually were fickle beings, robbing others of their possessions without even the slightest of remorse. But this Surya in front of him? Completely opposite of what his master said!
`There are these types of people as well master.` Sesha thought to himself.
After a brief period of silence, Sesha started again,
"Tell me about the gold coin. How much does it buy?"
"As I said, it basically equals to a hundred silver coins so it has that much value but normal folks don't deal in gold coins. Only the big merchants and the nobles primarily deal in them. As for people like you and me, getting to hold one is rare already."
"Oh! now I really want one for myself.", Sesha remarked.
"Hehe, dream on brother! It is going to be a long long time before you even see a gold coin, let alone own one"
"That so?"
"Yep! At the very least, it will take you six months to earn one."
"What if I manage to get one in less than six months?" Sesha asked.
"If you manage to do that then I will kiss a horse!!" Surya said vigorously!
"Really?"
"Of course!!"
Just after Surya had finished his hundred ten percent confident declaration, a loud voice rang in the marketplace.
"THIEF!! THIEF!! SOMEBODY CATCH HIM!!"
Accompanying the voice was a woman who was running towards Sesha.
As Sesha observed closely, he saw that she was not really running towards him, rather, she was running after a person who was the said thief. He carried something in his one hand and a sharp knife in other as he ran in the direction of Sesha and Surya. Due to the knife that he was carrying, no one was willing to intercept him even if they heard the frantic pleas of the woman trailing behind.
As he passed Sesha and Surya, Surya unconsciously flinched and avoided him totally. Sesha too sidestepped a little but slightly extended his foot outwards. The thief tripped and fell on the ground with an *oomph!*.
But it was only some seconds before he hastily managed to get up and run away again.
"Here's your purse."
Sesha picked up a purse from the ground and handed to the lady who was chasing the thief.
This purse was precisely the one which the thief had stolen. Earlier when Sesha tripped the thief, it had already fallen into the ground but due to the confusion, the thief hadn't noticed that.
"Hah.. Thanks..hah..you..hah...very..hah..hah," she was barely managing to speak.
"Calm down a bit. No need to rush." Sesha said.
After she had caught her breath, she finally managed to say, "You really saved me. Ahh.. If you had not stopped it, it'd have been a catastrophe!"
"You don't need to thank me, it was a small thing." Sesha casually remarked.
"How can that be!? You have no idea how much I would've gotten into trouble if not for you! Here, accept this as a token of my gratitude"--she handed him something--"no no, you must take it at all cost!" She vehemently pushed it into Sesha's hand after his initial attempt to resist. In the end, he had to take it.
"Alright, I am really in a hurry so please excuse me. I hope we can meet again!"
With these words, she hurriedly ran off.
After she had gone, Sesha looked at the thing on his hands. Sesha was familiar with it. In fact, he had thousands of it within his bracelet that was gifted to him by his master.
It was the same shape and weight and had the same inscriptions on it. Indeed, it was a gold coin. Completely identical to the those that were in his bracelet.
Sesha showed the gold coin to Surya and said with a mischievous smile,
"Soo.. Let's go find some horse?"
* * *
"I hate it! I hate it! I just hate it!!"
A little girl was stomping her feet in the ground in extreme dissatisfaction when Sesha and Surya arrived at the Inn.
"What happened little Rosey?" Sesha asked.
"Brother Sesha!! Prince.. My prince Kartik didn't participate! And I was so eager to see him fight. In the end, I couldn't even see him!"
Tears were threatening to spill from her cute little eyes when she explained the cause of her dissatisfaction to Sesha. Seeing her like this, Surya couldn't help but feel a little pity.
"They are princes little Rosey, they have many things to do instead of participating. You should understand that."
"Don't call me little Rosey, you girly crybaby." She barked at him angrily.
"But you don't have a problem when Sesha calls you that." Surya protested.
Rosey didn't say anything, instead she shot him a look that seemed to say, `I will kill you,` which made Surya instantly shut his mouth.
Sesha remained silent at that moment because he felt that nothing he could say would console Rosey. As a result, the atmosphere became quite tense, until a shrill voice sharply interrupted it.
"Just what are all of you crowding this room for?"
The owner of that voice was the inn's mistress, Sophie. Seeing her, Surya instantly tensed up and said in a shaky voice,
"N- Nothing mistress. We were just consoling lit-" he paused, "umm.. Rosey."
"I don't need your consolation, *hmph!*" She stamped her foot down and instantly ran away from there.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
"What are you doing here Surya, don't you have work to do?" Sophie coldly said to him.
"Umm.. that is.. Yes, yes mistress." He too made himself scarce hastily.
Seeing Surya about to go do his work, Sesha first wanted to follow him but he was interrupted before he could turn and go by Sophie's voice,
"Boy, you follow me. I have some things I want to talk to you about."
She walked briskly to the upper floor and entered a room. Sesha obediently followed her. As Sesha entered the room, a medium sized room entered his view which was well-lit and airy and gave off a spacious appearance. There were only a few things in the room; a single bed; a table with some books, pen and parchments; and a small wardrobe. Although there were few decorations in the room, the room itself gave off a cozy appearance
After both of them arrived at the room, Sophie closed the door and faced Sesha.
"I made it plenty clear that I do not wish you here. Earlier when I allowed you to sleep in my inn, I did so only because of my niece's stubbornness. I thought you knew that. I thought you were an intelligent person who could take hints, who would get up and leave this inn with his belongings the first thing this morning but you did not leave. I had suspected it somewhat that a freeloader like you won't be going of here so easily but never did I imagine that you would end up swindling my employee out of the tournament pass that he worked so hard to save for! Tell me this boy,do you have any shame at all !?"
Her face was contorted with a mixture of contempt and scorn as she said these distasteful words to Sesha. She clearly knew that Sesha was no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, only a child in her comparison, but at this moment, irrationality had gotten the better of her and she ended up saying words to him that she would have never said to a child under normal circumstances.
Sesha carefully looked at this woman who stood facing him. As he met her gaze, he could see many many things in her eyes. There was disdain, anger, disgust and distrust within it but at the absolute depth of those deer like eyes, there lied an inexplicable pain, the sort of which was unknown to him and yet it seemed vaguely familiar.
"What are you staring at boy? On top of being a freeloader, are you deaf and mute as well?" She barked at him after he had continued to stare at her for some time.
"You are a very beautiful woman." Sesha began.
"What the fuck are you sayi-"
"My teacher said that I should always compliment a beautiful woman and thus I say to you again, you are indeed a beautiful woman. Except for your eyes, they are ugly."
His voice was apathetic when he said these words to her. He was not angry upon her, he was not pitying her, he was not reprimanding her and he was not accusing her. In fact, it was as if he was saying something like, `there's a little stain on your clothes`. Devoid of any other meaning.
But these casual words of his made Sophie completely bewildered! She started to refute him but before his piercing gaze that seemed to know her entire being, she couldn't speak anything at all.
"I understand that you want me out of your establishment and Rosey and Surya's life. Very well, I shall comply to your first wish and remain here no more, however, whether or not I keep in touch with Rosey and Surya is entirely up to myself. On this matter, I need not obey you.
"Take this"--he flung the gold coin he'd gotten earlier towards her--"as my compensation for letting me stay here and for Surya's pass."
With these words, Sesha leisurely made his way towards the door past Sophie.
"Oh and tell Surya that he need not kiss a horse anymore."
Opening the doors, he left the room leaving Sophie completely stupefied.
* * *
After coming out from the room, Sesha descended the stairs and swiftly walked out of the Inn. Thankfully, he didn't encounter Rosey on his way out otherwise it would have been hard, if not impossible, for him to leave the Inn.
`What should I do now," was on his mind after he aimlessly travelled around the city for some hours.
It was getting dark soon so Sesha needed to find a place for food and lodging.. or not. Food and a place to sleep was of absolutely no concern to him. The level at which his cultivation was, allowed him to go without eating anything for several months. He could solely rely on prana from the atmosphere to live by slowing down any unnecessary bodily activities. On top of that, he could sleep anywhere he wanted as the cold caused him no trouble at all. So he was not even a bit worried about these things. What worried him instead, was what he should do from now onwards.
When he departed from his master, it was only for the purpose to venture out into the world and learn about it. Sesha had asked his master if this adventure was really necessary to which his master had replied,
"Child, as much as you are tempted to seclude yourself in cultivation for the entirety of your life, being your master, I can't possibly let you do that. Do not misunderstand, this doesn't have anything to do with your cultivation. In fact, your cultivation will only progress if you continue to train in seclusion. Rather, it is for your life itself that you must go.
"You have not even lived for fifteen years. There are plenty of things that you have yet to experience. You have yet to fall in love, marry a girl and possibly become a father. You have yet to make friends your age and have fun with them. You have yet to experience the joy of companionship and the comfort of your beloved's arms. Dearest Sesha, there are so many colors of life that you have yet to see. How can I then allow you to remain in this secluded forest? No my disciple, you must venture into the world and experience the true joy of life."
Of course, at that time Sesha was rather perplexed at his master's word but this was a given because of his limited interactions. And wasn't this the very reason that his master had sent him out in the first place? To comprehend the entity known as life.
However, it would require a great amount of time before Sesha could begin to experience these `colors of life` as his master had paraphrased. In the meantime, Sesha couldn't think of anything to do.
But wait, wasn't there something he had wanted to do? Something that was on a small corner of his mind since his childhood? Something that pertained to his very existence!
Finding his origin!
Sesha knew that he was found by Nagini in the Dark Forest, Nagini had told him that. As for how he came to be there? Even she didn't know that. The only thing she did know was that it was undoubtedly a person who had delivered him there. How else would an infant come to be in the Dark Forest of all places?
The only reason that Sesha even posed the question to Nagini in the first place was not because he had craved for his parent's love and affection. In fact, Sesha didn't even know that he was missing it. And even if he didn't have his parent's affection, he already had Nagini who deeply cared for him and his master who treated him like his own son. Between the two of them, Sesha already had his fill of love and care. So why was he curious about his parents? Simple. He was curious only because curiosity was his nature. He simply wanted to know where he came from. Nothing more than that.
However, Sesha had no way of finding about his birth parents. Nagini didn't know who dropped him into the forest and the only thing that was on him when she picked him up was a protection talisman which, although rare, was not rare to the degree that could indicate his origins.
Sesha had these things playing on his mind when he was walking through the market.
"Wait! You there!"
Suddenly a voice interrupted his thoughts. Sesha looked around and found that he had already arrived in an empty alley while thinking of all these things.
Looking towards the voice, Sesha found a man walking towards him.
"It was you!! The one who tripped me earlier."
Only now did Sesha see that this man was the thief who was running away with the lady's purse earlier. He was a man of small stature and had a face that somehow reminded Sesha of a mouse.
"Yes?"
"Don't 'yes' me boy! Do you know how much loss you caused me? That was quite a fat purse that I painstakingly managed to snatch and you ended up making me drop it! It's time to pay back for it boy!"
He said in this in an accusing manner which was quite absurd in itself. Whoever heard of a thief demanding a recompense on recovery of a stolen item??
"What do you want?"
But Sesha asked him anyway out of his curiosity.
"Money of course! Now cough up all the money that you have on you brat!" He threatened Sesha.
"I don't have any."
"The fuck you say!?"
"I said I don't have any money on me."
"Truly a beggar.. Fine then, give me that bracelet and that funny looking amulet of yours. Those should be worth some coppers."
What he said was in fact an understatement. The bracelet itself contained thousands and thousands of gold within it and as for the amulet? It contained the forbidden art that Sesha's master had spent a substantial amount of his cultivation on; Shiva's fire. A fire so sinister that it could completely eradicate an entire city from existence. If it were to be sold, even the entire fortune of an empire won't be enough to buy it.
"No."
The fact that both the bracelet and the amulet were extremely expensive didn't have anything at all to do with Sesha's denial. Even if the bracelet had been of simple black iron and the amulet had been a worthless junk, Sesha wouldn't have parted with the both of them because they were the gifts bestowed to him by his master. There was no way he was giving it to anyone.
"Hmph! You dare deny me brat? After all the loss that you've caused me?"
"I don't care. I am not giving you these. Now get out of my way." Sesha was now getting annoyed.
"Oh.. The way you said that means that these are definitely pricey things. Unfortunately for you kid, I am not letting you go."--The man produced a knife and began moving it around-- "Not only will I strip you of everything, I will also sell you to the slavers. A soft kid like you ought to fetch a fat price!"
The man stretched his other hand towards Sesha's wrist to pull his bracelet out. Sesha flicked his hand and gave him a little slap on the thief's hand which was closing on him.
*CRACK*
A sound originated from the spot where Sesha had flicked the thief and he began howling in agony!
"Aaaaaghhh.. You.. You bitch! You broke my hand!"
Sesha was appalled. How could it break? He hadn't even utilized his Earth realm!!
"You fucker! I will fucking kill you!"
He swung his knife towards Sesha which he took it with his two fingers. And with only a small motion, snapped the knife into two.
"What the fuck!!" The thief exclaimed looking at the broken shard of knife on his hands.
"Hey, let me see your hand.." Out of concern, Sesha took a step towards him.
"Fucking monster!! Get away from me!!"
The thief was alarmed from Sesha's show of force. Never had he heard or seen anything like this in his entire life. He was obviously scared, so clutching his broken hand with his other, he ran away in incredible speed before Sesha could do anything.
'Fucking monster!'
The words that the thief had said was still ringing on his ear. Somehow, it did not sound pleasing at all.
***
Author's Note:
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