Chapter 16: Mentor (Part 2)

What should I do now? But that old man had ordered me to hit him, so I won't hesitate anymore. Just hope he tells me the way to the Kingdom of Warsaw when I won against him.

I can't cast magic so I will use my physical strength to fight that old man instead.

Then I immediately charge at that old man with a wooden sword in my right hand, that man keeps staring at me, but he didn't make any moves.

When I was about to hit him with the sword, he fastly dodged my attack and fall back few steps, he keep his face, calm, keeping his stance like usual.

I think that old man just got lucky, I immediately charge at him again, this time I swung my sword strikes faster. That man still dodging like a wind against my sword strikes even though I got him so close many times.

Then, I got angry and about to hit that old man with a very strong blow with the sword. I raise my hands holding the wooden sword up to the sky, about to swing my sword at that old man from above.

That man has no escape now! He can't even dodge my strike anymore with that narrow area he is standing. But when my sword was about to hit him, that old man squeezed his fingers and pointed at me while roaring.

"Rarrgh!"

A strong wind diverted the sword's direction, I couldn't even control it, then the sword suddenly hit a wall in the alley. That wall broke into a big hole and the wooden sword itself broke in half.

"I see! So you know how to use a sword but most of your strikes were still dependent on using too much of your muscles, you couldn't even perform any sword techniques when using it!"

"You can't even cast magic either, if someday you met an experienced swordsman, even if just a little, you would be dead for sure!" - That old man said to me his thought

"Fine! I don't need your help anymore, I will find the way to the Kingdom of Warsaw alone!"

Then I drop the wooden sword on the ground and go away. When I was stepping a few steps, that old man called me again.

"John Rigen! Why don't you beg me to teach you swordsmanship?" - That old man said to me from behind

I immediately turn around, who is this man exactly? An assassin that is still alive? I don't see him as an assassin? Who is this man exactly?

"Your fighting stance was very similar to Reimi Frieden! Did you know her?"

"She taught you the basic things of using the sword, right?" - That old man keeps asking me, did he know about Reimi?

"You know that girl?"

"Of course! I was the man who taught her swordsmanship! I'm very sorry for letting my disciple teach you using the sword!"

"My disciple sometimes goes on rampage, I hope you won't be annoyed with her personality!"

Oh! The way this man said made me remember the scene Reimi stabbed an alcoholic when that man joined the crowds to chase me. But how can this old man know about me?

"You want to know why I know about you, right? I always standing somewhere near the border gate of this town to see the passengers, I only see you today, Rigen!"

"The rumors said you wear very strange clothes, you can't also cast magic, your voice seems doesn't like ours so I sure that's you, John Rigen!"

"So what is your purpose when challenging me in a fight?"

"Do you want to learn swordsmanship? Just in one month and I will lead you the way to Kingdom of Warsaw!"

That man didn't answer my question, but one month! That man said. Just as the time I want to rent the Inn to stay in this place, maybe it is worth trying.

"Why did you want to teach me swordsmanship?"

"I will tell everything to you when I have done teaching you! You don't need money to learn, you just need to accept!" - That man looks at me with his straight eyes

"I accept to let you teach me swordsmanship but I don't want you to force me to consider you as my teacher!"

"Of course, you just need to call me Mentor! Follow me, I will show you the place I will teach you!" - That old man asked me to follow him

Then Mentor leads me to a place a bit far from the streets, he stops at a building. It seemed like an arena but that place seemed to be abandoned so long ago.

"Just get inside!" - Mentor opens the doors and asks me to go inside that building

Then I go inside that arena with Mentor, inside seems not bad as I thought, weapons are sticking on the racks on the right side. In the middle of the field, there is a big training ground, it is very good for training in this place.

"You live alone here, Mentor?"

"Yeah! You can say this is my house!"

"But now I don't have time to learn swordsmanship! Can I do it later? I still have more things to do!"

"Just remember to come here when the watchtower's bell rings 15 times, that means afternoon!"

"If you want to go now, remember to use the sewer here, do not use the front doors even get in or get out!" - Mentor shows me his conditions

Then I look at the sewer's cover, I hope I won't see any rats or some dirty things inside it, I open the cover and get inside the sewer.

"See you, Mentor! I will get here later in a short time!"

Then I get inside the sewer, seems like the inside is not dirty as I thought though! It seems clean, not much but still clean. I don't know where to go but there are things like crystals shining blue lights placed on the walls, they lead me to the way I want to go.

I wonder how the people in this world light on these crystals? I also suspect Mentor, why did he not tell me his real name?

Why I can't go inside or even outside the arena by the front doors? What is his exact relationship with Reimi?

While I thinking about them, the crystals on the walls stop at a metal ladder. Seems like up there leads back to the streets, I get up the ladder and then open the sewer's cover-up there.

Then I go outside, I got a little surprised when the sewer led me to the alley where I was fighting with Mentor earlier. Seems like I have to ask Reimi about this, this man calls himself Mentor seems very interesting.

Then I remember the things Princess Shera said in the letter she gave me.

Shera said every place on this continent has many big boards showing the information about the messages the people want to send to their relatives, maybe Princess's message is also there.

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Then I ran around the streets to find the big boards, there are many of them on the streets.

I choose a board around them, looking around the letters that are written on the small papers on the boards.

Finally! After a few minutes of searching, I finally found Princess's message, I thought a little bit to find out the meaning of the writings.

Dear John Rigen! If you are reading this, then you must be safe on your journey to Swei Town, Jager Kingdom.

If you want to send me letters, get inside the Messenger's Guild in the North of the town, that place also gathers other guilds like Adventurer's Guild, Merchant's Guild, Hunting Assassin's Guild...

I hope you will know the road to it after I wrote you this message. My message is a priority so it will be kept here in one month, another messages on the boards will be removed in one week to replace the new ones.

When you write me your letters, please send your address of the place you are staying for me to let the messengers know the way when they are on their duties.

You can try to tear this paper out and keep it, remember don't let anyone see you doing that, hehe! Anyway, I'm now in my Capital City, my address is always Street 96, Royal District, Keris Imperial Palace.

I hope you will be safe and also I will look forward to the letters you send me! Dear Sir Rigen!

Princess Shera Sonne

Day 26 of the third Spring, year 1172

Sunshine

After reading Shera's message, I look back, seems like no one noticing me so I tear up that message and hold it in my right hand. I hope that was just a joke from the Princess!

Then after that, I ran to the North as Shera told me to do, there are many Guilds there.

I walk around and see a big Guild that has a big advertisement written on its above, the meaning of that advertisement is the Messenger's Guild.

Then I get inside the Guild, wow! Seems like everyone is busy inside, many guild girls are working on their paperwork, seem very busy.

I slowly walk towards an empty stall that has a blonde-haired guild girl there, she is wearing a hat that seems like a blue military beret.

She also wearing blue clothes like a uniform for the officers with a messenger crest placed on the right of her outfit.

Seems like she is very young, maybe 12 years old, I think!

"Welcome to Messenger's Guild, mister! Who would you like to send the letter to, and which place do you want to send your letter?" - That guild girl asked me

"I want to write a letter to a person, Princess Shera Sonne!"

"What?" - That guild girl seems very surprised at my answer

Her face seems a little tense, and that girl calms down in a few seconds and asks me one more.

"Sir! Are you an acquaintance of Princess Shera Sonne?" - That guild girl asked me, this time she asked with a more respectful

"Yes!"

"Your papers, your envelopes and your pens are over there, Sir! Just use them as you like!" - That guild girl talking to me while pointing her right hand to a table behind me

That table looked very special made, seemed like only the VIPs are allowed to sit there.

Then I got to that table, papers and envelopes are already prepared, I take one of the papers which is made of furs out of the others.

Then I take a pen out of a small box that carries many pens on it and am about to write a letter.

What I was about to write, I notice that I should not write the letter in English, I must erase the last word of every word that I write.

Then I write carefully in the letter, I also remembered the address of my inn and the address of Shera's place and the code Sunrise.

When I went out of the inn, I have seen its address, which is written on the board of the stall in the inn.

Then 3 minutes passed, I finished the letter and put it inside an envelope, then I went back to the guild girl and gave her my letter.

The Guild girl after taking my envelope, looks at the code Sunrise that I wrote on the envelope together with my place's address and Princess Shera's address.

Then she took out a list and focusing looking at my code while looking at the list of words written on it. That list may contain the codenames that were being used for the royal families, I guess!

I don't know why but while looking at that guild girl working on her paperwork, I just think about the game Paper, Please! But instead of checking passports, she is checking papers

"I have found the codename that you wrote in this letter, Sir! Your letter will be priority delivered to its destination as soon as possible!"

"We will do our best! Thank you for using our service!" - That guild girl thanked me, she doing an action looks like a military salute to greet me

"Sir! According to our rules, the cost for delivery of a letter costs 50 Attas, but you have a relationship with the people from Royal Family so there will be no charge!" - That guild girl also explained to me why she didn't take money

No charge, huh? Seems very convenient for me!

Alright! So what now? Maybe I will get outside and go on the register in the Adventurer's Guild right away.

Shera's perspective - 2 days after Rigen arrived Swei Town

Our departure to return to our homeland has been made sooner than I expected, it happened after the night my brother ordered his assassins to kill Sir Rigen.

I had sent a message to Sir Rigen in Swei Town but I don't know if he is still alive to see it or not.

I'm so worried about Sir Rigen! I had many arguments with my brother after that night and now it happens as a daily routine.

I have going back to our homeland now and now am in the Imperial Palace, the coup has over, and my father is safe! But we cannot find the one who was behind to coup.

I just argued with my brother earlier and now I'm sitting in a chair in the arena, seeing him sparring with the soldiers.

When I was worrying about Sir Rigen, Reimi suddenly ran towards me, her hands are now completely healed. Reimi is holding a thing like a letter in her right hand, running towards me, seems to say something important.

"My Highness! Haah! Haah! I have received a letter from a messenger from Jager Kingdom a few minutes ago, that letter is written by Sir Rigen!" - Reimi trying to talk to me while she is taking her breath

"My Highness! Sir Rigen is still alive and safe!" - Reimi said to me happily, I was also relieved when I heard Sir Rigen was still safe and sound

I take the letter from Reimi's hand, when I was about to read the letter, General Dunkel ran hurry to my brother, who is now sparring with the soldier.

After seeing Dunkel's appearance, my brother stops sparring with the soldiers and waits for Dunkel to say his words.

"My Prince!" - Dunkel spoke to my brother with his serious face

"Speak!" - My brother told Dunkel to continue

"Your Highness, the 200 assassins that we hired to kill John Rigen! I have received the information from our messenger we sent to Jager Kingdom!"

"All of them are dead, Your Highness, even their Mentor!" - Dunkel talked with a serious face, he shows his fear to my brother

I was also shocked at what Dunkel said, so Sir Rigen didn't lie!

I don't know why I also have a little scared of Sir Rigen after hearing that, but I feel so relieved when he is still alive.

After hearing what Dunkel said, my brother shows an ugly face, then that ugly face gradually changes into a smile, which makes me feel so sick.

"Haha! Interesting, John Rigen! We will meet again, soon!" - My brother said to himself, he even opened a smile which is so sick

Then I get the paper out of the envelope, I notice the address about Sir Rigen's place he is staying that he wrote on the envelope.

I see that Sir Rigen's handwriting skill is so good, not like me, my handwriting skill is quite bad. But I also notice that Sir Rigen still had a little struggle when writing this letter in our language.

But for me, Sir Rigen had done his best to write this letter.

Dear Princess! I am now safe, I have killed all the assassins that your brother sent to kill me, I still hate your brother so much but I think I should not let those negative things ruin down my mind anymore.

I'm now staying in an Inn in Swei Town, I had earned lots of money for the reward of killing the assassins so I won't need to worry about the money so much but I will soon register at the Adventurer's Guild for finding a job.

I hope you are still safe, Princess! And I hope you are happy alongside Reimi! I have a question, would you mind answering it for me, Princess?

I just had met an old man earlier, he claimed that he was the one who taught swordsmanship to Reimi. He didn't say his real name but he told me to call him Mentor, can you ask Reimi about that man for me, Princess?

I was about to find the way to your homeland, I want to meet you someday when I get there but I can't find the way. That old man said he would teach me swordsmanship and promised to lead me the way to the Warsaw Kingdom.

I don't know if I can trust him or not, I hope I will receive your answer soon, Princess!

Sergeant John Rigen

Sunrise

There is a word that I don't know about, Sergeant? What is it? Is it a military ranking from Sir Rigen's homeland?

But I soon ignore it, the thing I notice the most is the old man from the letter that Sir Rigen wrote. I don't know who taught Reimi swordsmanship, maybe I will ask her right away.

"Reimi!"

"You need something, my Highness?" - Reimi asked me

"In the letter that Sir Rigen wrote, he mentioned an old man, that man is now teaching swordsmanship to Sir Rigen, that man also claimed he taught you before, do you know who is this man, Reimi?"

"What!" - Reimi got shocked

After hearing what I said, Reimi suddenly behaved strangely, she shows her angry face. She ran towards the scarecrows that were made for training and starts hitting them with her sword, she hitting them so crazy!

"What's wrong, Reimi? Who is that old man exactly?"

"Tell Sir Rigen to stay away from that man, Princess! I don't want Sir Rigen to become our enemy!"

"Sir Rigen would be broke if he let that betrayer train him, dammit!" - Reimi smashes the scarecrows more and more, she goes on her rampage

"But who is he?"

"Someone you shouldn't know about, Princess! Even His Majesty wouldn't let you know about him!" - Reimi talked to me while hitting the scarecrows

Maybe I should warn Sir Rigen now, I hope he is still safe! Maybe he has gone into another problem which is more dangerous than the assassins that chased him.