The next day, Lan woke up earlier than usual, planning to leave before anyone woke, or so he thought. Even before he made it out of his room, Lan’s mother called for him from the kitchen. As he ate, she made small talk, telling him stories about his sister and from the sound of it, she was just as much of a troublemaker as he was at her age. When he was almost done eating, Lan’s father walked in. He took one look at Lan before grimacing.

‘I’m going to head out to the shop.’ He said, heading out before Lan could say anything.

‘Give him time.’ Lan’s mother smiled, patting his hand. After their talk, she seemed to have mostly returned to her old self. ‘I’ll tell you a little secret. The moment we realised Dell wouldn’t let us see you. Your father went down to the warehouses to find you. He ended up sending more than a few workers to the healers.’ Lan blinked. Thinking that he remembered that day. There had been a commotion outside, and he had been locked in Dell’s office. When he was allowed out, half the workers were covered in bruises, especially Ganin, Dell’s hired muscle. Lan found himself smiling. No wonder they had all been much worse to him that day. ‘In the end, it took a group of guards to get your father to stop. Lan quickly turned to his mother, but she cut him off. ‘Don’t worry. Although they had to stop your father, they let him go once they left. So even the guards had tried to help him in their own way… no wonder everyone had despised him for the role they thought he played. He would make things right. Lan promised himself.

Once done, Lan said goodbye and headed to the city. The plan was simple, Lan had three silver plus the money his mother had given him. he had yet to check the amount, hoping to return it or buy back the pin. The first was to try and find a weapon and armour if he could and buy back his mother's hairpin as soon as he could. There weren’t too many shops that would buy jewellery. That was unless she sold it to a travelling Merchant, then it would most likely be gone forever.

With that thought souring his already dark mood, Lan froze in place, a laugh that he knew better than his own breaking through his thoughts as Lan looked up and saw Eliza, wearing a dress he had never seen before and walking with four people. Three, he knew all too well. Dara, Mai and Charlotte. The three of them had been friends with Eliza almost as long as he had and had been one of the many sources of his never-ending torment. The three weren’t shy about hiding how wrong they thought he was for Eliza and looking at the last person, they had gotten their wish. Walking with his arm linked with Eliza’s was a man Lan had never seen before. Dressed in expensive-looking clothing and Jewelry and wearing a sword, the man looked the picture of a noble or a successful Merchant son or, in this case, both. After a moment, they noticed Lan and almost walked past before they stopped.

Eliza’s hand shot to her mouth, and she went pale while the three other girls had mixed expressions on their faces, from excitement to horror. So it was true. Of course, he already knew it. There was no way that he could have looked for her for so long without finding her. Once again, he had just been lying to himself. Despite himself, Lan wanted to laugh. Eliza looked like she would speak, but before she could, Lan moved to walk past them. There were more important things he had to do, Lan thought, only to find a sword in his face.

‘Now, what is all this about.’ The man said. ‘why is it that seeing you seemed to make my Eliza sad.’

‘I wouldn’t know.’ Lan said before moving to get around. Instead, the man broke from Eliza and moved to stand in Lan's way.

‘I’m not done with you. now talk.’ Taking that as a command, Dara jumped in.

‘This is Landrin. Eliza was betrothed to him, but he was so useless that Eliza’s father broke the apprenticeship contract.’ She said loud enough to draw attention from those around them.

Stolen story; please report.

‘You were an Apprentice… at your age.’ The man said, drawing a few laughs and pitying looks.

‘There you have it.’ Lan said before trying to get around the man again.

‘I didn’t say I was done with you.’ he said, a Wicked smile on his face.

‘He’s never even gained a level before.’ Charlotte added, making the man laugh.

‘Is that so? You are as weak as a child, even weaker as most people won't hit children. Feeling anger boil over Lan, knocked the sword out of his way and lunged at the man, who effortlessly jumped back and slashed at Lan's hand before driving the basket of his rapier into his face. The red flame flashed before dropping by two points and then dropping by another as he rammed his foot into Lan's stomach.

‘What are you doing?’ someone shouted as Charlotte and Dara laughed. While Eliza and Mai looked horrified. Slowly Lan got to his feet.

‘Well, well, it looks like you have some fight in you.’

‘That’s enough, Lawrence.’ Eliza said.

‘Well, I don’t know, is it enough?’ he asked Lan, who didn’t know what the man was talking about, trying to take the high ground after sticking a sword in his face. But this was only at the back of his mind. More important was the fake concern from her of all people.

‘Was it all a lie?’ Lan asked, and Eliza actually winced before looking shameful and then resilient.

‘It wasn’t. There was a time that I loved you more than anything in this world, even myself. There was a time when you were the only reason I woke in the morning. You were so much stronger than me…’ she looked Lan in the eyes. ‘Then you let yourself give up, and become this… I kept waiting for you to change, but you never did. And I stopped seeing the person I loved.’ Lan stood there.

“He gave up. he stopped being the person she loved.” Lan wanted to bring up that it was her own damn father who had beaten the fight out of him, and she had been the cudgel he had used. But he just stood there until they left. Charlotte and Dara smiling, and Eliza and Mai not meeting his eye. The Man Lawrence, on the other hand, his expression had grown darker as Eliza had spoken, but as Lan looked in his eyes, what he had seen as a chance to pick on someone weaker had become personal.

Shame washed over Lan, and he just stood there until even those around him lost interest. “I knew her.” he thought. What a fool he was. But it was done now. A smile, small and weak, but a smile nonetheless found itself forming on his face. Lan had never thought he wanted it to end, and his heart still hurt, but it was over. and with it, the last connection to Dell was severed. No matter what her role or what she said, Eliza had just let him walk into the destruction of his life without saying a word just because he had changed, and she had just moved on without a word to him. She was with someone else, even while acting like she still cared about him. The thought made Lan’s chest tighten. It hurt, but that wasn’t the Eliza he had loved. It hurt because the Eliza he had loved hadn’t existed for a long time, and that was that. Lan told himself and forced one foot in front of the other.

Finding a place that would sell him a weapon turned out to be just as hard as finding a job. It turned out that all blacksmiths were able to see the Level of those that stepped into their store. Of the ten smith shops he found, three had nothing that he could afford. Three kicked him out after scolding him, and the last four raised their price after he begged them to sell him something. Lan walked the streets, wondering if anything would ever go his way. He couldn’t even get himself killed right. It was already a low chance that they would let him join a guild. Without a weapon… Lan would look so naïve that they might think that he had escaped from a madhouse.

As Lan headed towards the first of three guilds, he passed an alleyway and stopped as he thought he heard the rhythmic sound of a hammer hitting an anvil. It was faint enough that even after heading down it for some time and turning down another path, it still hadn’t gotten any louder. After some time walking and even having to backtrack a few times, Lan was rewarded by the sounds getting louder. After nearly half an hour of looking, he found himself standing outside of a small shop, the sound of the falling hammer deafening to the point that Lan was sure he could feel it in his bones. The door wasn’t locked, but as he stepped in the front of what looked like a blacksmith's storefront, the falling hammer came to a stop with a final ring.