“Who did you learn that swordsmanship from?”

“I copied it from someone.”

“You should know how absurd you sound right now.” Fian’s words were calm yet her words weren’t. “And that blade, don’t think I don’t know what that symbol meant. That’s a noble’s sword, as far I can recall, there’s not a single branch of that family nearby at all.”

Continuing on with her observations, “That sword and that swordsmanship do not go along with one another. In fact, they come from two noble families with a blood feud. That’s… Sammuel, who are you?”

Fian saw Sammuel’s conflicted expression. She knew that there was no way that he would’ve been able to kill a person from either noble family. The reason was simple, Jyn was a person that formidable but she was not even close to the strength and backing of a noble family.

Seeing how Sammuel lost in a direct battle of strength, she felt safer now to ask. Before, Sammuel would just stand around and kindly escort people away. He hasn’t been in an actual brawl where Fian could properly assess his strength.

The blade being taken away from somewhere would’ve made sense. Fian wouldn’t have started any questions regarding that at all since this sword wasn’t anything special. What made her start questioning Sammuel’s identity was in conjunction with his mastery of [Flowing Swordsmanship].

He wasn’t an amateur with it at all. Perfectly demonstrating such a basic technique with relative mastery. After all, it was difficult to comprehend the mystical reasoning behind the concept of the technique.

A noble family’s core technique wasn’t something someone could just learn by watching. That concept in itself was insane. Sammuel needed a better lie than that. Then again, him reading day in and day out about the history of the world was something that followed along with his answer.

“Why are you here?” The question came back to this once again.

“Because I have nowhere else to go. I don’t know where I am, I don’t know anything about the world, and I don’t know how to go about the future.” A sincere face. Sammuel spoke with his heart. There was no lie or deceit for this was genuinely how he felt.

Taken away into a brand new world with no one to guide him, he struggled for an entire month on nothing but fruit and berries. His life was filled with danger the entire time. Now that he found a foothold, he wanted to finally keep up with everyone else.

“Do you have anyone after you?”

“I don’t think so. If they wanted to find me they would’ve already gotten to me.” Shrugging the answer off, he didn’t know. The two Empires didn’t necessarily have a grudge against him. If anything, it was Sammuel that was supposed to be angry about that. With their resources, Sammuel refused to believe that if they really wanted to get him, they wouldn’t have already done so.

“Can you tell me who they are at least? Or the crime you have done. You can be honest with me, I’m not the type of person to bring danger to myself.”

“The Vis Empire and Salvo Empire.”

Fian’s eyes widened, this wasn’t an answer she was expecting at all. Her thoughts hovered over some small-scale noble family or clan but this was well beyond everything her mind could conjure.

“It’s not what you think. I think… they would recruit me if they really wanted to. Seeing as they have forgotten about me, I can only assume that they don’t care anymore.” Speaking further on, the more absurd he felt.

Reading the history and strength of both Empires, it was egotistical for him to say that they wanted to recruit him. Even Vzella the Great Dragon of Symphony didn’t have the right to be so coveted.

Fian couldn’t find any indication that Sammuel was lying. He had been speaking the truth this entire time. It was an odd feeling, despite being so weak, Fian felt a greater whirlwind of chaos surrounding Sammuel instead of the Hatchling.

“You don’t seem to be lying yet… I find it really hard to believe it to be the case. But… wait, does that mean that… the Summoning of the Two Great Heroes worked? No, that can’t be. The two Empires would’ve already bragged about it by now.” Fian’s mind turned hazy.

“Summoning of the Two Great Heroes?” It was Sammuel’s turn to look at Fian from a different perspective. This wasn’t part of any book he knew of that spoke of this. “There’s a guy named Gaben Starlet who welcomed us. Another guy named Riccen was also there. After we got summoned, Vzella came and attacked us.”

“Gaben of the Salvo Empire and Riccen of the Vis Empire. As well as Vzella of the Dragon Clan. If my guess is correct, you’re an unexpected factor that was tossed aside.” Fian felt such a situation was so incomprehensible yet so logical at the same time. “You must’ve received a gift that would’ve let you extremely strong in such a short amount of time yet from what I’ve seen…”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I didn’t get anything absurd. But those other two did. I guess that’s why.” Sammuel recalled Elias’ [Absolute Talent] and Sadin’s [Perfect Affinity], learning more and more about how this world worked, they would’ve been enjoying such an easy path.

Sammuel’s [Ego] was firmly strong but it didn’t seem to be as oppressive as their abilities. Though that didn’t dissuade him at all, there was still a lot for him to work on. Far too many aspects where he could improve himself greatly.

“I don’t like how insane the situation is but… I trust you. You must feel vulnerable after sharing so much, right?” Fian looked to the side where there was a small window peeking into the outside world.

Sammuel nodded.

“It’s only fair to share my own past then. We’re both perceptive people so you must’ve guessed that I know a little too much for my own good. The reason’s simple, before I was a simple librarian, I was an information broker. Breaking apart from that life, I decided to live on my own and start a family. A tragedy happened and now here I am.” Fian reminisced her past with both a tragic and fulfilling expression. “Aside from living from paycheck to paycheck, it’s not all that bad. Though I wish Marie could live a much more fulfilling life than this.”

There went Sammuel’s idea of eventually having her become an analyst. She clearly knew that she could do that yet chose not to. It’s her decision and one he respected. Not everyone wanted to be a star, sometimes living as they were was enough.

Sammuel looked down. There was so much more for him to do yet the person before him had already done a lot. It was the contrast between a person who has yet to do anything and a person who has done everything. One was hopeful and expectant while the other was fulfilled and satisfied.

“Don’t look so down. I may not want to pick up another big job but I was planning on grooming Marie into becoming an independent person. I’m going to impart her with as much knowledge as she needs to face the world but… for now, I want her to enjoy her youth a little bit more. It’s precious after all.”

Fian walked over to the door and peeked through the blinds.

“Yes, yes Lady Marie, your wish is my command.” Marie shifted her voice to a higher pitch as she moved around her doll. She played with the toy Sammuel gave her with a gleeful look on her face. When a customer came up to inquire about the library, she awkwardly placed her doll behind her back and explained how it worked.

Sammuel came up and watched on as well. Marie was a little lost all by herself but she was making good progress.

“Don’t you wish she could have friends her age? She seems a little lonely.” Sammuel could tell that after getting here, Marie pestered him nonstop this entire time. He didn’t mind the company since it was also a somewhat boring job.

“I do too but she kept saying that she needed to help out in the library. I guess it all comes back to money, huh?” Fian went back to the table and started sifting through the fabric. “I know what you’re going to say. Just do what you want. No one comes here anyway.”

Sammuel smiled. “At least this ended off nicely. Does that mean I’ll get a pay increase?”

“Can’t you find it in your heart to pity this poor old lady and her tiny daughter?” Fian laughed. “But in all seriousness, if you’re confident, I know a place where you can… fight and earn money. But as an information broker, I want a cut of it. I can deal with all the formalities all you need to do is fight. There’s no killing inside but you might get roughed up a little bit.”

“Whatever happened to leaving that life behind?” Sammuel teased her back. Yet he genuinely believed that this was a step in a good direction. Money was a big issue right now.

“I can’t just let Marie run off with those slum kids now, can I? I want to settle down in a nicer district where I feel safer letting Marie runoff. This place is nice and all but it doesn’t offer the protection I want.”

“Changed your mind after grilling me? Haha.”

“You snarky little… Now I’m definitely cutting your pay down to 1 copper coin. Let’s see how you beg for forgiveness now! Hmph!” Fian crossed her arms and looked away. Sammuel played along with her.

After a brief bout of laughter, Sammuel brought the discussion back to a kinder note.

“Sign me up.” Sammuel went off and opened the door. “It might get a little noisy out there but I’m sure you can handle it.”

“I’m going to sign you in the hardest fight I can bet on.” Fian brought out some scissors and started cutting away. There was one certain article of clothing that she wanted to create first.

Leaving the door, Sammuel casually came up to Marie playing all on her own and grabbed her collar.

“Hey, watch it! Drop me right now or I’ll have your head!” Marie furiously flailed her hands around but it couldn’t hurt Sammuel at all. He ignored her rants and brought her outside. Bringing her to a random set of kids, he threw her right in. He took her doll and looked at everyone here.

“My friend here said she wanted to play with you guys.” Sammuel didn’t care to ask about Marie’s opinion on this. So once she heard Sammuel say this, her face turned red.

“That’s not… er… I meant…” Not a single coherent thought.

“Sure. We were just missing a person. Do you know how to play this game?” One of the kids didn’t seem to care about Marie’s opinion.

Not missing a beat, Sammuel answered in her stead, “Yes she does. Isn’t that right, Marie?”

Marie vigorously shook her head. She mouthed, “No, I don’t! You’re killing me over here!”

“Yeah, she does. To celebrate this newfound friendship, do you guys want anything? On me.” Sammuel was willing to splurge a little bit to make Marie’s experience a little bit better. The kids obviously didn’t realize it was a bribe and got caught.

Marie’s terrified expression quickly turned competitive. All her previous shy movements became big and explosive. Catching the ball in mid-air, she threw it right at one of the opposing enemies. She had won the fight.

“Yes!” Marie’s joyful expression continued on for a long time as she played with the rest of the kids on the streets. The entire time, Sammuel kept an eye on Marie from the entrance of the library. He was still doing his job, just that he was more focused on how well Marie played.

Saying their goodbyes, Marie ran up to Sammuel all sweaty. She had never run and played around this much before. Even knowing how cute she looked, her disheveled hair did not do her any justice.

“Best 15 copper coins spent of my entire life.” Sammuel rubbed Marie’s hair, causing it to become even messier. “Go get cleaned up, you reek.”

Marie was still riding off the fun that she listened to Sammuel’s words without any complaints. Fian looked on as a very sticky and dirty Marie came up to hug her. She was initially surprised but eventually came to hug her back. Fian only needed to look at Sammuel to convey her appreciation.

Standing at the entrance of the library, Sammuel kept steady.

“Ah, to be young.”