Leo stared at the old man’s stretched out palm for a moment. There lie iron knuckles, old and a bit rusty, but if it was like grandpa Noel said, he had used them in duels before becoming an expert and now was passing on to his successor. Leo realized the old man didn’t come here on accident – he arrived to help and teach.
“I’m … I’m sorry …” Leo was overwhelmed by emotions. Besides his own parents this has been the only person who genuinely cared for him, “… but I don’t know any techniques to use the knuckles with …”
“Hahaha! What are you talking about!” Grandpa Noel laughed again, “Just punch those f*ckers in the face! You’re talented enough to figure out how they work!”
“Uhmm … can I openly use these? Won’t I reveal anything … you know … peculiar?” Leo was not sure how to ask, but he knew the corrupt path cultivators sometimes used forbidden items.
For example, after the war with the Voodoo sect he learned that both, the old and new sect masters, used their forbidden weapons to destroy over half of the Sacred Order’s forces and only grand elder’s sacrifice saved the rest from sure death, including the sect master.
“You’re thinking too much, boy!” As usual grandpa Noel had no clue what Leo talked about, “Don’t be afraid to break some jaws and noses, or even to kill a guy or two. It would be better if you killed them all, but I understand it’s too much to ask for, at least for now, right?”
“Kill?” Leo was confused.
Such thought never crossed his mind, in fact, no matter how much he disliked anyone, he never thought of killing a person. Even in the Dreadlands when Lana’s group ‘employed’ him and he had to attack the imperial soldiers, he rather disliked the process of taking someone’s life.
“Listen, Leo!” The old man continued, “The whole city is talking about how merciful you were yesterday! These people have come to our home and intend to slaughter anyone in their way, but you are letting them get away with it! Especially those traitors who switched sides yesterday – they all deserve to die! And no one will blame you! Their death will be celebrated!”
Seeing the naive boy was inwardly struggling, he continued, “Of course, I’m not asking you to murder anyone. I’m just saying, there is no crime if something like that happened on accident. You understand me?”
Finally a realization struck Leo like a lightning bolt – obviously the old man couldn’t openly teach him, but he still managed to deliver messages in a subtle way!
‘From now on – the rule number six: if you have to kill someone, make it look like an accident!’ Leo smiled to himself in relief. To understand the teachings of an expert from the corrupt path was not easy!
“Listen, Leo!” Suddenly the man standing next to Noel said. He was of a similar age, but taller and with wider shoulders, and stronger looking arms, “My name is Torben, I’m neighbor of your grandfather Noel. We, the simple people from the city, don’t have anything to thank you with and you probably don’t need anything as well, but I heard yesterday you had to rest from time to time thus I made this crude chair. It’s simple, but sturdy and maybe it’ll serve you while you do your breathing exercises or eat between the fights.”
‘Heavens!’ Leo was shocked beyond words, ‘There were more experts from the corrupt path in the city! Good thing they’re on my side!’
“Thank you, master Torben!” He politely bowed and said, “I’ll use the item you crafted according to your instructions!”
Then he took the chair, smiled towards grandpa Noel and dashed away, full of energy.
“What’s wrong with him?” Torben asked Noel in confusion.
“How would I know.” The old man shrugged, “But he’s a good kid. I hope he won’t get injured too much though. They say he got quite a few bruises yesterday.”
“He looked fine to me.” His neighbor skeptically said and both sat down in the grass to watch the event that was about to start. Noel opened a bottle of booze, ignoring the fact it was an early morning, and both began to take sips from it.
Leaders of the two sides – the junior sect master with her elders and the co-sect masters with the two people from the Mercenary guild were currently in the middle of discussion, but attention of both armies was inadvertently drawn by the youth who earlier went to meet civilians, probably his relatives. After greeting them he returned, but for some reason was now carrying a rather large wooden chair.
Even though his actions were weird, he was all smiles and clearly confident to continue the duels through the day, because the moment he got to the center of the field, he comfortably sat on the chair, drank some water and then … a huge egg appeared in his lap.
Obviously Leo was only following ‘instructions’ he just received from the ‘expert’, but it completely baffled the onlookers. And while him having a spacial treasure was the common knowledge between the local cultivators, his actions were perceived as ‘magic’ by the civilians.
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“Heavens!” Torben gasped at the sight, “What in the world is that?”
For non-cultivators it was hard to discern the details from a couple hundred yards away, but the color and the shape of the object on Leo’s lap was clear enough.
“It … it looks like an egg?” Grandpa Noel answered with something that sounded more like a question.
“That is … that’s a dragon egg! Leo is having an egg of a dragon for breakfast!” A spectator nearby shouted in ecstasy.
“What a legend!” Another one joined, “This guy is the legend of Avila city!”
“Legend! Legendary Leo!” People one after another began to cheer and soon the Sacred Order’s army joined them.
The crowd of civilians certainly had a positive effect on the morale of the local troops, to not speak about the ‘hero’ the shouts were directed at. After meeting grandpa Noel he already knew there was no way for him to fake a loss, but for some reason he wasn’t worried about it one bit. That is why he suddenly had an urge to have a sumptuous breakfast and the snake-headed beast’s egg was just what he needed.
“Do you think he’s eating a dragon’s testicle or an actual egg?” Contrary to the crowd, Torben’s mind was busy with more practical things.
“It’s a common knowledge dragons are not birds and don’t lay eggs … so I guess it has to be the former?” Noel answered, again in the form of a question.
“Daaaammnn … your grandson is really a legend!” Torben’s eye’s widened in realization, “I bet his potency is so high the maidens of the Avila will directly give birth to immortals!”
It did sound like nonsense in Noel’s ears, but seemed like a compliment and the crowd of people kept cheering at Leo. And Leo addressing him as ‘grandfather’ actually made him feel like the youth was his grandson, in a way, of course. And, of course, the more sips Noel took from the bottle, the more he felt that way and soon both he and Torben joined the crowd and loudly cheered at ‘legendary Leo’.
“You have to be careful!” When the discussion between the leaders was over, lady Etessa walked over and whispered to Leo who was still having breakfast in his new chair, “Looks like they checked the law mom ... I mean – the sect master, invoked and it doesn’t specify how duels must be carried out. Also there is no information on how it has been applied in the other wars, therefore you need to be prepared for any underhanded tactics.”
“Okay!” Leo nodded all smiles. There was no need for him to be worried since at least two incredible experts were looking after him, even though they were from the corrupt path.
“I mean, if you’re not up to …” Etessa wanted to suggest he gave up before suffering heavy wounds like yesterday, but the old heads of divisions guessed her intention and pulled her away, wishing good luck to Leo and instructing to limit the Qi expenditure as much as possible.
Suddenly loud booing and high-pitched whistling sounds echoed through the rows of the defending army and with a glance Leo realized the reason. His first opponent of the day came forth and it was no other than the former head of the Administrative division, elder Willis.
‘Good thing that this guy deserted and not elder Payne!’ Leo inwardly sighed in relief.
Of course, it won’t be easy to go against an experienced opponent, but if it was the combat instructor of the Sacred Order, the fight most likely would end pretty quickly and not in his favor. In addition, a moment later Willis proved that the weapons administrators use widely differed from those of the Combat division.
“As you can see, I’m a regular disciple of the Seven peaks sect now.” He began with an excuse for him dueling, “But you shouldn’t think too much of it – it’s just a formality. What you need to worry about is your grandfather over there in the crowd.”
“My grandfather?” Leo asked in confusion.
“Yes, have you thought about him at all? Isn’t he your only relative?” Willis asked with a caring smile. He didn’t fancy such tactics, but he was acting according to Goran’s orders and after switching sides he had no other choice but to follow them.
“I do respect your combat prowess, but you have to use your brain a bit more, Leo!” He continued, “You can loose or simply give up – I don’t care, but if you want your grandfather to live happily after today, you can not win another duel.”
It took a while for Leo’s brain to digest the threat, but contrary to Willis’s expectations he began to loudly laugh. Clearly one had to be a complete moron to think of doing something to a hidden cultivator from the corrupt path! And weren’t the two co-sect masters at the Nascent soul stage? Couldn’t they tell that grandpa Noel had this aura of a true expert? And there was at least one other – his neighbor, master Torben, as well!
Leo almost choked from laughter thinking how an attempt on lives of those two would go, but his opponent’s expression grew grave.
“I see you’re not taking me seriously.” He said with a tinge of regret in his voice, “In that case …”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Leo interrupted him, “I understand what you mean! But I have one thing I’d like to ask before we begin.”
Willis furrowed brows in displeasure and glanced at Goran and Milos who were listening to their conversation from the distance, similar to the two elders from the Mercenary guild and leaders of the Sacred Order. None of them liked the current development, but during the earlier discussion it was established that empty threats to shake the morale of combatants were allowed. Obviously under the watch of the representatives from the Mercenary guild no one would do anything foolish like assassinate civilians, although if they were not there, maybe Noel would’ve been dead and his corpse would have been thrown in front of the cocky youth.
“Alright, speak!” Seeing Goran nod, Willis said.
“May I finish my breakfast first?” Leo politely asked.
This was not what Willis expected, but the request was acceptable.
“Fine!” He said with a shrug, “But that won’t buy you too much time. In fact, everything you do is futile – the Sacred Order will cease to exist after today!”
“Sure, sure!” Leo nodded.
Actually he did ask for a bit of time only to finish the egg. Willis and the Seven peaks sect showing their true colors made him realize the so called ‘righteous path’ might not be so righteous after all and grandpa Noel’s earlier teachings had a deep merit. People like Willis who liked to threaten weak elders should not exist in the world! And if the Seven peaks sect took over, it was likely many more would suffer under their heartless rule. Lady Evelyn might be devious and stingy, but those could be also considered to be ‘normal’ characteristics of a leader and she was widely loved and appreciated by the common folk. In fact, ‘Evelyn’ was the most popular name the parents gave their new born daughters in the Avila city.