After waiting for a while, the carriage bearing House Valter’s banner arrived. Although they weren’t late or anything, it was our houses who decided to arrive ahead of time. It seems like all the other heads agreed to bring at least one of their daughters to the meeting the moment they learned the one who prevented the fall of the city was a man.
It’s already obvious what the other houses want by bringing their daughter: Connection.
As long as they can bring that person to their side, they will gain immense influence in the future. Of course, that’s also what my father wants to achieve by bringing me here against my will.
For a long time now, my father, the head of house Pyre, has been in search of a good pair for me to continue our bloodline. So my father saw this as an opportunity to engage me with someone with remarkable abilities.
It is certainly incredible how a single person is able to stop the destruction of the city, but I am a prideful woman. I cannot just accept my father's will so easily. The part where he saved the city might as well be a lucky guess for someone visiting for the first time.
House Valter head, Faram Valter walked out of the carriage first and then followed by a peculiar man with a blindfold on. He emanated a noble aura around him, which almost instantly gave me goosebumps. I was almost surprised by the sudden chills I felt. So I turned around to glance at him for the second time, trying to make sense of what I just felt. The other nobles don't seem to feel what I just felt, and still have their eyes set on the slightly opened carriage door.
We all waited for the last person to get off the carriage, but the coacher closed the door. After that we see Faram Valter continue walking without looking back at the carriage, making us realize that they were the only ones on board from the very beginning.
Naturally, it stirred chaos and confusion among the nobles. The appearance of the blindfolded man was not something any of us anticipated. We're completely dumbfounded.
"I see that the house heads had done something unnecessary." Faram Valter expressed his displeasure blatantly.
"Come on, Faram. Who wouldn't be interested in the person who saved the city?" Head of house Melotik, Aram, responded.
"Now, now. Let's stop the delay and head straight inside."
As the house heads went inside the city hall. All the female nobles that have been keeping quiet murmured to each other about the savior of the city. Majority of them were not pleased and were let down when they saw him.
As for me, I'm quite interested. There must be a reason why he wears a blindfold, right?
"To think that father brought me here to look at such a plain man."
"I was expecting a Misfit academy graduate, but that guy, I'm not familiar with at all."
"Engagement is completely out of the table."
"You said it. There's no way I'd be marrying a blindfolded man, he may be blind for all we know."
Well, the majority of the women gathered here to catch a good looking man, after all. Their reactions are just as I expected. But amongst them, there are a few who I should say have a better eye for people.
"You all say that, but that's what makes it all more impressive. That blindfolded man clearly has better eyes than anyone in this city."
"Judging a person by appearance will surely lead to one's downfall."
"Just leave them be. That means less competition, right?"
Among many female nobles, only three of them have a better sense. If I count myself, then that makes us four. What they said is not wrong, but I can't also blame the others for thinking that way.
"I see that our Aira, who usually drives away nobles trying to court her, is also interested in that mysterious man."
I heard Demi's annoying voice. She stood beside me proudly with her alluring figure that would instantly make all the other nobles crawl towards her.
“What are you talking about? My father dragged me here, so of course I’d be here.” I told her, with a stern tone.
She just smiled at me and gave me the ‘Heh? Is that right?’ with a smug look on her face as if I was lying. I wasn’t.
“Whatever, I guess there’s only a few of us that’s intrigued by that man with a blindfold, yeah? Like how he is able to walk properly with that thing on.”
Now that she mentioned it, it’s really intriguing indeed. Normally someone who wears a blindfold will hesitate to even take a few steps forward in fear of falling down. But that man has no hesitation and just walks like a normal person would do as if he can see the road ahead of him.
“I noticed it too,” said Merin, while adjusting her glasses. “I doubt he’d have a blindfold on for nothing. That’d be just stupid.”
“I agree. I stared at his eyes for a moment and I didn't see an outline of his eyes open under the blindfold, so we can cross out the possibility that he is doing it for show.” Alura added, fiddling with her chin like an old man. Merchants are scary. Their eyes are sharp to notice such subtle details. Perhaps she developed that skill after going through a lot of inspecting their goods?
Most of the nobles dispersed after finding out the fact that the one we waited for was revealed, and went to sit on the benches around the city hall with disappointed expressions painted on their faces. Although a lot of us are still standing, I can tell that they are not that much interested in the subject of our gathering.
“So? What do we do now?” Merin asked, looking at us one by one while waiting for an answer.
“I don’t know, they did not specifically say that we can’t enter the city hall, right? Why don’t we head inside? Since there are only a few of us that’s interested in that man, that shouldn’t be a problem for them, right?” Demi suggested.
We all looked at each other and nodded our heads. With that, we head inside the city hall. We are initially stopped by other nobles, telling us not to come inside. But before we could turn back, one of the house heads allowed us to enter.
“To think that there are only so many young women interested in such a talent, what a pity.” House Jiu head, Fajin Jiu said, shaking his head in disappointment. “If only my daughter were here, she would surely be interested in that person as well. Well, now that you’re here, why don’t you observe? It seems like they want to test his abilities. It will surely be a huge help in your evaluation, no?”
He extended his arm, ushering us to our seats.
“Thank you very much, Master Jiu.”
“Don’t worry about it, ladies. I hope you have a good time.”
He immediately left to join the other House heads after that brief exchange or grumbling.
“Hey, do you think it’s true after all? Based on Master Jiu’s tone, it doesn’t seem like he was lying.” Demi pointed out.
“Did you all forget that House Jiu is close to House Valter? I think you all forgot that House Jiu suffered less casualties second only to House Valter. That alone speaks a lot. Our families are hesitant to believe House Valter head's words, but House Jiu immediately heeded his words. They have that much trust with each other.” Alura said, still fiddling with her chin.
We all gazed at her direction. Even at this point, Alura focused her attention towards that man without even blinking. At that moment, the three of us agreed without speaking to each other; merchants are not to be taken lightly.
I hate to admit it, but their worries do indeed warrant a test. However, I did not expect them to test his abilities this way. I have observed Jakob while training under our master for 3 years. That is not a long time to learn everything from our master. To be honest, I trained with our master for more than a decade and I’m still not as good as him before he passed away.
But Jakob is different. Is it because they are both Misfits that their capabilities go far beyond any normal human being? Though I wasn’t sure about it until I became a Misfit myself, I can sense that my overall abilities far exceeds most humans in terms of physical strength.
There is so much difference between our strength, Jakob and I, even to this day, I don’t think I’ll be able to take him on and win in terms of physical abilities. That’s just how terrifying he is, and to think that they would test him via spar. I’m worried.
“You’re…… all sure about this? Isn’t there any other way?” I asked.
They all turned to me with puzzled expressions on their faces.
“I don’t think we can conduct a test that would explain his abilities aside from this, Faram.”
“Yeah, I agree. If he is as brilliant as you say he is, this isn’t a problem. Am I right? Or is it that you are not confident in his abilities like you say you are.”
These idiots. I’m trying to protect you from him, you ungrateful bastards. It’s no use trying to reason with them. The moment they decide on things, they’ll be stubborn as a mule. Words are meaningless.
“Are you sure? Don’t bring up anything that happens here to me later. I’m not going to entertain you all.” I told them, and they just smiled.
‘Smile while you can, you bastards.’ I want to tell them that, but that’s just asking for a fight. Jakob can just show them the truth if they want it so badly.
“Don’t worry about it, Faram. I know your junior will prevail. You have so much faith in him, I know he will pass this test without fail.” Fajin told me, patting my shoulder.
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Fajin is the only one who refused this test. Among all the House heads, he’s one of the closest to me. And he did not even hesitate and trust my words when I told them about the threat that Jakob pointed out. I guess, I can say Fajin trusts me a lot.
“It’s not that I’m worried about my junior or anything. I am more worried about the fact that they think they can get out of this unscathed. I told them over and over again. Jakob far surpasses me in terms of physical abilities and skills. But if they want their people to get a beating, then I won’t stop them.”
Fajin looked at me, surprised. Well, I’d be surprised if I heard such arrogant words myself. A House head unsure of his victory over his junior is a surprising one indeed. After all, I am a Misfit but even with that fact, I can’t still be sure coming out victorious says a lot.
“Now I’m really looking forward to seeing him in action.” Fajin said with a mischievous smile.
This guy looking forward to it? Because I said so? Does he want to see them get beaten?
“Faram, is it okay for Julius to spar him, right?” House Huru head, Alron Huru asked.
“Julius? Your son who graduated from the academy and decided to stay here and train future students?” I asked, and he immediately nodded his head.
“Yes. He is interested in Jakob’s abilities himself, so he volunteered.”
“Is that so? If you have already decided then I guess I have no choice, right?”
Alron smiled and left. Jakob then came up to me.
“Senior. How should I deal with this?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, Should I go all out? I can’t just underestimate my opponent, it's disrespectful, after all.”
‘All out’ those words alone made me nervous. In any case, he should tone it down.
“On the contrary, can you be gentle with your opponent? I know that your impaired vision is a huge handicap and an opportunity to them, but isn’t the case for you. He is an important person that trains the future students so please be gentle.” I told him, and Jakob surprisingly agreed.
“Is that so? Then wouldn’t it make sense to have someone else fight me instead? If he is such an important figure, shouldn’t they change my opponent?”
What Jakob said makes sense, but it’s too late to change their minds. It’s already set in stone and based on their expressions, they have another goal in mind. These bastards are on to something.
“You heard me earlier, right? I did not want this in the first place but the majority is in favor of this, so there’s no way to change it. Anyway, just be a bit gentle with him and get this over with. If they want to see what you are truly capable of and they are willing to take the risk, so be it.”
“In that case, I will heed my senior's words. Please excuse me.”
Jakob said and walked towards the space in the middle of the city hall.
The city hall is designed like a dome with so much space in the middle. It’s like a large coliseum but only for important meetings such as this. It is the first time something like this is held inside the city hall in history. The proud faces of the nobles glistened as they watched in anticipation of what was about to happen.
“Wow, your junior is so daring. He is going to face a sword barehanded? I'm not even confident of doing that.” Fajin said, admiring Jakob.
They exchange a few greetings with each other and even I can tell Julius is confused why Jakob wants to spar without using any weapons when he is using a sword himself. Julius is a swordsman, so there is no way he will use his fists to fight Jakob. It’s just stupid to throw away your advantage.
After bickering for a while, the two reached an agreement and took their stance. I can see hesitation in Julius’ movements whether to use a sword against an unarmed opponent, but his opponent is Jakob himself. He is someone whom our master poured all his efforts into raising and came out a masterpiece. That alone is more than enough to assure his victory. For me, that is. These foolish nobles will learn what fear is today.
Julius held back for a moment, and then lunged towards Jakob and swung his sword, slashing vertically. Against a blind man, it’s a surefire win. But Jakob parried his sword and even broke it in half with his hands alone. And in that split of a second, he launched a counter attack, twisting his entire body back, landing a swift and solid kick hitting Julius head.
It was over in an instant. Julius’ body tensed and fell to the ground like a log after being chopped down. That’s the only description that would fit the situation. And the expressions on their faces are within my expectations. They are shocked beyond belief that they can’t even utter a single word.
The awful silence was disturbed when we heard a cluster of gasp coming from behind us. It came from a group of young women, they are most likely one of the daughters of the House heads who decided to see what’s going on.
“And it’s over in an instant.” I said, turning my gaze to Fajin who is sweating bullets.
“What in the world did I just witness? What the hell was that?”
I looked at him indifferently. Hearing his tone of voice made it sound like he was dreaming. Well, I’d be more surprised he didn’t react like this so I just pat his back as if comforting him.
“That’s why I was against this from the very beginning. Jakob was generous enough to even fight barehanded. As far as I know, it’s not his specialty. Well, now that it’s proven. Can we continued what we are discussing earlier-”
Before I could finish what I was saying, Alron stomped his foot on the floor and pointed at Jakob.
“What the hell was that?!” He screamed furiously.
His reaction is delayed but whatever. I had to step in.
“I already told you over and over again that this is pointless. Now that you have seen what he’s capable of, isn’t this over? More importantly, shouldn’t you take care of your son who’s out cold? I’m sure he should take priority.”
I pointed at Julius lying on the floor. Seeing the infuriated look on their faces somewhat made me happy. Now that they know I’m telling the truth, This is the last of it, right?
“That doesn’t prove anything. May I spar with him? Since I also fight barehanded, I think it’s a perfect match.” Bale, son of House head Rekka, stepped in.
I was wrong. Did it spark something instead? I turned to Jakob to see his reaction, and just as I expected, he neither approves or declines.
“What do you think, Jakob? I guess that was not enough to prove your abilities.” I told him.
“I can go on however they like. I just hope they don’t take me lightly because I have a disability.”
Yeah, I think they won’t take you lightly anymore after seeing what happened. If they still do, they’re just stupid then.
Bale is the first person to snap out of shock and step in. His father is in a daze to even speak a word of disapproval, so no one was able to stop him from sparring with Jakob.
“I’m sure Julius took you lightly because you have a disability. But I will not repeat his mistake, so please do not take me lightly as well,”
“I do not take my opponents lightly. A single hesitation could lead to one’s death, after all,” Compared to Julius earlier, who lunged towards his opponent and attacked carelessly. Bale cautiously tries to watch out for Jakob's movements.
"I feel like I'm watching 2 mantis hunting each other." Fujin muttered.
I can't agree more. Jakob is unaware of his opponent's strength while Bale is more or less aware of his opponent after seeing what happened. He knows that it will all be over once he attacks Jakob carelessly.
"This will be a lot longer than last ti-"
In that moment, Jakob throws a feint which immediately threw Bale off and puts up his guard. To his surprise, Jakob used Bale's restricted field of view as an advantage to land a decisive kick on Bale's side. It happened in an instant that none of us were able to react until the agonizing sound reached our ears.
Even after receiving such a strong attack, Bale still stands his ground gritting his teeth in pain. Using his ability to recover from the damage he sustained, Bale returned to tiptop shape in mere seconds.
It is the high regenerative ability of Rekka's contract that has been passed down to their family, the insane healing and regenerative abilities of a 'War Troll'. But that doesn't come without a price. Due to the limits of the human body as well as the restrictions made by the contract, House Rekka contractors need to expend their energy to heal themselves.
This is a fact that is known by everyone. Because of that handicap, House Rekka mainly focus on exercises and are big eaters. I'm sure Jakob realized something from this.
And just as I thought, the attacks Jakob managed to land were heavy. The sound created from the impact is incomparable to earlier that I'm even starting to feel how painful it must have been for Bale, yet he endured all that and still stands tall.
"This….this is a one sided beatdown." Fajin muttered.
It is one. Even with the regenerative abilities that a 'War Troll' has, because of the restrictions, the contractor will surely be at a disadvantage when their enemy exploits their weakness.
"Jakob, even if his vision is impaired, still managed to find Bale's weakness. If his senses are not sharp then I don't know what it is." I said, murmuring to myself.
I don't even need to look at Fajin's expression to know. From his silence alone, I can tell what he is thinking: 'What if he still has his vision?' That is the most obvious thing anyone who sees him in action would think of.
It is amazing and nerve-wracking at the same time. Those painful and agonizing sounds, I don't want to be at the receiving end at all, not even in a hundred years.
At this point, the nobles are starting to understand my words. Seeing Bale, the most durable young man in this city slowly getting beaten to a pulp despite his healing abilities, greatly convinced them. And not long after, Bale falls to his knees unable to stand back up.
It was the end of the fight, no- it wasn't even a fight to begin with. It's like watching Jakob train punching a dummy. It was over and House head Rekka rushed towards his son's side, who can barely even stand let alone take a single step.
"Huff! Huff!......what's up with him? I barely did any damage to him at all." Bale told his father.
Liron turned to Jakob, who was breathing heavily as well.
"Are you certain you're blind? Because to me, your movements, your attacks were so on point that it makes me think otherwise."
"Of course he is…"
Before I could say anything, Jakob took off his blindfold and revealed his clouded, white, and lifeless eyes. He still has the indifferent look on his face, that did not change at all.
"Does this suffice? Is there anything you want to know? It would be troublesome to answer it later." Said Jakob.
Liron and Bale looked shocked. The entire time, their doubts were unwarranted and the fact that a blind man managed to take down 2 instructors still hasn't sunk into their minds.
"What monster are you contracted to?"
Aram asked, taking a step forward. A question that all of them must have in their mind. Jakob put back his blindfold and turned to Aram.
"A 'Spectre', I have been a Misfit since the moment I was born.'
After answering Aram's question, Jakob walked towards me.
"Senior, now that I did my part, can I rest now?"
Did he really have to ask me that?
"Of course, who the hell am I to stop you from doing that? You've done enough so leave the rest to me." I told him, and patted his back.
Jakob bowed his head and traced one of the chairs with his hand and took a seat. He must have been tired. Well, taking down a 'War Troll' isn't easy unless he wants to kill for real. But it was a spar so Jakob has to be extra careful not to overdo it. And it resulted in him expending more energy than he had to.
"Looks like I missed out on a good opportunity to have a remarkable son-in-law." Fajin told me, pinching my sides.
"What are you talking about?"
He smiled and pointed at the ladies sitting at the back, clearly fixing their gazes on Jakob.
"Looks like your junior will be busy for a while," Fajin chuckled.
Well, that's to be expected. A strong man will surely catch the attention of countless young ladies from other noble houses.
"Forget that, my junior can deal with it on his own. You need to help me for now." I told him and turned to the other House Heads, "Now that this is over. Can we continue what we were discussing earlier?"