Chapter 015:

Alexander’s eyes opened wide after hearing what the king had said.

‘An academy built in cooperation with another kingdom?’ The implications of such a project were both impactful and far-reaching.

‘I wonder if this has anything to do with Erika and Clive…’ Such a notion could also help shed light on the count’s recent rise to fame.

‘Nevermind, I don’t really care,’

“What of my question?” The king’s calm voice prodded him out of his thoughts.

It was only then that Alexander recalled the question still left unanswered.

“You mean?”

The king nodded as he looked away from the busy magicians; his gaze focused on the young man before him.

“It is you Timothy, and the other young citizens who will shape our kingdom to come. Perhaps, through you, we may be able to reconcile with our neighboring kingdom, finally achieving true unity”

Alexander tried to keep his eyes from rolling in their sockets. How many kings had he met who spewed the same shit?

In the end, none of them really meant it; each had only their own interest at heart.

‘Just say it old king,’ He thought cynically, ‘what is it you want from me?’

“You’ve changed,” The single phrase struck suddenly yet the weight behind it was unbelievably heavy.

‘The jig is up, I’ve been caught and I haven’t even gotten laid yet!’ His panicking mind raced but he did everything he could not to let any iota of stress show on his face.

“In what way?” He asked calmly.

“In many. I will not ask. I have an important matter to entrust you with,”

‘Fuck I’m screwed,’ He thought “Though I still do not know what you mean, I will still do anything I can to help you,”

“I will now speak clearly. I want you to join the academy once construction is complete. I wish for you to set an example; to be a model which every student will thrive to follow. An ambassador of peace who will reconcile the differences between the students of differing kingdoms,”

The words the king uttered entered through one of Alexander’s ears and plopped out the other. ‘Basically, you need a puppet. A handsome one,’

“U-uhm,”

“You do not need to answer right away. I understand that this must be a difficult choice. To place such a burden upon your shoulders. I do hope you forgive me”

“N-no that’s not what I meant,”

“Do not fret, you have time to decide. Go now; someone is waiting for you in the halls outside my office,”

With that, Alexander left the king’s study more confused than when he came in.

He cooled off his head as he reviewed everything that just happened. ‘So the king obviously knows that something is up with me; the only question remains is what he intends on having me do exactly,’

On one hand, he had always wanted to join an academy; on the other, doing so while under the king’s control was a bit-

“A-ah, hi,” A meek but heroic young voice interrupted his thoughts.

Alexander held back a groan and resented how eventful this day was being.

“Hey,” he answered back.

The young hero’s words faltered in his mouth; clearly, he wasn’t expecting Alexander to speak so closed-ended.

“I just wanted to thank you for backing me up. I’m Rus Drake but my friends call me Rusty,”

“I know, you’ve already told me,” Searching through Timothy’s memories, Alexander did not find much, just that the boy’s father seemed to be a knight.

“As for your thanks; don’t mention it, Rus, I was also itching for a fight,” Alexander continued half-heartedly.

After the exchange, both boys stood before one another with an awkward silence between them.

‘Isn’t he going to bring it up?’ Alexander mused, ‘He must be dying to talk about his system now that another system user stands before him…wait,’

Looking back, it was pretty rare for Alexander to immediately spot a system user, especially in the earlier stages. It wasn’t like they wore a badge on their shirt making it obvious to all.

The only reason Alexander was able to tell that Rus was a system bearer was through sheer experience.

‘Now that I think of it, All-bright is pretty weird too. I’ve never heard of a system that announces another user’s presence. So Rus most likely does not know that I am a fellow system user,’

Putting a pin on the matter for later thought, Alexander opened his mouth to speak, hoping to end the awkwardness.

“W-well I guess I will be seeing you around Timothy…” Rus said sheepishly before slinking away.

Now standing alone within the palace’s halls, Alexander felt conflicted. The correct thing to do would be to find his attendant and exit stage left properly.

“I can’t think straight. I need to clear my head,” He opened a nearby window and jumped out. Using his newfound agility, he swiftly left the premises without being detected.

……………………………….

Not wanting to return home just yet and given the fact that it was too early to go out drinking, Alexander stumbled into his mess of a smithy.

As he walked in through the door, he was greeted with shelves upon shelves of shoddily built swords and knives. At least he was assured of the fact that, despite not having any security, he would never be robbed.

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'Even if I did get robbed, I probably wouldn’t notice,'

Making his way through to the back, where a rhythmic hammering sound was emanating from, he came upon the sight of a young boy hammering a poor billet with a comically oversized mallet.

“Hey, Arin,” Alexander greeted as he took off his shirt; he was going to be smithing and he didn’t want to ruin perfectly good clothes. His face squinted from his sore muscles and aching bones.

“Teacher, you have returned,” The annoying young brat replied without turning back.

“I told you to stop calling me that,” Alexander donned a pair of gloves and an apron before heating a billet for molding.

With each strike of his hammer, he felt his head clear. The heat from the fire, so simple and straightforward, felt soothing against his bruised skin. When he first started blacksmithing, he hated how hot, stuffy, and smelly the whole affair was, but now, he enjoyed it.

Just as he had carved the shape of the blade out, he noticed Arin standing beside him, entranced. “Most of the time,” Alexander said, “I do not know what shape the billet will take. Granted, you can always plan ahead, but I find that a blade that makes itself known is much stronger than one willed into existence,” He spouted some nonsensical blabber as he began working on the hilt and handle.

The end product was a simple yet effective longsword.

Arin snatched the sword from Alexander’s hand and studied it up and down.

As the boy studied the blade, Alexander studied the boy.

“Hey Arin,”

“Yeah, teach?”

“What do you want to do?”

“I want to learn how to smith a blade,”

“No, like…in the long run. What’s your goal?”

“I can’t run very far. My stamina is too low,”

“Arin…”

“I don’t know. I just want to do what I want to do,”

Alexander sat back in contemplation. ‘Do what you want to do huh…’ He thought of the king and his request.

A loud crash brought him back from his thoughts. “What is that?” He asked.

“Probably the ruffians,” Arin replied, still distracted with the blade.

“Ruffians?”

“Yes. Ruffian, otherwise known as hooligans or gangbangers. They are people who cause troub-”

“No, I know what ruffians are, just…” Alexander still found talking to the kid taxing, “Since when?”

“Since yesterday,”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I am telling you,”

“Ah, forget it!” Alexander spat as he stood to investigate.

At the storefront, shabby excuses for swords were being taken from the shelves and tossed to the ground.

There were two hooligans. Alexander struggled to tell them apart.

“Can I help you?” he asked as he slipped on his shirt.

“Yeah. You the owner of this dump-” One began to speak but he was cut off by a slap to the back of his head, courtesy of his supposed friend.

“Greetings good sir, I am Moe, and this is Larry; we are from the Blue Rock brotherhood,” The assailant said with surprising grace; he even went as far as to offer Alexander a slight bow.

‘Blue rock…brotherhood,’ Finding the name familiar, Alexander scanned through Timothy’s memories and was amused to discover that they were actually a notorious local gang.

“Ok, Moe. What do you want,” Alexander asked back.

“Oh, nothing much, we just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood; right Larry?”

Larry looked at Moe for a moment before smirking and tossing another shelf to the ground, “Yeah, that’s right,”

“Y’know, I didn’t actually catch your name,” Moe said as he stepped across the tipped-over shelf, approaching Alexander.

“I know,”

“Oho,”

Moe was now standing face to face with Timothy.

“Actually, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about,”

‘His breath smells like alcohol. Tsk tsk, Moe. You shouldn’t be drinking on the job,’ Alexander thought as his eyes stared Moe’s down.

“You see there are a couple of, shall we say, unspoken rules to this neighborhood. So I thought I’d do you a favor and speak ‘em,”

In the background, Alexander could hear Larry breaking some more of his shit. ‘How did Arin find the time to make so many shitty swords?’ He asked himself.

“If you want a bribe, Moe, just come right out and say it straight. Pussyfooting isn’t becoming of a man,” Alexander said, growing bored of the conversation.

“Fuck you said?” Larry screamed as he made his way over angrily.

“About time!” Alexander replied as he shoved Moe out of the way.

With nothing between them, Alexander launched forward with all 26 points of agility backing him up.

Larry looked painfully slow in comparison: barely forming a clumsy fist and punching out as Alexander reached him.

With a mocking smile, the former hero clenched his own fist and prepared to strike.

Alas, it was then that a bolt of pain shot throughout Alexander’s body, stunning him; and to top it off, Larry’s fist connected.

BAM!!

Having received the blow to his body, Alexander flew backward while his face twisted in surprise and pain.

“HAHAHA!” Larry laughed, “You ran straight into my fist! Nice!”

With a loud crash, Alexander landed in one corner of the storefront. ‘Shit, I forgot about my injuries!’

“Well then. I must say, that was rather rude of you,” Moe said as he picked himself off the floor. The two goons met up and approached Alexander’s injured figure.

Standing over the youth, the two had vicious smiles plastered across their faces.

“You should treat your guests with more respect, brat!” Moe yelled as he stomped his foot down on Timothy’s hand.

‘Finally dropping the act huh?’ Alexander thought, grunting in pain.

The sound of cracking bone seemed to stimulate Moe even more as he twisted the foot he used to stomp, further damaging Alexander’s hand.

“Now, I’m still sure we can reach some agreement that satisfies us bot-” but before he could continue, a foreign object smacked him in the face, knocking him back and forcing him away from Alexander’s hand.

Smelling the now familiar scent of rotting tomatoes, Alexander’s eyes opened wide. “Arin, no!”

“You brat!” Larry hollered as he lunged toward the newly arrived Arin.

In response, the bowl-cut sporting youth took a step back as he blew into his palm, dispersing a cloud of garlic dust.

The dust did little to deter the lumbering Larry however as he raised both hands in the air, intending to finish the youth with one attack.

Alexander’s body moved automatically.

Less than a second later, he was before Larry, “Don’t fucking touch him!” He growled before catching both of Larry’s arms with his own.

Evidently, Larry was still slightly stronger as he couldn’t fully stop the goon.

“You shoulda stayed down, bro,” Larry smirked as he placed his full weight behind the attack.

Alexander finally snapped and with one foot, he flicked a broken sword up from the ground while twisting his body to the side. He slammed against Larry causing him to lose his balance and freeing one of his hands. Ignoring the pain electrifying his body, Alexander used his now free hand to catch the broken sword.

It ended in a flash as Larry’s hulking frame fell on its back with a sword sticking out of his chest.

{New skill unlocked!} The Allbright system exclaimed as a victory chime sounded. {Assessing current skill level…}

{Assessment complete!}

{- Innate Skills: None.

- System skills: Communication (Common-Below average), Charismatic Leadership (Uncommon-Below Average)

- Skill List: Evasion (Common-Advanced), Hand-to-Hand Combat (Common-Novice), Eyes of Discernment (Uncommon-Advanced), Spear-Play (Common-Master), Swordsmanship (Common-Novice)}

{User Status-Main Attributes:-Vitality: 6; -Strength: 20; -Durability: 3; -Agility: 26; -Stamina: 3;

Bonus Stat Points: 20}

{Congratulations! User has achieved proficiency in at least two weapon types. Quest (Weapon’s novice) has been completed!}

{5 Bonus Stat Points have been added to User’s total!}

“Ffffuck!” However, instead of celebrating, Alexander cursed as he wobbled in place, growing dizzy.

“Teacher!” Arin screamed as he hurriedly moved to support Alexander.

At the other side of the room, Moe finally managed to wipe the last of the rotten tomato from his eyes.

He then trembled in fear as he spotted Larry’s seemingly dead body laying in the center of the smithy. “You are going to regret that,”