Arc 7. Death to what came before
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 3. Old faces, new clothes
While the guild Gray had saved carries their things back to the town against the mountain, protected by a large stone wall, he makes his way there as well. While amidst the clouds, he goes through the pages of his spell book, looking for a certain spell, and once he finds it, he reads it out loud to get his mind in the right zone to cast it.
Gray: “Detic, a spell once cast, will disrupt others' view of yourself. In the base form, it will simply distract others from your existence, as if you’re not there. But if you do something to attract the attention of the people around you, people are trying to stay attentive, or people are looking for you, you’ll be detected as if no such spell was used.”
Dema hovers in the air, gently flapping her wings to the sound of Gray’s slow heartbeat, hundreds of feet in the air, soothing him. While his cloak flaps in the cold, his hair blowing backward, he holds his hand on his chest and begins focusing an even amount of mana across his body. It’s warming and peaceful, though he snaps out of it once he casts the spell.
Gray: “Detic.”
The spell waves a distorted aura around him, not noticeable to the human eye, but one keen sight would see something similar to static coating his body. With the spell active, he steps off of Dema backward, falling hundreds of feet. He washes through the thick clouds and looks down upon the small town. It’s compact, covered in snow, and fairly lively, but what it looks like dosn’t matter to him, no, it’s what may be within it that draws his attention. When the time is right, he flows his cloak out, gliding down into an alley down below, swiftly landing. While he exits the alley, he flows his armor inside out, while also striking his cloak to look more like a long coat. His knee-high cuffed brown boots, sink into the wet snow, annoying him. He walks throughout the town, looking at all the stone and brick homes, and admiring the small community around him. Kids play in the snow, make snowmen, throw snowballs, and slide down the streets without a care in the world, without knowledge of what could be around every corner.
He dosn’t know where he’s walking to, but something guiding him, a feeling. It’s not the spirits, but something else, a familiar feeling, but nothing he can put his finger on. This is something he felt in Constal, that he had to go somewhere, that he had to look in a certain direction, he believes it has to be something mystical, but he never spends more than a few seconds thinking about it. While he continues walking through the streets, he pays close attention to what the passersby are saying.
“Is it going to snow later?”
“Are the crops going to last through the rest of the winter? We need more supplies to be delivered!”
“Man, I’m losing a bit of money this winter, I knew I shouldn’t have spent all of my money on summer supplies so early!’
It’s all basic banter between people, nothing that he didn’t expect. But as he narrows closer to the entrance of the town, he watches the people in the street begin to clap their hands for the guild, who are reentering the area. The swordsmen, the mage, and the healer dragging the sled that holds the dead winter bear.
The Swordsmen: “So, who wants to buy some meat!”
The mage and the healer are annoyed by the swordsman's outburst, especially because all of the vendors quickly rush over to them and try to buy the dead animal from them. To his left is a tavern, so he assumes he can begin asking questions inside. Once he enters, it reminds him of the adventures guilds he’s seen in television shows, manga, novels, and web novels. The weapons hung up, the skulls of slain beasts, but a lack of actual adventures. He makes his way to the bar, knocking on the table to get the bar keeps attention. He stops for a second because even though he’s been in this world for a while, the barkeep being a pig Demi-human throws him off.
The barkeep: “Oh sorry, didn’t see you there. What’d you need? A drink? A mission?”
Gray: “What is this place?”
The barkeep: “An adventures guild…or an old one. You know how it is.”
Gray: “Um… actually, I don’t.”
The barkeep, surprised by Gray's lack of knowledge, is finally happy to do something. So while he cleans the area, he begins to explain to Gray what he is referring to.
The bar keep: “After all of those big-name guilds got killed off, nobody wants to start one anymore. Even though the Guild Hunter got killed by Kioshi years ago, they’re still scared out of their minds. Most graduates of the Magic schools or Knight schools just go to become a soldiers or a knight. We need guilds to protect our farmers from all of these monsters, but I guess the soldiers can do that now.”
The small guild from earlier bursts through the front door, being followed by a small crowd. The barkeep is swept up in the commotion, quickly trying to serve as many people as he can. The young swordsman sits down beside Gray and is about to pay a round for everyone, though the mage stops him. As a small party begins around Gray, his spell is still active, so nobody pays him any attention. Now, frustrated he couldn’t learn anything more, decides he better buy some food while he’s here. Though he then finally realizes something pretty important, he dosn’t have any money with him, nor does he have money on Demas saddle, he’s completely broke.
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Saddened by the news, he gets up and leaves, though he stops at the door. A tall knight with slicked-back black hair, with some white patches forming. With the Walgonias crest going across his chest, a long cape, and a blissful smile on his face, all it does is remind him of Jong. This causes him a bit of sorrow, making his already bad day worse, but once again he’s stopped when he tries to get outside. Two men walk in, and with the swinging door behind them, he’s able to see an Ogre Demi-human outside.
The two men inside are dressed like Knights but have a circle around their small crest over their hearts.
“Hey, is that you Gray!”
The knight with tanned skin seems to recognize Gray, which he can’t seem to understand. With the spell active, Gray figures he shouldn’t have even been scene without making noise, though he fails to realize that suddenly stopping in front of people may catch their attention. The knight has a whip on his side, a sword on the other, and a dagger strapped to his chest, all weapons that Gray can’t remember anybody using all at once.
Gray {Straight black hair? No, tanned skin? No, a small pedo-stache? Nope.}
The man in front of him seems to be a bit frustrated that Gray dosn’t remember him, but when he looks at the outfit he’s wearing, he quickly loses such frustration. The Knight to his side, dressed in similar attire, though he has a broadsword on his back with no other tools., seems to be a bit annoyed that his fellow knight is stopping this seemingly random man. He scratches at his blond beard, watching as Gray walks past the knights and exits the tavern. Outside the tavern, he sees the Oger again. Again, wearing the armor of a knight, but he has a large war hammer on his back, and also seems to recognize Gray. As he looks up at the tall man, the knights walk out of the tavern, following Gray. The oldest knight shakes Gray's hand, stating his name.
Henry: “So you’re Gray? Gray Kyojin? It’s nice to meet you, my name is Henry!”
Gray: “Um, hey.”
Gray goes to walk away, but the knight with tanned skin stops him, grabbing onto Gray's shoulder and pulling on his coat. However, since the coat is made from the cloak of darkness, his hand smudges and pushes it, causing him to scream out. The Oger and the blond knight begin to laugh, while the tabbed knight begins to bicker with them.
Gray: “Sorry, but I have to get going.”
JJ: “Come on Gray! It’s me, JJ! And that’s Boid!”
Gray is shocked by the reveal. The two thieves he had fought on his first day in this world, and who helped him during the raid on Walgonia, have turned into full-blown knights.
Gray: “Really? You’re knights now?”
JJ: “Squires, under our teacher here.”
Henry: “Hi, I’m the teacher. And yeah, these three boys are my squires!”
Boid: “Dude! What happened in Constal man!? Everyone is talking about it!”
Even the utterance of the name “Constal” sends a shiver down Gray's spine, causing the tone of the conversation to plummet. He begins to walk away, overwhelmed, but JJ says something that catches Gray's attention.
JJ: “Hey man! Wanna have duel? I can pay you some money, and if people figure out I dueled you, I’ll be famous.”
While Gray couldn’t care less about the duel, the sound of money takes his attention.
Gray: “What that even be fair?”
JJ: “We wound use a mana dampening crystal first! I’m a D rank swordsmen, but rummer is you’re a B rank.”
Gray: “Well it’s a bad rumor. Wait, didn’t even know ranks existed.”
JJ: “Well it’s kinda a niche thing unless you’re in the know, y’know? Wait, shouldn’t you be in the know?”
Rankings were used to determine the strength of fighters everywhere. But making your strength, abilities, and weakness commonly known is danhoruus to say the least. But even after existing for a short time, they’re still used by their respective governments to keep tabs on someones strength without making it comonly known.
Gray: “I guess I’m not in the know. How much do I get if I win?”
Henry: “I’ll throw in five silver!”
Henry tosses the two mana-dampening crystals, which the two promptly put on.
JJ: “So…how’s things going.”
JJ and the others look at Gray, staring at him like a historical figure, though Gray and Henry don’t see it that way. Gray tries switching the subject, trying to escape talking about himself.
Gray: “So, I assume the circle on the crest means you’re a squire?”
JJ: “Yep! Boid, Todd there, and Me! All under Mr. Barclay. We’re actually on the way to -”
Todd smacks JJ's mouth before he can finish his sentence, so JJ responds by biting his fingers.
Todd: “Agh! You buffoon!”
JJ: “You smacked me! Asswhole!”
Todd: “I smacked you because the name of the place is secret!”
JJ: “You don’t think Gray knows about it? He lives there.”
Gray, assuming they’re talking about Greenvale, cuts the conversation short when the mana-dampening crystal sets in. Though, once again he’s set into a panic. The feeling of his mana being damned drags his mind back to Eclis, causing his breath to grow short, his hands to shake, and his eyes to twitch. Everyone steps back, concerned for him, but Gray pushes past his fear with anger, holding his hand out for a sword.
Henry: “Um, usually we use wooden swords, but you can use mine if you want.”
Gray motions for him to through the sword, so he does. Henry pulls his straight sword from the leather holster on his side, tossing it to Gray while JJ gets his sword out.
Henry: “The rules are simple, the first one to get directly hit loses. No magic, no other weapons, but everything else is fine, cheap tricks and all.”
JJ: “Only one hit?”
Henry: “Don’t want you getting hurt after all.”
Todd, Henry, and Boid all step back while Henry begins counting to three, and once he’s done, they’re both off. The crowd that was in the tavern exits, watching to duel.
Gray {From what I’ve learned from the actual Knight sword style, there are four forms. Defensive, Offensive, Counter, and Dominating. There aren’t any super cool techniques that can one-shot somebody, it’s all small things that help you mix between the stances by foot word, your sword movement, how much strength you use, etcetera.}
While Gray dosn’t care much for the actual stances, since he’s used to fighting with his mana, he holds his sword with one hand, holding it near the ground. JJ takes this at an Offensive stance and moves it with the intent to counter him. Gray quickly lifts his sword as his left foot slides backward, catching JJ off guard. This causes JJ to fail his counter and sets him off balance, but he relies on his training to push him through. Todd, Henry, and Boid begin chanting his name while the crowd around them could care less, only watching Gray. With all of the eyes on him, it makes him uncomfortable, while JJ loves it. All of his trauma, training, and experience, are to be fighting for coin. It causes him to feel like a jester, a clown, a washed-up nobody, it’s utterly depressing. JJ uses the momentum of the connected blows to force his sword down and lunge at Gray, but Gray lifts his sword, blocking it. He turns with JJ’s thrust, using his sword to let JJ’s blade slide off of it, and with a swift movement of his leg, he causes JJ to trip. Then before JJ can lift his head, he’s tapped on his shoulder.
Everyone begins clapping for Gray, but he pays no mind to it, as nothing is in his mind, except hatred and revenge. JJ extends his hand to Gray, but Gray walks past him, holding his hand out to Henry.
Henry: “Well, a bet’s a bet. And you’re with my judgment, I’d say you’re a B-rank swordsman.”
Henry gives Gray his coins while Gray hands him his sword and the mana-dampening crystal. Then without a word, he enters the tavern, sitting back down at the bar. Now with the crowd gone, he’s able to have a conversation with the currently cleaning barkeep.
Gray: “What do you know about the Sect of Anarchy?”
End of Chapter Three