My soul nearly left my body at the sight of the old man shouting at me.

The house had been in much the same state as the others, with the door left ajar. So I thought that it too had been abandoned.

It seemed that I had been more than a little wrong about that.

"I am sorry sir. I will leave at once."

My ashamed response seemed to calm him down a little.

We stared at each other for a few moments. I was a little unsure how to react.

Most natives weren't too fond of people from Blue Star. But on the borders of the spirit plane, there wouldn't be too many of us around.

I began to make my way past the man out of his house. Feeling more than a little awkward. It seemed that the old man wasn't done with me just yet. His arm outstretched blocking me from leaving his home.

"You scavengers are all the same. Mark my words, the bad days are coming for you the same as the rest of us. At least I will have the dignity to lay down my life protecting my home."

While I admired his conviction, I wasn't best pleased that his anger was directed at me.

I tried my best to move his arm out of the way. But even with my new strength, his arm held strong. It seemed that the old man was far more than met the eye.

"Got a little bit of strength do you, boy? Not too bad. Shame you are using it for the wrong reasons. Come on, let's take this outside."

I did not want to do anything of the sort. But the man's iron grip on my shoulder as he led me out of the house didn't give me much of a choice.

"The name's Eddie. You should at least know the name of the man who teaches you a lesson."

I was desperately thinking about how to escape without hurting the man. I had been the one in the wrong after all. But I did think whatever was happening was a little too far.

I hoped that I would at least be able to escape with my current abilities.

I knew that he was stronger than me, which put his strength at the very least equal to an Aura Knight.

Eddie didn't give me much of a chance as we made our way into the middle of the empty street. Only backing away a few feet, before immediately charging at me in an attack.

While I had sparred a bit over the years, it was nothing compared to what was happening here.

I barely managed to avoid his first blow. Eddie's frenzied smile made it clear that he was enjoying it.

While I hadn't been able to shorten the casting time for the higher-level Earth Magics. The first circle spells were more than quick enough to be of use.

Eddie only let out a laugh at the appearance of an Earthen Wall in front of him.

I was more than a little worried when he broke through the earth with ease. The wall not even slowing him down.

The earth spike also glanced off his body without any issues, causing him to laugh further.

It looked like he took great pleasure in hunting me through the town. It seemed that it was only my ability to use magic that saved me.

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He was enjoying the hunt far more than simply beating me up.

Any time I came close to summoning one of the Mud Golems he appeared beside me, nearly striking me with a blow.

The chase brought me to the centre of town. Eddie following behind laughing all the while.

"Alright, you are a little more interesting than I thought. I'll let you hit me with your best shot. Come now, I'm giving you all the time in the world."

While I didn't think the Stone Golem would be able to do much damage, I was sure that the byproduct of using it would be able to save me.

The stress of the situation did slow me down a little. But soon the ground of the courtyard began to buckle and grow into a stone golem.

The sight of which only made Eddie laugh even more.

It was my first time controlling the stone golem in actual combat. So my ability was still a little lacklustre.

Fortunately, it seemed that Eddie wanted to have some fun with the golem. First, he made it immediately clear that the golem would have no chance of beating him.

His first blow struck off the golem's left arm. After that crippling blow, he was more content with evading the golem, dancing around it.

I was beginning to get a little worried that for the first time, Harold wouldn't come once I summoned the Stone Golem.

The extra stress and effort of the fight meant that I was running out of mana fast. It seemed that Eddie was also growing tired of the game. As he delivered a fatal blow to the centre of the golem's body. Destroying it completely.

Eddie emerged from the dust cloud and began to make his way towards me.

I nearly knelt in tears when I saw Harold appear behind the man.

"What is happening here?"

Eddie did seem surprised at the appearance of Harold. After all, I was sure that it was rare for a random person to get involved in a fight between two powerful warriors.

"Well met young one. I am simply teaching this whelp a lesson to respect others privacy."

Harold seemed to scoff slightly at that, making his way beyond Eddie to stand by my side.

"I am afraid I must ask you to stop your actions. Or I will have to step in myself."

While Eddie did seem to respect Harold it wasn't enough to have him stop.

"You youngsters these days don't know the immensity of your actions. Come, I will take you both on, and teach you a lesson your parents forgot to."

It seemed that whatever Eddie said had hit a sore spot for Harold. Who had immediately disappeared from beside me and crashed straight into the old man.

It also seemed like Eddie hadn't been expecting such a reaction as he was sent careening into the nearby buildings.

Harold didn't let up even after that blow. He followed the limp form into the dust cloud. Which blocked my view of what was going on.

It was only a few moments later that made it clear what had happened.

Harold emerged from the debris with a far worse-for-wear old man in turn. Who despite everything was laughing even more.

"Good. Good. I finally have some people with real strength to fight alongside me."

That seemed like far too quick a change of tune. I also didn't know how he had come to that idea from the quick beating Harold had given him.

"So you are the Grand Knight I have been sensing dealing with all those local beasts. Well met my friend. I'll apologise to you as well as your little companion. I didn't realise you knew each other."

I turned to look at Harold in confusion.

He also didn't seem completely sure what was going on.

"I know you won't be like City Lord Russo, content to escape while the common folk perish. I am more than happy to join your cause"

"What are you talking about Eddie?"

With Harold around I was a little more confident about standing up to the man.

I didn't want anything to do with someone who seemed insane. I had no idea what to think about the man.

"You don't have to lie to me young man, you should have said that you were allied with this young chap. He's been killing off the local powerful beasts to deprive those abominations of a chance for early growth. I would have done the same if not for my oath."

It took me a few seconds to understand what he was saying. While Harold had killed off quite a few of those beasts, it wasn't for anywhere near as noble reasons.

I didn't even want to get into what his oath was.

"With the Order not taking action. I am more than happy to join your cause. I trust I will be of help."

Now he was going even further beyond what I was expecting. I grew even more confused when my tablet began to react similarly to the monster cores the day before.

With the confidence that no one else could see the tablet. I brought it out to take a look.

[Congratulations on recruiting Gaia's Academies first ally [Arch-Knight Eddie]. As a reward you receive one Elite Teacher Recruitment.]

I didn't even notice the reward. I was far too focused on how powerful Eddie was. I thought Harold had been able to beat the man, but that seemed far from the case.

With Harold standing protectively beside me. It was clear that he was still worried about the reaction of the man.

Now that I knew how powerful he was, I was far more worried too.

I couldn't think of doing anything but staying on his good side.

With little else idea of what to do. I could only make something up.

"Welcome to our cause. Gaia's Resistance is happy for you to assist our ranks."