Chapter 12: The Breakthrough [2]

There was a strange rhythm, slowly thumping inside him. It was like Davin had returned to his roots. A few old memories flashed before his eyes like it was only a few days ago. His first self-defense lessons taught to him with love via his mother’s fist. The memories that pushed him to nerd out on the art of self-defense. Dodge. Block. Disperse. Counter. With every successful exchange, the feeling grew deeper.

It was mysterious…

With his senses heightened, the esquire glimpsed the Madam’s visage as she had appeared next to him in silence. The madam took advantage of the fact that he had his hands full against the knight. The esquire’s eyes bulged, scowling at the evil but shiny swords. Soon, the madam’s sword hooks swerved towards the esquire’s precious jewels as if it was moving in slow motion.

Davin could not help but grimace as he imagined what would happen if he hadn’t detected the Madam. He would return to his father as a middle-aged-looking eunuch.

Clank…

Davin’s arms and legs turned pitch-black and used them to parry the merciless swords. After a few difficulties, he was even able to guide the knight’s kicks towards the madam’s swords. The echoes of metal striking metal shrieked across the surrounding.

A sigh of relief slipped out of the esquire's lips as he successfully kept the Madam’s blade at bay. His heart leaped in pure bliss as ecstasy enshrouded his body. He felt a surge of electricity slithering from within him. The strange but splendid feeling pushed a grin out of him.

His movements slowly turned smoother and sharper. He jumped. He parried and blocked. The esquire guffawed as if he was a fish in the water. He was free, as if he had broken a heavy shackle that he wore for years. It was a surreal feeling.

It was more of an… enlightenment.

Unfortunately, the esquire noticed little, treating everything as coincidence.

However, the sharp eyes of the Madam and the instinct of the knight glimpsed Davin’s fortune. Grasping what was happening, they ramped up the pressure on the esquire.

The couple looked into each other’s eyes. Finding a common ground to force Davin’s latent potential to bloom and burst, the couple pushed the esquire to learn of his new limits. The Knight and the Madam controlled their strength to assist the unsuspecting esquire. After all, the couple still owed the parents of this kid.

The clash continued for over seven complete rotations of the minute hand. It took that seven rotations for Davin to realize that the couple was going easy on him.

Or not…

The esquire saw Liszt. The kid was trying to sneak an attack in one of his blind spots. He immediately felled his caution after seeing him carrying a wooden sword.

He smiled and pushed the young Lord to give it a go. Davin giggled inside.

Liszt’s wooden sword landed on the body of the esquire. It splintered into two, sending it away from the kid’s hand. The young Lord immediately letting go of the remainders of the wooden sword.

But Davin also saw something weird in the young Lord’s face. There was an insidious smirk slipping on Liszt’s lips. It was a madam-like smirk.

An icy shiver struck Davin’s heart.

No, it was not only the young Lord. He saw Madam and the knight also grinning deviously.

“…”

Trying to figure out what was those creepy grins all about. The esquire’s eyes veered around the area. He sensed that something was wrong. A cold tingling sensation rose and crept up on the back of his head. A warning.

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His eyeballs caught little Klive behind the broad back of the Knight. He was slowly walking towards him. One could even hear his murmurs as he counted his steps with care.

The little boy had a stale dagger. The dagger was a little greenish-black and had an unsettling aura seeping out of it. The sight pricked Davin's senses, forcing him to take a step back, allowing a few punches to pound his face.

Davin’s eyes almost popped out after remembering what it was. Cold sweat immediately built its way on his forehead. It was the dagger that killed the iron wyvern in one shot. The worst thing about the darn dagger was its poison. The one that ended the life of the almost invincible giant forest troll whose life force made it incredibly difficult to kill.

Aspects! Spirits! Why have you forsaken me!? He shouted in his mind.

The dastardly couple grinned. Together, they unleashed an unprecedented assault, ramping up the pressure on the esquire. The two were playing with him.

Davin realized the two weren’t even serious. They simply wanted to hold him down, making him unable to maneuver for anything.

Feeling the wretchedness of life, Davin could not help but laugh as dried tears fell from his eyes. After tasting the deliciousness of newfound strength. A sudden feeling of powerlessness was something a warrior would hate to experience.

“Haha, hehe...”

It was as if he had reached the top of a mountain, yet discovering there was a bigger one at the top. The esquire’s eyes couldn’t help but pop out in anguish.

Seeing the esquire’s eerie laugh, the villagers could not help but send pitying looks towards him. While some of those who were part of the training rejoiced, gloating about the esquire’s rotten luck. It looked like they would cancel the training the next day.

The village sloths who experienced the terrors of Davin balled their fists. They controlled their bubbling emotion, stopping themselves from jumping and shouting ‘hurray’.

Cheers to the Knight's family!

Step by step, Davin watched the little lord trudging towards him. The young lad was holding the lethal dagger with a shaking hand.

A line of cold sweat from Davin’s forehead fell, trickling to his eyebrows. He felt a creepy chill rising after he stared at the tip of the sinister dagger pointed at him.

Despite knowing that the dagger was only meant to scare him and make him lose focus, it still made him quite squirmy. The rickety hands of little Klive offered no help at all.

‘What if the little boy accidentally throws it at me?’ Davin trembled.

He recalled he was only supposed to report to the knight. When did things go awry? Davin asked himself. He tried to recall something, but to no avail.

He watched Klive getting walking to him with a dagger in his hand. He felt a little faint. The shaking hands of the little lord made him jump off his feet. It caused him to receive a few punches, but this time, it only bombed his face.

The knight’s raging fists allowed him to see a lot of shining stars above. He had this feeling that if he received a few more, he’d meet his ancestors, and he’d bet they would laugh at him.

Bam!

Suddenly, Davin felt his world spun sideways, up and down, left to right. Bah! Who cares, he felt spinning all over. Something struck his guts that almost had him puking his innards. Some random fist had displaced most of his lovely organs.

With his vision blurring, the esquire heroically fell towards the ground with a loud ‘thud’. At the side of his eyes, he saw the glint in Madam’s grin. He then realized something.

So, it was the Madam’s plan…

Woo-hoo!

“Did you see that? Damn!”

“So cool!”

“It was savage man! I tell you!”

“Awesome, Mom! Dad! I wanna release a punch like that.”

“Dad, please teach me how to do that!”

“Haha, boy, learn to farm first!”

“Sorry pops, that will not work on me, better luck next time.”

“…”

Fading sounds of cheers echoed from the villagers. From being a hero, Davin felt like he had turned into a demon subjugated under the hero’s sword. The noisy chatters of the villagers reached his ears, and he gritted his teeth.

A winced wiggled out from his black-eyed sockets. He looked like a caged baboon displayed in a circus, buck naked for everyone’s view.

He silently huffed in anger, cursing the hateful gossipers in his heart.

Just wait, I’m also going to let your uncles, brothers, and fathers feel what the Lord’s punch felt like.

Hehe… hehe… he…

….

“Levo we would have a meeting this night.” Annis then sheath her two sword hooks and then pointed at the lying esquire. “We have a minor emergency, thanks to that brat. Oh, I almost forgot. I know you‘re still awake, brat. You can take a brief rest and return to the town to get a rank test. You passed! Congratulations.”

When the esquire heard the Madam, he felt elated. His bloodied lips showing a creepy smile. After having his ass handed to him, he realized he had reached a breakthrough.

‘It was not a terrible deal.’ He consoled himself.

Was everything part of the test? From the looks of it, he’d soon be an Iron knight once he returns to the town.

“Alright! Good work brat.” The knight walked towards the esquire as he cracked his fist. “But let me punch your face a few more times to call it even. You dare to play with my daughter in front of me! Hmp! I will serve justice for my daughter piping hot!”

Then, the esquire’s middle-aged-like face trembled, aging a few more years after hearing the knight’s words. His scalp felt numbed. A clenched fist flew straight into his aging face.

Bam! Bam!

Slowly, the esquire lost his grip on his consciousness.

The knight grinned. “Come on, brat! I’m not done yet!”