[Skill Creation - 2%]

‘What?’

Kan woke up in surprise after hearing a voice speak within his head. It was the same voice that he had heard when he obtained his skill, [Chef’s Kitchen], but this time it was different. Kan inspected whether he learned a new skill but the only skill that he could see was [Chef’s Kitchen].

He was slightly confused, but he brushed it off. He had more important things to think about. Today was the day that Clear View was going to be attacked. Kan looked out the window in his room and it was a cloudy day. It was the exact same scenery he had seen within those memories.

“It should be ok. This time it will be different, i’ll save everyone in the village.”

Kan reassured himself. He had already planned for the attack, his parents were prepared, the mayor had prepared, and even Nicole had prepared. ‘Everything should be fine.’ Kan continued to reassure himself as he dressed himself up. But no matter how much he reassured himself, there was a feeling deep inside of him that told him that his plans weren’t going to work out.

“Get it together Kan. I can’t be feeling scared now. I’m the only one who can save Clear View.”

Kan was dressed in gear that protected his body and was easy to move in. Within his coat were various daggers that Nicole had given him for training and protection. On the side of his waist was a sword that the mayor had gifted him for his birthday. Even if he wasn’t as good as Leo in sword skills, Kan had still learned a little from the mayor. Although the edges on the sword were blunted, using his combat locksmith powers, Kan could still deal damage with it.

On the right side of his waist was a chain that Don had given him the previous day after learning about the attack on the village. The chain was a weaker version of what Don had used on Kan during their battle. Don gave this as a gift to Kan so he would be able to protect himself, but Kan could see that there was a deeper meaning behind it. Kan felt that it was a parting gift from Don. He could see that Don didn’t have high hopes living past the ordeal tomorrow. Kan didn’t know what Don was going to do, but he knew that Don was willing to sacrifice his life for the village. He had given Kan the chain as a way to pass down his legacy. Kan graciously accepted it, but he was not going to let Don or anyone else sacrifice their lives.

The last thing Kan put on his body before leaving his room was a necklace with a green gem hanging off of it. It was the gift that Jane had given him which had once saved his life before. Kan wore the necklace and left his room. He was fully prepared to face the disaster.

……

“Mommy, Daddy, are you home?”

Kan checked their room and the living room, but he couldn’t find them. ‘They’re probably out preparing right now.’ The previous day when his parents had learned about the attack being the next day, they were in a rush to prepare.

When Nicole had met up with them and told them about the attack, at first they were wary of her, but luckily Jane was able to convince them that Nicole was trustworthy. Nicole told them what she knew from her side and Clive told them about their preparations. After more discussion Nicole was able to convince them about letting her group become a part of the Dragon’s Den formation. She had even convinced them to agree with Kan’s plan on attacking the elites then using teleportation to get them out of there.

Seeing that they weren’t home, Kan decided to go out to the plaza of the village. This is where most of the villagers were gathered since they were preparing to trade with merchants from the capital. It didn’t take long for Kan to arrive at the plaza and it wasn’t as busy yet. Looking around, people were just starting to set up stalls to show off their goods. Today was suppose to be a busy and bustling day, but Kan could feel that there was tension within the air.

He wasn’t surprised though, yesterday all the villagers were told about the attack on Clear View. The instructions given to them were to act natural and begin preparing to receive the merchants from the capital. They needed to act natural so the enemies wouldn’t be suspicious of their actions. But how could they act natural knowing that their village was going to be attacked. The air was tense but the villagers tried their best to act as natural as possible. Those who couldn’t fight were preparing for the merchants while those who could were preparing behind the scenes.

“Good morning Aunty Jenet. Are you making your famous spicy grilled fish today?”

“Oh, good morning Kan. Yeah, Aunty’s about to start making her famous grilled fish.”

“Can I have one? Pease, please, please.”

“Hahaha, sure. You’ll be my first customer of the day.”

After receiving his food Kan began to visit the other stalls.

“Wow Uncle Clarence. Is this a sculpture of the Goddess Simal? It’s so good!”

“Hehe, I do take pride in my work. I’ll sell it to you for 10 bronze coins.”

“Sorry Uncle Clarence, I didn’t bring money today. I’ll come back tomorrow and buy.”

“Tomorrow huh.”

“Yeah!! I’ll definitely buy it tomorrow, so keep it safe for me, ok.”

“Hahaha, yeah, i’ll save it just for you.”

After speaking with Uncle Clarence, Kan continued onto the next stall.

“Is that your stomach grumbling Uncle Ponpo? You want a bite of my spicy grilled fish?”

“Oh, Kan. It’s ok, i’ll get some food later.”

“No can do Uncle Ponpo. Mommy said that “If you’re hungry then eat. If not then share with others what you can’t eat.” So here, take a bite of Aunty Jenet’s world famous spicy grilled fish.”

“Ok. Ok. I’ll take a bite. Thanks Kan.”

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“No problem. You should come and have dinner with us tomorrow. Bring little May too, it’s been so long since I played with her.”

“Y-yeah, i’ll bring her tomorrow and you can play with her.”

“Pinky promise.”

“Hehe, sure, pinky promise.”

Uncle Ponpo eyes began to become watery. He made a promise to Kan to bring his daughter to play with Kan “tomorrow”. He couldn’t break his promise no matter what. He was going to do whatever he could to fulfill this promise to Kan. After talking with Uncle Ponpo, Kan went off to the next stall but before that, he saw a friend hiding himself.

“What are you doing Sammy?”

“W-wwhoa, you spooked me Kan. Almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Why are you hiding?”

“It’s none of your business Kan. I’m just hiding for fun.”

“Oh, let me hide with you then.”

Kan stood behind Sammy and looked at what he was looking at. He was looking at a girl named Sally. Kan smiled realizing what Sammy was doing. Kan and almost everyone knew that Sammy liked Sally. Sammy was 19 while Sally was 18 and the both of them had known each other since they were babies. Everyone was already in support of them being a couple. All they were waiting for was for Sammy to muster up his courage and ask Sally out.

“Oh, is that Sally I see.”

“Shush-Shush be quiet Kan. I don’t want Sally to see me like this. She’ll think i’m a creep.”

“Why don’t you go up there and talk to her?”

“Kan, can we talk for a bit.”

“Sure.”

“You know about the thing that was announced yesterday, right.”

“The attack on the village?”

“Yeah. Since that announcement, i’ve been debating whether I should tell Sally my feelings. I don’t know when i’ll have another chance so I want to tell her, but i’m scared. What if she rejects me? What if she tells me that i’m a weakling for not helping in the fight? I can’t fight like you or the other men, i’m just a carpenter in training. She’ll never like a weakling like me.”

“Hmm, I don’t think you have to worry about that Sammy. Sally isn’t such a shallow minded person. She isn’t a girl who only look at a man’s strength, she looks at a person for who they truly are.”

“B-but what if she rejects me even after looking at the true me.”

“Ok, let me help you then.”

Kan grabbed Sammy by the wrist and began walking towards Sally.

“W-wait wait. What are you doing Kan. Let me goooo. How are you so strong!?”

“Hehehe, training. SALLYYY!!! SALLYYY!!!”

After calling out to Sally, she turned around and looked at both Kan and Sammy with confusion on her face. The other villagers also looked at the commotion that was occuring. Seeing the situation, almost every villager knew what was happening. Smiles and giggles filled the onlookers.

“Hi Kan, did you need something?”

“Nothing much, Sammy wanted to talk to you.“

“P-please let me go Kan. I-I can’t do it.”

Sally stood there looking as Sammy struggled to get out of Kan’s grip. Kan looked at Sally and he could see the sadness and anxiousness in her eyes. Sally was hoping for Sammy to finally speak his mind, but as usual he was trying to run away before saying anything. Kan could see that as Sammy struggled harder to run, the light of hope in Sally’s eyes were dimming. Kan couldn’t take it anymore and his grip on Sammy became more intense.

“SAMMY!! Are you going to run away forever!! Are you going to leave and not even speak to Sally!! Are you going to trample all over her feelings!!”

“It’s ok Kan. Sammy can talk when he wants to talk.”

“N-no, but aren’t you hurt Sally.”

“It’s ok.”

The entire area was now silent. There was an awkward atmosphere that floated in the air between Sammy and Sally. But now Sammy was actually looking at Sally. After everything Kan and Sally talked about, Sammy was finally looking at Sally. He didn’t know why he never realized it, but Sally’s eyes were full of sadness and pain. ‘Is this all my fault? W-w-what have I done.’

Sammy mustered up the courage and stopped resisting Kan. Realizing that, Kan let go of him. Faster than anyone could realize, Sammy got on his knees and slammed his head into the ground.

“I’m sorry!!!! I’m sorry for causing you so much grief, Sally!!! I-I never meant to hurt you. I just didn’t have the confidence to come face to face with you. But I won’t run anymore, i’ll be truthful with my feelings.”

Sammy stood up and looked at Sally. Everyone looking at Sammy was surprised. His posture and his aura was full of strength that was never seen before.

“Sally, I love you, will you marry me!!!”

“M-m-marry!?”

“Yes, will you marry me.”

Everyone was absolutely stunned. They had just expected Sammy to just ask Sally to become a couple, but he went straight to asking her hand in marriage. Furthermore, he didn’t stutter, he was seriously asking for her hand in marriage. Everyone was stunned at the sheer amount of bravado emanating off of Sammy.

“Yes! Yes! Yes! What took you so long, you idiot!!!”

“Thank you. I promise i’ll treat you well from now until the day I die.”

Everyone watching cheered and hollered as Sammy and Sally kissed each other. This was an extremely happy occasion for everyone in the village. So much that the anxiousness from the attack on the village was washed away. In fact the villagers were invigorated even more to protect the village, to protect the future of this new couple, to protect the future of all their descendents.

……

Kan watched as Sammy and Sally were bombarded with congratulations and gifts from the villagers. The tense atmosphere no longer existed, it was replaced by the joys and cheers of the villagers. Kan had accomplished what he had set out to do.

“Hey Kan, what’s happening?”

“Oh, Leo. Sammy and Sally just got married.”

“Wow, finally. Who proposed?”

“Sammy.”

“What!? Sammy did?”

“Yep.”

“Wow. Oh, yeah. I came here to tell you that your parents wanted to talk to you. They’re at my house.”

“Ok, let’s go then.”

While walking, Kan looked at Leo’s gear. Leo was also dressed in gear that was easy to move in. The only surprising thing about Leo was that he had two swords on his. One sword was shorter than the other one and the quality of the shorter one seemed better.

“Leo, why do you have to swords?”

“Oh, Father said that I should always carry around 2 swords in case one of them breaks. And you know what I was thinking. What if I used 2 swords to fight instead of just 1. Wouldn’t that make me stronger?”

“Can you do that? I don’t know much about swords so you should probably ask your father about it.”

“It makes sense though, right? Since I have 2 hands then I should equip both of them with swords. Then i’ll become twice as strong.”

“It makes sense to me. I sometimes use both of my hands to throw daggers, so using 2 swords seems like the obvious choice. I wonder why no one uses 2 swords though?”

“Hehe, maybe i’ll become the first person to ever use 2 swords as a fighting style. Aren’t I smart, I already created my own style of fighting.”