Chapter 40

40 Encounter.

Valerian was surprised that this old man could detect him, however, after he noticed his physique, he could tell that the other party as an experienced Warrior, and it was not unusual to detect his presence.

Just was he was stuck in the dilemma, if he should run away or go out, the old man said again, “I will ask only once, if you did not come out, do not blame me for being rude.”

With that card out of the sleeves, the old man released his battle aura, an intangible projection of his intents, toward Valerian. This intent gave Valerian the feeling similar to Quies, when they fought against each other during training.

He has yet to win over Quies, and he could tell that the steward was not even pushing hard, he would just act like he was trying hard to keep his morale up.

Valerian sighed and walked out from the cover of trees slowly. If he moved quickly, the Old Warrior could have attacked him in a misunderstanding.

When he stepped out, the old man was surprised, he expected it to be a human but not a child dressed in animal skin. He asked, “Who are you? What were you doing there?”

Valerian raised his hands to tell the man that he could not speak, the old warrior was surprised when the wild child displayed sophisticated signs.

Valerian asked, ‘Do you understand me, Sir?’

The old man tried to figure out what the boy was saying but he did not understand, he said, “Wait.”

.....

The old man turned to look at the group of youngsters fighting with the crocodile and said, “Calx, come over here.”

Calx was charging at the crocodile, when he heard the command of the old man, he rushed over giving up everything else.

Valerian noticed that these people were wearing similar clothing. They were all dressed in a soft leather armor, the old man had a burly built, even the youngsters were the same. The group was built with girls and boys.

Calx was a young man, twice taller than Valerian. As Calx came closer he also spotted Valerian and was surprised to see him. The old man said, “You understand those signs, right? Communicate with this kid.”

Calx nodded and used his hands to ask, ‘Who are you?’

Valerian smiled awkwardly and replied, ‘I am Valerian, I can hear you fine, just cannot speak.’

Calx was embarrsed and, “I apologize.”

The he turned to the old man and told him what Valerian said, the old man asked, “What were you doing behind the trees?”

‘I was observing you all, your fighting pattern, to learn.’, replied the child.

The old man was surprised and asked, “Why are you learning like this? Do you not fear the beasts in the woods? Your parents let you come out here, how can they be so irresponsible?”

The last part made Valerian’s gaze flash cold, he said, ‘Everything else side, I would appreciate if you acted like your age, Old Sir. I am an orphan, and commenting on my passed away parents is not in line with your character of a warrior.’

His sharp words made Calx cast him a gaze of surprise, the old man asked, “What did he say?”

Calx replied, “Sir, that...”

The old man snorted and said, “Tell me what did he say?”

Calx told him exactly what Valerian had said, and the old man was shocked, he was embarrassed when he realized that the parents of this child were no more. He said, “I apologize for over stepping my bounds, however, why are you in the woods?”

Valerian replied, ‘To get stronger, I want to ask you a few things now.’

Calx passed on the words, and when the old man nodded, Valerian asked who they were and what they were doing in the forest of Acies. The old man replied, “My name is Meta, we are from the neighboring city of Calix. The forest of Acies is our regular training area. We come here every six months.”

Valerian asked, ‘I see.’

Meta asked, “Where are you from? Do you need any help?”

Valerian shook his head and then said, ‘Thank you for your concern, but I can handle myself. How long are you all going to stay here?’

Meta replied, “Two months.”

The child nodded and then he said, ‘Very well, I will go and look for another sparring partner. I wish you all good fortune.’

He bowed slightly and then walked back toward the tree line. Meta said, “Wait, you said you will find the sparring partner? What do you mean by that?”

Valerian stopped and said, ‘Umm, yes.’

He did not understand that his words had shocked the people. They thought there were other humans inside the forest. The woods were usually used by the bandits to hide, and bandits were bad news.

Meta asked, “Do you mean there are other humans?”

Valerian was surprised and shook his head, ‘No, no, I mean I will spar with the magical beasts.’

Meta nodded and then said, “Oh, that is what you meant. Wait, you mean, you will fight with the beasts?”

Valerian nodded, without caring about the widening eyes of the people in front of him. Suddenly they were attracted by a call for help.

They saw, the crocodile using its tail to slap away a girl. The attack sent the girl back toward the group, disrupting their constant attacks. As soon as the barrage charged, the beast charged ahead.

Valerian did not know why, but his feet moved on their own. His speed was so fast that he reached the beast in a few steps, and putting himself between the group of youngsters and the beast, he drew out the knife, and threw it at the beast.

The tip of the claw knife was so sharp that it was stabbed right in the eye of the beast, making it wail in pain and stop in its tracks. Just when the enraged beast was about to cast a magic spell that could injure the youngsters, Meta arrived and Valerian did not know from where the old man took out a blue broad sword and slashed at the neck of the crocodile.

Valerian was shocked from the outcome, the blue sword had cut through the steel life flesh as if it was mud, putting an end to the struggle.

Meta turned around to look at the youngsters and asked, “Who messed up?”

The group of people turned their head to look down on the ground, when Meta said, “Say your thanks to Valerian, if not for him, your petty lives would have been gone back to the Primus.”

The group woke up and they noticed a silver haired savage, gazing at the old man like he was a clown out of circus. They all said, “Thank you for your grace.”

Valerian woke up and bowed back to them and looking at Calx he asked, ‘What is that sword?’

Calx smirked and said, “Sir Meta, Valerian wants to know about your sword.”

Meta was surprised and then with a puffed chest he said, “This is the prized possession of my family, a weapon of Mythril, the metal that could fight against mana. It was awarded to my great grandfather by the Emperor that time for his extraordinary service at the front.”

Valerian nodded and said, ‘How much will this cost?’

Calx heard this and burst out laughing, he did not expect this kid to be so goofy. He said, “This cannot be bought, but earned. There are only limited mines of Mythril, and they are all owned by the Imperial family, only the valedictorian of the Imperial Academy can get a weapon cast out of this metal as a reward.

Or you have to do something outstanding at the front, which is pretty rare. Even then you might not get awarded with something like this.”

Valerian nodded and gulped a mouthful of saliva. He wanted this sword, it was so strong and so gorgeous. Meta moved the sword and found Valerian’s gaze locked at his beloved blade and said, “Kid, if you did not put away your gaze, I will beat you up.”

Valerian scratched the back of his head and looked away from the blade and focused on the carcass of the beast, wondering if he could get some meat from it.

Meta put away his sword when a soft voice attracted attention of everyone, “Sir, I am hurt.”

Valerian looked at the source of the voice and found a girl with hazel colored hair and matching eyes, lying on the ground, with furrowed brows. She was holding her side, and her body was shivering.

The old man sighed and said, “Let us wait for Lady Consano, Calx, help your sister take some rest.”

Calx nodded and left to help his sister, Valerian looked around and walked closer to the decapitated head of the beast, he wanted to take away his knife, when a sharp voice sounded from the side, “Hey, do you think you can steal things from us?”

He raised his eyebrow and found that a girl with her chin raised to the sky, giving him a condescending gaze. He was irked by this person, who tagged him as a thief.