The crowd cheered, and Krey's ears began to ring. But then a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Let's go."
Samuel muttered the words as he bit his lips, his teeth bared. A trickle of blood trailed down to the ground. As they moved, the beautiful man standing on the podium shouted to the crowd.
"This shall be our final party before we commence our plan! Drink and eat your fill. My pockets shall rain coins for you all!"
The crowd—known as the Tercet—was riled up even more.
Outside the tavern, some distance away, Krey spoke.
"Why did we leave early? We could have stayed and learned their plan. Wait, how did you even recognize who I was?"
"The straight sword. No guard. Reckless and obvious."
Krey took the bucket off his head and coughed in embarrassment.
"It gets the job done." He mumbled.
Seeing that Samuel had lowered his guard, Krey slashed the guard-less sword upwards toward Samuel's chest, but Samuel ruthlessly blocked it and kicked Krey's fresh wounds.
Falling to the ground, Krey spat a splatter of blood from his mouth.
"Damn it... I thought I could get him. I'm still too weak. But I will definitely make this bastard repay me for what he's done."
Interrupting Krey's train of thought, the crimson-scarfed swordsman cleared his throat.
"Let me ask you something. Are you sure you want to learn swordsmanship from me? If you do, you'll have to engage in battles where your life will always be in danger." Samuel questioned.
"I refuse."
Krey's jade bracelets grew tighter; this time he wasn't able to ignore it, almost falling to his knees.
"I mean yes! Yes, I want to learn from you!"
Thinking to himself, he then began to ramble.
"That damned hero—once I find his casket, I'll bury him again!"
The jade burdens then untightened their bone-crushing grip.
Raising his eyebrow, Samuel continued.
"Two moon phases—that's two months. It's not enough time." Samuel chewed on the nail on his thumb.
"Can't we just report them to the guards? Or the knights?"
"No. From my observations, the Tercet has already bought off a few nobles. We can't report it to them, as most knights work under a noble."
"What option is left, then?"
"First, we need silvers. And secondly, I think there is someone we can request help from."
"Who?" Krey tilted his head, in wonder.
Pausing for a moment, Samuel stared at him with a blank smile.
"You'll know eventually... Also, do you have a place to stay?"
"I do. Why do you ask?"
Back at Krey's residence, Samuel was sleeping on Krey's bed. Samuel didn't have a residency of his own and usually slept in the back of an alley or on a set of stairs. Glancing at his mentor, who had volunteered to sleep on the floor, Krey went to ask for another blanket from the front desk of the building.
"A blanket? Sure, but it's going to cost you ten silvers." the receptionist stated.
Slamming a handful of silvers on the front desk, Krey was given a blanket, which he used to cover his mentor. Since the blanket was long, it also served as cushioning. Picking a few pieces of beef jerky from his pocket, he offered them to his mentor.
Adjusting the blanket, Krey slept beside Samuel.
The next day, they were inside the guild halls. Samuel was talking with the receptionist—a different person from before, now a young man who shook his head at what seemed to be every question Samuel asked. After a while, the young man finally nodded.
Walking back to Krey, Samuel pulled down a few quests from the board he was standing next to.
"What were you talking about?" Krey wondered.
"Just a meeting. In the meantime, we need to earn some funds."
"Uh, okay? Who are you going to meet?"
"You'll know soon."
Walking back to the receptionist, Samuel had the quest papers stamped.
"Let's go." Samuel told Krey.
Krey nodded in affirmation. They stopped at a house belonging to a family.
"What are we doing here?"
"We're here to complete the first quest."
Samuel replied, holding up a sheet of paper that read, "Help wanted: Family issues." Knocking on the door, a middle-aged woman opened it and asked,
"Are you the people who are going to do our request?"
"Yes. What would you like us to do, ma'am?" Samuel asked.
"Well, you see, we're going to be moving out soon, and we need help packing our stuff into a wagon." the woman replied, pointing at a wagon filled with all sorts of goods, with a mighty steed standing at the front.
Upon entry to the house, a little boy walked up to them, snot falling from his tiny nostrils. Looking the two young swordsmen up and down, he shook his head.
"You guys look weak. You should just leave..!" the boy stated.
"Now, now, Damian, don't be rude to our guests."
Leading the way, the middle-aged woman showed them to the rooms that still had a few remaining belongings not yet moved. After a while, they cleared the entire home, leaving only dust behind.
Once they finished, the little boy ran to his mother, crying into her dress with snot pouring out.
"I—I don't want to move, Mama! I don't want to leave my friends behind!" The little boy sniffled.
Bending down, Samuel pulled a wooden sword from his sheath and turned his head up to face the little boy's mother.
"We're doing missions around the kingdom. If it's okay with you, would it be all right if your son accompanied us to meet his friends?"
"I'm not so sure—" the middle-aged woman hesitated.
"Please, Mama! I didn't even tell them we were moving yet. Please, can I go?"
Grabbing Krey's sword, Samuel gave the blade to the mother.
"Don't worry... we'll be back before sundown. Hold on to this as assurance."
"Alright, fine. Just don't stay out too long." She sighed with reluctance.
"Thank you, Mama!" The little boy jumped in excitement.
As the three went around the city, completing job after job, they stopped to let little Damian meet his friends—visiting parks, homes, and shops.
The quests they were doing consisted of dropping off packages to merchants, helping food stands cook, and finding lost pets—nothing too dangerous and nothing outside the walls.
Soon, once they completed all their tasks, they returned to the mother. Little Damian was holding a wooden sword. He ran up to his mother, who was sitting idly behind the steed, counting a bag of silvers.
"Look! My friends wrote their names on my sword!" the boy shouted with glee.
Stepping down from the wagon, she handed back Krey's sword and signed the quest mission paper.
"That's wonderful. But isn't that the young man's sword?"
"Sir Sammy gave it to me!" A proud look wore his face.
"Did you thank them for it?"
Looking toward the two, he bowed and thanked them. Soon the bow turned into a wave as the young boy and his mother headed toward the castle gates.
Waving back, a faint, barely visible smile appeared on Samuel's face, which surprised Krey, as he had never seen him wear anything but a face of indifference or a scowl.
Returning to the guild hall, they handed in the pile of quest papers to the receptionist and, in exchange, received two small pouches full of silvers. Picking them up, Samuel handed one to Krey.
Back at Krey's residence, they went to bed, repeating a routine of waking up, going to the guild hall for quests, completing them, receiving payment, and returning to Krey's residence—time Krey used to feed his mentor.
However, as time went on, Krey noticed something: whenever they went to sleep, Samuel would gradually go to bed with fewer clothes than the previous night. Eventually, Krey couldn't ignore it any longer.
"You damned bastard, go put on some clothes! Why are you going to bed in only your underwear!" Krey spat in frustration, as he kicked Samuel off of the bed.
"...Calm down." Samuel, waved his hand.
"Calm down? Calm down! We only have one bed, you bastard. Put your clothes on!"
In the morning, they went into the forest, to the empty patch of land where Krey had previously trained.
"What are we doing here?" Krey asked, stretching as he yawned.
"...To train." Samuel replied.
Krey's eyes grew wide.
"Really? Finally! I was starting to doubt whether I was actually going to learn something or not."
"Get into your stance. We'll start with sparring."
"Huh?"
Before Krey could ask any questions, Samuel lunged at him with a wooden sword in hand.
Stepping to the side, Krey barely dodged the swift attack. Raising his sword, Krey went into a defensive position, holding the dull blade in front of him. Lunging again, Samuel thrust toward Krey's chest, but as it was about to hit, Krey blocked it by raising the dull blade above his head, deflecting the wooden sword.
Counterattacking, Krey slashed downward. As the blade descended, Samuel countered by swinging the wooden sword into Krey's armpit, sending a sharp pain throughout his bones.
In that moment of confusion, Samuel followed up by thrusting at Krey's head, stopping the blade just centimeters from his face.
Dropping to the ground, Krey's figure was covered by Samuel's shadow.