"I won't lose to the likes of you Ahhhhhhhhh"
Zain very slowly began to attack the kid, the kid sidestepped to the left and attacked Zain in the stomach. Zain held his stomach and fell to the ground.
"You're strong, Holy Knight." Zain fell to the ground when he said that and chuckled to himself.
"Hey Mister, that was fun."
"Sure it was." Said Zain as he did a kick flip to stand up. The kids were amazed when he did that.
"AWESOME!" They exclaimed in amazement visible to their face.
The kids asked if they could learn it but Zain just told them they could if they practised enough. Zain just left the children to they're play.
He realised that it's already noon.
He heard that there were some guys who went in the forest to look for wood for tonight. Zain decided since he had nothing to do, he might as well help them.
He went to the forest and saw some men cutting down a tree.
He walked towards them with his hands on his pockets. He took his right hand to greet them.
"Yo!" He said to them as he kept walking towards them. They all turned around to see who called.
They realized it was just a man who had arrived at the village this morning, so they went back to work.
Zain offered to help, and they accepted. Someone handed him an axe to cut the tree. Zain could have cut it down in a single slash, but he realized he had to match everyone else's pace.
Holding back was harder than expected, especially since he barely remembered how to cut a tree properly or even use an axe. Back on the island, Zain cut trees with his sword, striking the same spot until they fell. Later, he realized he didn't even need that much effort—using pure strength was enough. One slash, and the tree would drop.
Now, he restrained himself.
The lumberjack in the crew watched Zain work and didn't seem surprised.
"Why are you holding an axe like you're holding a sword?" the lumberjack asked.
The man had a beard and long hair tied back with a leather cord. His shoulders were broad, his physique well-built from years of cutting wood, and his skin rough and weathered. He looked to be in his thirties, maybe early forties.
He wore a sleeveless vest, heavy trousers tucked into leather boots, and held a broad-bladed axe in his hands.
"Because I'm a Swordsman." Zain tilted his head when he said that.
"Figures. I'm Thomas by the way. Okay you need to..." Thomas began to instruct Zain on how to cut trees or wood while others continue to cut the tree. Zain listen while he still cut the tree. Thomas correct him there and there while he was cutting. Zain told everyone they should call him Lucas.
Zain still stumbled when he cut the trees because he would subconsciously do a sword stance or attack while holding the axe. Thomas didn't get angry at Zain because he knew once the basics or structures is formed is harder to learn new ones.
Thomas began to wonder why Zain would subconsciously switch to sword stance without Zain noticing it. Zain has been switched to sword stance or attack without realising he's been doing it. He would return to the techniques Thomas taught him but it was mixed with sword stance without him noticing.
Thomas thought long and hard, then it hit him.
"He can fight while in a depp sleep." Thomas blurted out without realising it. Everyone heard him and they turned around to look at him.
"Who?Lucas?" Someone asked Thomas the question while looking at Zain.
Thomas realise that he blurted out his thoughts, again, without realising. "Nothing I'm just thinking out loud." He said.
"Can he thou?Lucas can you fight while still sleeping?" Someone asked Zain with an expectation of an answer.
"I don't know. So far, Everyone has lost before I could draw my sword. So, I don't know." Zain truthfull said.
Everyone was shocked by what he said. Someone realised something and asked Zain a question.
"How many people have you fought?"
Everyone wanted to know the answer of that question. Zain stopped and began to think. He realised he hasn't fought many people.
"I've fought Guildmaster Zack only. Those bandits lost before I could move and that guy. What was his name? Yeah, I think it was Brad the Bandit... Or is it Brad the Rabbit or Brad the Rapist, whatever his name is lost like the rest of his group. There was that stalker too, he lost before I could move too. Wait a minute... That happened in one day.
Even those beast I killed in that gloomy forest happened on the same day. Man... I didn't realise that a lot of things happened in one day."
After he said that, everyone's mouth was wide open with shock and surprise.
"""YOU FOUGHT THE GUILDMASTER?""" They all said in unison.
"Yeah it was an assessment for my Adventure Rank or something." Zain to them while shrugging his shoulders and continued to cut the tree.
"Can you stop cutting the tree and talk for a minute. So you're saying you're an adventure?"
"Yes, I thought everyone knew that."Zain said in confused manner.
"Nope. Nobody thought of you as an Adventurer. We all thought you were a noble." Thomas said to Zain.
"What? I thought everyone thought as me as an Adventurer. The noble part I can understand."
"You didn't carry any weapon or wearing adventure's clothes. You only wore expensive clothes and a pouch on your belt. So we only thought you as a noble. What rank are you?" Thomas said to Zain.
"Well. Zack said he can't give me an S-Rank but he'll recommend. So, I'm an A-Rank for now." Zain as he realised that he has never wore that gold template ever since he got it.
"You're an A-Rank. I heard you say you defeated Brad the Rapid and his bandit group."
"That's the name, you know the guy. Yeah, I did and I turned Brad in."
"I'm glad that guy is dead. He's been terrorising villages."
"I didn't say I killed him. I said I turned him in." Zain said to them as he stopped for few seconds and continue to say, "Well, technically he turned himself in but I was the one who brought him in."
""""WHAT!!""""
They all exclaimed in shock.
"Why didn't you kill him? You should've killed him." Thomas said in sombre voice.
"I did say they all lost before I could move. They all fell unconscious. So you want to kill an unconscious person in cold manner, that'll just be a slaughter or bullying the weak and I ain't a cannibal or a bully.
Even, after he regained consciousness, he gave up and turned himself in. If I killed him after he gave up then I would look like a tyrant." Zain said in serious tone.
"But he killed all those villagers and destroyed villages. He should be killed." Thomas said in serious tone and anger.
"Oh, I see. You talk about justice or revenge."
"I'm talking about he should've been killed. That's JUSTICE!" Thomas said in serious while his voice shift to anger.
"It seems you don't understand."
"WHAT'S THERE TO UNDERSTAND WHEN YOU SHOULD'VE KILLED HIM!!"
"Let me tell you something.
Revenge only has losers and Justice is whatever the victim needs it to be.
Someone destroyed your village, your family, killed your loved one or stole someone/something precious to you.
You seek that person in hopes of destroying them but in the process of revenge, you lose yourself or you lose everything and you only gained satisfaction for a short moment after the revenge is fulfilled.
Now let's change it.
You seek that person in hopes of bringing them to justice. You bring them to justice and everyone is happy about the results. You killed them when they surrendered, you tortured them before turning them in, you destroyed everything they own or ever cared about before killing them or turning them in. That's not Justice, that's Psychopath playing Tyrant. A PERSON JUSTIFYING THEIR BRUTALITY WITH CRUDE JUSTICE!!!!
REVENGE IS JUSTICE FOR THE FOOLS!!!
DON'T TELL ME ABOUT JUSTICE WHEN YOU DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND JUSTICE!!!"
Zain said in serious tone and he was filled with anger towards the end. He dropped the axe to ground and left the forest.
He didn't wait for their response or any reaction towards them. He just left bitterly.