The Beginning After The End (New Heights Book 2) (4 page)

As we
make ourselves downstairs, I hear my father along with an elderly man’s hoarse
voice.

Upon
seeing me, the representative stands up, giving a slight bow, looking a little
relieved.  My father’s back was facing me so he only turned back after he
saw the old man getting up.

“My
son!  You’re up!”  He hurdled himself over the couch and picked me
up.

“Yeah,
I’m fine Dad.  What are you guys talking about?” I nod.

This
representative came by with a few gold coins as a token of apology from the
King for the “small incident” my father said through clenched teeth.

“The
Royal King has also ordered me to inform the Leywin family that both guards
that tried to attack Arthur Leywin have been stripped of nobility.

“For
almost killing my son, the King just flicks them on the forehead and pats them
goodbye?” My father can’t help but turning red from frustration.

“Father,
it’s all right.  I wasn’t hurt.  Let’s just end this matter.”  I
squeeze my father’s hand, looking up.

The
King seemed like a nice character but in times like this, I guess he has his
priorities elsewhere.

The
representative just looks at us matter-of-factly as if it was a given that the
King did the right thing.

I’m
too tired for this shit.

Casting
aside that issue, I ask about Sebastian, incase he said anything.  “What happened
to the Conjurer that had his knee broken?”

The
representative just shakes his head a little, “We do not know.  The
experts that we have hypothesize that it was due to the ricochet in the mana
that the Knight that attacked you with hit his knee.

I just
shrug at this, looks like this matter is settled.

The
old man took his leave after my father was growing impatient with his attitude
and just gave me a grin.

“Good
job knocking out that Augmenter.  That’s my son.” He shoots me a fist,
which I smile and promptly pound with my fist.

“Where
are the Twin Horns anyway?  I thought they’d be here?”

My
mother answers, just chuckling, “We had to keep them away from this matter, or
else they might’ve turned into wanted criminals.”

I
laugh at this, but by the helpless look on my father’s face, it was a genuine
worry.  The Twin Horns were waiting at a nearby Inn.  My father told
me we would all head out there tomorrow for breakfast and discuss me being an
Adventurer with them.  I nod at this and go back into my room.  My
birthday is in less than two weeks.  I’ll be able to make my first mark
here in this world.

Back
in my bed, I look at the palm of my hands, idly thinking about today’s events.
 This was the first time I used Sylvia’s Dragon’s Will.  The years of
studying Sylvie’s will while assimilating it into my body and practicing it for
4 months, I couldn’t help sigh in wonder at how powerful Sylvia was.

I was
just tapping into the ocean that was Sylvia’s powers.  Unlike Grandpa
Virion who could only get a speed boost and camouflage into his surroundings, I
guess being a legacy tamer allowed me to access a lot more of Sylvia’s powers
at stage one.

What I
used on Sebastian was something I named ‘Distortion’.  I could basically
separate myself from the time and space of my surrounding for a brief moment.
 I can’t alter anything else but it gives me the time to assess my
situation.  Earlier today, I really went outside my limit by using
Distortion on another person as well.  This allowed me to get away unnoticed
from the King’s eyes for now.  I wasn’t strong enough to act against him
yet.

The
limit on using Distortion on myself without backlash is 2 seconds.  I used
it today on another person too and I prolonged it to 7 seconds.  Just to
scare that bug Sebastian, I used up all of my mana and passed out for half a
day.  Maybe I should’ve just killed him.

No.
 I can’t think like that anymore.  Creating meaningless deaths just
for my convenience isn’t something I should do in this world.  I need to
be different in this world.

I
shake head.  I have a lot of time.  I have to be patient.

I
unwrap the package that Vincent left beside my bed to see a pearl white mask
that could cover my whole face.  It was a simple mask with two sharp eye
slits that curved up, reminding me of a fox’s eyes. There was no nose or mouth
hole; just a single blue streak that ran straight down the left side of the
mask, through the left eye slit.

I
tried the mask on, which somehow stuck onto my face without any need of a
strap, and wore the midnight blue coat, which was a little long.  After
strapping the coat, it suddenly shrunk, fitting my body perfectly.

I
couldn’t help getting embarrassed from feeling like a wannabe assassin or
vigilante of some sort.

“Ahh,
ahh.  Testing.  Testing.”  The tone of my voice surprised me.
 It sounded completely different.  My once immature, high-pitched
voice now had a rich baritone voice.

“Kuu?”
 Sylvie just looks at me curiously and I just laugh, taking off my getup.

“Aren’t
you excited to start getting a little bit action as well Sylv?”  I pet her
head, going to bed while dreaming of the future.

“So… who’s
it going to be?” My father sips his coffee and sets it down on the round wooden
table we were all seated around.

My family
just finished eating breakfast with the Twin Horns party at the inn they were
currently staying at while Mother was currently wiping off the remains of food
chunks that managed to escape my sister’s mouth.

“Kuu!”
 Sylvie hops unto the table with her head held high.  Even without
mental transmission, everyone was able to make out that, ‘I’m enough to protect
Papa’ was what she was thinking.

“Sylviee!
Come here!”  My sister waggles a piece of meat in front of her, luring my
legendary dragon bond that was now looking at her, drooling like a starving
puppy.

Sigh…I
couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of her shaking her tail at a bandit
smart enough to lure her away with a piece of meat.

My father’s
ex party members just finished a dungeon exploration with several other parties
so they would have some free time until they decided on taking another mission
or quest.

Adam spoke
up first while polishing his beloved spear.  “Babysitting doesn’t really
fit my style so I’ll pass on this.  Besides, I feel like with my
personality, Arthur will kill me in my sleep one day.”

My father
just nods.  He knew what kind of temperament Adam had and knew we wouldn’t
be a great fit.

“I was
hoping Durden or Helen would accompany Arthur.  Honestly, I can’t offer
much but Alice and I are more than willing to compensate for doing this.”

“Don’t talk
like that Rey, we’re all family here.  I would love to accompany him and
watch him grow anyhow.”  The gentle giant responds, looking at me.

“Durden is
right.  You know we’re not doing this for the money.  Besides, we
managed to get quite a bit of treasures off of our last dungeon raid.”
 Helen just shakes her head.

Suddenly I
see a hand raised and we all turn to look.

“I would
like to volunteer.”

“J-jasmine?
 You want to go with Arthur?”  Angela just sputters, while looking at
her dual wielding teammate.
 
She’s
been the one most excited to go with me.

I feel like
Angela would be a greater source of danger than the possible threats of an
Adventurer in more ways than one. I tried to lightly hint that she might not be
the most suitable but even I was surprised that Jasmine would take the
initiative to accompany me.

“Hmm…
Logically speaking, Jasmine is the most suitable to protect Arthur. Durden
specializes in offensive area of effect spells.  I do want to go with
Arthur too but I feel that maybe I’m not the most suitable since protecting
isn’t really my strong suit.” Helen just scratches her head.

“Jasmine,
are you really okay with going along with Arthur?”  My mother asks,
concerned.

*Nod* She
gives her a determined look.

“Pfft!
 The lady says she wants to go.  She’s the only Augmenter among us
that has an elemental affinity!  She just reached dark yellow stage last
year, and coupled with her wind attribute, I think she’ll be the best suited.
  .”  Adam just laughs as he rests both his hands on top of his head,
leaning back on his chair.

“Hmm… For
Arthur’s safety, I guess I’ll just have to step down from this.  It’s a
pity though.”  Durden just scratches his head weakly.

“Sorry
Durden, I know how much you care about Arthur.”  My father just gives him
a sympathetic smile.

“Maybe I’ll
join the Twin Horns on a dungeon raid in the future!”  I exclaim.

Durden just
chuckles at this and gives me a nod as he pats my head.  The rest of the
Twin Horns laugh as we finish up our conversation.

It was
decided that in a week’s time, I would go with Jasmine to the Adventurer’s
Guild and register myself.  I should automatically start off at the E
class after passing a simple test and depending on how well I do on missions or
on quests, my class will rise accordingly.

Getting back
home, I spot Lilia downstairs meditating as a maid places a cup of water by her
side.

“Uu… Lily no
fair!  Training without me!”  I see my sister rush over and get in a
comfortable position to start her mana manipulation as well.

As far as I
could tell, it would take the both of them a couple more years to actually form
a mana core, but by the pace that Lilia is going, I imagine that she’ll awaken
around the average time most children do.

Ellie
doesn’t have the patience for training and gets bored after an hour or two so
it’ll take her a lot longer.  That’s fine though, I wouldn’t want her to
become a mage too early.  She’ll attract too much unwanted attention.
 I’ll be thankful if she can form a mana core by the age of 9 or 10.

“Dad, can we
go to the Auction House again to pick out a sword?  We couldn’t get to
after the incident and I wanted to start practicing.”

“Yeah, I
have a few things I need to tell my team there anyway.  We’ll ask for a
carriage so go on and wash up.”

________________________

We met up
with the Helstea family in front of the Auction house.  Tabitha had a
relieved look on her face as she asked if I was okay which I just nodded to.
 I told the family not to worry and that I was fine.  I could tell
that Vincent was less than thrilled by the treatment the King had towards all
of this, but at this point, just like how the King felt towards me, I only felt
apathy towards him.  He didn’t put into me any sort of consideration
outside of a less than significant child, which suited
me
just fine for now.

The King’s
representative told us that they stripped the Augmenter and Sebastian of their
nobility, but Vincent just rolled his eyes at this, saying this just meant that
they only had to retrain as a Royal Guard and they’d receive their positions
back.  I felt my father clench his fists by the injustice of this all, but
I figured something like this would happen.

Father went
off with Vincent to meet the guards while Tabitha went back to take care of
Lilia, leaving me to search for a sword on my own.

The back of
the Helstea Auction House stored a lot of goods that they traded in, either
from different merchants and adventurers or from the dwarf kingdom.

There were
almost no business transactions done with elves ever since the war over a neutral
territory reached a stalemate.  Over the years, relations between the two
races have gotten better, to the point of even having a friendly tournament,
but it’ll be a slow process until the enmity is actually eased.  This was
a pity, since elf weapons did have their advantages compared to human and dwarf
weapons.

Something I
learned while I was living with the Eralith family in Elenoir was that, while
both weapons and Armors forged by dwarves were considered the highest class
because of the race’s innate mastery in the field, elves had their specialties
in bows and Conjurer staffs/wands.

Most of the
enchanted weapons were bid during the event yesterday, so the only things left
that were going to be sold in stalls later on were regular weapons.  I
wasn’t looking for anything special, just dependable.

Looking at
the racks and taking a few out of the shelves to test, I cringed at the poor
workmanship on these swords.  The balance between the blade and the grip
was all a bit off and most were weapons that relied on just simple swings and
stabs.

It wasn’t
that they were necessarily bad, but I guess after using a master level sword
for so long, I turned rather nitpicky about my sword.

Sylvie was
nestled on my head, looking at the blades in curiosity.

I went
farther in, going past the blades put up in display and into the section where
the swords were just stored in crates and barrels.

One thing I
noticed about the swords in this world was that they fell into a couple of
categories:

There were
the large swords, either the wide heavy swords, or the long claymores.
 Many warriors and offensive Augmenters prefer these behemoths but many
consider them savage and unrefined.

The more
balanced swords, seen most commonly used by knights and adventurers alike, are
the broadswords.  These are usually one-handed and are coupled with
shields, but there are two-handed varieties.  These swords provided the
best all around performance and were the standard type of swords.

The last
category is the one-handed light swords.  This includes sabers,
single-edged curved blades (which is basically a katana), rapiers and
daggers/short swords.  Sabers, katanas, and rapiers are focused on speed
and precision while daggers and short swords are often utilized for dual-wield
swordsman.

Even if the
weapons here are somewhat second rate, I can’t help but be excited, being
surrounded by what I was most passionate about and proud of being the best at.

Sighing in
disappointment, as my effortful digging remained fruitless, I mindlessly swing
the plain short sword I had in my hand.  I decided I would have to settle
for this sword if I couldn’t find anything else.

I kept
walking and soon passed the swords section into the miscellaneous section.
 I could see various unique weapons that were either too flamboyant to be
of any use in real battle, or simply just inefficiently designed.

Navigating
through the aisles, I chuckled out loud when I found something very similar to
nun chucks.  There was even a morning star that was heavy enough that,
even after using mana, I was barely able lift the spiked head off the ground.

“Whew!
 Looks like a dead end Sylv.”  I just sat down on the ground, leaning
against a gigantic shield while Sylvie was trotting around, exploring.

“Kuu!”
 I look up to see Sylv digging through the piles of weapons.  I just
tilt my head.

I could hear
her running around, creating debris of dust whenever she started rummaging
around.

Suddenly, I
hear her squeak an, ‘I found something!’ to me.  Getting up, I follow
Sylvie and she lifts her paw and points excitedly at a black…stick.

It was about
60 centimeters in length and just looked to me like a black walking cane to me.

“This wasn’t
what I was looking for Sylv.”  I say, but she keeps insisting I check it
out for some reason.

I was
surprised by the weight of the black stick, measuring at about 5 cm wide and 2
cm thick.

While it
seemed to be made of some kind of hard wood, it weighed a lot more than just a
walking stick.

I bring it
closer to my face, trying to get a better view in this dimly lit place.

The stick
had a matte coat to it, not reflecting any light at all, while the whole thing
was smooth to the touch.

Looking
closer, there were intricate indentations that formed a design throughout the
pole, but other than that, I couldn’t’ find anything special about it.

Sylv is
staring at me like she was responsible for finding the lost treasure of
Atlantis or something as her eyes were sparkling, her tail wagging fiercely.

Sigh… Just
to make her feel better, I swing the stick.

“Oh…” I
whistle in admiration

The swing
was surprisingly smooth and balanced.  More so than the short sword I
picked out as a back up.  I inspect it closer again.  The weigh
distribution seems to be too purposeful for it to be just used as a walking
stick or a staff.

Then I see
it.  It was so faint that I barely made it out after I reinforced mana
into my eyes; even then, I was only able to spot it because I was looking for
it.

Even more
faint than the indentation markings over the pole, was a small line that seemed
to separate two parts of the stick.

“…”

This was a
sword!