Heading to the capital. First trouble. [ 第二章 ]

Jin and the group started heading towards the next village. As they are walking through the open green land with its small hills, filled with all different kinds of flowers, Jin asked them.

‘’If I may, where are we heading to?’’

Emily puts her index on top of her lips, looks up to the sky as she said ‘’Oh, we didn’t tell you last night!’’

‘’We are going to the capital to become adventurers!’’ with a big smile on her face she replied.

‘’Yeah!’’ Edward shouted with excitement.

‘’Would you stop shouting? You’re giving our location to unnecessary danger.’’ Seth said with disappointment written all over his face.

‘’Oi, stop ordering me around! You punk!’’

While those two kept arguing, Emily grabs Jin from his arm and spoke.

‘’We are all from the same village. It is located next to the border of our kingdom Athena and Edril kingdom.’’

Emily points with her index in secrecy to Seth ‘’Seth wants to be a knight.’’ she then points at Edward shouting at him ‘’While Edward and I want to be adventurers.’’

‘’ all three of us want to defend our village from the terror of war.’’

‘’war?’’ Jin asked.

‘’You don’t know? There was a war between Athena and Edril. Since the passing of his majesty Augustus, Edril tried to invade us but the new king, the brother of the late king, Ceasar, didn’t let that happen. After 4 years of war, they finally signed a peace treaty.’’

‘’Oh, I see.’’

‘’Our village attack was the flame that started it since it’s 2killometers away from the borders.’’

‘’I’m sorry you suffered a lot.’’ Jin expressed in a sad tone as he slightly bows.

‘’U-UH, no it’s not your fault!’’ the blushing Emily replied. She also realized how kind Jin is.

Seth puts his hand on Edward’s mouth to shut him up while he asked Jin about his sword.

‘’That blade, I have never seen something like it.’’

‘’Oh, it’s called katana. This belongs to my mentor, but he also told me that I can have it when I become older!’’ Jin explained proudly with a smile on his face.

‘’Oh! How old are you Jin?’’ Emily asked.

‘’I’m 18.’’

Everyone stopped walking. Jin got worried and asked if he said something wrong.

‘’N-No! It's that the midnight massacre happened 18 years ago. No one from the country can be 18 years old...’’ Emily answered with a sad tone.

‘’Midnight massacre?’’

‘’Remember the king Augustus, I told you about? They say that the birth of his son killed him and his wife. That’s why his Brother ordered to kill every newly born 18 years ago. Luckily, Seth and I were born 4 years before that incident. While Edward was born 3 years before.’’

‘’That’s horrible...’’ Jin replied.

To light up the mood, Emily said ‘’You just didn’t count right!’’

‘’You also look like us so you can’t be a foreigner. But your mentor was.’’ Seth said.

‘’Yes.’’

As they are about to walk again, Seth said to Jin.

‘’Jin! Let’s fight!’’ Seth said.

‘’Oh no! Not again...’’ Emily thought to herself.

‘’You’re a swordsman, I’m a swordsman. Let’s fight to see who’s the strongest!’’

‘’I refuse!’’ Jin replied fast. Seth was shocked.

‘’Why?’’

‘’You are a friend of Emily, that also means you’re a friend of mine. I can’t fight you.’’ with a calm voice he said, leaving Seth speechless.

The situation got awkward, till Edward removes Seth’s hand from his mouth and yelled.

The group kept walking for a while till they stopped to cook a meal in an open field next to a small forest. Edward and Emily were looking for small twigs to start a fire. Jin, on the other hand, was looking at how Seth was practicing with his sword in the open field.

‘’Your footwork is all wrong,’’ Jin said to Seth.

‘’What?’’

‘’I said your footwork is all wrong.’’

‘’I heard what you said.’’

Seth continued practicing with his sword when Jin interrupts him again.

‘’That movement was all wrong.’’

Irritated by his comment, Seth stops ‘’ Well how about you shut up? I can’t focus if you keep interrupting me.’’

‘’What are you practicing right now?’’

‘’Are you blind? I am practicing my swings.’’

‘’Oh, then you’re doing it all wrong.’’

Seth had enough ‘’You talk real big but when I asked you to fight, you chickened out!’’

Jin thought for a moment before he stood up and grabbed his katana.

‘’Alright, let’s fight.’’

Seth grins with excitement, he finally has the chance to show his skills.

Emily and Edward came back from picking up twigs to see Seth and Jin facing each other within a distance.

Emily screams at them ‘’Hey! What happened?’’

Jin looks at her smiling ‘’Don’t worry Emily, we just having a little fight.’’

‘’Are you ready?’’ Said Seth as he drew his sword and get to his stance.

‘’Yes, I am,’’ Jin replied as he puts both his hands behind him.

‘’What are you doing? Draw your sword.’’

‘’I will only draw my sword when it is necessary.’’

Angered by Jin’s action, he speeds dash toward Jin, swings from his left with his sword in both his hands, aiming for his neck. Jin dodges it with ease. As Seth kept swinging his sword at him, Jin kept dodging while getting out of his sword’s reach.

‘’Are you going to keep dodging my attacks?’’

‘’Yes,’’ Jin replied with a smile.

Seth with all his might swings his sword from above aiming for his head. Jin dodges it to the right side. When his sword almost touched the ground, Jin put his feet on top of his sword making it touch the ground.

‘’What do you think of my geta sandal?’’ Jin asked Seth as he smiles.

Seth got more furious than he already was. He takes away his hands from his sword and tried to kick Jin, but he jumps away.

‘’Did you realize what are you missing?’’ Jin said as he lands. ‘’Your speed and footwork are unbalanced. You have strength in your strikes but that won’t matter if you can’t hit your target. You also let your emotions take the best of you.’’

Seth with his head down, grabbing his sword tight as he felt the shame of not being able to even hit once. He looks at Jin one last time with a smirk.

‘’You! You're strong!’’ as he points his sword at him.

‘’Thanks, I guess...’’ Jin blushes, scratching the back of his head.

‘’But, can you dodge this attack as well.’’

‘’Huh?’’

The point of the sword starts creating a medium-size fireball.

‘’Seth, stop!’’ Emily shouted.

‘’Fire Magic: Fireball.’’ As soon as Seth said those words, the fireball launches toward Jin with incredible speed.

‘’Wind Style: Air slash.’’

In a split second, the fireball disappeared as a strong wind slash blows it to nothingness.

‘’what just happened?’’ Seth said to himself.

He sees Jin grabbing his katana blade.

‘’Did you do this?’’ Seth asked him.

‘’Yeah. I would’ve been in big trouble if your fire was stronger than my wind.’’ he puts back his blade to his sheath.

Emily comes and grabs Seth from his ear. ‘’What do you think you’re doing huh? You could’ve injured Jin’’

‘’L-Let go of my ear!’’

‘’I won’t till you say sorry!’’

‘’Sorry,’’ Seth said with a straight face.

‘’You’re not sorry at all!’’

‘’Ow! Stop dragging my ear.’’

The group sat down at the bonfire they made to eat. While waiting for the meat to get cooked, Emily asks Jin about the technique he did.

‘’I combined my wind magic with my blade technique.’’

Seth stopped from cleaning his longsword, looks at Jin, and asks ‘’combine?’’

‘’Yep, I enforced the wind magic spell into my blade to make my swing stronger and more effective against magic spells. The one I used; I can only use it if my blade is still in the sheath. With the speed of drawing my blade, the technique activates.’’

‘’That’s amazing! I want to learn it.’’ Edward said.

‘’I can teach you the basics, but it all depends on you and how well you can control your magic power.’’

‘’Teach me, mentor,’’ he said as he tries to imitate Jin when he bows down.

Emily thought to herself, that Jin can do the combination between a sorcerer and a swordsman. A few people can do what he does without the help of a magic caster.

‘’If I may, I noticed Emily, that you don’t have any weapon but you want to be an adventurer?’’ Jin was wondering.

‘’That’s because I am a sorcerer.’’ Emily proudly said.

‘’Who always keeps losing its grimoire,’’ said Seth as he is cleaning his longsword.

Emily grabs his same ear again ‘’What did you say?’’

‘’That hurts! Stop it’’

‘’I will stop when you say sorry.’’

Seth again with a straight face ‘’Sorry.’’

‘’AH! You’re not sorry at all!’’

Jin and the group ate and continued their journey to the capital till they finally arrived at the entrance of a village.

‘’Let’s stay today here. The sun is setting.’’ Said Emily.

‘’You’re right!’’ Edward replied.

Edward’s stomach rumbles, followed by Emily’s and then Jin's.

‘’Alright! Let's find an inn to eat and sleep at.’’

Jin for the first time goes outside of where he used to live. As they are walking looking for an inn, Jin gazes through the village. He admired the small wooden houses with their triangle roof and chimneys. He loved the small variety of shops and how people are interacting with each other. As he is looking around, he bumps into an old lady, wearing old dirty clothes and a cape over her, by accident making her fall.

‘’Oh, I am so sorry! Please forgive me.’’ Jin offers his hand to help her get up.

The old lady grabs his hand and stood up. Suddenly, she pulls him towards her to look at the palm of his hand.

‘’Um?’’ confused Jin said.

She started hysterically laughing, which got the attention of everyone around.

‘’The prophet is real! The prophet is real!’’ she kept saying those words over and over. She lets go of his hand and walks away laughing and repeating those words.

‘’What was that?’’ Emily said.

‘’I don’t know...’’ Jin replied as he kept looking at the old lady walking away.

As they finally found the inn, much taller and wider than the rest of the houses with its big welcome sign in the middle, they went up the small stairs and opened up its door. before they sat down in the dining room, Jin said as he bows down to Emily and the group.

‘’My apologies, I don’t have any money. I will see you guys first thing in the morning.’’

Emily grabs his hand and leads him to the table, with a smile she replied.

‘’We can’t let you leave. You treated us when we were at your house. This time, it's on us.’’

Jin smiles back and they sat down at the table. He couldn’t stop fidgeting with his leg as he seems nervous and filled with anxiety because this is the first time, he is in a dining place. A young woman as waitress came to take their orders, Edward fell in love with how beautiful she looked.

‘’Hello there! May I take your orders?’’

‘’Hi! Four chicken stews please!’’ Emily kindly told the waitress. While Edward kept looking at her with an open mouth.

‘’Alright, coming right up.’’

The group kept chatting till the food came. They ate and were surprised that this was the first time Jin had chicken. They laughed at Edward getting rejected by the waitress. After a bit, they go up to their rooms after checking in.

‘’Okay, me and Jin will sleep in this room, while you two get to the other room,’’ Emily said to Seth and Edward.

‘’tch! I hate sleeping in the same room with this punk.’’ Edward said.

‘’Then go sleep somewhere else,’’ Seth replied.

‘’Huh? Why me? You go!’’

Emily grabs Jin by the arm and they go into their room.

‘’Let those two argue,’’ Emily said to Jin as she chuckles.

They enter their room which has a small desk Infront of a big window looking at the back of the inn where a forest is at.

‘’Pick whatever bed you like Jin.’’

Jin sits at the one far away from the window, while Emily takes her belt out and places it with her bag at the desk. Jin was surprised at how bouncy the bed is since he was used to sleeping on the floor.

‘’Aren’t you going to change your clothes?’’ Emily asked Jin.

‘’Oh. I don’t need to. I am comfortable with my kimono.’’

‘’Oh! So, your dress is called kimono!’’

‘’It’s not a dress...’’ Jin said quietly as he scratches the back of his head.

He takes his hair tie out and lays down on the bed. He looks at Emily that about to undress. He immediately puts his head under his pillow embarrassed as he has never seen a girl change her clothes. Emily finishes up dressing up in her sleepwear and lays down on her bed.

‘’Today was fun! Wasn't it?’’ Emily said as she looks at the ceiling. No response from shy Jin.

‘’Jin.’’

‘’Y-Yes?’’ he peeks to see if she is already dressed up.

‘’I want to know more about you Jin.’’ Emily looks at him with an open wide smile.

Jin blushes as he found her smile beautiful. He takes his head away from the pillow and smiles back as he said ‘’Sure! I want to know more about you as well Emily.’’

The two kept talking about their childhood memories. Emily explains how she met Seth and Edward and became friends. Jin talked about his mentor and how he taught him everything he knows.

‘’Your mentor is not your father?’’ Emily said.

‘’Yes, even though he was mute, he raised me, taught me how to speak, how to write, how to be a swordsman. He taught me how to live.’’ as Jin expresses his gratitude towards his mentor.

‘’That is so impressive! Your mentor is an awesome person!’’

‘’Ah! We kept talking, it’s past midnight.’’ Emily said.

‘’We should sleep, we have a journey ahead of us tomorrow.’’

‘’Yep.’’

Emily turns off the lamp and they both went to bed.

In the other room, Edward is snoring while Seth kept thinking about the fight he had with Jin. As he clenches his fist and says to himself ‘’I am still weak.’’, he then sleeps.

As an hour went by, Emily hears a crying noise. She woke up to see Jin shaking. She takes a look if he is asleep and finds tears running down from his closed eyelids. What she heard next broke her heart. ‘’Mentor, please don’t leave me.’’ Poor sleeping Jin is having a nightmare. She couldn’t stay still as she gets into his bed and hugs him from behind whispering ‘’You will be okay Jin. I am here with you.’’ A few minutes passed and Jin finally calmed down.

Two hours after, an unknown person wearing all black hiding his face and head with a cloth mask and the hood of his coat, slips a wire under the window of Emily and Jin’s room to open it from the outside. He successfully opens it. Slowly, he entered the room. He kept walking toward the sleeping Emily and Jin slowly without making any noise. As he reached their bed, He takes his dagger out from behind and was about to put his hand on Emily’s mouth so she doesn’t make any sound when he stabs her. That is when Jin grabs his hand, and with a vicious look he said. ‘’Who are you?’’

The unknown man steps back away from them. Jin stood up and grabs his katana.

‘’I said who are you?’’ Jin asked once again with the same vicious look. Emily wakes up as she hears him, Jin looks at her. At that moment, the unknown man dashes at Jin to stab him with his dagger. But Jin sees him coming and blocks the attack with his blade still on its sheath. The unknown man steps back again realizing his attack failed.

‘’What is happening?’’ Sleepy Emily said as she rubs her eyes unknown of the situation.

‘’Don’t move Emily! We are under attack!’’ Jin tells her.

The unknown person takes that chance as they were talking and smashes a small ball on the floor. As smoke comes out, they hear the window break. Jin grabs Emily and they get out of the room. At the same time, they opened the door, Seth was dragging Edward out of the other smoking room.

‘’What happened to you two?’’ Emily said to Seth.

‘’someone attacked us.’’

‘’ Since you, two got attacked as well, this was a deliberate attack,’’ Jin said.

Seth explained how that unknown person sneaked in from the window and tried to stab him as he was sleeping but he avoided it. And then, Seth wakes up Edward and they tried to double attack him. When Edward launches toward them and grabs them, he got knocked out by an elbow to the back of his neck. That opening he made, gave Seth the chance to swing his sword and he scratches them as he shows a piece of their clothes with blood on them.

Emily remembers that she forgot her bag in the room, goes in to find her grimoire missing.

‘’My grimoire! Where is my grimoire?’’ Emily shouted.

The group enters the room.

‘’My grimoire is missing.’’

‘’Could that guy took the grimoire?’’ Seth said.

‘’He might have done it,’’ Jin replied. ‘’Alright! I will go after them.’’ as he ties his hair again.

‘’I will go with you. They are two, you need someone with you.’’ Seth said to Jin.

‘’I will go too!’’

‘’No Emily! You stay here, you’ll just be in the way since you don’t have your grimoire.’’ Seth told her.

Seth kicks Edward to wake him up and told him to keep Emily safe as they go after the thieves.

Seth and Jin go to the back of the inn where the attackers fled from.

‘’Do you have a way to follow them?’’ Seth asked Jin.

‘’Yeah! From these fresh traces of footsteps here, they went through the forest.’’ Jin said as he was squatting down-pointing his index finger to the footsteps on the dirt ground.

As they speed run through the forest, they find more traces and follow them. Seth thought to himself about how diverse Jin is and how he’s used to the wildlife. As they reach the end of the forest, they find the two attackers about to enter a house.

‘’Alright! Let's go,’’ said Seth as he was about to go after them.

Jin grabs him from his shoulder and tells him to wait till they see if there is someone else at that house. They kept hiding behind trees and peeking to see if there is anyone else in the house.

At the same time, the two attackers entered the living room where their boss and a group of his henchmen were at.

‘’Hm? Where are the heads of those kids? You guys always do the job right.’’ The boss who was sitting on the chair said.

‘’Sorry boss, we couldn’t complete the mission. Two of them were strong but we got the thing you wanted.’’ one of them said as they both knelt down.

‘’Give it to me.’’

The attacker gives the grimoire to the boss.

With a wide smile showing his teeth, the boss said ‘’Good!’’

‘’Boss?’’

‘’What is it?’’

‘’Could you give us a reward for it?’’

The boss signals to two of his henchmen to bring a couple of gold coins for them as a reward. The attackers took the money.

‘’Go have fun in the village for a day. I expect you two to do more work when you come back.’’

‘’Yes, boss, thank you.’’

The two attackers left.

‘’You two! Take back my money from those two and dispose of them.’’

‘’Yes, boss.’’

The hiding Jin and Seth see the two same guys who attacked them leave the house, followed by two other men.

‘’Hey, you two! Wait up, the boss needs you for something.’’ one of the guys told the attackers.

As they got closer and closer, they kept smirking more and more.

‘’What does the boss needs?’’

‘’Your death.’’ as one of them said while he pierces through the attacker with his knife. He takes it out of his stomach leaving him to bleed.

‘’Brother!’’ the other attacker shouted with what seems a girly voice only to get kicked by the other guy to the face.

‘’Oi, how about we have our fun with her before we kill them?’’ the other guy told his buddy.

‘’Yeah! Let's grab them somewhere else.’’

At that moment, Seth and Jin jump at them by surprise, knocking them down cold.

‘’Are you okay? Keep pressing on the wound.’’ Jin told the injured guy.

‘’You...You’re that guy...’’

Seth looks at the girl and recognizes her from the ripped cloth. ‘’I can’t believe Edward got knocked out by you,’’ he said.

‘’We want what you took. The grimoire.’’ Jin said.

‘’We gave it to the boss.’’

‘’How does it feel getting betrayed by the same guy you guys work for? Huh?’’ Seth told the two attackers with an angry face. No response from the two.

Jin and Seth decided to go in to get back the grimoire. While the girl told them ‘’You can’t get back that grimoire! It’s in the hands of the gang leader. Halton. He is strong!’’

‘’It doesn’t matter. What ours we will take it.’’

As they go in front of the house. Seth asks Jin ‘’How do you want to do this? We go straight or do you have a plan?’’

‘’We go straight in.’’ as Jin’s aura completely changes to a vicious one.

At the house, the boss was wondering what it taking those guys so much to do the job, when the door flies away, hitting the other side of the living room.

‘’What is that?’’ The boss said.

As Jin and Seth walk in to see the boss, a buff-brown man with shoulder-length reddish hair and a big scar on his left cheek wearing a tank top with fur on the shoulder sides and black pants and boots with gloves on.

‘’You got some balls to break my door and enter like this.’’ the boss said to Jin and Seth.

‘’And you got no balls sending your minions to kill us,’’ Seth replied.

‘’I suppose you’re Halton.’’

‘’Indeed. Now, what do I own the pleasure for your visit?’’

‘’We came back to get our friend’s grimoire your minions stole.’’

‘’Oh, I see, so you guys are the brats that I was informed of?’’

‘’What do you mean?’’

‘’One of my henchmen saw that one of you has this grimoire.’’ as he shows the grimoire to Seth and Jin. ‘’This is why I hate unfinished business. Men, finish them off.’’

As every henchman of Halton picks up their weapons. Jin steps forward and asks Seth to stay back.

‘’Hey! What do you mean stay back? I will fight as well.’’

Jin ignores Seth’s words and kept walking toward Halton.

‘’Halton? Tell me, are your henchmen only tools for you?’’ jin asked.

‘’I can get more any day I want. Whoever does the job right, stays. While the other one gets disposed of.’’ Halton smiles as he answered.

‘’Good, now I don’t feel like I am the wrong one.’’

‘’Kill him already!’’ Halton orders his henchmen.

From the left and right sides, the men rush Jin.

‘’Wind Style: Wind fury’’

In one motion, Jin spins with an incredible speed creating a whirlwind full of air slashes. This attack made the men fly away with cuts on their bodies. Some flew through the window, while some got blown to the ceiling and crashed head down to the ground.

‘’You’re next, Halton,’’ Jin said as he points his blade at him.

Seth was shocked at how powerful that attack was and how many he took down with it.

‘’Tch! All these useless pricks couldn’t even do a thing against this brat.’’ Halton stood up irritated.

‘’Now come at me brat. I'll play with you!’’

Seth speed dashes towards Halton to attack him.

‘’Wait Seth! Don’t rush!’’

Seth jumps and swings his sword aiming for his neck, while Halton throws his fist at his chest area. Seth’s sword was about to reach Halton’s neck, but Halton suddenly smirks at him. In a second, a metal thing pierced through his chest. Seth’s movements stopped midair. The metal thing was claws coming from his glove knuckles. Seth spits blood from his mouth while in pain.

‘’Seth!’’ Jin shouted.

‘’Fool brat! This should make you understand who you’re dealing with.’’ Halton told Seth as he tosses him back to Jin.

‘’Seth! Hang in there.’’

‘’Dammit! I didn’t know those gloves had claws in them.’’ Seth said as he coughs blood.

‘’It’s okay, just keep pressing on the wound.’’

Jin lifts Seth and puts him aside. He looks back at Halton, who’s laughing as loud as he can, with anger written all over his face.

‘’Now it’s your turn brat. I'll make you pay for what you have done.’’

‘’That should be my line.’’

Both get to their stance, ready to fight.

As the two kept staring at each other for a bit waiting for who will make the first move.

‘’If you’re not coming, I will!’’ said Halton as he dashed toward Jin.

Jin was surprised by how fast he closed the gap between them. Halton throws his claw’s fist at him, but Jin guards it in the nick of time. Halton follows it immediately with a kick to the stomach, sending Jin flying out of the house.

‘’What’s a wrong brat? Is this all you’ve got?’’ Halton said as he leaves the house towards the open field.

‘’I can still fight!’’ Jin said as he stood up.

The two continue their battle. Halton is trying to slash Jin’s body, while Jin keeps on dodging and blocking. Seth at that time, trying not to lose consciousness, wonders how many years have Jin trained, and what kind of training he was doing to reach a level where he could read a fight.

Halton finally scratches Jin’s kimono, leaving the marks of his claw on them.

‘’Almost there. I will slice you into two.’’ Halton said proudly.

Jin looks at the ripped kimono and remembers his mentor who knitted it for him.

‘’This is my favorite shirt.’’

‘’Oh! I'm so sorry.’’ Halton sarcastically said.

‘’You know? I never thought of having friends. Since I had my mentor, I was satisfied. But when I lost him, I knew how important it is to have someone when you’re feeling down. I, for the first time, met people I could call my friends.’’

‘’Oi! What are you talking about? I don’t care about your life story.’’

‘’Apologizes! I forgot how empty you are.’’

That comment irritated Halton. As he dashes toward Jin screaming, that he will kill him.

‘’Ultimate technique: Divine Wind slash.’’ Jin said quietly.

As Halton speeds towards Jin, he feels a cold breeze coming from the same direction. The closer he gets, the colder and heavy the air felt. Jin looks at him with those dark glowing eyes. In a blink of an eye, he disappears. Before Halton could even react to that, many air slashes from all angles cut him down and break his metal claws. Halton gets down on his face.

From Seth’s perspective, he saw Jin disappear and the air slashes hit Halton many times before Jin appear again behind him. All of this took less than a second.

Jin walks up to Seth and asks if he is okay.

‘’Yeah, I am.’’

‘’I’ll take you to a doctor once we get the grimoire back,’’ Jin said.

All of a sudden, damaged and barely capable of standing up Halton was behind Jin and about to stab him with a knife. Seth shouts to Jin ‘’ Behind you!’’ Jin didn’t have time to react.

‘’lightning magic: Thunder.’’

A clap of thunder out of nowhere hits Halton, saving Jin from getting stabbed. The unconscious Halton falls on his face.

‘’Are you two okay?’’ A charming man’s voice said.

Jin and Seth see a man with shining metal armor on his brown horse, followed by a group of people wearing the same kind of armor but less shiny on their horses. No doubt, they were the knights of Kingdom Athena.

‘’Knights? Why they are here?’’ Seth said as he coughs blood.

‘’Don’t speak Seth. You’re injured.’’ Jin told him.

The man who spoke earlier got off his horse and approached Jin and Seth.

‘’Hello, I am Gil, First division captain.’’ The handsome young man with neck-length silver hair said.

‘’Did you guys do this?’’

‘’Yes,’’ Jin replied.

‘’Sir... These guys stole our friend’s grimoire. That is why we attacked them.’’ Seth said anxiously.

Gil stares at them both for a solid minute, before he pats them on the shoulder. ‘’Great job!’’

The confused Jin and Seth thought they were about to be scolded.

‘’These guys you beat down were a small crime organization that was doing some illegal activities lately. We just had the information about their hideout.’’

‘’I found two guys here!’’ One of Gil’s men spoke.

‘’Did you do that as well?’’ Gil said to Jin and Seth.

‘’Yes...’’ as they were trying to avoid eye contact.

A healer came in and healed Seth’s wound. Jin retrieved the grimoire and they spoke to Gil for a minute while his men were capturing the gang.

‘’ Alright! Thank you for doing your job. Let’s meet someday.’’ Gil said as he rode his horse

‘’Sir,’’ Seth said to Gil. ‘’ I want to be a knight!’’ with a firm voice.

Gil smiles back at him and said ‘’Good! We need men like you two!’’ and the group of knights took off.

As Seth and Jin were walking back to the inn through the forest.

‘’That man, Gil, he is strong!’’ Jin told Seth.

‘’What made you say that?’’

‘’I just felt his wind, and it was pure!’’

Seth didn’t understand what Jin said at all, but he knows that meeting that person, made him more motivated to become a knight, as the sun rises on their faces.

Back at the inn, Jin and Seth come back with the grimoire. They told Emily and Edward what happened and that they met the first division captain.

‘’By the way, why do they want your grimoire?’’ Jin asked Emily as he handed the grimoire to her.

‘’Well, grimoires are sold on the black market for a lot of money. The older the grimoire, the higher the price you will get.’’

‘’The older the grimoire?’’

‘’You see, grimoires are a generation of spells passed down from one person to another. I was blessed to have this from someone.’’

‘’Oh! Who is that person?’’

‘’She is a sorcerer. When we go to the capital, we will meet her!’’ She said delightedly as she hugs her grimoire.

A few minutes have passed, and the two attackers who attacked Jin and his friends were outside of the village in the nearby forest.

‘’Brother, hold on! We are almost at the village.’’ The girl spoke.

‘’No! We can’t go to the village. Halton and his men will be looking for us there.’’ as he coughs blood.

‘’But you’re going to die if you stay with that injury,’’ she replied with tears about to drop from her eyes.

She rests his back on a tree, as they both sat down. The girl held her brother as she is crying waterfalls of tears.

‘’You know sister when we were about to assassin those guys at the inn, I heard them talking about their lives. How both of them had a cruel past. They suffered like us, yet they still have hope for a better life with both of them having a goal. They didn’t even have blood on their hands.’’

The brother and his sister didn’t know their parents. As they were the victims of war, they found themselves at an orphanage after the war between Edril and Athena ended. They ran away from the orphanage, as they were trying to sell them off to become slaves for some wealthy man. From there, they started stealing from shops and the worst happened when the brother killed the shop owner as he was trapped by him in an alley and was going to choke kill his sister. He took the shop owner’s knife and stabbed him in the neck multiple times. That is when everything changed as he became a killer after. With time, he trained his sister to hold a knife and properly stab. After a year, they met Halton, a young ambitious man who wants to start his gang and rule the underground world. At that time, he had a few men with him. Since that day, they were his henchmen.

‘’Sister...No, Luna, you must have a normal life. Quit being an assassin, find a job and when you get older, marry the one you love. Do it for me, I want to see you happy!’’ her brother spoke quietly as he is slowly closing his eyes.

‘’Brother, please! No! Don't leave me!’’ Luna shouted with sadness as she hugs him tightly.

‘’Hey!’’ Luna heard a familiar voice.

She looks to see Jin and the others coming toward them in a hurry.

‘’Hey! We didn’t find you at the local doctor, we were looking for you after the fight.’’

‘’How...How did you two survive Halton?’’

‘’That’s a long story, we must take your brother to the local doctor before it's too late,’’ Jin told her.

Emily looks at the poor girl hugging her brother as she felt compassionate. She puts her hand on her bag and said ‘’Wait. There is no need. I have something for him.’’

‘’Emily, are you sure?’’ Seth told her.

‘’Yes!’’

She took out what it seems a healing potion. She squats down to him and opened the potion.

‘’What is that?’’ Luna said to Emily as she wipes her tears.

‘’It’s a healing potion. Don’t worry, he will be okay after drinking this.’’

Emily opens his mouth and made him drink the potion slowly. After he finishes it, a green aura encircles him, and the injury to his stomach vanishes. He opens his eyes to Emily, looks at Jin and the others. Luna hugs him even more as tears fall again.

‘’Why?’’ he told Jin and the group.

‘’Won’t you save a helpless person?’’ Emily replied with a smile.

She then stood up and said ‘’Alright! Our job is done, let’s move, we have a long journey ahead of us.’’

As they were about to leave, Luna comes in front of them and kneels with her head on the ground. ‘’Thank you! Thank you for saving my brother even though we attacked you earlier. I would do anything you want to pay up your healing potion.’’

‘’Please, get up. I didn’t do it for something in return. I just did it.’’ Emily’s reply left Luna speechless and in tears.

The group went up ahead while jin was a little behind.

‘’Wait! What is your name?’’

‘’Me? My name is Jin. What about you?’’

‘’I am Grey and my sister is Luna.’’

‘’Nice to meet you two! I hope we meet someday again.’’ Jin said. As he was about to walk away, Grey asked him.

‘’Jin! Do you think we still have a reason to live? We killed people. We almost killed you and your friends.’’ as he was still resting next to the tree.

Jin took a few seconds before he replied.

‘’I can’t answer your question. But I can tell you that no matter what have you done, your past doesn’t determine your future. If you regret the choices you did in the past, fix them in your present for a better future. That’s at least what my mentor told me.’’ He looks back at them with an open smile which made Luna blush and Grey smile.

Jin catches up to his friends and they all continue their journey. Emily wants to become a better sorcerer to help her village, Seth wants to become a strong knight, Jin wants to live his life to the fullest and Edward wants to help his friends. Each and its goal.