The Adventure Begins
1195 Words
Andrey and Lucius are thrown away and stop a few meters from William, who swings his sword masterfully with just one hand.
- Is that all? - William asks, smiling.
- You seem to be getting tired! - Lucius says smiling.
- Hahaha! I'm tired from sleeping so much! You're slow!
Lucius lunges at William and Andrey follows from behind. Lucius strikes a blow with his sword and Andrey passes his friend and strikes a blow from the other side.
William spins his sword and deflects Lucius' blow and blocks Andrey's blow. William pushes Andrey away and puts his sword behind his back and blocks Lucius' blow.
- What? - Lucius exclaims in surprise.
William moves so fast that Lucius is startled, and the man comes up behind the boy and strikes him in the back.
- Ah!" Lucius cries out in pain.
Andrey catches up with William and lands a blow on William's legs and the man jumps away. Suddenly, Lucius jumps over Andrey and William is surprised.
- Aura Technique: Strong Blow!
Lucius lands a powerful blow on William and the man defends the blow, but is pushed back by the impact.
William is surprised to see his hand shaking after Lucius' blow.
- They're on the same page... - William thinks, smiling. - Not bad! - William shouts, smiling.
- Keep pressing! - Andrey shouts, holding his sword tightly.
Suddenly, Lucius and Andrey are hit all over the body by several blows in succession and William passes them in the blink of an eye.
- DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN! - William shouts angrily.
Lucius and Andrey fall unconscious to the ground and Lilian, who had been watching the training sitting on a cut log, closes her book and gets up.
- I'm going to heal them. - Lilian says, smiling nervously.
- Do it quickly. I still have all day... Hold on. - William says, catching the woman's eye. - Get inside. Quickly.
- Right! - Lilian says nervously.
William drags Lucius while Lilian drags Andrey, and the pair get them both inside the hut. William closes the door tightly and throws his wooden sword away.
- Keep quiet... - William says, stretching out his arm.
At that moment, Andrey regains consciousness and looks at Lilian, trying to get up from the floor:
- Urgh... What happened?
- I don't know. Sir William told us to be quiet for some reason. - Lilian replies nervously.
Lilian approaches the wooden door and tries to see through the crack and spots William standing a few meters from the door.
- What... What are you doing here? - William says and his hand starts to shake.
Andrey manages to get up and does the same as Lilian and he sees William's hand shaking.
- Sir William... Is he scared? - Andrey thinks nervously.
William swallows dryly and sharpens his gaze on someone...
A figure approaches from within the forest and stops a few meters away from William while both remain silent.
This being finally breaks the silence between them:
- Hello, what's your name?
- Hm... My name is William. - William replies firmly.
- William? Sir William? Interesting... I thought you were dead.
- Who is it? I can't see... - Andrey thinks nervously.
- What do you want here? - William asks, waving his arm and revealing his sword in its sheath at his waist.
For an instant, a tiny instant... Andrey feels every last hair on his body shiver.
- Who is this person?
A woman with long pink hair and red eyes stands before him and, with her presence, intimidates William, who remains nervous and distressed.
- Well... I'm looking for a girl... Have you seen her? She's that tall. - She says with her hand by her waist. - And she has snow-white hair, and her eyes are-
- No, I haven't seen her. - William replies firmly.
- Who is this woman? - Andrey thinks nervously. - Why is Sir William nervous?
- Ah... I see. Well, forgive me for disturbing your training with your students. - She says, bowing to William.
Andrey, Lilian and William shivered as soon as she finished her words.
- What was that all about? - Lilian asks in a cold sweat.
- I don't know... But she looks dangerous.
- You can leave... - William says and takes a deep breath.
Andrey opens the door and comes out of the house, and he questions:
- Sir William... Who was she?
- Hm... That was Diane Lumiere.
- Who was that? - Lucius asks, coming out of the house.
- Diane Lumiere. She's an extremely skilled Rank S adventurer.
- Why were you so nervous about her? - Lilian asks confused.
- Listen. You can't trust people, and that includes everyone. - William says firmly and takes a deep breath.
- Sir William. Could you take us to the Adventurers' Guild? - Lucius asks firmly.
- Why? - William asks confused.
- Andrey and I have trained enough with you. And also, your strength is beyond the level of an ordinary Adventurer, right? - Lucius asks nervously.
- I think so. - William replies with a frown.
- So how do we know if we're getting stronger or not? - Lucius asks firmly.
William remains silent for a few seconds until Lilian exclaims:
- Sir William. Unfortunately, I have to agree with Lucius.
- Unfortunately? - Lucius asks incredulously.
- Lucius and Andrey have been training with you for days. I think it's about time they started paying for your help.
- What are you talking about? Have they forgotten that I'm doing a favor for a deceased friend?
- Yes, but you've done much more than that. - Lilian replies firmly. - You gave us food, shelter and trained us. But now it's time to let us repay the debt!
- Hm...
William remains silent for a few moments and then he takes a deep breath and concludes:
- Right. Let's go to Ignalis, it's south of here.
- Hold on. Isn't Gaius' army conquering Yasus? - Lucius asks nervously.
- Don't worry. The war is over... A few days ago.
Andrey, Lucius and Lilian are stunned by William's words.
- Wait a minute! What do you mean? - Andrey asks nervously. - Maximus destroyed Larion seven days ago!
- And the war ended on the third day. - William replies, leaving the trio shocked. - Maximus attacked from the north and Tempus from the west. The Four Pillars don't need to rest, so for them it was only a fight of a few hours...
- So Yasus... - Lucius mutters.
- It doesn't exist anymore. - William says firmly. - You guys! Let's go! Don't you want to become Adventurers?
William continues walking while Andrey, Lilian and Lucius stand there for a few moments.
- "Yes!" Andrey exclaims, following William.
- Wait for me! - Lucius shouts, running after them.
- Mr. Dmitri... We're coming. - Lilian says, looking at the old house where they were sheltering. - Goodbye...
Sir William, Andrey, Lucius and Lilian begin their new journey towards Ignalis!
- Writer
