Book 2: Chapter 19

Valter and Cyil turned towards the voice and saw four teenage boys, all around 15 years old, standing side by side. Valter couldn’t tell which boy had spoken, but he narrowed his eyes and said, “What. Who’s to stop us from passing the qualifiers? Shut your mouth before you’ve even fought us.”

Cyil didn’t refute Valter’s words, only continuing to glare at the most ordinary looking of the four boys. That was the boy who had made the jeering comment; Cyil could sense it and although he knew getting upset wouldn’t do a thing, he was still dissatisfied.

The boys heard Valter’s retort, but began talking among themselves, completely ignoring Valter.

“Hmph, bunch of stray dogs barking,” Valter said. “Brother Cyil, let’s go.”

At this moment, the tallest of the four boys broke out of the discussions. He strode up to Valter, who was a head shorter, and got up real close to Valter’s face. His breath hitting Valter’s unblinking eyes. “I dare you to say that again.”

Valter smiled, “I said, you’re a bunch of stray dogs.” Then Valter shrugged, “happy?”

The tall boy abruptly grabbed Valter by the shirt and lifted him up into the air. Valter didn’t resist and simply said, “oh, so you do have some teeth left to gnaw with.”

“You’re looking to die!” The tall boy’s eyes turned dangerous and tightening his grip on Valter’s shirt, he slammed downwards.

As he was falling, Valter grabbed the tall boy’s wrist and squeezed. With a snap, the wrists were dislocated, effectively interrupting the full force of the slam. Valter landed on the ground with a groan, then kicked the tall boy off of him. By now the tall boy was screaming in agony and rolling around the ground.

Valter frowned, thinking that this level of pain shouldn’t render such a reaction. Seeing the tall boy’s scrunched up face and hearing his yells, Valter even felt somewhat bad for the boy. Looking to Cyil with confusion in his eyes, Valter didn’t think the boy would be so weak after such big talk. Cyil shrugged his shoulders at Valter, also not expecting such an easy fight.

The three other boys stared with open mouths, first shocked by the turn of events, then happy. Their ploy had gone better than expected. Of course, having their friend’s wrist dislocated wasn’t part of the plan, but this could be even better.

The three boys quickly rushed up to the tall boy and said, “Conrado, how much pain you’ve suffered! Who knew that boy would be so vicious when we only wanted to talk!”

The most ordinary boy pointed at Valter and said, “you have harmed our friend and he may not be able to participate in annual mercenary tournament. We demand compensation for this loss!”

When Valter heard the ordinary boy speak, he said, “so you were the punk who spouted that nonsense. Why were you quiet until now?”

The ordinary boy grew angry, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I know is that you’ve harmed my friend and if you don’t compensate us, I will have to bring the matters to the mercenary association.”

Valter could see what these guys were all about and he laughed. “Who taught you all how to scam people? This was a fight and he attacked me first. Besides, that injury can be healed within a week.” Valter couldn’t believe that he had gotten angry over a bunch of scammers.

Cyil also frowned at how things was turning out. Then, Cyil noticed that two middle aged men were walking over and he felt that things were about to get more complicated.

Valter and Cyil had been training in a secluded space just outside of the city. Soaring Wolf’s Headquarters was outside of the city, because they couldn’t afford stationing themselves in the city. Since Cyil had began his training in that secluded area with Valter, they had hardly met any passerbys. Now, coincidentally, there were six visitors? Cyil didn’t believe it.

As the men walked passed the conflict, they purposefully stopped and interjected: “Whoa whoa, what a horrible injury!” one of the men said.

“Horrific, indeed. Who would indeed do such a cruel thing to a defenseless person?” the other man added.

“What?” Valter, didn’t know who these two men were, but their conjectures were all wrong. Turning to the two men, Valter explained: “Seniors, this was a fight between me and him. I didn’t ask for trouble but he grabbed me and slammed me to the ground, so I was right to retaliate. I’ve only dislocated his wrists and they should heal fine so-”

Suddenly, one of the man spoke over Valter’s explanation. “You think I don’t know what happened? I saw it with my own eyes, you have ruined this boy’s future! Dislocated wrists? More like shattered bones and ruptured organs, not to mention the trauma. Listen to how much agony he is in.”

Valter’s eyes widened. All he could think of was, “what the Nakrul was going on?”

Cyil’s eyes squinted and he said, “Seniors, I was here and I also witnessed everything. My brother and I truly meant no harm, but when fighting is involved, there are bound to be injuries. To have your wrists dislocated is not too bad of a result. Sometimes, even limbs are lost. Most times, a life forfieted.”

The man who had interrupted Valter was quick to speak again, “little boy who still sucks his mother’s tits, I advise you to shut up. You don’t know a thing about wounds. I can clearly tell that the boy’s wound is serious and maybe even lethal! You’ve committed a great crime.”

The accusations were so poorly done that Cyil and Valter would have laughed, except that they couldn’t find an easy way out of this unforeseen situation.

Valter had some time to think as Cyil was speaking and now said, “let’s go to the mercenary association as was suggested then and have them resolve this. If we really are wrong, I will compensate for his wounds.”

The two men exchange glances, surprised at the level headedness of this young man. Most people they had caught in this situation quickly caved in under the pressure from multiple parties and had given them ample compensation. However, there were also some stubborn ones like this young man, and this situation was already covered.

Suddenly, the ordinary looking boy shouted, “oh no! Conrado is going to die! His breathing is lessening and his body is going cold.”

“What the…” Valter looked to the tall boy who was no longer screaming, but laid still with his eyes closed.

Valter hadn’t noticed as he had been caught up in the situation, but Cyil sensed the hidden actions. The short boy had slipped the tall boy a green pellet and after consuming it, the tall boy no longer screamed. Cyil thought it was medicine to help ease the pain and didn’t think it would lead to such a scenario.

Cyil spoke up, “you fed him a pill. I saw it.”

One of the man then said in an angry huff, “quit lying indeed! Do you indeed have eyes behind your head? I was observing everything since the beginning and there were indeed no such pills. Both of you have spouted lies after lies since we seniors have indeed gotten here. Indeed, have you no respect?!”

Cyil scoffed, but kept the mask of a confused and scared boy on his face.

Valert was more direct, “you two are may be older than us, but both your characters are not worthy of respect. I’d thought as someone age they would be wiser, but today my eyes have truly been opened!”

The two men trembled with anger, “you--.” Even after their many scams, they hadn’t faced two kids with so much balls. They were at both rank 3 warriors, but had been delegated to scamming people because of the harsh quota of their mercenary group-- Ravenous Serpents. At first, they were both disgruntled with the work, but it proved to be safer and more efficient than hunting for magical beasts or taking on tedious missions. They had grown to like it and had gotten good at it; they now even had some younger members from their group help them.

“Do you know what mercenary group we’re from, boy? I could have your mercenary group,” the man looked at the patch on Valter’s sleeve, “Soaring Wolf eradicated in less than a day.”

Valter frowned and finally noticed the patch on the two men’s arm. “Ravenous Serpents,” Valter gasped, knowing that this was a mercenary group Soaring Wolf could not offend. Ravenous Serpents were not only vicious, but one of the largest mercenary groups centered in Rovaria Kingdom. Members of Ravenous Serpents were known for their unbridled arrogance and untamed nature. Now Valter understood why these goons would be so confident despite their sloppy accusations. Giving an inch to these Ravenous Serpents would result in them taking a mile.

Valter immediately lowered his head, bending ninety-degrees at the waist and robotically said, “Seniors, I apologize for my words. I had eyes, but could not see the greatness before me. My brother and I are truly sorry.” As Valter said these things he gestured for Cyil to bow, but Cyil remained standing.

One of the men saw this and said, “it looks like your brother here doesn’t quite agree. That’s going to be a problem.”

“Cyil, quickly,” Valter whispered through his teeth.

Cyil thought for a bit then reluctantly bowed, repeating Valter’s words.

The two men laughed, while the three boys snickered. They had finally caught their prey. Now it was just a matter of how much they could extort.

“Since you indeed know which mercenary group we’re from, it’ll be much simpler.” One of the men took out a small sack and tossed it to the ground. “Give us all you’ve got and if we’re happy, you can indeed go.”

Valter gritted his teeth and bent down to pick up the bag, but just as he did so, the ordinary boy took this opportunity to boot Valter’s buttocks, sending him headfirst into the dirt.

Valter managed to catch himself in time and was not hurt, but the humiliation he felt was surging. Still, Valter could only silently endure.

Cyil saw the actions through the corner of his eyes and although he wanted to stay emotionally detached, he no longer could. Soaring Wolf had been good to him and Valter even moreso. Cyil was even more furious when he saw Valter’s watery eyes.

Valter quickly took out a small pouch from his sash and placed it into the sack then said, “Seniors, this is all I have. My brother has nothing as I carry all our money.”

“Liar,” the ordinary looking boy said. “You two were training so you couldn’t have carried much. Let’s go back to where you live and see what you have there.”

Valter’s face turned pale.

Cyil jumped in and said, his voice the epitome of cowardice, “please, great sirs, our mercenary group is but a weak one. We don’t have much at all in the way of money.”

By now the man had sifted through the pouch Valter had placed in the sack and said, “16 gold coins, 15 silver, 92 coppers. This must be your entire savings, right?”

Valter’s eyes were red, but he refused to cry like a child. That was indeed his entire savings; it was the money he had received from his father before he had died and the money he had saved up after being in Soaring Wolf for 2 years.

“Yes, senior, that is all I have,” Valter said, his voice hoarse.

The two men looked at one another and laughed. Then one of them said, “fine, I am almost satisfied. Let’s see….You two just need to strip naked and give us your clothes, then I will be satisfied.” the man clapped his hands together as if telling them to hurry up.

“Why?” Valter asked. Their clothes were not magical equipments or anything. They were worn, torn and sweaty cotton clothes.

“Because I said so. You wouldn’t want to anger your seniors, right?”

Valter squeezed his eyes shut, then felt a reassuring pat from Cyil. Valter opened his eyes to stare at Cyil who had already began taking off his clothes.

Cyil stripped down to his undergarment.

When the group saw what Cyil had done they were not amused because Cyil had done so too willingly. They wanted to humiliate the two, not this.

“Everything,” the ordinary looking boy said, clearly dissatisfied with Cyil’s calm actions.

Cyil frowned, thinking that these tyrants were going too far. Cyil wasn’t too clear on who the opposing group was, but based on Valter’s reaction Cyil had a clue. Cyil had been following along, but his patience was wearing thin; it was almost as if a sealed door was about to be opened.

“Brother Cyil,” Valter couldn’t help it anymore as his voice trembled and tears began to fall down his face. He was only a 15 year old after all, and this was the worst form of humiliation he had received in his life.

“It’s okay,” Cyil said reassuringly, his face no longer bothering with the facade of a frightened boy.

Cyil moved to take off his undergarment, but at that moment as if thinking of something better, the ordinary looking boy said in a nasty tone, “wait. I have a better idea! Why don’t we make it so these two can’t compete in the annual mercenary tournament. I heard that one there talking about making it to the top 500 the year before. I imagine he’s quite strong and have a good chance to make it higher this year. Let’s make it so that doesn’t happen.”

Cyil froze when he heard these words and his eyes sharpened.

The two men looked at each other, thinking about it for a bit then finally nodded. “As long as we don’t cripple them, their mercenary group shouldn’t have reason to find trouble with us. Having them stay in bed for a month will satisfy me.”

“Let me have a go at them after you’re done,” the ordinary boy said with a sinister smile.

“Indeed,” one of the men said, cracking his knuckles.

In a flurry of events, the situation had turned from a simple confrontation to extortion and now to violence.

Valter trembled at the thought of not being able to compete in the annual mercenary tournament. Next year he would still be able to compete in the 16 and under division, but he had trained so hard. Gritting his teeth, Valter said, “Brother Cyil, protect your vitals and endure! Don’t try to dodge or fight back. Endure.”

Valter covered his head and crouched down, preparing himself for the blows. Valter waited.

“What?!” Several startled screams roused Valter from his defensive position.

Valter looked up and gasped.

One of the men had a hole in his heart and with bulging eyes said, “mage. You’re indeed one.” Afterwards, he dropped to the ground with a thud. A rank 3 warrior was taken out in one shot.