Chapter 6: Wingman

Blacky and Cool Breeze arrived at a crossroad after a less than a week of travel.

They rarely spoke on their trip. Blacky would occasionally have rest and enjoy a few meals, while making sure Cool Breeze didn’t notice.

Unfortunately Cool Breeze detected Blacky’s strange behaviour. He now had the sudden urge to beat Blacky up in the tournament at Stone Village.

Blacky pointed at a sign which had the words Stone Village carved on to it.

After a few moments, Blacky and Cool Breeze could see Stone Village appear in front of their view.

Stone Village wasn’t as large as Tifili Village, but there were still thousands of villagers.

There were rocks piled on top of each other, which formed a gate around the village.

At this moment Cool Breeze turned to look at a raven that was perched on top of the gates.

When the raven felt Cool Breeze’s gaze it chirped, then flew away.

There was also a man clad in leather armour. A badge was on worn, by his chest which indicated he was a village guard.

He stood by the main entrance of the village, when he saw Blacky and Cool Breeze approaching he stood up and smiled at the two.

“Welcome to Stone Village travellers. I suppose you’ve come to watch the tournament?” The guard seemed to be fairly friendly.

Cool Breeze who was in the lead snorted then walked into the village, completely ignoring the guard.

Blacky smiled awkwardly as he followed behind Cool Breeze. He wanted to ask the guard a few questions, but he held back.

“Young Master Breezy, there is a week left for the tournament, should we look for Elder Raven?” Blacky asked Cool Breeze.

“He already knows we’ve arrived, just wait till he makes his appearance.” Cool Breeze answered confidently.

Blacky coughed then said. “Uhh, Young Master Breezy.. Where exactly are you planning on going now?”

Cool Breeze stopped walking and looked around the area.

Blacky once again spoke. “We can ask one of the village guards, they can tell us where to find a place to stay..”

Cool Breeze snorted. “Well, it seems you know much about villages. Huh?”

Blacky secretly rolled his eyes then said. “Haha, Young Master Breezy is naturally unconcerned about the matters of these villagers. They are like ants compared to your greatness..”

Cool Breeze smiled slightly and nodded his head. It appeared Blacky was slowly learning of his greatness.

Blacky noticed another village guard patrolling the area, he immediately ran up to the man.

“Sir, may I ask if you know where we can find a tavern?” Blacky spoke respectfully.

The guard glanced at the huge bag on Blacky’s back then nodded. “You two must be travellers who came to watch the tournament right? The Eastern district has a few taverns. Also the Western district has all sorts of vendors.”

Blacky nodded then said. “Is there a blacksmith as well?”

“Yes, our Stone Village has one of the greatest blacksmiths in this region. You can find anything you need there.” The guard replied.

Blacky thanked the guard and said farewell.

“Young Master Breezy, the sun is still up, shall we take a look at this blacksmiths store? I have no weapons for the tournament.” Blacky spoke to Cool Breeze with a shrewd smile.

“Whatever, let’s go.” Cool Breeze immediately took the lead and walked ahead of Blacky.

After a few minutes of walking they arrived at the Western district of the village. There were many stalls and villagers around the area trading goods.

Blacky’s eyes lit up when he saw a stone hut. There was a picture of an anvil on a sign near the entrance.

Blacky and Cool Breeze entered to store together. A middle aged man with a robust body glanced at the two.

He noticed Blacky wearing a black robe, his appearance could be considered shifty. As for Cool Breeze he appeared like a young noble, the shopkeeper decided to keep his eyes on Blacky.

“All of my weapons are high quality, made especially for Spiritual Warriors. Feel free to browse around.” The middle aged man said while looking at Cool Breeze.

Cool Breeze had no reaction, but Blacky was excited as he looked at all of the weapons on display.

Blacky took note of all the weapons he wanted. Finally he walked up to a sword which had a thin blade.

Such blades wouldn’t usually be used because it would snap easily. However the weapons were all made for the use of Spiritual Warriors, their quality was very high.

Blacky stood very close to the sword, he then rubbed his chin as if he was in deep thought.

Blacky glanced at Cool Breeze, he then picked up the sword and slid his fingers across the blade.

“What a great sword.” Blacky spoke out in admiration.

Cool Breeze rolled his eyes feeling bored.

Blacky seemed to be lost in thought, he had held the sword in his hand for over a minute. He seemed to appreciate the sword quite a bit.

Cool Breeze snorted then said. “What are you waiting for, are you going to buy it or not?”

Blacky sighed appearing ‘sorrowful’. “I don’t have enough bronze coins for this weapon.”

Cool Breeze snorted. “How much more do you need?”

Blacky sighed once more. He noticed the shopkeeper vigilantly looking at him. Blacky leaned close and whispered into Cool Breeze’s ear. “I have no coins, let’s steal this sword.”

Cool Breeze opened his mouth in shock. This kid was unreal!

Suddenly voices of a crowd could be heard outside the streets.

“Look over there.. It’s the daughter and son of the Village Chief!” A man said while pointing out the two.

“Wow, the Village Chiefs daughter appears more and more beautiful every day.” Another man said as he licked his lips.

“Hmph, hmph. She’s only eighteen and reached the second level Spiritual Warrior stage. An absolute genius! Her brother is two years older and at the same stage.” The first man spoke in disdain.

The brother sister duo ignored all the onlookers on the street. They were accustomed to such reactions no matter where they were in the village.

“Janna here’s the blacksmiths store.” The young woman’s brother spoke beside her.

The duo entered the store, Cool Breeze’s eyes lit up when he saw Janna’s figure. Although he had seen more beautiful women in his life, for a villager Janna wasn’t considered bad.

Janna and her brother glanced at Cool Breeze, then at Blacky noticing they were unfamiliar. Without saying a word they went up to the counter.

“Junior Clarke and Janna have come to pay a visit to sir. We would like to buy a weapon for next week’s tournament for my sister.” Clarke spoke respectfully, appearing quite humble even with his status.

The middle aged man nodded with a smile as he stood up. “What exactly are you looking for?”

Janna smiled beautifully and spoke. “Sir, what’s the best weapon you have for sale?”

The middle aged shopkeeper bent under the counter. He pulled out a fine sword, which had a golden hilt.

“This sword is the finest quality sword I’ve got. I assure you that there is no other sword like it for sale, young miss.” The shopkeeper spoke honestly.

Janna’s eyes lit up. “What’s the price?”

“Five gold coins.” The shopkeeper raised five fingers.

Janna frowned slightly. Gold coins were the top form of currency within the village. She could barely put together five coins if she gathered all her savings.

“Is it possible you can reduce the price a little?” Janna said.

“Hahaha” Cool Breeze who was in the store suddenly laughed out.

“Janna is it? Nice to meet you, I’m Young Master Breezy.” Cool Breeze walked up to Janna with a smile on his face.

Afterwards a small pile of gold appeared in Cool Breeze’s hand. He tossed the gold coins on top of the counter.

“Old Man, give that sword to the girl.” Cool Breeze’s natural arrogance was showed off at this moment.

Blacky’s eyes almost popped out of his head as he watched the scene.

The shopkeeper coughed lightly and nodded his head. “Youn- Young sir.. You overpaid me..”

Janna and Clarke watched on with shock, there were even people on the streets who gathered around the store.

Blacky watched at how two gold coins fell off the counter, he immediately bent down and picked them up storing them away.

“Wait, we’ll also be buying this sword.” Blacky waved the sword in his hands from moments ago.

Cool Breeze ignored Blacky and continued to smile at Janna.

Blacky then went and stood behind Cool Breeze. He eyed Janna and Clarke in anger.

Blacky appeared to protectively stand near Cool Breeze. He raised his middle finger up towards the duo.

Janna and Clarke opened their mouth, but had nothing to say. It seemed like Blacky was warning them not to steal his man!

Cool Breeze glanced at Blacky with the corner of his eyes. Luckily, Blacky was paying attention to Cool Breeze, and managed to put a smile on his face in time.

Cool Breeze then frowned as he noticed Janna wasn’t paying any attention to him.

Cool Breeze cared greatly about his image, the only reason he allowed Blacky to follow him was, because Blacky had a fairly good appearance. In Cool Breeze’s mind, this meant that Blacky was superior compared to those like Clarke.

Could it be Janna was more interested in Blacky than him?

“Why don’t you take the sword, is it not to your liking?” Cool Breeze asked with a slight frown.

Janna turned to look at Cool Breeze, just what is was going on with these two weirdos?

Clarke coughed at the side and whispered. “Hey Janna.. Don’t take the sword, these two fellows are strange.”

Janna smiled at Cool Breeze. “Although I would like this sword, I can pay for it myself..”

Cool Breeze frowned this was the first time he had been rejected. He felt outraged. Janna was a mere villager, for her to be able to even speak to him was her fortune!

Cool Breeze snorted and said. “I urge you to reconsider.”

Janna once again ignored Cool Breeze. Cool Breeze was about to explode.

He suddenly noticed Clarke and the shopkeeper were all looking towards Blacky’s direction mouth open.

Cool Breeze turned around and noticed Blacky was no longer standing behind him. Blacky was currently grabbing all sorts of weapons and placing them within his robes.

After inserting five or so swords in his robes, Blacky shook his head feeling it wasn’t enough.

Suddenly he smiled and took off the bag on his back. His eye shined as he looked at a basket full of throwing knifes.