A while later, soldiers arrived and examined the scene. Unfortunately, the “culprit” had not left any evidence. With nothing else they could do, they returned to the barracks and reported the happenings, along with Gust’s story as to what had happened, to Sir Rosenthal.

“How audacious!” Sir Rosenthal slammed the table. “The Kenta Kingdom thinks so lowly of me that they’re trying to assassinate civilians in MY fort? Double the patrols, and check every person who enters or leaves the city!”

“Yes, sir!”

Meanwhile, Gust and Wesley were making through the gate facing the Kenta Kingdom. Not because of the “assassination”, but rather because they didn’t want to wait for the new Sylock Trading Company representative to arrive in a few weeks to continue their trip.

After a few hours of travelling, saw another fort, similar in size to that of Fort Rosenthal. Soon after, they entered the gates without any trouble - the soldiers only gave them a cursory glance before letting them in.

However, once they were in the fort, they saw that many people were rushing towards the center of the city.

Curious, Gust grabbed a lady who was running past and asked, “Hey lady, what’s going on here?”

The lady looked at Gust and wrenched her arm back in disgust. Not that she could be blamed - Gust hadn’t washed up in quite a while. Nonetheless, she answered his question.

“You’re not from around here, huh? Today’s Kenta Independence Day - as such, the greatest warriors of each age group are going to compete at the center of the city today. The best part of it all is that seats are free!”

With that, she left.

“Hmm. Sounds interesting. What do you think, Wesley?”

“Sure.”

With that, the two made their way to the center of the city, where they saw a giant coliseum that looked to seat the city’s entire population, although with some squeezing involved. Just the arena itself could easily hold a few thousand people.

Luckily for Gust and Wesley, the event started right as they found their seats. To the cheers of the audience, a lone man clad in fierce steel armor, and adorned with a red cloak stepped onto the arena. In his right hand was a short sword, in his left, a large, round shield.

He raised his arms, and the stadium, which had just been filled with the incessant chatter of the masses, instantly went silent.

After a few seconds, the man brought his sword and shield together with a clash.

“HOU HOU HOU. HOU HOU HOU. HOU HOU HOU.”

The entire stadium rang with primal war cries, startling Gust and Wes, who had been utterly unprepared for it.

Gust shook it off and watched on, amused, but suddenly he heard some high pitched screeches from his right.

‘Ah… isn’t Wesley getting a little too into it?’

Wesley was currently screeching at the top of his lungs, jumping up and down like a madman.

‘Ah well, it’s about time he’s been allowed to let loose and have fun.’

Despite that, his right ear started bleeding…

Eventually, the war cries subsided, and the coliseum was quiet once again.

An announcer shouted his greetings to the audience. “Ladies and Warriors, thank you for coming! For the independence of our nation, countless warriors died in battle. Today, we honor their deaths! Are you ready??!”

“HOU HOU HOU.”

The stadium exploded again.

“Alright, so you know the drill. Five age groups, a hundred combatants each, and at the end of the day, five winners. First up, the kids!”

A hundred kids, all less than ten years old, ran up the steps to the arena, wooden weapons in hand. Once there, they spread out until they spanned the field.

“3, 2, 1… Fight!”

Instantly, the kids in the arena charged at each other, bashing each other with the wooden weapons.

Thankfully, several soldiers had been placed on the edges of the arena to dart in and save any kids who’d been beaten and could no longer participate from the arena, so that their injuries could be treated.

Although he couldn’t see the spectacle, the raw sounds of fighting, as well as the crowd’s cheers, painted a vivid image in Wesley’s mind.

Eventually, there were only two kids left. The two had been worn out from all of the fighting, and could not properly display their learned techniques any longer. They simply traded blow for blow, struggling to stay upright.

Eventually, one of them lost consciousness, and the winner shouted toward the the sky, then collapsed as well.

Again, the crowd exploded into war cries, but this time, Gust’s face was wrapped in darkness, and he did not join in.

“Come on Wesley, we’re leaving.”

“Hmm? Okay.”

Although Wesley was having the time of his life, he could hear the seriousness in Gust’s voice. It was time to leave.

They walked out of the coliseum, and after purchasing some essential supplies with what little remained of Gust’s money, the two left the city, making their way east, toward the Larwin Kingdom.

The two walked in silence - Wesley was daydreaming about what he’d experienced at the coliseum earlier, and Gust was busy brooding. It wasn’t until that night that the two talked again.

They were tying themselves to tree branches so that they would be up high out of the reach of any beasts as they slept, when Wesley finally spoke up.

“Hey Gust.”

“Yeah?”

“How much longer until we reach the Reiniad Kingdom?”

Gust thought about it. The Kenta Kingdom was very small, and they were only crossing a small part of it - after walking for half a day, they had already nearly exited the Kenta Kingdom. However, between them and the Reiniad Kingdom was still the Larwin Kingdom, and on the border between the Larwin and Reiniad Kingdoms was the Alaki Mountain Range.

All in all… “It’ll probably take another month or so… and then it’ll probably take a while longer to find your family. You said they were rich, right?”

“Mhmm. They should be a noble family.”

With that, Gust nodded. “Then we’ll probably have to head to the Reiniad Kingdom’s capital city, Lumient City. Do you know what family she’s from?”

“Uh, her name was Patricia Lumient.”

“...Little man, are you stupid?”

“Huh?”

“The capital city of the Reiniad Kingdom is Lumient City. Your mother’s last name is Lumient. The ruling family is the Reniad family, but the Lumient family is first-ranked Noble family of the Reiniad Kingdom. Kid, your family is goddamn rich!”

With new motivation, Gust happily began describing how he was going to use all of the money Wesley’s family would give him.

However, when Wesley eventually dozed off into the dreamland, Gust stopped.

He tried to peer through the darkness, to see if Wesley was awake. After seeing that Wesley wasn’t moving, he whispered, just to check.

“Hey Wesley, you there?”

Finally sure that Wesley was asleep, Gust untied himself from the tree branch, then climbed his way down the tree.

Although he normally carried a hand and a half sword, he’d never learned how to use one, and it was painfully obvious each time he used it.

For example, that night when the caravan had been assaulted by bandits, he’d instantly lost his duel with the first bandit he’d met.

However, it wasn’t as if he’d never been trained in weaponry before. It was just that the weapon he’d trained with in the past was incomparable to a half and a half sword.

He reached into his bag, and pulled out a pair of sheathed kukri. With a sigh, he quietly set his bag aside, then sneaked his way out of the area.

It was time to train again.