Guaranteed chapter. Also since a lot of people say that I misspell words but are reluctant to point them out. On friday (15.01.2016) there will most likely be no chapters since i will be reading through all the chapters(again) to find the spelling mistakes. (also might make a new release schedule of posting a chapter over day, leaving 1 day to proofread chapters)

Enough rambling.

Enjoy

Chapter 21: A bit of Nalser's history

When everyone saw the immense pile of monster cores, they were as struck by lightning. When they heard that this was only half of them, some felt like they wanted to faint. They all stared at the pile of monster cores drooling. If they got all the money from them, they could live their lives enjoying practically every pleasure they could think of. If they hadn't seen how strong Nalser exactly was, they would have already jumped him.

They had practically no doubt that even if all of them attacked him together with their strongest attacks, they would only get themselves killed. Tobias didn't know what to say. He just stared blankly for a while before snapping out of it. "Ohh, yea, we need to count these." He snapped out but astonishment was still in his voice. He beckoned for the lady behind the counter to come and count all the cores. While the lady started counting them, Tobias tried to make small talk, "Well, I haven't seen you for half a year and already you have stirred up a lot. Also, what happened to your hair and who is that?" While pointing at Curo, he had a puzzled look on his face. The image of the person that left 6 months ago, was drastically different from the person that was currently standing before him.

Half an hour passed, in the blink of an eye and Nalser told him everything that happened in the meantime, of course he left out the Asura flame and made up a bogus story as to why his hair turned white. All of the adventurer's were also sitting crowded around Nalser, listening with interest. Nalser and Tobias had moved to the bar wing of the building. When Nalser had reached around the end, the lady who was counting the monster cores came next to Tobias and gave him a sheet of paper and whispered something in Tobias's ear.

When she started to walk away, she spared a sideways glance of astonishment towards Nalser. She couldn't believe that a youth as old as him could bring in so many of the cores. She was wondering what sort of a background did someone have to have to be as strong as him. Everyone who had seen the pile, were now eagerly waiting for the results. Tobias cleared his throat and began, "Well, seems, like you went on quite a rampage to get so many cores. Well the results are: Rank 1 cores 784, Rank 2 cores, 434, rank 3 cores 555, rank 4 cores 132, rank 5 cores 58, rank 6 cores 13. This is a new record in the world probably. All and all the total of selling them to the guild get you 18 328 Gold coins and 10 000 contribution points."

When he finished the sentence even Tobias was puzzled about him. Everyone else nearly fainted. Nalser went and collected the money, then exchanged a few pleasantries with everyone and he left with Tobias to find a inn. In about 15 minutes they had already booked into a hotel recommended by Tobias.

They were sitting at the table and Tobias asked with a serious face, "What the hell is you background little monster?" Seeing that he had no way of avoiding the subject Nalser started talking, "You see I was a soldier in my old world. In that world magic didn't exist. Instead technology thrived. My father died in the war on the front lines when i was 6, they never even found his body. My mother died in a attack on our town, when I was 8. That was when I first killed as well. Since I had no reletives to take me in, I was was enlisted in the military. Since I was still a child, I was given basic training on how to use a weapon and then my first mission was to sneak into the enemy camp and kill their commanding officer. Since children were usual, I could sneak in and slit the throat of the commander and get out before anyone noticed. You see, when I first killed, something in me broke. When I'm not in combat, I'm a go with the flow kind of person but when I enter combat, something in me clicks. I start to think on how to survive for another day. It's a laugh honestly. In that world, I was a child who most people would look at with pity, there wasn't anything worth living for but I clung to life."

When Tobias heard him, he was quiet. A child forced to kill at the age of 8 and then made to fight a war. That was insane, even by this worlds standards. When Nalser saw that that everything had sinked in to him, he took a sip of beer that they had bought on the way before continuing,

"After going behind enemy lines and infiltrating their camps for various reason, kill someone, destroy their supplies, collect information, my heart grew cold, If an order came I would even kill women and children. After 3 years of fighting like that, I was picked up by a black operations department called "Dragoncross", There I was given specialized training and then, sent to infiltrate even deeper and go after even bigger targets. For 5 years this was my life. I killed day in and day out. I turned into a sort of a machine, no matter what kind of a mission was given to me, I could accomplish it. At one time, the higher ups gave me a mission like this: I was to infiltrate the mansion of a well known general, kill his son, cut off his head and put it on a pillow in the middle of him and his wife, who were sleeping." As Tobias heard that, he had a complicated face on.

"After meeting the people here, I started regaining some of my humanity." Nalser looked out the window at the moon. Tobias was still quiet. He completely understood, why Nalser was like he was. He was hard to approach, you never knew how to talk to him. he took the dog tag that Old Timer had given him and started talking again.

"The person who gave me this, was the handler of my missions. he was also the only person in that world, that I considered my family. He treated me like a grandchild. He was the one, who helped me keep even a shred of humanity that was left inside me." Remembering the Old Timer, he had a nostalgic face. "He was the person, who made me read books. In those books I found a world, that didn't make me kill everything. Reading those books, I learned that a world would be a better place if everyone would admit their mistakes instead of shoving them down another persons collar. The day I was summoned, was my 15 birthday. at that time, I was supposed to be on my last mission, before retiring from active duty and starting to teach the next generation of soldiers. The reason it was a final mission, was because the target's this time across the globe were supposed to end the war. This was a joint mission of Dragoncross. over 500 people would take down 500 different targets across the globe. If I had stayed in that world. I would have never lived a peaceful life because they would always find another reason to start a war. In that world' I would have nowhere to run but in this world I have no obligation to any country. I am free to do whatever I want."

Nalser had a rare smile on his face, he continued, "This dog tag is my motto of life in this world, "Wings of Freedom Fly for an Eternity"". "I obtained my wings, when I came to this world. I'm going to follow my wings to end up where I will. I will never bitch about where or how i will end up because i got there by my own decisions, so I will follow them through."

Tobias finally understood, who the youth in front of him was. He was a person, who's heart was under the tightest lock and key. There was no person he trusted. He's body and mind held scars no person of this world could imagine. He had never heard of a youth doing what he had done. Now he also understood, why he was so different when he was in combat. Trying to tie this person down or getting him to trust you, well it was easier to kill a rank 9 magical beast with a toothpick. However, if he trusted you and considered you a friend, you would have a person similar to a rank 10 magical beast behind your back. They exchanged a few more sentences, then Tobias got up and left.

"This boy was both lucky to get out of that world and also unlucky to end up in Nadin." While thinking that, Tobias sighed, hearing Nalser's story made him see him in a completely different light.