Chapter 32: Borrowing, Pity And Remembrance
"What do you mean by "reading books" ?" Laena asked as she stared at Jack's smiling face.
"Well, you do know that I wish to find the missing parts of my former body don't you?" Seeing that she nodded, he then continued : "We still need to find where they are supposed to be. Since getting access to those information as adventurers isn't the fastest way, I went ahead and... Borrowed some books. If we are lucky we should find some mentions about old ruins or temples and maybe we'll find what we are searching for."
"Borrowed?" The elf repeated while raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, borrowing. For an undermined duration and without asking the owner's permission though." The immortal chuckled.
The young swordwoman was about to give him a piece of mind when her fidgety and seemingly quite embarrassed took the floor:
"S-so you want us to read them..?"
"Well, yeah. If I do it alone it's going to take way too much time." Jack shrugged. After he replied Evelyn became even more uneasy and Laena understood why was she acting like this.
"Are you worried because you don't know how to read?" The elf asked in a kind voice.
"Yes..."
"Don't worry young one, we'll take the time to teach you then." Jack intervened. "I too thought that I wouldn't be able to read the language but you are surprisingly using the same letters as we did in our time. The only troublesome part is the translation but I'm steadily learning thanks to you two. Thanks for you help."
Smiles bloomed on their faces and Evelyn seemed to relax as she knew that they were not going to let her down for such a small flaw. Knowing that her teacher had learned her language this fast made her curious and she couldn't help but wonder out loud :
"Did you truly learn the Kaldurian this fast? Were you a genius before teacher?" The look she had on her face was the same as a child speaking to her hero and this made Laena nearly laugh while Jack felt quite embarrassed to idolized like this. Scratching the nape of his neck he replied :
"I'm not the kind of outstanding character you think I am, really. If I had to compare myself to other... I was above average I guess, but certainly not a prodigy. Furthermore, it's easy to learn a language once you speak with people and translate thanks to magic." He explained with a wry smile.
"You're not a genius yet you have enough talent to grasp my family's fighting style within a few weeks." Laena said in a sarcastic tone. During their usual practice session he showed off an incredible learning progression and soon his prowess's were good enough for her to recognize her fighting style in his moves.
"That's because it was easy to learn." Jack shrugged. When he saw the angry gaze of his elven friend which had spent years to repeat what he had done in weeks he corrected himself : "I've spent eons on theorizing and training every kind of art possible. Grasping the basics of a fighting style is pretty easy as it is mainly copying and repeating."
"Does that mean that you can use any weapon easily?" The elf asked as an image of a weapon master beating every other expert appeared in her mind.
"Yes, but I won't be able to defeat someone way more experienced than I do." The immortal chuckled as he understood the fantasies she was dreaming about. "You and I are still basic swordsmen, even together we won't be able to touch an hair of a swordsmaster. Do you have any idea why?"
"Because he has polished his swordsmanship even further...?" Laena replied.
"Yes and no, that mainly a myth." The disappointment and confusion appearing on both of his student faces made him smile and he continued :" I won't fear someone who has spent all his life in seclusion to train. What make a warrior powerful is his experience and his previous fights on death's line. Getting used to faints, surprises and the battlefields in general allow you to polish your instinct and your fighting style. If practicing is ten time better than learning then fighting for you life against somebody is one hundred time better."
The two girls thought about what he had said for a few seconds and Evelyn asked:
"But isn't it a bit... Dangerous? I mean, you risk your life every time so there isn't many people who manage to progress like this no?"
"That's why those who dare to go again on the battlefield are way scarier than the cowards who only practice indoor." Jack replied with a terrifying grin on his face.
They continued to chat as they walked further on their road and reached the city after another day of travel. The only memorable moment of their trip was when they saw a bunch of well equipped adventurers go in the other way for what they thought would probably be eliminating the wyvern.
Reaching the gate while the sun was high in the sky, they got quite a few curious gazes from the other people who were waiting for their ID to be checked as Jack's staff seemed even more tortured than before as he refined it even further. Yet, no one dared to make a comment and they simply went through after the guards confirmed their adventurers cards.
They then went to confirm the completion of their quest as Jack told his students that they would need to go where the books were during the night. The two girls wondered why but didn't think much of it as they entered the guild's building soon after. Pushing the door, they were surprised by the noise and the mass of people which were inside, packed like wolves around a prey.
Observing the scene a little further they saw that many of those noisy guys were quite well dressed and looked more like nobles than adventurers. Laena frowned a little before covering her ears from the rumor coming from those men who were trying to rise their voices higher than the others to be heard. There were also women in the crowd who were making hysterical screams like groupies who saw their idols for the first time.
Jack was about to make them shut it up with a pulse of killing intent when he heard the guild master furiously screams :
"Enough ! All those who aren't adventurers, get out immediately !"
Rising their eyes to the staircase to see who dared to say that to them, the group of people saw that it was the guild master and promptly left the venue. The only ones remaining were a few young adventurers who were looking at a man in shiny armor with admiration in their eyes.
Before they spoke Richard roared again :
"And you Giorgio, come in my office right now !"
"Yes, yes. No need to be a killjoy like this." The armored guy said before saluting his fans with a smile and going toward the stairs.
"What the hell was that..." Laena muttered as the last people scattered and left the place nearly empty.
"No idea and I don't want to know, thanks to this bullcrap I've already got a headache." Jack grunted before going toward the counter to redeem his quest.
Linda wasn't there but one of her colleague accepted the party's explanation and paid them. The poor office worked had a tired look on his face and by the scared gaze he gave to them when they went toward him they understood that he had also spent a terrible moment with all those weird guys coming there.
After having eaten a good meal the girls wanted to do some training so Jack followed them toward a plain outside the city and worked on his longsword under an oak's shades. He looked at them fighting with normal weapons since fire magic would be a little too flashy and gave them advice for their practice of wind and gravity magic when they sat as their muscles were sore.
The girls seemed to have enjoyed their day and they all happily went toward the inn in order to wait for the night to fall.
"Where will we be going by the way?" Laena asked between two mouthfuls of mashed vegetables.
"In the slums." Jack announced while enjoying some wine in a ceramic cup. There were many people in the living room so the background noise didn't make his voice easily understandable for the others. Otherwise, some would have screamed that he was crazy or a criminal in order to wish to bring two girls in such a dangerous spot.
"The slums? There are books in the slums?" Evelyn asked as didn't think that it was the best place to find rare items like those.
"Yes, at least there are those I hid." The immortal murmured loud enough for the two to hear.
His students gulped a little when they saw his wolfish smile and after a dozen minutes they headed out while wearing cloaks of dark cloth they bought while coming back. Quickly crossing a few roads they reached the outer part of the city where many half destroyed houses were hardly standing.
Moans sometimes came from the houses with ladies lightly clothed standing outside and when they walked in front of them Laena got beet red before hurriedly covering Evelyn's ears. Her childish reactions made Jack laugh quite a lot and they funny behavior soon made them stand out from the others people who were in the same alley as them.
A few minutes later, a pickpocket tried his chance with them. Unfortunately for him, the immortal had noticed his petty strategy when the guy bumped into him "accidentally" and promptly broke his wrist. The thief' screams of pain gave the guys who were ravenously eyeing the two girls an impression of who they were dealing with and the abrupt stop of the noises followed with the sound of a neck breaking announced what awaited them if they dared to touch them.
Reclaiming his purse alongside his victim's one, Jack showed a satisfied smile as he felt the fear spread to their surroundings. His students simply sighed as they slowly got used to his methods to deal with crime and they followed him to a random house in front of which he stopped before kicking open the door.
Surprisingly, it had occupants again and the immortal noticed it when a pile of ragged clothes in a corner moved to reveal two children's heads. They looked deeply terrified and the biggest of the two got up while brandishing a knife toward Jack.
"W-Who are you and what do you want?" He growled while trying to look scary while he stood before the second kid. They both were malnourished and dirty, giving off an impression of feral beasts while Jack and the others were more dressed like rich citizens. Sparks of blue fire danced in the immortal hands while he walked toward the two kids in a deadly silence.
"Wait ! Those are not criminals!" Laena screamed while grabbing Jack's arm to stop him before he made a terrible mistake. "L-Let's light up torch first, maybe you didn't see right because of the darkness..."
"I do see clearly. They are in the way and need to disappear." He stated before trying to free his arm.
"Brother..." Said a voice coming from the small body in the corner.
"D-don't worry I will protect you Kassandra !" Replied the kid with the knife while his grip on the weapon trembled a little. He did not know who was this man but those deep grey eyes gave him the feeling that they were looking into his soul.
"They are just kids ! Do you really want to kill them?" The elf growled, furious. Jack felt her grip growing tighter and another smaller hand grab his other arm a few seconds later. Their actions made him stop for a second before laughing.
"Give me one reason not to eliminate them." He said while trying to keep his mind unwavering.
"They are innocent and won't represent a menace to you anyway." Laena sighed as she felt saddened by the cold heart of her teacher. Evelyn was feeling the same and tugged harder on his sleeve.
Sighing, he gave up and murmured : "May your memories fly away and allow you to forget this eventful night. Remembrance Loss."
The two thin kids both fell unconscious as Jack completed his spell before explaining :
"I'm not that good at mind magic so I may have erased more memories than needed. However, they are still alive so it's good enough isn't it?"
He had a strained and bothered look on his face but seeing his two students thank him for his kindness and apologize for their rudeness made him chuckle as he ruffled their hairs.
"I've been nice this time but remember that even children are our enemies and that pity isn't allowed during a war."
"Yes !" They replied as they nodded together.
Since the two kids would be unconscious for at least a few hours they didn't bother with moving them away and Jack opened the hole in the ground to find his hidden stash while feeling nostalgic.
'I wonder if you would have been proud of those two girls, Nyx.' He though while opening his makeshift bag, revealing the huge amount of gold and books it held.
"Who the hell did you steal to get that much money?" The two students asked at the same time for different reasons. One of them was scared of the consequences while the other was amazed by the gleam the coins had under the torch's radiance.
"Uhh... A random household... Dabedon I think...?" He replied while squinting his eyes to make his memory work better.
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