Chapter 80: Zakkaria
The next day in the morning the family and the two students got on their way towards Zakkaria they encounter some bandits that thought they were nobles since they came from Centoria with only two guards.
The family was sitting in the carriage when John looks out and sees the number of bandits and asks, "Do you two think you need help?"
"We should be able to fight them off," says Volo as he rides at the bandits drawing his sword.
Sortiliena follows him into the battle worried as John sighs and Nesiara smiled while saying, "It seems they have never protected someone before."
"It seems so, they just rode into the enemy leaving the carriage defenseless," says John as he then looks at Yui and says, "Do you want to help them, Yui."
"Yes," says Yui as John opens the carriage door and she with Dino and Inu leave the carriage to join them.
"Duke and Kate give them some covering fire from the roof," says Nesiara as she opens a window as both crawl out of it leaving Kieron and Nora with their parents.
Once on the roof the transform into human form. Kate had a revolver and was killing the bandits coming for the carriage, while Duke took out a sniper and lied on the roof giving the people covering fire.
The fight was fast over as the two transformers returned first by returning into their toy form and entered the carriage with Yui and the other two following them.
Volo and Sortiliena were still riding their horses when Nesiara puts a hand out and heals the horses while John burned the corpses of the bandits.
They continued on their way as they camped once the sun was down. John made a tent in which the women and children would sleep while he was preparing his sleeping place against a tree.
Nesiara made a campfire as Yui went hunting wild in the forest with Inu and Dino. They came back with a deer as John was quite proud of his daughter and began to skin it.
The driver was helping John while for Sortiliena and Volo this was something new.
The last time John and Nesiara had ration stored away so Sortiliena never saw how much knowledge they had about this lifestyle while for Volo it was something completely new as a noble he never had to hunt for his food.
Seeing how John and the driver skinned the deer made them lose their appetite. After finishing skinning it John gives one half of the meat to Nesiara to cook it while the driver, John and Yui put a sauce on them before hanging them on an almost invisible string that the driver and John placed beforehand to dry them up.
Nesiara finished the stew of wild as everyone ate from it even the two that didn't have an appetite because John forced the food down their throats.
Then they went to sleep while John stayed awake to make sure they wouldn't be attacked by wild animals or more bandits.
He stayed the whole night awake without sleeping and nothing happened only Volo had a stiff back from sleeping the first time on the floor.
They continued their journey after storing everything away. It took them a day more then expected but they arrived at Zakkaria.
They enter the city and find people staring at the carriage since it had the symbol of the Sword Mastery Academy on it with two students guarding it making it look like a VIP entered the city and not just a teacher and his family.
The guards made way while the captain was guiding the carriage towards the best inn in the city.
They arrived at the inn when John opens the carriage door as they dismount the carriage and enter the inn. John pays for their rooms as John would be sharing a room with the driver and Volo.
Nesiara and the twins got another room and the last room belonged to Yui and Sortiliena. After that John went with Sortiliena, Volo and Yui towards where the tournament would be held to acquire a list of the participants.
Arriving there they got the list from the man that was enlisting the participants. John looked over the list and found both on the list.
"We will return to spectate the tournament. I want to see who will be worthy to enter our Academy," says John as he gives the list back.
They leave when Volo asks, "Did we come to see the tournament?"
"Yes, two of my father's students will be in it. He wants to find out how much they improved," says Yui as both students looked for confirmation from John.
"What Yui said is right. They will be participating in it. That's why I came here to see if they would participate in this tournament," says John as he walked in front of them.
Once back in the inn John says, "You two are on relief until the tournament begins. So have can do whatever you want in the next two days."
They enter the inn and John meets Nesiara there and asks, "Wanna tour the city with the children?"
Nesiara looked at Yui and smiles while saying, "Yes, but Yui is too old for that how about we leave her with Sortiliena to have fun. She is old enough to take care of herself after all."
Yui was quite happy that her mother knew how she felt about that idea and walks over to Sortiliena and says, "We will have some fun together while you four have fun."
"Alright," says John as he takes a pouch out and gives it to Yui while saying, "This should be enough for you two have enough fun around town."
John hands it over to Yui and leaves when Nesiara whispers while handing her additional funds, "Go have fun just don't overdo it."
Then Nesiara and John with the twins leave the inn and tour the city together. The twins were having fun as the got mostly free things from the stall owners.
Yui, on the other hand, had some fun with Sortiliena as they toured through the city together even with their age difference.
The days pass as it was finally the day of the tournament. John tried not to meet Kirito and Eugeo to surprise them but Yui already met them while she was with Sortiliena having fun.
He was invited to sit beside Kelgam Zakkaria the noble in control of the city to see the tournament with him.
He agreed if his family and students could sit near him. Kelgam had a hard time to accept that since he invited John because of generosity towards the Academy and not because of him but couldn't really say anything against the bear he was staring at and agreed.
Nesiara and the twins were sitting beside John while Yui sat with Sortiliena and Volo while the driver was staying in the inn taking care of the horses.
The participants were brought in. John and Nesiara could see Kirito and Eugeo between the people while the twins don't really remember Kirito nor Eugeo.
"It seems they became stronger," says Nesiara seeing them.
"It seems so but it's still too early to say that," says John as Kelgam looked confused at them.
"Do you know someone down there?" asks Kelgam confused.
"Yes, two of them were trained by me for a while before I was brought to the Academy. We used to live near Rulid in the forest near the Gigas Cedar," says John as Kelgam now understood why John knew some of the warriors.
"So you left them behind?" asks Kelgam curiously.
"Something like that. Both of my students had to cut the Gigas Cedar down. Until they finished this task they couldn't leave the village after all so they had to stay back," says John explaining the situation they were in when he left Rulid behind with his family.
"So who do you think will make it into the Academy?" asks Kelgam as he had some of his younger guards participate in the tournament.
"I only know that I have to take the best four back with me to the Academy. Even if they are my student if they don't manage to enter the top 4 they will be left behind," says John as Nesiara chuckles.
"What he really wants to say is that it is almost impossible that his students can lose if they didn't stop training," says Nesiara as she looked down at the other participants and continues, "It seems there are some good candidates for the Academy. Let's hope they get into the top 4."
"Really, that's good to hear," says Kelgam since those that don't make it will most likely be employed by him to become guards of Zakkaria and it's surroundings.
The participants were looking around as they could see and hear the people cheering for them. Kirito and Eugeo were looking around to find John and Nesiara as they had seen Yui already in town.
They look up and see them sitting with someone beside them when Eugeo says, "John must be quite high in the social standing to be able to sit beside Kelgam Zakkaria."
"Maybe he made a name out of himself in Centoria after all more than a year passed since we met the last time," says Kirito when they see someone enter the ring.
"Ladies and gentlemen, we are here for the yearly Norlangarth North area Swordsmanship competition. We welcome one of the teachers of the Sword Mastery Academy that came to recruit four people for the Academy," says the announcer as many of the participants got excited hearing that if they make it far enough they would be able to enter the Academy.
"Now how about some words from the teacher that came to witness this tournament," says the announcer as Kelgam nods at John who wasn't really ready for this.
"Just say something to motivate the participants that should be enough," says Kelgam as he sees John had nothing prepared.
"Alright," says John as he stands up and many could see the giant stand.
"Fellow swordsman and -women, I hope to see a fair competition and that you give your best in this competition maybe then you can join the Academy later on even if you didn't make it into the Top 4. Now let this competition begin," says John as the people were now pumped up to reach the semifinals.
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