Kapitel 70: A peculiar invitation
But that wasn't what caught Kayden's attention, it was the aura the boy exuded. His instincts screamed that he was dangerous. This feeling he had felt before, in fact, they were well known to him.
"Fight me," the blue-haired boy bit his lip as if he was seeing something delicious in front of him. His eyes seemed to want to devour Kayden. His question caught the quartet by surprise.
"No thanks," Kayden's response was immediate. He didn't have time for that, he had a goal and he needed to achieve it.
"Astolfo!?", Carlos recognized him with a shout that was ignored by a stunned Astolfo.
"Do... do you know who I am, by any chance?", the boy asked with a confused expression, but not arrogance. It just seemed like he had never been in a situation like this.
"No," he seemed to be a nobleman with his built-in arrogance, but Kayden didn't know anything beyond that impression. His answer clarified Astolfo's doubts.
"I am Astolfo Kan Reich, an 8th-rank spearman and leader of our school's first-place team," the boy gave a proud smile. Kayden finally recognized him it was easy since there was only one person in the 8th rank in the school.
Kayden thought about the fight request he had received. He had fought against people at the 8th rank before, but he was never able to win. Most of the time, he was surpassed by almost twice in strength and speed.
But against 7th ranks, he managed to maintain an average of 50% victory and that was impressive.
"I'm only in the 5th rank, a battle between us wouldn't be of any help to me", Kayden decided to end this matter politely, but his sentence didn't lessen the way the spearman looked at him.
"No problem, I want a fight without mana, just with our techniques", his sentence caught Kayden by surprise. He had no idea why he was being harassed by his opponent.
"Why do you want to fight me specifically?" Kayden asked with a frown.
"Instinct," a gleam of madness flashed in his eyes. "My instincts tell me you're dangerous. This feeling... drives me crazy," the boy laughed like a lunatic, making them look at him strangely. "Sorry," his apology was followed by a dry cough.
That instinct... Kayden could understand what the boy was saying.
"Very well, I accept," Kayden started to get up but was stopped by Astolfo.
"Not here, come to this address", with his phrase, he handed a piece of paper to Kayden. "I'll wait for you there in the afternoon", with a small goodbye, he left.
The interaction between them didn't even last five minutes. It was so quick that it took a while for it to sink in for everyone.
"Kayden!? You're not thinking about facing that madman, are you? He's crippled every opponent he's fought so far, he's completely sadistic", Carlos was the first to speak up.
"I haven't thought about it yet, let's continue with what we're doing," Kayden quickly brought his team members back to their senses. But his sentence was a lie, he wouldn't miss the opportunity to train with someone stronger than him.
******
Kayden was standing in front of a red wooden gate. This was the location stated on the paper. The boy was taken aback by the design of the place. The location was outside the city, on one of the surrounding mountains.
Behind the gate was a classic oriental film dojo. The establishment had three floors and a square base that tapered until it reached a kind of tower at the top. Its finish was entirely done in wood and white paint.
The boy didn't know how he should get in, it seemed a bit wrong to just break into the house, even though it didn't have a fence or anything like that. To his delight, he was brought out of his stupor by Astolfo.
"Kayden! Hello, I didn't expect you to come so quickly," the sun was still bright in the sky, marking that little time had passed since noon. "Come on, come on, come in, make yourself at home."
Kayden greeted Astolfo and followed the boy inside. The very air of the environment represented peace and tranquility. As they got closer, Kayden could see a few more buildings in the same oriental style.
It was funny how some things managed to survive the passage of time intact.
"This is where my clan or family, as you like to call it, lives. We follow a tradition from a long-forgotten civilization," his phrase reminded the boy of how governments hid a lot of information from the past.
Virtually little survived the wars and disasters that occurred in the small fraction of time that humanity had access to mana. Probably only the great powers still have any information about the period before the awakening.
The two walked a little further until they reached the entrance of the first building that Kayden saw. Astolfo removed his shoes and bowed before entering. Kayden froze for a moment and then regained consciousness and imitated his host's movements.
"..." Astolfo was surprised by the boy's action and looked in astonishment.
"In Rome, do as the Romans do", even if some things have been lost in the river of time, others like this expression have survived.
The boy didn't understand why Astolfo was surprised. Wasn't it normal to respect the host's culture? In truth no. This world had no room for those who were different, most of the time Astolfo and his family received small gestures of mockery.
As soon as they entered, Kayden was faced with a simple training space, without any other furniture or details. There was just a staircase at one end that should lead to the next floor.
"This is my master's house, he should be here in a few minutes, he will seal our mana so we can fight", with that sentence the boy remained silent, he lost all his strange and excited attitude.
He seemed to be afraid of something inside. A few minutes later, an old man wearing a crisp white robe came down the stairs. His face was full of wrinkles and, in keeping with this sign of age, he had a long beard and white hair.
It was similar to an old hermit. Kayden gave him a feeling of knowledge and fulfillment, like someone who, despite being old, reached his peak with age. His mere presence in the room was able to make the once-heavy atmosphere calm and serene.
"I salute the master," Astolfo greeted respectfully with a slight bow and joining of hands.
"I salute the elder," Kayden followed the boy and struck the same pose, surprising them both. His pose was a mere copy, but referring to the elderly man as an elder was something they did not expect.
Why? Because this was something very specific in their culture and it would be difficult for anyone to know about it if they hadn't studied it beforehand. Logically, Kayden didn't have time to prepare for this, this knowledge came from his past life.
"Ah, what a polite child, so what do you bring here?", the old man's voice matched his calm posture. Upon hearing the question, Astolfo stiffened and began to speak.
.
Geschenke
-- Geschenk
erhalten Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein