บท 14: Raven Claw, attack!
The sky almost turned dark when Mays walked passed the entrance of the tournament allocated lodging. Miur and the others all waited outside their lodging for Mays to return. They were worried about Mays's well-being. After spending more than a month with Mays, they treated him as a trustworthy companion.
"There he is. Like I said, this is nothing worth worrying over."
"Mays! Mays! Here! Here!"
Len was the first to talk when they saw Mays from afar. Miur let out a relieved sigh as she saw Mays coming toward them. Both Aria and Nova shouted Mays's name over and over as if they were urging Mays to walk faster.
As Mays approached them, they realized that there was a group of five people wearing a black robe following behind Mays.
"They are?"
Len asked. He never knew that Mays got companions here in Merry city.
"It's gonna be a long story. Let's talk over some food."
Mays replied with a smile. He then led everyone into a bar nearby. There were ten people in their group now. Mays asked the worker there to prepare the largest table for their group. As Mays tossed one gold coin toward the worker, he immediately brought Mays and the rest inside the bar.
One gold coin worth one hundred silver coins. One silver coin worth one hundred copper coins. One decent meal worth around ten to twenty copper coins at most. One gold coins worth more than the total income for this bar in a whole week.
"Prepare the best delicacies you have and sent them all over!"
"Yes young master."
Even the owner of the bar himself came out and greeted Mays while they served food one after another. For a shabby low class bar like this one, a noble customer was rare. The bar owner often greeted those noble themselves as if he was trying to get into their good graces. Anyone who tossed away gold coins easily was totally a noble for sure.
As everyone had be seated around the dining table, Miur was at a loss as of where to sit herself. Reason was, both Mays's side were occupied. Mays stared at her for a while before he shook his head.
"Mira, can you please move there?"
Mays asked the already seated Mira beside him to move away.
"Nooooooooooo… Mira don't wanna!!! Mira don't wanna move!! Ask Syaitona instead, she won't mind!!"
Mira threw a tantrum like a child who had their candies taken away from them. She really acted like a kid. Mays sighed as he knew this would happen.
"If master asked me I really wouldn't mind but since master asked you then I would never gave up my spot because of you hehehehee!"
Rather than doing as asked, Syaitona would use any opportunity she got to pick a fight with Mira. Mays gave up asking them for their spot as he himself got up and walked toward Silvia.
"Can we switch seat Silvia? I'll give you something as a compensation later okay?"
"You don't need to give me anything. I will do whatever it is that you wish, master."
Silvia replied calmly with a glint smile. She really was cold as ice yet she never showed disrespect toward Mays at all. Unlike Mira and Syaitona, Silvia had the reserved air of a noble lady. Just when Silvia walked pass Mays, she was caught off-guard as Mays kissed her cheek without notice.
To Mays, a kiss on the cheek was normal way of showing affection. At the very least, he remembered that his mother always kissed him on the cheek when his parents was still alive. Since Silvia was dutiful and well mannered in comparison with both Mira and Syaitona, it was normal for Mays to show her some affection.
"NOOOOOOT FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIRRRRRR!!!!"
"Me too master!! Me too!!"
Both Mira and Syaitona shouted as they witnessed what just happened. They immediately ran toward Mays and asked him for a kiss too. Mays ignored their demand as he smacked both their head.
"And that was for causing too much trouble."
"Sorry!!"
They both apologized at the same time. As for Silvia, her face had long ago turned red after the kiss. She didn't say anything after that as she sat at Mays's previous seat. Mays sat at Silvia's former seat and gestured his finger toward Miur, asking her to sit next to him.
Miur silently walked toward Mays and sat beside him. Both Mira and Syaitona sulked as they saw Mays gave special treatment to Miur.
"Let me explain first. These five were my contracted spirits. Introduce yourself please."
"Contracted spirits? For real?"
Len, Nova and Aria shouted in unison. They often heard about contracted monsters but never once they ever heard about contracted spirits. Even contracted humanoid monsters were rare enough in Mercia kingdom where the number of people who had a contract with humanoid monster could be counted using fingers.
"Truth be told, I don't really like explaining stuff. To make things simple, just keep in mind that these spirits are beings way rarer, better and stronger than humanoid monsters."
When Len and the rest heard what Mays just said, admiration to the level of worship was clearly shown on their face. They knew Mays was someone way out of their league but now they finally realized that Mays was actually way higher than their former estimation of him.
"No need to be that shocked. Master was the best even among his kind. By the way, I'm master's right hand, Black Angel Syaitona. My profession is a berserker."
Syaitona started with her introduction. She took of her hood while doing so.
"Who said that you are master's right hand? Mira is not any lower than you are!"
Mira butted in as always. These two just couldn't see things the same way. At the very least, they ended everything with just a sharp stare at each other.
Ignoring the duo, Silvia and Damia followed up with their introduction.
"I am an earth spirit, Damia the knight."
"I am a wind spirit, Silvia the ranger."
Both Damia and Silvia talked politely after removing their hood.
"I am a water spirit, Aloha the cleric. This mischievous one right here is my twin, magus Mira the fire spirit."
Aloha introduced herself as she also removed her hood which covered her face. Around the same time, she grabbed Mira's hood and removed it too.
"That... that…that was the winner of block C, Mira?"
Aria shouted as she now recognized who Mira was. She was indeed the same person as the one who defeated Andika Putra in today's match. As for Len and the rest, they were already stunned beyond words when suddenly five heaven defying beauty revealed their face in front of them. It took them several seconds before they finally snapped out of it.
"Yep that's her. She joined the tournament for fun obviously. These people were here to take me back."
Mays answered. Aria just nodded and stared at the group of beauty which called themselves spirits without asking anything else. As their food came one after another, they started eating merrily while Mays started talking about his objective and his motive from the start and so on.
Of course, what he told them were mostly lies. He had no intention to tell them the truth either. Those spirits just go along with whatever Mays told Len and the rest as they didn't want to ruin their master's plan.
"Which young master was on that table?"
"Look at all those beauties. I would gladly die if I could get any of them for one night."
Lots of people inside the bar started gossiping about Mays and company. It couldn't be helped as the bar was an open place. Anyone could enter and eat as long as they paid for it. When they saw multiple world class beauty sitting around at a table, they couldn't help but to enquire about them. As long as none of them dared to stir trouble for Mays, he wouldn't care less about it.
After listening to Mays's story, Miur realized that Mays would be going far away soon enough. They wouldn't be able to travel together anymore. Not to mention, she even lose her fight today even after all Mays did for her to improve.
"Everything is okay. There is nothing worth your worry."
Just when she felt like the world was falling down, Mays patted her head gently from the side. Mays knew what Miur was thinking but he really couldn't do anything about it. The place where he would be going was a world much more dangerous and he obviously didn't want Miur to experience that. Not to mention that he didn't have any special feeling towards Miur either.
Miur couldn't control her emotion any longer as her tears started flowing out. She immediately stood and ran out of the bar leaving the food in her plate unfinished.
"Ugh, really? I hate dealing with girls."
Mays sighed as he ran after Miur.
"Master so bad master made someone cry hahaha."
Mira laughed it off as if it didn't concern her one bit. Damia who sat beside her smacked her head while maintaining her poker face. Mira sulked and didn't talk anymore while Aloha showed a worried face as she looked at the bar's entrance.
Len also tried to chase after Miur when she ran away but Nova who sat beside him stopped him from doing so.
"Leave it to Mays."
"Erm."
Even Aria who was nearby agreed to Nova's suggestion. There was nothing Len could do about it.
Miur squatted at the corner of the streets, crying her heart out. This was her first time feeling so heartbroken. As the young lady, she always get what she wanted. Never once she felt something this heart wrenching.
"Sorry."
Mays stood nearby. He stopped at a distance. He didn't close in to Miur despite the sorry state Miur was in right now. He had no rights to do so. He stood there for half an hour before Miur finally stood up, no longer sobbing.
"I'm fine now. Sorry for being such a mess. It never was your fault."
Miur tried to brighten the mood. Her eyes were still bright red.
"Sorry."
Mays stood at the same spot, uttering the same word again. This time, Miur herself approached Mays. She hugged him right away.
"If only you didn't act so kind toward me! If only you stop caring for me! If only you stop being the cheerful, happy go lucky guy with the wicked yet charming smile in front of me! If… only… you… never… show… up… in front… of… me…"
And Miur started crying again. Even louder than before. She just couldn't help it. It never was her intention to fall for him. It just happened. She was even afraid of him at first. But after spending more than a month with him, her feeling just blossomed. Not to mention she had been helped by Mays so many time either.
Clueless at what should have been done, Mays hugged her tightly as if it was the right thing to do. The sky darken as the two of them was still at the same spot, not moving an inch from each other.
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"We need to do this swiftly."
"There can't be any eyewitness. We need to assign people to be on lookout."
"Arbah, this is the first time you are joining our operation right? Learn well!"
A group of people in black robe moved uniformly in the cover of the dark night. They were going for the bar which Mays and his friends were in. Their informant already told them that Mays and the others have not come back from dinner yet.
This group was none other than Raven Claw. Together with the whole squad was the elder from gambling department and also Lord Arbah who joined operation like this for the first time. Their target tonight was none other than Mays.
Mohen led his team of twenty five efficiently while Lord Arbah and that elder joined by the side-line. At the very least, both of them were also a silver ranked fighter, someone who wouldn't hinder the Raven Claw for sure.
"We are almost there."
"Get ready guys!"
"We need to subdue him alive. Don't make a blunder!"
At the same corner of the streets from before, both Mays and Miur were still there. This time they sat next to each other and talked about their life. Miur was no longer crying. She already let out all of her pent up feeling.
"So, you are going back to Holy Cloud Empire with them?"
Miur asked. Back in the bar, Mays told them that he was actually a young lord from Holy Cloud Empire. He was also one of the so called elites among elites, the rumored Godkin. Len and the others believed him right away since they had already experienced his power prior to this.
"Yeah I must go. My only family, my younger brother was in danger. And…"
Mays already told them about his only family, his younger brother who currently was still in Holy Cloud Empire.
"And?"
"The one girl who captivated my soul, stole my heart and promised to be together with me forever was also there. I just couldn't abandon these two people. I would gladly trade my life for them it the need arise. I hope you understand."
That moment Mays mentioned about a girl, Miur's face stiffen for a bit before she put up a bitter smile. It was obvious for Mays to have someone like that.
"It's okay. This backwater kingdom was never your place anyways. I just hope that you won't forget about me ever."
"As if I would forget you. Spending time with you is fun, way more fun than my previous boring life. Here, take this."
Mays handed Miur a golden locket with a dragon head sculpture on top of it. It was totally beautiful, truly a work of art.
"I... I… can't possible accept this!"
Miur tried to shove it back to Mays. With just one glance, she knew that the item Mays just gifted her was worth more than she could imagine. How could she possibly accept it just like that?
"Take it. Think of it as a good luck charm. If, only if one day you met something that might threaten your life…. You can press the dragon head sculpture on top of the locket as if your life depended on it. Something good might happened afterwards."
"If… if you says so. I'll treasure it!"
Miur reluctantly agreed to it and immediately wore the golden locket. That locket complimented her cute face well. Mays smiled as Miur readily accepted the locket. Truth be told, that locket was not some ordinary item. Even though it was just an epic tier item, it was actually a decent item used to imprisoned spirits.
"Hehehe what a lovely atmosphere."
Lord Arbah walked out from the dark alley nearby.
"You?!!"
Miur's expression turned dark after he saw the face of the person who just came by. She still remembered the face of this guy who made their companions died back in Kokala city.
"What's the meaning of this Arbah? She knew who you are?"
The elder from the gambling department also revealed himself beside Lord Arbah.
"My my… Never would I have thought that you survived the silver ranked beast. You truly are one lucky brat!"
Lord Arbah showed an amused face as he remembered who Miur was. He did capture them and caged them at the city lord's mansion back in Kokala city.
"That guy beside you must be the one who kicked my lackey's ass right? This must be fate. Hahahahha. Heaven just wanted me to take care of you no matter where you go. Let's do this guys!"
After Lord Arbah finished his talk, a group of people wearing black robe immediately surrounded Mays and Miur. The weakest member of their squad was a silver ranked fighter and they even had several gold rank fighter in their squad. Their organization strength really was top notch, could even be on par with the kingdom itself.
As every member of the White Raven stood at their designated postion, the elder from earlier walked toward Mays with both his hand behind his back. Mays pulled Miur closer to him as he stared at the approaching elder.
"Don't be too stiff. I didn't come here to cause trouble. By the way, my name is Doroto."
"What do you want?"
Mays didn't even beat around the bush. He directly asked the intention of these people. True, he could easily killed these people but that didn't mean there wouldn't be any retaliation from them later on. He might be unbeatable but Miur and her friends were easy target.
"Good. You catch on quick. What I want is simple. It is for you to withdraw from the tournament. That way we can just pretend none of these ever happened. What says you?"
The elder smirked as he stated his condition. He was totally confident that their White Raven squad could subdue this nobody in front of him. Even after Mays displayed his overwhelming might earlier today, the strength of that meteor strikes was actually not that intimidating. They didn't think Mays could use that skill multiple time either. They even had several gold ranked fighter with them at the moment.
"Tch!"
Mays clicked his tongue as the current situation was quite bad. If only Miur was not with him right now, he could just killed everyone here.
"Whoa… whoa… you guys for real? I thought I was the only special case?"
From on top of nearby roof, someone jumped down and stood in front of Mays. He was none other than Nej. He knew something like this would happen hence he observed Mays from afar. What he didn't understand was why Mays didn't take any action toward them. As a man with strong sense of justice, Nej couldn't just sit back and watch without doing anything.
"I say… why don't we stop this already? You guys couldn't even beat me two years ago... I don't think it would be much better now either."
Nej added. He wanted to end this peacefully if possible. But he knew well it wouldn't. They fought for the whole night two years ago. Since he was just at level sixty three, he was about the same as their captain in strength which resulted in a stalemate. They gave up soon after the sun rose to avoid the eyes of the masses.
"Stay your hand away from this Nej. You are a special case but you can't do anything if we plan for this guy to disappear tonight!"
The elder from before roared angrily. He was clearly mad at Nej probably because of what happened two years ago. And now that Nej once again appeared before him to cause disturbance at their plan, of course he would snapped right away.
"I'm actually here to save you guys. This guy is actually a monster whom I ain't a match of."
Nej still had not given up on persuading these people. He was really kind hearted. But these people obviously had no intention of listening to him.
"Ignore him! Teach that guy a lesson!"
With a command from the black robed elder, every member of Raven Claw leapt toward Mays with their weapons ready to skewer their target. Nej who stood nearby shook his head as he himself couldn't do anything about it anymore.
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