NOVPUB"You praise me too much elder swordhand, it was all by chance alone" Carlson’s father responded with a smile that was not a smile. He wouldn’t have been able to achieve this without Leon’s genius design and guidance when inscribing.
He didn’t do it alone.
"Haha, don’t be modest, I don’t like it. You’ve always been a brilliant forger." The elder sword hand smiled, then his eyes panned around the room until it landed on Leon’s figure.
"Kid, hand over the magical treasure. I’ll place it in the hall of remembrance myself" with a smile filled with greed the elder said.
The hall of remembrance was the place they kept their most precious items and materials, and he was the one in charge of it. Placing the weapon there was the same as giving it to elder sword hand.....
"Hm? Why would you want to do that?" Leon asked. He paid for the creation of this treasure, what did this gut mean by asking Leon to hand it over?
"You dare question me?" The elder frowned while looking Leon dead in the eyes. He was the strongest individual in the family, even though there were others that could match him if they worked together, he still held an upper hand.
So as not to watch others reaching his level of power, he had to constantly put them down. A grade 3 weapons was too much of a boost, he had to confiscate it.
"Elder Sword hand, the weapon is paid for….it belongs to the kid." Carlson’s father stepped in immediately upon seeing the elder swordhand put pressure on him.
"Hm? He paid you for a grade 3 weapons?" The elder sword hand frowned. One could not just pay, for a grade 3 weapon. Even the weapon Arian was using was still a grade 2 weapon.
It could only be chanced upon. Unless the Forger was a level 4 mage or something.
"The intention was a grade 2 weapon….reaching grade 3 was based on pure luck." Carlson’s father explained. He did not have the intention of creating a grade 3 weapon because he couldn’t. It was all a matter of luck.
"Oh... That makes sense" the elder rubbed his chin. An improvement in skill from the elder blackhand was a serious threat to him, but if it was based on pure luck, it was much better.
"Then refund the boy, we can’t let go of a grade 3 weapon to a nobody" the elder swordhand said flippantly. The weapon was his, no matter what they had to say. His request to place it in the hall of remembrance was absolute.
"You must be joking"
To the side, a feminine voice resounded as the environment became more humid all of a sudden. It felt like it was about to rain.
"Hm? You’re with the boy?" The elder looked over to his side, and there a lady with white, luscious hair could be observed. These two had one thing in common that stood out.
Their faceless masks.
(This might be tricky)
The elder swordhand mused. There were two possibilities. The first was that she was his sole backer and was trying to protect him. If that was the case, he still had the chance to keep the weapon with him. After all, he was still stronger than the girl.
However, the second possibility made him pause. The both of them looked young, if they were disciples or in any way related to the level 4 mage of the faceless mercenary company, it would be big trouble for him.
"What do I call you?" The elder swordhand rephrased his question. Clearly they were together what he really needed to know was their background.
"She is prideful heart, and I am called badur," Leon stepped forward and introduced himself….
"Why don’t you let the grown-ups talk, kid" with the side of his eyes the elder looked at Leon with a scornful gaze. He was speaking to the level 3 mage.
"Well, the thing is, she really wouldn’t like anything more than to begin slashing at you. I’m the one keeping her at bay, you will have to speak to me" Leon spoke with confidence. From the way Bartholomew spoke about this elder swordhand, it seemed like he was the type to fear authority higher than his own. Leon would use that to his advantage.
"Ohh....is that so?" With a tinge of bitterness in his mouth, the sword elder looked away from Arian. Clearly he was the boss here, if not, he wouldn’t speak with such a tone.
"Let me reintroduce myself, I am Badur, a talent of the faceless mercenary company..... I am one of the newly endowed ’honoured’ of the company" Leon explained his status.
The title honoured was a long tradition in the faceless mercenary company. It meant that whomsoever holds this title would be a part of the future of the company.
It wasn’t used as lightly as Damien did in recent times. But it served its purpose, a signal to everyone to stay off. Leon didn’t want this titled at first, but now it seemed as if it had come in handy.
"Ahhh, honoured?" The elder sword hand nodded hesitantly. He knew of this title and knew this was not something to play around with unless he wanted another level 4 existence on his back.
"I haven’t heard that the faceless mercenary company had given out this title again....that’s strange" the elder frowned. Normally, he would be the first to hear this because he liked to stay out of trouble.....this could mean that Leon was lying.
"Hmp!!" from the side, Arian harrumphed. The old bastard was looking for trouble, and if he wasn’t careful, you would get it.
"I don’t see a reason to lie….but if you see a need to test me, then go ahead. But if you try to bully me I’ll just have to inform the great mage Damien" Leon invoked the name of the leader of the faceless mercenary company.
This shocked the elder swordhand, not a lot of people would know the direct name of a great mage. Unless they had some sort of connection with him.
"Don’t worry, I believe you kid. You speak with much eloquence and poise, the title ’honored’ fits you very well" the elder smiled awkwardly.
"But.....you have to understand, the creation of a grade 3 magic treasure is no small matter....tell you what, why don’t we have a little competition for it, and if you lose, I’ll triple the amount you paid and also throw in a grade 2 weapon" the elder was greedy and really didn’t want to let it go. But if Leon insisted, he would step back and leave.
This was a last ditch effort of some sorts.
"Hm? What kind of competition are you requesting?" Leon asked.
"A spar, between the top talent of our clan and you, the honored of the faceless mercenary company" the elder proposed. It hadn’t even been up to a week since Draven fought against Leon and lost now, his master was going to place him into a fight with someone else.
"Ahhh, and what happens if you lose?" Leon asked with an evil smirk on his face. He was about to fight against someone he had beaten before? Was this a joke??
Leon shook his head at this situation.
"You get to keep the grade 3 treasure" the elder swordhand frowned, what else was Leon expecting?
"Now that’s not fair, you can’t gift me what’s already mine" Leon shook his head.
He already had the weapon in hand, agreeing to the bout was the favor not the other way around.
"So what do you propose?" The elder asked with squinted brows. Leon agreed to the fight so technically he had already won, it didn’t matter what Leon wanted, but he had to be careful.
"If I win, I want the Sky medallion" Leon smirked, but his words caused a fire to burn In the hearts of everyone in the room.
They were all waterway family members and in as much as they disliked the Injustice being perpetrated by the elder, they wouldn’t stand by ah let their household be disrespected.
The sky medallion was what gave Draven Waterway the title of ’sky’ of the top 30 sky mages. Losing it was losing their reputation. There was no way they would agree to such a bet.
"Hm? I agree to this term" with a wide smile on his face, the elder swordhand agreed. Leon had proposed what others perceived as crazy….something they would never accept. But he did. This was simply because...
He saw through Leon’s facade. He proposed this term because he thought swordhand would immediately disagree this allowed him to keep the treasure….he wasn’t confident in winning.
"Good" Leon’s teeth shone. Contrary to what the elder was thinking, Leon actually wanted this fight.
"Okay, someone bring Draven down here!!" The elder commanded. He could feel the air of disagreement in the room, and he didn’t care for it.
He believed in Draven, even though he had lost against the warlock.
If only he knew that Leon and badur were the same person
