I was led to a small alleyway, away from the public eye.
I somehow anticipated this was going to happen. It was a typical style where a bully drags its victim to such a shady area. I am pretty sure these elite soldiers were popular with the crowd so they wouldn’t want the public to look at their ugly side.

I could have raised an alarm to avoid this situation, but there was a possibility the word might have gotten out about my identity which I was trying to conceal.

The alley was pretty gloomy and there didn’t seem a single soul lingering here. There were few old wooden boxes and a broken-down horse cart in the passageway and many other rubbles laying down. The two buildings beside the alley were old and abandoned.

I guess a low born traitor of the Heller family sitting and breathing in the same room as the proud elite soldiers might have struck a nerve.
Now, they had found this perfect place to oppress me even tho they just transferred, this morning. As expected of elite soldiers.
“Or more like elite bullies!”, I spoke out my mind by mistake.

One of the dudes got all serious,
“What did you just say now?”

“This is a lovely place. We surely aren't here for sightseeing right?” I asked with my casual demeanor.

“Cocky bastard!”, he raised his fist to punch me “This is what you get-”.
I knew this would happen.

But just then,
“Wait!” shrieked the red-haired girl bitch.

At her command, the boy did stop. As expected of a slave dog, she had them under her thumb.

I glanced at that girl and our eyes met. She maintained her pretty cutesy smile which was creepy.
That girl still had her shirt’s button opened and showing off her cleavage.
Doesn’t she ever catch a cold?

The dude got annoyed as she stopped him from punching me,
“But this guy is-”

She raised her palm in response and indicated him to stop talking.

The guy pursed his lips and lowered his arm.
He really wanted to punch me so badly, it seems.

The bitch than walked towards me with her arms tucked behind her back along with her cutesy smile. She continued flaunting her womanly appeal, as she acted all innocent.
Was she seducing me to become one of her slave dogs?

She examined me with her eyes, I just stood still and didn't move.
What was she trying to do?
Was she trying to recruit me? I guess checking the products before purchasing?
But I won’t fall for her charms.

She silently examined all over my physique. This was pretty weird.
The other four guys were staring at me as they emanated bloodlust. I can’t keep this going for so long.

“Excuse me miss, but I won’t be chained down like your slave dogs. So could you stop ogling over my body, please.” I requested it in a casual way with a customer-friendly smile.

“You bastard!”
“The hell did you say!”
“Little peasant shit!”
“You dare to disrespect… blah blah”
All four boys howled in anger and started to approach me with killing intent.

But they stopped as the bitch raised her arm.
“But this guy-”, the dude was trying to say something but ate his words back. That guy seriously hated my guts and I don't know why.

The girl took a step backward then with a cutesy tone,
“So you really are the last remaining family member of the Heller family?” she asked.

So all this drama and cutesy acting to extract information.
As if I would fall for this but-
“Yes, I am the last remaining member of the Heller family and the son of Rodrezzo Heller.”,
I responded with a straight answer without a shred of hesitation.
I do try to conceal the fact that I am from the Heller family. But if I want to climb the stairs of ranks in the military than I can’t keep this fact concealed at least within the military faction. Hiding this fact might backfire things, later on.

I need to clear the name of the Heller family and for that, I need to be acknowledged by the military. I need to do to rise in ranks and become someone noteworthy.

For how long will we have to suffer for the backlashes of my old man's incompetence.
My father who was an orphan was given the last name 'Heller' by his master, the one who taught him the way of the sword. Later he became quite famous and powerful but then he fled away leaving us in despair.
I was not particularly close to him. Most of the time, he was from home going to battle or some other missions. Hence I don't really care for him but I sure hate him.

“So, do you know that there is a huge bounty on your father’s head?” the bitch asked me.

“Yeah, about 100 million in silver rubians. I know.”, I replied.
Are they after the bounty?

“Good,” she said, “Then tell me where is that coward father of yours hiding?”
She asked me cutely as she winked.

Like I would fall for these petty tricks.
If I were to know his location then I would be the first to arrest him and claim that bounty for myself,
“Listen, I don’t know where is he or what’s he doing? So don’t-”

“Cisca! Boot release, 10%”, she commanded.

“Wait-what-”

All of a sudden, she squatted and tilted to the one side as she launched a turning kick aimed at my guts.

I reflexively put my arms to defend but all of a sudden the vision in front of me changed and I was sent flying and then crashed into something.

My mind just went blank and I was confused.
Then the aftershocks from the kick came back sprawling over my body. My arms became numb and my stomach feels like it was crushed. Even after using my arms to block she was still managed to get a clean hit. I was having trouble breathing, it felt as if I was being strangled in the inside.

It looked like I was sent flying and crashed against the broken horsecart that I saw before.

I rolled on the floor on my back and put my body to ease as I tried to fix my breath first. I need to calm down and get back into my senses.

As I wriggled in agony, she spoke,
“This is what the difference between us, elites and a local filth trash wannabe. Look down on us and you will be licking the filth as you are doing, right now. Ha!” she said out loud in a mockingly.

I wasn’t able to see her face, but I could totally imagine her expression of joy.

I guess my bones in my arms were shattered. Even after I worked my ass off so hard on my training my body and building my muscle, she still managed to shatter my arms like it was nothing.

I felt nauseous and dizzy, I might end up throwing up all my lunch here and now.

And she just used only 10% of the power of her single enchanted geared boot and I feel like shit, already.
So this was the true power of enchanted equipment.