"I don't want to disrespect, but when you give someone an offer like that, people will think if there's something's behind it."

No one said anything. We sit quietly for about a minute.

"If there is an important reason why I got this offer, I want to know, or I will kindly refuse your offer."

I am sure something is behind that offer. No one tells a stranger. "Hey, can you teach a kid that you have never met before?"

"Once again, I don't want to act disrespectful, but I need the story behind."

Arthur sighed. I can see he is preparing to tell something important.
"Took all the servants out. I don't want no curious ears."

The servant waiting next to the table walked out of the room and closed the door tightly.

"Now, I won't give all the details, but if you leak any information, I won't hesitate to end your life at the time I see your face."

And here I go, if all that holy crusade against ten evil gods shit wasn't enough.

"You may or may not know, but the king of the north had been assassinated, and a civil war is near. To prevent it from happening, we must protect the throne's heirs." He pointed to Maria and Markus.

"Most of the northerners are loyal to the throne. That's why I choose you. Your wolf pelt cloak to your Tohånds (means two hands in Norwegian, it doesn't mean claymore, but I thought it sounds cool.) I believe you are from somewhere which embraces traditions.

"Keep telling."

"So, If you are loyal to the throne, take this chance and help these kids. One of them will be your ruler in the future."

Now, I began to understand why people acted this friendly towards me. They thought I was one of them.

Well, I come from a country with Vikings in its history, and I wore armor I got from a knight who lives in this part of the world.

But, I can't just say. "Yeah, I can do this for the throne." There is a grave danger in doing that, but I can't refuse it too.

But living in this town is already dangerous enough, but if I don't find allies and strong connections, my chances of survival will decrease.

I caught between the devil and deep blue sea, but I need to choose one anyway, arent I.

I am going to gamble it and accept their offer. If things go too bad, I can always try to flee back into my cave in the forest.

"Okay, I will accept your offer, but I need to know how much he knows at the moment. What weapons he could use, how good he is at using them, etc."

Arthur hit the table with both of his hands and got up from his chest. "Then do it right now! Dinner could wait, but do you know how long I am looking for someone to train Markus? I planned their coming four months before, and I tried to find someone all these days."

He was almost crying, but these were tears of happiness.

"No one, literally no one, accepted it, even though they said they were loyal to the throne and its heirs. All of them chickened out and scared of losing their lives if a conflict occurs and choose to be neutral."

Arthur sits back on his chair. "Sorry for creating tension, but you must understand the situation with little knowledge we gave you."

I was a little hungry, but I wanted to see how good Markus fights.
"Now is good, but where could such a test be done?"

Mayor Crycl got up from his chair and made a follow-me gesture. We followed him to a big backyard, which was suitable for one against one duel.

Two servants showed up with a decorated short sword and my claymore in their hands.

I noticed something while moving towards the servants to get my weapon. Markus was looking terrified. I can't blame him though, looking at his face, I can say he is at his sixteen at most.

We both grabbed our weapons and walked to different edges of the backyard.

"Do your best, kiddo, and don't forget I won't go easy on you." I swing my weapon around just for a show.

The only thing I did was make Markus more anxious.

"Now, I want you to attack me. I will measure your overall strength."

Markus began to scream and charge towards me. He is holding his short sword with both of his hands.

I can say Markus has no experience with weapons. He is giving too much effort into a simple attack. I have a long way of teaching this kid.

"Here, take this!" He screamed while thrusting his sword forward.

I dodged his attack by simply taking a step to the left. He didn't even react to my move because that idiot's eyes are closed!

I kicked his back and caused him to fall to the ground and roll.

"Okay, I need to be honest, that was pretty bad, change of plans. Let's try something different. Get up from the ground and hit me with your sword, I won't dodge, but I will block it."

I walked next to him and pulled him up.

"Now grab your sword from the ground, and give your best."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

"I want to join the fight too, wait for me!" The door crashed, and a boy with overly decorated armor jumped to the backyard.

"Now, who will be my first opponent!" He pulled out a long sword from thin air.

"Achi! You can't just dive into the middle of other people's training. That's very disrespectful.

A girl wearing a priestess dress and carrying a long staff followed him from the back.

"Oh, come on, I didn't fight against anyone in a week. I want to sharpen my skills. You know that."

"No, that's only disrespectful," said a short boy with katana and a black robe.

Later two other people. A red-haired girl wearing a rob and a witch hat and a long, chubby guy in plated armor joined them too.

This whole place suddenly turned into a mind fuck. Who are these people, why are they carrying overly decorated equipment, and why are they all children!

Even the oldest of them looks like he is sixteen, and one of them even looks young as thirteen years old.

A servant rushed to the garden.

"Sir, I wanted to warn you about the early coming of young heroes, but one of them got too excited after hearing sounds of your training and just rushed inside. Sorry I couldn't stop him."

"Don't feel sorry about that Alfred, go inside and inform our chef about surprise guests and tell him to prepare a bigger meal." He waved his way in the way of going inside.

So, these kids are the so-called "Heroes," but they are only kids! What kind of sick fuck wants me to kill children!

But everything seems to check. Even though heroes act disrespectfully, people of this region have respect for them.

Goddess of mercy, if you hear my words, we need to talk. Soon!

The servant left the backyard and moved inside.

The kid named Achi began to move around me and started a barrage of questions.

"Your cloak looks cool. Where did you get it? Is that a runic sword? You look strong but do you think you can beat me?"

Girl, who I assumed to be a priestess, grabbed and hit the boy's head with his staff.

"I am sorry, he can be a bit hyperactive from time to time. By the way, my name is Victoria. Nice to meet you." She offered her hand.

"Name Edward. I don't have a problem accepting a friendly duel, but your friend got me in surprise. I wasn't expecting someone to jump in the middle of our training" I shook her hand.

I turned my back. Arthur was taking Markus and Maria outside the backyard. I don't know why he is doing that, but I could get him sometime.

"Now, mister Achi, you jumped and cut our training. What do you say if I finish my session with a friendly duel with you?"

Achi's eyes began to shine after hearing my offer.

"Then here I come!" without even saying a word, he jumped into the air and slashed his sword towards me.

This kid doesn't have a crumb of respect.

I blocked his sword in mid-air and pushed him back.

"So you are strong! Then let me show you some tricks. Sword art! Crystal Flow!" His sword began to illuminate the surrounding area with a blue light.

It appears to be, Achi also can increase his strength with abilities. I should be careful about it.

Young hero began his barrage of attacks. Slash after another. His attacks are strong and fast, but I don't think he even thinks once while doing them.

Still, he hits hard. Not powerful as the Knight I fought back in the forest, but his slashes packs a considerable punch.

Still, I have one advantage and some tricks on my sleeve.

He may be attacking fast and hard, but he lacks the art of using a weapon. I can easily predict where his attack is coming from, and blocking them with my sword is not an issue either.

"If that's everything you got, I want to try something too."

I activated two crimsons blades and combined them with S.T.A.W (Stance Of The Alpha Wolf) as I expected. Time began to slow down. Colors started to fade.

From the face of Achi, I can tell the kid wasn't expecting my sudden move.

I got behind him and swept his leg.

The young hero fell to the ground.

I pointed my claymore towards the Achi's throat. "So, did we finish it?"
"Not long as I can move!" his sword turned into a chunk of blue crystals. "Crystal SLASH!"

"We are not stopping today then." I tried to block his attack, but the strength behind it was way more than I expected.

His attack threw me meters away from my last position. I hit a wall after a small flight.

"You got me with that, Achi," I spat to the ground and got back up. "I wasn't expecting such power from someone screaming the names of the moves he uses."

Someone with no raw physical strength and talent in weapons could do such things only by using abilities, even thinking about it scares me.

But, I won't lose a duel against a teenager dressed like a comic book character. I will use Ice magic and Crimson Sword until my mana dries out. I'll go all in!

"So what were you saying, old fart." Achi laughed at me.

I will kill this kid.

I dashed forward at an extreme speed. I was moving faster than the four Ice projectiles I shot from a distance.

It only took seconds until Achi got in range of my claymore, and time began to slow down once again.

With that, I finally understood how Crimson Sword works. Time slows down when I am near an enemy, and other times, I only get faster.

Without even letting him react, I moved behind him and slashed my sword forward towards his head.

My sword blocked in mid-air. Not by Achi, but by Arthur.

"Dinner is ready. I think your little match will end up with a draw. Let's go inside, young heroes."

"When did you?"

I couldn't even see him move towards here, is the strength between each other is so different? I am saying once again this world has some issues!
As I got out of the shock and began to move inside, the priestess girl stopped me.

"I need to ask a question. How did you learn the federation language? And don't even try to lie to me. I heard you. Others may be stupid and blinded by the light of this world, but I am not."

Wait, I don't remember talking in my native language, but how does she know?

"You also have an auto-translation like we don't you. That's why others didn't understand you are not from this world because your words translated to the language they understand, but the accent stays same."

It seems like I found trouble.