"Rey. Who are you?"

Rey took a step back, surprised by the question yet he didn't let it show.

"Haha, what are you talking about? I'm just an old man." He replied nonchalantly.

"Rey. You don't have to keep up the facade. What is a count doing out here?" Johan said. 

Rey looked at the ground in deep thought for a few seconds. He then looked at Johan in the eyes with an intimidating look.

"Did you know the entire time?" 

"No." 

"How did you find out?"

"Even if I explained everything to you you wouldn't understand one thing. The reason I can heal people is the reason I know who you are now." 

Rey looked up and let out a big sigh. 

"Screw it! Yeah. You got me. That shaman stuff is always weird. I refuse to ask." Rey chuckled 

"I can't argue with your logic." Johan replied, omitting the truth yet another time.

"Let me reintroduce myself to you. I am Rey Ferman, Count of Fera. I've been in control of Fera for the past 47 years." Rey said.

"47 years? That's a lot. But why have you been so eager to spend time training me? You even brought me food." Johan asked.

"You are a lost soul are you not? You have a fight you have to go through. And well, I want to give you the help you need. I can't mobilize an army for obvious reasons so I did the next best thing. I have to care for everyone in my territory, and you also remind me of myself." Rey replied.

Johan looked into Rey's eyes and started squinting. 

Wait a minute. 

"I COULD HAVE BEEN SLEEPING ON A BED THIS WHOLE TIME? WHY DID I HAVE TO SLEEP ON ROCKS?" Johan shouted in realization.

"Tsk tsk tsk. This is the way you become strong. If you were to sleep in a comfortable bed and eat copious amounts of food you'd lose your way and stay stagnant. If you want to save your people while you still have time you better be ready to go through much more hardship than this." Rey scolded Johan. 

"I guess it might work" Johan replied 

For you that is. I'm different. 

"Indeed it does. But I think it's time for me to go back. Don't slack on your training. Doing it once doesn't mean you can do it again." Rey ordered 

It does for me

"Sure thing." Johan replied 

He waited until Rey was out of the area to use his newly acquired skill.

"{Count Rey's Sword Dance}" 

Upon activating the skill he felt the sword dance's rhythm in his body. He hadn't realized initially since he only copied the movements and didn't truly learn the meaning behind them. But at that very moment he felt it. 

The rhythm was going at a breakneck pace. He felt an intense anxiety bubbling up inside him. He had to move. Otherwise…

I will die

"Skill cancel" 

Johan dropped to his knees and grabbed onto his chest. He took rapid breaths as if he had just run a sprint. His knees felt weak and his heart was racing. 

"What was that?" He mumbled in-between breaths. "I have to try again." 

"{Count Rey's Sword Dance}"

The same feeling of anxiety started creeping up immediately after the skills activation but that time Johan was ready for it. He immediately started performing the sword dance, striking anything within reach like a madman. It was not the correct way to use the sword dance but the feeling of anxiety was kept at bay as long as he continued to move and strike. He just had to learn to focus that anxiety in one place. 

That's enough. 

"Skill cancel"

That time Johan managed to stay standing as the anxiety was swept away. He let out a loud sigh and laid on the ground to rest for the day.

-

The following day Rey was late. He didn't come in the morning like he usually did and when he came he looked tired. 

"Rey, is something wrong?" Johan said 

"Hoho, don't worry. I just had a lot of work to do. Here is your food." Rey replied, handing Johan a cloth much larger than any other day.

Johan opened up the cloth and he could see an incredible amount of food. In the cloth there were 3 loaves of bread, 2 whole cooked chickens, 10 sausages and a selection of grilled vegetables along with a few more cantines of water than usual.

"Huh? That's a lot of food. I don't think I can eat all that alone. Want to join me?" Johan said. 

"I know it's too much. I'll be late tomorrow since I'll be quite busy so make sure to leave something for breakfast." 

"I can hunt you know. You don't need to pressure yourself to bring me food every day." 

"You don't even know what's edible and what's not! How can I let you be?" 

"It really doesn't matter to me. I can just…y'know…heal myself." 

"It doesn't matter. I'm rich anyways. And now that I've taught you my sword dance you're my responsibility so just eat the damn food." 

"Alright, alright. Don't turn into a cranky old man." 

"Tsk. This punk. Take this." Rey tossed a small pouch towards Johan. 

Johan opened the pouch and saw a rolled up map, something that looked like a badge and a few ornate silver coins with an eagle on them. 

"Huh? What's all this supposed to be?" Johan asked 

"A map to the city, some money and a crest of trust." Rey replied

"What is a crest of trust?" Johan said.

"If you ever need help while in this kingdom you can show this to an official and you'll get assistance. It has another use but that's not going to matter. Anyways. I have to go. Don't forget to practice." Rey said and left in a rush.

"Don't worry. I'm still youthful and strong. I can practice all day." Johan replied.

Something feels off. I'll have to ask him tomorrow.

The rest of the day flew by in a flash. Johan trained for the majority of it, trying to get a better grasp over the sword dance. 

-

The following day Rey was nowhere to be found. And even at the dead of night Rey had still not appeared but Johan stayed faithful to his training.

"He did say he was busy." Johan mumbled. "He is a grown man. And a count on top of that. The only thing nobles had to fear was…"

Johan froze. He was too used to how the world worked where he was from and after getting reincarnated he thought of it as a big camping trip. But a world such as that wouldn't act like modern humanity. It would act like the middle ages. 

Johan looked for the map he was given. It had two Xs drawn into it. One was where he currently was and one was to the city of Fera. And Johan started to run. He ran at full speed towards the city. And he continued to run for 2 whole hours when he found himself in front of the entrance to the city. A large gate in the middle of the city walls.

There were two guards in front of the gate. They both held spears in their hands, they wore chainmail and a simple helmet. It wasn't much but they could easily fend off a bandit attack by themselves. 

Johan made his way to the gate acting tired. He had cleaned his clothes but they were still damaged by the katay attack. Yet despite that he approached the guards with confidence.

"Erm, hello sirs. Can I enter the city?" Johan said.

"Who are you?" The guards asked after being alarmed to Johan's presence 

"I am a guard for a merchant group. We were attacked by some katay and I had to draw their attention away but got separated from my group. They will be passing by here soon so I wish to stay here for a while." Johan replied, having come up with a fake story in seconds.

"We can't allow entrance. The count has been caught dealing with drugs from the slums and the duke has given strict orders to not let anyone come inside." One of the guards replied.

Wait what? That can't be. He's the last person that would deal in drugs. Something is off. 

Johan had read about such things many times when he was a student. Many figures that weren't in line with the wants of the higher ups were framed of things they didn't do. 

"Really? Is there no other way? I can't stay out here for days." Johan said 

"The gates will be opened again after the execution tomorrow. But if you really want to get in, we'll allow it for a silver" The guard said. 

Execution? Lockdown? He really is being framed.

"Oh my, how lucky I am. Here you go." Johan replied and gave the guard one of the coins he was given. 

"Enjoy your stay." The guards said in unison.