"From buying me five pieces of silver and selling me 10 pieces of gold, you're a robber!" complained Avery.
Avery's eyes darted to the side, watching the face of the auctioneer, who kept looking at him with an envy-like gaze.
Of course, he would look at Avery jealously, considering the muscular young man had been bought by a viscount noble from the nearby town of Amberwood.
One of the guards was seen approaching the stage, stepping up to Avery, and began to remove the iron cuffs shackling Avery's wrists.
As the steel fell, the other nobles began to leave, but not Grace —the name of the countess who bought Avery.
Grace was still there, waiting for Avery to finish wearing his fallen and torn clothes. The beautiful woman stood accompanied by her two personal guards, knights in maroon robes with a purple vertical stripe pattern.
Every noble was entitled to have their own soldiers, but only up to the Viscount's title of nobility. For the Baron, the only option was to hire mercenaries.
Avery walked away from them, walking down the steps to reach Grace. Surprisingly, both of Grace's hands grasped her petticoat dress and bowed her head slightly, paying her respects.
"What's going on? Why would a noble like you bow to him?!" asked the auction host, puzzled.
Grace finished her salute, opened her eyes, which had been closed, and looked ahead at Avery, then at the auctioneer.
"Doesn't he call himself Avery Romarich?" she asked.
"Yes, but many frauds like him claim to be Sacred Knights," replied the auctioneer.
The woman laughed, the soft and melodious little laugh Grace let out of her mouth, "Not if you've seen what Avery looks like before."
Hearing these words made the auctioneer flinch, his face turning white as he realized the person he had sold was the kingdom's hero.
He rushed down the stage steps, kneeling apologetically as both hands clasped Avery's tightly.
"Please, Lord Avery. Forgive our impudence," says the auctioneer.
Unwilling to waste any more time, Avery walked away, leaving the auctioneer and the second floor of the building behind. Grace followed and stepped right behind Avery and the two soldier escorts who always accompanied her.
Avery's feet carried him to the first floor, a bar filled with robbers and butchers. Avery's attention was drawn to the room beside him, where he had kicked Sigor's body, causing him to bounce off the floor and hit the wall.
Someone came out of the room, an unclothed woman stepping away to refill the beer in the pitcher in her hand.
Not wanting to get too involved with the problems of the place, Avery made his way out of the building, with Grace following close behind.
"Thanks for buying me, Grace," Avery stated.
"It was an honor to help the sacred knight," Grace responded.
Avery nodded with a smile at Grace, "When I arrive in Telmarath, I'll repay you five times what you spent."
Grace smiled. 50 gold pieces was a lot to Grace but not to Avery. The abundant wealth gained from missions and the King's gifts made him richer than the entire Viscount of Lancaster.
Just as Avery was about to leave the village, black clouds surprisingly gathered over Waterside. Raindrops fell, from a drizzle to a torrent.
One of Grace's escorts took out an umbrella, handing it to Grace to keep the countess out of the rain. The other dashes to the carriage, retrieving her boots so that Grace's beautiful feet aren't stained by the mud on the country road.
Avery was no different. The man was still standing firmly in the middle of the road. Water had begun to soak the road, creating puddles in several spots.
One of Grace's escorts walked over to Avery, shading the young man to keep him from shivering in the cold.
"Traveling to Amberwood or any other town at night is very dangerous. It's best if we stay overnight at Waterside and then leave in the morning," Grace replied.
Avery nodded, his eyes darting left and right. The sun hadn't sunk yet —Only a few hours left before nightfall. But experience had taught Avery many lessons.
This is partly due to the bandit's presence, often in the middle of the forest to ambush travelers or people traveling at night. The distance from Waterside to Amberwood was three hours by horse-drawn carriage, not to mention on foot.
Grace stepped into her carriage, as did Avery. The two soon rode away from the place to one of the best inns in Waterside.
***
The Waterside Village
The day became night.
Avery's inn room was separate from Grace's. Grace had already fallen asleep since it was ten o'clock in the evening. However, it was different with Avery.
Sweat poured down from his head, almost soaking every part of Avery's skin. The young man's body was slumped on the bed, his eyes closed, and his breathing sounded heavy.
"It's my turn, Avery!" insisted someone, their voice heavy and familiar, like Jommon's.
"What... do you want to do to me?!" asked Avery, faltering with his eyes firmly closed.
"They have forgotten you, ignored you, and humiliated you beyond measure. I will avenge your hatred on them!" retorted Jommon.
"At least you can rest tonight, Avery. Let me handle all of this," says Jommon.
As the night wore on, the pain became more and more intense. Avery continued to hold back the turmoil in his heart and mind, reluctant for the Jommon inside Avery to take over the man's body.
The mysterious scream woke Grace, who was sleeping in the next room. Her eyes rounded at the sound of shouting from inside Avery's room.
Worried that something had happened to Avery, Grace hurriedly put on her pajama coat, walked out of the room, and knocked hard on Avery's door.
"Lord Romarich, are you alright?" she asked, worried.
The shouting grew louder and louder, and almost everyone in the inn heard it. Two of Grace's escorts rushed up to the second floor, approaching Grace, who stood before the room where the screams came from.
"We need to leave here," one of the guards ordered.
"But what about—"
BOM!
The explosion sounded from Avery's room, leaving everyone in shock with their eyes wide. One of Grace's escorts walked back downstairs, out of the inn, and saw the wall of Avery's room had been hollowed out with flames burning constantly inside Avery's room.
"What happened?" the bodyguard asked, confused and scared.
To his surprise, Avery was already behind the escort. His hand reached quickly forward and stabbed the guard in the chest until Avery's right hand grasped the man's heart.
"AAAKH!"
Blood poured out of the hole in his chest and mouth, causing the man to fall helplessly on the muddy ground filled with mud puddles. As Grace arrived outside the inn, her eyes took in the sight of Avery standing in a pool of blood.
"What on earth are you doing, Avery?!" snapped Grace.
Avery turned around, looking at Grace. The woman was even more frightened to see Avery's veins glowing maroon, with both eyes as black as Avery's eyes were perforated.
"Avery? He's fast asleep in my castle," revealed Avery, who was possessed by the soul of Jommon.
"What do you mean to say—"
JLEB!
The young man swiftly stabbed Grace in the belly, stabbing deeper until Avery's palm pierced through to the woman's waist. In one swing of the hand to the side, Grace's gorgeous body was split into two parts, and she died in seconds.
"You're noisy!" snapped Avery.
Grace's guards also tried to fight back and were about to kill Avery. He pulled out his sword and prepared to drive the tip into Avery's belly, but the iron blade of Grace's guard's sword broke when it clashed.
"You moron!" Avery snarled, grabbing the guard by the neck and squeezing him so tightly that his head was severed and blood spurted everywhere.
Avery laughed loudly, his eyes closed with his arms spread wide to the right and left. Jommon was satisfied, his heart relieved when he saw the human race who killed him die in his hands.
"It was very easy to use the human body. I feel like I can do many things this time!" declared Jommon.
Realizing he was very powerful in that place made Jommon even more excited. He began to release his magic aura intensely, and a purple-black aura enveloped the man.
The Waterside soldiers gathered and surrounded Avery, forming a circular formation, "You won't be able to escape."
Avery looked up, seeing the heavy raindrops still wetting him. His lips turned up, impatiently bloodthirsty after seeing some kind of human resistance.
"Tonight, this village will burn in flames!"
