Chapter 86: Chapter 86
Back at Bora Village, the news that Eru had won the annual Great Fighting Competition had already reached the people here. However, Rudy and Ana had already known that their son had won the competition. They both felt proud and conflicted at the same time. “Do you think that they would’ve noticed?” Ana worriedly asked her husband while clutching his hand. Rudy expression was calm, “Don’t worry dear, our son is strong. Don’t forget, Evan and Angelica are out there also. They can protect Eru. Our sons and daughter are strong; after all, we raised them together.”
Ana’s eyes softened a little bit, but she’s still worried, “I know, but Eru looks resembled you the most. What if our enemy clocked that he’s our son and tried using him to get to us?” Rudy’s eyes turned bloodshot, “They are welcome to try! If they truly did that, they will taste humiliation and defeat far worse than what we gave them before!” Ana looked at her husband’s scary expression, and her feeling became better. “Dear”, Ana said affectionately as they both embraced each other until the next sunrise.
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“So, am I good to go?” Eru put on his backpack full of supplies. “Yeah, I think that should be all”, Amelia said while checking the content inside Eru’s backpack. “To get to Gale Highlands, you must pass through an array of mountains called the Gale Hills. There are rarely any towns or villages along the way, so you must prepare thoroughly”, reminded Monty as he handed a compass to Eru, “Here, take it. You know how to use it, right?” Eru nodded, “Yes. You just need to shake it a bit and wait until the arrow stabilize, right?” Monty let out a small smile, “You got it. Be careful out there, okay?”
Eru gestured with his hand, “Sure!” before leaving Great Aeolus City’s Adventurers Guild. “Thanks for everything, guys!” Eru waved his hand as his silhouette disappeared completely from Amelia and Monty’s view. “He’s gone just like that”, Amelia heaved a sigh. “Yeah. Oh well, let’s go inside. There’s a lot of things that we should’ve done”, Monty said before he and Amelia closed the Adventurers Guild’s door.
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Eru managed to leave Great Aeolus City without much of a worry. “Phew”, Eru sighed, “Thank Vaizeu, I wore a mask. If not, people would’ve swarmed me.” On the way outside, Eru found that his face was plastered all over the city. Even the street vendors that he never visited had his face plastered on their vendors. They even claimed that Eru had visited their vendors, but in reality, he never did so. “It’s back to you and me, Buddy!” Eru cheerily said while tapping on Buddy’s sheath. Buddy buzzed back as it was happy to accompany Eru on their journey.
Eru stretched his body, “Right, let us go then. To the east!”
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Inside the mountains on the east stood a young man with a half-naked body near a big lake full of fish. The young man held a black sword as he observed the movement of the fish inside of the big lake. The young man was, of course, Eru. “There!” Eru spotted a relatively big fish right in the middle of the lake. “You ready, buddy?” Eru held up the black sword. The black sword vibrated happily inside of Eru’s grip. “Here we go!” Eru said as he dived down to the lake before quickly swimming to the centre of the lake.
“Take this!” Eru shouted out while stabbing the large fish with his sword. The fish was powerless before Eru’s stab as its body was pierced through by Eru’s sword. Eru gasped for air, “Dinner secured”, he said with a smile protruding on his face. Eru came out from the lake then dried his body with a towel nearby. He walked towards the camp that he had set up earlier before sitting down near the campfire. “Thank Vaizeu to Monty and Amelia. Without them, I couldn’t have known about this mountain range beforehand”, Eru said to himself as he looked at his surroundings. “It’s kinda nice”, Eru commented about the nature surrounding him, “In my two lifetimes, this is the first time that I had been camping. I should’ve done this back then if I knew that it would be this peaceful.”
The black sword beside him replied by vibrating. “You think so too, Buddy? Looking at the surrounding nature around me make me calm”, Eru said. Eru changed his pants before putting on his clothes. Then, he checked the fish on the campfire; he found the fish was still not done cooking yet, so he sat down near the campfire. This serene atmosphere made Eru think about his life so far. “Come to think of it, I did have an experience camping in nature. But back then, I kinda was fighting for my life”, Eru reminiscent of his past.
The black sword concernedly replied by buzzing heavily in the ground. “Haha, thanks for worrying about me, Buddy. It’s alright; after all, it’s part of my training. If not for that, I couldn’t survive here in the wilderness,” Eru chuckled. “Even though I had to survive by myself at an early age, I never lived in the wild in my previous life. It really opened your eyes to how much struggle you had to do in order to live in the wilderness. Compared to that, my previous life struggles was easier.” Then, Eru noticed his fish was nearly burned, “Fuck, my fish!” Eru hurriedly picked up the fish. “Hot, hot, hot”, Eru blew the fish, trying to cool it down.
After a while, Eru finished eating the fish before finding that the sun had already set for a while. “It’s night already. Right, time to sleep”, Eru said, entering the tent after ending his meditation. Tomorrow came; Eru cleaned up the camping site then took down the tent after. “Right, time to find out where I need to go” Eru took out the compass given to him by Monty, then proceeded to shake it multiple times. Eru waited for the arrow in the compass to stabilize as the arrow pointed towards the right. “That way it is.”
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“Hah, hah, hah. How long is this mountain range going to go?” Eru complained. Eru pursed his lips, “Why the hell is this place called Gale Hills when it is a freaking mountain range!?” Eru walked forward, following the mountain trail before finding a building. “I was wondering why there is a path here. Turns out, the path leads into an inn” Eru saw that the building was crowded with people. The inn looked like an old inn from many old kung fu movies. Two storey building with an array of tables and chairs outside, neatly arranged for the customers to sit and eat.
Eru approached the inn with curiosity in his eyes. When Eru was near the inn, the people looked at Eru with interest. Eru walked inside the inn, then he looked around for an empty table. He found one on the second floor. Eru climbed the stairs before sitting down on the empty table. Before long, someone wearing an apron approached Eru. “Judging by the clothes, you’re new here, right?” an oriental girl stood near Eru. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and she had a round, bubbly face.
The girl wore a red one-piece dress with cloud motives below her apron. “That obvious, huh?” Eru slightly smiled. The girl’s eyes brightened, “I knew it! I just guessed before but you confirming it really made my day.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really. Not many foreigners came down to this part of the country, you know?” the girl said, her cheek slightly red in excitement. “You’re that excited seeing new people?” Eru’s eyebrow raised. The girl nodded, “I met new people all the time, but foreigners outside Gale territory was rare.” Eru interest was piqued, “Really? Not even adventurers?”
“Yup, not even adventurers. Gale territory had its own adventurers, so not many foreign adventurers came here”, the girl explained while leaning on the nearby pillar. “Figures. I’m guessing that not many came here due to the rough terrain this place had”, Eru concurred. “You came from Gale Hills?” the girl seemed surprised all of a sudden. “Yeah, why? Aren’t you supposed to go through there to get here?” Eru said, confused. The girl’s mouth opened wide before she let out a small laugh. “What’s wrong? I was told that it was the only way here,” Eru queried. The girl chuckled, “The one that told you must have had pranked you or something.”
Eru frowned, “What do you mean?” The girl pointed her finger outside the window, “See the path there?” Eru nodded, “Yeah?” The girl let out a small smile, “They lead to the main road. You do know that you can go here by the main road, right?” she informed. Eru digested the girl’s words one by one before his mouth opened wide, “What!?” he yelled out loud, startling the girl alongside the people inside the inn.
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