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/Crack crack…/
/Gasp... Gasp.../
While the others made their way out of the Pharmacy, outside, Dale cracked his knuckles while he watched the fallen Fray recover his breath, clenching onto his neck with a red face as he coughed on the ground from time to time.
/Chatter.../
A small crowd had already started to gather around, watching what was about to unfold.
But Dale didn't mind, in fact, the more the better, let everyone witness this clown getting clapped on for the actions he so dearly sought.
A warning as well to those that would cause trouble in the future, to make them rethink their choices...
But for this to have any effect, he first needed Fray to show everyone how strong he was…
And once he did, once everyone knew what he was capable of, then it would be Dale's turn to completely crush whatever he threw at him, solidifying his position even further.
He planned to milk Fray for every worth he had while also at the same time venting his anger, and avenging Yumi for the things she lost.
"So, let's get things straight." Dale said after a minute had passed
"You seem to have a problem with me, which is fine, problems happen, and misunderstandings can occur, life is not exactly smooth sailing all the time."
"As such, I was willing to give in and understand your reasons..."
"But now, I have a problem with you."
/Crack/
He cracked his neck, being overall very relaxed about this situation, but don't let him fool you, Dale was ready to counterattack at any moment, be it from Fray or from someone else.
The previous feat of speed Fray displayed to him wasn't anything impressive, and his strength wasn't enough to even damage his high Constitution values…
But for that to be true, he would first have to go past his armor, which wasn't exactly feasible given he was unarmed.
Still, this did not mean that he would take him lightly, nor that it felt pleasant to receive a punch in the face and in the guts.
"Gasp… Haa… Mot…"
Fray slowly rose from the ground, his face red in a mix of lack of air and extreme anger.
But his eyes were wary as he thought, 'I dropped my guard a bit too much.' looking at Dale with extreme caution.
"Well… Where is it? That aggressiveness of yours?" Dale asked as he crossed his arms
"I gave you a chance, and you spat on my face and in our Village's hospitality."
"Normally, I would just throw you away, but I…"
/SPAT!/
Fray spat on the ground in front of Dale in defiance as he lifted his fists.
"Fuck you…"
/DASH!/
/SMACK!/
Before Fray even had the same to finish his words, Dale vanished, and in the next moment, Fray was spinning in the air…
/CRASH!/
He collided against a wooden fence, breaking it as he continued to roll…
"What a waste..." Dale mumbled to himself as he saw the Village's property be damaged
He looked at his hands, realizing a problem right off the bat...
'People might frown if I fight him fully geared up when he's unarmed.'
'I have to even the odds in their eyes a little.'
"You there."
Dale looked at the people all around, and he immediately spotted a player.
"M-Me?"
The player was confused, but he accepted, approaching Dale with caution…
He did not want to end up like that other NPC...
"See that fucking idiot over there? Grab him up for me!"
"H-Huh?"
[DING!]
[A new quest…]
Before the player even had the time to process his words, a new Quest notification rang in his ears.
Seeing the possible free rewards for a Quest this easy, the player rejoiced from being the chosen one out of all of the players around.
So looking high with pride, he went to the place where Fray fell, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him back to the middle of the road.
The player cared little for Fray's dignity, as Dale was higher in his priorities over a nameless NPC like him.
"Wh…?"
Fray in the meantime, still seeing stars, tried to understand what was happening.
He could only feel some foreign pain on his face, burning hotter than the sun.
His guard was up yet now... Where was he?
Why was his nose hurting so much?
Why was he moving?
Who was dragging him?
Why was he being dragged?
Endless questions poured into his brain as he tried to make sense of the situation.
"Here he is."
/Thud…/
"Good, now, fetch me a sword."
"A-A sword?... Any kind?"
"Hm… About this big, standard." Dale said as he tried to remember the sword he saw in Fray's quarters
Nodding, the player looked around and even asked some friends, and in less than half a minute, the lad was back with a standard-looking iron sword.
Without even looking at him, Dale grabbed the sword and gave the player his rewards, a fat chunk of XP, and a free point of reputation.
The player was excited, the freest money he had ever gotten!
After that was done, Dale turned around, slowly taking off his armor, putting the pieces inside Yumi's house since it was nearby.
He effortlessly took everything off, and in no time at all, he was back on the street wearing little but a simple shirt, pants, and shoes.
The shoes obviously came from his inventory, but during the small moment he entered Yumi's house, he quickly opened it and put them on before he returned to the street.
He left his armor inside Yumi's house and not in his inventory for the sake of realism, just in case there was a player that decided to trespass into her house, which wasn't uncommon.
Lastly, he never saw a player with the ability to see through walls, so he didn't feel that putting his shoes on was risky in any way.
/Step step.../
/Kick!/
"GAH!"
Seeing that Fray was still on the ground, slowly recovering, Dale decided that he had rested enough, kicking him in the stomach and sending Fray into the air.
/THUD/
After flying for a few seconds, Fray fell to the ground right in front of him with a thud, clutching his stomach in pain, gasping for air as drool fell from his mouth.
"Get up."
"U…Urg…"
"You have 3 seconds."
"2…"
"Urg…"
"1…"
"Huff… Huff…"
Fray, bleeding from his broken nose and still a bit hunched from the pain, looked at Dale with mixed eyes.
/FWOOSH!/
Dale threw the sword in his hands, lodging it onto the ground in front of Fray.
"Grab it." Dale commanded as he looked at the sword
"... Huff… What is… This shit supposed to mean?"
"You talked big before, so I want to see what exactly you have to back that up."
'And honestly, I'm very interested in seeing what someone from outside the Village can do, I don't know how strong Fray is in comparison to the rest of the Continent, but I can always ask that later.'
'Plus, let this be a message to others, show me more, show me everything you got... Your pride, your honor, the strength you're confident of.'
'So I can break it.'
'It's the very reason why I was called to be here anyway.'
"And you better do it right, because if I find it unconvincing, I'm going to break your legs so you won't walk out of your room to cause trouble anymore for the remainder of your stay."
"So you better try your hardest."
"Wh-What?! Crazy ass son of a…"
/DASH!/
Dale disappeared once more, clenching his fist hard to the point his veins started appearing, aiming it at Fray's head.
"!!"
With his tired eyes, Fray stared as Dale's fist approached his face once more…
"DAMN!"
Screaming with everything he had, his feet moved into position as they dug a trench onto the ground, barely avoiding his fist.
/Screech!/
He could only hear the ripping sound of Dale's fist ripping through the air violently.
'If that reaches my head...'
Understanding the situation he was in, Fray became serious for the first time in... Many years.
/Shine.../
Blue light gathered on his hands, traveling up his blade as he flickered his right hand.
*Martial Art, Rion Juliet Blue Sword*
His lips were sealed, but a smooth current of air entered his broken nostrils, causing a great deal of pain to travel across his body, but he had to ignore it as his legs were at stake.
His condition wasn't the best to execute such delicate martial art, but it was either that, or an even bigger heap of pain!
Because he didn't doubt that this madman would actually stick to his words!
/CLANG!/
"You gotta be…"
Against all odds, his sword collided against Dale's chest, drawing a line on his shirt…
But the sound of metal being struck echoed on the street…
/Silence.../
The people could not believe it...
"What are you fucking made of?!" He exclaimed in anger as he jumped backward, creating distance
'This... This guy...'
'He... He let me cut his chest... He knew nothing would happen?... I...'
/CRACK/
"Focus." Dale whispered as he vanished once more, reappearing right in front of Fray, one foot in front of the other, with his furthermost right foot digging deep into the earth as he pulled his right fist back
Revolving green light condensed around his arm as he grabbed Fray's free arm with his left hand, lifting it up.
"?!"
/FWOOSH/
/BAM!/
/CRACK!/
Most of the players couldn't see what was happening in the first place, it was simply a bit too fast for them, while for those that could, Dale's fist disappeared, and in the next moment, broken chunks of metal flew around in the air at high speeds.
A few unlucky sods were hit by the flying chunks, while some others evaded it by chance, not a single Villager was hit though.
"URG!"
Fray, by using what he knew of swordsmanship managed to lift his sword to block Dale's fist, buying enough time for him to avoid being struck in the face by that.
And he knew, if that fist had hitten him, be it in the chest or in the head, he would've died, and anywhere else, he might've been a cripple for the rest of his life, becoming akin to trash.
He was sturdy, but was he sturdier than a blade? Even if this was a low-quality one...
"Huff… Huff…"
He couldn't flee from Dale's grasp, but at least he had managed to escape from a blow…
/Release…/
Dale released his arm, allowing Fray to dash back, creating distance between them.
He opened and close his hand, it was bleeding heavily, the skin torn apart from the after-impact of his blade's edge shattering in half.
To this Dale merely wiped the sweat from his hand on his pants.
"Is that all?" He asked slowly, not putting any emotion in his words
"..."
/Clench…/
Fray clenched his teeth in anger, but also in helplessness, this was the first time in his life he had been humiliated so much…
Worse, the person doing so was supposedly younger than him, if the rumors were to be believed that is...
The only time he had actually seen someone around his age beat him was when he went to the Capital of the Empire, there, many ridiculous talents gathered, but he had only gone there once when his teacher updated his Mercenary Rank at the main Branch.
Those people had grown up in suitable environments, with the best the world could offer, if they grew up in a decent family, and had the right talent, it was just right that they would go far.
Everywhere else he went, in the 100 Villages, Towns, and cities he visited throughout his life wandering around with his master, he had never seen someone so close in age to him beat him up so much...
So thoroughly.
He had seen people that were better than him, he had seen talents that were on par with him, and even some people whose talents were never properly harvested…
But he always believed in one thing… And that was the fact he himself had a lot of untapped potential…
What if someone is better than him? He only spends a few hours per day training, what about them? Half a day? If he were to spend the same amount of time then the answer became clear…
Living in his own delusions so he could find meaning, that was how he lived… Without realizing that he himself was destroying his own future.
"... Itch…"
"Hm? What did you say?" Dale asked as he raised an eyebrow
'What is he muttering?'
"Hehehe… Haaa... I said…"
"YOU'RE A SON OF A BITCH!"
/BAM!/
Fray's focus culminated at that moment as he let his locked emotions out, with a few tears in his eyes, a blue sword of light formed on top of the broken handle he was grabbing.
*Martial Art, Rion Juliet Blue Sword!*
/Tremble…/
He kicked the ground, creating a small tremor.
At this moment, Fray was using everything he had and a bit more, something he had never done before in his life.
Anger, embarrassment, fear, resentment, anguish, and more, all of these emotions were thrown into his hands that now clutched onto that broken blade.
And he had at that moment brought forward his own talent that he had suppressed under years of foolery.
In a sense, this was a form of breakthrough...
Exactly what Zaw wanted to see.
/DASH!/
Right now, he didn't want to prove anything, in fact, he never wanted to, he simply wanted to live his own life and flee from his old one.
If he stuck to his past self, he would've given up now and collapsed on the floor.
But by grabbing his sword, he admitted to the mistakes his teacher always pointed out, and to all of the lies and empty words he had given him in reply throughout all these years.
Fray lived on the run, and now, he was willing to look back at the path he walked, in his own way of course.
There was much to improve still, but a single step was everything Zaw wanted to see.
If only for a moment, his student were to walk forward...
"..."
But Dale didn't feel like replying to his youthful emotions in the least.
He merely raised his right hand towards the sky while Fray's blue blade moved towards his neck...
…
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Notes
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦