inside the humble workshop of Hephaestus Adrian was explaining how he wants his sword to be made
"Hmm... a ki, divine power, and a magic compatible sword?" Hephaestus rubbed his beard
"that'll be difficult, as far as my knowledge goes there is only kind of metal that can harness all three powers, and it's Palladium, however such a metal is"
Hephaestus did a nervous laugh before continuing "haha.. it's unbelievably rare, and never in the market due to not being that good for sword making to begin with.."
Hephaestus looked in deep thought "however if it's me... it might be possible to make something with it
Adrian's eyes fixed at Hephaestus as he said
"Do you have any idea where I can find such metal?"
Hephaestus looked uncomfortable "well... there one place i have in mind however.." Hephaestus stopped for a second before continuing "I won't go there again." His face contorted to a mix between anger and disappointment
Adrian thought deeply about what those words meant ".. by 'there' are u referring to what i think you are?"
Hephaestus nodded
Adrian looked confident with a sly smile on his face "what if i deal with the situation there?"
--------------------------------------------
in the distance a group of men were whistling at a woman
"phewwwie aren't you a beauty, wont you come with us and get out of here"
"please i don't any trouble" the woman pleaded
"oh trust us lady we don't want any trouble if you don't want any" said another person in the group as he got closer to the lady
"please.. someone save me!" the woman pleaded and extended her hand while she was running towards the security guard who was asleep near the gate
"zzz... huh?" the guard who just woke up looked confused by the situation of a lady hiding behind him but quickly understood what was going on
"hey there mister, we were just trying to go 'talk' to that nice lady over there"
another guy from the group went forward and emphasized the knife in his pocket while the first guy was talking
"So how about you give her to us?"
the guard looking terrified from the situation mumbled "w-w-what.."
his eyes darted to the lady hiding behind him "t-t-take her i d-d-don't want any trouble with the spirados"
"that's what we thought, now come here you" the man snickered amongst his group as the lady got thrown towards them
the woman's eyes widened in fear as she screamed "please no! Can anyone help!"
"put her down." said a cloaked individual
"ehh? which guy has a death wish right now?" the man in the back pulled his knife from his pocket
before they can get a good look at the cloaked individual he disappeared
"huh? where'd he go?"
a blur passed by the main leader in the group which made him turn his head around only to see two people from the 6 person group on the floor passed out
"what?" before the same thing repeated itself he quickly gathered himself " everyone put your guard up" he yelled at the remaining few except in the time it took for him to yell that out 2 more people fell
"weak." the cloaked figure muttered agitating the goons even more
"d-dont you know who we are??" the leader yelled in fear
"our boss will never stand for this you hear?!" his eyes darted everywhere in a futile attempt to find the cloaked figure
"boring speech let's end this shan't we?" the cloaked figure appeared out of nowhere in between the two people and smashed both their heads together making a loud Crack noise inhibit the wind
"you should get going madam" the cloaked figure looked at the lady who was on the ground frozen
"ah! yes yes thank you so much!" she said while running away
"hey you." the cloaked figure eyed the guard
"s-s-sorry sir it really was a honest mistake please don't hurt me too i didn't have any other choice"
"pathetic." the cloaked figure said while clicking his tongue
"just take me to the palace cellar so we can put these fools in jail
"ah sir but doing that would anger... the guard looked around nervously as he said their name
"the spirados..."
the cloaked figure waved his hand "don't worry ill deal with it let's get going"
"ah yes sir.."
while guiding the cloaked figure towards the palace the figure took off his face mask to reveal Adrian who looked to be in pain
'ah damn, using that skill really does mess with my body' he took out a health potion from his bag and drank it
'still, i am very content with the effect of these boots' he said as he looked at his combat boots'
as he was looking at them the translucent red hued window appeared once again this time showing the stats of his boots
Old combat boots (enchanted)
passive effect: while wearing these boots gain 2 agility
active effect: temporarily gain 10 agility
'i still cant believe the system can check stuff like this aswell' Adrian thought to himself a smile wide on his face through the mask
'While the passive effect may not seem that good, the active effect really is a life saver, however the way to activate it needs one to circulate magic or ki through it.. which i cant use that often..' Adrian felt a little bummed out
Adrian's eyes darted across the city "for a capital city known for housing the sword master king it seems rather dire doesn't it?" gangs can be seen left and right and all the windows are boarded up and have graffiti all over them as well
"haha well.." the guard avoided the criticizing glare exuding from Adrian
"there's nothing that can be done, in this city ever since our king has stopped caring all the nobles showed their true colors and allowed anything and everything that benefited them"
the guards eyes for a second showed a flame that had long got put out
"in any case we made it, sir" the guard puffed his chest out and declared "Don't worry sir ill take it from here and take them to the cellar myself"
Adrian stopped the guard from his back collar while having an eerie smile "who said you can leave yet? ill be going with you to the cellar then you'll take me to your king"
"t-t-the king sir??! im afraid i really cant do that he hasn't been accepting anyone's audience"
Adrian still keeping his smile said "oh? so you want me to report you turning a blind eye to the imperial palace? that's fine with me" he shrugged as he turned back
the soldier's face changed into a horrified expression "what? wait sir please dont do that" he reached out to Adrian
"if you don't want that to happen, then you know what you have to do"
the guard looked reluctant and stayed silent for a couple seconds before sighing "fine... come behind me"
------------------------------------------
"What is your reason for attending here?" asked a golden armored guard
"i have caught 'Midnight's blossom'" the guard said
"what?" the guard asked reluctantly as he looked to the person behind him
"Is that really midnight's blossom? the feared criminal the criminal his majesty failed to catch? that midnight's blossom?"
the prisoner behind the guard remained quiet
"that is correct and i intend to show him to his majesty and get rewarded appropriately for it"
"well.. let me take a closer look at him and if he's really him ill take him to the king myself"
the guard freaked out at this proclamation "are you crazy?! Do you think I am dumb? you're just going to try taking all the credits for it, i will not stand for this?!"
he started yelling out "excuse me your majesty!! I wish to show you midnights blossom!!!""
What followed was an uncomfortable silence followed by the guards laughing "haha you think his majesty would heed your request? you're more foolish than i thought-"
then the door behind the golden guard opened
"his majesty has allowed the audience" said the older looking butler
"h-his majesty's aid sir Abraham?"
the guard brushed past his golden counterpart and entered the audience room
"this is as far as i can get you will have to leave now" the guard whispered to the Adrian
"you've done well, you may go" the guard hurriedly made an excuse to leave leaving Adrian alone in the room in front of Abrahams and a multitude of golden armored guards surrounding the audience room
one of the guards announced "introducing the sword of flame king of the north, his majesty Arthur von flamehand
a man slowly entered the audience room, his red fluff cape fluttering with each movement, his red hair which can best be described as a lioncut was messy and unkempt as if he couldn't care to properly do it and his golden armor with lion insignia's all over was shining with elegance
he stared deeply at Adrian before stating "you're not Midnight's blossom, state who you are" he unsheathed his sword and put it against Adrian's neck.
"or die."