As we enter the village We see people gathered around the gate of the village, thanks to Warzheil, I managed to fool everyone into believing that my left hand is an armor he made for me. As we move in they create a way for us, From the looks of it there seems to be around 200 people which is decent for a village this size.
Two women are waiting for us at the end of the crowd, blocking our path.
"Our warriors have returned with the hunt. We will have a feast tonight." Says a beautiful woman with long ears, who must be an elf, Beside her is a woman with fire-red hair and a cloak-like cape, Hood hiding her body while a mask to cover her face, dressed in an armor hinting at her rich background, Her face turning around in search of someone. She must be Drax's Daughter.
Our small party stops in front of the two women and we get off the horse, other people take away the horses. Now that I think about it I never bothered looking at the horses. They look a bit like normal horses but their bodies are very muscular and have very defined curves and crest-like hairs as that of a high-ranking General in Greek armies.
I try to stay low profile to avoid Drax's daughter. I don't understand how I should face her. After all her father died trying to summon me.
Gloria hugs Warzheil who hugs her back and pats her head.
"You have grown so much in just 2 years of me not being here, huh Gloria?"
Gloria's face hints of shyness as a glint of redness appears on her cheeks and her eyes waver again.
"Where is father?" she asks on which there is silence for a moment.
"Sil, get a meeting room ready, we have some urgent things to discuss," Warzheil says calmly.
"Sure," Sil replies.
After a while, we are sitting in a room with a small roundtable with Kade, Warzheil, Gloria, Sil, and a guy named Abhi.
"What's wrong Oldzheil why this meeting? And why are you inviting a new person to our meeting?" Gloria asks shooting a hostile glance at me.
I am not bothered by her hostility, because it's natural.
"I....how do I tell you this Gloria? It's really hard." Warzheil hesitates.
"How... you ask? Just say it we won't yell if you have made some kind of mistake hehe." Says Gloria.
She looks the type to put up a strong front, who knows what hell will break when she gets the news of her father's demise. I will need to take responsibility, even if it wasn't my choice it's because of him summoning me that he died. I
I gather the strength to face any consequences.
"Your Father, The greatest of Current gods....Lord Drax, my Best friend has passed on to the world of his god."
There is silence, shock on Sil's face. And Gloria's expression fluctuates a bit.
"My father is your best friend oldzheil, but going so far as to say that he died? Haha, you must be joking" she says with an Expression not willing to accept what she just heard.
"Tell us that's a lie Warzheil! You are telling us that a god who couldn't be defeated for more than a hundred thousand years is dead?!!! You want us to laugh at a joke like that!" Sil says being annoyed yet dignified in her speech.
I look at Warzheil who reaches out slowly to one of his space pockets but his hands are shivering. I can feel the amount of pressure on him. I put my hand on his shivering hand and he turns to me with a grim look, he is surely scared.
I try to reassure him which seems to give him some confidence as he takes out a big pot with Drax's ashes in it. He is still hesitant to bring it up to the table's level so I take it from him.
"This guilt is for both of us to bear."
Now that I have the pot, I feel the pressure too, but I have made up my mind. And so I put the pot on the table as I stand, I look at Warzheil who reassures me as if he knows what I will say.
"I am Ronin. I am sharing my identity with you because Warzheil seems to trust you...." And so I tell them about all that happened to us in the past few weeks.
Gloria walks up to me with anger. She must be trying hard to not cry.
"You! It's all because of you! Why did he have to go to such lengths to summon a weakling like this? Was Father not enough?"
"Gloria! Are these the manners my late friend taught you!" Warzheil is about to snap at her but I stop him.
"It's fine Warzheil, she isn't wrong. I am weak. I have flaws. Drax must have expected some kind of God to descend in this world but instead, I got summoned." I say to Warzheil.
"But Gloria, it isn't my fault that I got summoned, Anyway, I will try my best to fulfill the purpose for which I have been called. I can understand how you feel. I hope you can forgive me."
"Forgive?!" she yells as she punches me hard on the stomach, the punch is no joke as it sends me sliding into one of the room walls. My wound opens up and blood starts flowing as it paints the bandages.
"Oh no, his wound!" Sil says as she comes to my aid and tries to apply magic.
Warzheil comes rushing as well
"No, magic won't do it! Call the pharmacist! He will bleed out!"
"*Coughing Blood* no! Give me my spear." I tell Warzheil.
"Your spear? Don't tell me you will." Warzheil says with a worried face.
"Come on, I won't die from just this much."
Warzheil nods and gives me my spear, I activate its plasma and burn the ends of the wound, I feels like if I were to close my eyes even for a moment I would die. Everyone except for Warzheil seems horrified by my actions.
"By the gods, What is he doing?" Sil asks as she covers her mouth to hide her disgust.
"you will find out soon"
As expected my wounds start to heal rapidly and soon I can take a relieved breath.
I look at Gloria who seems to be shocked beyond belief.
"Hey old man"
"Yes?" Warzheil says with a calm voice.
"I don't have time to waste, teach me enchanting and blacksmithing, I have ideas I wanna try out."
"I won't make it easy just so you know" He replies with a smile.
I stand up and confront Gloria. But Should I say to her?
"You saw what just happened just now, right?" Warzheil says
"So what? He couldn't even defend against my attack, having super regeneration doesn't make him strong. I just can't stand my father dying to summon him."
"How about you test me? I know you are raring to beat the crap out of me."
"Ronin, I know why you are challenging her but just to remind you she is still half-deity."
"I won't need to hold back now do I?"
Gloria's Perspective:
Kade walks up to Gloria and whispers.
"Are you sure? You may not know this but he is the one who defeated the demon lord who would need all 7 heroes to be defeated."
"I hate him. I will not tolerate a weakling to sully my Father's name"
"We will meet in 10 minutes in the ground then," Warzheil says to Gloria as He and Ronin start to leave.
"And yeah Gloria" Warzheil says with a serious expression.
"...?" Gloria turns to hear Warzheil
"Do not underestimate him. He was the best killer on Earth and he won't go easy."
This Alerts Gloria.
I return with Warzheil in a big house.
"I will get you some armor here, welcome to my Main forge. It's a bit dusty but feel at home." He says as we enter a well-maintained forge.
I may need to get serious, I will rely on my speed, and my suit is tight so that's gonna be a problem.
"I don't need armor, do you have a professional tailor here? I need my suit repaired."
"No, elves are better versed in tailor skills, I can change your armor plates if you want but that will take time."
"You have a screwdriver?"
"What's that?"
I smile at this question of Warzheil and guide him, he makes a new screwdriver in just a minute, He truly is a master smith.
I use a hammer and after heating a hollow part of my spear I open it up, it takes me 5 minutes to take out the entire plasma generator and the insides of the spear. Warzheil takes measurements and makes a new body for the entire setup. He beats some alloy called Oracadite which is a mixture of Orichalcum and Adamantite which are one of the two rarest metals. He beats it for 6 minutes while turning it with his bare hands, apparently, blacksmiths are granted a very high resistance by the god of Smithing the more renounced they get. We are very late, But I shouldn't fight without a weapon. The metal shines which shocks Warzheil.
"Wow, I am lucky today, the metal is now a natural source of lightning, which means it will convert mana into Lightning but I don't think it will work for you unfortunately." He says
"I want to test something. I have put my symbol on the plasma generator, try putting the handle on."
"Oh! I see what you did there lad! If this works you might become a fine blacksmith." He says as he seems to predict what I am doing.
And so he puts the handle on the plasma spear's body and my new upgraded spear is ready.
"I will study your previous spear body and learn its shortening technique. Try using the spear now."
I nod and thrust the staff without activating the plasma head and it shoots lighting! I spin it and slam one of its ends into the ground, lots of lightning comes out of the ground
"Your plan worked! You can even put enchantments on Weapons if you make them multi-layered"
"No, that's not how I think it works, as long as I put my symbol on one of the less useful parts of something and then enchant it I think it will work."
"Hahaha, I thought you were some mindless killer but turns out you have a brain too huh?"
"Oi, at least try to make it sound like a joke old man". I say annoyed.
Someone opens the door of the forge, it's Kade.
"Hey! It's already 10 minutes past the Duel time! Everyone is waiting at the ground!" He shouts.
We arrive at the training grounds where everyone is waiting, they even call the villagers telling them it's a battle of strength and fighting prowess to see if I am qualified to join the hunting party.
I hate to do this but I will not go easy this time for sure.
All eyes are on me, but they don't seem to cheer me. Gloria is standing with a sword and a dagger in each hand with a stance that tells of how long she has been waiting. I have never been a fan of showing my skills off but lately, I find it quite fulfilling. Wait maybe I am being too full of myself, this world is Harder than Earth.
"Oh, you came? I thought you would have left in fear of facing a goddess."
"Haha, for some reason I see a girl begging to be disciplined. This is one of the few times when I feel trapped and enraged."
"Wha- what! How dare you!!?" she yells, which means I succeeded in my first plan.
Since Drax was a God I had imagined that his daughter must be a dignified Goddess, But turns out she is driven by Emotions and doesn't even know that snapping at her people will not ease the guilt she feels.
"Both sides ready?" a man who is the referee of the match asks.
"You seem confident for a lowly human who became a pool of blood in a single punch."
"Says the one hiding behind a mask."
"Idiot, aren't you wearing a mask too?"
"Oh shit! I forgot." I think as I rub my mask.
"I have a condition due to which I need to keep my mask on."
"Ok then, Let's make a bet, if I win, you become a slave just like you were intended to and if I lose I will do anything you say for the rest of my life."
"Hehe, men are simple, none of them will decline this offer."
"That's an excellent way of forcing your opinions on others. I accept."
"Ahem! Are you both ready?" the referee says in an annoyed tone while looking at me.
"Why me though!? Didn't she ignore your question too though, mister referee?" I ask on which the referee narrows his eyes in annoyance.
"Yes, I am ready," Gloria says taking a stance, and suddenly Divine energy gushes out of her, Although it doesn't compare to the level when Ava was wielding the energy. She looks like a child compared to Ava.
"Start.!"
Before I know it the referee starts the match and Gloria rushes at me with great speed, I bring the staff to block her sword but I forget for a moment that she has a dagger too. I leap away but Gloria gives no room for escape. She is pushing me towards the boundary of the fighting area. Her technique is not a problem but she is strong as hell!
After Blocking a few of her attacks I sense her attacks getting less powerful but with the same speed.
"Wha-what? I can't use my body strengthening techniques?" Gloria thinks.
This is my chance. I start to use my spear as a staff aggressively, mixing in some sweeps, Hard but accurate thrusts and pokes aiming them to avoid vital areas. She creates distance. I think I should up the game. The crowd seems to have lowered their cheering.
"My techniques are working again? Is he using anti-magic artifacts?" she thinks.
"Divine Manifestation: Holy strengthening!" Gloria yells and suddenly her hands are shrouded in divine energy, she takes out multiple needle-like weapons and throws them at me. Some pierces through my body completely but some are stuck into my bones.
She is not messing around. She makes me look like a fool.
"Idiot, I told Ronin to not go hard on her but she has gone as far as using a life-threatening attack like that!" Warzheil says in anger.
"Hey! You trying to kill me?" I yell as I take out the needles.
She doesn't reply and instead goes on to summon swords made of divine energy and tries to slice me up with them from far but the swords vanish as they get into my nullifying range, It seems like the range has increased.
"Wha..." She is about to say something but I don't want to extend the fight so I rush to her left in less than a second which startles her and use the spear to deflect her dagger I send in a fluke at her legs which she tries to defend giving me perfect chance to give her a very strong Spartan kick on the ribs which she defends against using her left arm but the force is enough sends her flying and rolling into the crowd and I end up injuring some people because of that.
Looks like I went too far because Gloria stands up with a broken arm and some occasional coughing. Out of all my martial arts moves Spartan kick is my favorite and one of the most practiced moves, I broke a thick tree after practicing it for only 3 months on Earth, and even Grandpa praised me on that.
But, Gloria looks like she is pissed off as she walks towards me.
"I hope you didn't forget our bet. I won, I get to choose your future now."
"Heh... like hell I would! I haven't given up, yet."
" Now you are just showing everyone how pitiful of a warrior you are. Don't worry I won't ask you to do something too complicated."
"I don't trust you." She says
"Oh? Some coincidence this is because it turns out I don't trust anyone here except for Warzheil. I did not want to shame you, but I had thought about giving it my all during the fight, But I feel lame now that I see a demi-god with their arm broken in a single move of mine."
I can see Gloria reaching her wit's end. But suddenly she starts smiling.
"You got me there for a moment, I will accept that. But when I was fighting you I noticed that my mana-strengthening magic got disabled when I got near you, that can mean one thing. You cheated by using an anti-magic artifact."
"That's the most biased conclusion I have heard in my life."
"He used an artifact? But that's cheating!" one guy in the crowd said inciting rage in the entire crowd.
Warzheil is about to step into the arena and is looking at Gloria maddened by anger but I stop him.
"Why?!!! I can't simply watch this happen to you Ronin!"
"It's fine Warzheil, I cheated. It's my fault. It's fine, stay calm."
I give Warzheil a reassuring smile. This isn't the first time something like this has happened to me, I have faced many challenges greater than this psychological situation on Earth.
But Warzheil shoots a really fearsome look at Gloria who sees him this time and wavers a bit.
The referee comes into the ground looking a bit scared and raises Gloria's hand.
"We have a victor!!." He says and his eyes meet Warzheil's which humbles him.
The situation might Escalate if I resist and rebel. I will need to work something out soon.
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