Mugging the muggers

'Nice! I have Mordred's helmet too, but even though I'm wearing a helmet that covers nearly my entire head and face, my vision is still clear and not obstructed,' Mordred thought excitedly.

The Secret of Pedigree helmet definitely looked badass, and so did the entire Mordred's armor, as he recalled. He was really excited.

'Armor, release!' Mordred called in his heart and the entire full plate armor, including the helmet disappeared with a crimson-white shine, and was replaced with Mordred's set of casual clothes.

Armor and weapons were covered, so Mordred thought about testing how to use his mana and his abilities. It was likely that he would encounter Elsa soon or maybe meet some other unforeseen dangers today, so he wanted to get some grasp on his new body and his abilities first.

The first thing that he focused on was the basics - infusing his body with mana to boost his strength and speed, boosting his movements.

Mordred then ran a few tests according to his guesses and his gut instinct, soon succeeding in infusing his body with active magical energy.

Mordred twisted his body, sending a straight jab into the air with crackles of crimson-white electricity running along his arm.

Swoosh! Tscho!

Following that Mordred tested using Mana Burst.

[Mana Burst A] - instantaneously release a noticeable amount of magical energy to greatly increase explosive power, speed and defense for a short period of time. Mana-efficient. Note: more effective while not wearing [Secret of Pedigree] helmet and the body is fully clad in mana.

Mordred didn't truly know how to use Mana Burst and obviously had no experience with it, but thanks to the gut feeling he had he got a hang of it really quickly and soon managed to activate it somewhat, sending a Mana Burst infused punch into the air.

It was flashy, it was loud and it was freaking epic!

'My second and last active ability would be my Noble Phantasm Clarent Blood Arthur, but I can't really test it here, heh,' Mordred thought to himself with a smirk.

For usable skills Mordred only had [Mana Burst A] and [Clarent Blood Arthur A+], but it was more than enough. These were some really good and strong skills. Paired with everything he got, it was amazing! Mordred could have gotten nothing and he would still be happy with the potential that [Return by Death] alone represented.

Mordred knew that Mana Burst is an incredibly powerful, versatile and mana-efficient skill to burst with explosive speed and strength, while Clarent Blood Aurthur was a massive ultimate cannon of destruction.

'Other than that I also have the Crimson Lightning attack. It isn't really a skill but a way to use my mana through my sword to perform an area of effect attack,' Mordred thought.

Mordred stretched out his hand and summoned Clarent. Following that he surrounded his entire body in mana to protect himself and then started injecting his mana into the sword, gradually making it enveloped in crimson lightning.

Sparkling crimson lightning around Clarent grew bigger and bigger, seeming as if it would burst eventually. At one point, Mordred canceled his attack and dispelled the lightning.

'I feel that I would manage to use it, but let's not do it here,' Mordred thought. Maybe not skillfully, but he felt that he would be able to activate all of his abilities if the need arises, maybe even if it is blasting off his Noble Phantasm.

Mordred then stored his sword, dematerializing it. 'Now, where should I go? It would be good if I could go to some kind of arena, training ground or an empty space outside the city to test my strength and speed to the limits in a nice environment.'

Just as Mordred pondered he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps.

A while later a group of three men walked into the alley, blocking the exit.

If there was a word that could describe these three, then it would be: "thugs". One of them was large and big with a round belly, the second was incredibly short like a dwarf, having a bowl haircut, while the last one had medium-length light-blue hair, a chain on his neck and a long snake-like tongue that he seemed to like to show off.

The three of them approached Mordred with a chilling glint in their eyes.

"What's with that surprised look on his face?" the short one asked.

"He doesn't seem to know what's going on," the big one said in a low voice.

"If you don't wanna get hurt, cough up whatever you've got!" the snake-tongue threatened.

Mordred couldn't help but smirk seeing the famous thug trio trying to mug him. It was quite convenient actually. How could these guys harm him, a Heroic Spirit?

"I guess you're thugs and you're trying to rob me?" Mordred asked, looking at the thugs.

The trio looked at each other: is this guy slow on the uptake or something?

The thug with the blue hair then pulled out two knives from behind his back and flared them in front of Mordred clearly in intimidation. "That's right! Pass over that backpack to us and you might not get hurt!"

"Okay. Then I guess there's no problem if I defend myself," Mordred said, nodding, as a smirk deepened on his face.

Slap!

Not a moment later a tight slap landed on the on the Snake-tongoue's temple, knocking him over and sending him flying.

Slap! Slap!

Following that two consecutive slaps landed on the faces of other two unlucky thugs, sending them sprawling on the ground.

"Aaaah!"

"Aah!"

"Eeeeh!"

The thugs started groaning and moaning in pain, holding their heads in dismay.

'I think I held back enough. They didn't even faint, so they should be fine,' Mordred thought as he looked at the trio, hoping that they wouldn't die. Seeing how Mordred could walk normally without overstepping, it appeared that he could control his strength at the low levels as well.

Mordred crossed his arms in front of his chest and gazed down at the three thugs for a while until the trio started getting up from the floor with fear evident on their faces, seeming ready to make a run for it; they didn't seem totally dumb to try and fight back.

"Now cough up whatever money you've got and I might let you go!" Mordred suddenly called out, staring at the trio coldly.

The three thugs looked at eachother. What? Now they are the ones being robbed?!

"What? You attacked me and tried to rob me, so it's only natural that I can rob you back, no? Make your choice quick," Mordred said and cracked his knuckles with a smirk and then added some crimson lightning currents running across his arms by channeling some mana and anger into his hands. It goes without saying: it looked cool and felt amazing!

The three thugs gulped and looked at each other in fear, before nodding their heads vigorously. They hurriedly started pulling out whatever they had in their pockets.

"Please spare us, sir!"

"Here!"

"It's all our money, sir!"

"Please forgive us, sir!"

The trio prostrated themselves before Mordred.

Looking at the ground, Mordred saw a bunch of coins and two thin pouches that the three thugs put together. He glanced at the trio and waved them away nonchalantly as if they were flies, "Sure, now scram."

"Thank you, sir!"

"Thank you for your mercy, sir!"

The three thugs didn't hesitate for long and started running off at their top speeds.

"The muggers got mugged. How interesting," a smooth, gentle and mildly amused voice was heard at that moment.

'Finally, he came out,' Mordred thought to himself as he squinted his eyes. For a while now his instincts were telling him that someone was watching him. He looked over to the entrance of the alley and saw a handsome young man walking toward him with grace.

The young man was slim and tall, and wore a well-tailored neat white outfit. There was a sword strapped to his waist that was screaming to Mordred: beware. But what caught Mordred's attention the most was the young man's red hair, and it was literally crimson-red hair, not ginger.

Mordred's lips rose into a light smile as he immediately recognized the person that approached him. 'Reinhard van Astrea.'

"That wasn't bad," Reinhard said, gently smiling. He then pointed at a small crater in the stone floor that Mordred earlier punched out. "Is this also your doing?"

"Sorry, I tripped," Mordred said.

Mordred turned a little tense at that moment. Although Reinhard is like the nicest guy ever in this world, he's still a freaking monster. The gentle and kind expression on his face was creating quite a strange contrast to his monstrous strength, putting Mordred slightly on edge.

Furthermore, because of Mordred's high strength and his illegal immigrant status, he could get in some trouble. He was not the harmless Subaru that could be ignored. His instincts were also telling him that Reinhard is really really strong and to be wary of him.

Reinhard gently smiled and replied, "I see. It happens."

It seems that Reinhard had also noticed Mordred's wariness, because he then raised both of his hands in a placating manner. "Ah, please, don't be alarmed. I don't have any ill intentions toward you."

Hearing Reinhard's tone of voice and his sincere gesture caused Mordred to be more relaxed. Mordred felt that Reinhard truly meant what he said.

"I am Reinhard. May I ask for your name?" Reinhard asked.

"My name is Mordred," Mordred said.

"So it's Mordred." He smiled. "As for why I'm here? Well, I sensed some magic that was unleashed around here, so I came to check what had happened."

'Unleashed magic? It must have been the Mana Burst or Crimson Lightning that I used,' Mordred thought.

"Then that was probably me," Mordred said, recalling. "I was just testing something. I released some mana into the air."

"I see..." Reinhard seemed to have accepted the answer quite easily. His eyes looked at the black leather backpack on the ground, before returning to Mordred. "Say, Mordred, where do you come from?"

After a moment's pause, Mordred smiled and said, "I feel like being honest is the best choice in this situation, no matter how absurd the truth is."

Reinhard raised his eyebrows at Mordred's words.

Mordred was nearly certain that Reinhard had a Divine Protection that allowed him to see when someone's lying; lying is pointless. Mordred could dance around the topic and answer the questions vaguely, but he felt like there was no need for it.

"I'm from a place far away, from outside Lugnica. I just came to this city by accident through something like teleportation magic," Mordred said honestly. "It was not my intention to come here."

"I see. So that's what happened," Reinhard said after a while, his blue eyes flashing. "You said that you're from outside Lugnica. Care to tell me which nation you are from exactly?"

Mordred pursed his lips for a moment. He smiled bitterly and said, "Even if I were to tell you, you wouldn't recognize it. My homeland is really far away."

Reinhard had raised his eyebrows again.

"Reinhard, am I in trouble?" Mordred asked, faintly smiling.

Reinhard lightly smiled and asked, "Do you plan to cause trouble here?"

"Not really. Actually, now that I'm here I would love to explore this place and stay here for some time. I think it's wonderful here," Mordred said honestly.

"I see. Well, if you don't plan to cause trouble then that's fine by me," Reinhard said, smiling. "As for your situation. At this moment, Lugnica is a bit more restive than in peacetime. I am free today and I would be glad to help. I can show you around and also get you registered."

Mordred's eyes shone. "Then I guess it's good that I ran into you. Thanks, Reinhard!"

Mordred grinned, cupping his fists and bowing his head down nonchalantly. It was his intention to latch himself onto Reinhard anyway and use this chance to test his skills even if Reinhard didn't propose it.

Reinhard smiled deeply and said, "Not a problem! You are quite interesting, Mordred. I would love to make your acquaintance."

Mordred slightly nodded and then squatted down to pick up the coins and pouches that the thugs left behind, saying at the same time, "Reinhard, can you tell me about the currency that you use here? Is this enough to get me a room for a few days?"

Reinhard squatted down next to Mordred with a smile, pushing his sword back. He said, "Well, you didn't gain much from these three... These are only some Bronze Coins. You see, we have four types of coins in Lugnica. From the least valuable it's the Bronze Coin, Silver Coin, Gold Coin and then it's the Holy Coin…"

Reinhard continued explanation, pointing at the coins that Mordred just got and then taking out his own money to give a demonstration of the other coins. Mordred already knew about the type of currencies, so he only asked about this to make some small talk; his knowledge of this world was still quite supreficial anyway.

Reinhard then smiled and said, "But if you don't have a place to sleep, then don't worry about it. You can stay at my family's place for the time being."

"That… That's very kind of you," Mordred said, placing his hand on Reinhard's shoulder, his expression being slightly surprised.

Reinhard smiled, saying, "It's nothing. My family has a large mansion in the capital and there are many rooms that are empty and unused. You are welcome to stay there for a while."

"I see," Mordred said and then pulled out his red leather jacket from his backpack. Looking at Reinhard he continued, "Reinhard, do you mind if I talk more casually with you?"

"Not at all! I don't mind casual speech," Reinhard answered with a bright friendly smile.

"Okay! I hate too much formal speech," Mordred said, putting on his red jacket. "Where do you say we should go first then?"

"It would be best to first get you registered while it's still an early hour," Reinhard said with a smile. "We can talk along the way."

'The registration process I will show for sure if Mordred has a royal bloodline like I suspect,' Reinhard secretly thought.

A light smile formed on Mordred's lips as he flung his backpack over his shoulder. It seemed that Reinhard was quite interested in him, naturally. He said, "Then let's go."