#23 Gifnora Forest
"What was that, young lord?" Ichika asked me once we left the Capital.
"Who knows...but I can feel that she is strong, maybe too strong for her age. She was kinda funny too." I replied with a small smile across my face.
"Are you really planning to spar with her?" Ichika asked with a curious expression. She already took off her mask since it wasn't the part of her magical artifact. However, I would have never expected that behind that mask is hidden tanned beauty with long black hair. It was a bit of surprise when I saw her face for the first time...it was also a bit awkward since she was the one who insisted on showing herself to me. I had no reason to refuse so I simply waited for her to take off her mask but she started nervously fidgeting as if she was about to strip all her clothes before me...
Somehow we were able to forget about that fact and we never talked about it.
"Of course, as long as we meet again...I don't know where she lives and neither she knows where I live. It will be up to fate, heh. Oh, by the way, here you go!" I said and then handed her a little box which she immediately accepted.
"...What is it?" She asked me while looking at it with a curious expression.
"I had no time to give you your 23th' birthday present so here it is with a little delay." I said with a straight face while looking in front of me on the stone road.
"What? Present...for me?" She muttered with an absent-minded expression but she still started to unwrap her present.
"?! This is...how much did it exactly cost you, young lord?!" She immediately revealed shocked expression when she the content of the box and immediately snapped her head at me with a serious expression.
"Don't be so surprised...it didn't cost more than your salary for protecting me so be at ease." I said with a poker face but my "purse" still bled a lot, a lot more than Ichika could ever imagine but she was following me all the time, protecting me and obeying all of my unreasonable orders. I also realized that I have yet to buy her anything so this was my atonement for all those years. Not to mention that birthday is only once a year...spending a bit of my savings won't ruin me.
---
'...This couldn't cost only my salary...I have never seen such a gemstone. The young lord must have spent a lot of money on this gift, yet he is playing it cool...maybe he doesn't want me to worry about it.' Ichika thought with a genuine smile while she was observing the necklace with a Violet-pink colored gemstone that was reflecting sunlight. The chain of the necklace was crafted from the remains of the strong Danger beast that was slain by Akashi himself.
---
"Hehe, thank you, young lord! Does it suit me?" Ichika giggled and put the necklace on.
"Hm? Yeah, it suits to your eyes." I turned at her nodded at her with a smile.
"Young lord? Where are we even heading?" Ichika asked me with a confused expression after she calmed down from getting her gift.
"Right...you don't know it yet. We are headed to the Gifnora Forest, they want to plant more than 100 children into that forest inhibited by numerous Danger beasts and train survivors into assassins" I said with a bored look.
"What?! more than 100 children? Isn't that a bit...cruel?" Ichika exclaimed with a surprised expression.
"...Most of those children are bought from poor families...If their own parents are willing to sell them to the Empire...what is crueler? It's hard to say who is right and who wrong...Is the Revolutionary Army actually right? Or is the corrupted Empire right? There is no answer to this but if I had to choose sides than I would create my own side and from time to time sided with the Empire." I said with a small mocking smile.
"..." Ichika kept quiet and judging from her expression, she was thinking really hard about my words.
"Speak your mind, I don't care if you will say that you think that the Revolutionary Army is better and their goal is noble." I said when I noticed her uncertain expression.
"...What does the young lord think about the Revolutionary Army" Ichika asked with her full attention at me.
"4 words. Good idea, bad execution" I said while showing her 4 of my fingers with a small smile.
"They are far too weak to compete with the entire Empire. Therefore they are forced to call for help from the other nations. Bringing other scums into our country will definitely help clean this corrupted Empire. It will definitely clean this entire Empire from the map of nations, haha." I said and released an irritated laugh.
"...Does the young lord have any conflict with the Revolutionary Army?" Ichika also noticed my strange laugh so she asked with an uncertain expression.
"Not really, I just find it laughable how they are thinking: 'We will clean this corrupted Empire and help all the innocent people suffering from poverty!!!'. Sure they will, by weakening the entire Empire so other nations can invade. And the most irritating thing of all is how they think that their cause is noble and just. The Empire can say the same thing, do you know why Ichika?" I asked with a small grin.
"...N-no" She shook her head and attentively listened to me with a thoughtful expression.
"I have learned that the only one who can decide who is right and who is wrong is the victor. Let's say that you invade the enemy nation without any declaration of war, you are being dishonest and you are also using sly tactics to defeat them, as much as using their own citizens as hostages...and in the end, you will win and conquer the enemy nation. Are you the wrong one here? You just secured bigger territory for your future generations...you view yourself as a just. Why should you care what others think about you when you just need to care about your closest people? The victor is always the one who is right." I said while glaring at the sky.
---
'*sigh*...The young lord's mind works in a similar way to the assassins. It seems that we will have some difficulties while facing pressure from both sides of this civil war.' Ichika thought with a helpless smile.
---
We were traveling at a good pace and we would arrive at the meeting place in a few more hours but...
"Who do we have here? A little kid and...oh! a tanned beauty! Hehe" The person on the horse stopped us in our way with a creepy laugh and while he was looking at Ichika, he also licked his lips with a lewd expression. There were more than 20 more people behind him, some of them had horses and some were on their legs.
"...Disgusting." Ichika muttered while looking at the men before us with pity.
"...Please move aside, we have to be somewhere in a few hours." I said with a poker face while looking at the leader of men who stopped us.
"Maybe we will let you go if you will leave that fine lady with us." He replied to me with a grin.
"*sigh* Does this happen often?" I sighed and asked Ichika, ignoring the men.
"...Unfortunately, yes. There are a lot of people like them." She replied to me with a forced smile
"Hey!" The leader was shouting something at us while we were talking but we ignored most of it.
I turned back at them.
"Alright, I will say it in a more primitive way so you can understand it too. Move aside or die." I said and narrowed my eyes.
"?...Hahaha" At first when they heard my words, they had dumbfounded expressions but after a few seconds, they started to laugh aloud.
"Young lord?" Ichika said and readied her daggers with cold eyes while glaring at the laughing men.
"No, there is no time to take care of them one by one. Leave this to me." I replied and she just nodded while hiding her daggers.
"Surrendering without a fight after such strong words? I have said that we would let you go kid but you have-" The leader started saying his usual villains' sentences about how he is not going to let me go but I had no time to listen to this bullshit.
I formed a spear of fire in my right hand and threw it into the middle of their troop without any warning beforehand.
*BANG* A "smaller" explosion resounded through the road leading in the middle of the forest, smoke raised and dirt together with debris started to fall down like rain.
[Energy: 625/655]
Most of the people disappeared without leaving any trace behind them but there were still a few wailing screams inside the smoke.
"Idiots...it's your own fault, curse yourselves. Let's go Ichika, we have no time to spare." I said with a disinterested face while looking around the little crater created by the explosion.
"What about the remaining ones?" She followed right after me and asked.
"No need to care about them, either they will die or they will live with crippled limbs and burns. We have no time to care about them" I replied to her and we quickly went forward to our goal.
On the road, we were attacked a few more times but most of the time it was Danger beasts instead of humans.
Class: Assassin (Lv. 9; +13 Agi, +7 Int, +4 Str, + 2 Cha) 947/2560 XP
Special Class: Fire Monarch (Lv. 6; +12 Cha, +10 Int, +9 Const) 198/320 BXP
------Near the Gifnora Forest------
"Listen up kids, you will be lead into the middle of this forest and those who will be able to get out will get a privilege to obtain high ranking posts of the protectors of the Empire!" The bald man with a monocle over his left eye shouted while standing straight with his hands behind his back in front of the numerous kids who were either shaking from fear or simply had lost look in their eyes.
"Alright, men, lead the kids to the forest!" When the bald man run his eyes all over all kids in front of him, he ordered his man stationed behind him.
"Wait!" Another man with blond hair and green eyes who was sitting on the dead body of the big Danger beast lying near the bald man said.
"? What is it Gozuki?" The bald man frowned and asked the man named Gozuki with a confused expression.
"There is still someone missing. We have to wait for him since I promised someone to let that person participate." Gozuki replied with a small smile.
"?! Why am I not aware of this matter?" The bald man asked with an angered expression.
"Calm down, it's not like- Hm? Looks like he is here." Gozuki wanted to explain the situation but stopped once he noticed someone walking towards their camp.
All of the people looked towards the same direction as Gozuki and saw a woman with a slightly taller kid in a black military uniform leisurely walking towards them with his left hand in a pocket and his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
'...Are we waiting for that kid? You are kidding me, right? What the hell did you do, Gozuki?! But something is off about that kid...his entire expression represents boredom and that red hair and red eyes...He must be from Phoenix house. Now I understand why Gozuki had no option but to agree' The bald man thought while he was carefully observing Akashi.
------Back to Akashi's POV------
"Stop! Identify yourself, this is off-limits area!" The guard stopped me from entering the camp created near the Gifnora Forest.
"Stand aside soldier, we have already spent too much time with the other obstacles, I have no time neither a mood to deal with you." I said with an authoritative voice while glaring into his eyes under his helmet with my vertical pupils.
"Y-you can't jus-" The guard wanted to say something with his shaky voice but was interrupted by a loud shout.
"Let him in!" The blond-haired guy who was sitting on the dead Danger beast shouted at the guard blocking my way.
"Y-yes!" He immediately made a way for me and Ichika.
That blondie must be Gozuki, former member of Rakshasa Demons who train their bodies in unbelievable ways, making it possible for them to suddenly extend their nails or use their hair as a sharp weapon and many other tricks.
"I am sorry for being late but there were some difficulties on the way. You must be mister Gozuki, right? It is nice to meet you in person, my name is Akashi." When I arrived near Gozuki, I said with a small smile.
---
'...I can tell that there were some difficulties. Your clothes reek of blood and burnt meat. I can't gauge this kid...his smile looks more like a smile of a demon rather than a kid. I wonder who killed all those obstacles...was it him or that woman next to him?' Gozuki thought while he was observing Akashi and Ichika.
---
"No worries. It's nice to meet you too. I was waiting to meet the heir to the Phoenix house for some time, looks like your house can be extremely proud of themselves for raising a kid like you." He said with a polite smile.
"You are exaggerating, heh. By the way, this is Ichika, my guardian." I said while pointing at Ichika standing next to me who was completely silent. I noticed that most of the kids here were looking at me with curious expressions and some of them had the faces of awe...I guess they already got to see how powerful Gozuki is...at least partly which would be enough to scare the kids. They must be curious about how can I speak so casually with Gozuki.