Chapter 19 - Hawkwood

Ango's heart suddenly resumed beating with such intensity that he could feel the beating of the vein on his temple.

'There is no escaping this' He knew it so he slowly walk towards the man, gripping the stick in his hand like it was his lifeline.

He knew It wouldn't help him much, but he did it anyway. Little snow was growling but tactfully decided to do that from behind a shield, Ango. As Ango was looking at the man, analyzing him, he was also doing the same.

'His body shape… he is either human or elf, but his ears..'

He continued to walk forward

'His ears are like a human'

Ango reached the man, stood in front of him, shaken; but he had to know.

"Who are you? Wha- What are you?"

The man looked at him for a few moments in silence then snorted and said in a voice that was neither too deep nor too shrill

"Did your master not teach you how to be respectful, boy?"

The very mention of the word mad so many memories appear in Ango's mind that his body started shaking out of anger, he gritted his teeth with such an intensity that they creaked. Rage filled his mind, he could see Vallis's face, and he could see Lambert's. He opened his jaws wide and shouted at the top of his lungs

"I HAVE NO MASTER"

The man was surprised, and taken aback by Ango's response, but he didn't need to even think to understand why the boy had responded that way. This time he didn't snort and just slowly said words that any human would understand the weight of

"I… am a human too"

Ango snapped back "Human? I just saw you kill that bear with magic. If you are here to kill me why are you lying about it? WHY?"

"Oh quite a good question boy" the man answered, undisturbed "just know that it's complicated. For the other part, Use your head boy, why would someone come here to kill a human, use magic and lie about it when he can kill Tier 1 level 2 bear easily?"

Ango was surprised at first but not exactly because of what the man said but because of what he had unconsciously revealed

'He doesn't know about the prophecy, he doesn't have elf ears, he is strong to kill me easily, he is trying to convince me he isn't an enemy; either he is a motherfucker who enjoys messing with people's minds before killing them or he is not here to kill me' without knowing it, he had developed a kind of suspicious mind that didn't just believe people who wanted to kill him would say it outright, he knew there were people who liked to torture their prey.

He was looking at the man with suspicion and it was obvious to him.

"ahh nevermind it seems you won't trust me, which is not bad in itself but still.." he sighed and added "My name is Hawkwood and you are?"

Ango didn't see any problem with telling the man his name

"I'm Ango" then she pointed at little snow and said "She's little snow". She had stopped growling a while ago and was now standing beside Ango, after hearing her name she gave a simple woof and move her head like a nod.

The man called Hawkwood seemed astonished "Little snow? What's snow? And did the wolf just nod at me?!?"

His question and surprise seemed so genuine that Ango was starting to really believe he really wasn't here to kill him.

"You..don't know what snow is? How old are you?"

Hawkwood was confused "Why does that matter? I'm 34"

'He is older than my dad, if he was from the elf kingdom he would have known what snow was, and if he already knew he wouldn't ask that question, how would he know what John had told me'

"So you aren't here to kill me" he said with a sigh.

"You are making no sense bo- Ango, what does that have to with this? I mean I'm not here to kill you but what's the connection?" the confusion was so evident that Ango decided to answer.

"Nearly 20 something years ago, it snowed around these parts, it's something white, fluffy and cold that falls from the sky, if you don't know what it is with your age then you are not from around here and if you are not from around here, you are here to kill me, though you might still decide to kill me but at least it won't be because of my race"

Hawkwood now had a look of enlightenment on his face and nodded but a moment later he frowned and asked "Why would someone from around here want to kill you?"

'huh? Oh …..That's right…nobody knows I'm alive, everyone thinks I died in the fire'

Hawkwood was further confused that instead of answering or frowning, Ango had a smile and a 'I figured it out' expression on his face.

"That's.. a good question" he decided to use Hawkwood's own words against him.

The man was confused at first but then smirked and said "Fair enough" he then walked to the bear's corpse and slashed at its head with a two-handed grip on his sword

*Taaakh

And the skull was cleaved into two uneven parts. Ango was surprised at his strength, he could have easily killed the bear with such a strike.

'He was toying with the bear or maybe he was training his skills?'

"Oh good" Hawkwood murmured.

Ango wanted to ask him about his strength, clearly the man didn't want to tell him about his magic but he might do so for his physical strength but before he could, Hawkwood bent down and took out something like a crystal out of the beast's skull, the part still attached to its body.

"What's that?"

"Oh you've never seen this? These tend to be inside the body of some beasts, it has a sizeable amount of magic inside it. All the beasts seem to have them. Unlike other races their magic isn't always scattered in their bodies, it takes a crystal form"

"Ohh"

He then brought the crystal near his eyes and stared deep into them.

"Hm… natural element" and he proceeded to put it in a pouch by his side.

Hawkwood, after putting the crystal away, raised his sword once again and this time started chopping some parts of the bear's body; the two arms, pieces of its thigh and the claws. He also broke some of the spikes on its body and put them in a bag that he had hidden next to a tree.

'Damn I want a piece of that meat, I had heard that beast meat improves the body, even the elves that don't like meat, eat those every now and then'

"Ca- can I also cut a piece of the body?" he asked Hawkwood. He realized that it was weird to say he didn't trust someone and then ask them something.

Hawkwood was putting them away when he heard him ask. he looked at Ango and said "No"

And then he added "Catch" and threw something. Little snow suddenly jumped up and tried to catch it in her jaws, but the 'thing' carried her along

Little snow and the 'thing' crashed into Ango and he fell down, with her on top of him, holding into what Hawkwood had thrown. it was one of the bear's arms and it weighed nearly 30 kg.

Hawkwood chuckled at the sight

Ango was confused 'Why say No and then give me the meat anyway?'

"We don't have time for that, this guy roared a lot and the smell of blood will also attract other beasts, we need to move on, it has too much meat anyway" he stood up and tied the bag behind him.

'Oh that's what he meant'

"Thank you"

Hawkwood then started to move in a direction that was different from the cave Ango called home. It was closer to the west while Ango's home was a bit more in the southern direction but Ango moved with him anyway, he could always part ways, but for now he decided to go with him and so they started jugging together with little snow in tow.

After a few minutes, Ango couldn't stop himself anymore and wanted to shoot his shot "Um..Hawkwood? could you teach me how to fight with weapons? Or how to do magic?"

Hawkwood turned his head towards him, his face seemed unimpressed, almost tauntingly so

"I could, but why would I? it will take too much effort and I don't think you have anything I want"

Ango then said awkwardly "Because we're both humans?"

Hawkwood looked at him like he was looking at an idiot, which caused Ango to drop his head from the embarrassment.

"I guess that was too much to ask for, alright then, If you agree to teach me then I'll tell you why they started purging the humans two years ago"

Hawkwood came to a sudden and Ango stopped a bit further away. They stared at each other and Hawkwood asked with a serious voice

"Do you Really know?"

"Yes"

"How?"

"I won't say until you agree to teach me"

Hawkwood started to think in silence, a dozen seconds passed and then he voiced out

"I need you to come to where I'm staying then, that person needs to agree, for me to teach you"

Ango was intrigued and alarmed so he inquired "Who is he?"

And Hawkwood answered flatly "My master."