20 Mount Watchtower
More or less two weeks came bye; however, for Allen, it was as if it only lasted for a few moments.
Now, he has fully recovered from all of his injuries and could fight again.
Night, in the training room...
-clang- -clang-
Two people were having a spar with each other inside the said room, they were none other than Allen and Mr. Sanchez.
"Looks like you're fully healed.", Mr. Sanchez dodged a slash and counterattacked.
"Mhm.", Allen blocked the counterattack with his dagger and backed off.
"You've gotten a bit stronger too.", Mr. Sanchez said. The kid got stronger because of tiny portions of the effects of the Erchian Dagger didn't disappear from his body.
'Dagger Flash', Allen inwardly said as he initiated the said skill.
-sou- -clang-
The Dagger Flash swiftly flew towards Mr. Sanchez, however, he blocked and destroyed it with his own dagger! Not dodged but blocked and destroyed!
"That's a good flash, now I'll show you mine.", Mr. Sanchez made a small slash in the air, afterwards...
-sou-
A dagger flash thrice as fast as Allen's (Dagger Flash) whooshed through the air. The kid couldn't dodge on time and just channeled the energy of the body towards his dagger and tried to block the flash.
-clang- -bzzz-
A grinding sound could be heard as Allen's dagger and the dagger flash of Mr. Sanchez collided, sparks flew everywhere from the middle.
-boom-
The dagger in Allen's hands was destroyed along with the dagger flash; due to this, the kid stumbled backwards until he stumbled on the wall.
-whoosh-
At the same time Allen hit the wall with his back, a dagger flew towards him, almost hitting him on the head!
"I concede." Allen gulped his saliva, "What kind of dagger were you using?" He asked as he dizzily stood up and thought. 'The dagger flash was extremely powerful, not just that, Mr. Sanchez wasn't even getting serious.'
"Nothing, it's just pure strength.", Mr. Sanchez said.
After a pause, he said, "Alright, the training is over, go to sleep. The exploration will start early tomorrow."
"Okay.", Allen retrieved the dagger over his head back to Mr. Sanchez and left the room.
"Good night!" He waved and exited the room.
...
In the bedroom...
Allen laid down on the bed with a new set of clothes. He entered a half-sleep state of consciousness and after which, he saw the Erchian Dagger floating right in front of hin.
"Just how powerful is this thing?", Allen pondered. When he fought the barbarian necromancer, the small dagger easily broke the enemy's large weapon and pierced through the tough skin of the enemy like slicing through butter.
Just being close by it let him feel like boundless energy was flowing in it. But he knew that he couldn't control that energy.
"How powerful really is this weapon?", Allen muttered.
'Do you want to know?', the devil's voice echoed within his consciousness.
"I want to... but, it's probably not the time.", Allen replied.
The voice didn't talk again and just kept itself quiet.
...
Dawn, next day...
Allen walked downstairs to the main hall and saw Kate and Drake at the bottom of the stairs. He walked to them and asked what time they would leave.
"Lord Levine will give us something first.", Kate said.
Right after her reply, Lord Levine walked out from a room and approached them, carrying three satchels.
"There are three copies of the treasure map, also lists of rare plants, if you see any of them on the mountain, pick them up and store them inside the jars; and if you get in trouble, there are protection amulets that could shield you from physical and magical attacks; the things you need in surviving are inside these satchels.", Lord Levine said.
The trio took hold the satchels. They're obviously not just any ordinary satchels.
Well, everything that the feudal lord gave them wasn't ordinary to begin with.
"There's a boat that will take you at the other side of the river, get there before the sun rises so nobody will notice you three.", Lord Levine said.
"Thank you.", the trio said at the same time.
"You're welcome, now immediately get dressed."
***
Several hours later, the trio crossed the river just after the sunrise and approached the base of the mountain.
Now, upon them was the Mount Watchtower. In the era of the barbarian wars, the said mountain was the natural watchtower of Trigurniburg Kingdom that watched over the Nomad Lands of the barbarians.
Long time ago, when the barbarians launched an unified attack on the south region of Trigurniburg Kingdom, one of the first targets was this very mountain.
The troops of the kingdom successfully defended against the initial attacks of the barbarians, making them retreat back to their lands.
After which, when the barbarians sought help from the necromancers to use a curse with an unknown price, and then they successfully took over the mountain.
However, they didn't get to stay there for long, because the curse that the necromancers used didn't disappear and in fact just spread all over the whole mountain!
The animals on the mountain mutated and became monsters, some barbarians who didn't get to escape were never heard from them ever again.
Numerous explorers tried to discover what happened to them when the curse wore off after so many years, however, they either returned empty handed or never to be found again.
"The treasure is inside the mountain, the entrance is near the peak.", Kate looked at the map she was holding. "We should be careful, we might meet monsters and the air is thinner up there."
"Is this place really safe? I mean, we're going near the top of an once cursed mountain!", Drake said.
"Well, Mr. Sanchez won't send us if we can't handle it ourselves.", Allen said.
"You're right... I guess.", Drake took out his dagger.
"You're scared, Drake?", Kate snickered.
"Me? Scared? No! Why would be I scared of monsters, probably they're only like giant, hairy... scary... I mean just multi-eyed spiders!", Drake awkwardly smiled.
"Oh look... wait, there's a spider on your shoulder!", Kate pointed out.
"WHERE? WHAT?!", Drake looked at his shoulder and saw a little spiderling.
"AHHHHH GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF ME!"
Kate: "..."
Allen: "..."
...
A few minutes later, which seemed like forever to Drake, he finally got rid the spiderling off his shoulder.
"Let's go.", Kate said.
"Finally.", Allen added.
"Never tell anybody else what happened!", Drake sternly warned while pointing his dagger at them.
"We won't.", Kate chuckled, as if she benefited from what occurred.
***
Back at Lord Levine's villa...
Mr. Sanchez was sitting on the balcony on the second floor.
"Want some tea?", Lord Levine walked in the balcony while carrying a teapot and two teacups.
"Yes, thanks.", Mr. Sanchez filled up a teacup and drank it.
"So, why didn't you leave with the children? You know it's dangerous up the mountain.", Lord Levine asked.
"I already said it, I have to take care of the leftovers of that criminal organization here in the city.", Mr. Sanchez said.
"Oh really, what are you doing here, relaxing by yourself while looking out at the horizon?", Lord Levine suspiciously eyed Mr. Sanchez.
"Because I'm not the only one who will take care of them, so I'm just going to let him destroy them first... or just wait for him.", Mr. Sanchez said.
"Him? You mean...", before Lord Levine finished his sentence, Mr. Sanchez interjected and said, "Yes, it's him. He also wants to get rid of the small, unnecessary tumor, so might as well let him to do it first."
After a bit silence, Mr. Sanchez changed the topic, "I don't know why, but I feel something bad is going to happen to that kid."
"You mean Allen?", Lord Levine asked.
Mr. Sanchez nodded, "He won't die, but I'm feeling itchy about his future."
"You sound like a worried parent.", Lord Levine laughed.
"You don't know anything." Mr. Sanchez let out a smile in response, after which his eyes suddenly constricted and he looked towards the direction of the city gates.
Before he could say anything, Lord Levine said, "He is here."
"Mhm.", Mr. Sanchez put on a solemn face.
***
Meanwhile, on the city gates...
There were a lot of people coming and going out of the gates everyday, such as merchants, travelers, explorers, etc.
"Alright, you may go in.", the armored city guard said after inspecting a merchant's goods.
The merchant pushing a cart entered through the city gates, just as he entered, a smile could be seen under the hat that shadowed the upper half of his face. After which, he quietly hummed a tune.
***
The mountain path wasn't as steep and narrow as the trio thought it was. On the way, they already saw some of the rare plants on the list that Lord Levine gave.
"Climbing up a mountain is really boring.", Drake complained.
"At least it's not like a forest where we almost couldn't see anything around us.", Kate retorted.
"Well, I could just rush up the mountain, but then, I'll leave the both of you behind.", Drake said.
"You're just scared because there are monsters up there, but it's bound that we'll meet them sooner or later.", Kate said. "And don't worry, we got a bookworm who knows a lot of monsters so this would probably be just an easy if we're careful."
"ROAR...", a loud roar suddenly came from the higher part of the mountain, almost making a rockslide.
"Hurry, hide behind the stable boulders!", Allen urged.
"It's near us.", Kate said.
The trio immediately hid behind a stable boulder and tried to check what monster made the roar.
