31 New problem

Their eyes met. Both of them were testing each other's strength and now that they did, they can go all out.

Vik backed up and dashed out again. When they were about to clash again, Vik threw a feint and Saito took the bait. Saito's block missed and Vik was about to hit him, victory within his grasp.

Just as the sword was about to hit him, Saito changed the trajectory of his blade and blocked his sword.

*clang*

Everyone on the audience seat were watching with awe. Vik's speed was unimaginably fast and his movements were almost invisible. And yet Saito was able to block his strikes.

Sparks flew as both of them exchanged strike after strike. Saito didn't seem to give up and Vik didn't waver either. Both of them came at each other like they were archenemies! They got engulfed by the feeling of battle.

On the audience side, Minos said, "I expected it to be a tough fight, but these guys are monsters! I may be a castor but seeing this fight, I doubt I could even stand against one of them". Herjar smiled, "I told you it was not a good idea to bet that much on him" he turned towards Rosalia.

Rosalia was too into the fight that she didn't even hear him. Being lovestruck is one thing but seeing two pros fight each other is totally another. If she miss this, then there is no way to be sure that it will happen again.

While they were watching and commenting, Saito blocked Vik's attack once again. Vik asked while locking his sword with Saito's blade, "Why are you only defending? Not good at attacking?". Saito's face had a grin as he said, "Well if that's what you want, then here I go!" he then pushed his sword away.

He then changed from defense to offence. He started to attack Vik violently like he was coming for his life. Saito's whole stature changed. The tables have turned.

Vik was having a hard time defending against Saito's attacks. Saito may not be as fast as Vik, but his fighting style is totally foreign to Vik. To Saito, Vik's style is foreign which is why Saito is not giving him any gap to attack or the table might turn again.

At first, Vik thought that Saito is someone hard to defeat, but looking at now, he's totally out of his league. Vik had an easy go time at start but now that Saito got serious as well, he was having a hard time even blocking all his blows.

Saito was fighting like a Samurai while Vik was fighting like a Knight. A Knight vs a Samurai duel.

Layla and Becky were watching the fight with amazed reaction on their faces. "Wow! I never thought that guy can fight like that! Hey, what's his name again?" Becky asked.

Layla said, "His name is Saito, Saito Araya! He's a Samurai!". Saito's violent attacks were making Vik's situation look bad. Saito decided to end this fight as soon as possible.

He then started to use only two type of strikes, down slash and up slash. Using these two strikes faster and faster and faster, made Vik not able to react correctly. His defence was being crushed by Saito second by second.

Vik was trying hard to hold his sword but the pressure was too much for him. Saito slashed down and then gave all his strength in the following upper slash.

*cling*

Vik's sword was sent flying and Saito pointed his blade at Vik's neck. "I....Lost, but I'm happy that I lost to you" Vik said with a smile. He then did a Knight bow as respect for Saito. Saito put his blade back in it's saya and did a kendo bow.

The audience cheered, the ones that bet on Saito and the ones that came to watch the fight and not bet. Herjar also cheered, "Hell yeah! Now give me my money!".

Minos looked more shocked, "I.....did not expect such turn of events, well a bet is a bet" he took out 5 gold coins and gave them to Herjar. Both of them turned to look at Rosalia, who looked soulless.

She held her cries back and gave him 6 gold coins. Herjar laughed, "Hahaha! Don't worry, it's not like Vik is weak or something, it's just that Saito's too strong".

Rosalia smiled, "I know, even I don't have confident that I can win against Knight Vik after seeing that performance". Minos had a grin on his face as he looked at her.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Rosalia asked. "Well I was just thinking how are you going to conquer our Vik if you can't beat him in a straight duel?" Vik replied with the grin.

Rosalia blushed hard when she heard him. "Wait! How do you guys know!? I never told anybody!" Rosalia asked. Herjar replied her, "Well you always had that "Oh my prince charming please take me away on a white horse to right the sun" kind of look on your face whenever you see Vik, even a kid can say that you've fallen for him". She blushed so hard that her face literally became red, and she ran off.

"Do you really believe that she has a chance?" Minos asked Herjar. "Don't look at me! My women tried to kill me remember?" Herjar replied. Minos turned to look at Saito and Vik as he said, "Yea, I'm asking the wrong person".

Looking at Saito and Vik chatting on the field, he couldn't help but ask, "Hey? Say, do you think Saito has someone he loves?". Herjar said, "Yea he does and he's searching for her or so he said".

"Wait what!? He never said anything about it to us!" Minos said, shocked. Herjar calmly said, "Well you never asked, if you did then I'm sure he would have said to you".

"Then I'm definitely gonna ask him the moment we reach he Inn!" Minos stated. Herjar smiled and didn't say anything. Saito and Vik walked up to Minos and Vik. "You guys ready to go?" Saito asked.

Herjar smiled and said, "Yea and thanks to you I made 11 gold coins today" he gave a thumbs up to Saito. "You guys had a bet?" Vik asked. Minos replied, "Yeah, Me, Herjar and Rosalia! I bet 5 gold coins on Vik and Herjar bet 5 on Saito but Rosalia bet 6 on Vik and so we lost and he won".

Vik had an apologetic face as he said, "I'm sorry I let you down even though you had placed your trust in me, I'm really sorry!" he bowed. Minos smiled and helped him up, "Come on pal, it's not that you are weak or anything, it's just that he's too strong" he said.

"Hahaha, you think I'm strong? If I didn't use that continuous combo at the end then I would have been in a pinch! Even that last combo drained me" Saito said with a laugh. Vik smiled, "I'm honored you think me of a worthy opponent".

They were about to leave when someone said, "Do you happen to know where the Mercenary named Minos is? I heard that he is at the guild". The four of them looked at the guy who said it.

He was standing near another group and asked about Minos. The other guy said, "Well I don't know who that is, maybe ask someone else they might have known him" he then left with his group.

The previous guy let out a *sigh*. "Oii, why are you looking for him?". The guy turned around and saw Saito and his party looking at him with vigilance.

The guy hurriedly came towards them and asked, "Do you know where the guy name Minos is!? Please tell me! It's very urgent!". The group looked at him confusedly and Saito asked, "What do you need him for?".

The guy said, "Elder Felix asked me to bring Minos to him and even the commanders of the city's army are gathering, must be something serious so I need to hurry! Tell me where he is!". Saito looked at Minos and Minos nodded his head.

Saito said, "Fine, take us to the elder and Minos will be on his way". The guy was confused, "What? Why should I take you? I'm here for the Minos guy! Even the elder called for him! It means he's some big shot or the elder wouldn't even bad an eye to him! I'll only take him!".

The gang giggled and Minos was embarrassed of himself. This guy was embarrassing him. Minos said, "Minos won't come unless we all go there, understand?". The guy gashed his teeth and said, "Fine! Don't get ahead of yourself beginner! I'm an intermediate mage so I'm your senior! You better behave!".

The trio was trying to hold their laughter. An intermediate mage is senior for Minos? Best joke of the day! Minos was trying hard to hold his urge to bury this guy alive.

He led the four of them to the city lord's manor. Outside the manor, guards stood guard. The guy stopped and asked, "Ok here we are! Now where is he!?". The three chuckled and walked past him and Minos followed them. "Hey! I'm talking to you! Don't turn your back on me you lowly mer-" before he could finish, Minos pointed his wand at him and said in a cold tone, "Don't raise your voice in front of me you lowly mage". The guy was shocked and was afraid. He could feel a dangerous aura coming out from the wand.

He immediately turned back and ran away. "Hmph! Weakling talking big" Minos said. The others laughed at him. "Oii! What the hell are you laughing at!?" Minos asked.

"No it's just that...... I can't believe he thought you as a lower rank mage than him! Hahaha!" Vik laughed. "Necromancers can hide their power and show themselves as weaker than their opponent if the opponent is weaker than them" Minos explained.

"Still, you should have seen his face when you pointed the wand at him and released your power" Herjar said. "TThat was funny alright" Saito said.

They walked to the gate and the guard stopped them, "Who are you? What business do you have here?". Minos said, "We have been summoned by elder Felix". The guard looked at them thoroughly. The other guard suddenly asked, "Wait! Are you that weird party from the rumor?".

The previous guard asked, "What rumor?". The second one said, "There is a rumor circulating that a part consisting of a Necromancer, a Dark elf, a Goblin and a human helped defend the southern gate".

The first one was surprised and he asked, "Are you that guys?". Saito nodded his head.

The first guard then said, "Well then, I think he did call you guys and if you ask me, I honestly think something is going on". Herjar asked, "Why do you say that?".

The guard replied, "Think about it, gate commanders, city guard commander, the mage group elders and the city's lord! Everyone assembled here today! Something is definitely going on!". Saito said, "Thanks for the heads up, we'll take care of it".

The guard smiled and opened the gate. They entered the Manor's premises and walked straight towards the building. There were a ton of guards stationed and many robed guys with wands were also present. Mage group and the city guards, it was heavily guarded.

Everyone stared at them the moment they entered. The four walked along the pathway.

A guard stopped them, "Who are you?". Minos came forward and said, "I'm Minos, Elder Felix asked for me".

The guard looked at them for a minute and said, "Fine, let me check". He called one of the guards on the patrol and said something in his ears. The guard nodded his head and headed inside.

Two minutes later he came out. He hurried to the guard and said, "He did call for him and he said we can let his friends to enter with him". The first guard nodded his head and said, "You guys follow me" he turned back and headed into the manor.

The four of the followed him inside. They walked to the stairs and went upstairs. The guard stopped in front of the third door and said, "They are here, you guys can enter". He then left them and went downstairs.

The four of them looked at each other and opened the door. The moment they entered the room, all eyes were on them. There were commander Bolgan, commander Sullivan and the other gate commanders, an old man with a white beard and an unfamiliar guy in noble suit.

Bolgan smiled at them. The Noble said, "You must be them, allow me to thank you for defending the city, you have my gratitude". Saito said, "Your welcome and can we get straight to the matter at hand? This seems pretty serious".

The noble smiled, "Bolgan, he's just like you said". Bolgan smiled and said, "Saito, this man here is the city's lord and that old geezer over there is Elder Felix of the mage group in our city". Saito nodded his head at them but he wore a serious face.

Elder Felix smiled and walked forward to the table as he said, "As Bolgan said, I'm Felix of the mage group and the reason we called you here is this" he then took out a deep red stone from his robe and placed it on the large table.

He looked at Minos and asked, "Mister Minos, would you happened to know what this is? I've never seen anything like this in the field of wizardry". Minos walked towards the table and inspected the stone.

He heaved a *sigh* and said, "No wonder you can't identify this, this is not something under the field of wizardry". Felix asked, "Then what is it? Do you have any clue?".

Minos said, "This is not under the field of Necromancy either, this is a sorcery item used as catalyst for summons by sorcerers, where did you find this?". Felix let out a *sigh* and said, "We found this from the demon you killed, after you killed it the demon disappeared and this was there, a mage picked it up and thought that it was a rare magic stone but the mana inside it felt dangerous so he handed it to the authorities and thus it ended up in our hands, we never seen anything like this".

Minos said as he looked at the stone, "I read about this stone when I was in Necro academy, it said that these type of stones can only be used to summon high ranked demons! The more purer the stone and stronger the summoner is, the stronger the demon will be! But sadly this can't be of use to Necromancers as we use death magic while this stone requires dark magic to summon".

Felix was amazed, "To think that you are only an apprentice and yet know this much, I'm glad you are not a bad guy". Minos smiled and said, "Elder, this is a basic knowledge for Necromancers, to know which one is of use to us and which is not is a must know".

Felix smiled and Sullivan asked, "So that means only that high ranked demon was summoned? I mean we didn't hear about any other stones being found like this". Minos shook his head and said, "That's not how it works, this is a pure item and not the only catalyst as there are many things that can be used as catalyst to summon a demon! But that is not necessary for Elder sorcerers to use catalysts to summon demons, they only require it for summoning high ranked demons! For low ranks, they can summon them like we Necromancers summon skeletons".

Bolgan asked with a hand in his chin, "So what you're saying is that this attack was not a coincidence at all?". Minos said, "At first I had my doubts as to why would the demons attack a city surrounded by kingdoms? But seeing this now, I'm sure that someone is planing to take over the city or destroy it" he said seriously.

The atmosphere grew a bit tense. If that demon army attack was a planned one, then it means someone is working with a powerful sorcerer and is planning to take over their city.

Saito sad, "Commanders, I suggest that you tighten the guards and we will report this to the guild". "There is no need for that" someone said.

The four of them looked at the corner of the room and saw that it was the mercenary guild master! He smiled and said, "I've was called before you guys since this is for the safety of the city, you guys did good work".

The four of them smiled wryly. This guy managed to hide his presence from all of them. If he didn't call out, then they would have never known that he was there.

Saito said, "If that's all then we would like to take our leave". The city lord nodded his head as he said, "Yes thank you for your assistance, if we require your help again we will definitely call you".

With that the four of them left the manor.