COGNIZANCE

A thick, five-feet-tall snake darker than coal, toiled on the floor, seemingly trying to find food. Its small yellowish eyes and tiny but sharp fangs didn't stir up chills in the cross-eyed kid's body as he approached it unescorted by chariness.

The footsteps of the kid alerted the snake, and it immediately rolled over on its back, wide-opened its mouth, and stayed still.

"It suddenly stopped moving," Beren only got excited. He thought that the snake was willing to share some knowledge with him, and he increased the pace; however, just as he got closer, the snake suddenly turned over onto its belly and hissed with its mouth closed as it spread its neck and rose high into the air. Seeing the snake stand tall on its tail, Beren's eyes were swamped with suspicion, and the hissing scared him into taking a few steps back.

The pupils were petrified down to the soles of their shoes, and even the masters were taken aback, for they had never seen a snake stand so tall and give a perfect illusion of turning more corpulent. Towering over the kid, the snake was staring down at him with its vicious countenance, and he was too scared to move, for its hood was now bigger than his head. Maybe he was close enough to be considered a threat, so the snake opened its mouth and hissed as it bent its neck backward for launching an attack.

As the snake shot its upper body at Beren's face while hissing aloud, he fell back, but he was still in the snake's path, and receiving a bite seemed inevitable.

A wooden sword from one side and a foot from the other side swam into Beren's view and smashed into the snakehead when it was only inches away from his face.

The hissing ceased, and the snake fell to the floor, its head crushed out of shape, but its lower body was still twitching and writhing. Beren, though, was shaken up by everything that was transpiring, couldn't help but look at the two people who stopped the snake before it got to him.

One of them was holding a wooden sword, and it was the same person who had been getting beaten by the Sword Morons until moments ago. The other one was a red-haired girl, one who looked clean and fresh, having taken a bath not long ago.

Everyone there suddenly felt a nasty smell so unpleasant that it raised their bile. "What in the hell is this?"

"It must be the snake," with her nose shut with one hand, the red-haired girl picked up the still-moving snake that was giving off vapors and shoved it in her purse, startling everyone. "It's so noisome."

"Miss Sariyu, what are you doing here?" 777 asked in surprise.

"Wait a minute." Sariyu, however, turned to look at Beren. "Hey, idiot. How can you be so obtuse that you're approaching a snake so carelessly? Do you want to die that badly?"

"D-Die?" Beren was startled and stumped for a second, but then his eyes enlarged. "I-I was told that snakes give knowledge through biting."

"What?" Sariyu's expression turned cold. "Who told you that?"

Beren pointed his finger straight toward the seven people of Sword Morons. "They were beating this uncle, and when I asked them to stop, they told me to stand in the snake's path, or they won't let the uncle go."

Sariyu glanced at 777, and his blood-covered hair, ears, and neck told her everything, even though he didn't say a word. "If that snake had bitten you, its venom would have probably claimed your life."

Beren was stunned to hear that. "I-Is that true?" his voice was edged with fear.

"Only crooked bastards would trick a child," Sariyu barked at the masters and the pupils who wore brazen bearings. "Do you people always eschew your integrity like this?"

"Huh! Aren't you loquacious!" one of the masters replied in a spiteful and condemning manner. "Trying to shame us by your foofaraw. How foxy, hehe!" He snorted and waved his hand. "Go mind your own business, Red Fox, or you'll get hurt."

"M-Master," just then, one of the pupils spoke in the master's ears. "She's the one who beat the trainees in the drill hall today."

The masters were surprised to hear the news. "Oh, this girl? Are you sure?"

"Yes, master morons. I saw it with my own eyes."

While the masters and the pupils were discussing, Sariyu and 777 were themselves busy in a conversation.

"What?" Sariyu didn't like what she had heard. "You don't want me to fight for the boy? You saw how those nefarious punks tricked him! He may have died if the snake had bitten him."

"Yes, but just listen, okay?" 777 replied in a low voice, so low that even Beren couldn't hear his words. "There may be foul play involved here, but that kid is more than seven years old, and though he may not know what a snake is, he still approached it out of his own volition. It's not murder as long as the snake has no connection to those guys over there. Even if the snake belongs to them, it won't be easy to prove their guilt." His words stunned her, but he wasn't over yet. "If the kid had died, it would've meant that he was misfortuned. That's all there is to it. As they say, the loss of a man's life due to the lack of knowledge is the same as the slaughtering of chicken."

Once again, Sariyu didn't like what she heard. "That's a load of nonsense."

"Maybe or maybe not," 777 continued to speak in a careful tone. "This rule may seem twisted, but I have some sensitive information... that people who were even indirectly involved in murderings on this ship never managed to pass the entrance test of the sect."

Her eyebrows raised more than a little. "Not even one?"

777 shook his head with certitude.

"Are you sure?"

777 nodded and loosened his throat, thereby lowering his voice further, "You may think no one's noticing you, but trust me, many eyes might be watching us right now. It's better to think that eyes are everywhere on this ship, well, not everywhere, but you get the point. All your actions on this ship may even be evaluated one day. Any information regarding the sect test is hard to come across. Even most people on the hundredth deck are not aware of this. So keep this information private to yourself."

"Mm," she bit her lower lip, "but still, I don't support a law that lets an adult kill a child through deception and then walk away free."

"Deceit stems from lies. Haven't you ever lied?"

"I did," she furrowed her brows and was half-mad with annoyance, "but this is different."

"It is, maybe to you, but how can you say that everyone else thinks the same?" 777 moved back and spoke in a normal tone. "Hey, I know this is hard to digest. On the good side of things, it's not like this behavior is allowed in the outside world, but only in some places, this ship for one is where it's allowed. Didn't you read the guidebook, the claret-colored one?"

"I did," Sariyu suddenly scratched her chin, "and I remember coming across some rules which stated about knowledge, but it was a long day back then. I kept on reading so many new things, so some were hard to process."

"Well, not every rule can be understood alone in its entirety." 777 smiled a little. "Some rules explain the other. In any case, now you know."

"Are you guys done?" the masters' voices made Sariyu and 777 stop conversing and look at them. "Hehe," as the masters lay their eyes on Sariyu, they couldn't hide their excitement.

"My pupils say that you are the one who took care of over four dozen pupils of Sean and didn't suffer a scratch," one of the masters said in a courteous tone.

"Keke," the second master walked toward her together with the other master, "let's give her plenty of scratches then."

"Yep," the first master, Hehe, dashed at her. "By beating you is how we bring competition to that Drill Hall. Become a stepping stone for us!" He thrust his sword at her so fast over Beren's head and at her face, but the sword didn't even scrape her, for she had bent to the side and at the same time struck the master's cheek with her toe. The second master, Keke, rushed in and swung his blade at Sariyu's leg from the side, while she was bringing her foot down, but 777 appeared in his path.

"Move aside!" the second master roared, but 777 didn't even blink. "I guess the beating wasn't enough. Fine, let me show you what real sword fighting looks like." He held the blade loosely and shook his hands so nimbly that it created after images of the sword, about half-dozen of them. And he diagonally swung the blade at 777. "Round Resonance!" The air itself vibrated and made a strange noise along the sword's path.

777's eyes widened a bit. He immediately stepped in, while dodging a couple of after images, and raised his sword horizontally, holding it at both ends.

BAM~~!!

The incoming attack was blocked successfully, but 777's sword cracked at the region of impact, and a gust of cutting wind slashed his shoulder and drew out blood. 777 gritted his teeth and held onto his wooden sword, for he knew that if he were to let it go, the opponent's sword would come down and cut through his shoulder.

"Keke," the second master grinned. 777 was too close for him to generate enough strength to push him down. "Afraid to face my attack head-on?"

"I'm more afraid of your face than the sword in your hands," 777 bulked up his arms and shoulders and pushed the second master back with a roar, and then held the sword with both hands.

"What monstrous shoulder power!" the second master was quite surprised, but he quickly got back his mind in the right zone. Sensing that 777 was getting into an attacking stance, he readied himself to defend. 777 raised the sword to the back of his head, and in a quick long stride, he brought down the sword like lightning, "Sheep Slicer!"

The sword in motion cut through the second master's sword and then his chest. "Krgh!" Blood sprayed into the air as Keke fell back. The two broken pieces of his sword fell on either side of him. Though he was still conscious, he was puffing and huffing like a dog that had been bitten by a wolf. "You…" His eyes shot venom at 777.

Hehe, the first master, on the other hand, was still on his knees and was on the losing end in his fight with Sariyu. He couldn't believe what was happening, "H-How is this possible? W-Who are you?" he looked at Sariyu in disbelief.

"I'm ineffable," she teasingly stated, plucking the sword of his hands and tossing it away.

The first master bitterly said, "You surely jest."

"I-Impossible!" all the pupils who were witnessing had disbelief cross their faces, for what just happened was beyond their cognizance. "First Master Hehe! Second Master Keke! How could they be outmatched like this!" Both their masters were losing in the hands of two plain-looking people at the same time. This only happened when the masters had previously fought Sean, though he fought both of them alone.

"Did you gain any knowledge from this exchange?" 777 looked at the second master who was still on the floor, fueling his body with rage.

"You swine…" the second master showed all his rage on his face. "Damn you, just wait! Let me get a real sword and—"

"Swords in sick hands have everything to whinge about. This sword will be more pleased when in better hands," 777 turned around and tossed the wooden sword at Beren. "That's—for your assistance."

Beren didn't know what to say. Even cheap wooden swords cost around fifty copper coins. Though this certain sword had cracks, if he were to roam with such a valuable item, he would definitely encounter trouble sooner or later; however, he grabbed the sword's hilt and looked at the pupils, startling them. "You can take this back for half the price."

The pupils were baffled to hear that, and their faces soon turned ashen. If 777 and Sariyu weren't around, they would have played with him until he screamed 'sorry' for seven thousand times, but now they could only squeeze all their shame down their intestines.

Sariyu, however, giggled. "Pushing the boat along with the current. Not bad, boy." She was now suave in front of the kid. "You might make a good merchant out of yourself one day."

Beren couldn't help but rub the back of his head, "Hehe."

Sariyu then looked at the pupils and squinted her eyes. "Didn't you hear him?"

The pupils shook in their shoes. (She's scary!) "W-We will buy the sword."

"At full price," Sariyu demanded.

As if enough color hadn't already been drained from their faces, they now looked at each other's visages, hoping one of them would be willing to pay; however, the next moment, they all looked at their second master, who suddenly started to cringe from excessive pain and said, "I have a rendezvous with God." He then acted like he passed out. Then the pupils' eyes turned toward the other master, who was still on his knees. "First Master…" their voices were low but vehement.

The first master frowned. (These mean morons… so useless!) Just when he thought the attention was no longer on him, everyone was now staring right at him. He sluggishly took out a silver coin from his shirt's inside pocket and threw it at Beren, who then tossed the sword in return.

Upon taking the coin, Beren came and thanked 777 and Sariyu by bowing deeply. He never touched a silver coin before, and it made him so excited that he wanted to share the news with his friends, but he had to contain all of that inside his heart, for he had come to the twelfth deck on purpose. Until he finished what he came for, he wasn't planning to go back to Lima.

"You shouldn't roam outside with that money on you," Sariyu said. "Go back to your parents or wherever your shelter is."

Beren pressed his lips a bit and nodded. "Thank you, elder sister and uncle." He paused for a moment and then hesitantly asked, "Do you know of the person named Big Nick?"

Sariyu's expression changed a bit. "What about him?"

"I'm here for him," he replied in her face with a bold mien.

Her eyebrows flirted, "For what?"

Beren clenched his fists, and one of Sariyu's eyebrows twitched when she felt a faint offensive aura gathering around him, "For spitting in his face."