Oops

"Oh right, thank you for all of you for supporting my parents as well, I'll be sure to take care of everything you fight for in the future" the upbeat young man said with a smile on his face as he takes on final glance on the graveyard that is visited only by him and some of the people left behind by those buried here, taking a deep bow before looking at his parents' tombstone once again.

"I'll introduce those girls I talked about before I leave this city for the capital" Diluc said with a determined look on his face as he finally thought of what he should do now, focusing on getting himself even stronger and what better way to do that is to temper himself on what is known to be the greatest forging grounds of geniuses in the kingdom he is currently in.

Navigating through the entire maze-like bushes and vines once again, he come out of the woods a lot later than he expected, the moon is already hanging high in the beautiful, starry night sky as he reaches the gates of the city, two guards looking at him with a friendly, familiar look on their faces as he stands in front of them.

"Kid, how's your treasure hunting this time?" looking at the upbeat young man that seems to just come out of some place, one of the guards said with a jovial tone on his voice as he starts opening the gates of the city, all while still looking at the upbeat young man, who is currently a symbol of hope to the younger generations of commoners in this city, a hope to their children aspiring to be well known in the kingdom as well.

"Really good, I managed to pick up some flying beast's parts" the upbeat young man replies as he nods towards the guards.

"That's great, that's great, you're going to be even stronger now once you exchanged that for resources HAHAHA" the same man said in laughter as he hears the words, not even a bit jealous from what he heard from the young man, despite the fact that materials from flying beasts being quite the expensive luxuries in any market.

"Come to think of it boy, the entrance exam of the academy will start a few weeks later, right? Go and screw those nobles on their own show" the other guard interjected, also smiling as he looks at the upbeat young man with quite the admiration on his face, as he sees in this young one what he wants to but never become back in his younger years.

"Uncles, I have to remind you that I am a noble as well" the upbeat young man said with a helpless smile on his face as the conversation proceeds as he expects, these two old time guards of the city during the night being quite close to him, but not really having a good opinion of the nobles given that they are witnesses of some horrible things they often commit shamelessly.

"Come on boy, you don't act like one HAHAHAHA"

"My old pal is right kid, you're so modest that it makes me doubt whether you're really a noble or not, HAHAHA"

The two guards laughs around as they play jokes to the upbeat young man, this conversation only lasting for a few more moments as they allow the young man to enter, opening the gates of the city for not too long as they immediately close it the moment the upbeat young man manages to enter.

Inside the walls, there's nothing really all too impressive with the city he is currently residing in, the one that might be the most notable feature of this city being how symmetrical and organized this place is, with four main roads extending right towards the four cardinal directions, and the branching roads and streets from it allowing access to all parts of the city to the people.

Despite the false accessibility though, there is something that most of the people living here just won't be able to enter in their entire lives, that being the place that both commoners and nobles calls as the high grounds, a particularly large and grand place located where the four main roads are supposed to meet, said high grounds surrounded by a circular road, the entire place also connected to the main road via inclined pathways and stairs, heavily guarded by armed men who seems to be way too prepared and funded in comparison to the guards of the city's outer walls.

This is something now inaccessible to the upbeat young man though, despite the fact that his family is once among the people who are residing there, the only difference with the ones currently there being the fact that his parents are truly good people who wants to help the masses with their power instead of abusing the power granted to them, a trait that leads to their downfall and the division of the wealth supposed to be his by the people who plotted against them, before he got cast out of the place at such a young age.

'Doesn't matter, I think it's really a good thing that I got out of such rotten place' the upbeat young man thought to himself as he looks towards the direction of the high grounds, merely smiling mockingly as if he sees nothing but useless things in that place.

After taking his time walking towards where he currently resides, the upbeat young man finds himself in a simple inn, nothing too grand about it except for the flock of people gathering around the place, a usual happening there as the food and alcohol in this place is way too good that the people, mostly adventurers always come here to eat and enjoy themselves after a dangerous time spent outside.

Entering the building, the upbeat young man is greeted by a loud, rambunctious bunch that sings along while joking with each other, the loud shouting of the middle-aged men or even rough yet still attractive ladies shouting their orders flooding the entire premise, a lively atmosphere that the upbeat young man is all too familiar with.

"Oh? Would you look at that, Little D is already back!"

"HAA!! Little bastard, I thought you were a goner this time, HAHAHAHA"

"Where the fuck did you go for you to take way too long in a simple travel!?"

"I bet he lost himself in his map again, HAHAHAH!!"

Seeing the upbeat young man entering the building, the people seated on all the tables couldn't help but throw some jokes at him, the upbeat young man being all too familiar with this as this is the very same people he meets every time he goes back, people who, despite their rough appearances, are quite the good people who taught him everything he knows regarding adventuring and living in this place.

"I'll have you know that it's not my fault that I took so long old geezer, it is the map's fault!" the upbeat young man jokingly said causing the noise from the building to disappear, the silence enough for someone to hear a pin dropping, this moment only lasting for a moment as the people hearing his joke starts exploding in laughter from his words, clearly enjoying this moment as the relief from seeing this kid still alive and kicking starts flooding their worried selves.

"Oh, right, and miss Beatrice, I'll have you know that this D is not little like you think, would you like to see it?" looking at the first person who speaks, a tall beauty nearly reaching the same height as him, the upbeat young man said with a cheeky smile on his face as he points towards his lower body, causing the beauty to choke on the beer she is drinking, the laughter getting louder as everyone watches her do so.

"HAHAHA, the kid got some guts after travelling outside, this is really good!!!"

"Fuck!! Bea, don't tell me you're going to be defeated by Diluc for the first time!?"

"Hey hey, stop teasing the lady, look, she's clearly blushing now, HAHAH─ oh, shit!!!"

As the people watching the two interact laughs seeing that the upbeat young man can fight against the tall beauty now, the last person who spoke couldn't help but duck his head as he saw something hurling at him in such a fast speed, managing to dodge from the tall beauty's punch just in time for another person to receive her punch.

"Ooops" looking at the middle-aged man knocked out from her punch, the tall beauty said with a clearly non-guilty tone in her voice, causing nothing but another wave of laughter to explode in the room, looking at the knocked-out man is if this is a normal occurrence that they don't need to bother with.

Meanwhile, the one who manages to dodge the brutal attack couldn't help but wipe the sweat off his forehead, thinking that he managed to avoid a deadly hit from this terrifying lady once again.