The Fight (Part 2)

Dice found it unbelievable that a young teenager had the nerve to trade hits with him. Angele’s sword stabbed into Dice’s right eye, and the blade came out of the back of his head. Angele exerted everything in this strike. Angele’s left shoulder was severely injured; though he tried to avoid the sword that was going for his head, his shoulder was still grazed. Some parts of his flesh had been sliced off, and his bones became visible on the wound.

Angele noticed that Dice was trying to retreat, and he saw Dice holding his chains in his hand. Dice was trying to use the chain as bait, and he’d just run away afterwards. When Dice was focusing on his chains, Angele decided to advance towards him instead of avoiding the chain. That was probably his only chance, and if he let Dice go, Dice would come back for revenge later. With the help of the chip, he won the gamble and Dice was killed.

“I won! HAHAHAH!” Angele laughed. He stepped back, and took his sword back. The blood made the eagle insignia look crimson. Dice staggered backwards and fell down to the ground.

‘Leave the place within 5 minutes, the stench of blood will attract beasts.’ The chip reported. It would warn Angele about dangerous situations automatically. Angele was so happy about his victory that he almost ignored the warning. He held his wound on his shoulder with a piece of cloth, and he slowly walked towards the body of Dice.

“I just won the fight… I need some trophy.” Angele said. He was not so comfortable with looting the body, but he had to do it. There was one knife left in his pouch and an antique-looking emerald ring. The emerald had cracks on it, and there was also a small pouch of coins on Dice.

Angele took everything and also grabbed the two metal chains. He also took Dice’s sword, and he started to leave.

“Wooooooo!” A beast started howling in the forest. Angele heard it after walking only several steps. He became terrified, and he started to run back to the castle. The sound came from the place Angele just left, and he could die if he stayed any longer. The beast sounded much stronger than the boar he encountered earlier, and it might even be a mountain bear.

The beast kept howling in the forest, and many birds flew out of the trees. Angele did not stop for even a single second and ran out of the forest at full speed. He thought Dice’s body should be taken care of by the beast, and it probably saved him some time later.

Angele saw the two guards when he had just left the forest. The two were worried about him and came back to check the situation. They probably heard the howl of the beast, becoming too nervous.

“Young Master Angele! God! What happened?” The two stared at the severely injured Angele running out of the forest.

“Take me back to the castle!” Angele said while breathing heavily. He could barely stand still, and the two guards held his arms to support him. The cavalrymen on the training grounds saw the situation and quickly came to help. They helped Angele get back to the castle, and their training was stopped due to the loud disturbance created by the beast.

*****************

Rumors quickly spread in the castle. Some said that Angele was hurt while hunting, and some others said that Angele was robbed by the criminals. Some even thought Angele met the legendary mountain black bear.

The maids, workers, and future knights were all gossiping about the rumor in their free time. Angele was placed down on his bed in the bedroom in the afternoon, and the doctors came to check his wounds. They carefully patched him up and told Angele the things he ought to do before leaving. Angele looked like a mummy lying down on the bed, and the light of sunset made the room look bright.

Cecilia was sitting by Angele’s bed. She decided to take care of Angele, and she was preparing some fruits for him. Angele slept for a long time after he got back, and he felt much better after resting and the wounds weren’t that painful anymore. The iron balls in his room were taken by Cecilia and placed into a corner. The items Angele looted from the body were also cleaned up and placed on his bedstand.

“Did anyone come by when I was sleeping?” Angele asked.

“Master Wade was here awhile ago, and he saw you sleeping. He told me to take good care of you before leaving. Ms. Maggie and Ms. Celia also came to check on you.” Cecilia answered.

Angele nodded, but he did not say anything. The baron probably did not know about his injury. It would take about five days for him to get back from the silver mine. Even if someone was passing the information to the baron, it would still take several days. The silver mine was at the edge of Rio Family’s territory and the castle was located at the middle of their territory.

“Also, Master Wade said that the beast you encountered may have been an adult mountain bear. It is much stronger than the mountain black bear, and it is the king in the forest.” Cecilia said.

“Adult mountain bear?” Angele licked his lips and said. He knew it from the book in the special library. It looked identical to a mountain black bear, but it had much greater strength. Though it was slower than mountain black bear, it had an indurated skin and a strong resistance to poison. It was one of the top ranked beasts in the whole Rudin Empire. The mountain bear could probably fight two to four knights on its own, and it would get even stronger if it became enraged..

The baron hunted a regular mountain black bear before, yet it was already a great achievement. If Angele met the mountain bear, he would be dead for sure.

“Well, I was lucky.” Angele said. He was pretty scared when recalling the whole situation. He lied to the doctors when he was getting treated. He said he met someone that was fighting with the mountain bear and a sword flew over to his shoulder. A knife then hit him after the sword, nearly killing him there. He ended up grabbing some items on the side and went back with severe injuries. This was also the source of the rumors.

The head of the doctors said Angele was extremely lucky that he did not lose his life there. He had no idea on how to explain what exactly happened to him recently. He got stronger within a short amount of time, and people would probably not believe eating random food could boost their attributes. Also, it was generally impossible for ordinary people to learn sword skill sets with such absurd speed. If he said he killed an assassin from Dark Emblem, it would become a really big news, and he would get into more trouble instead.

Karl, Wade, and Audis would regularly check on Angele’s progress before the time he fell off the horse, therefore they knew his capability. He practiced the sword skills with his father the day before he fell off the horse, so it would be difficult to explain why he was able to learn a whole set of skill recently. He needed to do something to make things seem more reasonable.

Angele grabbed the items he looted and put them on the bed. A silver-colored crossguard sword, two metal chains, and a knife. There was also a ring and a leather money pouch. He opened the pouch first, and there were several coins in it. Some were gold and some were silver, however, it meant nothing to Angele because his monthly allowance was more than ten gold coins. Ten silver coins was equal to one gold coin, so Angele was not concerned about them.

He put the money pouch aside and grabbed the metal chain. The chain was completely black, and had a claw on its end. It had some special paint on it, which made it shine during the night. It was also very sharp, and it slashed the bedsheet open when Angele put it down.

The long sword had no insignia on it, and the blade was very sharp, too. It was made out of high quality materials. The body had no cracks at all even after the fight.

“Great material.” Angele said, and he decided to use it as his weapon.

The last was the ring. He grabbed the ring, and it must be something special because Dice carried it with him the whole time.

The ring had a copper-like color, but Angele was not exactly sure what the metal was. There was also no insignia on it, and it looked very simple. The ring itself had a rough surface, and it looked like someone rubbed it several times. In the middle was a round emerald, and it had cracks all over it.

“It seems broken?” Angele wondered, and he looked at it carefully. Cecilia was looking at him curiously before, but now, she was more curious about the ring.

“You may leave the room for now.” Angele said.

“Oh… Okay.” Cecilia was a bit surprised, and she put the fruits on the plate. She bowed to Angele and left the room.

Angele started to examine the ring again after the door was closed. He had this special feeling that he could ascertain that the ring must be something notable.