Chapter Thirteen- festival

Chapter Thirteen

Although I was able to dodge, it felt like Gregory had let me. I had the feeling that I was dancing in the palm of his hand. After gaining a bit more distance, I ran forwards without worrying about my defense, pointing my sword to the ground. Gregory had a face of shock, and that was a given, no matter what I was trying to accomplish, I looked like a complete amateur, however before slashing toward Gregory. I slid under him while hitting the dust-up in the air with the tip of my sword, causing a smoke screen.

However there was a defect to this strategy, both I and Gregory were blinded. Or so I thought. Suddenly I could see the tint of steel slash down at my shoulder. And a second later, my cheek had a small cut too it.

After falling back I realized that the smoke screen was a bad idea, knowing that Gregory could see while I can't put me at a disadvantage. So I widened the space between us, waiting for the dust to clear.

"A good plan, yet executed terribly, is this truly the extent of someone who can control the root?"

Gregory said while wiping some dust off of his shoulder plates.

The extent to what I can do? Don't make light of me just because I'm a kid. I rushed forwards again, this time jumping instead of a slide, and slashed down with all my might. This was mainly due to the anger I had built up with all the humiliation I had felt from the beginning of this fight, I have never been completely outmatched this bad before.

When I opened my eyes, I was on the ground and my sword was split in two.

I had completely lost.

From the begging, he was just toying with me.

"Congratulations Young James," Gregory said while extending his arm to me who was still on the ground.

Congratulations? For what? I completely lost...

"Congratulations? What do you mean?" I said while grabbing onto his arm and helping myself up.

"You made me move, that's worthy of some praise, for me someone who has the title as King Ranked Swordsman…" Gregory sighed. "To move more than a single step to finish you, It's truly my loss.

Wait, he hardly moved? Wasn't that showing the difference in the scale of our power?

"Well done James! You managed to make Gregory move more than a step! Even I couldn't do that!" Claire said while jumping off of the fence and running towards me.

Was that fine? Did I truly do alright?

"Fuahaha that's my grandson, being able to make Gregory move at your age is truly remarkable. Your talent and strength are already higher than mine when I was your age.

After being praised a couple more times, I decided to sit down for a bit before Claire came toward me.

"Hey, James! Want to go to town with me? A festival is happening from now until next week and they are selling tasty food!"

Is food all she thinks of? What a glutton… I sighed. "Alright but not for too long, I'm tired and want to sleep since we have a free day off tomorrow before the real hell starts."

"Yippee, alright let's get changed and get going! I'll ask one of the maids to come with us!" after jumping up and down in excitement, Claire went to get changed, while I did the same.

This time I had my own room, so I didn't have to worry about my own privacy, however, it felt quite lonely knowing I wouldn't be sleeping with Claire.

"James are you not done yet? Hurry up!" after a bang on the door Claire stormed in with a pout, it seems like not all girls take hours to get ready. Unlike Elizabeth, who purposely wakes up early in the morning to spend hours dressing herself up, even for casual events. Claire just wears what she wants at any time. It's a fresh change of pace.

After saying hello to the maid that would be accompanying us to town, we went outside, and then Claire looked up into the sky and pointed.

"Alright, it's time for an adventure!" After saying that we got into the Carriage and talked until we reached the town.

It was bustling with life, people from different Races, such as the elegant-looking elf who would get looks of admiration whenever she walked by. The town was filled with all ages, from young to old, and it felt like a community where everybody knew each other.

The streets were packed with merchants from across the country selling their products, while some of the locals were trying to haggle down the price. You could even see a couple of shop owners, giving out free food to the little kids. Overall it could be described as wholesome. And with the bright sun beaming down on the skin of everybody, it felt like a proper festival.

"Hey James, let's go over here and get some food, it looks like they sell hotdogs!"

Eh? Hotdogs? Do they sell hotdogs in this world? I was stunned for a second before being brought back to reality when Claire stuffed a hotdog in my mouth minutes later.

"Well, is it good?

She had the guts to say it while she was already on her second one.

"It's good, it tastes like an authentic hotdog, I took another bite, and the juices of the hotdog and the bread melts in my mouth."

After we finished the hotdogs, we went to a few other stalls to buy a couple of gifts for Claire's Mom and Dad. We also bought the maid that was following us a nice necklace, although at first, she rejected it. She eventually took it when we had pretty much forced it on her. Afterwards, she said she would cherish it for the rest of her life. She must have been very happy.

By the time it had turned dark, we had been to almost every stall, and had bought almost one thing from each single stall. I felt sorry for the maid who had to carry it all so I took half of it to carry myself.

"Hey Claire, don't you think it's time we should head back? Your father must be worried about you…"

I said that, however Claire turned to me with a smile and said. "It's fine, I mean it's a lot more fun being here with you, why would we go back now? Just a bit longer, kay?"

I couldn't refuse. However it wasn't long before Claire started getting tired and we finally decided to get back home.

When we got inside the carriage, we both fell asleep out of exhaustion.