Chapter LXXIV - Autumn (part 2)

KLING!

The sound of a bell ringing can be heard when the door to the restaurant opens. Everyone in the restaurant is currently eating their breakfast. Hod and his mother had a special menu where they only treat before the second bell. They called it the breakfast menu.

So I went ahead and ordered that.

"Aren't you a little too old for this type of breakfast?"

Hod asked me when I ordered a breakfast menu for a child. I shook both of my shoulders.

"A meal is a meal. Or it's because I'm just bored."

"Okay then."

The menu is all about mashed potato, crispy chicken skin, and a carrot soup. It's probably the best looking menu, but Hod somehow made it into a kids menu. Due to its small amount, I ordered two of them for myself.

I also ordered this because I'm already tired of all the other menus he had here. I ended up trying a kids menu.

When the meal came, I stared at it for a few seconds. It really is a kiddie meal… Why did I order this again?

The tomato sauce decorated the crispy chicken skin, the mashed potato on the sides of the plate, as well as the scent of the chicken soup on a separate bowl.

Not to mention the goddamn tomato sauce making this smiley face above the entire plate.

Hod definitely did this on purpose. I glanced at him with a pissed gaze, but he only shook his shoulder and laughed once he turned away.

After eating the shameful meal and being looked on by others, I pushed the plates away and placed my hand on the table.

That was actually tasty…

Hod came a few minutes later and sat in front of me. He had removed his apron and ready to go with his adventurers outfit.

I stared at him for a few seconds.

"... The second bell is still quite far away."

"Yeah? Well, why don't we go right now?"

I placed my head back to the table. I'm still in my casual outfit, and I left my adventurers clothes back at the inn.

"I'm going to go grab my adventurers set and change at my place. You go ahead to the arena."

"Okay then."

We both stood up and left the restaurant. Hod bade farewell with his mother before leaving.

We went our separate ways as I went to the inn and he went to the arena. After changing into the adventurers set, I joined him at the arena. I also called the others whether or not they want to come early. Everyone said they didn't bath and stuff. 

No words from Cony, that means she is still sleeping.

Before I even arrived at the arena, I could already hear the shouting of the people coming from the inside, as well as sounds of fighting. As soon as I entered, the shouts became even louder.

In the middle of the arena, multiple people are doing spars at the same time. They all went one versus one with each other, and in the midst of them all, is Jrake and his giant blade.

They must be Jrake's students, and they are in the middle of practice.

I can see Hod on the distance, next to Jrake. He must be looking for a friend and found Jrake instead, so I walked to the two.

"Rize! It's been a while!"

Jrake said as he lifted his hand for a toss. I answered the toss and turned to the people training.

"Your training seemed to be going smoothly."

"Well, it's because they are all ambitious!"

His eyes peered at his students, to see for anything lacking in them. From time to time, he always mentions certain mistakes that were done by his students. He also gave some advice on what to do to fix those mistakes.

"Though, training them was very different from training you."

He said at me after yelling at a student. Hod listened to the conversation and wanted to ask.

"Jrake, you trained Rize?"

"Ah, yes. She totally didn't tell you. Back then she was very weak and sloppy."

"It's... surprising to hear that Rize is weak and sloppy."

"Hahah!! Then she must be very strong now, right?"

"Very."

Hod said coldly, and I chuckled. Hearing that even Hod said that so seriously, Jrake became interested. He turned to me, and grinned.

"What?"

"Let's spar."

"Eh?"

"Come on! It's been a while. I do want to see your progress."

"Eh… But what about these people?"

Jrake chuckled before turning his gaze forward and shouted.

"Everyone! Take a break!"

The students stopped their spars and moved away from the arena to sit down at the walls. Jrake began walking away from our position, creating a distance between us. While he was walking away, Hod approached me.

"I didn't know Jrake trained you. Sorry."

"It's fine. I always wanted to spar with him again. Mind being the judge?"

"Sure."

Hod left my position, and walked to the center, between me and Jrake. Over there, Jrake already created a long enough distance and is now staring back at me. His giant blade is being placed on his shoulder, and his face is grinning.

Seeing that the two of us were glaring at each other, everyone in the arena became very interested.

"Oi, what's this? Someone is challenging Jrake?"

One of the adventurers taught by Jrake asked around. His friends also noticed the middle of the arena.

"Oh! We are going to see Jrake beat someone up!"

"Yeah, go Jrake!"

"Try not to hurt the young lady!"

Somehow, Jrake's students are all shouting to him. Some even told him not to hurt the young lady. 

Okay, who the fuck-

"Guys, please. Rize is one of my first students! If anything, she is far stronger than all of you! And probably even stronger than me!"

Jrake said to his students loudly, and all of them turned to shock. I let out a sigh and facepalmed, while Hod stared at Jrake angrily.

"Now, why did you say that last part?"

"Hahah! So she is still very shy!"

Hod shook his head, and turned to me. I nodded at him, and Jrake also nodded at him.

Now that the two are ready, we can begin.

I looked around at the spectators seat, and there didn't seem to be that many people. There's only five to six groups of people at the spectators' seat, and a group only consists of three to five people.

The spectators area is very huge, and it can fit more than three hundred people. They might as well make this arena into an official kingdom's arena or something.

Now that I have learned my surroundings, I turned back to Jrake.

"No magic?"

I asked Jrake, and he nodded.

"Alright then."

I took out my sword from my magic ring. The dragon crest scabbard along with the knights sword came out on my right hip. The scabbard looks so cool, and I can hear everyone whistling after seeing the golden colors on it.

I unsheathed the knights sword with one hand and took a stance.

"You know, seeing you now reminded me of something. Back then, you couldn't even hold that sword with two hands."

Jrake suddenly bringing up the past made me chuckle.

"Those are some weird times, indeed."

"Then… let's see how far you have grown."

Jrake lowered his blade from his shoulder, and the blade crashed into the ground as soon as he dropped it.

BAARR!!

A simple drop to the ground made that loud of a sound. It simply proves to everyone that his sword is incredibly heavy, that even the ground exploded from just landing the tip.

He lifted the blade with only one hand, and also formed a stance. A rushing stance, the same one as mine.

Our first move will be a clash.

We are both ready.

"Ready!"

Hod shouted from the sides, while me and Jrake traded glances. We both grinned when Hod started counting.

"Three! Two! One!...-"

At that very moment, our grin disappeared.

"Go!"