18. Anmestis and Tossed Out

tasca couldn't sit still, she exclaimed in wonder as she saw how lively the city at nights are.

seeing the old doctor pale countenance, claudus tried to make him relax by striking conversation.

"doctor, who is this teacher lucas? why did you called him legendary?"

doctor moi relaxed his eyebrows as he answered, "well, his name is sir lucas vega, the first son of vega family. when i was still a student, he once taught us medical procedure class.."

"medical procedure?" claudus felt intrigued.

doctor moi nodded, "yes, he taught surgery class, specifically appendectomy⑴ and colectomy⑵..." he paused slightly, "ah you must not know it right?"

for a while the doctor explains the surgery procedure in layman terms, while claudus pretends to not knowing about it.

tasca suddenly interjected, "doctor, how old is that grandpa?"

doctor moi paused his explanations, as he looked toward tasca, "i'm not sure...if i remember correctly, i was 19 back then when i met him for the first time, at that time i heard he was 77 years old?"

"huh?! 77 years old? then...then how old is he now?" tasca was so surprised as she looked toward doctor moi.

doctor moi held his chin to think, "this year is 649 AN, that's makes him around 121 years old? i think?"

tasca gasped in disbelief, as claudus felt odd.

"121? he looks so healthy, he still looks like someone in his sixties..." tasca mumbled.

"hahaha, he is a wizard. he can use magic so its normal to have long lifespan..."

"a wizard? what's wizard?" asked tasca.

"wizard is male magician and for female magician we called them witch..." explained doctor moi.

"then, brother claudus is a wizard right?"

tasca's eyes shone brightly as she stared claudus deep, doctor moi nodded. visibly much more relaxed than before.

however claudus catched rather interesting term, "doctor what does AN mean from 649 AN?"

"AN means After Norton..." answered doctor moi casually.

seeing claudus curious eye, doctor moi began to explain,

"the AN began when Ancient Great Norton Empire colapsed. long time ago stood great empire spanning from west to east and occupied around 60% of this Anmestis continent lands, the year 1 begun when the last 2 princes of great norton empire and 3 grand dukes divided the remaining norton lands to themselves..."

"...records stated the reasons of great norton falls was all because power struggle. however after 300 years of lands claiming and consolidation, war errupted for the next 200 years constantly between 2 new empires and 1 allied force..."

tasca soon questioned the doctor, "doctor, what is Anmestis continent?"

"Anmestis is this continent's name. as for continent, it is a large continuous mass of land conventionally regarded as a collective region..." answered the doctor.

tasca tilted her head completely clueless, breathe out of sigh claudus simplified doctor moi's explanations,

"simply put, it was a huge island at ocean.." gestured claudus with his hands stretched out imagining how big it was.

"ocean? what's ocean brother?"

"ocean is where all the water gathered, it is bigger sea, you know sea tasca?"

tasca shook her head, "i don't know, but i know river brother, is it bigger than river?"

claudus smiled softly, "the end of river is the sea tasca. it is beautiful place..."

tasca's face now yearned for more, she was born at farming village. all her life, she only know about forest, river and mountain, much less lake.

claudus stroke her head gently, "when we get older, i'll take you there..."

"really?! its a promise then brother!!" tasca held claudus hand and swung it back and forth. she was so excited with this promise.

claudus then turned toward the smiling doctor, as he questioned more, "what are those empires and allied forces doctor?"

doctor moi answered, "...two empires are, west norton and east norton. as for allied forces were joint armies between 3 kingdoms, ludinia, vanduin, and vannahar kingdom. against the other 2 empires..."

with grave expressions doctor moi continued.

"...at that time, after great norton empire colapsed for 300 years, for the next 200 years the war was unceasing. the allied forces needs new blood of soldiers pumped toward the front line, many young and promising men wasted their lives at war..."

tasca mumbled beside them, "200 years? how long is it?"

the doctor paused as he smiled in contentment.

"...however thanks to our new king's line, vannahar men didn't need to go to war anymore. at year 549 AN, arthur arcdragon the 1st had overthrown the reigned king henry vall the 14th at that time, refusing to continue those meaningless war for good. vannahar broke out from the allied forces, since then, our vannahar turns much better and thriving..."

tasca was fascinated with doctor moi's story while claudus couldn't help but asked more.

"then doctor, why did you called that lucas vega as legendary?"

"ah? call him sir or his excellency! claudus.." reprimand the doctor.

"i'm sorry doctor..."

"...teacher lucas was one of the living hero of our kingdom, he was one of the many whom helped arthur 1st to sat at his throne..."

claudus was surprised along with tasca, silence pervade carriage interior for a while.

claudus tried to digest these much informations. anmestis, 2 empires, kingdoms, there were a lot.

soon doctor moi clarified, "if you want to know more, we could ask him later claudus, tasca."

soon the carriage stopped in front of their destination.

***

as the trio alighted from the carriage, they saw the restaurant mentioned by elder lucas.

"woow! i never see something like this before!" tasca was the first to spoke.

in her vision the restaurant was huge, with 5 storys, a lot of hanging lanterns could be seen illuminate the entire restaurant, there were huge entrance door made by special wood leading inside, there were also two gargoyle statues on both side of the entrance with several men guarding it, they looked stern and overbearing.

the restaurant name was cena ceralle written on its huge golden plaque hanging at its front door, several patrons could be seen walking in and out from the entrance and without doubt all of them looks well off and wore the best clothing they could use.

seeing their entourage was look out of place, doctor moi didn't know what to do, as he rooted on the spot.

claudus walked toward the entrance with relaxing manner as if this was only his backyard.

tasca soon tag along, as she watched here and there with curiosity, doctor moi didn't want to stayed behind as he also followed the duo.

"halt! dear guess please show us your invitation card.." said one of the door keeper while holding his hand upwards. he spoke politely yet he was still overbearing in his action.

tasca and doctor moi turned giddy as they clearly didn't have any invitational card, yet claudus spoke calmly, "we are invited by elder lucas vega, may i know if his excellency inside?"

hearing elder lucas name, the keeper's expression fallter, soon he gestured toward another guard to inquire about the matter.

while they were waiting, the keeper gestured politely toward several sofas for them to sit, "please wait here my lady and gentlemen..."

they sat on soft sofa inside the entrance hall, the hall was huge as many ornaments and decorations hanging here and there, the ceiling were decorated with well made hanging golden lamps, it made the soft ambience for the patrons.

the hall floor was also covered with some sort of fur rug, it feels like walking on the cloud if one steps on it, there were also several exotic colorful plants. all in all it gave the patrons a surreal feeling when they steps inside.

the trio keep their silence while several patrons peeking at them while sniggering, it couldn't be helped as the trio wearing their best clothes yet it clearly wasn't enough.

doctor moi wears his dull suit clearly signs of its age, he shaved for this occasion, and claudus? don't even mention his clothes as he clearly didn't put any consideration towards it, he thought it was enough as long as its clean and presentable.

the only one stood out was tasca, her outfit was clearly unique, wrap dress still wasn't known in this era, top that with her adorable look and braided bun blonde hair makes her pleasing to the eye.

several young nobles were clearly interested on this fair lady, even tough tasca was quite thin, she had charming aura on her ever smiling face.

one of the well dressed young man soon approached tasca, and he took the chance to show her, his gentleman side, "good evening, young miss."

tasca was stunned from the polite greeting, usually anyone would stood up and returns the greeting, however tasca had never learned about etiquette except when she received the patients at clinic.

"ah! good evening..." tasca nodded toward this young man.

the young man was startled for a while, his expression fallter slightly from her lukewarm reply.

but soon he adjusted his bearing once more thinking nothing of it.

"may i ask this lady, if you came here for dinning? and may i be presumptuous enough to invite you for a wonderful dinner?"

tasca was tonguetied from the abrupt invitation as she grabed claudus dull sleeve, finally the young man took notice of another persons sat beside her.

an old man with aged suit, and another one was crippled boy with an eyepatch, his outfit was much more jarring toward his eyes, the young man was sure that his household stabble boy had better clothing than this unnoticed boy.

claudus keep his calm face keeping nonchalant towards him.

"i'm sorry, we had our own arrangements for tonight." said claudus calmly.

the young man was irked by that remarks, as he turned toward tasca once more.

"young lady, it was too unbecoming if you stay here with this poor boy, its like flower stuck on the cow's dung, its better for you to come with me.." he smirked with an air of arrogance.

"cow dung? you mean that my brother claudus is cow's dung?!" contrary to his expectation, tasca stood up with menacing face.

doctor moi had also stood up glaring toward this arrogant young man.

keeping his pompous attitude, the young man replied, "of course, you are more suited with me than this country bumpkins..."

PLAK!

without warning tasca slapped this young master in fury! the other patrons also stopped on their track, witnessing such interesting scene.

"how dare you!!!" shouted the young man, "don't you know who i am?"

the young man soon rises his hand in attempts to slap tasca back, however claudus already casted his mana over, pushing him to the ground.

the door keepers soon arrived in hurry, they clearly recognised this young master, seeing several guards coming while he still didn't get on what happened the young man shouted in rage.

"throw these country bumpkins for me! you dare to refuse my invitation?! i'll wreck you up!!!"

hearing the order, several door keepers soon getting ready to apprehend the trio, yet before they could do anything.

woosh!

claudus casted his mana, tossing the guards and this pompous young man out of the entrance to the street!

unfortunately for the arrogant young man, his head struck to the wheel of parked carriage across the street outside, it couldn't be helped as he had smaller physique than the guards, he got thrown further than the rest.

soon his wails could be heard from inside the hall followed by incessant abusive words.

gasps could be heard from the witnessing patrons, they didn't know what happened, how could several guards and that young man flew out of the entrance all of sudden?

as they didn't want to get involved, they kept their distance looking how this incident would resolved.

claudus didn't want to keep this nonsense for long, he wasn't like other protagonist whom tried to hide their power just because trouble arises and exchanging words before blows, he was decisive person.

he had the power, then why don't he use it? as for the consequences? leave it be for the future to unfold, that if they knew he was the perpetrator.

as for these unfortunate men, they want to throw them out? then don't blame him to act first.

tasca and doctor moi staggered as they looked toward claudus whom from the start to end just sitting there nonchalantly.

"claudus? was that your doing?" doctor moi whispered in apprehension.

"wow brother! i knew that you're powerful!!" tasca was amazed yet she kept her voice low.

soon the thrown guards were back to their feet, and some of them tried to help the young man's head free from the carriage wheel.

they ran back inside feeling odd of what happened, yet they were sure that it was all someone's doing, knowing they might encounter formidable opponent they were readying their battons.

"what happened?"

"i don't know, but they were suddenly flew outside.."

"maybe someone use magic? i felt the wind blowing just now..."

"if there was magic, then we must've seen the magic circle right?"

the patrons soon exchanged glance over and voiced their thought in hushed whispers.

several waiters soon called upon the manager in charge, it was middle aged man with thin mustache.

with booming voice he asked, "what happened here?"

seeing him coming over, the guards gave him the details here and there, as they were also confused they couldn't tell much.

however, the manager had realized that the commotion before somehow disturbed some expert in here, as he kept grave face to him, he turned toward the patrons in courtesy.

"my apologize for the commotion, if dear sir would please step forward, i will try to give my best explanation regarding this disturbance."

clearly he didn't refers to anyone presents, but to the misterious expert who might be annoyed by the commotion before.

after long time the crowd turns silence, as they too were curious about who might be this expert was.

but it was all futile as claudus stay silent and tasca with doctor moi sat back beside him.

seeing no one steps out, the manager turned anxious! after all, this incident involved one of the young master from the prominent family in maron city, if he couldn't figure it out, then he wouldn't be sure on how to handle this later.

after quite a while, left with no choice the manager could only put his polite smile back, "ladies and gents, it was my part of negligence of duty. please continue on dear guests. the cena ceralle would bear any consequence of this incident..."

the patrons soon followed his words, some wanted to continue their dinning and some left the establishment feeling something wasn't right.

as the manager wanted to return back to reports this incident, he saw a waitress bowed politely toward an inconspicuous trio at the sofa, he knew the waitress was from the restaurant vip area at 5th story.

feeling intrigued, he came closer only to hear something astonishing.

the waitress bowed toward doctor moi as she spoke, "you must be doctor moi, miss tasca and mr claudus?"

doctor moi stood up as he answered, "indeed, twas us..."

the waitress smile politely as she gestured toward the stairs.

"please follow me sirs and miss, his excellency lucas, young lady vivian and young miss edna had already waiting inside."

doctor moi, tasca and claudus followed the waitress toward the stairs.

his excellency lucas? young lady vivian? young miss edna?

the manager stunned for a while, finally realized of what happened, elder lucas was prominent figure in vannahar kingdom, whom even the city lord dare not to offend.

young lady vivian was the sole daughter of city lord and young miss edna was elder lucas disciple.

each one of them wasn't anybody could offend in random!

earlier today young lady vivian had ordered vip lounge for elder lucas to invite his guests, yet he as manager didn't know which one of elder lucas guest, and it seems like the young man earlier had offended the trio, and got his a*s whopped, by this unseemingly old wizard.

the manager train of thought couldn't be more accurate unless he didn't knows that the one acted before was this limping boy walking behind the duo.

wiping his sweat off his forehead, he could finally let of sigh of relief, the young man family's earlier was also a notable figures here in maron city, but comparing them to elder lucas, they could only blame their descendant of his arrogant behavior toward his guests.

soon the middle aged manager hurried back to reports back to his superior explaining the entire incident.

***

"cursed them all! who did it?!" inside the carriage, the arrogant young man from earlier hollered in rage and indignant.

his wounded head was being tended by his butler. they had no choice to return to their manor. after all, his appearance couldn't be more tragic this time.

the butler carefully wraped his blodied head with emergency bandages,

"young master, please calm down. this servant shall find out the answer from cena ceralle! and make them answer!"

swatting his butler's hand away, the young man harrumphed coldly, "find out who casted the magic! i want him to pay for what he did!"

"this servant obliged, no one could get scott free after what they did towards you young master, please don't worry..." the butler bowed slightly in submission.

the young man suddenly smirked with nasty smile, "also, find out about that insolent blonde girl who wore white unique dress earlier, keep watch on her. she dare to slap me? what gives?!"

"young master? did you find another lady? how about young lady vivian? i heard she had returned home, won't you..."

the young man interrupt him, "vivian is tough nut to crack! if i can't get her then so be it, but that girl!"

he sniggered, "...that girl dares to do that to me. i will make her pay dearly, oh my, oh my....it would be interesting! hahahhahaa!"

the carriage soon entered the inner circle of maron city toward one of the humongous manor in it.

***

"achoo~~!" tasca sneezed as claudus gave her his handkerchief.

"what's wrong tasca? are you cold?" asked the doctor with concerns.

tasca smiled while she shook her head, "no doctor, i'm fine...dont worry..."

claudus had different thought, he clearly remembered that tasca had offended the seemingly noble descend downstairs. but he couldn't care less, as his power grew he could saw everything in simpler way.

nonetheless he had also prepared himself if problem arised through this incident, he already formulate some plans for them to sail through.

while he could only control 2/10 of his mana, don't understimate this number, never forget that claudus mana now had almost infinite reserves for him to utilize.

it was as if you can only walk slowly, yet has unlimited endurance, like a saying "dripping water hollows out the stone, not with force but with persistance."

at least for now he could breath sigh of relief as he saw that his mana utilization had becomes much more powerful than before.

if that wasn't the case, how could claudus tossed out five men outside earlier? six if he count the noble boy, it would be just become a joke!

~~~