The Slums
Chapter 5 - The Slums.
The city was fairly big for a medieval one, the number of citizens on it reaching the 5 digits at least, so of course, there will be a slum and criminal activities, after walking around for some time, speaking to some people, I was able to get information in a gang called the Dark Faced, what a stupid name. And now here we are in front of the Dark Faced's Den. I cracked my neck and did a quick stretch, after of course, I kicked the door right open.
"What the hell?!" I heard a scream, looking inside there were a lot of people, around 30 of them sitting around, all of them had goon faces as you would expect, the biggest guy was sitting in what seemed like a throne made out of wood with a beautiful lady servicing him (Not In A Lewd Way! Take your mind out of the gutter.)
"Well, it's fewer people than I expected though," I spoke to myself as the group of bandits got up, rusty blades, swords, and daggers on hands.
"And who the hell are you?!" The king of the wooden throne spoke.
"Me? I'm just a wandering knight, I heard you were the biggest gang around so I in all of my rightfulness came to say surrender and join me, or you will die here." I spoke with a smile, they looked at me, they looked at each other and started laughing, I started laughing, I unsheathed my sword, I decapitated 12 people, they are now very scared.
"G-Get her!" The boss screamed from behind his throne.
"G-Go you, desmond was our best fighter and his head is now rolling on the floor."
"So I'm not going to repeat myself a third time," I said with what I assume was a creepy smile, a shame I was using my mask and they would never be able to see it.
"W-We surrender!" They all screamed but the boss.
"Good, the ones who surrendered come out and get on your knees in the center of the room."
"Y-You won't kill us?"
"Of course, don't take the word of a knight lightly we do what we promise?"
"Liar, Sir Wellington never keeps his word."
"That idiot ain't no knight, A knight is a lifestyle, to fight for justice no matter if it's for the weak or the poor, nobles like to think of themselves as knights when they are just idiots."
"Wow... ok... if a noble heard that you would probably be dead!"
*Hump *
"Not like they can do anything about me, their soldiers are too weak, even if they send hundreds after me, I'm going to send just the heads back" I spoke coldly as the group slowly marched towards the center of the room and got onto their knees.
"T-Traitors, Sir Wellington will punish you all!" The boss scream gave me some really good information, that they operate under this Wellington's orders..." I smiled under my mask this is going to be fun.
"Now, Now, how about you get out from behind that throne or I'm cutting it together with your head," I spoke as I unsheathed my sword looking at the throne.
"W-Wait I'm coming out!" He slowly walked out and stayed far away from me.
"I-I'm telling you, I'm Sir Wellington's Steward if anything happens to me, h-he will definitely avenge me!"
"Oh, a steward, that makes things much more simple."
"R-really?" He seemed relieved when I spoke, I'm guessing he misunderstood something?"
"Yes, now tell me everything you know about him, and when I say everything I mean everything, or I'm going to make sure, your death will be a lot more painful than the twelve beheaded." I pointed down towards a head that was on the ground, he gulped down.
"Of course I will know if you are lying." I smiled under my mask and it seems that my intentions were passed very well as he immediately started sweating.
"Y-yes..."
[...]
"don't worry even though you were all bandit, thieves, the scum of the scum I will make yall good citizens once again, after all, I don't mistreat my underlings," I spoke passionately, and turned to the four goons.
"If any of them get out of line, hit them." I give each one of them a small thin twig that I carved myself, increasing its resilience and hardness, and the most interesting part was the fact that it has an effect.
[Wooden Stick - (Specially carved so it causes the maximum amount of pain.)]
[+50% Physical Pain, -25% Physical Damage.]
"You can also choose 2 or 3 of them so that you can train, they will have the same routine as you so make sure they don't laze around or I'm hitting you four, oh Camille, you will take care of the girl." Camille nodded slowly while staring at the stick on her hands and at the group of goons that I brought from the city.
"Master, are you sure this is a good idea? they all look like bandits."
"That's because they were bandits, I just raided their den, these are the ones that surrendered," I spoke as a matter of fact and ignored their weird faces.
"Now put them to work, you five can focus more on training from now on."
"well at least that..." goon 3 spoke sourly.
"Did you say something?"
"Not a single word Master!" He immediately ran off to do his tasks. I went back inside my cabin, on top of the table there was a box that Camille brought today, it was the clothes that I asked for, of course, I paid with the money I got from raiding the bandits, I won't ask her to do something for free, I quickly changed into a new set of clothes, abandoning the trashed dress I was using before.
"Now this feels a lot nicer, maybe I should buy some equipment so I can do my own clothes, I can definitely make something better and more modern than this. I went back outside sitting on my porch looking at the group of ex-bandits and my 5 disciples, they were all working the ex-bandits building the training courtyard and my disciples training with their swords, they were a lot more proficient than before, impressive I do say, this system is a very magical thing, I wonder if there are any forces out there that discovered its uses already? The first ones are probably the old masters hidden away because of old age.
As I looked at the sight I sat crossing my legs, taking a sip of the tea that Daimos brought, it was peaceful, like my dais in the university as a professor, I smiled as I slowly seeped the tea and a sudden sensation crossed my body and information started to enter min mind, my Swordsmanship skill was stuck at level 9 no matter how much I practiced and now I knew why.
"So we are finally entering new territory here?" I whispered to myself as I felt the information flowing into my mind like a small stream, those were techniques that I had never seen or thought about before.
[Conditions met, Swordsmanship (Basic) Evolved Into (Advanced)]
Most of the movements in the technique used Qi as support, and that's what I was missing, control over my Qi, I guess I need to focus a little more into controlling my Qi, I sat there quietly circulating the Qi in my bloodstream and organizing my memories, this new technique was interesting and it opened up a lot of possibilities of study, and it's very possible that all skills to evolve need another supporting skill or a necessary one.
I checked my status page and entered in deep thought, most of my skill was stagnant as I had only practiced with them once or twice, there were too many things I knew but I couldn't do all of them, it would take too long to increase in level if I spread around my training, after all a master that trained a simple kick 10000 times will neve lose to one that trained 100 times various moves.
I will focus on swordsmanship and hand to hand combat as they were the things I was most proficient in my past life other things will be forgotten for now, as for crafting and common skills I will definitely use them a lot over time so I don't need to botter training them strictly.
[You Gained The title (The Martial Way), The Skill Axemanship was forgotten and the status the skill gave was permanently added to your status, you have a bonus towards swordsmanship and hand to hand skills.]
[You can relearn the skill again in the future at a reduced rate.]
[all skills not related to the martial category have a reduced exp rate.]
[Magic Skills are not affected]
"Magic, so it does exist!" My eyes shined as I looked at the popups in front of me, I guess its time for a training montage now? I joked to myself as I went into my cabin and took kori and decided to move towards the forest to train in a more secluded location I didn't want to accidentally kill someone while training after all.
[...]
In a Brightly lit room inside the biggest mansion in the BlackRock city stood a man, his belly protruding from his high-quality silk garment, his voice was deep and he looked like the stereotypical manager at a black company with a balding head and short hair on the sides.
"Have you find her yet?"
"No sir, she seemed to have disappeared when she ran towards the forest." The steward bowed to the man who could only sigh.
"What a troublesome princess... any notice from the prince?"
"He went after the princess into the forest, there's no notice of him yet."
"Something doesn't feel right, he may be dead already."
"D-Dead? sir that's the crown prince even though he only has 7 guards with him they are all the elite withing the elite of the kingdom."
"You don't get it, we are dealing with a witch here a real one! you think that something like that will be easily defeated, clearly only a large force will be able to eliminate her, but it does matter anymore, she should have already reached the kingdom of Haltar where her maternal family lives so we can't go after her, such a shame, anything more?"
"Yes, there seems to be something strange happening in the north forest, a group of people is grouping around, there's also a rumor on the city that in this place in the forest a wandering swordsman is accepting disciples for a price."
"Really? How many people went there?"
"Not many, around 23 as the swordsmen is asking for a price of one silver coin for a year of training."
"Not that expensive, do you know who he is?"
"No sir, she wears a mask all the time together with a cloak, but some of my sources say that she is able to easily split a tree in 2 with her strange sword."
"Split a tree? what a load of bullshit, just ignore it, I doubt that any more idiots will fall for this hoax."
"Yes sir."
"And make sure to take taxes from her, those 23 people already mean 23 silver coins, almost a quarter of a gold one so get me 90% of that."
"Yes sir, I'm going to send a tax collector right away."
"Good, now get out." The fat man spoke as the doors behind him opened and 2 young women entered the room skimpily dressed, the steward held in the disgust and moved out of the room.
[...]
I looked at the guy in front of me, he had an arrogant smirk on his face while on top of his horse.
"Could you repeat that again, I think I just heard it wrong?" I asked looking coldly at him.
"Hump, as I said and I won't repeat again I am the official tax collector of the ruling mansion, came here to of course collect taxes, with a value of 22 silver coins."
"What tax is that?"
"The martial arts tax, a tax to those who want to teach any martial art to peasants." He spoke smugly while I looked at his idiotic face.
"Get the fuck out of here before I cut yer arms off," I spoke ignoring him.
"Hump you dare threaten an official! Guards take her prisoner and seize all properties within the cabin." I noticed the weird light in his eyes, I knew exactly what it was, he was one of those that like to use his backer's weight to get what he wants, well not today my friend. I pulled Kori out of its sheat, sending an ether blade, That's what I named the blae formed of Qi in front of them, the horses were scared trowing the people that mounted them on the ground and a big gash was formed in the ground, frozen solid.
"W-What, witchery guards capture her!" The 'official screamed on his butt on the ground but the guards around him were frozen in fear, of course, they were I was focusing all my bloodlust, thousands of years of accumulated bloodlust in them, surprising they didn't piss... they did piss their pants! I noticed the liquid pool on the ground.
[Intimidation evolved into Fear Lv.1]
Evolved, that's the first time a skill I have evolved, but what does evolve means? I looked at the group of soldiers frozen in fear and I looked at the official, focusing my bloodlust on him.
"I'm not going to repeat myself, get the hell out of here before I cut ya arms off weakling." under him a pool formed and he started foaming from his mouth falling back into the ground, I guess I overdid it?
"Thake the weakling and go away!" I spoke coldly to the guards who quickly scurried off on their feet, the horses had run long ago.
"Master are you sure this is a good idea? Sir wellington may bring his troops here..."
"He can bring as many as he wants, the only thing he will get from that is dead bodies" I spoke cooly, looking at the face of my disciples and new slaves... WORKERS, with shining eyes, I noticed another message popped into my vision.
[The Human (Camille) Fully worships you, she will learn 10x faster from you but 10x slower from others.]
[She has unending loyalty towards you.]
[You gained the title (Divine Swordswoman) (1) Believer.]
"That's unexpected."