32 | Auction(5)|

"Why do you say so?" The king asked. Sebastian is fuming beside him.

"Correct me if I'm wrong your majesty. I found your guard's unsightly face very familiar, I think I saw him challenge an adventurer, that goes by the name 'Loki' or something, to a simple game of 'Guess where the coin is' and lost. I was in the crowd and I've never seen someone lost so pathetically before in my 9 years of life. I'm speechless that he's still your guard even after that" I completed.

"..." The room became silent as the king is silent, my question seemed to have caught him off-guard.

"That has nothing to do with this. Adventurer Loki is well-known for his trickery and is undefeated since his debut. I will ask you once more; will you give me your bond?" His tone turned grave.

'Tsk, this old man and his pride' I thought.

"Then let me ask you a question in response, Your Majesty. How much are you willing to sell your children to me?" Art asked coolly, never batting an eye.

Thrown off-guard once again, the King wasn't able to respond to the seemingly random question.

"You have asked me twice and I have rejected you both times, yet it seems your pride won't allow you to accept my refusal. You don't seem to be aware of what you were asking me, so I hoped to clarify using my question instead. How much money should I give you in return for your son or your daughter, King Glayder?" Art rephrased, without wavering.

'That's Art for you' I smirked internally.

I heard the sharp whistle of a sword leaving its scabbard. "Insolent peasant! You dare insult the King and his family?" a guard roared as he charged at Art before anyone had the chance to respond.

As the sword arced towards him, I noticed that it had a faint glow of mana surrounding it. Augmenting his sword to attack an eight-year-old…this guy really showed no tact. The hood covering the guard's face was blown back as he charged towards me, revealing a rugged veteran's furious expression.

Faces of horror could be seen clearly from those around us. The Twin Horns desperately tried to make their way towards the guard when they saw the guard about to attack Art, to stop him from cleaving Art in two. Even the King looked surprised at the unprecedented action of his guard, while the Queen had already frantically started reaching for her wand.

My eyes stayed focused on the guard that was about to swing down, but I was quite relaxed. Whether or not it was because he was angry, or because the training the royal guards received was mediocre, his attack was rushed and full of openings. I knew immediately that Art will handle this easily like squatting a fly.

Art didn't even need to will mana into his body to deal with him. I saw Art took a step forward with his right foot as the guard's sword swung down towards him, then reached up and grabbed the space on the grip of his sword between the cross-guard and his hand.

Art proceeded to pivot on his right foot, using the momentum of his swing, while my body was parallel to the guard's. His reinforced sword whistled harmlessly through the empty space where Art had just been, creating a small fissure in the ground, and conversely embedding his sword in it. In one smooth movement, Art quickly struck him in the jaw, which the guard hadn't bothered to guard it with mana. The force of Art upward punch, combined with the guard's downward movement from his swing, created an impact much stronger than I'd expected. The guard only managed to let out a low grunt before he crumpled to the ground.

My attention immediately focused, then, to Sebastian. As I had expected, the dense fool was silently muttering a spell as his beady eyes locked intently with Art.

I knew Art will easily resolve this as Sebastian is only an Orange stage conjurer.

Art approached Sebastian as he's about to conjure a spell but something unbelievable happened that shocked me to the core.

Sebastian who was fine just a second ago is now on the floor, his knee bent inwards, along with the bones, tendons still attached, sticking out of the skin.

'When?' I thought as I didn't see Art attack yet.

I immediately infused my eyes with mana, seeing a whole new world.

'!! It moved!' I thought as I saw the unfriendly dark-purplish mana that is everywhere in the atmosphere dispersing from Art's body. I've tried manipulating this unique-looking mana but to no avail.

>Thud<

I turned my head towards the sound and I saw Art laying on the ground.

'A-Art?'

I felt like losing myself seeing Art suddenly collapsed like that, it brought back bad memories.

Did Sebastian do something?

I watched as Art's family along with Helstea's family rushing towards him.

The king said something but I didn't bother listening to any of it.

I felt my mana running wild along with my emotion.

I turned towards Sebastian and three other guards including the one that initiated the attack on Art. The two guards is about to help Sebastian and Harry stand up.

Art has already been brought out of the room by his family and Twin Horns along with Helstea's family.

Now that I'm all alone with four guards...

'Why should I stay still?'

I thought as my ice deviant mana flare up.

>FWHOOOOOOOM!<

***

[Arthur Leywin's PoV]

'Gah! My head!'

I pried open my eyes, curious as to where I was, but everything was blurry. As my vision slowly cleared, I carefully turned my head to the right and to the left.

It was my room.

"Kyu!" Sylvie woke up almost immediately and began licking my face. 'You're awake! You're awake!' she chirped, her tail wagging fiercely.

"Mmm…? Oh, you're finally awake!" My mom had her head in her arms as she leaned on my bed.

"The doctor said that you probably fell unconscious from shock, and that you'd wake up soon. However, I didn't think 'soon' would be eight hours." She ran her fingers gently through my hair, giving me a soft smile.

It was evident from her red eyes that she'd been crying for a while. A bitter taste filled my mouth in regret from making her worry again.

"What happened after I passed out?" I willed myself to sit up, placing the excited Sylvie on my lap.

"...We all left shortly after you fell unconscious. No one was in their right state of mind, thus the King excused himself first. Your father is downstairs with the King's representative. They're in the living room discussing what happened...Also...Nothing" Her eyes quivered in worry.

I simply nodded in response and got out of bed. My body still felt heavy from using the first phase of Sylvia's Draconic Will, so I limped slowly downstairs with Mother after she checked in on Ellie, who was asleep in her room.

As we made our way downstairs, I could hear my father, along with an elderly man's hoarse voice.

Upon seeing me, the representative suddenly stood up, giving me a slight bow, a bit of a relieved look on his weathered face. My father's back was facing me, so he only turned to look when he saw the old man start to get up.

"My son! You're awake!" He hurled himself over the couch and wrapped me in a bear hug, his hand cupping the back of my head.

"Yeah Dad, I'm fine. What're you guys talking about?"

"This representative came by with a few gold coins as a 'token of apology' from the King. 'For the small incident'," my father answered through clenched teeth.

"The Royal King has also ordered me to inform the Leywin family that both guards that attacked Arthur Leywin have been stripped of nobility," the representative added, his voice cracking.

"For almost killing my son, the King just gave them a slap on the wrist, and then waved them goodbye?" My father couldn't help but be livid from the frustration.

"Father, it's all right! Look, I wasn't hurt. Let's just end this matter." I squeezed my father's hand, giving him a reassuring look.

The King seemed like a decent enough character, but in times like this, I guess his priorities lie elsewhere.

The representative just looked at us matter-of-factly, as if it was a given that whatever the King had done was the right thing.

Letting out a sigh, I took a seat. 'I'm too tired for this crap.'

Casting aside the issue, I asked about Sebastian, in case he'd said anything. "What happened to that Conjurer? The one who had his knee broken?"

The representative just shook his head a little. "We don't know. Our experts hypothesized that it was due to the mana that the Knight attacked you with ricocheting and hitting his knee. Apart from that, severe frostbite-"

The king's representative paused after seeing my father's glare. I just shrugged at this.

Looks like the matter was settled more easily than I had expected.

After the elderly representative left, mainly because my father had grown impatient with his attitude, he turned around and gave me a grin.

"Good job knocking out that Augmenter. That's my son!" He put his fist out in front of him, which I promptly pounded with my own fist, smiling.

"Where are the Twin Horns anyway? I thought they'd be here."

My mother answered me while chuckling, "We had to keep them away from this, otherwise they might've really turned into wanted criminals."

I laughed at this, but I could tell that it was something they were genuinely worried about by the helpless look on my father's face.

According to my mother, the Twin Horns were waiting at a nearby Inn. My father told me that we'd head out there tomorrow for breakfast, and would discuss me being an adventurer with them.

"Is Merl asleep already?" I asked but father and mother suddenly flinched.

"...About that Art..." Father looked at Alice, receiving a nod from Alice he sighed and continued with a worried expression,

"What exactly happen after you fell unconscious is..."

What happened really shocked me to the core.

"WHAT?!" I yelled, instantly became extremely furious.

***

I'm thinking of creating a patre'on.

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