It has been a few days after the incident of one of the twin moons being cut in half. The initial scare gradually disappeared in New Grenton, actually it was much faster than the time with the Elder Lich since no one died this time, which made the people not mind as much. One of the twin moons being cut in half was indeed something worrisome, but to the people of New Grenton who had been through h.e.l.l before, they weren"t really that affected by it. ...
Valdel was walking around New Grenton with Kuro at his side. Kuro who used to be a former slave that had nothing to her name and had her village destroyed stopped looking like a slave and was now looking more like a knight. This change happened because of Galius.
After being trained by Galius, who found out that she was very talented, Kuro turned from a helpless slave into a moderately acceptable knight.
After a few days of training, Galius started to treat Kuro like his very own daughter and bought her all the equipment she would need. He even offered Kuro the sword that was considered an heirloom by his family. Seeing as Galius already did so much for her, Kuro didn"t really want to take something so important from him.
Yet Galius acted out of character and almost cried, this forced Kuro to reluctantly accept the heirloom. Though she has it on her waist, she also has a spare weapon she likes using better. So right now she was wearing hydra armor imbued with magical properties and had two swords at her waist.
Kuro really didn"t want to accept such expensive gifts and was alright with the equipment she can afford to buy with her own money, but Galius was really pushy. Valdel who witnessed all of these events couldn"t believe how different Galius was acting.
...
The two who were doing there usual patrol spotted something in one of the alleyways. Two men were hara.s.sing a single woman. At first glance, it looked like the two were in the wrong, but after everything Valdel had witnessed during his past patrols he didn"t want to jump to any conclusions.
Valdel approached the three without them noticing.
"What"s happening here?"
The three people were surprised to see Valdel sneak up behind them. The woman quickly moved behind Valdel while the two men were still surprised.
"Please help me!" The woman trembled as she hid behind Valdel"s back.
"You better mind your own business buddy." One of the men spoke. Unlike Ren, only a few people knew of Valdel, so these two men didn"t know who they were facing at the moment.
Valdel looked at the woman and then at the two men and sighed. Usually, he would have already attacked the two men knocking them out, but he held back since everything isn"t always as it seems.
"I just want to know what"s going on here." Valdel calmly asked, but he also exerted a little bit of his mana to scare the two men a bit. Feeling a heavy pressure fall upon them, the two men finally understood that Valdel was not someone they can take on.
"This woman stole our money and she won"t give it back." One of the men said sounding a bit more humble than before.
"That"s not true!" The woman looked at Valdel with upturned eyes almost looking like she was about to cry. She also positioned herself in a way that showed her ample bosom.
"What are you talking about, woman! You were flirting with my friend here and then I saw you slide your hand into his pockets. After that, you left in a hurry, and when we checked my friend lost all his money! How do you explain that?!"
Hearing the men"s side of the story, Valdel looked at the woman waiting for her to give her side. The woman noticing Valdel"s stare started to panic a bit.
"They"re obviously lying! They just wanted to have their way with me! I didn"t steal any money from them, and why would I flirt with that man, he"s not even my type. Please believe me!" The woman suddenly hugged Valdel"s arm squeezing it tightly which made Valdel feel her bountiful chest even more.
Kuro who was watching at the side was starting to emit a murderous aura, but then Valdel sent her a look which made her stop.
Hearing the story of each side made Valdel sigh. It was now obvious that it was the woman that was in wrong, and is really a thief. Still, once again Valdel needed to be cautious, as he didn"t want to make another mistake.
"Did anyone else see you talking to this woman?"
"Yes, there were some people there at the time." The man who had his money stolen answered quickly.
"How about we ask those people what they saw and see who"s telling the truth." The moment Valdel said this the woman knew that she failed to trick Valdel and she immediately started running. As she started running away Kuro reacted fast and was able to pin down the woman with relative ease.
After a quick search, Kuro found numerous bags filled with coins hidden within the woman"s body. It would seem that she has stolen from more than just these two men. Valdel then called some of the guards and reported what happened.
...
After the incident with the thief, the people who had their money stolen thanked Valdel. Usually, Valdel would feel happy that he was able to help someone in need, but now he felt something weird. At first, he was indeed happy that he was able to help those in need no matter how small the problem was. But after that incident where he made a mistake in judgment and persecuted the wrong person, Valdel couldn"t feel as happy as before.
He now truly understood that Ren was as usual correct. The world truly wasn"t as black and white as he thought it was. He felt his view of the world expanding each day, but for some reason, as his view expanded the weirder he felt. He couldn"t comprehend why he was feeling this way.
If that wasn"t enough of a problem, he was also feeling a bit disillusioned. He always thought the journey of being a hero was much more exciting than this. He was expecting fighting evil lords, saving innocent citizens from a horde of barbarians or other things like that.
It was true at the start of his journey it was going that way, but for some reason after the incident with the Elder Lich, such incidents were decreasing. It was not like he wanted misfortune to happen to other people so that he could play the hero, but still, it felt weirdly wrong. Something was nagging at him that there was something wrong with this sequence of events.
It was like someone was controlling the path he was supposed to take... No, it was more like someone was forcefully changing the course of his destiny. He wasn"t sure why he felt that way, but it was really bothering him to no end.
He then remembered a bit of what s.h.i.+n said, that a hero has a predestined route to take, and he could never change that. But for some reason, that route seems to have s.h.i.+fted a lot.
"Maybe s.h.i.+n has some answers. I probably should visit him again."