"Call me Harano."Seiji had the common sense not to just tell his real name so easily to a random strange-seeming person.
Besides, this was already far more unusual than simply "meeting a strange person." Wouldn"t anyone who even slightly had a brain be on guard?
"Harano. Understood." The white fox masked man accepted this name easily. "You have arrived here because you have the power to do so," he informed Seiji calmly. "However, that"s your limit. You currently don"t have the ability to move about freely in the Soul World. I can guide your way here as long as you follow the rules. First, do not ask what the Soul World is. Second, do not ask me anything about others. Third, see through your own desires and tell me where you truly wish to go. If you break these rules, I shall give you a warning. If you ignore my warning, I shall stop guiding the way for you."
Seiji didn"t know what to say at all this.
Although he really wanted to say "The h.e.l.l is all this?" out loud, this didn"t seem like a situation where he could comment as he pleased.
"You"re telling me that I can"t ask questions, but if I don"t ask any questions, I won"t understand anything."
"You don"t need to understand. All you need to do is express where you wish to go."
"I don"t even know what type of place this is supposed to be. How would I know where I want to go?"
"As I said earlier, see through your own desires."
"My own desires… can I go anywhere I want? Such as to heaven?"
"That is not where you truly wish to go."
Seiji clutched his arms, and was really tempted to say "Ummmmm…" but chose to remain silent instead.
He figured that this so-called Soul World might be some type of soul realm. This white fox masked man was telling Seiji that he existed here and could act as Seiji"s guide but that questions weren"t allowed. Seiji was only supposed to tell him where he wanted to go.
"Where I truly want to go… I suppose it sounds both a little immature yet also philosophical.
"Should I try? No matter what place this is, or who this person is, I might as well try…"
After coming to such a conclusion, Seiji unfolded his arms.
"I would like to go somewhere where I can obtain greater strength," he stated seriously while looking at the other person"s mask.
He sincerely wanted to become more powerful, after all.
The white fox masked man fell silent for a moment and seemed to be judging the veracity of Seiji"s statement.
"Understood. Please follow me." He turned around and walked through the mist.
Seiji followed after him.
As Seiji entered the mist; he could faintly see hazy scenes around him and hear faint sounds.
People, places, buildings, cards, animals, plants… Everything was hazy. If he tried focusing on any scene, it would change in front of him and become unclear.
It was the same for the sounds he heard. Seiji heard talking, footsteps, shouting, cars, fighting, roaring… all these sounds mixed together and continuously changed. If he tried focusing on any one particular sound, it would only become unclear.
Seiji instinctively felt that if he got lost in this mist, he might never find his way out again.
The white fox masked man… The Guide walked in front of him and kept taking various turns in the mist.
As Seiji walked, he discovered that his consciousness was gradually becoming hazy as if his body was getting tired and wanted to sleep.
"This is no good!
"How much longer until we arrive?" Seiji wanted to ask this question when he suddenly saw the Guide stop.
"We have arrived," a gentle voice informed him.
Seiji"s consciousness instantly vanished.
Wolf Claw was born in a normal village.
He was called Wolf Claw because on the day that he was born, his father had joined a hunting expedition and obtained some wolf meat.
This wasn"t really a true name, but rather only something to call him by. Something as extravagant as a "name" was something only the n.o.bility could possess.
The n.o.bility were considered divine, wonderful, and powerful existences. All the villagers were supposed to kneel the moment they saw any n.o.bility, and had to absolutely obey the n.o.bility"s commands without any resistance.
None of the villagers doubted this way of living, including Wolf Claw"s parents. However… Wolf Claw was different.
He was disgusted by having to kneel and kowtow to the extent where his face was pressed into the mud. He was frustrated at being ordered around to perform tiresome tasks for no payment or benefits whatsoever. He felt anger and pain at watching those he knew being abused by the n.o.bility to the point of injury or even death.
These negative emotions kept welling up within him, but he didn"t know how to vent them.
Until, one day, he saw something.
A gray-clothed man wielded a large sword almost as tall as he was and sliced down the divine and wonderful n.o.ble from the horse the latter was sitting on. He then stomped on the n.o.ble and sliced the n.o.ble"s head off!
This scene gave Wolf Claw an indescribably huge impact. He was excited to the point where he kept trembling uncontrollably and tears kept rolling down his cheeks. He wanted to shout something but was unable to shout anything at all. His lack of literacy caused him to be unable to describe his current feelings.
The villagers viewed this gray-clothed man with fear, while the n.o.bles hated him and called him the rebellious traitor. Wolf Claw misunderstood and thought that "Rebellious Traitor" was this person"s name.
"Rebellious Traitor…" seemed so amazing to him!
He decided to follow after the rebellious traitor.
This wasn"t easy at all. However, Wolf Claw managed to accomplish this after undergoing a thrilling and heart-pounding adventure. He was accepted by the gray-clothed man as a servant.
Finally, he learned his mistake: "Rebellious Traitor" wasn"t the gray-clothed man"s name. It was a way of calling people like him.
The gray-clothed man was named Gabe. Gabe taught many things to Wolf Claw.
For example, he taught Wolf Claw about how the n.o.bles weren"t actually divine or wondrous after all. The n.o.bles were the same as other humans as they could get injured, suffer from pain, and die, just like ordinary humans.
As long as a person possessed power stronger than them, that person would be able to kill the n.o.bles, just like how ordinary villagers hunted prey.
"I can give you money, or I can give you strength. Which of the two would you prefer?" Gabe asked Wolf Claw such a question.
Wolf Claw unhesitatingly chose the latter.
After that, he loyally served Gabe, while Gabe taught Wolf Claw knowledge and swordsmans.h.i.+p, training and tempering him.
Several years later, Gabe gave Wolf Claw a set of gray clothing as well as a s.h.i.+ny new longsword and told Wolf Claw to give himself a name of his own.
Wolf Claw asked for Gabe to give him a name instead, which Gabe accepted. Gabe gave Wolf Claw the name of Garr.
"From this moment onward, you"re no longer my servant. You"re now an independent member of the Gray Clothes."
Wolf Claw no longer existed. Now, the world had a new individual in it: gray-clothed Garr.
Garr henceforth joined the organization known as Gray Clothes. He killed n.o.bles, freed slaves, and called out to the citizens to rebel… He experienced countless life-and-death situations and established deep friends.h.i.+p with his companions as well as having a beautiful love story of his own.
However, the n.o.bles weren"t merely prey to be hunted. They discovered Garr and his companions" secret hideout and attacked.
Garr did his utmost to fight. However, there were simply far too many enemies. His companions kept falling beside him. Finally, there were only a few people left by his side, including his lover.
His lover had already mentally prepared herself to die together with Garr here. However, Garr didn"t want his beautiful lover to die here like this.
"Power! I need more power!!! Even if I sacrifice my life, I want to protect…"
With his strong willpower, Garr forced his already seriously injured body to far surpa.s.s its normal limits as he combined his spirit and soul together and wielded his longsword for a megpowerful attack...
*Boom!!!*
Numerous people in the n.o.bles" attacking party were wiped out by this single sword attack from Garr.
It was as if they were weeds that could only be suppressed by a furious wind.
Everyone that witnessed this scene paused in astonishment… they had never seen such powerful strength before!
Garr and his few remaining companions were able to break free and escape their dire situation.
This one extraordinary sword attack was destined to become a legend.
Seiji slowly opened his eyes.
He saw Reo"s cute face next to him.
"I"ve returned…" He tried moving his body, and slowly sat up.
It felt like he had a really long dream just now… but that was no simple dream!
His consciousness had been following a person named Wolf Claw who later changed his name to Garr. It felt like he spent an incredibly long time following Garr"s life in an unfamiliar world.
He experienced Garr"s life, shared his feelings, felt his will, and finally used that extraordinary sword attack…
That sword technique didn"t feel like it came from Garr alone. It was as if he and Garr had used it together.
Seiji still clearly recalled all the feelings from that dream.
He carefully mulled things over when a *Ding* interrupted his thoughts. A system notification appeared in front of him...