"Must get out of here quickly, without being seen by anyone…"Bakit concentrated on making sure his steps could not be heard as he made his way towards the exit, but he did too good of a job at it.
The silver haired maid on patrol duty did not even realize that he was there before he ended up body slamming her.
"So much for being quiet…"
Bakit ended up covering the maid"s mouth with his left hand.
"I will only say this once, do not make a sound"
Strangely, the maid nodded.
"Isn"t she even a little concerned that I am attempting to escape the mansion, or is she that good at hiding her fear?"
"Understood, it appears you saw through Lord Lonrow"s intentions completely, I should have expected as much from Lady Sulu"s fiancée."
"Saw through his intentions? What do you…?"
The maid proceeded to point towards the door of the mansion.
Hesitant, Bakit walked through the door, expecting the worst.
"Glad to see that you recognized my invitation. I was afraid you would not see my hand signals…apologies, I had to make sure none noticed."
It was the same elderly man he saw before, Sulu"s grandfather, Aristan Lonrow.
"What hand signals? I simply want to get out of this crazy place"
But instead of saying what was in his mind, Bakit simply muttered.
"Yeah"
"In that case, you are aware why I have called you…Prepare yourself!"
Bakit felt the same sensation as if he was facing the wind elementals.
His instincts told him that he was about to be attacked, the killing intent within the air was obvious.
It was a one-hit kill technique.
If it touches his body, Bakit knew he would die.
The only way to avoid death is to cut through it.
Lonrow proceeded to unsheathe his sword, taking his fighting stance; he proceeded to unleash a slash that bore an appearance of a horizontal tornado in Bakit"s direction.
Mighty black wind swirled into itself, sucking everything into itself.
He launched the attack from about five meters away, allowing the horizontal tornado to expand as it was launched towards Bakit.
But instead of cutting Bakit into countless pieces, as soon as the attack reached Bakit, the black tornado ended up dispersing, scattered into pieces.
There he stood, Bakit, with the dagger in his left hand, panting slightly.
Sensing danger, Lonrow jumped away, and just a second later, several trees behind him were cut cleanly in two.
"Countering my attack and nullifying it… and launching a counter-attack at the same time….and at multiple directions at once…this kid is not half bad…"
"What the h.e.l.l is wrong with this entire family? He is the third member to launch a slash at me…What"s next? The maid is secretly an a.s.sa.s.sin? If my body did not remember the counter for the wind elemental"s attack, I might not have survived that…I will have to thank Master Zen later…"
Seeing that Bakit was now on guard, Lonrow proceeded to sheath his sword.
"You pa.s.s"
"Pardon?"
"You have pa.s.sed my test, with flying colors. No wonder Leon lost to you."
"Old man, I don"t know what you are playing at, but if this is another joke…."
"No jokes. From this point on, you have my approval."
"Approval? Why would I want…"
"Let"s have some tea, shall we? My body is not the same as it used to be, just one sparring session and all my bones are aching from pain…"
"Sparring session? He almost killed me and he calls it sparring?"
Within the enormous yard, there was a single table with two chairs.
Lonrow sat on one chair and beckoned to Bakit to sit on the other one.
Reluctantly Bakit sat down, expecting Lonrow to attack him again, making sure to keep his eyes on high alert.
"No need to be so tense, grandson in-law"
"It is not exactly easy from where I stand"
"I understand, it must be rather strange to be inside the n.o.bleman"s territory but do not worry. Our family does not care about whether you are a commoner or a n.o.ble, what we care about is the talent that lies within you."
"You see, ever since the First Sword Saint, our family has been tasked with protecting the kingdom that is our sacred duty, as such becoming the strongest is an ultimate goal for our lives."
"Sadly, during the demon invasion ten years ago, among the many losses, the previous Sword Saint, my son, Leon"s father, Aristan Leonhard, had lost his life. And I fear that neither Sulu nor Leon is qualified to be a Sword Saint. Both of them managed to reach the level of Sword Maister, but Sulu is a woman destined to wed, while Leon never once beat Sulu in a duel. And frankly, neither one is as strong as Leonhard was. Nay…not even close."
"What does it have to do with me?" Bakit was getting a little irritated.
"To pa.s.s on the family line"
Bakit couldn"t help but open his mouth in shock.
"Young one, I know you are not interested in riches or n.o.ble status, which I do find admirable. But the power of the Sword Saint has to be pa.s.sed down to the next generation. As such, I wish for you, the one who is stronger than both Sulu and Leon, to be the placeholder for the seat of the Sword Saint, at least until either your and Sulu"s or Leon"s descendant becomes worthy of that t.i.tle."
The more he spoke, the more Bakit wanted to run for it.
"I know you may be reluctant to do this, but please, for the time being, stay as her fiancée…"
Then Lonrow saw something rather strange, Bakit proceeded to deliver an air slash towards the ground, causing an enormous gust of wind to rise upwards.
Power of the wind was strong enough to launch Bakit"s body upwards and then he proceeded to slash the air again, sending himself flying away from this place.
"Using an air slash in order to simulate flight…Brilliant! And he kept the dagger so the engagement still stands…that is good, but it seems he is reluctant to accept the position of the Sword Saint…Oh, well, it couldn"t have hurt to ask. Then, I suppose that either Sulu or Leon will one day take on that t.i.tle, though I hope a new Sword Saint shows up before I end up dead and buried…ha haha!"
"The man my granddaughter chose to be her groom….He seems like a rather interesting fellow…"
* * *
After launching himself into the air, and landing rather roughly outside the Aristan territory, Bakit cringed.
He landed rather painfully and ended up rolling down.
Bakit didn"t know any other way out so he improvised a way to get himself out of a bad situation by using the wind generated by the air slash to launch his body into the air.
What it summed up to was a very awkward flight that ended with his body bruised and in pain after crash landing.
"I didn"t know you could fly?"
"I can"t. Now I am beginning to see why…"
Bakit felt nauseous, the flight was not only risky but it also made him want to throw up.
"At the very least we escaped…Tomorrow, I need to see Rolgo, immediately…."
Aristan Family, Bakit simply hoped he would never encounter them again.