Tale Of A Knight

"He made a sword that explodes when it touches any liquid, and by any liquid I mean water, sweat, and blood. And it didn"t just explode the opponent but it also exploded the user!" Apparently before me, Mekros was the one testing the tools made by Rolgo so he knew what he was talking about. The worst sword he mentioned among a long list of strange swords Rolgo has made was the sword that gets stuck to the user"s arm the longer it"s used, and not stuck like glued, but metal bonded to the flesh! Luckily while testing the sword Mekros was wearing gloves so there was no bad cases involved. "Anyone who has a functional arm should never wield an enchanted sword made by him!" Mekros drilled this into my head.

Well, the sword in my arms is just an ordinary sword. Polished, shining, and sharp, but still just an ordinary sword.

When I returned from the forest into the city, I stumbled upon an unexpected sight.

Gigantic vines were attacking people within the city, no knights were on sight. Panicking people were running everywhere while the green plant tentacles were stretching after them. There seemed to be monstrous plants emerging from the ground, one after another. Now there were about ten of them. Each one had a gigantic mouth on top of it that looked like a closed flower with teeth. Guess where the people captured by the plants ended up?

Just where the h.e.l.l is the knights when you need them the most? Mekros mentioned that most of the knights do training at the other side of the city, so they must have not heard the commotion that was coming from this side. Still, it is annoying when the protectors of the city are nowhere in sight.

"Ok. I guess I should leave now!" I turned around and tried to run, but another monstrous plant emerged blocking my way.

"Ok, this sounds like some sort of a sick joke." Nowhere to go but forward. The tentacles now sprang at me like vipers, aiming to capture and then devour me. Did I mention the tentacles had sharp teeth as well? Good to know!

I was running for my life, I ran through the familiar city while avoiding being eaten.

I did not make it far. A tentacle wrapped around my leg, pulling me towards the center of the flower. I was hanging upside down there looking at the place where I was going to be eaten. The mouth of the flower opened, I could see hundreds of needle-like teeth within it. Also, there was what was left of the people eaten by the plants.

Then the tentacle loosened its grip, making me fall face-first into the mouth of the plant….or so the plant thought.

The plants mouth closed, but nothing was there.

While falling I managed to pierce my sword into one tentacle preventing myself from being a meal. "Like h.e.l.l I will become plant fertilizer!" I jumped off the plant and proceeded to slash the tentacle I climbed off of.

The plant roared in agony. No good, now it"s conscious of my location. There was no choice but to fight through this.

"Granted you are huge." The plant monsters were each about as tall as buildings. "But you all are plants at the end of the day, so it"s time for a little trim!"

With this I proceeded to slash away at the endless torrent of green tentacles that kept coming my way.

Slash after slash. Another tentacle would fall on the ground, but two moore would come its way. Then four more. What kind of regenerative power this plant has? I didn"t even notice that I was no longer fighting a single monster plant but several at once. While I was distracted they managed to surround me, now attacking me from all sides.

The worst part? They seemed to be adapting. The tips of the green tentacles now grew horns similar to teeth inside the flower"s mouth. Apparently it"s an adaptation due to me cutting several tentacles off.

After cutting down another twenty tentacles I knew this was not going to end very soon. I was thrown back by tentacle slash. I was backed into a corner. I was going to get eaten soon.

Then, my eye caught something hanging on the wall. It was an oil lamp.

My sword ended up being knocked out of my grip, I was desperate.

I grabbed the oil lamp and threw it at the plant monster.

"Eat This!" The oil lamp shattered upon impact and the monster plants quickly caught flame. The fire spread from one plant to another, making it one h.e.l.l of a chain reaction.

The plants burned with yellow and green fire. Now withering under the flames, the plants turned lifeless before crumbling away into pieces.

Other than the leftover pieces of the killer plants there was no evidence in sight that would suggest that there ever were plant monsters here.

I just put back of my head upon a wall and sighed in relief. At least that is over now.

"Very well done. A commendable work I must say." There was a person sitting on top of the roof. He looked strange, his clothing was that of a commoner, but the most unusual thing was the hat he was wearing. It was a black ranger hat with three black feathers, one large one on front and two smaller ones at side. It was safe to say he looked ridiculous.

"Say, young lad. Would you like to become my apprentice?"

"Uhm, what?" I asked, what the heck is he talking about?

"Oh, right. I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Zenjuro, Zenjuro Tamaraki. I am also known as the Sword Lord."

"Who the who now?" I mentally asked. Apparently the guy did not catch my confusion. His face was clear; he was in his thirties, average height, very strongly built, a single sword hang at his belt. Black hair, brown eyes, confident look on his face. He looked like an ordinary person except for the aura of confidence he radiated.

"I was very impressed by your effort. Truth is I was looking for an apprentice for a while now but everyone either were too scared or never came back after a single lesson…So I was looking for someone very brave. And I think you have what it takes to be my student!"

"Your student? What could you possibly teach me?" I muttered, skeptical of what could this suspicious person be talking about.

"A demonstration? All right." He brandished his sword, a two handed silver sword and swung it. I only heard a sound of vibration through the air. Then something fell down seven meters behind me.

It was another monster plant. Somehow it managed to sneak behind me, but this guy, he cut him down in an instant. A slash that was bigger than ten feet. I don"t think I the sword even touched the plant. It was simply too far away

"How did you do that?"

"It"s just a flying slash. I can teach you that if you want to." He smiled mischievously.

"Of course, I would like to learn that."

"What is your name, little lad?"

"It"s Bakit, just Bakit."

"Just Bakit, huh? Simple enough to remember."

"Uhm, sir, you mentioned your name, but I…"

"Don"t worry about it. Everyone gets it wrong on the first try. It"s Zenjuro, Zenjuro Tamaraki, also known as the Sword Lord. But you can just call me Zen for convenience sake."

"Yes, Zen sensei!" I said with a bow. This guy, he is way more powerful than Mekros, if I can learn how to fight from him, then I no longer have to fear for my life. If I just learn that flying slash from him then it would be a ma.s.sive help.

So, I ended up getting another teacher, somehow.

When I returned to the house, I asked Mekros about who the Sword Lord is.

The answer I got was far from what I expected.

"Are you telling me you don"t know who THE Sword Lord is?" I shook my head.

"Have you been sleeping all your life? Sword Lord is the greatest warrior this kingdom has ever produced. The one above every knight of Ozen, Holy Swords, and even the Heroes. That is who the Sword Lord is!"

"So he is like the strongest person in the city?"

"Not just the city, my disciple, but the entire kingdom!"

Wow, did I just meet someone that awesome? Wait, it has to be some kind of mistake, the guy that powerful, but he seemed so absent minded. So I chose to confirm something.

"That Sword Lord, what is his name and how he looks like?"

"I never seen him in person. But I was told he always wears a strange black hat with feathers. As for his name, it"s Zenjuro Tamaraki."

I was drinking tea at that moment. I ended up spitting it out.

So I got myself a teacher who is the strongest person in the entire kingdom? How the h.e.l.l did I end up doing that?