Tale Of Unknown: Hero From Zero
27. Greetings to the Outer World
“Thank you for the help.”
“Not to think about. After all, this is not enough to repay your services.”
After about a week riding in a horse-drawn carriage together, Riyan and Noel finally separated from the slave merchant. Although Siel did not drive them to the port city of Tladga, Riyan felt that his trip with Siel was enough to save time and effort. If only Riyan had really walked all the way to the city, maybe he would have arrived there in about four days.
By the way, they were dropped off at an intersection that split the road. One went to the port city, Tladga, and the other to the city that Siel is currently aiming for.
Although Riyan's expression was very flat, he thanked her from the bottom of his heart. Hitchhiking in a horse carriage for a fee guarded it, was fair enough, because for Riyan whose status was far above ordinary knights, the monsters blocking their way were too easy and weak.
Instead, Noel felt a little heavy-hearted to leave Siel and his slave friends who had been kind to him all along. The two years he spent with Siel and his slave friends were extraordinary compared to his 10 years of experience as a slave. Because of this, there was of course a sense of objection, anxiety, and sadness in Noel's heart.
“Noel, aren't you going to say goodbye to Siel who has taken good care of you and your friend\-friend?”
As Noel ducked down to look at the ground, he came to his senses from all his daydreams as Riyan gave the question suddenly. Noel immediately raised his chin, looked straight at the faces of Siel and the other slaves, then walked up to them. Her purple beads looked teary, as if they were holding back tears trying to rebel.
He wanted to say goodbye, but he couldn't. It's not that he can't, he just doesn't know how to say goodbye to the people who have taken good care of him for two years. Ever since he was kidnapped by the devil and sold as a slave, which he did not even say goodbye to his family, he never said goodbye.
Wrong, not ignorant, he forgot how.
“Nyo\-mrs Siel.. friends\-friends.. i... i... do not know what to... say what...”.
Confused by what he wanted to say, Noel looked back down at the ground, only this time a drop after a drop of his tears fell in gravitation. Sadness and happiness, freedom and attachment, willing and unwilling, all these feelings are mixed in the present Noel. Concern and doubt are two words that are right to describe the contents of the heart of this wolf type beastkind girl.
“You guys have all been very good to me. for the past two years. I.. want to go with mister Riyan, but I also don't want to leave you. You are people who have been good to me, besides my family who may have been in another realm.”
Hearing Noel's last sentence, Siel and the other slaves suddenly felt moody. Noel had already told how his past was before becoming a slave to them, it was only natural that they were moody for a moment.
“I... don't know what to say.”
Noel could only bow down in tears, followed by the sad feelings of his slave friends who had been accompanying and playing with him. Many meetings were experienced by him, but every meeting there must be a separation, the statement cannot be denied.
Looking at Noel who kept crying, Riyan stepped closer and gently patted the wolf-type beastkind girl's head a few times. No matter what he thought, he suddenly did so for no reason, leaving everyone there shocked, including Noel himself. Then, Riyan turned to Siel and the other slaves without releasing his hand from Noel's head.
“You don't have to worry, I won't treat him like any other\-slave. I'll take him as my traveling companion, that's all. I'll look after him.”
Silent for a few seconds, Siel's lips formed a sweet arch upon hearing Riyan's words just now. In his eyes, Riyan was an unpredictable human figure, but this time he got a certainty. Riyan's black bead looked very confident and would not disavow his own words. The highlight of the eyes is what makes Siel satisfied at this time because he can know what happened to Noel in the future.
“Yes, make sure you take care of her, Riyan Klaint.”
After saying that, Siel broke his horse rope and walked leaving Riyan and Noel at the intersection. The slaves shouted and waved their hands to Noel to bid farewell. On the other hand, Noel could only cry with both of his palms clenched tightly.
But over time he could not stand it either.
“Thank you, everyone!”
While continuing to cry, Noel shouted a sentence followed by a wave of his hand in return. He was truly grateful to have been taken in by Siel and now, he was free to wander with his new master, a strong young man from another world, Riyan Klaint. By the way, Riyan had already removed his hand from Noel's head.
In response to Noel's reply to the slaves, Riyan smiled sincerely. No one saw that smile. Riyan has a hard time expressing himself, but he also has a human heart. He can smile when happy, cry when sad, angry at certain times, and others.
A minute later, Shit and the slaves had disappeared in the street downhill. It also made Noel stop shouting and waving his hands, but his crying had not stopped, even though it had started to subside. They were the best friends Noel had from the beginning he had been a slave to this day, and Noel valued them very much.
“Master, forgive me for crying.”
Noel rubbed his tears as quickly as possible not wanting to show his crying face to Riyan. Too bad, it's all too late. Riyan had seen what her face looked like while crying, but she considered it with just a small, sincere smile.
When Noel was wiping away his tears, Riyan again gently patted the wolf-type beastkind girl's head. Noel was stunned to find his master's hand once again in his head, but unfortunately Riyan immediately withdrew his hand. That left Noel a little disappointed.
Yet...
“Let's go, Noel.”
While saying that to her slave, Riyan set foot down the road towards the port city, Tladga, ahead of Noel. For a few seconds, Noel was stunned, but he immediately returned to his consciousness.
“Ya!”
He followed Riyan with a sweet smile from behind, while Riyan was still smiling happily. Getting a loyal companion, it was already quite pleasant for him. As additional information, the two of them had already done the slave seal contract.
***
After a day of separation from Siel and the slaves, Riyan and Noel finally get to see the entrance gate of the port city, Tladga. It should have taken at least a day to get there without using any means of transportation, but these two people were different. Riyan deployed [Overload] and ran as usual, while Noel followed behind with [Auala Vave], accompanied by heavy irregular breaths.
“Tu\-lord.. tu\-wait for me..”.
“Your stamina is very little yes, Noel.”
“A\-I'm not as good as sir!”
Hearing the whining of his slave, Riyan let down his footsteps. Although Noel looked very tired and out of breath, Riyan himself did not intend to stop and wait for him. Wh why? Of course, this will only waste time. Riyan is a person who values time, he wants to get things done as quickly as possible.
“If you want to follow me, at least increase your stamina.”
“B\-good!”
After saying that, Riyan continued the rhythm of his steps that he had previously changed and left Noel behind. Noel's expression became complicated and seemed funny when Riyan returned to his speed earlier. He felt sad, but he was not discouraged until he gave up halfway, abandoned by his new owner.
“I have to fight, for the sake of mister Riyan. He believed in me, so I had to answer the trust he had placed in me.”
While cheering himself inwardly, he continued to run after his master who was already almost invisible to his two purple beads. Although not as fast as before, now Noel is more able to regulate his breathing and stamina slowly recovered. As expected of a beastkind, his stamina was indeed far from that of any other race.
After a few minutes of running alone, Noel finally arrived in front of the entrance gate of the port city, Tladga. He stopped right in the driveway with both hands resting on his knees and a breathless sigh. Although using [Auala Vave] which sucks mana, it will not reduce the energy it expends to run.
Ten seconds later, he raised his head and began to look for the whereabouts of his master, unfortunately his eyes found no signs of Riyan. While continuing to adjust his breath, he felt abandoned by his new master who had just left him while running towards here.
‘Master... will he leave me here? After I start believing him?’
Asking that in his heart, Noel's tears began to drip out bit by bit. He did not believe, the man he had just trusted to be his master left him in a foreign place completely unknown to him. He was disappointed, frustrated, and desperate. He did not think that he was bought just to be abandoned.
“Oh, it turns out you've arrived.”
Hearing the voice, Noel gasped and immediately turned to the source of the voice. He twisted his neck and looked back, there stood a young man with mixed black and white hair who was vertical a bottle of drinking water made from the monster's internal organs, none other than his new master, Riyan Klaint. He looked at his master with eyes still shedding tears.
“T\-lord Riyan..”
Without answering the question that Riyan asked, Noel immediately jumped up to his master closing the distance. Riyan who noticed Noel's behavior could only be shocked and confused. He could not understand why the only slave and traveling companion he had was crying and suddenly approached him.
“Noel?”
“Mr.... won't leave me, right?”
“Hah? Why would I buy you if I wanted to leave you?”
Hearing the answer, Noel jumped up and hugged Riyan. Not knowing what was happening, Riyan simply let the beastkind girl hug herself. After a while, Noel finally ended his embrace.
The tears that were still left in his eyes and cheeks, he slowly removed. He tilted his sweet smile until it made Riyan slightly amazed. Unlike Riyan who started to care less about the surrounding environment due to the pressure within the labyrinth, it seemed like her heart was starting to open bit by bit, opened by her own slave.
“Come in, we buy equipment first.”
“Ah, i\-iya!”
Unable to see Noel's overly bright smile, Riyan stepped into the city. Noel followed from behind with a beaming look. He was very happy to see his master who always looked calm and quiet, showing a complicated face that almost never shown.
***
Riyan and Noel are currently taking a walk in the port city at the southern end of the Lidian continent of Tladga. Wh-wh-what for? Buying combat gear for Noel. Although his status was quite extraordinary, without equipment it would be difficult to face opponents, even bandits. Then, Riyan did not seem to bother protecting Noel continuously.
In the middle of the road, the eyes of the people were fixed on them, especially the wolf-type beastkind girl. Her face was sweet and beautiful, then her shabby clothes also showed a little of her body, especially her hairy tail that continued to sway left right restlessly unnoticed by many people. He followed Riyan from behind while bowing his head.
“Oi oi, look! There are people who have beastkind slaves here!”
From a passageway between buildings, there was an uncomfortable cry. Riyan immediately turned his head towards the passageway and saw who was shouting in a disdainful tone just now. In the hallway, five armed youths sat in wooden boxes.
‘Pregrantah?’
The five young men walked out and approached Riyan with Noel. They looked at Riyan with an arrogant and petty look. That was nothing new to Riyan, as he had gotten that view every day. The look of intimidation now was nothing to him, just a passing wind.
“Oi boy, your slave may as well, I want to take it.”
While saying that, their lead who was a flashy blonde-haired youth and blue eyes was looking at Noel with a pervert look, followed by his companions. Noel immediately hid behind Riyan, avoiding the disrespectful gazes of this horde of armed youths.
“Hey, we won't hurt you, sweetie. We just want to give you better treatment than this guy. Your shabby clothes will be replaced with luxurious clothes, dirt\-dirt in your body will be cleaned. But instead, you have to obey what we ing—”
Buaak!! Braaakk!!
Before he could finish his words, Riyan hit him in the face and made him float into the wall of a building. All who saw that, both the citizens and the fellow youths, were shocked. No one would have expected that this outnumbered youth would dare to resist.
Of course he dared to fight. As for how many chickens gather, if the opponent is a hungry and ferocious lion, they will not be able to win.
“Fuck, how dare you fight us, Black Dust!”
‘Black Dust?’
While shouting, one of the four young men raised his sword high and swung it down as hard as possible, towards the gray hair of Riyan. On his face was a terrifying smile that expected his opponent to die. However, the smile changes when what he does is not as expected.
The craakk!!
Riyan raised his left hand and in an instant gripped the sword blades of the youth horde who called themselves ‘Black Dust’. Not yet he had time to be surprised, the blade of the sword had been crushed squeezed by this black-haired white-patterned man. Then, Riyan threw the pieces of iron in his hand towards the other two people.
Jrass!!
“”Uwaaa!!””
Instantly also the two people who were being targeted by Riyan screamed as loud as possible. The pieces of sword iron that were thrown earlier hit their eyes so that it would feel very painful.
Not waiting for long, Riyan set his left foot to the ground until the surface where he was standing cracked slightly and floated his knee right towards the elbow of the young man who attacked him using a sword.
Kraa!!
“Uaaaghhh!!”
Along with the sound of broken bones, the loud screams of the young man adorned the atmosphere of the city street Tladga which could be said to be quite crowded. Distracted by the sound of screams from these three bullies, Riyan landed a punch on the young man before him, then immediately moved on to the two young men who were screaming in pain from the sword fragments stuck in his eyes, then hit their stomachs too.
Kraak! Kraak! Kraaac!!
In an instant, one person hit the wall of the building following his first friend and two people crashed about 70 meters in the middle of the road. Some residents who saw this incident shouted hysterically, but there were also some who remained calm to consider this incident was common in their eyes.
Murder, violence, fighting, duels, death, damage to buildings or furniture, sharp weapons, magic and skills that damage other people's belongings, all of those things are commonplace in this world. No wonder if anyone looks calm or even enjoys things like this.
“You didn't fight?”
Glancing at the last young man, Riyan gave a frightening look of intimidation. The young man could not answer, he just shook his head under attack from overwhelming fear. But Riyan did not care about it, he still approached the remaining Black Dust members there.
“Jawab, what is Black Dust?”
Accompanied by an overwhelming fear, the brunette armed with a small knife explained everything she knew about Black Dust, albeit stammering. After quite some time, Riyan finally understood what Black Dust meant.
Black Dust was a dark organization that was quite famous in the underworld. This organization usually accepts dirty work, illegal buying and selling, and so on related to the black market. They have a large number of members and are spread all over the world. In addition, they possessed a power that made the five great empires not dare to touch them.
Black Dust had a special army that could be said to be of high level. According to rumors, everyone who was in the special forces had levels above 80 and their status was also far above average. Only with a group of ten people could they finish off a demonic beast.
“Alright, thanks for the information. Go bring your friends\-friends now.”
“B\-b\-good!”
Satisfied with the information he did not know, Riyan released the young man. He was happy and his mood got better. Instead of worrying about having beaten up the Black Dust members, Riyan seemed to be completely indifferent to it. It was possible that he concluded that the five people were fake Black Dust.
After everything was settled, Riyan returned to where Noel looked a little frightened. Well, it was only natural for Riyan to beat up the other four mercilessly. He could have received the same treatment, which was what scared him. However, all of that disappeared instantly.
“Why are you daydreaming? Let's quickly find the equipment for you, before nightfall.”
Saying that, Riyan patted Noel on the head several times, then walked ahead of him, just like he did at the entrance gate. Noel pensively for a while, then walked up to his master. Although he still worried about himself in the future if he did something wrong, he chose to hope that Riyan would not do it as horrible as that.
