Pale Emblem

Chapter 14 Swordsmanship Touching the Heart

"What is swordsmanship? It's nothing more than slashing, piercing, and cross-cutting. The strength is strong enough, the speed is fast enough, and the timing of the shot is accurate. With a good sword of sufficient weight, it is worthy of swordsmanship if it can kill the opponent with one sword. Those fancy sword techniques are useless!"

The deputy captain of the Braun Town Guard, Harry, threw two oak cups on the table, and said with a disdainful expression: "Do you remember Richard? A mere commoner who doesn't even have the qualifications for the awakening specialty, thinking that through hard work, Can surpass the professionals. He practiced swords every day, every day, and the whole person was stupid... He played swords well, he could cut the wings of dragonflies with a sword, and pierce six leaves with one sword. He is fine. He likes to compare swords with us, none of us are his opponents, I even cut off my belt... The whole adventure group really believes that Richard has the strength of a fourth-level swordsman, our stupid leader To actually take us to the Plain of Thorns, where the Bone Collector's activities are most rampant, to make a fortune, what is the result?"

"...In the first encounter with the Orc Bone Collector, that idiot Li Cha instantly stabbed a gnoll with six swords, and then the gnoll pounced on him and bit off his face. We were all stunned at the time. Fortunately, you rushed over and cut the gnoll into two pieces with an ordinary flat cut, which finally stabilized the situation, but we still lost more than a dozen partners, and even Yina died. "

Harry's voice became dull, and after a while, he shrugged nonchalantly and said, "From now on, I only believe in swordsmanship that can kill enemies."

The depression of his old comrades infected Bartom, and brought his thoughts back to 30 years ago, when he retired from the Legion early and joined an adventure group with a group of close comrades.The old captain's name is lost, but he had a beautiful daughter named Ina, whom Harry had a crush on.It was precisely because of Harry's strong request that they chose to join the little Black Iron adventure group.

Later, the old head was very happy to announce to everyone that he had recruited a very powerful swordsman.That man was Richard, whom Harry had always hated.The feud between the two is all about the beautiful daughter of the head of the regiment. Harry likes Ina, and Ina favors Richard, but Richard has no feelings for Ina, and has repeatedly rejected each other's bold displays of love.This is what makes Harry intolerable.

What happened next was ridiculous. Harry kept provoking Richard, and the two young men finally competed in public. As a result, Harry lost so badly that he even dropped his pants.The comrades from the legion were not convinced, and took turns to challenge Richard, but they were also defeated without exception.Only Bartom refused Richard's invitation to fight, he thought at the time that Richard had mastered the heart of the mirror.

Bartom's choice to avoid the war can be said to have changed the mentality of all members of the adventure group, and also changed everyone's fate.

After so many years, Li Cha and Ina have long since turned into dirt and returned to Mother Earth's embrace.Bartom didn't expect Harry to still brood about it.He asked Harry to discuss things, not to hear the other party recall the past.

Bartom felt speechless, picked up a knife prepared in advance, and quickly tapped an intact oak wine glass.The oak wine glass "clicked" and split in half.

Harry raised his head sharply and said in surprise, "Head, you are..."

The red lion Bartom laughed and said, "We have been retired for more than ten years. I have nothing to do, and I also ponder the skills of swordsmanship." After speaking, he picked up two oak cups, looked at it carefully for a moment, and sighed, Handing the cup to Harry, he said dejectedly: "I have studied swordsmanship for more than ten years, and I can't compare to a little guy who hasn't grown a beard."

Harry examined the cross-sections of the two oak cups and found that one was cracked, while the other was smooth, and someone had used a sharp tool to cut it all down.

Harry didn't know why Bartom was practicing fancy swordsmanship skills, and he didn't know how to comfort him. He said dryly: "Head, this knife is not easy for you to do, it doesn't take much effort, the edge of the knife just touches, The cup broke..."

Bartom shook his head and said solemnly: "On the battlefield, there is a reason why the army can't retreat and fight to the end, but adventurers are different from the army. Adventurers try to avoid fighting as much as possible. If they have to fight, they have to use any means. , to exert his characteristics to the limit. The battle of adventurers is more complicated and more dangerous than the battle of the army. Until the last moment of life and death, no one knows who will lose and who will win.”

"At the beginning, we encountered the Orc Bone Collector for the first time, and we hadn't changed from Legionnaires to Adventurers. We can't blame Li Cha for that fiasco. Even without him, we must pay the price of blood to complete the transformation from Legionnaires to Legionnaires. The transformation to adventurer."

"You must know that we instigated the storming of the Bone Collector's camp to snatch the treasures they collected, because storming is the most familiar way of fighting! Li Cha, just gave the old captain the courage to agree to storm."

"Head, you..." Harry hesitated.

Bartom waved his hand and continued: "Ten years ago, I realized that my career as a professional has come to an end, and there is no possibility of improvement. I just thought about Richard's set of things, hoping to be able to Mastering the 'Mind of the Mirror' by honing the skills of swordsmanship... I often think that if we meet Li Cha two years later, with his persistent pursuit of the realm of swordsmanship, we may successfully master the 'Mind of the Realm'."

When the innkeeper said this, he was acknowledging that honing his swordsmanship was one way to master the heart of the mirror.

"However, Richard's death is not wrong." Bartom suddenly changed the subject and said: "He is a commoner who has no awakening expertise. In order to practice swordsmanship, he does not go to work and exhausts his family property. In the end, he eats a bite to eat. , I don't have any adventure experience, so I joined the adventure group. If he can survive, it will be strange."

Harry said happily: "That is, a commoner without awakening qualifications should sell himself as a servant to a famous family, maybe there will be a chance to become a servant in the future... What kind of adventurer?"

Bartom's eyes lit up, and he asked with a smile, "You also think it's better to be a servant than an adventurer?"

"Isn't this all the people in the city-state? Those who have some ability first try to find a way to enter the famous door, and then go to be an adventurer if they don't accept it." Harry looked at Bartom and asked suspiciously: "Head, what are you today? What's wrong? The whole person is weird..."

"Frightened by Vertoc." Bartom said truthfully: "I thought he couldn't use a machete, but he used the machete to use the whipping technique, and the edge of the knife cut the cup, but it didn't touch the surface of the bar."

Harry was startled and tried to ask: "Is he a strong 'Jingxin'?"

Bartom shook his head and said, "Maybe, maybe not. In short, his swordsmanship skills have reached the pinnacle, and he is not inferior to the original Richard. Do you know what kind of people can study swordsmanship?"

"People who can eat enough every day and have nothing to do... those people from famous highland families."

Harry hesitated and said, "Cole said Vertok was not a son of a famous family."

Bartom was silent for a moment, and said, "Yes or no, I'm asking you to discuss today, how do you think we turn Vertok into our own?"

Harry paled in shock and hurriedly asked, "Head, you won't regret the things we agreed on, right?"

Bartom's bull's eyes glared, and he asked bitterly: "What do you regret? You regret selling Vertok? Do you know how much treasure we have saved? So much that I tossed and turned at night and couldn't sleep. But I still Asking Sarah to take care of Vertok is to tell others that Vertok's fat, the Adventurer's Family has a big share! Because, we can't show any weakness, even if I don't care about the benefits that Vertok brings. , otherwise a pack of hungry wolves will come and eat us with our belt bones."

Harry was silent for a long time, and Na Na said, "We also have Sister Sarah... We have a good relationship with Lord Gangyan."

The red lion Bartom laughed angrily, knocked Harry's head with his pipe, and said bitterly: "Open your eyes to me, how can those young boys stand up to the situation we have worked so hard to manage? By the way? , and Gangyan, he is a Ta cave clan who believes in the mother of the earth, like a lion guarding the territory, abiding by the way of the mother of the earth. Who will be in charge of Braun Town is the same for the Ta cave clan and the Hemo clan.”

"Even if we are willing to give up Braun Town and go back to the main city to buy land to retire, there will still be people who smell the treasure and chase after us. Unless they know that if they touch us retired old guys, they will definitely be brutally revenge!"

"At the point where we are today, we cannot be without power."

Bartom bit his pipe and said slowly: "The highland and famous factions in the main city are complex and the struggle is fierce. If we join any faction, we will be regarded as the enemy by the other faction. Moreover, we have the treasure that the famous family wants, but no famous family values ​​it. Talented people. I was worried that I would give up my treasure, join a famous faction, and finally be regarded as an abandoned child."

"There is someone who knows my troubles."

"Who?" Harry asked curiously.

"Vertoc's sister, Lina."

Bartom thought to himself: "That woman is amazing, she knows our situation, so she entrusted Vertok to me. And Vertok changed my mind with a single sword... She is planning to recruit us. Power, for her use?"

The red lion Bartom shook, restrained his thoughts, and said to Harry: "Whether Vertok is a noble family in distress, or someone else, in short, he has talent, has a future, and he has amnesia now. , is a good opportunity to develop a deep relationship with him. His sister Lina saw this, so she gave him to us with confidence. You give me a rusty brain and think about whether I should recruit Will or not Tok, or follow him as a Servant in the future?"

"This is a gamble about our destiny... So don't worry, just watch and think, think about it, and then tell me. The other old guys, I will talk to them one by one."

(End of this chapter)