A Lone Man's Path: Powerful Enough to Fall

Chapter 12: The Landscape of Night

'Chaos?', Leika tilted her head.

'Hmm, family name.', Drake said and continued to walk.

'I have read a lot about other races, but never heard of the Chaos family.', ever since she was little, she had read everything in the national library in order to invent ways to surpass the use of magic. She required vast knowledge to do so, but Chaos didn't ring a bell.

'As I said, there's lots of things that people miss.'

'So, Drake, do you love your family?', she called him by his name.

He walked a bit faster and said, 'Very much so...'

An awkward silence followed his answer, the wind was drafty and chilly at the moment, as if asking Leika to stop going in that direction. And that's precisely why-

'They must be strong too, right, like you?'

'Well, they should be.... I don't know.'

Despite not being able to see his face she could tell what it would look like.

'And parents?'

Understanding what was going on, Drake turned and said, 'That's enough about me, what about you?'

As she had thought, he avoided the question, something terrible had happened to him and his family had something to do with it.

'Me? What about me? I think you know much about me, don't you?'

'I am not talking about your background; I am talking about why you are here?'

'Huh?'

'Anne doesn't seem like the person who would let someone as injured and as important as you go without a strong reason. Why did you come?'

'Although, I would like to say that I came to save you like a hero or something, but that's not the case.'

'Naturally.', he snorted.

'Oi, are you mocking me?'

'No, not at all.'

'I came to talk about this.', she showed him the glistening white Dragon Bone sword.

'Oh, my beautiful sword, I couldn't see it properly yesterday. It's a fine sword. But what about it?'

She strapped it off her waist, 'Here, take it back, I don't want any favors from you.', she had started to like the sword a bit, it was something that won her the kingdom and her life back. Still, it wasn't hers, she won't keep it.

'What? Take it. You can have it.', he replied.

'No matter how I look at it, things seem odd. Either you are too kind or too dumb. This is a one-piece sword; I don't think anything like this has ever been made. If you sell it, you can get almost a lifetime worth of riches, so, either you made it yourself or you order-made it from someone who charged you a lifetime worth of riches, if that's so then you are rich and powerful. It's too complicated.', she vented it out, it was getting absurd.

He clapped his hands at the extreme show of brains, 'What excellent analysis! But most of the stuff is off the mark. I am not kind nor dumb, it's just as I have already told Anne, it more interesting this way. I had said earlier, didn't I, that it depends on the wielder, when I saw what it did for you, I understood it was always meant for you.'

'Me? You are joking, right? I don't even have experience in sword fighting.', she told him her genuine thoughts.

'Everyone starts somewhere... right?'