Return of the Fallen Volume 7 Chapter 11
Kazuki tore through the sky like a blazing comet. His speed was so fast that if a person were to peer up into the sky, they would not see him but rather a streak of blue light from the flames burning beneath his feet, accelerating him forward. A few seconds later, even the blue streak left in his wake would fade away, making those who saw it wonder if the blue streak was ever even there at all.
Minutes later, Kazuki stopped in mid-air, a look of surprise on his face.
Looking down, what should have laid before him was the small town of Edngaul. From what he remembered it had a population of around 10,000 people and was not too big nor too small. He was sure he had flown in the right direction, this was the path in his memory but what sat before him was a large city.
A wall over 100 feet high stood tall for protection and stretched into the distance. With Kazuki’s vision, he could see it all in totality, especially from so high in the sky. His mind quickly did some calculations he guestimated that the city itself was around 400 square miles. The walls had yet to be completed but Kazuki could see Carpenters, Mages, and other laborers constantly at work on them. Not only that, the Mages were inscribing thousands of inscriptions along the wall.
(This should be Edngaul but for this place to turn into a city…I was only in that trench for less than a year. Just what in the world would make this place expand to such a size in such little time.)
Taking a look at the city gate, Kazuki could read it from several miles away and sure enough, it spelled Edngaul.
(It really is Edngaul, how?)
Kazuki was going to fly directly into the city but seeing the inscriptions the Mages atop the wall were inscribing, quite a deal of them had already been completed and they formed a protective barrier. Were he to try and enter through the sky, Kazuki would run directly into defensive magic and he wasn’t exactly up for that at the moment.
(There’s no need to make such a showy entrance. Let’s just go in on foot.)
Landing a few miles away from the city, Kazuki found himself at the edge of a frozen forest. In front of him was a long wide road with many laborers still working on said road along with many travelers going to and fro and a few guards here and there protecting the workers.
Walking out of the forest, as soon as people spotted him, a small panic was kicked up from the workers and the others. All of the guards called out ready to fight.
“Monster! Guards prepare yourselves! This isn’t the first time we’ve dealt with a big one. Remember half of you aim for the legs and the other half distract it with your movements!”
The guards drew their blades and spears and a few more had bows ready and knocked but before they attacked one of the other guards called out.
“Wait! Look at em, that’s not a monster, that’s a man!”
Kazuki felt annoyed but at the same time, he wasn’t too upset. After all he was over 6 foot 7. The average height of males on this continent was a little over 5 foot 8. Seeing such a large-framed man step out from the forest, they could only think it was a monster of some kind. His body bulged with frightening muscles and his hair was long and wild. Add to the fact that he wore a strange outfit he’d received from the Adrola apes, it wasn’t hard to at first mistake him as a threat.
After the first guard said Kazuki was a human, a few of the other guards calmed down a bit and got a better look at Kazuki. His clothes were very weird but his face was definitely that of a man, a handsome one at that.
A wave of relief swept through the guards as well as the workers and travelers. Still, one of the guards was on his toes and called out once more.
“You, who are you? Why did you come from the forest when everyone knows it’s dangerous to enter?”
Kazuki said nothing. He wondered if he should say his real name. He should still be wanted by Garn but at the same time, thinking about how much his power had grown, he and Garn were at the exact same Core stage. Not only that, Kazuki knew his strength well, the fear he had of Garn, it was no more. On the Feya continent, what man or woman could match him. Yes, there were still forces beyond him but none of them should be human or work under a human. When it came to mankind, besides his sister, what threat could he not face.
Kazuki’s silence made the guard nervous and he pointed his sword in Kazuki’s direction.
“Answer me or I’ll be forced…
As soon as the guard said that Kazuki released a tiny bit of his aura and everyone suddenly felt a heavy pressure.
“You’ll be forced to what?”
Kazuki’s pressure stole the breath from the guard and sent chills of despair deep down into his soul. The man couldn’t speak, nor could he find the strength to move. It was at this moment a thought flashed across his mind.
(What am I doing. These people were merely doing their job and I act arrogant. The way I used my Aura on them just now, that’s exactly how Zetrazz acted towards me.)
Looking down at the compass hanging around his neck, Kazuki could feel the dark energy moving about excitedly. All of this was being observed by Zetrazz and was entertainment to him.
Kazuki felt a bit disgusted with himself and quickly corrected his attitude. He had just gained an unbelievable amount of power and strength and without him knowing it had already gone to his head. He knew immediately he needed to fix this shit attitude before such a twisted self-image leads to his own downfall.
Shaking his head for a second, he pulled back his aura. A faint smile on his face, he controlled his voice so it wouldn’t rupture anyone’s eardrums and spoke calmly.
“Sorry, is something wrong? I have very bad hearing. Did you just ask me something?”
Kazuki played it off as if he didn’t hear the man’s words and acted as though he was nearly deaf.
The guards had no clue what that feeling was just now, nor where it came from. With it gone though, a few of them had shaky legs. The guard leading them, once he heard Kazuki’s calm tone and pleasant voice, as well as the fact that he mentioned he had bad hearing, it changed the guards perspective and his fear morphed into a simple misunderstanding.
He calmed down and brushed the unknown feeling out of his mind before clearing his voice and speaking louder.
“YOUR NAME FELLOW, WHAT IS IT AND WHY WERE YOU IN SUCH A DANGEROUS FOREST ALONE?”
Kazuki put a hand on the side of his ear and nodded a few along as the guard spoke as if he was just now catching everything. With that, he quickly came up with an excuse.
“Sorry about that. My name is Kazuki. As for why I was in the forest, well I was hunting a few monsters when embarrassingly, I got lost. I’ve been wandering the forest for a few days now. It got so bad at one point that I had to burn most of my clothes just to stay warm. I stitched this thing together just to have something on my back but as you can see it’s a little weird.”
The guard looked Kazuki up and down, the odd clothes now made sense but a few things still stood out.
“Hunting you say, with what weapon and again, why by yourself?”
Kazuki held out his hand and the guards instinctively tightened their grip on their weapons. Kazuki slowed his hand to ease their nerves before the purple gem on his ring glowed dimly. The very next moment he shaped a piece of the orichalcum and made a humongous ax. Its length was nearly his own height and the blade at the end was almost as big as a barrel.
As soon as the other guards, workers, and travelers saw it, their mouths fell open in shock. Kazuki swung it casually behind him and cut through 7 trees at once. Not even a second later, those seven trees fell into the forest with loud booms.
Kazuki then dropped his ax on the ground to show he wasn’t going to harm them before grabbing the end of one of the fallen trees in the forest and dragging it out. Holding the end of it in the air facing them, he showed them where he had cut it.
“As you can see I can handle myself. Not only that, if you look here, you can see these trees are frozen over. Can’t use them for firewood. After wandering around, I was lucky to hear these fine gentlemen laying out the road. You guys really saved me, thank you.”
Kazuki then proceeded to toss the entire tree back into the forest with a low grunt before slapping his hands together, to wipe off the snow.
Everyone was left in awe at this sight. All of the travelers, guards, and workers all froze on the spot and silence followed.
Kazuki tilted his head as if he didn’t understand why everyone was so quiet. He then changed his expression to one of surprise.
“Ah, that’s right, you guys saved me yet all I did was say thanks. Mama always said you pay back those who do you right. As a token of my appreciation for you all leading me to the road, I’ll gladly buy you all a drink.”
Kazuki’s ring glowed once more and a handful of gold Zeni appeared in his hand. Seeing Kazuki’s unbelievable strength as well as all his wealth and his appreciative attitude did a mix on their emotions. It was one thing to see how humble Kazuki was but to see someone with that kind of strength and humbled attitude left everyone there with a good feeling.
Finally, someone in the crowd that had formed who knows when yelled out.
“Damn fella, what did that mama of yours feed ya to get ya so big!?”
As soon as this person spoke out, it broke whatever tension there was and the crowd broke out into a loud laugh.
Everyone’s initial fear was now replaced with good spirits. The guards accepted Kazuki’s lies as well as the money. Under Kazuki’s eye, the guards actually spread the wealth out properly. At the same time, many people came up and started having a nice chat with Kazuki. Some even wanted to test their strength and asked if they could try and lift his huge ass ax. Of course, Kazuki obliged and of course, none of them could.
After a few more laughs, Kazuki stored his ax, and finally headed toward the city.
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