Chapter 573: First Glance (4)
Translator: _Leo_ Editor: Kurisu
"Young man…" The man had a hoarse voice; he was staring at Angele.
"I can see you in my eyes, however, you didn't change…"
Angele had no idea what the man was talking about. He could feel that the man's eyes had strong power, however, it seemed like the power was not about dealing damage—it was something else. He thought that he was being stared at by something unknown.
He glanced at Heli; the man that lost part of his memory was still confused but Heli was paying attention to the situation.
Angele lowered his head. He noticed that the short bar in the man's hand only had the length of an arm and the width of two fingers. The black surface of the bar was covered with many scratches.
For some reason, Angele thought that the short bar was dangerous. Although the man was weak like an infant that could die at any time, the bar had a strange power in it. Angele felt like the whole situation was hard to explain; usually, weak individuals did not get to keep strong items.
"You're… different." Angele smiled as blue light dots flashed in front of his eyes. He scanned the man's body and noticed that the man was about to die. "You give me a feeling that you're going to die soon but… It also feels like that you'll never die…"
"Don't worry about him, young man, he's crazy. He would dance while screaming when he's having problems," an old woman on the side advised.
A young man from another cart added, "Yeah, he was crazy last night. He kept hitting a piece of wood using his head and almost died. We tried our best to stop him... actually, we saved his life."
Angele smiled but he did not respond. He stood up and jumped off the carriage.
"Alright, I need to leave now. You can find me in the third carriage on the right."
Heli heard the word and watched Angele leave. He wanted to stop Angele and talk to him but did not do so.
The man with green eyes lay back down with the short bar still in his hand.
"You can't defeat me…" he muttered as some cracks appeared on the surface of his bar.
There were green vortexes that were spinning slowly in the man's eyes. The green vortexes were hard to notice unless they were observed closely.
Cold sweat appeared on his face and his face turned pale.
"No one can defeat me! No one!" The man was groaning but he sounded confident; he held the short bar even tighter.
Angele suddenly turned his head around and looked at the man with a serious expression on his face.
*********************
Angele returned to his carriage and traveled with the caravan. He encountered another private caravan three days later. Heli decided to leave the caravan after the feminine man approached him again. Strangely, the man with green eyes also left the caravan; for some reason, the leader of the private caravan just let them join without asking any questions.
He realized that the man with green eyes and the feminine man were all going after Heli.
Heli might be the key character in this event; also, the ancestor's bloodline in Heli's body attracted Angele for certain reasons. Angele decided to join that private caravan with Fra.
They purchased an oxcart and followed after the private caravan. He did not care where the caravan was heading to.
Five days later…
Fra, who sat in front of the oxcart, asked, "Why are we following them?"
She sounded a bit disappointed.
She'd put some green flies into Angele's potato soup several days ago. However, Angele said he wanted Fra's soup and switched the two bowls.
Fra was upset after Angele switched the bowl. She decided not to drink the potato soup with green flies inside and had to finish the dry pancakes without the soup.
Fra felt angry every time she thought about her failed prank and kept glancing at Angele.
Angele, who was sitting beside her with a whip in hand, leaned against the seat as he heard Fra's question.
"It's the first time I saw a man that's prettier than a woman, so I decided to observe him." Angele sighed. He sounded lazy.
"I thought we were heading to the Snow Tree City…" Fra's eyes were wide open.
"I changed my mind, I want to visit Truffle City now," Angele responded calmly.
"You…" Fra was speechless. Raising her head, she looked forward.
There was a large white carriage in front of them. She could see what was happening inside through the window.
The middle-aged man named Heli was sitting with the feminine man. Different dishes, fruits, and desserts lined up on the table in front of them; there was also a whole roasted goose.
A noble woman with long black hair in a black outfit was sitting opposite them. The woman, who was wearing a silver headband, had an attractive smile on her face.
The woman was talking to Heli and the feminine man while eating the desserts. Her movements were polite and gentle. It almost felt like talking while eating was a common thing for her.
Fra looked at the food on the table and swallowed.
"I want some of that…"
"Work hard and save money then. You'll be able to enjoy a lunch like that one day," Angele said and smiled. He did not care that Fra was glaring at him again. His sight fell upon a weak horse on the right side of the caravan; the horse was walking slowly along the forest.
It was a brown horse that looked weak and tired. The man with green eyes was riding the horse—he was wearing the same outfit and his face still looked pale. His body was shaking as the horse moved, it felt like that he could fell off the horse at any time.
'The man is hiding his true power…' Angele guessed. 'Wait, it might be a different situation.' He looked at the short bar in the man's hand.
'That's the problem…' Angele could feel the terrifying power in the short bar—it felt like he was looking at an endless abyss. The dark power inside the bar was infinite. Although Angele recovered his power, he still felt like it was looking like a dark sea.
'The man is weak but his soul is strong. He's fighting against the dark power inside the bar,' Angele assumed, 'which means he's a mortal with a powerful artifact…'
It seemed like the man with green eyes was familiar with the short bar; however, his soul was too weak for the artifact and he was still trying to control its power.
Also, the man's soul was not blue like normal souls, it looked gray and was getting darker slowly.
Several minutes later, Angele suddenly looked to the right and found something strange in the forest.
Under the golden sunlight, there was a group of people wearing red leather pants and black cloaks approaching the caravan from the side. There were around ten people in the group, all holding silver scimitars in hands.
They were all looking at the man with green eyes who was riding the horse.
"Amber, we finally found you," the leader of the group spoke. The voice sounded like it was from a young girl. "You shall not escape this time!"
After the leader finished these words, silver crescent moons appeared in the black cloaks' eyes. They increased their speed and charged toward the man with green eyes.
The man raised his bar and was about to fight back, however, he suddenly coughed and spat out some blood. He fell off the horse and hit the ground. The man was suffering after the impact.
The horse was surprised and neighed loudly.
"Who's there?!"
"Bandits! Eliminate them!"
The guards of the caravan noticed the invaders and drew their blades. There were around ten guards—they separated into two groups, with one half protecting the caravan while the rest charged at the black cloaks.
The fight was intense. Angele could hear the noise made by metal objects hitting each other. The guards were well-trained, however, it seemed like the black cloaks were stronger than them.
The guards were wearing leather armor, but it was like paper to the silver scimitars. They quickly retreated to the caravan.
"I'll take care of them!" The mercenary named Heli jumped off the carriage and charged at the black cloaks with a silver blade in hand.
He looked like a fish that was swimming in a pool. He quickly dodged the attacks and cut two black cloaks' throats open; however, he was stopped by a black scimitar when he was about to go for the next target.
It was the leader—they traded hits around the trees. The guards and other black cloaks did not want to get caught in the fight so they stayed away from the two. One of the black cloaks still stood too close to them and his head was sliced off.
Angele made it look like he was scared but he was observing the situation. Angele wondered why the feminine man did not join the battle—he should have the power to eliminate all of the black cloaks but he just stood there and watched the fight.
The good thing was that the man did not see Angele's face that night.
"Ah!"
One of the black cloaks screamed as he was kicked away. He rolled several times and hit Angele's cart hard. The black cloak stood up with a pair of red eyes, his face covered with bloody wounds.
"Damn it!" he cursed in a low voice. Suddenly, he turned to Fra and Angele.
"Die!" He aimed at Fra and slashed forward.
"Don't worry, Andre! I'll protect you!" Fra was holding the damaged sword in hand and her face was pale. Although she was trembling due to fear, she still stood in front of Angele.
*BAM*
The bandit missed the strike, his scimitar hit the edge of the cart and he was having trouble pulling it out.
Fra was not prepared for a real battle; she was scared, however, the attack from the bandit made her move. She held the sword tight and slashed forward.
"Ah!" she screamed and closed her eyes while hitting the bandit.
*PA*
The sword hit the bandit's chest, however, it was blocked by the man's leather armor.
Fra finally opened her eyes. The bandit pulled the scimitar out of the cart and slashed forward—this time, the scimitar hit the blade of Fra's sword.
Fra's sword moved upward due to the impact and its handle hit the forehead of the bandit by accident.
The bandit's eyes rolled up and he fell to the ground.
Fra was surprised, she had no idea what'd just happened.
"Thank you!" Angele put his hands on the girl's shoulders and looked at her. "You're a hero, Fra! Without you, I would already be dead! Thank you so much!"
Fra could not believe that she defeated the bandit as she looked at the sword in her hand.
"Maybe the soul of the hero protected me?" she muttered.
Although she practiced the sword techniques for so long, she did not use any of them during the battle. The bandit made a mistake and Fra won the battle accidentally.