"Finally, I can be alone in my house."
He can finally be alone because the Sword Princess has gone to the dungeon. But even so, he enjoyed this week, because every day he called her to spar, and almost every time he lost with a single blow. But even so, he was happy with every fight.
"Do you think I copied this feeling from someone?"
"Which one?"
"The enjoyment of fights."
"How would I know? You could have copied it, or maybe you're just like that, anything is possible."
"Do you change?"
"No."
"Why are you so sure? Maybe you don't notice either?"
"No, no, Kopii, don't compare me to yourself. You are…"
"Yes, I know that you are the best version of me. Do you think I'm so stupid, why do you need to repeat it three hundred times?"
"No, Kopii, I don't think, I know you're stupid. Please, don't confuse things again."
"Okay, okay."
He didn't want to argue with him, because it was just a useless waste of time. After leaving the basement, he headed towards the Valiant Tower.
"Why do you need to go there? You're poor."
"Do you think it's expensive everywhere?"
"Yes!"
He answered without hesitation. From such confidence in his voice, Kopii felt doubt.
Kopii's eyes widened when he saw the prices.
"Yes, I'll have to save all my life to earn anything at all."
Looking at the storefront, he understood only one thing - how poor he actually was.
"I told you so, but you didn't believe me. You should always listen to me."
"There's still a chance!"
"A chance?"
"Yes, because this is only the beginning. I'm sure it's not expensive everywhere."
"We'll see."
"Yes, we will."
Starting his journey, he walked and looked around, looking for suitable equipment for him. But everywhere he saw such huge prices, wherever he looked.
"See? Or it is better to buy the equipment from the guild, there's your problem solved."
"Guild equipment, you say? I won't buy that crap again."
"Do you think you have a choice?"
"Everyone has a choice!"
"How silly. You'd better go to the entertainment district, at least there'd be more benefit. Remember…"
"Stop it, I've already heard a thousand times what you did with them. I'm tired of listening to it, do you have anything in your mind besides sex? Fuck that… I'm starting to seriously ask you, and you say how delicious the Sword Princess's lips are. You're just a pervert!!!"
"So what, Kopii, because I do not hide from myself my true desires. I'm not like you."
"Are you trying to say that this is my hidden feeling?"
"Of course! You have to admit that this is normal for a man."
"I understand that. But you have an excess of it."
"Think what you want."
"Boy, are you okay?"
"Huh… oh, yes, I'm fine."
Looking at the man who asked, lingering on him a little, he continued to study. But the more he studied it, the more his hope fell, because everywhere he went, the prices were quite high.
"Here, finally."
Looking around the store he entered, wherever he looked, there were acceptable prices here that he could spend everything on. But his thoughts were interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.
"Can I help you with your choice?"
Looking at the girl, about his age, lingering on her a little, he turned away and continued looking for a suitable weapon.
"No, thank you."
Examining each with special care, because his life and progress depended on this choice. He didn't want his sword to break or his bowstring to tear in the middle of a fight.
But he didn't have to search for long, he chose the most affordable in terms of price, but not in quality. No matter how hard he tried to evaluate the short sword, holding it in his hand, it was useless, he didn't have the skills for a decent assessment. But it was sharp, beautiful, and light.
Looking at the merchant standing nearby with a smile, looking at him. To fully understand if his weapon was good or not, he had to ask him. But Kopii hesitated, because there was a high probability that he would lie to him. They were only interested in money, and nothing more.
"Do you need help?"
"…Yes. What is this emblem on the sword?"
"This is the mark of the forge that made this sword."
"Okay, thank you."
He didn't ask about the quality of the sword, because he wouldn't understand if he was telling the truth or not, so he would just test it in action. After paying for the sword, he immediately headed to the dungeons without delay.
"Do you think it will last long?"
"Than the sword from the guild?"
"Yes."
"Naturally. Why are you so stupid?"
"Huh?"
"If it has the mark of the forge on it, then this sword is worth the money. It's simple, they need more customers and fame, so they will try on their work."
Kopii realized why he couldn't think of that right away, was he really that stupid? He was also beginning to doubt his analytical skills.
"Okay, we need to test it in action." Killing everyone he met on his way, that's how he spent the rest of the day in the dungeons.
Bang.
A sharp blow from the darkness was too unexpected for Kopii, which made him not have time to react. He just decided to cut his way through the alleys, but someone attacked him. But before he could come to his senses, another blow came, but he was already able to jump away.
"Who are you?"
Looking into the darkness and seeing several silhouettes. But before he could see them, he had to jump back sharply because of the noise behind him. His eyes widened at what he saw, if he hadn't managed to jump away, he would have died on the spot.
Kopii reached for his sword. He understood one thing - if someone attacked him, they wanted to kill him. So he won't hesitate anymore.
Swoosh
A familiar sound was heard, but he didn't have time to react, as he felt a sharp pain in his arm. After that, everyone began to act, Kopii tried to dodge all the attacks, but over time, more and more wounds appeared on his body.
He couldn't counterattack them because of the archer. And poor visibility only played into their hands.
Swoosh
Dodged the wall, but couldn't dodge the flying fist in the face. From the blow, he staggered, which his enemies took advantage of. Blows flew into him from all sides.
But he managed to escape from their surroundings, or rather they gave him this opportunity…Kopii thought, assessing the situation. He understood one thing, they were playing with him, because if they really wanted to kill him, they would have killed him with the first blow.
"They all are higher than the first level." He thought, dodging a series of blows from strangers. Kopii could hear their laughter. Only which caused anger.
But no matter how hard he tried, absolutely everything was against him - fatigue, terrain, and time. He understood that he needed to run, but the fear that there were really more of them than he thought stopped him.
"What do you need!?"
He shouted, dodging arrows and blows.
"What do we need?"
Hearing a rather disgusting voice from the darkness, he tensed his hearing to the limit to hear the next words, but he was met only with silence.
Dodging, but still getting hit, he decided to escape. Escape guarantees him a better chance to escape than to fight here with strangers.
Wooshhhhhh
Ran Kopii in a random direction, with all his might. His main goal was to get to the bustling streets of Orari, which was quite difficult to do, because he was now in a ruined area.
"Tap tap tap…"
They could hear them running after him, which gave him more strength to run even faster.
Swoosh
Dodging an arrow, he slowed down a bit, but quickly returned to his normal pace. He had already met people with the same tactics as them. The same tactics as that family of slavers.
Tactics for the weak, he called it. Because it slows down your growth too much, but you have a higher chance of surviving. And the most important plus of this tactic is that they can crush an enemy that is stronger than them in quantity.
But Kopii's thoughts were interrupted by a fist flying at his face.
"An ambush." He thought, managing to put up a block, but due to the speed, the damage became more significant. But before he could move away from the blow, he was already surrounded and began to receive blows from all sides.