Now it was the three members of the Belerel family who were shocked.
"For Reiam's sake! Harold! Don't go shouting that from the rooftops of Serifa, because these days even the walls have ears!"
Miriam would say, raising her hands as she approached Harold and taking the bag of money from his hands, placing it on the table.
"But come on, woman, the first thing you'll do when you leave is tell your friends that our son is now a Larcanist and that they gave him 1,000 gold arches for getting in."
Harold would reply, and as the bag fell on the table, the sound of the 1,000 gold arches hitting the wood would ring out. A single coin, golden and shiny, with a picture of a sun rising under a bridge, forming an arch that gives the coin its name, would roll across the table until it hit the plate.
"Well, it seems like you guys are more excited than I am, haha!"
Lagier would say, grabbing the coin from the table and tossing it into the air before catching it and observing the shiny metal. It seemed to have been minted recently, with no signs of wear or damage.
"It looks like it went straight from the factory to the purse. It's so shiny, not like the worn coins you get as a salary, Dad..."
Talking about his salary, Harold remembers that he is about to be late for work.
"Right! My job! I have to go now! I love you, my darling, and son, I'm very proud of you. Tomorrow I'll take the day off and we'll go and buy everything, OK?"
Harold says, moving quickly. First, he takes a few quick bites of a sausage that he dips in the yolk of a fried egg and eats quickly, then he wipes his mouth, puts on his jacket, kisses his wife, ruffles his son's hair, grabs his briefcase and runs off to work.
"He tells me I'm going to show off to my friends, but I'm sure the first thing he'll do when he gets to work is tell his workmates about it. How cheeky! And on top of that, he leaves half his plate of food!"
Miriam would say, looking at Harold's plate, which was more full than empty.
"Don't worry, Mum, I'll eat it,"
Lagier would say, sitting down to eat.
"Thank you, son,"
Miriam would say with a smile, sitting down to eat with her son, who ate extra that morning.
After that heavy breakfast, Lagier was full of energy, so he went for a walk to digest his breakfast.
During that walk, which was very peaceful, Lagier heard a sharp scream. After the initial shock, he quickened his pace to see what was happening. Turning a corner, he saw a couple of thugs, one short and skinny with a fox-like face, the other tall and fat with a pig-like face, throwing a young girl no more than 8 years old to the ground. She looked noble, wearing new clothes that had seen no dust other than that on the ground she had just been thrown onto, a gem-studded brooch, polished shoes, but above all, her hair colour, a light purple, the extravagant hair colours were more common among families with magical legacies, for some reason the hair colours of families with numerous magicians and swordsmen ended up changing colour within a few generations, living in the capital, Lagier had witnessed a noble grandfather shopping with his granddaughter, He had reddish hair, not the orange colour of common redheads, no, the red colour of an apple, while his granddaughter had cyan hair, so there were all kinds of colours, the result of a large amount of ether in generations.
"We've hit the jackpot this time, this little girl seems to have a lot of money, how lucky we are, you're going to wish you hadn't run away from your guards to play, now you're going to find out what happens to bad girls who don't listen to their elders, hehe."
"Nooo! Daddy, Mummy, I'm scared, waaaah!"
Lagier, grabbing a steel bar while the sounds of the girl crying hide his footsteps, lunges at them, catching the fox-faced man from behind and hitting him on the head with the steel bar, knocking him out instantly.
"What the hell!"
The fat man turns around with his club, sees his companion on the ground, and launches a downward attack with his weapon, which Lagier dodges by tilting the steel pipe, causing the attack to slide past him. Taking advantage of his speed, he quickly turns around to generate momentum.
"Ah! Shit!"
Lagier would hit the fat man in the stomach.
"Fuck! That hurts, bastard!"
The fat man had withstood the attack, swinging his club to strike Lagier, who protected himself with his steel pipe, which was bent by the blow, but his body continued to take damage and he crashed into the wall.
"Cough!"
Lagier spat out some blood.
"I have no idea what your problem is, you bastard, but you've hurt me a bit. You'd have to try harder if you really want to hurt me. And by the way, why are you here? Is it because of this girl? To avoid trouble, I'll have to kill her..."
Ignoring Lagier, the fat man raises his club above the girl and brings it down hard.
"WUAAAHH!!"
The girl's scream as she sees the wooden club above her travels through every cell in Lagier's body, which gives off a slight blue power, making him feel full of energy. He lunges forward before it falls, swinging his steel bar wrapped in the same power, breaking the club, sending it flying, hitting the fat man in the face, but the bar did not stop and continued until it hit his stomach, this time seriously injuring him and knocking him out.
"Ah... my head... Who the hell was that, you fat man, did you take care of - ?"
The fox-faced man wakes up with a bloody head and unbearable pain, his breath catches when he sees his big man on the ground, so he tries to escape, but as he is about to leave the alley, he collides with an immovable metal armour. A knight with a familiar insignia is standing there, looking down with contempt. After checking that the young lady is okay, he turns his gaze back to the fox-faced man.
"I recognise your face, Albert, 32 years old, crimes, armed robbery, and now, kidnapping the only daughter of Count Tremmor... punishment... immediate execution."
The knight's arm glowed with the same blue power as Lagier's moments earlier, only much more powerful, looking like a ghostly blue fire. His fist crashed hard into the head of the fox-faced man named Albert, killing him instantly.
Lagier was panting as he sat on the fat stomach of the man he had just knocked out, watching as a knight, surely a guard of the young lady there, arrived and killed the fox-faced man. His stomach churned a little at the sight of the man's shattered skull, so he looked away. The knight in armour approached him, and the girl got up and ran to his legs and hugged them.
"Waaah! I'm so sorry, Javier, I won't leave you guys anymore, I was so scared, if it weren't for this guy coming... sniff!"
The knight, named Javier, looked at Lagier and noticed the slight power he exuded.
"(This commoner boy... has awakened the aura on his own? And on top of that... how pure it is!) Thank you very much, young man. If it weren't for you, I don't know what would have happened to the young lady..."
The knight said gratefully.
"No... it's nothing... I did what I had to do..."
Lagier replied, panting a little, his body no longer releasing that power, but he could feel it very clearly in his heart. At that moment, a young nobleman with purple hair, who appears to be the same age as Lagier, appears running down the alley. Upon seeing him, the girl goes to him, saying,
"Brother!"
"Lisa! I was so worried about you..."
The boy approached Lagier gratefully, looking somewhat sweaty, probably having been running for a while looking for his sister.
"I am very grateful to you. You are the one who helped her, aren't you? Let me repay you somehow. I know a good seamstress around here. Perhaps you could use a change of clothes."
Lagier looks at his clothes, which are somewhat bloodstained, dirty and torn, and realises that it's true.
"Well... I could do with that..."
He admits as the young nobleman leads him out of the alley, where there are more guards. Javier leans close to his ear.
"My lord..."
"Do what you have to do, Javier..."
Hearing this, as the young men walked away, Javier turned around. The fat man was trying to crawl away, but Javier stepped on his hand and broke it.
"Jonathan... 36 years old... crimes, armed robbery, and now the kidnapping of Count Tremmor's only daughter... punishment... immediate execution..."
Javier's arm glowed again with aura, and Jonathan looked at him with terror in his eyes.
"No! Noooo!"