Soul of Searing Steel

“Oh?”

After looking into Ying’s eyes and glancing at Ling, the black-haired young man was also shaking his head as he looked puzzled. The three of them could not recognize him at all. They seemed like complete strangers to him. As a result, Joshua could not help but to feel strange about it.

If the other two could not recognize him, how did this priest manage to recognize him then?

He looked curiously at the tall, middle-aged priest who was carrying a heavy scepter that was heavy enough to smash heavy armor into bits along with him. Then the warrior opened his mouth and asked, “Do you know me?”

—Fear not, only the blind would not be able to recognize you.

The archbishop first looked at Cade and Jean who were still staring at the warrior with their foolish looks. Then he coughed and cleared his throat before stepping forward with a smile. After that, he reached out his hand to Joshua. “I’ve heard your name a long time ago. You’re the dragonslayer of the North, the Count of Moldavia, Liege Joshua van Radcliffe. It’s my lucky day to witness your arrival here.”

In order to quietly inform the two guys, the archbishop specifically spoke of Joshua’s several titles. Well, Cade and Jean were not complete fools after all. When they heard the word dragonslayer, they immediately responded and they knew the identity of the man who was standing right before their eyes.

However, even so, the two men were still whispering to each other secretly.

—He looks completely different!

—Completely different from the information given!

No one should blame the two of them though. The heavy-armored swordsman Cade was the chief of the defending force for the fortress which partially belonged to the Imperial army. Of course he would naturally know about the count of his neighbouring territory, Moldavia in the North. After all, he did pay close his attention on the news about the warrior all the while. One should know that the news about vanquishing the Dark Tide, closing the dimensional door, or even slaying the dragons, all of the mentioned news were big news. So how could one not pay attention to those news then?

However, the information in the military was not updated in time though. Joshua’s portrait was one that was taken several years ago. Although the warrior’s appearance did not change much, the aura of the warrior was completely different than before. He looked as if he was a completely different person. It was pretty normal for a person to be unable to recognize the warrior, especially when that person was anxious.

Meanwhile, Jean had an even simpler reason for that—because the message did not go through smoothly, and Joshua’s daily life was also relatively simple. Other than the fact that the aristocrats of the royal family had his portrait, a mercenary like himself would only have basic information about powerful nobles such as the warrior himself. Meanwhile, the information he had was not updated as well. If it was not for the explanation given by the archbishop of the church, Jean might not even be able to see that this devilish-like person that seemed to come from nowhere was actually the count of the neighbouring territory.

Since the misunderstanding had been resolved, there was no need to continue being on high alert. In a harmonious atmosphere, Joshua had brought Ying and Ling to meet with these few important men from the top brasses of Ural Mountain. Meanwhile, they had also successfully conducted a friendly negotiation with the people of Ural Mountain.

Through the conversation and self-introduction among themselves, Joshua learned that the archbishop’s name was Sig Dalar. The man was originally the second son of a local noble at Ural Mountain. He was sent to a monastery in the Imperial City after he became an adult. However, who would have thought that when he arrived in his hometown, Sig was promoted and now he had become an archbishop of the church in his own city. Speaking of power, he was in fact more powerful and influential than his elder brother who already inherited the title of count. He was able to recognize Joshua so swiftly because his elder brother would mention about this fascinating man that from the North from time to time.

“A count… In a lifetime, if one could just do one of the things this warrior did, that person would be considered great already…”

Present in the family’s mansion, his elder brother would sigh like that from time to time. Meanwhile, Sig was deeply convinced by what his elder brother just said. Being a Gold-tier being as well, he admitted that he was not be able to do anything. Hence, when he was facing Joshua, he felt a sense of admiration towards the warrior.

“So, Count, what do you have planned for the days to come?”

After having a conversation with the warrior, they uncovered the truth that someone was attempting to curse Joshua, causing the beam of light to appear, which was deemed to be the result of the naturally response of the holy relic’s defensive mechanism. The warrior made some pretty loud noises due to the fact that he was fighting the curse. Cade, as the chief of the defensive force of Ural Fortress, felt awkward to think about asking for compensation from the warrior.

If a duke of the Empire Kingdom was attacked under Cade’s jurisdiction it could really stain his political career. Each Ural Fortress chief would serve ten years before a new one replaced the old. Their status and power were significant. And they did not have to handle any major thing. Basically, the position was a stepping stone for one to get higher in the hierarchy of power. Of course the heavy-armored Swordsman would not want any regrettable stain to be left on his legacy when he was still in power.

Meanwhile, the mage who bid them goodbye and left was initially carrying on with his own experiment earlier on before all these happened. Since he was already clear about the reason that caused the appearance of holy light, he naturally did not want to stay longer. After saying goodbye to the warrior, he used a spell and returned directly to his own laboratory.

“Well, I did plan to travel slowly and take my own sweet time. I only intended to teleport us to the Imperial City when it was almost time.”

Joshua had just slaughtered two enemies who cursed him through the dimensional passage. He was in very good mood now. Hence, he had more words to say.

“Now it seems that it would be better if I get over there earlier.”

While he was saying that, the system had also prompted him coincidentally with a notification. Currently, Joshua had completed (1/30) of the quest [Supreme Trial]. It seemed that the two beings on the other side of the dimensional passage were Gold tier as well.

However, in this way, Joshua also felt a little strange. He would of course naturally know how powerful he had become at his current stage. But even if he was extremely powerful, he did not have the confidence to punch two Gold-tier enemies to death.

– It seemed that the two enemies might have been hit hard by the power of the Sage. Or else, even I could not have killed an existence of a Gold-tier.

Thinking a little about it, Joshua had also quickly guessed the reason for the outcome of the previous battle. This would be a lot more reasonable then. When he thought of the immense power of the Sage, he could not help but to feel excited as his desire began to grow.

That was the thing he desired to pursue.

In the meantime, both Cade and Sig could sense that the warrior’s patience was wearing thin. So the two of them were understanding enough to not speak too much. They then bid each other farewell and left. When time comes, they would meet again.

Truth to be told, they were very busy as well. Since Joshua was not there to bring havoc or any sorts of destruction, there was temporarily nothing to worry about. Hence, there was no need to place full attention on accompanying the warrior and his weapons. Not to mention that there were so many knights patrolling in the vicinity of the fortress as well. That would enough to replace Cade and Sig to observe the movement of the warrior as well.

Joshua did not plan to stay in any longer as well. After finding the coachman and paying him the wage he deserved after everything he had gone through, the warrior asked the coachman to return to Moldavia. Then, the warrior, Cade and Sig, the three of them walked toward the center of Fort Ural.

The incident where the warrior was suddenly cursed had led Joshua to become much more alert than ever. However, he had also guessed the enemy’s identity. The biggest advantage for using curse was that the caster would remained ‘unknown’ to the victims. However, in Joshua’s situation, that ‘unknown’ had been completely pointless. Furthermore, the warrior was carrying the Azurite. Hence he was not too bothered by that incident as well.

Had it not been for the fear that there would have been more attacks that could potentially delay his trip in the coming days, Joshua might not even consider shortening his trip. However, that did not affect his intention to visit the great city of Ural Fortress. Following Ying’s suggestion, the warrior and his two Divine Armaments went along the artificial river and found themselves arrived on the street of the city’s center point.

On the streets of center of the fortress, there were many banners of the fortress displayed around. Although the streets looked much more crowded than expected, the people on the streets were smiling. The atmosphere of the city was harmonious and peaceful. It looked completely impossible that a Dragon’s Calamity would break out here in the coming days.

It was certainly a shocking view to see a beam of light penetrating straight through the heavens at the northern gate of the fortress. However, nothing else happened after that. The strange phenomenon did not affect the lives of the people in the city. So after feeling astounding for a brief moment, everyone made the topic into something worth mentioning in their daily conversations. No one connected the incident to the three strangers that were walking on the street now.

“Master, the bard not far from here sings very well. Ling and I were listening to him awhile ago.”

Following Ying’s suggestions, Joshua and the two of them took a few turns on the street before they arrived at the corner of the street. Lifting his head to have a look, the warrior saw that there was an elven bard with long ears. The handsome bard had just finished describing the poems about the great King Ias starting a new era. Currently, he was resting and drinking water. He was getting ready to speak of tales in the next poem.

Half of it was because the silver-haired girl recommended it, and the other half was because Joshua missed that feeling. He wanted to listen to some tales.

After a short break, the bard started to move again. He was ready to sing and speak a tale about the elves migrating thousands of years ago. That was an epic historical poem among the elves. The tale was about the elves migrating to escape the natural disaster that was upon them, leaving their homes and going through a series of other major events in the distant south and other islands.

The bard had a clear and beautiful tone. After listening to it, Joshua felt really pleased. So he smiled and paid the bard a dozen gold pieces. The coins were thrown into the box that the bard placed on the ground and they continued to spin in the box. Other people around were surprised.

“Where did this rich man come from? Did he actually reward the bard with gold coins?”

“With so much money in one go, Morle does not have to worry about his meals for a year!”

The people around the bard seemed to be very familiar with him. They all knew the name of the bard. Sometimes, they even called his name straight away.

“Master, don’t spend your money like this… You’ve rewarded him a little too much.”

Ling was standing beside the warrior. Initially, he was paying his serious attention to listening to the bard’s poems and songs. However, after seeing Joshua rewarding the bard with such generosity, he was instantly shocked. After that, he helplessly tried to advice and persuade his master, “Circulating funds is a little difficult these days…”

However, Joshua did not give much thought to it. “I’m happy today, so I think it’s alright to spend a little more money.”

“…” Since the warrior had said that, Ling could not refute anymore. He seemed a little annoyed as he looked at his own sister at first, hoping to get some support from her. However, he found that his sister was already immersed in the tale told by the bard. She was completely unaware of anything around her surroundings. Instantly, he felt even more frustrated.

Every single one of you are so dazed in spending so much money, don’t you know that it’s really difficult to manage the finances?!

Because of the large donation that Joshua gave to the bard, the bard then personally came over to express his gratitude for that. This seemingly young elf performed an elven ceremonial bow at the warrior and went back to his initial position where he was performing his poems and songs. Then he continued singing on the ancient poetry.

However, inadvertently, Joshua suddenly discovered that the corner of the bard’s mouth seemed to be saying something without making any sound.

—We are watching you.

After blinking his eyes for a little, Joshua looked at the corner of the bard’s mouth again. However, he did not see anything unusual about it at all. Meanwhile, just when he thought he was still suffering the after-effects caused by the curse that struck him earlier on, he suddenly saw that there was a black round emblem on the sleeve of that elf.