Parallel – A Virtual Reality. - Chapter 22

“That’s some serious words you are stating, boy” Tells me the Barbarian Guard in front of me

“I know, but I am not lying”

“… I will take you to the Elder” He finishes while signaling us to follow him

Observing our surrounding, I noticed there are many warriors here, worthy of being a Barbarian Village. Driven by curiosity I ask him

“Excuse me, but who was Gardan?”

“The brother of the founder of the Village, he died while fighting against Dorek, the Alligator Prince”

“Dorek…” It might have to do with the Lizardmen and Alligators we found along the way here

Then, we suddenly stop in front of a house and the Barbarian knocks on the door

A beautiful woman who looks no more than 30 years old appears, she gives us a cursory glance and then looks at Aren.

“What do you want, Aren” Says the woman annoyed at the sudden knocking

“I’ve come with visitors; they said that Mader was defeated by them”

“You have defeated Mader!?”

“Yes, we have defeated him” I say

“Impossible! He almost annihilated the whole squadron that we sent 10 years ago!” She exclaims

At this, I show her the card of John and the pieces of the Blood orb along with the diary of Mader that has some interesting facts. While I didn’t read all of it, as it mostly consisted of scribbles we couldn’t make sense of, it still held some information…

She read them along with Aren and they stay silent for a moment, then they suddenly got amazed and saw us again as if they can’t believe it

“Y-you really defeated Mader” She watches us and says “…But you seem so weak”

At this, Vladi gets annoyed a bit…

“We aren’t weak! We almost got crushed by that monster, but we defeated it!” She shouts

“Sorry, that wasn’t my intention; could you please come in and tell me everything in details?” She apologizes as she nods and asks us politely.

“Okay” and we all start walking in until Aren stopped me by saying

“Wait, boy, what is your name?” He asks me while putting all the Fighting spirit he seems to have

At this, I just smile to him lightly and say before coming inside the house “Ardha”. My Fighting spirt leaked too, responding his. What an interesting guy.

Inside we start telling the Mayor, Azalea, our story… well, it was mostly Peko at first, then Vladi later and I told her how I finished it… omitting some parts

At first, she seemed to be sad to know about what happened to John, and later she was amazed at how we managed to defeat Mader

“Thanks for telling me everything, Mader was one of the biggest threats to the village that even the squadron that was led by John couldn’t defeat, and that makes you the savior of this village”

You have earned the trust of Gardan’s Village!

+1000 Contribution points to the Village

+500 Fame

Your Guild has gained Fame.

You have been given the title: Gardan’s Savior

Parallel’s citizens will have a warmer response to you

5% Increase in proficiency in Darkness Skills

+2 To all status

“We are in your debt, is there something we can help with?” Asks Azalea politely while bowing in gratitude. I could feel the emotions in her voice, it seems many lives were lost to Mader.

“I am wondering, how old are you?” Asks Zenith with a straight face, we get surprised at his sudden question, but I understand where he is going.

At this, she gets surprised and chuckles, giving a baffling answer “102 years old”

Hearing that, everyone got even more surprised, excepting Zenith, Peko and me, who had some relations with people that are way older than they seem to be, at this, she just asks us in wonder

“But how did you know?” She asks

I am the one who answers, “You have an odd presence, similar to the ones we know from a certain place” and I continue saying, forgetting my tact “And I must guess, was Gardan your brother?”

At this, she gives a faint smile and says “Yes, and from which place you are talking about?”

“Hellish Village”

Now it is her time to be wide eyed and I continue “In fact, we do need some help in a few things. I don’t mean to impose, but it would be great if you could…” I say before proceeding

As Azalea seems to know the people of Hellish Village, she starts reminiscing a lot of things, and I told her that we are the successors of Plate, Drakon and Vermillion. She got surprised at this, and then I told her about what happened and our need of ȧssistance on the matter.

A sad expression crosses her face as she hears the news of our master dying. I could feel my throat tightening a bit, but I continued anyways. We really needed all the help we could muster.

Thus, I tell her everything and our needs of supplies too. She seems to be more than willing to help us and declares

“We will do everything we can to help you out” she says readily and continues saying that we should rest for the day as she will have everything due tomorrow

I sell almost all the loot I had on me and start resupplying our stock. I even went to a Smithy and asked if I could use the forge.

The man recognized me and said it would be an honor as I am one of the saviors of this village. He helped me out with the equipment, and we talked about our insights in forging and repairing.

The day passes and we join Azalea at the central plaza. The place was filled with many other people, discussing and chatting, until she lifts her hand to make everyone shut up, and she declares

“My people, our heroes and friends are in critical situations, as we can’t really help them directly, we will give them the support of a joined alliance with the Kaiser Guild.”

“Thus, I am here to hereby declare our joining forces and ask of you to join in this matter too. These people will continue on their journey as we will cooperate with their Guild”

Everyone show determination on their eyes, they are warriors, if they died by in battle, then their death would mean something to them.

We got a bit shocked at the proclamation, but we don’t refuse it. If they can join us, it would mean we have gotten quite a bit of an army of warriors, and high leveled ones at that!

And thus, I go towards the wife of John to finish everything we have to do in Gardan Village before departing.

Knocking on her door, a woman that seemed to be around 40 years old opened it. She had a valiant expression and an indomitable aura. As soon as she recognized us, she was surprised and bowed to us in gratitude for defeating Mader and said.

“Hello, adventurers, what brings you to my humble home?”

“We came to give you this” I showed the letter to her as she grabbed it slightly confused, “It’s from John”, my words surprised her as she looked at us with wide eyes and read it in a hurry. Soon, her eyes were moist and folds the letter carefully as to not damage it in the slightest.

“Thank you, very much!” Her voice trembled in between, evidence of the emotions going through her right now. Then, she looks at us resolutely and says, “Could you wait for me for a minute?” Without waiting for our answer, she heads inside the house brings a Broadsword that seems to have rusted by the years.

“Thanks, you, young Hero, this is the Sword of our ancestors, John couldn’t wield it, but if it is in your hands, I can make sure it will choose an owner worthy of it” She tells me and gives me the sword. Looking at its description I get surprised

A sword with properties to choose a master. It will adapt to oneself and continue to grow with battles

Restriction

Be chosen by the Sword

It could be a Unique item, but even so, it looks like it deems me unworthy of using it, as it didn’t change at all once it was in my hand. I sigh and give a swing with it, maybe that would generate a reaction.

Whizz

Suddenly, the sword starts shinning and pushes me away with great force. I react in time to rebalance myself and the Sword is now floating in front of me a meter away.

“Hmph, unworthy human, you dare to swing Me?” The Sword is speaking!

“Well, I wanted to know what you can do in your unreleased form”

“I am sealed! I won’t do anything unless you are worthy of using me!”

“But I wanted to test you out; after all, you seemed interesting”

“Ha!… wait… Are you an Elemental Warrior?” The sword asks me doubtfully

“Yes, how did you know?” I get surprised at the sudden question

“You gave an aura similar to the ones I have previously seen, but how? A human can’t be an Elemental Warrior unless an Elemental Elf gives you parts of their power and that would take ages! Finding one of them is rare enough, even more an Elemental Warrior! Tell me, how could you attain it at such a young age?” He asks me while seemingly turning to Zenith too

“My Master taught me well during the month I stayed with him, his name was Plate, The Legendary Elemental Warrior” I tell the Sword upfront proudly

“Plate… it has been a while since I heard that name… and it seems your friends exude familiar auras around too, especially you, the child with black hair…” The sword says as if he is analyzing

“Wait… was?” Asks the Sword while taking a fragment of my wording

“Yes, he is… dead!” I say while remembering why we are here and why we should hurry. Resolution showing in my eyes as I look at the sword.

“That fellow, dead?… Boy, I will choose you as my Master, but you are still unworthy of using me, become stronger and one day you will be able to wield me at full strength” Says the Sword while a crowd is forming around seeing the unreal scene. Even John’s wife looked at us with wonder and awe in her eyes.

“I will become stronger, that is one of my missions and that is why I am on this journey with my comrades and friends”

“Hmph, don’t be so full of yourself, child, you are as weak as an unborn Dragon!” The Sword says and stops talking when he finishes with his sentence with its shine fading coming to my hands

‘An unborn Dragon… what’s with that analogy?’ The citizens are asking themselves at such words.

I just smile sadly while saying “I know” and when the sword reaches my hands, its rusted parts starts cleaning, and a beautiful metal colored sword appears, smaller than before, but for me that is better. I even planned to give it to Zenith because I use one handed swords… but it seems this isn’t the released form of the Sword, but it is a start at least.

– Elemental’s Sword Attack: 40 Durability: Infinite

The Sword has adapted to its Master and will continue to grow for one day to be able to show its true Power.

Restriction

Be chosen by the Sword

Bonus

Nothing yet

I get a scabbard for the sword and we see that everyone is watching us, I shrug and say

“Well, citizen of Gardan Village, I am grateful to all of you for the hospitality and your cooperation, we will resume our way to complete our mission” I bowed and waved off to everyone, including Azalea that is smiling at us and Aren who seems to have an approving expression on his face.

Thus, we resume our way; once in a while the Sword spoke to us, telling us how incompetent we are against some monster and gave us tips

One day I ask to make sure if he is always there

“Hey, do you have a name?” I ask the Sword, after all, it seems weird to call it like that all the time when it can speak and has its own reasoning

“I have many, but I use none, so I am nameless” Says the Sword as matter of fact

“How about we name you!” Asks Vladi

“Do so if you want, I don’t care anymore for the names you puny Humans give me anymore” Says the sword in a haughty tone

“Hmm, then Sublimus Dei will be your name, but let’s just call you Dei” I tell the Sword now called Dei

“… Hmmm, you aren’t my Master for nothing…” It says Dei and it starts shinning again

Then I see that in the description where the name was changed, and it now says

Sublimus Dei Attack: 45 Durability: Infinite

“Call me Dei, weak humans… and demi-humans”

Everyone chuckles at Dei’s words but then, they wonder about something and Isa asks “Demi-Humans?”

At this, we realize that we totally forgot to tell them that Zenith and Peko are Demi-Humans! But Zenith is faster than me and says

“Sorry, we forgot to tell you. Peko and I are Demi-humans from the Underworld” And at Zenith’s answer everyone get surprised

Even Arksen didn’t know about that bit and asks “From the Underworld? Isn’t it sealed?”

At Arksen’s question, Peko answers “It is, but we were teleported by Zenith’s parents and we are on a mission to learn from the Earth realm”

“So that explains your ominous auras to me…” Says Isa reflexively

Vladi then asks, “And why did they sent you here just to learn?”

Then Zenith answers while shrugging and just says the whole truth “Well, it isn’t the only reason, I was sent to become stronger in a different environment because I am the successor of the Death Lord”

“Ho… that’s why I sensed a Familiar aura from you; it was so weak that I never thought you are the Death Lord of this time” Says Dei that sounded a bit surprised

Everyone got even more surprised at this news, but they soon laughed and regained their foot just saying

“This will be fun later!” Exclaims Arksen fervently, clear joy and battle intent showed in his eyes.

With renewed vigor, we continued our way to that place that gave us immense power.

The Dungeon of Wishes.