Summoned and Unwanted

“Do you need something?” Mimi quickly intervened. She went beside the old man and examined him from head to toe.

The old man had what resembled a staff as his cane. Hanging from his face was a long white beard, and a warm beanie on his head. His clothes didn’t give the impression of nobility, yet Mimi could feel a mysterious presence extruding from him.

“Ho ho. What an interesting young woman.” The old man joked. “Can this old man’s question be answered? I worry my curiosity might kill me. Ho ho.”

“Hmm... What is with this human?” Lupa questioned while crossing her arms.

“I have never seen a person this old, but now I can see that humans can live a longer life than us.”

“Ho ho. Do you know how we humans live long, young lady?” The old man asked.

“Do you know how?” Awa curiously asked.

The old man nodded. “Ho ho. The more we old people are cared for and the more we get to eat healthy things, the more our bodies can survive.”

.....

Awa was surprised the answer was simple, yet contained a lot of deep meaning behind it.

Awa understood her people could not live long life primarily because of the nutrients they could not procure. The dangers of the environment and hunting for food were the other two reasons her people didn’t live for a long time.

Ester regained her composure. She noticed the old man peeking at her as if she was his target. As if he was not going to leave until his curiosity was satisfied.

*Sigh* Ester did not know which choice would be best in this situation.

The old man gave the impression he wasn’t going to leave, yet Ester couldn’t force the old man to leave. There were too many eyes looking in their direction.

“Kind sir. Can I ask why you believe I am not a mage?” Ester politely asked.

“Ho ho. I heard a man who married into nobility chose to keep his past relationships alive and chose to do a polygynous marriage. After hearing he and his wives were going to stake their lives for truth and honor, I decided to leave promptly from my home in the Berlucia Kingdom.”

“You are from the Berlucia Kingdom?” Ester asked. She was surprised to hear the kingdom of her birthplace out of the blue.

“Yes. Since my son died over ten years ago with his family, I live alone. After hearing about a man who values his family like how my son was, I couldn’t waste the opportunity to visit and see him with these pair of old eyes.”

Mimi frowned suspiciously. “How do you know we are the wives of the man you seek to see?” She asked cautiously.

“Ho ho. That I did not know until you young lady said so.” The old man chuckled and acted surprised to see the people he came over to see in person.

“As I have lived a long life, I have seen how mighty our king was.” The old man looked at Ester and continued with a wrinkly smile. “Watching someone proficient with a Glyph or Sigil Mage class makes me remember my younger days.”

“Humph! You old human are blind. I am better than my sister! Her shiny doodles doing magic stuff are not as good as my sharp claws.” Lupa pouted while leaving her arms crossed.

Ester was worried the old man they had just met without even exchanging their names could not be all smiles and jokes. She didn’t know if the old man was a spy sent from the other team or not.

Regardless of being on high alert, Ester didn’t like the way Lupa mentioned her sigils were doodles.

“My sister is correct in that regard. ” Mimi told the old man. She twitched her nose and caught the scent of the old man’s blood. “Hmm... your blood has a lot of mana in it.”

“Ho ho. This old man is a failed mage. I am attuned to the wind, and when I saw...” The old man was interrupted while not questioning how Mimi could smell mana in his blood.

“Nice excuse, old man, but I am not buying your excuses.” Mimi pointed at Awa and continued, “Don’t tell me witnessing a Dullahan in a city isn’t rare enough for you? Or the headless horse, for that matter. Based on the information I read, the last one seen was centuries ago.”

Ester, Lupa, and Awa became on high alert. Awa and Night were making everyone turn heads, yet the old man was specifically interested in Ester.

“Ho ho. This old man does not care about anything not related to magic.” The old man said before doing a suspicious action by putting his hand in his pocket.

Mimi swiftly grabbed his hand. As she raised his hand out of the pocket, she saw a small bag of holding.

“Ho ho. Can this old man give a gift to the dancer from the desert noble tribes?” He said before the bag accidentally opened and an ordinary-looking sword fell to the ground.

“Can you be a dear and give it to the red-headed dancer?” He requested.

“Why would I...” While Mimi was telling the old man how she was not going to do as he wanted, Ester went to pick up the sword.

“So it was an accident. Hahaha.” Ester laughed while looking at the sword.

Vincent arrived after reading the rules carefully with Kazumi. He later registered while providing accurate yet slightly vague information about the skills of the Lionheart team members.

Even though Vincent did not like it, he was requested to do as they requested unless he wanted to pay a pricy fine for every skill not mentioned. Creating a skill or move once was acceptable, but more not. It was like fool me once, but not twice.

“Looks like no one is tense.” Vincent happily said after hearing Ester laughing with a familiar sword in her hand.

“My mate! That old human wants to give my sister that sword.” Lupa quickly told Vincent.

After a quick inspection, Vincent frowned. “Sir, can I know why you are giving my wife this ordinary-looking sword?” He curiously asked.

“Haha. Vincent, can you recognize this sword?” Questioned Ester.

Vincent noticed Ester was laughing, but after knowing her for so long, he could perceive she was hurt, and the laughing was to hide her sadness.

[Now I can understand why I heard Ester say it was an accident. The sword is exactly like the heirloom sword Ester received as her birth gift. She believes her birth father gave her an ordinary sword, and it was unknowingly a hidden artifact weapon.]

“Sir, does that mean you are not from around here?” Vincent curiously asked.

“Nice to meet you, Baron Vincent Lionheart. I came from my home located in the Berlucia Kingdom to see at least see one judgment by combat before my old life passes away.”

[I wonder if this old man is important. I can feel a large amount of mana in his body. Maybe he is a noble in disguise trying to trick us.]

However, when Vincent used inspection on the old man, his man pool was not higher than five hundred, and he did not have a surname.

After receiving the sword, Ester looked at the old man. She felt a slight resemblance to her father, or so she believed.

But Ester ended up thinking it was because both her father and the old man were born in the same kingdom. People native to the same kingdom would have a slightly similar resemblance, or so she believed.

“Can I know why you gave me this sword?” Ester asked.

“I hoped you knew how to perform a blade dance.” After the old man responded, he told her a short story.

“I knew a pair of dancers from the desert nomad tribe like you. Well, it is more like seeing their performance than knowing them. Their blade dance was out of this world. The way they moved was not humanly possible, yet they did it and lived.”

Ester became interested in the old man’s story, and the sadness she felt about Elsir being an unintentional birth gift waned.

Ester recalled how fun her mother would have while traveling and dancing. She wanted to forget all negative thoughts and dance.

“I do know how to perform a blade dance.” She said while looking at the brand-new cheap common sword.

“Ho ho. Thank you for accepting.” The old man insisted without leaving Ester the room to reject his request. “I hope the first sword I could find for sale can be useful to you. The blacksmith told me the sword is durable and can take a good beating.”

Vincent approached Ester and placed his arm over her shoulder. “We accept your request.” He agreed in Ester’s stead.

“The blade could have a trap or...”

“I know Mimi, but Ester is going to do the dance of war either way. Having a spare blade can come in handy.”

*Sigh* Mimi gently shook her head. “Do what you want. I can still smell a different agenda from this old man. Be warned.”

Lupa’s ears rose on high alert. She looked around after sensing bloodlust in their direction. Her head quickly landed in the same location the old man was.

“Danger! Attack incoming!” Lupa warned urgently while shapeshifting into a combat form. Her eyes changed to that of a wolf while glowing golden, ready for what was about to happen.