Chapter 13
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"Bullshit, I saw with my own eyes the man that your group dragged back to the village. That husk can be barely be considered a living person." Emile hissed through his teeth, "You've killed my little brother and you know it!"
Honestly, Arthur should have been able to detect someone was tailing him, especially when that someone was Emile who was not a stealthy character like his little brother. Arthur might have been given the slip by Emilio because the latter was a good thief with extremely light feet and he made sure to stay a distance away from Arthur's group but Emile was a bumbling warrior.
Arthur was too caught up in the prospect of being an adventurer that he let his guard down. He felt like kicking himself. However, it was already too late for regret. Thus, he recovered quickly and tried to reason with Emile.
Nevertheless, that did not work as good as he'd hoped. Their situation could be summed up by this Chinese idiom, a scholar having an argument by a soldier. No matter how solid the former's justification was, there was simply no way to communicate with someone who just knew how to talk with fists.
"Emile, like what I've told you earlier, we did not murder your little brother, we didn't even lay a finger on him. If anything, he was the one who was trying to entrap us. Do you know how lucky we were to have escaped his trap?"
"Boulderdash, my little brother definitely would not do something like that. Furthermore, why would he entrap someone like you? You have no power and no money, why did he target you?"
"He was targeting our group, he wanted to steal the loot from right under our noses. He had his whole gang of underlings with him when he came to ambush us!"
"In that case, how did you manage to be standing here, talking to me?! Last I checked, you've failed your latest adventurer's entry test and Emilio was a level E adventurer. And you said he had a whole gang with him. Even with the aid from your friends, you wouldn't have been able to survive it. Therefore, you have to be lying! You dare to murder my little brother but you don't have the guts to admit to what you've done?!"
The argument was truly unreasonable. Emile was practically blaming Arthur for being alive and for not falling into Emilio's trap. Then again, the whole argument was unreasonable from the very beginning.
Both of the men were dancing around the real topic that they were trying to approach. Even though Arthur knew Emile had a hand in setting up Emilio's trap and he was doing this on purpose, Arthur couldn't expose the man outright because he had no proof. Emile was an instructor employed at the adventurer's guild, so his words would hold more weight compared to Arthur who was barely anything. Therefore, what Arthur was doing was trying to drag the conversation out at least until Felicia or Billy's return. Then, he would have more witnesses and corroboration to his story.
Emile's purpose was to kill Arthur to take revenge for his little brother but he couldn't do that outright lest he ran into trouble with the village tribunal later on. Therefore, he tried to rally the nearby villagers to his cause. If the villagers heard what Arthur's group had done, they perhaps would have been able to convince the tribunal to forgive Emile's daytime murder. After all, it was a crime of passion. Arthur's life for Emilio's life, it was an even trade. The murder wouldn't be justified but it would be understood.
Emile's plan was working, his loud voice echoed down the village and rumours started to form as the villagers gathered around the village centre. Some really did believe the rumours that Arthur had killed Emile while others came to Arthur's defense. However, the reason why they did not believe the rumours wasn't entirely flattering especially when they drifted into Arthur's ears.
"Hey, did you hear? Arthur was caught killing someone from our village!"
"Yea, I hear the poor victim is Emilio."
"The rumours must be wrong. How can Arthur, the eternal failure manage to kill an adventurer like Emilio? Stop believing everything you hear."
"That's right, the man can barely handle a sword or cast a simple spell, how could he manage to kill someone as powerful as Emilio?"
While Arthur was glad that some of the villagers trusted him but he did not know how to feel when he found out the reason they did not believe the rumours was because they had confidence that Arthur was too weak to able to do anything to Emilio. Arthur did not know whether to laugh or cry.
As Arthur turned to the group of gathered villagers, trying to address the rumours, Arthur sensed a shift in the air. The voices of the villagers, be it from suspicion, disbelief, curiosity or disdain, pooled together to form a familiar energy. Arthur had just come into contact with this particular form of energy hours ago, it was the Echo!
However, it was not a fully-formed Echo, it was the energy in its early formation stages. It still needed something more to mature and grow. Arthur wondered what had happened to contribute to this development, then he remembered what Aoide had said, 'constant interaction with other humans is a crucial part should one wish to master the Voice magic.'
Perhaps this was what she meant. Comments and rumblings by other human beings was the foundation to the formation of Echoes!
Emile cut through Arthur's thought by exclaiming, "Stop trying to argue your way out of this! Since you've put my little brother down in cold blood, then as per the custom, I shall challenge you to a duel to the death! In the name of justice for Emilio, prepare yourself!"
Enough preparation had been done to bolster the public support so Emile finally led to the real reason why he had confronted Arthur. He also knew he couldn't let this delay any longer unless Felicia or Billy returned to help their friend.
Before Arthur could react, Emile pulled out his sword and aimed a swipe at Arthur's neck!
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"Bullshit, I saw with my own eyes the man that your group dragged back to the village. That husk can be barely be considered a living person." Emile hissed through his teeth, "You've killed my little brother and you know it!"
Honestly, Arthur should have been able to detect someone was tailing him, especially when that someone was Emile who was not a stealthy character like his little brother. Arthur might have been given the slip by Emilio because the latter was a good thief with extremely light feet and he made sure to stay a distance away from Arthur's group but Emile was a bumbling warrior.
Arthur was too caught up in the prospect of being an adventurer that he let his guard down. He felt like kicking himself. However, it was already too late for regret. Thus, he recovered quickly and tried to reason with Emile.
Nevertheless, that did not work as good as he'd hoped. Their situation could be summed up by this Chinese idiom, a scholar having an argument by a soldier. No matter how solid the former's justification was, there was simply no way to communicate with someone who just knew how to talk with fists.
"Emile, like what I've told you earlier, we did not murder your little brother, we didn't even lay a finger on him. If anything, he was the one who was trying to entrap us. Do you know how lucky we were to have escaped his trap?"
"Boulderdash, my little brother definitely would not do something like that. Furthermore, why would he entrap someone like you? You have no power and no money, why did he target you?"
"He was targeting our group, he wanted to steal the loot from right under our noses. He had his whole gang of underlings with him when he came to ambush us!"
"In that case, how did you manage to be standing here, talking to me?! Last I checked, you've failed your latest adventurer's entry test and Emilio was a level E adventurer. And you said he had a whole gang with him. Even with the aid from your friends, you wouldn't have been able to survive it. Therefore, you have to be lying! You dare to murder my little brother but you don't have the guts to admit to what you've done?!"
The argument was truly unreasonable. Emile was practically blaming Arthur for being alive and for not falling into Emilio's trap. Then again, the whole argument was unreasonable from the very beginning.
Both of the men were dancing around the real topic that they were trying to approach. Even though Arthur knew Emile had a hand in setting up Emilio's trap and he was doing this on purpose, Arthur couldn't expose the man outright because he had no proof. Emile was an instructor employed at the adventurer's guild, so his words would hold more weight compared to Arthur who was barely anything. Therefore, what Arthur was doing was trying to drag the conversation out at least until Felicia or Billy's return. Then, he would have more witnesses and corroboration to his story.
Emile's purpose was to kill Arthur to take revenge for his little brother but he couldn't do that outright lest he ran into trouble with the village tribunal later on. Therefore, he tried to rally the nearby villagers to his cause. If the villagers heard what Arthur's group had done, they perhaps would have been able to convince the tribunal to forgive Emile's daytime murder. After all, it was a crime of passion. Arthur's life for Emilio's life, it was an even trade. The murder wouldn't be justified but it would be understood.
Emile's plan was working, his loud voice echoed down the village and rumours started to form as the villagers gathered around the village centre. Some really did believe the rumours that Arthur had killed Emile while others came to Arthur's defense. However, the reason why they did not believe the rumours wasn't entirely flattering especially when they drifted into Arthur's ears.
"Hey, did you hear? Arthur was caught killing someone from our village!"
"Yea, I hear the poor victim is Emilio."
"The rumours must be wrong. How can Arthur, the eternal failure manage to kill an adventurer like Emilio? Stop believing everything you hear."
"That's right, the man can barely handle a sword or cast a simple spell, how could he manage to kill someone as powerful as Emilio?"
While Arthur was glad that some of the villagers trusted him but he did not know how to feel when he found out the reason they did not believe the rumours was because they had confidence that Arthur was too weak to able to do anything to Emilio. Arthur did not know whether to laugh or cry.
As Arthur turned to the group of gathered villagers, trying to address the rumours, Arthur sensed a shift in the air. The voices of the villagers, be it from suspicion, disbelief, curiosity or disdain, pooled together to form a familiar energy. Arthur had just come into contact with this particular form of energy hours ago, it was the Echo!
However, it was not a fully-formed Echo, it was the energy in its early formation stages. It still needed something more to mature and grow. Arthur wondered what had happened to contribute to this development, then he remembered what Aoide had said, 'constant interaction with other humans is a crucial part should one wish to master the Voice magic.'
Perhaps this was what she meant. Comments and rumblings by other human beings was the foundation to the formation of Echoes!
Emile cut through Arthur's thought by exclaiming, "Stop trying to argue your way out of this! Since you've put my little brother down in cold blood, then as per the custom, I shall challenge you to a duel to the death! In the name of justice for Emilio, prepare yourself!"
Enough preparation had been done to bolster the public support so Emile finally led to the real reason why he had confronted Arthur. He also knew he couldn't let this delay any longer unless Felicia or Billy returned to help their friend.
Before Arthur could react, Emile pulled out his sword and aimed a swipe at Arthur's neck!
"Bullshit, I saw with my own eyes the man that your group dragged back to the village. That husk can be barely be considered a living person." Emile hissed through his teeth, "You've killed my little brother and you know it!"Honestly, Arthur should have been able to detect someone was tailing him, especially when that someone was Emile who was not a stealthy character like his little brother. Arthur might have been given the slip by Emilio because the latter was a good thief with extremely light feet and he made sure to stay a distance away from Arthur's group but Emile was a bumbling warrior.Arthur was too caught up in the prospect of being an adventurer that he let his guard down. He felt like kicking himself. However, it was already too late for regret. Thus, he recovered quickly and tried to reason with Emile.Nevertheless, that did not work as good as he'd hoped. Their situation could be summed up by this Chinese idiom, a scholar having an argument by a soldier. No matter how solid the former's justification was, there was simply no way to communicate with someone who just knew how to talk with fists."Emile, like what I've told you earlier, we did not murder your little brother, we didn't even lay a finger on him. If anything, he was the one who was trying to entrap us. Do you know how lucky we were to have escaped his trap?""Boulderdash, my little brother definitely would not do something like that. Furthermore, why would he entrap someone like you? You have no power and no money, why did he target you?""He was targeting our group, he wanted to steal the loot from right under our noses. He had his whole gang of underlings with him when he came to ambush us!""In that case, how did you manage to be standing here, talking to me?! Last I checked, you've failed your latest adventurer's entry test and Emilio was a level E adventurer. And you said he had a whole gang with him. Even with the aid from your friends, you wouldn't have been able to survive it. Therefore, you have to be lying! You dare to murder my little brother but you don't have the guts to admit to what you've done?!"The argument was truly unreasonable. Emile was practically blaming Arthur for being alive and for not falling into Emilio's trap. Then again, the whole argument was unreasonable from the very beginning.Both of the men were dancing around the real topic that they were trying to approach. Even though Arthur knew Emile had a hand in setting up Emilio's trap and he was doing this on purpose, Arthur couldn't expose the man outright because he had no proof. Emile was an instructor employed at the adventurer's guild, so his words would hold more weight compared to Arthur who was barely anything. Therefore, what Arthur was doing was trying to drag the conversation out at least until Felicia or Billy's return. Then, he would have more witnesses and corroboration to his story.Emile's purpose was to kill Arthur to take revenge for his little brother but he couldn't do that outright lest he ran into trouble with the village tribunal later on. Therefore, he tried to rally the nearby villagers to his cause. If the villagers heard what Arthur's group had done, they perhaps would have been able to convince the tribunal to forgive Emile's daytime murder. After all, it was a crime of passion. Arthur's life for Emilio's life, it was an even trade. The murder wouldn't be justified but it would be understood.Emile's plan was working, his loud voice echoed down the village and rumours started to form as the villagers gathered around the village centre. Some really did believe the rumours that Arthur had killed Emile while others came to Arthur's defense. However, the reason why they did not believe the rumours wasn't entirely flattering especially when they drifted into Arthur's ears."Hey, did you hear? Arthur was caught killing someone from our village!""Yea, I hear the poor victim is Emilio.""The rumours must be wrong. How can Arthur, the eternal failure manage to kill an adventurer like Emilio? Stop believing everything you hear.""That's right, the man can barely handle a sword or cast a simple spell, how could he manage to kill someone as powerful as Emilio?"While Arthur was glad that some of the villagers trusted him but he did not know how to feel when he found out the reason they did not believe the rumours was because they had confidence that Arthur was too weak to able to do anything to Emilio. Arthur did not know whether to laugh or cry.As Arthur turned to the group of gathered villagers, trying to address the rumours, Arthur sensed a shift in the air. The voices of the villagers, be it from suspicion, disbelief, curiosity or disdain, pooled together to form a familiar energy. Arthur had just come into contact with this particular form of energy hours ago, it was the Echo!However, it was not a fully-formed Echo, it was the energy in its early formation stages. It still needed something more to mature and grow. Arthur wondered what had happened to contribute to this development, then he remembered what Aoide had said, 'constant interaction with other humans is a crucial part should one wish to master the Voice magic.'Perhaps this was what she meant. Comments and rumblings by other human beings was the foundation to the formation of Echoes!Emile cut through Arthur's thought by exclaiming, "Stop trying to argue your way out of this! Since you've put my little brother down in cold blood, then as per the custom, I shall challenge you to a duel to the death! In the name of justice for Emilio, prepare yourself!"Enough preparation had been done to bolster the public support so Emile finally led to the real reason why he had confronted Arthur. He also knew he couldn't let this delay any longer unless Felicia or Billy returned to help their friend.Before Arthur could react, Emile pulled out his sword and aimed a swipe at Arthur's neck!
