The World of Tactics

Chapter Twenty II: Lawrence? Jagen?

Chapter Twenty II: Lawrence? Jagen?

"What happened that night?

What happened that night was tragic. It took place within the family's main branch. I was taken as prisoner immediately after I lost during the duel. I was dragged, tossed, and turned. At that time, I was disoriented. It was only when it was nighttime that I got to. The prison was disgustingly filled with the heavy smell of earthy moss. The prison stone walls are cold to the touch and the prison bar was no better.

At that time, I was slightly disoriented and noticed that my cell door was slightly ajar. There were no guards to watch me, which was quite odd at that time. Every single detail leading up till here was all a scheme. I was too naïve at that time and made my escape. Uncomfortably and all alone, there was no other person to be found. I was slightly happy and secretly made my way to my father's bedroom through a secret that only I knew at that time.

I was saddened to see a dagger being thrust straight through the heart of my dear father. I curbed my sadness at the disbelief that my younger twin would do such a thing. The dagger was the one that I had always carried around. Just the day before the duel, I gave it to my younger twin brother. At that time, I was starting to realize the conspiracy of those going after me. So, I swiftly went back through the secret passage and made my way to a secret room.

There was this one time that my aged and poisoned father showed me the way to the secret heirloom room that was filled with all sorts of amazing treasures. It should be called a treasure house. However, at that moment, I was inside the room. I did not grab any of the amazing treasures on display because I knew that all of the other treasures were irrelevant. It was 'this' that I grabbed.

After I exited the secret room, I picked up one of the lances within my room and made my escape. I was just right above the edge of the family's main branch and I was surrounded. During that time, I did not realize that I was inscribed with tracking magic and had left obvious trails. The secret passage was discovered and the secret room as well. Even now, I feel that I have done the right thing to take 'this' from the hands of those unforgivable family members (B-a-s-t-a-r-d).

Remember it now, that night and surrounded. It was the most life-threatening battle that I have gone through. Luckily, I quickly grew stronger during the battle and soon none of the weapons could break my growing power. I slew all of the enemies on the battlefield and fled." Jagen's story continues, and Lawrence listened.

---

He hopped down from Dork and took a stronghold of Dork's reins. Even with Dork's urging, he still cautiously made sure that they slowly approached the cave. Once he was just a few feet outside, he could gradually see that there was a figure sitting a bit close to the right edge of the cave wall. The figure was a man holding onto a knife while carving a wooden block. There was a lot of stone furniture covered with cozy furs. From the size of the furs laid all over, he could tell that it might have been a permanent living place.

Likewise, he also noticed that there was at least three direwolves' fur lying on the rocky ground. A fiery brown bear's fur, an orange striped tiger's fur, a few roe's fur, and many other wolves' fur lying on the ground. Just when he was about to say something, the man had already spoken first.

The man said, "Lawrence?" The man's tone changed once the man saw that he was not who the man had expected. The man continues, "No, who are you?"

He was also cautious, but seeing that the man did not mean any harm, he answered the man as calmly as possible, "I am John, John Smith, and you?"

The man also relaxed a bit seeing that he answered, so the man also replied, "Jagen." Afterward, 'Jagen' asked, "What brings you here?"

He did not exactly move closer, but he still went into the cave so that they could take cover from the rain. He said, "Taking cover from the rain." It was a short and simple sentence, but effective after stepping into the cave (taking cover from the rain).

Jagen was still skeptical about him, but seeing that he was still young, Jagen spoke much calmer, "I may be old, but don't have any funny ideas." Once that was done, Jagen completely ignored him and he was the same.

He saw the gripped lance on the side. After all, he was still unfamiliar with Jagen and it was enough of a reason to keep their distance and to be cautious of each other at the same time. He did not have any 'funny ideas' either because he could underline that Jagen was not a pushover, just a quick look at all of the furs all over the cave. He knows for sure that Jagen might be a match for the current him. However, if conflict truly arrives, he still gets his unallocated points along with Goon and Uzi. It was best that no conflict would spark either.

He did not mind Jagen's quietness and proceeded to take out his metal pot in the pouch saddled on Dork. It was quite wet, but it should still be useful. He put the pot outside to gather some rainwater. He was going to make some soup early because he estimated that he needed to stay there for a night. Making food early is better than sitting around doing nothing. However, it was too bad that he did not have time to collect some wild vegetables to go with the soup. It would just be a plain meaty soup. Not that he minded or anything, since he got some cheese and hard bread to go along with it.

Once the pot was filled more than halfway with the rainwater, he had already set up a hanger for the pot of rainwater. This would effectively boil the rainwater to get rid of any harmful unknown substances within the rainwater. Once the water starts to boil, he pretends to grab his prepared wolves' meat cubes that were wrapped in a huge leaflet. He made sure that he grabbed it out of the wet rucksack that he carried with him. Then, he added the meat along with the spices that he grabbed from the rucksack. He had to pretend even if it looked quite dry on the outside.

After that, a soupy aroma was quickly trapped throughout the cave. The smell of the soup also grabs the attention of Jagen. He also took out the wet wooden bowl along with the wet wooden spoons and set them aside. He also took out a hand-sized slice of cheese along with some hard bread. He first used the clean carving knife to cut open two of the hard bread and spread two-thirds of the cheese slice.

He found a flat-sized stone on the side and put it beside the fireplace. The soup was boiling well, the cheese slightly melted as it warmed up, and the hard bread also became toasted. Just when he was about to ask if Jagen wanted supper out of politeness, he heard a few splashing crunches due to a person's footsteps outside the cave. He assumed that this person must have been the Lawrence guy that Jagen had said when he got inside.

The name Lawrence also brings him a memory that he did not forget. All the while, he was working hard on making the soup. The thought process also wanders towards Lawrence, Dewberry, Tube, and Zack. He wondered how the four were faring even though he was abandoned. However, the four at least had protected him during his first encounter with goblins. If not for the four of them, he would have died when he fainted. Lady Luck was at his side at that moment. He still shudders remembering his first encounter with goblins.

He was quite curious as to where the four of them had run to. After he got to the barracks, he had never got any sort of information on the four of them. Even after he asked around, he got no information afterward. Likewise, he gave up all hope of seeing them afterward, since there was no news about the four after half a year. However, the name that Jagen uttered was still as memorable as ever because he had the slight feeling that the encounter with the hobgoblin was not a coincidence, nor was it the first battle with the goblins.

The grid line was very obvious and it was very obvious about the formation of grid lines, because anyone that has experienced battles and grid line formation would know that a battle was up ahead. He had thought that Lawrence and the others did not see what the gridline was all about and that a battle was brewing. He was also suspicious that Lawrence and the others knew that a battle had been happening while pretending not to know about anything.

His thought was interrupted by the person that had just entered the cave. Under the shine of the firelight, he saw such a familiar person. However, this person and the person from his mind were quite different from each other. This person's face was filled with three-clawed mark lines on the nose that went down horizontally to the left cheek. Likewise, the chin of the person was full of stubbed, rough, and wet growing beard along with a small mustache. The person's eyebrows were deep black and were densely covered.

His eyes looked at the wet long furry hair draped down behind him and he turned his gaze down to the missing right arm of the person that was standing at the cave entrance. An iron lance was gripped on the other remaining hand. He knows who this rugged person was and he looks at the fur clothing worn on the person. He, Jagen, and along with the person all spoke. As if they were all in a concert, together, all of their voices resounded within the cave at the same time.

He said, "Lawrence?"

Jagen said, "Lawrence."

And the person said, "Young Master!"

[Jagen - A man at the prime age (30 years old), a talented knight, suffered from a scheming family noble line, yet such a gem was hidden from the world's eye. He had been proclaimed as a genius in lance-manship since young and it became much more apparent later on when he became a knight after a year of training. He had a bright future ahead and yet the jealousy of his family was his downfall. He had trusted his younger twin, trusted his family aides, and trusted those around him. Yet, he lost his strong right arm, lost his fateful position as the heir, countless people aimed for his throat, chased him out of the family, many wounds that caused countless hidden injuries, and have survived due to his luck in being able to higher promote as a paladin during his last encounter with those who he trusted.

His future was gleaming, his potential was glowing brightly. His many incurable hidden injuries in the past had hindered his potential growth. He could no longer become stronger, but due to many monsters later down the line. He was able to wield stronger weapons as compensation, as his weapons' mastery rank increased. The most prominent was his lance mastery rank. He felt that he was edging close to being able to fully master the lance.

That week, he killed more than a hundred before he could make his escape. Even after his escape, he also had some close encounters with his younger twin. Along with that, he had added more kill counts under his name. The number of murders that he had numbered exactly one hundred forty-seven. He burned this number into his mind and swore to make a comeback after his return. His thirst had never waned and continued to mellow like wine and aged sweetly like whisky. Only a year left before his sweet revenge.

Growth Rate (Original/Base/class change/higher promotion/Recover):

Original (Grade 0)

[HP: 36][STR: 55][MAG: 0][SKL: 33][SPD: 27][LCK: 53][DEF: 43][RES: 29]

Base Class (Grade 1)

[HP: 40][STR: 60][MAG: 0][SKL: 36][SPD: 29][LCK: 58][DEF: 47][RES: 31]

Change Class (Grade 2)

[HP: 48][STR: 72][MAG: 0][SKL: 42][SPD: 33][LCK: 68][DEF: 55][RES: 37]

Higher Promotion (Grade 3)

[HP: 32][STR: 48][MAG: 0][SKL: 28][SPD: 22][LCK: 44][DEF: 37][RES: 25]

After Recover ()

[HP: 64][STR: 96][MAG: 0][SKL: 56][SPD: 44][LCK: 88][DEF: 74][RES: 50]

He later came under the main character's leadership before the upcoming turbulence and became stronger under the main character's banner. Later on, he led the main character's child to become a great hero during the great turbulence.]