Half an hour passed.
Angele showed Tia several different basic sword maneuvers and thought it was enough for the day. He returned the sword to its sheath carefully before he gazed at the sky. It was covered with billowing clouds as though a storm was coming.
A chilling wind blew into the backyard, deprived of the sun's warmth, as darkness took over. The weather had been scorching hot in the past several days, yet now all the heat was gone. Angele walked toward the well, put down his sword, and wiped the sweat off his face with a black towel.
"Why are you still here? Go home and think about what you learned today," Angele turned back, and he said. Tia was still standing by the door filled with disbelief from Angele letting her stay. She nodded after she heard what Angele said, her face filled with happiness.
"Yes, Master. Thank you very much! I'm leaving now!" Tia said. As she turned to leave, her path was blocked by several strong men. Two men in plate armor suits pushed Tia away and stared at Angele.
"Excuse me. Are you Angele Rio?" one of the men asked.
"Who let you in?" Angele asked with a grim tone.
"I'm a noble, still, and you're on my private property. I didn't know the guards of Lennon City were this insolent," he continued.
"We're just doing our job. I don't think it's appropriate for you to accuse of us being rude!" the other man replied with a deep voice.
"Scum." Angele had a cold expression on his face.
"Say that again, and I'll make you pay for your arrogance!" the first man yelled, his hands placed on the handle of his sword.
"Try me, scum." Angele grasped his crossguard sword, taunting the guard mockingly.
"Come on, Morph. We're still on a mission!" One of the men stopped the guard named Morph as he calmed Morph down.
"We apologize for trespassing in your backyard without permitted entry, it's our fault," the man turned around, and he said as he bowed slightly to Angele.
"We are the City Guards. We're here to check your residential permit. We do this occasionally, so please be considerate. If you show us the permit, it would be nice," the man said.
"Yea, that's the attitude I like. However, you still violated my privacy, causing my mood to worsen now, so I don't want to show you my permit. You may leave now," Angele calmed down a bit, and he said.
"You!" Morph glared at Angele in anger, intent on drawing his sword.
"Morph!" The man stopped Morph again.
"Calm down! You'll be punished again if you keep acting like this!" the man yelled.
"Don't worry. I think you already did your job here," Angele said in a low voice as he looked at the two guards. Suddenly, they heard people in heavy armor marching into the backyard.
"Get out of my way, son." The two guards were pushed away by a huge swordsman.
"I…!" Morph got mad again, but the other guard pulled him back.
"This is the place." A group of heavily armored swordsmen marched into the backyard. Their leader was a person that had a black feather on his helmet. He didn't seem to care about the guards he pushed aside just now.
"Sorry, Master Angele. We saw the door already opened, and we could hear people arguing inside, so we entered to see if there was anything we can help you with." The leader bowed, his tone sounded like he respected Angele a lot.
"You're too slow." Angele shook his head, put down the black towel, and walked toward the door with the crossguard sword in his hand.
"Get out of here. I need to change," Angele said.
"You!" Morph was still infuriated. He had just been pushed aside by the leader of this group of heavy armored swordsmen, but he knew that Angele and the swordsmen probably had a higher stature than the City Guards. The other guard knew that there was nothing they could do, and instead just tried his best to calm Morph down.
These heavy armored swordsmen were the guards of the Lord Mayor of Lennon's mansion. The leader was named Gerac, a knight-level warrior. He guarded the city's entrance for five minutes alone during the War of Andrew. Thousands of enemies invaded the city, yet not even one of them was able to enter the city. Gerac killed countless enemies, and the slain corpses stockpiled until it nearly blocked the entrance.
The citizens called Gerac 'The Tiger of Lennon', so the City Guards decided not to cross with Angele after witnessing Gerac showing respect to this noble who had just arrived in this city not too long ago.
Gerac yelled; the guards quickly left the backyard one by one. Tia was the only one who remained in the place. Angele looked at the girl and saw her pale face. It seemed that she was scared witless by what just happened.
"Well, it looks like they misunderstood our relationship," Angele said. Tia looked at him in confusion, unable to make heads or tails of what Angele was saying.
"It could be a good thing for you." Angele didn't explain, only walking into his room and closing the door.
"Master Angele… He must be someone influential…" Tia stood in the backyard alone, not knowing what to do. She was just a girl who had a very frail body and an average-looking appearance. Tia didn't think Angele would become interested in her.
Tia knew that Angele didn't want anything from her as he was merely teaching her basic sword moves. Because of that, she felt very grateful to him. Her father was a drunkard, while her mother disappeared during childhood. Tia had known that she needed to do everything by herself since she was very young, that no one would be there for her if anything were to happen to her. One day, when she was nine, her father left the house and never came back.
She lost her home and lived on the streets for a while before she gained a job at the pie store. She only wanted food and shelter, so the owner never paid her actual money as her wage. Every day, she needed to work more than 12 hours, and if she ever made any mistakes, the owner would beat her up.
Still, Tia endured every pain she suffered. During work time, she would listen to the customers' conversations as her hobby. She learned that people feared the ones who carried weapons and knew that people who could fight would at least be able to protect themselves.
Tia dearly wished to become someone who could use weapons one day, so she tried training in the sword using tree branches whenever she had spare time. However, due to her lack of knowledge in wielding swords, her right hand got injured.
Angele corrected her moves, thus preventing her from damaging her right arm's muscles. If she hadn't met Angele, it would lead to her right arm becoming completely disabled one day. She wanted to gain power, so she trained every day no matter how hard her situation was.
Angele realized her right hand was in pain when he saw her the first time, but he never thought that the girl had been learning to use a sword without teaching her. He liked the girl's unyielding nature. After all, Tia wanted to become stronger, and she tried to reach her goal as if nothing could deter her. Angele thought that even if she couldn't become a knight, she would still become a great warrior.
Angele wanted the guards to have misconceptions about his relationship with Tia because he knew it was better for her. No matter what Gerac thought of their relationship, it would make people treat her better. However, Angele didn't want anything in exchange; he merely wanted to do something for her.
It wasn't a big deal to Angele, but what he had done would drastically change the girl's life.
Half an hour later.
Angele had his clothes changed and all the valuable items kept inside his pouch. He was wearing a white suit with his sword tied to his waist. Angele walked out of his room and saw Tia standing in the middle of the shop; it looked like she didn't know what to do.
"Well, if you're not leaving, you better practice what I just taught you. I'll be back by nighttime," Angele said.
"I will, Master Angele," Tia said as she bowed to Angele. His words uplifted her mood.
Angele was planning on taking her in as a disciple. He discovered that she had the potential to become a knight upon analyzing her attributes with the chip. Though the chances were at a low point, she had better talent than Angele. Angele wanted to pass down his sword skills and archery, and he also needed some people to help him out while living in the city. He needed people he could trust and people who would obey his bidding. Angele could do everything by himself, but he wanted to spend more time studying and experimenting.
Tia was still young, but she was already hardworking, and she had a great potential. Angele had some spare time to spend. It would be nice if the girl became a knight, but it was alright if she didn't. Angele planned on just doing whatever he wanted.
"Let's go," Angele walked toward Gerac, and he said after.
"The Lord is awaiting you in his mansion," Gerac said politely. Angele knew the Lord was going to make a move after discovering the mysterious power Angele had. There was a black carriage waiting near the entrance of the store. It had a 'white bird and sunflower' insignia. The sunflower looked like jimsonweed, but it had a golden hue. Surrounded by the flowers was the white bird at flight.
Angele was surprised that the Lord himself had invited him to the mansion. It looked like they paid much attention to the mysterious power they discovered. Angele rode on the carriage and closed the door. The carriage started to move forward at a slow pace, escorted by the heavy armored swordsmen beside the carriage.
They left the alley right away. When Angele peeked outside the window, he saw the street bustling with activity.