A frustrated hero

Training

The old man was in front of me waiting for me to attack him with my sword, for me it was a challenge, the training I received from the guards of my city. I went to him, but he hit me with the sheath of the sword he had on his back. 

-You are too impulsive, if it were a real fight. You would already be dead, well let's start from scratch. Raise your sword to half height and tilt your legs a little more. 

I listened to him and tried to put the posture he had indicated to me at that moment. 

-Now, attack me," he shouted. 

This time I felt a little better and I was able to do it faster than in my first attempt, but I was beaten again and he gave me a kick that made me fall to the floor. 

-You must train a lot and also exercise to strengthen your muscles. Well, let's continue our training session until nightfall. 

There was nothing I could do, I had accepted this training, and it was too late to regret it. The only thing I could do was to keep up with the fight. 

[...] 

Hours after that training, my body ached, I tried a thousand ways to hit him with my sword, but it was impossible, I could see that he had years of training and despite his age he was totally used to this. 

Luckily for me. He invited me to eat, I had no money to pay for my food, not even to spend the night in a lodging. 

We went to a kind of restaurant where they also sold beer and all kinds of drinks. 

I had some bruises on my body that showed a little bit. The man tried to start a conversation while we were eating a cooked chicken with some legumes. 

-Where are you from? he asked me. 

-I am from the land of Lions, the famous city where there are all kinds of wild animals. 

I kept saying that so that everyone would believe it and gain a little credibility among the people. That place was a bit complicated, but I knew it very well. I lived there for a while and learned a lot of things. 

-Interesting...a very wild place, but good for living among nature, however it is dangerous, I can't imagine a Lion chasing me. 

I laughed a little at his joke, but the tranquility I was experiencing at that moment was not going to last long. 

The same men who had kept me as a slave came in there. My back was turned at the time, but I could hear their voices. I didn't speak or say anything, I just tried to ignore their presence, but they were still obsessed with me. 

-See boy, give us what you found in the dungeon or we will kill you in this place. 

I tried to turn around, and I saw that one of them was holding a sword close to my neck. 

The old man who was drinking beer at the time got up from his chair. 

-What's going on? Why are you threatening him? 

-He is our slave, we sent him to explore a dungeon to bring us something from there and he escaped. We know he took something. He and that object are our property. 

-Slave? 

-He escaped from an invasion of Met country, so anyone who ran away was hunted down and left in the hands of those who captured him. We took him as our slave so as not to kill him, since he was the main alternative. 

-I see, but you know you are in a foreign country, in a public place. You can't hurt someone in a neutral place, you're going to get in trouble. You remember the invasion laws. 

Those laws were quite a puzzle, in some parts it contradicted itself, but it was clear in some aspects. One of them was that if a citizen committed any act unbecoming of that country he would be arrested and would pay the penalty there, if he fled the nation to which he belonged was obliged to hand him over or a war of words would begin that in the end could end in war between the two. And this country was far superior to that of my persecutors. 

The man lowered his weapon when he felt fear for the knowledge of that old man, who not only left it there, but also tried to buy my freedom. 

-Since he is their slave and they want to kill him, I will buy him, he will be my pupil. The man took one of the swords we trained with and gave it to him. 

That sword looked quite expensive, I wanted to tell him not to do it, but I didn't have the courage to speak, I could pay him with my work as an adventurer. 

The men were silent and just received it and went to a table to eat. I don't know what they were thinking, but I knew deep down they would still pursue me. I had to leave today to avoid meeting them again. 

The old man signaled me to leave the place, obviously I listened to him, since I was indebted to him. 

[...] 

As I left the place, the man began to advise me. 

-You should avoid those people. They will not stand still, they are bloodthirsty people, with no empathy for anything. They are going to kill you no matter what you give them. 

-I know, I'm leaving tomorrow for my mission, maybe I'll be back here in a week. 

-I see, well when you come back we will continue with our training, so take care of yourself and stay away from those people. 

The man walked away from that place, and I headed towards the guild. I wanted to know where the boss was there. I had nowhere to stay, and I couldn't bother the old man anymore. As I walked there, I noticed that even though it was already dark, there were a lot of people nearby. As if someone important had come to this place... 

The streets were made of stone and were illuminated by torches, but they were not enough for a place as big as this. 

I entered the place and saw that everyone was looking at a specific person. Even the head of the guild was talking to him. 

From where I was I saw a person with blond hair, silver armor, and some kind of red cloak. He didn't look like an adventurer, he looked like a hero. His presence was very imposing. 

I decided to sit at a table and waited to talk to the elf to arrange my lodging for today only, but this seemed to take a long time, in several moments I almost fell asleep. Out of nowhere I saw that the conversation of the two men finally ended. I decided to head towards the boss, but someone else appeared just when I was a few steps away from him. 

It was another adventurer, I preferred to sit back down and not interrupt him, I didn't want anyone else to hear me talking about this topic, but he called me. 

-Hey .... boy, I see you've been waiting for me for a while. Go to the flower lodge, I've arranged everything. Note to self. 

Even so, I was a little embarrassed that someone else was listening. I listened to him and left that place towards the lodge. 

[...] 

When I left the guild I went to the place where I saw several places that could be lodgings. At that hour I only saw many drunks bothering in the streets, and I tried to avoid them, but it made me lose time, because there were too many of them. 

I saw a place that caught my attention. It had many flowers, and all of them were different from those I had seen in the houses of the nobles of this city. I saw it from afar and little by little I began to approach it. The door was open and there didn't seem to be anyone attending the place. I stood at the reception and waited for someone to appear.  

-Who do you need," a female voice said to me. 

I turned to see who it was and noticed it was a woman. She seemed to be a hobby, a small human, maybe half the size of a normal one, very young like an elf. She had some kind of cap and glasses, she was kind of chubby, and her eyes were blue. 

-Ah... hello, my name is Gabriel. 

-Mmm, Gabriel, if .... the guildmaster said they would pay for your lodging in this place...well just follow in the back in room 20. 

She gave me the keys and a lamp she just lit with a candle, inside was one just like it, but with some kind of oil. It was all very fast and planned. I could tell the woman didn't want to talk much. 

I preferred to concentrate more on my things and I went to the room that corresponded to me. I walked there in the darkness of the corridors, illuminating the doors to find the room where I would sleep. Unfortunately for me, I got the one at the back. 

I took the key and opened the door. When I illuminated the place I could see a rather small and common room. White sheets and a table. Plus some kind of closet to store clothes and a bathroom. 

When I approached my bed I noticed that there were two shirts, two pants and a tunic. I came to the conclusion that the guild leader had given them to me, but out of embarrassment he didn't tell me anything. The clothes I was wearing had some cracks in them from the fight I had had a few days ago with that monster. I decided to rest for tomorrow. I was very tired from the trip and the training. My body could not take it anymore.