The Hero of Vengeance

Chapter 18: Magic Knight

The next morning I felt refreshed and ready for the day ahead.

I got my armor and gear together then went to the dining area of the restaurant.

As I walked towards the front door, I heard a familiar deep voice beckon me over.

"Hey, Mizik! Come here for a minute, I got something for you!"

It was Jorgan calling out to me.

I made my way over and gave him a warm smile.

"Good morning Jorgan, did you say you had something for me?" I asked him.

He nodded and handed me a small envelope.

"This just came from a courier a few minutes before you came down. You might want to take a look at it."

I examined the envelope and read the writing on the very front.

For: Mizik Iratus

I immediately opened the envelope and began reading the paper inside.

Dear Mizik,

We hope you were able to make it to the Capital safely! How is Rose doing? Did she protect you? And...did she show you her face, yet!? I'm curious!

We've all been working hard to make up for you and Jax not being here. Everyone misses you a lot.

We're still rebuilding the Inn, but business has still been moving steadily. I miss you more than anyone else, though!

I want my nametag back, by the way. But I want you to give it to me in person. Aunt Cleo was upset that I gave it to you and tried to get me another one.

I refused, of course! I want MY nametag back from you! It's special!

When you get this letter, please let us know how you're doing!

We love you so much, Mizik! And tell Rose we said hello!

Sincerely, The Greatest Aunt that ever lived, Aria Kneltol.

P.s. Don't you dare let anyone else cut your hair! That's my job!

I felt tears in my eyes as I read the paper.

I could feel every bit of love poured into it. These people were precious to me and I wanted nothing more than to give them an easy life.

One day, I swear I'll make things better for them. They won't have to work at the Inn anymore and Aria can find herself a respectable man to marry, too.

I turned and bowed my head to Jorgan.

"Thank you, Jorgan. I appreciate you giving this to me. Also, Aria says hello and that she loves you."

"She's a real sweetheart. But don't worry about it."

I gave him a nod and went on my way to the courier's office.

* * *

After walking a while, I was able to locate the courier's office and went inside.

There were several desks lined up next to one another for writing letters and I sat down at one of them. I could only write so much, so I made sure to get as much into the letter as possible.

Dear Beloved Family of mine,

I wanted you to know that I'm safe. Rose and I made it to the capital safely. Although, we were attacked by bandits at one point. Also the Innkeeper in a small town we stayed at tried to rob us in our sleep.

We're unharmed, though. But we had to kill a few people...

Rose made me look away from her because she doesn't sleep with her armor on. I still haven't seen what she looks like. Despite this, we're both really good friends! She invited me to join an adventuring company called Red River.

This is because I'll actually be staying in the capital for much longer than I expected. The knights Grandmaster requested my help in investigating the Black Ooze. I'll be training with him as a result!

I promise to return your nametag, Aria, don't worry. And I also promise to give you all better lives.

I love you all so much and I'll keep sending letters!

Sincerely, Mizik Iratus

I folded the letter and wrote the address on the envelope. Then I handed it to the courier and paid.

I left the courier's office and headed back to the diner where I was staying.

Once I got back, I pulled up my status menu while I was in my room and looked around at some things. First off, my class was still a Fighter.

Fighter was a basic class for adventurers who had just achieved level 20. Since I was level 44, I wondered if any new classes were available to me.

The status window flashed before my eyes as I selected the class option.

{Level not high enough for standard class-up. Special Class available.}

I blinked in confusion as I stared at the window. What was a special class?

I scrolled down and found it.

{Class: Magic Knight}

{Description: Magic Knight is a special class only available to someone who has acquired one of the thirteen legendary magic swords.}

{Current sword equipped: Legendary Sword No.13 'Vengeance'.}

I selected the class and my eyes went wide in disbelief.

{Class: 'Magic Knight' selected. Would you like to change your class from 'Fighter'?}

{Stat bonuses may change according to class. Magic Knight bonuses are as followed:}

{Hp +300}

{Mp +400}

{P.attack +450}

{M.attack +500}

{P.defense +400}

{M.defense +400}

{Acc +150}

{Eva +200}

{Spd +230}

{Bonuses for this class may change or grow as user-level increases.}

Those bonuses were insane. Was I really becoming this strong because of my sword!?

I selected the class immediately.

There was a rush of air around me as I felt my own strength surge.

This is the beginning of something amazing!

Would I be able to avenge my father with this power? Could I use this sword and the strength it gave me to slay that cursed dragon?

Only time would tell. As far as I knew, I still needed to become much stronger.

My father was rumored to be incredibly powerful, having reached at least level 95. Granted, the maximum level humanity could achieve was 150, but even so.

Anyone who went as far as one hundred was usually capable of wielding one of the legendary swords.

Past that and you got into truly powerful heroes.

A human being capable of achieving level 150 was considered a truly blessed child. A walking catastrophe. A demigod.

I sat and looked at my, measly by comparison, level 44.

I wonder how high I'll be able to get...

Since everyone's maximum was different, mine should've been at least 100 due to wielding a legendary weapon.

That would be a subject for another time, however. If I wanted to see how high I could go, I needed to work hard at it.

It was at that moment, that I heard a knock on my door. I stood up and went to answer it.

When I opened the door, Talia was standing there with a concerned look on her face.

"Mizik, sweetie, there's a member of the Albatross knight's here to see you. I have to ask...is everything alright?" She said.

"Everything's fine as far as I know. I have a deal worked out with the Grandmaster. He probably sent for me."

Talia seemed shocked to hear this.

It also occurred to me that I had completely forgotten to tell them about my current arrangements.

"Truth is, I might be staying here a while longer while I help the knights out with something related to an incident in Lorelei," I blurted out.

"Well, you can stay as long as you like. Just make sure not to cause them any trouble, okay?"

I gave her a nod and made my way downstairs again.

The knight had been waiting for me and led me to the guardhouse where the Grandmaster was currently located.

I sat down in a familiar chair and faced Sir Gordon.

"Greetings, Mizik. Can I call you that? Or do you have a title of some sort?" Sir Gordon asked calmly.

"No titles. Not currently, anyway. If I'm able to take over as head of the Iratus household, I'll probably have one. You can just call me Mizik."

Truthfully, if I were to make the step onto the world of nobility, I didn't know if they'd just simply give me a title. I would figure that out, later.

"Splendid. Well, I sent for you because we were ready to arrange for your payment. First, I'd like to examine your current abilities."

He slid a viewer stone across the table to me.

I placed my hand on it as normal and it glowed.

Once it stopped, Sir Gordon examined the stone and darted his eyes back and forth as he read the imprint from it.

Sir Gordon's eyes went wide in surprise as he saw my current state and abilities.

He occasionally would steal glances at me as I watched him.

"Is something wrong?" I asked calmly.

"Maybe. This thing says your stats are absurdly high for your level. I wonder if it's broken... And you're a Magic Knight...? That's impossible..."

Did I really look that unassuming? I supposed that aside from my sword, I looked like any other young adventurer.

I decided to show him my sword. The reason for my current strength.

"Do you think this might have something to do with it?" I asked as I showed him Vengeance.

He took the sword and looked at it for a moment before gasping and standing up while backing away. He dropped the sword on the table.

"Y-you! How!? Where did you find this!?" He shouted at me.

Shit. Did I do something wrong here?

"Please, calm down. I got it from a pawn shop in Lorelei. My father arranged for me to get it in the event that he died."

Sir Gordon composed himself as he sat back down. He lightly pushed the sword back over to me and spoke in a deadly serious tone.

"Mizik, do you have any idea what this thing is?"

"One of the Legendary Swords, right?"

"That's correct. It's the lost and forgotten thirteenth legendary magic sword. This is the cursed demon blade Vengeance," he said.

Cursed!? How the hell is it cursed!? This thing has only been a benefit to me!

"I'm not sure I understand... It's a cursed demon sword?" I said.

"Supposedly, yes... Although there isn't any evidence to say that it actually is cursed. The blade hungers for the blood of those who have harmed the wielder in some way. The old stories say that this sword was used to keep the other wielders in line."

"Like an Overseer?" I said.

Vengeance referred to himself as an Overseer, so it made sense.

"More like an executioner to those who abandon their posts. So yes, kind of like an Overseer. It wasn't widely talked about because of how bloody and dangerous it is. Now the narrative is that there are only twelve swords. Any talk of a thirteenth sword is usually chalked up to conspiracy theories or myths," He said.

I felt a bit overwhelmed currently. Was this sword really so scary?

"Furthermore, it was said to drive the wielder mad with blinding rage. In the past, there are secretly recorded incidents where those who have used Vengeance fell victim to an endless rage. I have to ask, have you experienced anything like that?"

"I have a skill called 'Rage of Iratus'. When I used it in the past, I would go into a frenzy and slaughter any enemies around me..."

"I saw the skill and I was also surprised by it. I heard the stories of such an ability wielded by members of the Iratus Clan but I haven't seen it used, personally."

"Well, when I used it while holding the sword, instead of slaughtering everything, I felt more calm and focused," I sad.

Sir Gordon placed his hand on his chin and thought for a moment.

"Is it possible that the sword is shouldering your berserk state when you use that skill? Just a hunch I have..."

It seemed likely. If anything, I also got a power boost from it.

"Vengeance is a sword that feeds off of its owner's rage. The angrier you get, the stronger you become, it seems. When I think about it, it's the perfect weapon for an Iratus," Sir Gordon said.

It was really convenient that such a weapon would fall into my hands like that. Could my father have known something about it? How did a legendary sword end up in a back alleyway pawn shop in Lorelei?

"To be honest, I'm thrilled to have someone of such potential training under me. I would like to extend a thank-you on behalf of all of Albatross for your cooperation. You have my sincerest gratitude," Sir Gordon said as he stood and bowed.

"Don't worry about it. If anything, I should thank you for protecting my family in Lorelei."

"Well, I would still like to thank you much more appropriately. Perhaps we could have a custom set of armor made for you to use from now on," Sir Gordon said with a light smile.

"I like my current armor, but I wouldn't mind something more durable... Something enchanted would be nice," I said casually while trying not to sound greedy.

Enchanted armor could usually run someone close to fifty thousand gold. And that was the cheaper side of things.

Excellent protection was expensive.

"We can provide you with high-quality enchanted armor that will also increase your fighting ability with no cost to protection. It will, however, take some time before it's done." Sir Gordon said.

"Do you need to measure me to make something custom?" I asked suddenly. It wouldn't be good to have custom-made armor that didn't fit me.

"No need. The stone that I have contains everything we need to know about you. I have other questions such as how you managed to acquire so many skill points and about this 'unknown skill' you seem to possess, but those can wait," he said.

"Then is there anything else you need?" I asked.

"I would like to run some basic training exercises to see how capable you are."

"Then let's get to it!" I said as I stood up.

The Grandmaster and I both made our way to the nearby training grounds behind the guardhouse.

I did some workouts and showed him what I was capable of. I was even able to spar with him a bit.

Sir Gordon was impressed with my current knowledge and ability. He told me that I fought like a trained wild animal.

He also told me that he could tell I'd been taught by someone with a lot of experience.

Nevertheless, he still had tons of things to teach me.

While talking to the Grandmaster, I learned that he was a level 105 Sword Master.

I was grateful to have such a strong teacher.

We trained together until the sun began to set and parted ways. The Grandmaster had a very busy schedule and would only be able to train me around twice a week.

On top of adventuring with Rose and working part-time at the Diner, my schedule seemed pretty busy lately as well.

As much as I wanted to just relax, I didn't think I could afford to.

After all, I had a dragon to kill. And I couldn't expect to just walk into the Iratus estate and peacefully take over. I assumed there would be some resistance and wanted to have the extra strength to back up my claim.

I made my way back to the Diner and rested in my room.

Tomorrow, I would be able to spend time with Rose.

I felt excited as I pondered what sorts of jobs we would take together.

As thoughts of the day to come danced in my head, I slowly drifted off to sleep.