Standing up, the teacher asked Mr. Federico’s help.
At first, Loris’s father, Gustavo Federico, looked at the said teacher with dubious eyes. He already had a faint guess what this guest would ask of him. Earlier when he passed by the garden, he heard the servants speaking of a marriage termination.
He wasn’t a fool. He had expected something was off when Remuel Rodel came herself. He concluded right away that her main purpose was to do that – terminate her engagement with his son, Loris.
He was so angered at the sudden revelation that he almost vomited blood. After calming down, he tried to ask them to speak to him personally. After all, there was no need to have such a discussion in public, was there?
The teacher was slightly embarrassed under the hardened gaze of Mr. Federico. Even though they came to dissolve Remuel’s engagement with Gustavo Federico’s son, they still knew the Rodel family used to owe a lot to the Federico family and even made a pact with them.
At the same time, Remuel stood with her heart beating fast. She was aware of her family pact but she had already decided and didn’t want to drag this too long. From the looks of it, the teacher didn’t want to help her further and she started to feel a little anxious.
In the hopes of accomplishing her goal, she looked at the teacher. “We came for a reason, teacher. Remember what we spoke about before.”
Before they came to the small town, Remuel had made clear to her companions what her goal was. Thinking her teachers held certain power to the issue at hand, Remuel believed they could help her get it done quickly and also avoid drama.
The teacher from Morne City Academy glanced at Remuel Rodel. Initially, she didn’t want to come in between these two families. However, upon hearing the dean’s favorite student’s words, she couldn’t help but feel torn. Obviously, she didn’t want other people to see her and the rest of the Academy as powerless.
Prompted to display her knowledge to the matter, the teacher turned to Mr. Federico.
“I think you are mistaken, Mr. Federico. We didn’t come here to argue,” she began.
“You say that and yet you wish to continue?” Loris’s father angrily countered.
The teacher neutrally said, “Please listen to us carefully. As you and everyone else already know, Remuel over here is the best student in the Morne City Gunners Academy. She isn’t just any ordinary gunner. She is the best amongst her generation.”
“What does that have to do with my son?” Mr. Federico asked.
The teacher explained, “We have discussed this with Remuel’s mentor, the Academy dean, before we came here. The truth is that the dean wants her to focus on her training and enhancing her skills. She said she cannot allow her to get married or engaged at this time. This arrangement your family did with hers… We should break it off so Remuel can focus on her own. That is all.”
Whispers erupted in the hall.
Loris looked around and as expected, all eyes turned to him. They all spoke in low voices and despite coating them in sympathetic tones, the insult couldn’t be hidden at all.
“This is too embarrassing. How can this happen when the clan is already in a shaky status?”
“Aren’t the guests too arrogant? Terminating in public and in front of Mr. Gustavo, at that.”
“No, they aren’t arrogant. It’s that Mr. Federico thought too high of his son.”
“His reputation is already tarnished from the start. How did he find the courage to fight for his son’s engagement with such an excellent figure like Remuel Rodel?”
“It’s truly baffling. Now Mr. Federico’s reputation isn’t much, anyone will have the courage to do such a thing now. Even terminating pacts is fine or valid.”
“I mean, who would want to marry someone like his son?”
Loris stood in silence, receiving different kinds of gazes from all directions and hearing all their hushed voices. Each word penetrated inside him, too deep that they started to carve his chest and soul.
Hidden beneath his indifferent face was a whirlpool of emotions – of intense, barely controllable rage that was about to erupt any time. The magic power in his body slowly radiated throughout his veins, pulsating and burning like hot lava, accompanied by his erratic heartbeat. More and more, Loris felt the fire in his blood and bones, wanting and about to come out.
Arturo sensed something was wrong. She glanced at Loris and found his eyes had begun to darken and a strange aura was beginning to surround him. Ever so quietly and carefully, just before Loris exploded and used his magic power, Arturo reached his hand.
Loris was startled. A flicker of light ignited in his eyes, seemingly snapping him out of his outburst. Calming down, Loris took deep quick breaths, appearing surprised and lost for a second.
Meanwhile, Leon Federico stood along with other young generations invited to the hall. He had been watching from the side since the guests came and was secretly elated at the fact that Loris’s fiancee came just to publicly terminate their engagement. It was satisfying to see that such a strong figure like Remuel Rodel wanted nothing but to humiliate Loris in public.
But then his eyes landed on Loris, catching how Arturo held his hand.
The smile he wore quickly disappeared. His eyes turned cold, filled with anger and jealousy.
Loris’s father, who was at the conference table, was silent for a long time. He wanted to settle the agreement with a reasonable conclusion, yet, he still couldn’t find anything beneficial to their side, especially for his son, Loris.
The elders of the clan who had a bad relationship with Loris’s father all looked at him sarcastically. Mr. Federico could only let out a grunt. It was obvious what those people wanted. They most certainly wanted to see him get humiliated further and lose power, enough to bring him down and replace his position.
Faced with such a strange and awkward silence, Remuel Rodel turned to the teacher. “I think it’s time to give our present. Please bring out the E-level enchanted firearm.”
The people heard Remuel’s words and couldn’t help but look at her with wide eyes filled with admiration, their hearts touched by her generosity.
To think she wanted to give such a precious compensation… Wasn’t it too grand? To their humble small town, this was similar to rain coming down to a barren land that only had rain once a year!
Truly, Remuel Rodel was a generous person. She wasn’t just an excellent gunner, she too had a huge heart.
The teacher brought the box forward. Remuel had specifically arranged this present for this particular purpose. Although the teacher didn’t know much of the motivation behind it, she had always thought Remuel did extra effort in preparing such a significant gift. On the other hand, everyone fell silent as they stared at the precious item inside. It was a single-shot percussion gun made of a rare variety of metals. It lay in the box, displayed with its might and brilliance.In the World of Nimgofu, enchanted firearms such as this could enhance the power of shooting, making ordinary bullets have an impact similar to enchanted bullets. At the same time, the interior of the enchanted firearm had magic notches carved along with the bullet design direction, which was more conducive for gunners below F level to become familiar with the structure of the firearm. Using this rare item would help 99% of F-level gunners go to a breakthrough, making them reach E-level easily.Enchanted firearms
“I refuse,” Loris stated, stunning everyone at the hall. The crowd looked at him as though he had gone mad. The elders themselves were so angry their faces went red. One of them stood up and reprimanded Loris, “For the sake of the family, we demand you to take your words back. Repent for your misconduct right this instant!” The whispering turned louder and everyone stared at Loris, waiting for him to change his response. But their words fell to deaf ears. Ignoring the elders who always judged and hated his father and disregarding the crowd’s unimportant opinions, Loris faced Remuel. “No matter what conditions you give, I have only one answer. I refuse,” he said with no other emotion. Other people his age couldn’t help but scoff and look at him incredulously. “Whoa, who does he think he is, refusing such an important invitation?” “Did he lose his mind when his hand became disabled?” “How unreasonable and insatiable!” “He’s so shameless! When will he stop embarrassing our clan?”
The next minute, Loris was already on the stage. With everybody’s eyes on him, Loris signed his name on the duel paper, but because his hand shook, it came out crooked. When the acting duel master saw this, he couldn’t help but feel pity toward Loris, but then again, this was necessary to make the duel between Loris and Remuel valid if that was their true goal. By signing this duel paper, it meant the two parties both agreed to follow all the rules. In addition, it meant no one would hold Remuel accountable even if Loris died. Remuel proceeded to go straight to the stage but Loris stopped her. “Sign it,” he uttered coldly while glancing down at the paper. Signing a duel of life and death wasn’t a casual occasion to witness. Even the strongest rarely held such duels, never mind the weak and the crippled. Needless to say, most of the audience looked at Loris as though he had gone crazy. They all thought, who in their right mind would sign that duel paper given their current conditio
The magic of Loris’s hands pushed out, and brilliant blue magic flames flickered across the field, stirring up gusts of smoke. The stage was quickly filled with an aura of power, mingling with the intensity of the fight between the Federico Clan’s disabled son and another city’s academy genius. The crowd nervously watched the situation inside the venue, their heart beating in anticipation of what would happen next. Loris’s father along with the elders of the Federico Family all held their breaths, their eyes solely watching, waiting for the cloud of dust to disappear. Slowly, the smoke and dust cleared. Everyone’s mouth opened as they saw Loris still in his position, bearing the same expression as he did earlier. He stood still, slightly panting, with a visible wound on his shoulder. “As expected from Brother Loris!” Arturo cheered from the crowd. “Two more shots, you can do it, Brother Loris!” Most of the young disciples seated next to her followed her reaction, giving open prai
Hearing Loris’s words made the entire venue frozen. The crowd went silent that even a drop of pin couldn’t be heard. Remuel’s expression wasn’t any better. With a complicated gaze toward Loris, she loaded an enchanted bullet into the chamber of the gun and told Loris it would create an explosion once it hit him. Based on her calculation, Loris would suffer from this attack by not lower than 70%. Heck, he would be lucky to still keep the lower half of his body. Before she charged, she asked Loris once more to accept his defeat, giving him a last chance. This was his last chance to save himself, Remuel thought. She was merely being considerate for having not expected a duel between her and Loris in the first place. But this was the last time. She had given enough chances to Loris. He should accept it to end this duel if he still wanted his full body intact. Yet, Loris’s response was again only one, “I refuse.” Remuel went silent and only stared at her opponent. Indeed, for someone
In the world of Nimgofu, E-class gunners were elite gunners who had power greater than F-class gunners. It must be said, in the city of Famu, Loris Federico’s town, the majority of the people were F-class gunners. F-class gunners in this world were considered as the lowest rank and unfortunately, no matter how hard people prayed and trained, only a few were able to break through to become E-class gunners and even that took significant time and power. In fact, in the city of Famu, the number of E-class gunners could only be counted with two hands. Knowing this, the silence that filled the venue became something that made everyone hold their breaths. Before anyone could speak, the announcer announced, “L-Loris’s magic power - 85% E-level!” The crowd was again stunned. With some difficulty, Remuel Rodel slowly stood up and stared at Loris in disbelief. For the first time, she didn’t know whether to feel angry or frightened. In reality, her magic power at the present was only E-leve
Loris was aware there were more things bound to surprise him the moment he entered the world of Nimgofu. When he discovered he became Loris Federico, the eldest son of Gustavo Federico living in the city of Famu, he was surprised and overjoyed. The City of Famu in the game was a simple town that only took a small percentage in the game. In fact, players only visited this town a couple of times in the game to increase their magic power but the amount of time required to spend in this town for an average player was minimal. In other words, it was nothing special. What made it special for Loris was the fact that Loris Federico wasn’t a simple person. He was the son of a minor aristocrat and a genius, branded by the town as the family's ‘child prodigy’ and as his father had boasted frequent times when he was younger. Because he surpassed the majority of the townspeople, everyone believed he would become the first in his generation to go to the world’s central town – Morne City, where m
The eye provided Loris with a drug formula to repair his hand. Configured in this way, it worked on not only for healing hand injuries but it also greatly improved the stability of Loris’s fingers. Loris felt the cooling sensation from his hand, making him release a sigh. Before the eye appeared, he was in his most desperate moment trying to cure himself with the quack doctor’s potion. It ended up burning a few parts of his hand. But when the eye appeared, it slowly faded. Loris could no longer feel the intense heat and burning sensation he felt then. The pain had also subsided and had completely disappeared. This formula was coolly effective, just as how it felt to his fingers. Sensing the realization from Loris’s expression, the eye continued to flow the drug into Loris’s injured hand, “This can only be effective when curing comminuted fractures and nerve damage. You should know this is a rare technique and drug formula. It is also difficult to use and it can make you feel imme
There was a small lake in the territory of the Federico Clan. Rumors say that whoever use it to practice their shooting talent, that person would be cursed forever. When Loris heard this rumor, he immediately packed his bag and went straight to the lake.He lay out his bag containing three different firearms and took one out.Azmien nervously looked around, “Can we really train here? What if that rumor turns out to be true?”Loris took a handgun first. He took a deep breath and started to lift it, pointing it in different directions. Because it was unloaded, he was able to carry it well. Now, he must test it with a bullet inside.“It’s okay to leave,” Loris said after placing the handgun down and taking the board after.In reality, such rumors were made to stop the Federico Clan members from damaging the beautiful lake. There had been incidents in the past where this lake was used by a military Federico member in his training. Although it wasn’t his own memory but the original Loris F
“Stop!”Cahlan’s voice came like a thundering sound.Jordan immediately stopped but he continued to glare at Loris. “He has been disrespecting our clan, father! Let me punish him!”Loris’s eyes narrowed. How was this being punished when he hadn’t done anything wrong? The likes of Jordan suddenly reminded him of someone he met at Mountain Tenu. Those two were really too alike and always had a lot to say.Cahlan glanced at the people in the garden. If the guard from the elders’ pavilion house didn’t tell him everything that transpired, he wouldn’t even believe it. To avoid any mistake, he had to see it for himself. But when he arrived at Gustav’s house, he was beyond stunned.His son, Jordan, was attacking Loris!As the new clan patriarch, all eyes were on him. If he allowed this mess to get out, he surely would lose face!“Enough, Jordan,” Cahlan reprimanded. “Head back home and we will talk.”“But, Father! Didn’t you hear what Loris did?!” Jordan complained, still glaring at Loris and
The two words seemed to echo in the living room. Everyone was stunned and unable to speak.Arturo was the first to recover, her eyebrows twitching while staring at Remuel Rodel and Loris.Meanwhile, Loris felt offended. He wasn’t surprised and just straightforwardly told her, “No.”It was as though the room level turned 20 degrees lower. Still, Remuel Rodel continued to wear a fairly unimpressed but not surprised expression. “Which of the two—”“Both of them,” Loris cut her off. “I refuse to study in your academy and I’m not going to marry you.”The declaration sounded louder than the announcement of the commentator in a duel. It felt like a ticking time explosive could be heard from a distance.Arturo felt a wave of relief at Loris’s response while the rest continued to feel more shocked and confused while looking at the two people. Nobody expected the sudden exchange of words, much less how easily Loris reject a talented beauty like Remuel Rodel.Some servants couldn’t contain thei
When Arturo heard what happened to Loris, she immediately left everything and went to see him. Outside Loris’s room, his father was speaking to a doctor. The doctor gave Gustav a paper and left.Arturo rushed to ask, “Sir Gustav, is Loris inside? How is he?”The worry on her face could no longer hide her real feelings. In truth, everybody in the clan was aware of it except for Loris himself.“He’s recovering,” Gustav emitted a long sigh. “He protected Azmien at the last minute.”Arturo could tell Gustav was both pleased and displeased when he was saying that. She understood him completely. What kind of father would feel complete joy when their son almost got burned in a volcano? They could not understand what brought Loris to do such a dangerous quest. Didn’t he say he still needed to heal his hands?Because Loris had to rest, Arturo decided to come back the next day.Meanwhile, the room was actually quieter than the night but the person lying down on the bed was fully awake.Loris w
“Loris Federico is the city hero…?” Remuel just arrived at the academy for training. First stop was, always, the Principal’s Office. The 55-year-old woman had a lot of experience and knowledge. She was even one included in the Top 20 Gunsmiths of the World, holding a special record of producing 11 enchanted firearms during her entire life. Remuel had a lot of respect for her and thus, she always made sure to show them whenever she came to the Academy.But when she entered the Principal’s office and she started to reveal information about the recent case in Famu City, Remuel’s initial purpose halted. The plans she had in mind vanished and her body froze.“They want us to take in that young man since apparently, he still hasn’t been listed to any school yet,” the Morne Gunner’s Academy’s Principal, Amy Hamilton, said, her face unreadable.Remuel stood like a statue. She slowly let the information sink into her system. Apparently, they were saying that Loris Federico was the same perso
Morne City. The city stadium center for Arts and Culture was empty by noon. Everyone in the city was aware of the consequence of entering the venue as such only a few specific students could actually enter without needing to send an official request to the Council of Education.As soon as the clock struck noon, the gates of the said stadium were immediately closed. At the same time, a carriage stopped by at the entrance and stepped out.Remuel Rodel stood outside, wearing her academy badge. When the guard saw her, he immediately bowed down.“Miss Vivien is already inside, Miss Rodel,” the guard said.Remuel gave him a small nod then she walked straight to the stadium.Inside, one could hear the faint sound of a piano playing, its melody resembling a tone that depicted a sense of rush and euphoria. The sound echoed through the hallway, creating a combination of eerie and holy ambiance inside the dark, empty building.Remuel’s footsteps danced along with the beat of the piano, making
Inside the Famu Town’s City Police District, two individuals were in a serious discussion. Commander Gaspar, head of the metropolis army, had a cold look on his face. The air was thick with tension and every second felt like an hour, each word uttered holding an important message that went far from the room.“The civilians have been warned but there is still no intel to tell us where the origin of this attack is,” Colonel Jason Genson exclaimed. He had ruled the police district for over 20 years and was totally shocked when he received the news of a potential assassin attack.“Are you still thinking it was aimed at the city and not to a specific individual?” he asked Commander Gaspar.Gaspar was a man of commitment. He never showed his emotions which made him the perfect candidate for the high position. Calmy, he said, “There is still no other evidence aside from one witness.”“But there are still other witnesses aside from him, right?” Colonel Jason Genson said. “Loris Federico. He w
At Lake Vera.Arturo obviously didn’t think through her plans. For so many days and nights, she anticipated working on her first quest with Loris. However, due to their elements being quite the opposite, it was difficult to meet this expectation. She looked ahead at the sparkling water scenery before her. Although everything was colorful, totally surpassing what she imagined the place to be, she still felt dissatisfied inside.The thought constantly played in her mind: ‘If only Brother Loris was here right now, this place would become much more beautiful.’Just then, a familiar figure started to walk towards her from a distance.Leon Federico was carrying a new bucket for their next quest. Because he had the same element as Arturo, their collaboration was to be expected. He had strong feelings for Arturo ever since they were young so naturally, Leon considered the quest a blessing.He wasn’t blind, though, and he could tell Arturo wasn’t being her usual cheerful self.“The Komodo sta
On the other side of the snowy mountain was a massive lake called Vera. Located near to a train station, it served as one of Famu Town’s richest quest spots. The green pasture filled with a mixture of flowers and orchards that surrounded it along with the bright, blue sky above made it a place for everyone to venture whenever they had the time. At most, it was accessible and free. Loris was standing atop Mount Tenu and watching the scenery below him. When he parted with Arturo early in the morning, Arturo said she was heading to that lake to go to her first quest. Loris gave the quest to her since she was a water-based magic element user. In any case, Loris would have to head to the volcano on the other side of the border to find the healing crystals next.The wind blew, making Loris’s hair sway a little. He didn’t hate the cold but he wasn’t pleased by the cold it brought.It was during these times that one could only believe their companion or ally was in a better condition. Toward