Way of the Knights

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Jonathan and lady became slack jawed when they heard his words.

"How did you know about this?" The lady asked on behalf of Jonathan.

"He hid it pretty well but I noticed that there's a problem with the way he walks. It is too labored, even standing should be hard for him. I had a bit of dealing with medicine, that's how I knew." Raven told a white lie without any changes on his expression.

The two just stared at him intently, but Raven's next words shook them their cores…

"If you don't get treated, then your legs will lose their balance, the early signs are numbness on your calves since they are the source of it, next it will crawl up to your knees afterwards your crotch. Once it reaches that area, your entire lower body will crippled." Raven solemnly stated.

The lady let out an audible gasp, she looked over to Jonathan and saw his body trembling a bit. This was a clear sign that what this boy said might probably be true. He should've already felt the numbness on his calves but he was just ignoring it.

People used to say that a human have three hearts. One was on the chest and the other two are on the calves. If one could control these hearts to their limits, then they could exert a force that exceeds common sense. To blacksmiths, calves are one of the most important parts of their body that they pay attention to, in a sense, it's even more important than their arms.

When a professional blacksmith lifts his hammer, the momentum comes from his lower body and released by their hands that gripped the hammer. It was also their lower bodies that helped them withstand the furious blows of their own strikes. If a blacksmith's lower body was injured, then it could have a huge impact on their jobs.

"Miss, please stand in front of him and hold his shoulders to keep him from falling. I'll start with the treatment." Raven didn't asked for a permission and instead moved over to Jonathan's back. Seeing him move, the lady also stepped forward and did what he said. Jonathan on the other hand could only sigh and accept this.

Raven rolled up the pants of Jonathan and inspected the damage. He clicked his tongue when he saw that the damage is just one step away from being serious.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, now that he broke through to Late-stage of Skin Toughening Realm his body could now store a little bit of Qi. He recalled a technique on his mind and used it.

The lady who was watching his actions saw that the boy's hand lit up and was covered by a faint blue light. He then placed his hand on his calves and massaged his calves, Jonathan felt coolness at first but that feeling was replaced by hotness afterwards.

It came to the point where Raven's hands felt like two molten metals that are sundering his calves. Jonathan wore an agonized expression and the lady was distressed, but Raven didn't stop the treatment, the pain was a natural reaction since his energies are forcefully hastening the activity of these muscles, allowing them to heal the damages that was plaguing it for a while.

After treating him for 15 minutes, Raven withdrew his hands and wiped away the sweat on his forehead, Jonathan was barely conscious after the whole ordeal. The treatment sapped all of his energies so he need to recover, but before he did so. He left a instruction for the lady.

"Let him rest and don't allow him to forge anything within this week. He could do some light work after one week but he shouldn't work for more than 6 hours each day, that goes for one month. Once that passed, then he could return to his usual workload."

The lady expressed her thanks and led the old man onto his room, Raven just caught his breath and walked out after them. When he arrived at the lobby, he saw Paul and Mark waiting there for him.

"Took you long enough! I'm starting to get bored." Paul whined as he saw him.

"Got what you need?" Mark asked. Raven nodded and told them that they could leave the store.

The triplets roamed around the market some more and bought many things before riding a carriage back home. Inside carriage, the two asked Raven to show what he got and he complied. The two looked unimpressed by the appearance of the Flexible Brawler Set so Raven explained why he bought it.

"Flexible Metal is considered as an extremely rare resource, the reason being that it needs to be nourished by two energy filled mountains to exist and it takes approximately 10-15 years of nourishment before they could be harvested. Plus the procedure of forging it is extremely strict."

"A successful forging would result in a kind of product that is basically weightless but provides heavy defence. Not even someone at Soldier Realm could hope to break it by force."

"So, this thing is more of an armor instead of weapon?" Mark asked.

Raven didn't deny it and nodded. "Knuckles, Arm guards and Leg guards could hardly qualify as a weapon anyway. That's because the fighting style of those who used it rely on their bodies instead of weapons. At the same time, they aren't considered as real deal armors as the defences that they provide is lacking."

"So, what should they be called if not a weapon nor armor?" Paul asked while scratching his head in confusion.

"Beats me." Raven shrugged, the two were dumbfounded by his attitude. "It doesn't matter really, so long as I'm satisfied and I could use it."

The two could only smiled wryly on his words, they then decided to talk about something else while waiting for the carriage to arrive to their home.

***

Somewhere along the corners of the kingdom, there is a strange place hidden away from the crowds prying eyes. This place was dark, more specifically, no ordinary light could exist in this place. If anyone brought a lamp or any type of normal light source in here, they will just be distinguished.

The air in here was cold, the type that seeps into one's soul causing it to shudder. In the middle of this dark place, one would see five black robed humans holding out a lantern that's made out of a human skull. Inside the lantern, there is a red liquid and a pale 'candle' that is lit with dark red flame. In truth, the red liquid inside the lantern was blood and the 'candle' was actually a finger.

The five people who wore dark robes stood inside of a huge occult circle. It was designed in a pentagram that looked like it was drawn from blood.

"Greetings Emissaries." A deep voice could be heard.

"Greetings Demon Prince." The other dark robed figures greeted back. The one called Demon Prince waved his hand signifying them to sit down. As all of them took their seats, a circular table and chairs magically appeared. No one reacted, it seems that they were used to this scenario.

Each chair looked like it was made out of human bones with the skull on the top. The table was painted red, well, stained with blood. There is a similar skull lantern on the middle but this one burned brightly compared to the one's they have.

"First Emissaries, please tell us your report."

"As you wish Demon Prince." The First Emissary nodded and continued: "According to our scouts. The security of the walls remained as tight as like it was before. It will be a bad idea for us to start another horde. Spies said that the Hawk returned as well so we should be more careful."

"We have better news as well. It seems that the Royal Family's youngest decided to run away from home. This will be a good chance for us specially that the King is Absent."

"Another one is that the 'Mole' was successfully planted, we should be getting more and more news about the happenings inside because of it."

"I heard that something happened to one of our branches?" The Demon Prince plainly said.

The First Emissary shuddered but still confirmed it in the end: "Correct Demon Prince, more precisely it was the Black Jewel Clan. Rumors said that one of their offsprings provoked the ire of Hawk's hatchling, causing them to be 'Marked' and erased by the Hawk."

"But this confirmed one thing, and that is Hawk's hatchling is in the institute and one word from the Demon Prince could erase him. As for the Black Jewel Clan, our forces refrained from doing any actions since they haven't confirmed about their connection with us."

Listening to the First Emissiary's report brought no joy nor anger to the Demon Prince, he just sat in there and played with the drink in his hand. After a while of silence, the deep voice of the Demon Prince echoed.

"If you could take care of the kid without raising too much attention then do so. As for the missing royalty, don't bother. Erase the Black Jewel, we have no use for them. Increase the size of the horde for the time being. Some emissaries should assist our mole inside. I expect good things from you." With this said, the Demon Prince disappeared to his seat.

The five emissaries bowed and said: "You're wish is our command, Demon Prince."

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