Chapter 274: A Moment Later
"Jorac, get up and get ready. Don’t you want to come to the market?" A sweet voice rang throughout the house as the rays of the sun began to get dimmer.
"Coming, Mother..." Already pretending of sleeping, it didn’t take the boy to get out of bed in an instant. Not to make his mother suspicious he quickly ran toward the washroom.
The boy, whose age looked no more than ten, began to freshen up to wander in the market. Today was going to be a special day for him. After so much bickering, his mother had finally agreed to buy him a weapon of his choice.
’I will finally be able to swing a sword like my dad...’ With a bittersweet smile, the boy couldn’t help but imagine himself learning and performing swordsmanship which he would learn from Lady Sopor herself.
"Hehehe." Giggling, he quickly changed his clothes and walked toward the gate where his mother was talking with other women. All of them were probably going to the market as well.
Looking toward a particular woman, Jorac couldn’t help but smile. The woman he was looking at wasn’t his mother... she was his aunt.
"Good evening, Aunt. Are you coming to the market as well?" he asked while walking toward his mother.
"Well, yes! I heard this little man is about to buy his weapon, and how could I miss that?" she replied, trying to pinch his cheek, which was hard as ice.
"A-Ahh! O-okay..." Jorac stuttered as a cute blush appeared on his face when he heard his aunt call him a man. She had called him little man to be precise, but he didn’t pay attention to the former part.
"Stop it, Klovari... can’t you spend a minute without teasing him?" Seeing the blush on her son’s face, she quickly scolded her sister.
"Oh, come on. Did I do anything wrong, Jorac?" she asked while winking at him.
"N-n-no, A-aunty." Jorac replied, barely able to speak.
"Shall we go then?" a lady from the group asked.
"Yay! Yay! Let’s go!" Jorac replied as he quickly recovered. His mind was once again filled with thoughts about which type of sword to buy. He still hadn’t decided on the type of sword he wanted.
As the other women agreed, the group began to move toward the wall that surrounded their little town. The market was just around the entrance of the wall.
Nobody in their town—except for maybe the Queen herself—knew the origin of the town.
Even the oldest in the city said that it had been there since the moment they were born. There were some myths about who could have built the wall, but nobody was sure which one of them was true.
They didn’t focus much on the myth, as the wall was fulfilling the purpose for which it was built. It had protected them hundreds of times from monster attacks.
"I heard something attacked the guards watching the bridge this morning. Is this true, Klovari?" a woman from the group asked as she looked towards Jorac’s aunt.
’Huh! Why is she calling Aunt Klovari by her first name? Is she related to her...’ Before Jorac could finish his thought, he remembered something.
’Ohh! How can I forget Aunt has recently gotten engaged, making them close relatives, and now she can use her first name during conversation.’ Realizing that there was nothing wrong, Jorac also tried to focus on whether the rumor was true or not.
"Yes, it is true..." Klovari replied with a somber expression.
"Really?"
"Are the guards all right?"
"What type of monster attacked... could it be a tier 3 one?"
A few gasps could be heard as everyone confirmed that the rumor was indeed true. It wasn’t uncommon for the bridge to be attacked, but the news reaching public ears meant there was something unique about this one.
"During the fight, the eagle was already sent... so we don’t know about the guards’ situation, but the general said it was nothing to worry about. However, to be sure, we are prepared to face the challenge as well," Klovari said, telling the half-truth to calm down the conversation.
"I hope they are all right..."
"Yeah, so do I."
"Hmmm!"
Everybody nodded. Having full confidence in their queen and general, they didn’t think too much about the matter and began normal everyday chat.
After walking for a few minutes, they finally entered the market. As everyone needed different items, the group slowly began to thin out. By the time they reached the sword shop, only the trio was left.
As Jorac moved toward his destination, he saw numerous things he wanted to purchase.
There was a fast food shop famous for selling rabbit foot pieces. He really wanted to eat there, but remembering that he had limited credits to spend, he controlled himself.
As he moved forward, he saw shops selling handmade potions and trinkets. He could even see shops that were selling cores, although most of them were only tier 1. Tier 2 cores rarely came to the market.
And tier 3... Tier 3 was so rare that Jorac hadn’t seen a single tier 3 core in his entire life.
Shaking his head, Jorac controlled his thoughts and focused on a single thing.
’Nothing but a sword. Nothing but a sword. Not...’ he began to repeat the same sentence. By the time he reached about the hundredth count, they finally reached the place.
[Tonix’s Greatsmith]
It was a very famous smith who specialized in making weapons with good quality ores. There were weapons that used mana-rich materials as well, but those were out of his budget for the time being.
"So, here we are, son. Choose whatever you like, and this aunt will surely buy it for you." With a proud expression, Klovari informed the little man.
"Klovari, why do you have to spoil him so muc..."
Before his mother could speak up, Jorac intervened, "Really, Aunt?"
"Of course. This aunt of yours is a veteran soldier, not just muscles, remember?" She winked once again. She was so sure because a soldier’s pay was nothing to scoff at here.
"Yes! Thank you... Thank you so much, Aunt..." Expressing his gratitude, he moved forward and began to look at the sword pieces that were made with high mana material.
"See, Jorac, you still don’t have a mana manipulation skill, so you won’t be able to use your sword properly. So choose wisely..." Side-eyeing her sister, Jorac’s mother suggested to him.
"Will keep that in mind, Mother..." Jorac muttered, smiling ear to ear.
After looking through the swords one by one, Jorac finally selected a few of them. He couldn’t decide on any one of them, so he planned to ask his aunt for suggestions.
"Aunt, which one of these do you think will be better for me? So this is a light swor..." Before Jorac could finish, something happened, and his words got stuck in his mouth.
Booooooom!
The sound of something crashing reverberated throughout the city as everyone could feel the earth beneath their feet shaking.
"What happened..." Before Jorac could hear his mother shout clearly, he found out what had happened.
Just 20 meters away from him, he could see a boulder—no, something more massive than a mere boulder had crashed into the market.
Tears began to fill his eyes as Jorac felt his neck begin to fill after watching the scene. Just meters away from him, he watched as those who were normal just a moment ago were now nothing but meatpaste.
In just a second, organs and blood dyed the white snow... changing its color forever.
