Samuel was currently outside in his backyard. His son was attentively watching as he swung his wooden sword. His recovery from his previous expedition was extremely fast. He had mostly exhausted both his mana and stamina which while still extremely dangerous was very much treatable by magic.

"Dad! Let me try!" Little Sammy wanted to follow in his father"s footsteps.

Samuel wasn"t too keen on the idea, however. He remembered the impression he left on the others that spotted him entering the town, they were aghast. He swore his wife almost had a heart attack. Needless to say, he didn"t want to one day react that way after his son came back home from some adventure.

"Swords are dangerous, how about you go inside so mommy can read you a story" He was still swinging his sword as he said so.

"No, Mom said she was busy! You promised to play with me!" Sam was angry but given his young age, he didn"t look very threatening.

Samuel would usually play with his son on his days off. This was a routine he had followed ever since his son was born. Perhaps he had spoiled him too much without noticing.

"You can keep watching, we will play later." Samuel was warming up his sword skills. The previous mishaps had made him realize his strength was still lacking. The last thing he wanted to happen was to get rusty from too much deskwork.

"No!" Sam grabbed one of his toys and threw it at his dad. Samuel stopped his swing and caught the toy horse in mid-air.

"Hey! That"s not nice!" He faked an angry expression and placed down his sword and menacingly walked towards the pouting Sammy.

"You are 7 years old, you are not a baby. What"s with your behavior" He grabbed his son and lifted him. After looking at the pouting Sammy for a bit he couldn"t help but soften his words and explain the situation.

"Listen, daddy is busy so he can"t pl-" His words were cut off by his wife"s shout, however.

"Honey! There are some people here for you!" She had yelled from somewhere inside the house.

Samuel sighed and lowered the angry Sammy.

"See that? I will play later I am busy." He ruffled his son"s hair and placed the toy horse back in his hands before walking away.

Samuel then entered the house in a carefree manner.

"What"s up?" He asked as he entered the kitchen and grabbed a cup of water.

"There is an old man waiting for you in the living room." His wife said from the dining room while fixing up the table.

"Really?" Samuel didn"t know any old man so he was taken aback.

His wife nodded.

"Alright, I will go check it out" He put away the empty cup and then made his way into the living room where the guests were waiting for him.

"Hahaha! If it isn"t Sammy!" He was greeted by the rambunctious laugh of an old man. The man stood up and gave him a couple of pats in the back.

Samuel looked at the man confusedly, he couldn"t help but wonder who he was.

"And you are?" Samuel asked cautiously. The old man froze temporarily after hearing the question.

"Who am I? S Sammy... You forgot about me..." The old man looked truly heartbroken. His teary eyes and trembling hands could deceive anybody. Another person then interrupted the old man.

"He is Khal Lansworth, Brother of Duke Lansworth and branch leader of a Pith Union branch. My name is Miller and I am his guardian, niced to meet you." Miller politely offered his hand.

"Guardian..." Khal muttered in disbelief, should he fire him? All of the people in the room ignored him. Samuel politely shook hands with Miller.

"And he is?" Samuel asked while looking at a handsome and well-dressed man sitting on the couch.

The man stood up and revealed a das.h.i.+ng smile while offering his hand. The man"s charisma was likely through the roof.

"My name is Christian, nice to meet your Mr. Oakley. I am just an adventurer that follows Sir Khal." He humbly introduced himself and shook hands with the still confused Samuel.

Regardless, Samuel accepted the situation. He was still wary as the Khal personage was apparently from a duke household and a branch leader.

"And how may I help all of you?" He wondered why they had to visit his house on his day off.

"ehehehe, well..." Khal gave an awkward laugh before continuing.

"We just arrived and I thought..." The old man paused for a second before making a sorrowful expression, "I thought I could visit my friend Sammy..." He slurred the end of his sentence.

Samuel was becoming internally annoyed by the melancholic old man, it was as if everything was a drama to him. Still, he had to endure and find out their true purpose. So he sent a questioning gaze towards Khal"s "guardian."

But it looked like he had put him in an awkward spot as the man, Miller, opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before finally building up the courage to reveal the disheartening news.

"I am sorry to inform you Mr. Oakley but... Sir Khal was sent here on behalf of headquarters. He will be taking over your job until the incident is cleared." He didn"t want to be the one to break the news but once he did he made sure to not reveal any sort of emotion.

"So I am getting demoted?" Samuel maintained his questioning gaze as he asked Miller the question.

Miller wasted no time in responding this time as he had already broken the news to him there was no point in holding back.

"Sir Khal will only be temporarily supervising things."

Samuel looked at Miller straight in the eyes all the while. Miller wanted to avert his gaze but remained steadfast in the end.

"I see. And I am to presume I need to do my utmost in a.s.sisting him, yes?" Samuel said without any anger. He had expected worst consequences so he felt he got off rather lightly.

"...yes"

Christian let out a couple of awkward coughs in an attempt to diffuse the icy atmosphere. He also tried to s.h.i.+ft the topic.

"Mr. Oakley, I have heard a lot about your prowess with the sword, how about a spar?" Chris suggested a friendly spar. The spar was actually the main reason he followed Khal to Arbor town. Otherwise, a B-cla.s.s adventurer like himself wouldn"t go to a backwoods town.

Samuel needed to lose some steam and practice anyways so he didn"t have a real reason to refuse.

"Sure."

"Hahaha! Now that"s what I am talking about! How about I go for a round as well, eh?" Old man Khal asked cheerfully.

Seeing that n.o.body opposed, Samuel guided the visitors to his backyard. As an cla.s.s adventurer, he had a large backyard making it a suitable location. He would only have to worry about how to fix it after their battle if things got intense.

His wife had a reproachful look as Samuel and the rest headed for the kitchen door. She knew what they were planning to do as she had overheard the conversation. Samuel smiled innocently and shrugged his shoulders, it couldn"t be helped. That seemed to be what Samuel wanted to convey. She let out a sigh and let them do their own thing.

"How are we doing this?" Samuel asked Christian who was antic.i.p.ating their battle.

"How?" Christian was confused by the question.

"Are we using real blades? Can we use mana? Things of the sort, I wouldn"t want to beat you too badly" He revealed a provocative smile as he said so.

"There is no need for rules, bring it on"

Christian had a basic sword holstered on his waist. Samuel however didn"t have one with him at the moment.

"I will use this." He grabbed the practice sword that he left in the yard earlier. He clearly didn"t take Christian seriously. It was understandable as he was a cla.s.s higher than him.

"I think you are looking down on me too much, no?" Christian couldn"t help but ask.

"We will see about that" Samuel got into a stance and Christian moved away from him before also taking his stance.

Just as Christian initiated his stance, Samuel charged forward. He released a vicious downwards slash towards Christian. His blade didn"t hold an ounce of mana yet it managed to exude a dangerous aura.

Christian wasn"t any amateur and tried to break the wooden sword by blocking it alone. To his surprise, just as the wooden blade hit his well-made iron sword, Samuel managed to apply mana to the point of contact safeguarding his sword from any harm.

"I can see wh-" Before Christian could finish his sentence Samuel released another sharp swing. The sideways swing was hastily blocked by the unprepared Christian causing him to nearly drop his sword.

Khal and Miller watched enthusiastically from the sidelines as Christian did his best to block all of Samuel"s minimalistic attacks. There was a third pair of beaming eyes watching from afar as well.