Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Story of Two Old Men

"My name is Arando Schindler, and I come from Canlus. I am here to find an old friend. We adventured together a long time ago, but we parted ways due to certain events. Now, for various reasons, I have no choice but to seek out this old friend for help. However, as you can see, I am completely unfamiliar with Avalon, so I have just been wandering around, trying my luck."

Arando briefly explained his situation.

"Oh, no wonder you were able to enter Avalon. Your friend must owe you a great favor; otherwise, they wouldn't have given you a key to enter Avalon." The so-called key was a special small totem. Every Avalon Orc who traveled abroad carried a few, because without such a totem, it was impossible to enter Avalon—even the Avalon Orcs themselves couldn't get in without one. Incidentally, only a Spirit Shaman could craft these; an Elemental Shaman like Solam had no way of doing so.

"Heh, that doesn't count as much of a favor. We were teammates back then, so looking out for each other was only natural." The old man said with a wry smile.

"Could you let me see that key? Keys always bear the clan totem. I might not recognize the name you give me, but I am very familiar with the clan totems. I can point you in the right direction; Avalon is quite large, and wandering around like this is dangerous." Seeing that the old man was someone with a history, Solam decided to help him. Since the old man had done a favor for an Avalon Orc, Solam felt he should provide some assistance regardless.

Hearing Solam's words, the old man thought for a moment, then pulled a small totem from his chest and handed it to Solam.

As soon as Solam took the totem, he was stunned.

"Bloodaxe Clan??? How do you have a totem of the Bloodaxe Clan?"

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" The old man looked puzzled by Solam's fuss.

"Uh... no problem. I can only say you have good luck. Guess which clan I belong to."

"You're also from the Bloodaxe Clan? You can't be serious. The first person I meet in Avalon happens to be from the Bloodaxe Clan?"

"Then, who is your friend?"

"Kramsh Sakmi Sacklair Tomya."

"..." Solam felt that the world was truly small.

"Young man, what's wrong? Do you know him?"

"How could I not? He is my grandfather." Seeing the old man's ghost-struck expression, Solam quickly added, "My biological one. My name is Solam Sakmi Sacklair Tomya."

"That is truly a coincidence."

"Who would have thought? But I never heard him mention you. He has told me his adventure stories since I was a child."

"Sigh. Is that so? Well, he never agreed with my methods back then. In the end, we stopped teaming up due to our conflicting philosophies. Come to think of it, I've almost forgotten what exactly caused us to go our separate ways."

Solam immediately perked up, eagerly pressing for details about what his grandfather was like in his youth and how they had parted ways.

Since he was an old friend's descendant, there was nothing to hide, and Arando began to recount the stories of their youth.

In truth, it was much like most adventure stories. When the old man was young and adventuring, he met Arando during a quest. Like most young people, they were both hot-blooded and soon became friends, naturally forming a party to begin their adventures.

But how to put it? They grew up in different environments. At first, it was fine, but the longer they adventured together, the more apparent their differences became. Despite his violent appearance, the old man was a typical Lawful Good character, possessing a strong sense of justice and honor. While he didn't quite reach the level of a Paladin, he was definitely a model of a good person. Arando, however, was clearly Lawful Evil in his youth—the type of person who would use any means necessary for profit. While he wasn't quite a maniac, he certainly wasn't a "good" person, though he was impeccable when it came to his friends.

The two argued constantly during their daily adventures. Arando thought Kramsh was too hesitant, clinging stubbornly to a warrior's honor and lacking flexibility. Kramsh, conversely, thought Arando was too extreme, too utilitarian, and willing to stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

The most typical instance occurred in a southern city, where they accepted a commission from a noble to rescue his family from kidnappers. After a series of investigations, they discovered that the kidnappers were actually a group of severely oppressed villagers. To retaliate against the noble, these villagers, led by a warrior, had kidnapped the family, hoping to force the noble to reduce his exorbitant taxes. Kramsh felt they should help the villagers, while Arando felt it was none of their business—they only needed to rescue the noble's family. After a heated argument, Kramsh's opinion prevailed.

They told the noble the truth and promised that if he agreed to the villagers' reasonable demands, not only would his family be released, but the leader of the villagers would also surrender to face justice to appease the noble's anger.

Solam didn't need to guess what happened next. The noble would never agree; in any world, those in power were all the same.

As expected, the noble not only refused but accused Arando and Kramsh of colluding with bandits and ordered their arrest. Although Kramsh was an upright youth, that didn't mean he had a gentle temper, so the two fought their way out. They escaped, but the noble put a bounty on their heads.

In the end, Arando secretly made a deal with the noble behind Kramsh's back: he would rescue the family, and the noble would drop the bounty. The noble refused, proposing instead that they rescue the family and help punish the "bandits," promising to drop the bounty and pay a large reward upon success. Arando agreed. He used Kramsh's reputation among the villagers to trick them into releasing the family, then coordinated with the noble's private soldiers to slaughter the villagers. Kramsh didn't know at the time, but he eventually found out through a twist of fate, and from that day on, he and Arando parted ways.

From Solam's perspective, neither of their methods was truly commendable, yet both had their merits. The old man's insistence on justice was not wrong, and Arando's desire to protect his friend wasn't entirely wrong either, but neither had found a better way to resolve the situation. The old man was too reckless, and Arando was too utilitarian.

However, putting himself in their shoes, Solam wondered what he would have done. After a moment, he decided he would have simply killed the noble and ended it once and for all. With the knowledge from his past life, it would have been easy to eliminate a person or two without a trace. Sometimes Solam wondered what he had actually done in his past life to possess so many miscellaneous skills...

The old man seemed to have gone a long time without talking to anyone, so he continued sharing stories of his adventures with Solam's grandfather.

Among them was the story of how Arando had saved Kramsh's life.

It happened when they were adventuring in the North, specifically in the Troll Roar Forest. It was supposed to be a simple ruin exploration mission, but unfortunately, the ruins were occupied by a Beholder. The Beholder's body was a six-foot-wide sphere with a gaping maw full of fangs, controlled by a central eye. Six smaller eyes on stalks extended from the top of the sphere, and it could use its own language as well as Common, with each stalk-eye capable of firing deadly magical rays.

It was a grueling battle. Even though it was just a common Gauth Beholder, they would have perished if Arando hadn't used a scroll gifted by his mentor. As the Beholder lay dying, it fired a magical ray at Kramsh. In that split second, Arando threw his own body in the way to block the strike. Kramsh was unharmed, but Arando was left on the brink of death. If not for Kramsh carrying him to a city church for three days and nights without sleep, Arando would have long since rotted into dust.

After Arando recovered, he didn't think Kramsh owed him anything, because if Kramsh hadn't risked his life to carry him to the church, he would have died anyway. But Kramsh, being a pure-blooded Orc, always believed in keeping accounts clear. He felt that if Arando hadn't saved him, he wouldn't have been severely injured, so helping him was only his duty. Thus, Kramsh insisted he owed Arando a favor.

In truth, Arando wouldn't have had the gall to seek out his old friend if he hadn't been at his wit's end. There was a reason these two old men were friends; they were equally stubborn and valued friendship, even if their methods were worlds apart.

"So, why exactly did you come to find my grandfather?" Solam asked inadvertently. Honestly, he had no ulterior motive; it was just a casual question.

But this question truly stumped Arando. His initial wish had been to escape the Arcane Brotherhood, which brought his old friend to mind. But now that he had met him? Should he ask him to take revenge? Honestly, Arando hadn't really thought about that.

Although he knew that if he asked, given Kramsh's personality, he would agree without a second thought—even risking his life to help—Arando, while not a "good" person, was a stubborn one. This was a hatred he bore himself; he couldn't possibly drag Kramsh into it. So, why had he really come to find Kramsh?