Hearing their guild's name out loud, I was triggered a goosebumps around my body, I heard that guild for a while, there I recalled my memories in front of everybody
" So, are you the guild that approached me in my appraisal stall"
Then the masked lady nodded in approval, they recruited me from the start, without knowing that I possess an useful skill known as the Blood Curse, yet, the masked lady continued
" So I have a suggestion Roxy," said by the masked girl,
She took a scroll from a guildmember behind her and passed onto me, with a mask that is still untouched
I unrolled the scroll and read its contents carefully, The words written on it surprised me, " This is…."
" Yes, how about it?, your certainly qualified to work as an mercenary from our guild, you will pay an hefty sum about of money, Let's say that this is indeed a deal?, Roxy?" the masked lady chuckled in excitement
" Hmm, are you trying to frame me!?"
The masked lady coughed in surprise, her expression suddenly reverted to awkwardness
" You taken down a Peak-level beasts all by yourself, I heard the reports and awarded yourself as an silver-ranked adventurer, Roxy, we need your strength for our country"
It seems that I played enough role to get famous, my previous party didn't gat enough honor, only mine is rewarded, Yet, I'm not interested on joining any guilds whatsoever, in interested of playing solo
I chuckled at my delinquent face,
" You do realize that I am not a dog, right?"
" Indeed your right, I apologize, it was a poor choice of words,"
The masked girl lend out a sigh of relief, joining their guild will make a big change from the society, but as I said earlier, I only needed to become alone,
" I am grateful" I said, " Really I am, But I have no intention from joining your guild"
I said these two words harshly, but the masked girl took my words, she didn't flinch though, but she showed her adventurer token in front of my eyes, seeing her rank easily
" Here, my rank is an silver-ranked adventurer, We were on the same boat, Roxy"
She showed her rank, she was a skilled adventurer though, pertaining to join their guild just to assess their ranks,
"On Earth, how you will trick me just a measely token, I will not join your guild"
" Oh, it is a must, Roxy!"
" What if I refuse?"
The crowd darkened as I stated it's ominous question, and the masked lady said in anger, Threatening me to join their guild
" Then we have our guildmember waiting our guest to be executed, If you don't want that, you won't mind joining me as our duel, I'm very curious about your strength"
I didn't know what I gotten myself into, I wanted to avoid this execution if I could, but that didn't seem like an option, I was stuck, my only option is to fight
There, I agreed on our duel, the masked lady agreed in no hesitation, the crowd formed a circle, where we started our duel
" Don't cry, Roxy"
I saw the masked girl mocking me in a short distance away, in the center of the crowd of onlookers, Her guildmember directed people from the Central Plaza so that they wouldn't get out the way, It was clear to me that the masked lady intended to duel me from the start,
She really wanted to fight me this badly?!, I though with surprise, I hadn't encountered this side of her before
The crowd grew, The whole experience was new to me, Even until now, I always avoided fighting in front of people, even in self-defense, on top of that, this is my first time I fight with an person,
In this battle, I have absolutely no room for error, I was a perfectionist who deals no room for mistakes
" What Roxy?, your heart beats rapidly, are you nervous?"
She was half-right, I was nervous before our duel, but a slight of encourage slid from my mind,
" This is quite a scene" I asked
" Really, both of us are silver-ranked adventurers, this duel is perfect for us,"
" I see…"
I had to wonder whether she was overstepping her role as a guildmember, all to satisfy her curiousity from my true strength, the fun has just began,
" So," I said, " what do you intend to do if you lose in front of the crowd, Will you be ashamed?"
Then, the masked lady raises it's voice, hearing in both ears
" there no need to worry about me, I'm one of the Capital Knights, don't expect to win in this duel"
Did she say that she is an capital knight, from my information, Capital knights are second to Luminous Knights, they possess unnatural strength, I didn't expected that our enemy is an capital knight
She widened her stance exactly like an knight, Her gaze was serious, exactly knew to the point of winning, there she clipped her scabbard from her belt and held her sword at ready, still sheathed
I furrowed a little bit as I watched her deploying her battle stance,
" Hey, you intended to fight me with an sheathed blade, is this a joke?" I asked
" It's not a joke, the cutting edge of my blade is a little too sharp, so I fight you like this" said the masked lady
as I thought it would, then I looked in a resigned confusion, her scabbard were covered in gold, talk about she is rich to afford that kind of thing, Soon after I brushed my face, clearing my thoughts
" Hey, are you boasting your sword, Don't blame me if your sheath breaks"
There I unwrapped the bandages from my right hand, showing an perman wound for my Blood Sword, as expected, I murmured the word
" Blood Sword"
There, a sword covered in blood wielded in my hand, the masked lady saw my power, and she commented it
" What fascinating skill you have, creating weapons with the use of your own blood, that's why you killed that beasts"
I gripped the sword tightly, I readied my stance and prepared to attack,
" Well, shall we get started?"
" Definitely, don't expect me to go easy on you"
We dashed in, closing the distance between us, Now it was the time to reveal how strong is the masked lady, She came to this battle to test me, not an ordinary duel, I would respond to her attacks, dashing every strike, blade to blade,
" Ready, Go"
I gripped my blood sword high and managed to block with the sword still sheathed, Our blades clashed, the high pitched shriek of metal echoed into the air, As I resisted, my boots dug grooves into the street
The masked girl's blow is heavier than I expected, the blade is still sharp, even when it is sheathed,
" Damn, that blade was sharp,"
She wasn't finished, Then she launched another heavy strike, I blocked it, but the sheer amount of force opened a small crater in the pathway at my feet, She is overly strong
" A bit much, don't you think?" I said
" I said I won't go easy on you"
I ignored the stinging commentary as the masked girl and I engaged, I launched a heavy strike at the masked lady, it tore half of its scabbard, leaving the golden-plated scabbard destroyed by the blood sword
While her scabbard broke, she still attacked me in full speed, dodging isn't even an option anymore, as several minor cuts shragged at my body,
" You tore my scabbard, your a tough opponent though, but you can't match my raw skill"
As such, she unsheathed her weapon, leaving a silver rapier, my awareness thinks that this is sharp enough to cut steel, I was aware that this thing is powerful enough to tore my blood sword
With a quick flash of inspect from the rapier that she is holding, I can tell that I was about to lose
Damascus Rapier
Durability 1800/2000
Damage: 100
Attributes: Deal a critical hit when the enemy is at low health
Her rapier poses a huge threat at my blood sword, it can deal a critical hit at low health, I deal enough injuries from our duel, thus losing this fight afterwards
In the middle of the fight, I saw her rapier began to glow up, like a shining figure, it's rapier tells that she activated her weapon attributes, where she can deal critical damage, I can already tell this due to my minor cuts being inflicted by the rapier
The masked girl moved even faster than she had at the beginning of the match, In the next instant, she spun behind me, ready to strike in the back, there I reacted quickly, raising my blood sword to counterattack
There I lashed the sword before she had the chance to react, there I grazed mostly of its thin mask in her face, She jerked back, falling into a roll, there I responded to the masked lady
" What's wrong, you slowed down for a moment there, is that how worried you are about revealing your true face"
" Huh, this is a duel Roxy, not some learner's identity"
" Strange isn't it?, I was very curious about what's hiding that mask of yours"
I smiled diligently, playful and teasing, but I was still serious in the inside, But the masked lady did something obvious, she ripped her mask off from the crowd, revealing her face
" It is I, White Flower, leader of the Yellow Flower Guild, the 103th heir of the Capital Knights, what so demanding about your face, Roxy"
After she revealed her mask from the public, I immediately used inspect to sense her skills,
White Flower
Skills: Strength Boost ( Level 2), Light Magic, Health Regeneration, Mana Manipulation
Vitality: 500
Strength:1000
Defense:580
Agility: 400
Mana: 1000
That is a strength of a standard Capital Knight, it has exactly four skills from her body, she was strong enough, at least, But she was weaker than the spider queen I fought, In other words, she is strong
Her face kind like a actress, with an attractive teenage girl, with short white hair styled in a bob, freckles and with black eyes,
I was still in offense, making I happen to charge at White in full speed, knowing her charming face as ever, there I gripped my blood sword tightly, launching an attack on White
I managed to leave a deep wound on her leg, Because of that strike, all my minor cuts that was inflicted suddenly healed, All thanks from the Blood Sword attributes, Lifesteal
Because of the self-heal, I managed to recover quickly while White used it's health Regeneration to heal her deep wound, recovering it instantly
" Woah, that blade is sharp, No wonder you climbed into a Silver-ranked adventurer, your a strategist"
" Indeed, that is the cause"
Also I noticed that rapier is about to shatter, since I striked the blade multiple times, I used inspect to check the durability of White's rapier,
Damascus Rapier 1000/2000
Seeing the durability of White's Damascus Rapier, my only chance is to break this rapier, without it, White cannot use her weapon properly thus, ending this duel
Seizing the opportunity to finishing this duel, I imbued my blood sword with another skill, Defense Reduction, there I use this skill to destroy White rapier
Also, defense reduction is used to tear enemy defenses, including weapons, from which halven the durability of the weapon, I imbued my blood sword into this kind of skill,
Seeing that White finished healing her wounds, I sprinted towards at her, then used all my strength to unleash my heavy attack, Then White reacted and blocked the attack
After she blocked the attack, her rapier was left in cracks, almost shattered within range, In quick succession, I used inspect on White rapier
Damascus Rapier 500/2000
" Perfect, the sword was almost work off, few strikes of this sword will leave White's empty handed"
As I unleashed an attack, White began to notice that her rapier was about to get destroyed, because of that, she began to move at a short distance
" I'm not done yet, Thought you gonna win, Roxy"
She shouted my name loud, our battle was far from over, This time, I would force my way through to disarm her, In a straightforward from that, that is my only option to win
Our blades clashed together, A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek as she struggled to hold her ground against my blood sword, Then I heaved, sent both White and her rapier flying
" Ah…"
White startled her voice in a brink of defeat, I successfully disarmed her rapier from her arms, she was unable to fight, there, Our match end here
"I yield.." White said calmly
At the sound of her voice, and the declaration of my victory, the crowd exploded into big cheers, I turned to White to thank her for the duel, but he collapsed into sitting on a cobblestone ground
" Your pretty strong, Roxy, I suppose that this is our last encounter I suppose, I enjoyed the duel"
After I raised White, she thanked me from attaining the duel, she didn't have any signs of envy and jealousy, just a fair duel
" Roxy, give us another chance of joining our guild, because of my defeat, I will promote you as vice-leader of my guild, Do you accept?"
Seeing that White lost a duel, she still begging me to join their guild, not just my strength, but my will and determination as a good leader, there, I accepted it with no hesitation
" Sure, White… I will be the vice-leader of your guild"
After that, White and I agreed to her proposal and began accepted as the member of the guild, I was promoted by vice-leader due to my performance,
We looked on each other's eyes, shook hands and nodded, No more words were necessary, for we spoke to our swords, It was here, among the cheering crowds on the Central Plaza, that my duel between the leader of the Yellow Flower Guild came to a close