The Foolhardies 152 Star-Lord

Chris Pint, the Lord of Stars, spared me a glance.

"What guarantees do I have that you'll come through on your end of the bargain if I help you now?" he asked.

"The same way we're going to have to trust you not to stab us in the back when we escape," I said. "The Law of Equivalent Trade!"

His eyebrow shot up. Then he laughed.

"A visere's bargain, huh… You've got some big cojones, man," he said approvingly. Then he took a big whiff of air into his lungs and after he exhaled, he addressed the other two lords present, "Ah, you smell that, friends? That's the smell of victory."

"You think I'll let you take my prize from me?" Lord Rah asked, his own eyebrow rising up.

In response, Chris Pint pulled out a tiny vial from one of the many pockets on his belt. He raised this minuscule thing to the others' eye-levels.

Surprisingly, they reacted to it as if he was holding an explosive device. Both fairies pulled away from him. Both of them raised their weapons as if to repel whatever he was about to do.

A quick glance at the clear vial confirmed that it had black powder inside it, more commonly known in the markets as boom dust. It was the same stuff inside that canister I used to blow up those spiders earlier.

However, my canister was the size of a Coke can whereas the vial in Chris Pint's hand was a small as my pinkie finger. It was a firecracker at best. So I didn't understand why the other two lords had reacted in such a wary way.

"That's right… You two know what happens if I pop this cork," Chris Pint said confidently. "I know you don't want that…"

Ardeen Spellweaver said nothing, but he continued to keep his sword pointed at Chris Pint while maintaining the distance between them. Lord Rah, however, seemed about ready to pop at the obvious provocation. In fact, the ends of his hair were already smoldering.  

"You think I'm afraid of you?!" Lord Rah looked livid as he spat those words. "Preposterous… a measly mudman thinks himself my better?"

He raised his spear forward, and as his killing intent exploded out of him, the black vapor leaking out of the spearhead turned a fierce reddish hue.

Those of us between them had to brace against each other as that killing intent brushed past us, and I was reminded of the heavy weight of Darah's own intent whenever she sent it my way during training. It was more proof that despite his different title, Lord Rah was equal to a great general in power.

"You've only had the good fortune to face weaklings in the south," Lord Rah hissed. "I assure you, the warlords of the central region are far more terrifying."

A grin showed up on Chris Pint's face. "Oo~~oh, I'm shaking in my boots."

He spared me another glance and winked.

"Go ahead and move over to my guys," he said still confident. "I'll keep Rah and Spellweaver here company."

"You will not move!" Lord Rah hissed, his hair finally catching fire.

"Dean," Luca whispered.

"Do as he says… go!" I ordered.

My team began to withdraw toward Chris Pint's side while maintaining our formation, but Ardeen Spellweaver was quick to react. His swifthart bounded toward us, keeping us within range of his saber which was already swinging toward me.

The sound of clashing shadowblades rang in the air as Chris Pint blocked his attack. And their swords locked only for a second before Chris easily pushed Ardeen back with overwhelming strength.

"Rude of you to attack them when I said I would play with you…" Chris Pint uncorked his vial with a thumb and then raised it to his nose. He inhaled the black powder's fragrance and then breathed out the words, "Starry Savvy."

Although there was no visible change to him, I could tell that he was suddenly different. So it was no surprise to me when I watched him easily dodge the spear thrust Lord Rah had aimed at his blind side. In the next instant, I saw him move his swifthart to the side so he could slash at Lord Rah.

The force of the impact of his swing against Lord Rah's spear sent Rah backward and almost knocked him off his swifthart.

Ardeen appeared to attack Chris Pint's flank, but Chris parried the attack by quickly unsheathing his other sword with his left hand and slashing it toward Ardeen.

Both of the identical broadswords had shadowblades that were four to five feet in length with hilts that were as black as the charred edges of their shadowblades.

Chris Pint used these broadswords to repel, parry, and block all attacks that the other two lords sent toward him with the ease of someone who, like me, had the knowledge of insight backing each and every move he made.

Starry Savvy, he'd called it. I assumed that was his equivalent for Fool's Insight. And by his earlier actions, I guessed that his gift was related to the sense of smell. If so, I wondered how it worked exactly. I would have to ask him this if we got out of here alive.

By this time, my friends and I had reached Chris Pint's soldiers. We were greeted by the broad-shouldered, red-headed elven maiden that had given me his letter back at the auction.

"Quickly now," she urged. "You don't want to get in his way!"

None of the other enemy companies had made a move to stop us, and after glancing back at the fight by the watering hole, I realized it was because none of them could.

The fight between the three lords was so intense that their dance of death repelled all thought of interruption. We were merely spectators now, and all we could do was watch.

"Dean, he's a sense knight, right?" Luca asked from my side.

Like me, he watched the match with eyes filled with awe.

"Yeah… gift of smell, I think," I replied.

"Why can't you do that then?" he probed.

"Shut up," I growled. "He's been at this longer than I have."

Although that was true, I couldn't help but wonder at the gap between Chris Pint and me, how easily it was for him to fight two general class opponents as if he was playing around with them.

Don't get me wrong. Both Ardeen Spellweaver and Lord Rah were impressive. They were clearly at Darah's level.

Ardeen Spellweaver used a combination of deft swordplay and swifthart riding to give him near-perfect opportunities to deal a blow against Chris Pint.

Lord Rah wielded his spear even better than Azuma did, with each attack a seeming killer blow against the Lord of Stars.

However, no matter how perfect the setup or powerful the strike, neither of their attacks would become clean hits. In fact, Chris Pint was laughing as he dodged or parried their attacks.

"You can do better than that, my lords," He taunted his enemies. "Show us poor Mudgardians what you fairies are capable of!"

He said this right before he'd slashed at each of them with his broadswords. The ferocity of his slashes was so explosive that neither Ardeen Spellweaver nor Lord Rah could completely block the attack, resulting in the first blood being drawn from both of them at the same time.

"It's good that you're getting to see this match, Dean," Aura said.

I swiveled my head to look at her and found her eyeing me as well.

"Now you get to see the true potential your gift holds… what it really means to be called a sense knight," she finished.

We turned our focus back to the battle just in time to watch Lord Rah unleash a fireball at Chris Pint from his left palm.

Now, I know chantless spells were weaker than spells cast through proper respect of the elemental spirits, but Lord Rah's fireball was huge, and he'd fired this fireball at near point-blank range from Chris Pint's head.

On the other side of Chris Pint, Ardeen Spellweaver had also cast as a spell of his own. He'd bent the water from the oasis to his command and water-bended it into a high-pressure shot that streaked toward Chris Pint's head too.

With their obvious egos, I doubt either of them realized they were working together to beat the Lord of Stars. But even this combined effort wasn't enough to stop Chris Pint.

In that span of time it took for the magic to reach him, Chris simply urged his swifthart forward so that the two opposite elemental attacks would collide with each other instead.

We all know what happens when a high-pressure water-beam collides with a charging ball of fire, right? Let's just say a full stick of boom dust wouldn't nearly be as explosive enough to match.

Chapter end