The inky night is spelled with a bewitching enchantment that lures naive teenagers into its ensnarement, swallowing them into its deepest recesses.Â
Claude and Tyre strolled through the streets, Claudeâs dangerous aura keeping the thugs at bay; in such a sense that even the thugs attacked them, they will soon be sent flying through the air.Â
Upon reaching their destination, Tyre froze for a second.Â
Appearing before his eyes was the âGiant Hammerâ symbol of Yorksonâs Auction House. Tyre looked at Claude, confused, yet the golden-haired young master simply smiled and led him inside.Â
A black-haired young man seemed to have waited by the door for a long time. He smiled upon their arrival, surprise glinting in his eyes.Â
âLin Xiu.â
âYoung Master Claude.â Lin Xiu bowed to him slightly, his mannerisms resembling a servantâs.Â
Has Claude brought along with him a servant before? Tyre wondered, confused.Â
Seeing through his confusion, Claude chuckled and explained, âThis is Lin Xiu, my close friend from a young age, and also my senior who enrolled in Avalon two years earlier than me. Heâs now a shareholder of the Yorkson Auction House, and just became the CEO recently.â
âItâs all thanks to the dukeâs fostering, or else I wonât be at where I am now.â Lin Xiu replied humbly. Tyre found it almost impossible to associate him with the CEO of the auction house, who released such a dominating aura when Zhang Ling, Salma and the others caused trouble.Â
âThis isâŠâŠâ
Tyre nodded at Lin Xiu as the latter turned to him. Claude replied,
âThis is my friend and roommate, Tyre. Two of you can get to know each other.â
âSo itâs Sire Tyre. I remember hearing about your courageous act of pointing your sword at millions of people during the Tournament of Sorceresses, and I must say that I respect it a lot. Such a handsome face under the mask is quite unexpected.âÂ
âYou must be joking,â Tyre replied politely, not knowing how to answer to Lin Xiuâs words.Â
âStill, Claude, why did you bring me here?â
Actually, Tyre still wanted to ask about the apology Claude promised.Â
Although being clueless to what Tyre has in mind, Claude continued the conversation, nodding towards Lin Xiu, âAbout that thing I told you yesterdayâŠâŠ howâs the preparation going?â
âItâs all complete. But before this, Iâve prepared an appetizing feast for Young Master Claude, would you like to give it a taste?â
âYouâre alright with this, Tyre?â Claude asked. Obviously, he himself would not have any issues with this - only idiots would ignore the delicious food prepared for them. Lin Xiu led them both to the private room underground, setting up a table for them.
Feasts like these are in abundance at Yorksonâs Auction House. Just by looking at the table full of fancy dishes, Tyre felt the strong urge to dive in and eat his fill.Â
The atmosphere was relaxing as Tyre enjoyed his meal and the others drank some wine. Â Claude and Lin Xiu - whose relationship seems to be of a servant and a friend - chatted their heart out, as Claude did not have much opportunity to meet this old friend of his, thus this meeting being their first, excluding the ones done with the Magical Projection Stone.Â
Halfway in between, Lin Xiu said out of sudden,Â
âLook at me, I almost forgot about the main business - time just slipped by, I was too engrossed in my conversation with Young Master Claude.â Lin Xiu said, slamming his palm on his forehead before saying to the people outside the door, âBring in the thing that I prepared last time.â
âYes sir.â came a deep voice coated with a heavy layer of terror and threat. Despite not holding any evil intentions, it was still laced with a high level of respect, such that Tyreâs pupils convulsed in fear.Â
With such a full tone of dominance, this person should, at the very least be of an Emperorâs rank. Although not as terrifying as Vanas, the coldness in his tone was enough to make people shudder.
A while later, the owner of this voice pushed open the door of the room, respectfully sending in a long box.
A long box? Tyre raised an eyebrow, curious. What can this be? The design of the box itself is enough to display its value, the sculptured picture of the Dancing Dragon and Phoenix done so well that it seemed to have a life to it.
Claude nodded to Lin Xiu.
âThank you for your help.â
âYoung Master Claude, please donât say that. I will follow your every order.â Lin Xiu smiled, bowing deeply as if Claudeâs praise was the greatest prize achieved by him.Â
While Tyre was confused about what is happening between them, Claude, still smiling, turned to him and said,Â
âOpen it and have a look.â
âMe?â
âIf not you, who?â Claude said, amused. Tyre surely did not look like a timid person.
Tyre swallowed nervously at the expensive-looking box. So this is the âapologyâ Claude has been talking about. The box itself could already earn him some money if he sold it, so no matter whatâs inside, he wonât be at loss.
Thatâs right, the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. I might as well not expect anything from the start.
Still, Tyre lifted the lid of the blue box slowly, his right hand trembling.Â
Inside lay a sword the colour of the box.Â
The hilt of the sword was brown, numeral patterns twisting into a peculiar design and stopping at the scabbard. Tyreâs eyes shone brightly as soon as he laid his eyes on the sword.Â
Itâs definitely a sword of good quality, even the best of the best.
He picked up the sword almost instantly as if out of subconsciousness, placing his left hand on the scabbard and his right on the hilt.Â
Weng~~ The opening of a small crack was just enough for the sound of the sword to spill out, its resonation filling the room.Â
âWhat a good sword! Can I know what itâs called?â Tyre exclaimed, unable to control his excitement due to how satisfied he is with the sword. If this appeared during the auction, he would have begged Angel to purchase it first.Â
Such treasure is definitely worth the price.
âThe name of this sword is âTyrantâ. It would be great if Sire Tyre liked this gift.â Lin Xiu said, his smile unfading, any sense of excluding Tyre absent from his words. Yet Tyre was taken aback slightly.
âThisâŠâŠ Mr Lin Xiu, do you meanâŠ....âÂ
âOf course itâs a gift to you, I assumed that Young Master Claude wouldâve let you know. Well, we originally have another sword of the same quality here, sadly it was bought by a girl during the day. Fortunately, we were well prepared and managed to carry out the Young Masterâs order.â
âIsâŠâŠ Is this really for me?â Tyre asked, turning to Claude. The latter nodded.Â
âThis is my form of apology to you. Iâm aware that you lost to me so easily in the last battle because you lack a suitable sword for a weapon. Now that you got a sword you like, perhaps you can bring something new to the table during our future sparring sessions.â
âHa, you sure talk big,â Tyre said, gladly accepting the gift and placing it beside The Fallen One. He was never a dramatic person anyways, there was no need to make a big deal out of this.
This sense of stability given by the weight of TyrantâŠâŠ itâs as if Iâm back at the Tournament of Sorceresses, especially the battle with Dizi.
Finally, itâs back. Heaven Sword Ensemble.
And tomorrow, he is going to fight with this sword!