Chapter 280: I Promise

Before they could arrive at the beautiful spot of the town of Erast, Kraftvoll and the others saw the slums area of the town first. The situation only made them feel miserable about the situation.

After hearing their remarks of what they were seeing, Prince Aragorn said to his companions, "Yeah. It is because of the current war."

'That sounds right. Maybe almost all of the food supply of the town were sent toward the frontline for the soldiers to eat as they fight against the opposing alliance. In a town that cannot be considered rich, the people at the bottom of the will definitely suffer,' Kraftvoll thought to himself as he observed the people of the slum.

While they were having a conversation with each other, a little boy who was holding a bread noticed that they were observing them. 'Why are those people observing us from that distance? Is it their first time here?' the kid wondered as he stared at them.

Kraftvoll was the first one to notice the kid's stare so he glanced at him back. When the kid noticed Kraftvoll's glance, he immediately turned his stare away.

To the kid;'s surprise, an older man suddenly grabbed his bread and he immediately ran away. "THAT'S MY BREAD!" the kid could only shout as his bread got taken away.

Seeing the situation, Kraftvoll shouted at the top of his lungs, "Sky Soar!" 

With that shout of his, a portion of his inner seishin essences came out of his body in a matter of split-seconds. At the next moment, all of those inner seishin essences that came out of his body suddenly transformed into a translucent body of air.

Kraftvoll decided to use that translucent body of air to soar through the sky so that he could pursue that one that stole the bread from the kid.

While he was in the middle of pursuing the thief, Kraftvoll shouted, "Wind Blade!"

Before he could even reach the side of the thief, some of Kraftvoll's inner seishin essences came out of his body and all of it turned into particles of air in a matter of seconds. At the next moment, those particles of air condensed into pair of blades of wind which Kraftvoll used to bare to the thief's neck.

After doing so, Kraftvoll whispered to the thief, "Give back the bread that you stole from that kid!"

"Ye-yes! I will return the bread so please, spare my life!" begged the bandit as Kraftvoll's Wind Blade seishin spell bared at his neck.

The little kid who got his bread stolen came running toward the bandit after seeing Kraftvoll's move toward him. The thief handed over the bread to the kid without any form of resistance.

"Thank you, mister!" said the kid as soon as he received his bread from the thief.

Kraftvoll smiled at the kid and he said in response to him, "You're welcome. Next time, keep your things safe, okay?"

The little boy smiled and nodded at Kraftvoll's reminders to him. A moment later, the kid decided to go to his home since he was able to get his bread back.

As the kid went away, Kraftvoll furiously said to the thief, "HOW COULD YOU STEAL A BREAD FROM A KID!? DON"T DO IT NEXT TIME OR EL-!"

Before Kraftvoll could even be finished threatening the bandit, he was interrupted by a little girl that furiously punched him in his calves. "Don't bully my daddy, you big meanie!!!"

After hearing the girl who was even younger than the previous boy, he released the thief after having a certain realization. 'Don't tell me that-!' Kraftvoll thought to himself as let go of the thief whom he bared his Wind Blade seishin spell.

"Please forgive me for being violent! Can you please tell me the situation of the town?" asked Kraftvoll as he bowed his head toward the father of the little girl.

The thief that Kraftvoll threatened earlier suddenly went to stop Kraftvoll from bowing, he said to Kraftvoll, "It's okay, young man. Don't apologize to me! I was just a little desperate because my little girl here is really hungry. When I saw that little boy's food, I just lost it and went to steal his bread. Thank you for stopping me!"

After hearing the thief, Kraftvoll asked again for the second time, "Can you tell me the situation here in the slums, mister?"

"Okay, I will tell you. Let's find a place for us to talk about that matter," said the middle-aged man that Kraftvoll just stopped from stealing.

"Where are you going, Kraftvoll?" asked Princess Kyomi seeing that Kraftvoll was walking with the thief that they saw earlier.

"You guys can just go ahead. I will follow all of you after finishing a business!" Kraftvoll shouted in response to Princess Kyomi.

After hearing Kraftvoll, Princess Kyomi and the others decided to just go ahead of Kraftvoll because they knew that he did not need their help at all. After all, Kraftvoll's strength was enough to deal with the three of them on his own.

The middle-aged man led Kraftvoll to his house to talk about his inquiry. Upon entering the house, Kraftvoll saw a decrepit house made up of rusting scarps of metal. 

"Here is our most comfortable chair so please have a seat," said the father of the child. 

Although the middle-aged man referred to it as "their most comfortable chair", it was just a decrepit chair just like the house. Kraftvoll was still seated because seeing the furniture in the house, the middle-aged man gave him the best seat of them all.

Kraftvoll could not help but regret what he had done earlier. He almost killed the father of the little girl before even seeing the situation in a holistic view. 

'I thought he was just a shameless thief when he begged for his life. Little did I know that he stole that bread for his little girl,' Kraftvoll thought to himself after receiving the most hospitality of the one he asked to tell the situation.

"Sorry, young man. We don't have anything to serve you so let me just tell you the situation so that you can go if you want. After all, our home is not really that comfortable for any person," said the man.

"It's okay, mister. I just want to ask about the current situation of the town particularly the slums nowadays," said Kraftvoll after hearing him. 

The expression of the middle-aged man changed after hearing Kraftvoll. He took a long sigh before he decided to start answering Kraftvoll's inquiry to him.

He said in response to Kraftvoll's question, "The town of Erast is not like this before and that includes that slums area. The governor of Halfte Territory would often give some food to lessen the hunger in the slums. Ever since the war became more fierce than before, the governor was unable to send some food here to help."

"I see. That's the reason why chaos is everywhere when we observed the slums earlier. On that note, there are supposed to be people who were promoting the safety of the people, right?" Kraftvoll asked based on his observation.

"Yes, but almost all of them went to the frontline under the current reigning Baron of the town. The current baron was considered a good man so no one hesitated among the soldiers to follow him. The soldiers who remained were barely maintaining peace were suddenly summoned on the frontline half a year ago," said the middle-aged man in response to Kraftvoll.

'Shit! I really messed up everything! Why did I even fucking do that!?' Kraftvoll frustratedly thought to himself. He could not help but show his frustration in his expression.

Both the father-and-daughter duo did not say a thing when they saw his expression. After all, everyone had their own situation. Even the little girl realized that fact after growing up in the slums for all her life.

After regaining his composure, Kraftvoll decided to show his previous smile toward the two that gave him some information. 

"Thank you for the information, mister! Here some for your trouble!" said Kraftvoll as he was handing some gold coins to the middle-aged man in front of him.

The father of the little girl desperately wanted to accept Kraftvoll's gift to him but he reluctantly declined it because he felt that he did not deserve it at all. At the same time, he felt ashamed of the thing that he had done earlier.

"Young man, I can't accept it. I don't think I deserve to receive some gold coins from you after all of the things that I have done," said the middle-aged man.

After hearing the middle-aged man, Kraftvoll decided not to give it to him. Instead, he handed it over to the little girl while he was saying, "Here some money for you, little girl. It's my compensation after bullying your father earlier."

After handing over those coins, Kraftvoll immediately shouted, "Sky Soar!"