Akihiko could neither blame Klautz nor he could blame Gozoto. He could only blame himself. If he were such a man to blame others for his shortcomings, how could he come so far?

'My village will rise'

***

"Give me 4 Stamina potions,

" Klautz placed his order, making the merchant nod.

He was in a foul mood because of what happened before. Not only was it a waste of his time but also he lost on the 500 gold that he was supposed to get today. His greed for better skills and weapons had got the better of him.

"Who would have thought Akihiko would trick me?

"

Klautz was totally unaware of the fact that it was not in intention to trick him but rather he was incompetent to give him what he wanted. Klautz didn't know at that time but this event full of bitter memories would later cause the Mizukigakure to achieve great heights.

Even the potions Klautz was buying today were from yesterday's money he had got thanks to Shizu.

"Give me two potions.

" A rather young and shrill voice resounded in Klautz ears.

KLautz turned around as he found a young woman in her teens shopping for potions. Seeing her, Klautz sighed.

'Even a young girl like her knows where to spend her money. Those girls instead chose to do clothes shopping.'

Klautz took a better glance at the girl.

'Wait isn't she…'

"Reena?

" Klautz asked.

The air around her sure felt similar. Klautz couldn't help but ask. He wanted to confirm her identity if not anything.

The girl turned around. Seeing Klautz in front of her, her eyes shot out wide. Her jaws fell.

"Ah Mister!

" She continued

"You are here too!

"

She had a rather shocked expression.

"So you thought, I wouldn't be?

" Klautz frowned.

His brows drew together narrowing his eyes. It was not everyday that someone doubted his expertise.

"No… I thought you guys went to a different place. I was not sure about anything.

"

She shook her head as she received the potion from the counter. Reena had been as suspective of her surroundings as ever. When the other girls were wasting their money she knew what she had to buy.

Unlike Klautz, Reena couldn't participate in the bonus stage for obvious reasons. She had quit even before the stage had begun.

Klautz nodded as he held on to his chin. He was rather detached from the rest of his generation of newbies. Only focusing on increasing his strength for that was what took priority for him. But Reena was the only one he was interested in due to her talent.

An awkward silence follows.

"Mister… how have you been?

" Reena tried to initiate the conversation, breaking off the awkward silence.

But Klautz had no interest in going for the chit chat.

"What happened to the others?

" Klautz asked, raising his brows.

Klautz's question had caught her off guard. She looked down.

'Something's wrong'

"What happened?

"

But Reena shook her head.

"I am sure they will be doing fine. I have no idea about them though. They abandoned me when things started getting worse and after that I had to only rely on myself.

"

There wasn't much Reena could express in a few words. But being a child she was the weakest of the lot. She had yet to grow and had a short structure. How was she supposed to even swing a sword with a form like that?

Reena had to go through her own set of hardships. When water wasn't enough to feed to everybody she was the first one to be tossed aside due to her uselessness. After all nothing much could be expected from a girl her age.

Klautz sighed. It was a rather inevitable outcome. The tutorial zone wasn't very friendly to the weak but talented. But hell was somewhat different. In fact, it was much more complicated and if you are not as calculative as Klautz you can only rely on your damn luck for things to take a good turn of events.

There was a look of melancholy in her eyes. That told all of her stories though she didn't shed a single drop of tear. How hard was it to survive alone? With no water… with no food. Watching people die everyday?

For a child like her it was a great mental trauma.

"But even all of those have failed to break her. She is still alive and moving towards her own good.

"

The very fact that she was in such a store buying potions of necessity proved the fact that she has a lot left to herself. She was resilient. And was prepared to endure more.

"There is not much I can say here. And I can't help you with your past either,

" Klautz continued.

"But if you face any difficulties or need some advice you can always ask me.

"

Klautz knew that even though the newbies are together at the moment eventually they will fall into the ploy and be seperated. Even if he watched over Reena it would but be temporary.

"You will? Will you help me?

"

But Reena didn't need to know about that. She needed hope more than anyone else. Hope is a four letter word yet it is one of the reasons why humans move forward.

"You need to grow Reena. It's not your time to worry about it yet but….

" Klautz continued.

"Powers that are much stronger than anything we can imagine. Disasters that are worse than the worst peril that we have seen are looming on top of our head. You need to get stronger so that you can face it!

"

Klautz didn't lie. Humanity needs heroes… They need strength. Only then can they defend against the calamity that would be befalling upon them. And Klautz believed that given time Reena had potential.

***

Author:

Creation is hard for authors. Cheer me up with your power stones.

Let me know your thoughts about the chapter in the comments sections!