"W-what? Arranged marriage?"
Vincent couldn't help but be surprised after hearing such an unexpected revelation from his grandfather.
He had never thought of something like this or even think of marriage at this age.
Though he has the mind of a guy in his late twenties, he has already adapted to his nine-year-old body.
Since he wasn't aware of the situation or common sense in this world, he conditioned his mind that he was still not that different from others in his age group.
"Y-yes… I heard from your mother that the marriage was arranged even when she was still pregnant with you."
"T-this… Can't we just forget about that since our family… our sect was destroyed anyway? I don't think they'll be happy to accept an orphaned boy like me, right?."
Vincent replied unwillingly to be tied in marriage.
"Hah~ You really don't sound like a child, Vincent. Anyway, it's up to you whether you want to ignore your parent's wish." Raizen said which put a pang of guilt on Vincent's face.
Just like what Raizen said, he doesn't care whether Vincent would think of fulfilling his parent's arrangement. What matters now is that he decided to inform him at a young age so Vincent may not be able to decide properly.
'Anyway, you still have many years to think about it.' Raizen thought.
"W-why do you have to say it like that, grandpa?" Vincent sighed as it was a bit hard to reject this if he put it that way. Though he had never met his parents here, Raizen portrayed his parents to be responsible who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the greater good.
They fought against those powerful Barbarians that he heard about and died while on their duty.
"Don't think too much about it. Just wait until you're 15 before you visit their clan and show this medallion to the patriarch. It should be proof of the promise they made 10 years ago."
Raizen said as he pulled something out of his small pouch. This pouch is something that he always carries around on his waist.
Soon, a bronze medallion which was engraved with a winged-serpent coiled around a mountain was in Vincent's hands.
It was the same size as his palm and appears quite big while he was holding it.
"Keep it. You can consider going to the Zemin Clan and meeting this girl before you decide. I'm sure you can handle it. Just make sure to do it once your reach fifteen or else, those large clans would normally find partners for their daughters once they reached 16 or 17."
Raizen reminded as he suddenly felt pain in his chest. He immediately clutched his chest in pain but made sure not to utter any sound.
"G-grandpa, is it the internal injury? Do you need something?" Vincent asked worriedly. The pills that they have doesn't seem to be effective anymore.
After a few seconds of enduring the pain, Raizen replied exhausted.
"I'm still fine… I can probably last for a little while."
Raizen weakly replied.
To be honest, he didn't really want to leave his grandson alone in this place. Although he is weirdly mature for his current age, he still doesn't know a lot of things about the world since he grew up in such an isolated village in the southern part of their country.
***
Perhaps, due to his unwillingness to leave his grandson alone, Raizen managed to stay alive for three more months!
Vincent had decided to bury his grandpa near the flower field as per his instructions as well.
Thud!
Vincent finished placing a stone on top of his grandfather's grave.
He only engraved the name Raizen on it and nothing else. This was also Raizen's instructions so he didn't dare to add more as respect.
Haaa~
Vincent deeply sighed as he looked at his surroundings. It is so quiet as if the trees and the flowers were also mourning his grandfather's death.
After spending a little bit more time in front of the grave, Vincent returned to the cabin.
As it was already getting dark, he took out the lamps and lit them up.
The lamp doesn't have gas to burn it up but a tree sap that does the same.
"Hmm…"
Vincent looked at the lamp that was giving off a bright light thanks to it being a +5 item.
Anyway, Raizen also taught him that the Energy Stone, or the Beast Core filled with Soul Aura, can actually be used as Light Stone if one performed a bit of alchemy on it. However, he doesn't know alchemy or anything about it so that can only wait for now.
Clank…
Vincent pulled out the Soul-Forged Ironbark Cane.
Currently, he has two items that he really wanted to reach the 6th enhancement.
This cane and the Silver Ruin Dagger.
Since the dagger is only an "Uncommon" quality while the cane is "Rare", he would of course choose to activate it.
Anyway, he already successfully reached the 1-Star Aura Knight three days ago and learned its corresponding Soul Arts to an intermediate level.
However, since he had been busy with his weakened grandfather three days ago, this is the only time he had to attempt to upgrade this item.
Vincent then looked at his mana and confirmed that he has enough to proceed.
[ Mana: 63/80 ]
He only needed 50 units to advance a +5 to +6 after all. However, he doesn't really need that anyway.
[ Enhancement Stone found. Would you like to use 1 Enhancement Stone to Enhance this item? ]
"Yes!"
Vincent answered. With his 80% boost plus the enhancement stone instead of just using mana, he felt that there was really no way for this to fail!
Ding!
[ Soul-Forged Ironbark Cane +6 ]
"This…"
As expected, as soon as it reached +6, something changed in the outer appearance of the cane. The cane's wood or its bronze color suddenly turned vibrant as if it was full of energy!
Aside from that, Vincent realized that cane became completely clean as if it shed another skin. It suddenly looked brand new.
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