The Novel's Draft

Grabbing him by the collar, I pulled him towards me and slammed my pommel upwards at his chin.

Jumping back, I watched as he was falling into the grass-less ground.

Catching himself, the wind exploded around him as he suddenly disappeared from sight.

What the—

Instinctual, I slashed my blade behind me.

Scrapping his blade to the side, something caught my attention in my peripheral vision.

Leaning my body back, I dodged another sword slash.

Stepping back in a zig zag, a drop of sweat fell down my face.

"You seem to have not noticed, but I’m a dual swordsman." Jokajun started to walk towards me.

How could I have forgotten.

And that explosion of strength must be limit surge.

However, he isn’t the only one with a way to suddenly explode in strength.

Matching his steps, I approached him.

"Scales, strengthen me."

Wrapping around me, the dragon scales armor awakened strength inside me.

Disappearing with the wind, we left nothing behind but our foot prints.

Slashing horizontally, at his neck, Jokajun blocked the attack with both of his blades.

As he skidded back to the growing crowd of bystanders, I suddenly appeared in front of him.

Grabbing him by the face of his head, I raised him into the sky and slammed him onto the ground.

Jokajun’s dual steel blades flew a bit of a distance away.

"Urgh!"

"You’d better forfeit now, I’ve won this match." I said coldly.

As he was about to kick me away, I unhanded him and moved back.

Picking himself up, he blew out blood out of his nose.

"This is more than enough, I acknowledge you." He reached out a hand.

Accepting his gesture, he pulled me towards him and threw a headbutt.

Meeting his attack with an identical one, he fell to his knees.

Rubbing my forehead, I sighed.

"You damn idiot, you should’ve just stayed down as I told you." I shook my head.

Hearing the sound of stomping feet, a huge hand rested on my shoulder.

"Let my brother go this instant or I’ll kill you." He said in a raspy deep voice.

Letting Jokajun go, I tried pushing his hand away but it felt immovable.

I just hit the jackpot.

***

Sitting by the kingdom wall, watching Incus sigh signatures, Vertere filled up a wooden cup for our two newly recruits.

"Anyhow, my name’s Jokajun but you can just call me Joka."

"Alright, well you can just call me Ring."

Looking at the sun that was setting, the wind gently brisked against my skin.

"So then, did you guy’s just form this party?" Asked Joka.

"No, we’ve been together for a long time. Everyone except Acro." I pointed at Acro, "He’s a light magic mage who we recruited back at Febritust."

"I see, so how was Febritust?"

Recalling back everything that went down, I sighed.

"It was quite the eventful nightmare."

"Is that so..?" Joka then rose up from his spot, "Well, me and Kacon are going to head to our tents now and catch some sleep, what about you guys?"

Shifting closer to me, Alleus placed her lips near my ear.

"Shouldn’t we tell them about the fact that we’re in a novel, it will be much easier if he came with us instead of staying here..." Whispered Alleus.

"No, it’s fine. It’s not like he’s going to disappear. We’ll just let him stay

***

The next morning, it was the same.

Incus had waken up early to eat breakfast before running over to trainee knights hall.

After that she would meet up with important figures, before eventually going outside the kingdom walls.

During this time, I would spar with Joka.

"Your movements are growing sharper with every swing, are you sure that you aren’t a sword in disguise?" I scoffed.

"If I were a sword, then I would’ve already be standing next to hero Incus..." Sat down on a crate.

Looking over at Kacon, he was carving something out of wood.

Watching Alleus walk next to him, she looked at what Kacon was doing with a curios look.

"What are you doing Kacon?" Alleus tilted her head.

"Nothing." Kacon then brushed whatever he was carving before placing it on the log that he was sitting on, "Horse."

"Oh wow, you’re really good at this!" Alleus cheered.

Placing his large hand over his neck, Kacon nodded his head.

"You think so?" Kacon’s voice sounded unsure.

"Of course! I’ve never seen someone do wood carving before, and it looks really cool!" Alleus sat next to Kacon, "Could you maybe teach me?"

Handing over a small piece of curved iron to Alleus, Kacon started instructing her on how to the basics of wood carving.

"So where do you guys go, you don’t seem to be people that registered like us." Joka leaned forward, tilting his head slightly at me.

"Hm, well you could say that we’re convoys for Incus." I replied but it seemed that Joka wasn’t impressed by that answer, "Haha, well we’re servants in training. We’ve been instructed to stay with Incus to learn her needs and wants."

"If that’s the case then why aren’t you studying her like you are supposed to?" Joka grabbed his sword, "You’re definitely lying to me. If you don’t reveal the truth then this might be where we’ll have to be enemies."

Glaring at him with killing intent, he shifted his back foot back.

With a sigh, I slumped back.

"The truth is quite... well, how can I put this. Out of this world? And even if I did tell you, the chances that you’ll believe me is out of the question." I rubbed my temple, as the stress of having to frustratingly explain everything once more made my head throb.

"Man just tell me. Your friends seem to be sticking around you like glue, so they must have trusted in the truth you told them... but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be cautious with your answer..." Joka then placed his hand on one of his sword’s handle.