Chapter 19: The Old Man

"Seriously?" Caelan stared at the system message for a moment.

Of all the things that could happen during their first day off, he couldn’t believe that accomplishing a new objective would be 1.

However, what caught his attention the most was the hint after it.

This guy can be a help to me? That made everything more bearable. And if that was the case, then he needed to act.

"Hey." Caelan took a step forward all of a sudden, his voice loud enough to cut through the noise.

"Caelan, what are you doing?" Eveline quickly grabbed his sleeve before he could even take another step.

Caelan glanced back at her. "This guy can help us."

"...What?"

"Trust me." Caelan gave her a quick smile before turning back toward the two men.

Eveline was left confused by what he had just said. How could this old man possibly help them with their money problem?

She didn’t know what Caelan was thinking, but she decided to stay close and see what he would do.

"What do you want?" Both men immediately turned to him after a moment. Their brows rose as they looked at Caelan boredly. They didn’t think of him as a threat at all.

"Why don’t you two just leave?" Caelan took another step forward. Honestly, he didn’t have much experience with this. He was just winging it.

"Who are you to tell us what to do?" The two men looked at each other before one of them laughed.

"I’m nobody." Caelan shrugged as he answered that. It was partly true. "But you two are making a lot of noise and causing chaos in this area."

"Get lost. This doesn’t concern you." The other man simply frowned at him.

"..."

Caelan’s eyes flew to the old man on the side. His disruption over the matter seemed to calm down the man a little, but it was obvious that he was still scared. The old man was still holding his cane tightly, his body slightly trembling.

"You’re right. It doesn’t concern me." Caelan sighed. "But I can’t really ignore it either." The moment those words left his mouth, Caelan immediately regretted them.

Damn.

What was he even doing? He didn’t know how to handle situations like this since he wasn’t some kind of man who went around getting involved in other people’s problems.

I don’t even know what I’m doing. Caelan silently cursed himself.

"You’re really annoying." One of the men suddenly stepped forward.

"You too... can’t you just leave?" Caelan’s eyes narrowed.

"No." As soon as the man said that, he immediately lunged forward to throw a punch.

"Caelan!" Eveline’s eyes widened as the man’s fist flew toward him.

Caelan barely managed to move his head to the side. The fist passed right beside his face, his eyes widening for a fraction.

"What the hell?!" Caelan immediately stepped backward.

"We should teach this guy a lesson first." The other man also moved forward.

"Wait, what?" Caelan’s eyes widened once again as the second man swung his fist toward him.

"Caelan, watch out!" Eveline instinctively took a step forward, but before she could reach him, Caelan already raised his arms to block it.

Thud!

"Damn..." The impact made him stumble backward.

"Caelan!" Eveline looked at him worriedly.

"I’m fine!" Caelan quickly answered before she could move closer. "Just stay on the side!"

"But..."

"Don’t worry! I’ve got this!"

Eveline hesitated. She wanted to help him, but there wasn’t much she could do against two grown men. All she could do was step back and watch as Caelan continued facing them. She knew at least that he could protect himself.

For Caelan, he already accepted his fate. He instinctively moved to the side before throwing a punch of his own, fighting back as one of the men charged toward him again.

"Ugh!"

His fist connected with the man’s shoulder, making him stumble backward. But it seemed like the man was already used to getting beaten up, so it was nothing to him. He quickly recovered, standing before his companion so they could attack Caelan all together.

Caelan took a few steps backward with it. The two men quickly dashed to him. He was waiting for their attack when he suddenly remembered something.

His ability.

Right... I have an ability. He had completely forgotten about it in the middle of the situation.

Caelan raised his hand, and as he thought of it, a smoke of shadow began gathering around his palm.

[Shadow Armament is being activated.]

The shadows twisted and condensed. Within a split second, a small dagger formed in his hand. He gripped it tightly as he stanced himself.

However, for the two men, as soon as they saw it, they froze. Their eyes widened as they stared at the black weapon right before their eyes.

"..."

"..."

The two men stared at the dagger before fully stopping on their tracks. They slowly looked at each other, their eyes meeting halfway.

"He... he has an ability."

Then one of them swallowed nervously while the other man’s face immediately paled.

"Let’s go."

"What?"

"RUN!"

Both men turned around and immediately sprinted away. They didn’t even hesitate. They just ran as fast as they could disappearing into the crowd within seconds.

"...What?" For Caelan, he was left standing in the middle of the street.

His hand was still raised, with his dagger in it. He stared in the direction where the two men had run.

"Huh? They just ran away?" Caelan stood there completely speechless. Just as he thought he was already going to have a good fight.

He was ready to actually use his ability and beat them up. But they just ran instead.

"That was it?"

[Shadow Armament has been deactivated.]

The dagger slowly disappeared from his hand after that notification. With his free hand, he stood there in place, scratching the back of his head. He then glanced at the old man on the side, who looked as surprised as him.

"Are you fine, Sir?" He asked the question.

"Th—" Before the old man could finish his words, a loud cheer suddenly erupted from the crowd around them.

"WOOOOO!"

"That was amazing!"

"He scared those two away!"

"Did you see that weapon?!"

"I’ve never seen an ability like that before!"

"Those two bullies finally got what they deserved!"