Bariton had been playing his lyre in the capital like usual. It was a simplistic day, ever since he got a class he’d been naturally decent at playing his lyre. The playing wasn’t anything to ride home about, he certainly wasn’t the Musician.

  He certainly wasn’t anyone to be mentioned when someone got home, to tell their kids that they had seen a bard on the way home. Bariton knew that. He was just happy to be playing. The bard was happy to finally get a stage, and to finally get to work.

  Finally hold something. It’s certainly an unstable source of income, and a small one at that. But it was income. Much better than being stuck in the sewers after being beat within an inch of your life.

  And Bariton was grateful, playing in front of a small crowd. He may’ve only gotten 3 Copper Pieces a day, but it was much better than having to steal a piece of bread a day. Because he had fun.

  Eventually, he went to the sanctuary to play, and it was quite a large cathedral. It was definitely splendid, and there was a statue of the god of light. The saintess was talking with some nobles as he began the song.

  He decided to play Claire de Lune, since it was a nice song, and maybe playing something nice and classic would be something to catch attention. And he wasn’t too wrong as the saintess looked back, and her pink eyes were shining.

  51 - Swordsman

  Bariton had followed Judine down the pit alongside Shammus, Pallad, and Clara. Judine didn’t give much warning before jumping in, but she was a competent leader. And as the light left out, everyone’s eyes were clearly glowing.

  And the light returned when they fell far enough, now falling from a brilliant green sky. It was an odd coloration, but Bariton looked up and saw the hole slowly sealing itself. It seemed to have shattered around Judine.

  The others seemed more mana exhausted. So he played a tune, and felt the ambient magic of the air pull at them slowing them down. The shards of the sky land in front of a small house. A swordsman was sitting in front of it, and was staring at the group of five as they descended to the earth.

  He had a straw in his mouth, and his eyes were an odd silver. And they were watching the group with curiosity. He looked Bariton up and down, and then the next was Pallad. His lips curved downwards more and more as he saw each of them.

  “You are all improper swordsmen.”

  “What?” Bariton’s eyes slimmed into a glare as the words left the swordsman. He seemed about as old as them but exuded an air of experience that he couldn’t quite place down. “And who are you to say that?”

  The rest of the party seemed just as offended, but Bariton was the only one speaking. “Why, I was put in charge of teaching you lot the sword.” The swordsman took the sword and scabbard out at the same time and placed it in front of him.

  “The name’s Kishtan. It means honor in draconic, the language of my people.” Kishtan said, as his eyes seemed to become more slit like. The scales that were slightly visible beneath his robes were more obvious now.

  “And yours?” Kishtan leaned forward to hear the heroes names. “Painted the World Red told me you were coming in, and I decided I may as well teach you while you were here. It’d be helpful to know my students’ names.”

  “Bariton.” Bariton said quickly, noticing how Kishtan had probably been spending hundreds of thousands of Mana from the system to stay in human form. It terrified him how much mana could possibly be spent at a whim from this guy.

  “Clara’s mine.” Clara dips down slightly, her pink eyes looking Kishtan up and down. Kishtan smiled as he met Clara’s gaze.

  “Judine.” Judine also did a light bow, something Bariton usually saw in the capital between judge and lawyer, or judge and defendant. Kishtan offered the same.

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  “Pallad!” Pallad steps forward and swings his arm over Kishtan’s shoulder, who responds in silence, but his smile widens.

  “Shammus. A pleasure to meet you.” Shammus gave a light head nod which was returned by Kishtan.

  “The pleasure is all mine! But now, I can tell only you’d been properly taught before…” Kishtan immediately began, stepping over towards Shammus. “But you’ve forgotten a large majority of it, and are relying solely on muscle memory. That’s no good now that you are all well beyond the SSR++ Threshold.”

  “But! That means you can help me teach the others since your training will be the least extensive, since it’ll all be mostly reminders.” Kishtan walked past Shammus, and he stopped in front of Clara and Judine. “You two clearly aren’t used to wielding heavier swords, so I’d recommend something like a rapier, or maybe even a dagger to supplement your main weapon.”

  “However, that doesn’t mean you can’t gain anything from training in whatever you choose to. I’ll understand what weapon I’m training you in after I see everyone’s fighting style. I’ll properly duel all of you in a moment, but I need to decide the order.”

  Kishtan stepped around Pallad and Bariton at the same time. “You two are vastly different yet very alike. I can tell the vile energy of your eyeglasses, those are a hidden weapon but certainly not your main weapon.”

  “But Pallad rushes in, expecting brute force to work flawlessly.” Kishtan continues on and on, not allowing any openings in his lecture. He was worse than the System in that regard. “Also, I can tell you all don’t actually fight constantly. Or you do and just never got taught properly, which is maybe why my patron god decided you need training.”

  Kishtan sits down on a nearby stump, looking over the massive wheat fields. As the silence overtook the group, Bariton spoke up, “Okay, this guy’s crazy but from what he’s able to tell from looking at us-”

  “-we have no realistic way of winning?” Pallad finishes Bariton’s comment for him, and he looks at the dragon.

  “Exactly, and it doesn’t help that he wasn’t even surprised when we fell from the sky. Also where’s that fae that we helped on the previous floor?” Bariton said, switching the topic towards Judine’s new friend.

  “No clue, but I wouldn’t put it past the tower to put us against him at some point.” Judine looks up at the sky, and sees the clouds blow past over hills. It was a very rural area, vastly different from the very urban environment of the previous.

  It felt odd, and Kishtan finally stood up from his stump, and walks up to Shammus. “You are probably the one that I find the most interesting. Not the one my patron god finds the most interesting though. Pallad, who’s your patron god?”

  “Why, it was Brightness’s Delight, why do you ask?” Pallad asks a question in turn, which Kishtan doesn’t answer. “Alright, go with Bariton towards the temple over there, just beyond the river.” Kishtan only orders him to go alongside Bariton to a temple.

  Bariton was a bit sad that he wouldn’t get to see his comrade fight the dragon, but that could also be because Kishtan already saw that he mostly analyzes his opponent and strikes towards weaknesses.

  Bariton sighs as he pats Pallad on the shoulder, “Alright, let’s get moving big man.” Pallad’s grunt of agreement was all the two needed to get moving. It was a peaceful hike, with some animals in the forest as the shadows of the leaves left an interesting pattern of light.

  And the two found the river real quick. Bariton hopped over the rocks, and Pallad just waded through it, which Bariton was quickly inclined to turn his nose from before a large splash of water hit him.

  “Hey! This is no time to mess around!” Bariton turned to face Pallad who was laughing just now reaching the shore of the river. Bariton sighed and looked down at his outfit. It wasn’t sopping wet, but it…

  “Ugh, fine, let’s just get moving.”

  Pallad’s laughter followed them as they walked, and Bariton was contemplating using a water spell. And so he did. He cast a small ball of water above Pallad’s head which soaked his hair and head.

  And now Bariton was chuckling, and Pallad looking like a wet dog simply smiled even wider. Bariton realized far too late what the paladin was plotting, and was attacked by a massive wave of droplets as Pallad shook his head to dry out his hair.

  Bariton’s screams wouldn’t reach the party anytime soon, as Pallad led the two back to the river to have a playfight. Bariton never had this much fun in the tower since that year they were stuck on floor 39, but he did want to.

  And so he played with Pallad in the water, mostly spraying him with water while Pallad splashed Bariton. They finally left the water after a few minutes, but both of them were laughing at the other’s wettened state.

  The laughter was music to the forest, as other critters came in to watch. It was interesting for Bariton, who now felt heavy with his clothes thoroughly soaked, to still move so much faster than the average animal.

  Much faster than the average person. He was strong. And he was playing like a little kid with the most physically strong guy he knew. It was fun. And he wanted it to last, and last it did. The sun was almost no longer visible above the trees as they got to the clearing with the temple.