Chapter 11 - The Sudden Encounter

After the fight, the holes and broken stuff on the trainig grounds was reverted back to their original forms. It was the Royal Wizard who did that and it was also him who found me with his Divination Magic.

I went to the city and bought some stuff, including presents for my family. I checked out the Adventurer's Guild, but there was nothing interesting there except for the two beautiful receptionists.

I arrived home and gave everyone their presents and apologized to Azure. She accepted my apology and gave me a hug, saying that it was her fault for underestimating her.

All that happened two years ago. I'm now a healty 12 years old. One more year until I can go adventure throughout the world. During my two years of stay in the castle, I got along with everyone. Including Trumea, but everyday; her pranks gets worse. I almost hit my head once when she froze the floor I was walking. It caught me off guard, but Sebastian, the head butler, caught and saved me.

Sebastian was like my best friend during my stay even though he's forty years older than me. He told me that he once was a renowned adventurer and retired because of his age. I listened to his stories everyday and I got immersed from it. He's like my grandfather.

My levels also increased through reading the books from the massive library we have, though not a lot. It even has a lot of magic grimoire that recommends what class best suits you and how to get it. I got permission from my father to read it and it recommended the "Elemental Wizard", a unique class, as the main class and "Warlock"as the subclass.

It was surprisingly simple to get these two in contrast to their effects. The "Elemental Wizard" class only requires the affinity to all magical elements, though I remembered that a common person could only have one or two elements, while a rare and talented could get three to five.

The "Warlock" isn't really as simple as the "Elemental Wizard", but it's doable. It needs at least one summon that inhabits another realm and two magic on the Advanced tier to get it. Nightmare is a Void Spider, so I passed that. I was Level 53 when I read the grimoire, so I only had to do some hunting for a month and raise my Wind Magic from Basic to Advanced so that I could give my companions flight.

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The next day. I'm already preparing my luggage. We're leaving to the Western Academy of Magic together with Sebastian. Warren is already at his family and because of my father's intervention and protection, those that oppose his heritage will be executed. He's greatly thankful of my family and he said that if I ever needed one, he'll make me one of the best weapons in the world.

Even though Sebastian is the head butler; Even though I told him that he could stay; Sebastian always tells me that he needs to accompany me on this trip as my guard. For that, I'm grateful.

The carriage is now ready. I prefer riding Gray to get there faster, but a slow and steady pace isn't all that bad. What's more, I could meet and befriend lots of people on my way there. I gave the letter I wrote to Gray and told him to deliver it to the twins. I'm sure they'll be surprised.

I waved towards my family and hugged my teary-eyed mother. I promised her that I'll be safe and I'll contact her everytime I could. I also hugged my father and stepmom, fist bumbed with Tristan, and high-fived with my sisters.

It's now been a week on this month long trip of ours. He got attacked by street robbers and bandits a couple of times and there was even an assassination attempt on me. Good thing that Sebastian was here. He really is strong as they say.

As per usual, every morning, I go to a nearby body of water and take a dip, sometimes hunting game on my way back. I ran into a couple of monsters and increased my level by two.

Halfway there and it was nighttime. We prepared camp and decided to rest for the night. Until we heard a howl at a distance and an ear piercing gale hit our camp. The coachman, a normal person, was terrified and was sweating bullets.

It seems like a fight was inevitable as the trees were falling one by one towards out camp. I sent Nightmare to scout what the enemy is and he came back fast, trembling with excitement.

『It's a Fanged Crawler, milord.』

A Fanged Crawler, huh. A wolf-like moster with fangs sharp enough to cut through titanium. I grabbed the monster encyclopedia I kept on my person and searched for the name. It was listed on the A-ranked monster, but it's power rivals to that of a S-ranked monster.

『What's a Fanged Crawler doing here?』 Sebastain said as he removed his gloves and cracked his muscles. Sebastian is a Martial Artist. A class that prefers to fight unarmed and use their inner ki to their advantage.

I asked him if he had fought one of these before and he nodded, saying: 『I have fought a couple of these before and they were a piece of cake. That was back when I was on my prime. Not sure if I could defeat one of them now on my own, but I'm confident because you have my back.』

We prepared for battle. I instructed Nightmare to do what I always tell him. To strike the opponent's opening without leaving an opening to himself. I left Fögar to guard the terrified coachman and he was disatisfied. I told him that I'll fight him whenever he wants and he was pumped up. I rode Gray and took to the skies.

The Fanged Crawler was approaching. The last wall of trees separating us from it had fallen. It was different than what was illustrated in the book. It had blades sprouting from his back, it was also triple the size of a normal Fanged Crawler and it's giving off a heavy aura of miasma.

Sebastian clicked his tongue and whispered 『A Unique Monster, huh... Troublesome.』.

I covered my nose due to the smell of death lingering on the air. I purified the air around me with both wind and healing magic, making the smell lessen.

Sebastian decided to do the honor and stroke first, hitting the monster right on its face and forcing it to move back and sway. I followed up with a trickling bolt of lightning and striked behind it. It howled in pain and growled in anger.

It's preparing to charge, gathering up its strength on its hind legs. Nightmare decided to strike it and bit a piece off the monster's back, leaving a trail of oozing blood. He went back into the shadows, but not until he swung his front legs and destroyed a couple of the blades on the monster's back.

The monster began his charge. Sebastian decided to take it's charge head on, contracting his muscles. I ordered Fögar to help Sebastian and he gave me an excited smile. He put his weapons behind him and did the same stance as Sebastian, putting their arms on the side and preparing to grab the monster.

They collided and was followed by an explosion of dust. I cleared it away as fast as I could and saw that both of them grabbing the monster right on its head, but their mouth was trickling with blood. I got off of Gray and told him to attack with all he's got and that was the time when Nightmare appeared below the huge monster.

He stabbed his front leg coated with his green venom at the upper chest lf the monster. Gray also swooped down and clawed at the stunned monster's eyes. I followed with a combination of ice, fire, and lightning. The same one I used as a finisher on Azure's duel. This time, I lessened its area of effect greatly so that none of my allies could get hit and shot it at its back.

The monster gave it's last wail and fell down. It now lays there, unmoving. Dead. I ran towards Fögar and Sebastian, asking if they're okay. They're not. They suffered a heavy internal injury. I placed the monster's carcass on my [Inventory] and I dismissed Fögar because he could heal better on his realm, while I carried Sebastian and rode Gray, while telling the coachman to stay put.