Encounter in McLakes

The next day, somewhere in a small city...

"The fall of Swanlight?This is truly a tragedy for us"

"Moreover we always rely on Swanlight for weapons and machines. How are we supposed to keep living with those threats?"

Today, citizens of McLakes City were in an uproar of the fallen of Swanlight, one of the famous cities in the world. If a big city like Swanlight defeated, what would happen to a smaller city like McLakes?Of course, people would start losing hopes to keep living.

Discussions and speculations were everywhere. Some people speculated the demon lord itself came and destroyed the city. Some people also didn't mind the news but bothered by their fates ahead. Many people sighed with disappointment and worried about their future if things keep going like this.

Due to the surprising news, many people gathered at the main square. The number of visitors today was the largest compare to the other days.

Meanwhile, at River Inn...

The sound of the bell rang the moment a young man with a green cloak pushed the front door.

"Welcome, sir"

The bartender greeted the man as he sat before him at the counter with a warm smile.

"What can I get for you?"

Mr Onn asked while wiping a half-broken glass gently. He looked so friendly and kind to his customers.

"Just give me a water"

The man lazily answered while crossing his legs on the wooden stool. The cloak covered half of his face so Mr Onn couldn't tell who's the guy before him. He might be around 20 years because he had a deep low voice.

"Just water?Very well sir"

Mr Onn took another tall glass from the shelf and filled it with plain water.

"How about a meal, sir? I mean, you must be tired from your long journey. I would recommend you our today's special"

He placed the water in front of the man. Mr Onn thought the man was a traveller because he'd never seen a man in a cloak inside his inn. While at the same time, for some reason, he felt familiar with the man's voice.

"Hm?A long journey? You thought I'm outsider?"

Slowly he lifted the cloak, revealing his young cute face that left the bartender surprised.

"Oh, my... it's you!!"

Mr Onn sounded so happy plus excited after saw the face. He knew the man. He was his regular customer from 5 years ago. He stopped coming to the inn afterwards.

"Your name...Axel, right?The genius, from wizard race!"

When Mr Onn speaking out loud excitedly as he's reuniting with an old friend, Axel quickly raised his index finger and place to his mouth, telling him to be quiet.

"Shhh... don't tell anyone I'm from wizard race"

He whispered to Mr Onn while looking at the other customers. They weren't aware of the conversation as everyone was minding their meals. Axel took a deep breath of relief.

".....Alright"

Though Mr Onn didn't know the reason, he just went through with Axel. Axel regularly visited the inn 5 years ago and Mr Onn always talks to him whenever he came. They both like close friends despite their height of age.

"So you remember. I thought you forgot about me, old man"

Axel gave Me Onn a warm gentle smile as it's their reunion after 5 years. At the moment, if girls saw the smile, they must be fall in love with Axel already.

"How could I forget? For such a young age, you're really a wonderful wizard, Axel. You mastered all rare magics when you were 15. I admire you more than any other wizards existed"

Axel felt very happy hearing those words. Even Mr Onn is human, he didn't care to always talk to him.

He never had a wizard friend. Even he was very famous in his hometown, he never had one. He kept his sorrow and despair that no one could understand in deep down of his heart.

"So, what brought you here, in McLakes?Did you finished your researches in SunMage City?"

"Um...actually..."

SunMage City was his hometown and most of the citizens were wizards. However, Axel refused to return and will never return. He didn't want to meet any wizards as he's afraid to have eye contact with them.

"It must be tiresome for you. Come here again whenever you have problems. I'll gladly hear"

"Thank you, old man"

He smiled again. Mr Onn was the only human he felt really comfortable with. He had no friends so he really appreciates the man before him.

While he at it, Mr Onn kept talking about the recent news and the despair that happened in Swanlight.While Axel, didn't pay attention to the news these days so he's a bit late. Thanks to Mr Onn, he got a clearer view about the world's status now.

".....That's terrible, old man"

Axel gave his opinion after Mr Onn has done talking.

"Yeah...But what I'm afraid the most is not the demons but the balance of the five races. The population of humans was the biggest from the began with. After countless wars for years...I'm afraid the worst will come. People always talk about demons but don't really care about the other bad guys. Demons are not the only threat here."

While Mr Onn kept going with his grumble, Axel also kept nodding as a sign of agreement.

"Axel, I know you're really talented and skilful but still, don't let your guard down. Those monsters are extremely strong"

Axel grinned when he heard the words 'extremely strong'.He didn't even budge when people told him how scary the demons are. The fact is, he got no problem dealing with them.

"Thanks for reminding me. I'll be more be careful from now on"

After finished the drink, he asked permission to leave. He placed tips on a small plate on the counter. Mr Onn gazed at Axel as he leaving with a pleasant look. In his mind, he thought if only all wizards were kind and helpful like Axel, the world would be better for sure.

Like before, when Axel was walking on the streets, he could see many people from different races, talking to each other. They were still discussing about Swanlight. The destruction of Swanlight gave a big impact on them especially humans. What's more hurtful, there was no survivor found.

He speeds up his steps, trying to avoid himself from meeting any wizards. He wore the big cloak just for keeping his identity safe. He was once a famous and powerful wizard, admired by every single of them. But that's five years ago. Now he's only a lonely wizard, hated by all wizards. Thus, he couldn't let anyone spot him in the city.

As when Axel was rushing to leave, he was greeted by a group of three.

"Excuse us, sir"

A female wizard greeted him with a gentle smile. Axel, who noticed their magical aura, didn't turn back to them to avoid eyes contact.

"Actually, we're from SunMage City and this is our first time in McLakes.If this is not too much, would you please lead us to the nearest inn?"

The random female wizard politely asked Axel with a soft voice. Axel hesitated to turn back, afraid they could recognise him. He was a star in SunMage so any wizard could recognise him easily.

Seconds later, Axel was still thinking, whether he should run or not. If he runs, the suspicion on him would increase as he's assumed as a mysterious with the cloak but if he didn't, the chance of them for seeing his face would be high. Both of them would drive him to no good.

"Sir?"

The wizards felt strange when Axel took a very long time to speak. One of them also tilted her head to take a quick glance at Axel's face but he quickly tightens the cloak.

"From here, go straight and turn on the 3rd right. You can see an old building with a sign on it."

Finally, he spoke without turning back. He adjusted his voice to not sounded like a young man.

"Ahh...ok.Thank you"

The female wizard said.

"Are you okay, sir? You look pale"

A male wizard spoke as he noticed something fishy on Axel. They also noticed Axel was trying hard to not look at them.

"No. I'm fine"

"But sir. You sounded like a young man acting like an old man"

Damn! Did he found out? Axel startled when the male wizard suddenly pointed it out.

"Danny, it's rude to say that to people!"

The female wizard scold the male wizard like an angry older sister. The male wizard chuckled like he's used to judging and annoy people while the other female wizard just grinned at them.

When they glanced back at Axel, the man has already left the scene and the three of them just standing awkwardly there. That was fast. They didn't even notice when Axel left.

"What a mysterious man"

They murmured at the same time. At this point, they guessed Axel was just a shy person so they just let him be.

As Axel reached the back alley, he took a quick breath. It was hard to escape while maintaining the big cloak at its place. He removed the cloak, wiping the sweats wetting his face. To be honest, he couldn't handle with too many wizards around him.

After making sure no one nearby and see his figure, he quickly summoned a magic broom and left the city by riding it.

The world was getting dark again. Many people returned to their homes before dusk. There were some people still working and preparing to close the shops.

After fly for about an hour, Axel arrived at a certain spot and landed safely to continue his travel by walk. The wind was blowing roughly fluttering his hair and cloak.

While he was walking along the narrow path, he heard a murmur fierce voice came through from bushes. He believed it's the demon who was lurking. Even with the menacing voices, he didn't bother nor scared and just kept walking calmly.

"That wizard looked down on us"

"Should we kill him?"

The demons who were hiding felt insulted as they were being ignored by Axel. Hearing those threatening words from those demons, Axel immediately dropped his broom and slowly turning his eyes towards them. He also gave them an evil look with a smirk.

"Huh? He saw us?"

"How could he saw us? It's almost dark"

Axel just standing there and didn't even budge. It feels like he's welcoming them to come and attack him. Due to the anger, the demons jumped out of their hiding and summoned big dark flames towards Axel. They thought Axel would get scared and retreat but instead, the wizard just standing still calmly with a bigger smirk.

*****

"Hm?Oh great"

Said Zacharias with sarcasm as he saw an ugly view near the river. After escaping from the vampire, he had been walking for the whole night and right before dawn, he took a quick nap. He continued his walk afterwards and when he reached the side mountain, he found three demon corpses.

He took a quick glance at them and could simplify, the burn marks on the bodies were the worst. This was something that only a pro could do. Aside from demons, the other race that could manipulate fire is wizard.

Slowly, he placed Aria on the ground and checked his surroundings. He moved his eyes towards a certain hidden spot as he knew someone was there and still there. The only wizard who could overcome this situation...

"Not too shabby huh?"

Zacharias cast a flame from his palm and adjusted for battle mode.

"I know you're there, annoying wizard!"

He threw the flame towards a bush, aimed for Axel but he prepared an invisible magic shield so he took no damage. A small explosion occurred when the shield and the flame collided.

Afterwards, Axel walked towards Zacharias with a smile. He didn't have intention to fight his own colleague as it would affect his further work.

"Hello, Zacharias. Are you done? I didn't see you yesterday. Where did you go?"

He casually asked like a close friend even the demon was trying to kill him earlier. They both, work together in the same company so it's best to be at peace.

"I just got caught into some quarrel"

Zacharias answered with a mad look as he's remembering Hugh.

"Love quarrel?"

Axel teased him intentionally. He knew a fearsome demon like Zacharias would never fall in love with someone. Even Axel tried to be friendly to the demon, Zacharias on the other hand, didn't like Axel. But he didn't hate him either. He just assumed Axel as a certain wizard he knew.

"What're you talking about, idiot?"

He's about to get pissed when Axel brought out a love topic. Axel chuckled and continued,

"I thought the manager asked you to bring back some herbs. But instead....you brought back a girl...?"

Said Axel while looking at Aria in disbelief. In his mind, he kept questioning who's this girl.

"Ahh...shit.This is all his fault"

Zacharias slapped his forehead. That's true, his real task was to go and find some herbs in the forest. But then he got lost in Swanlight and forgot his real mission. Plus got attacked by a fellow demon, he wasted his time for real.

"Too bad for you. The manager can be quite scary when he mad"

"Tch.Fine! I'll go find some now. Just take care of her"

Zacharias left Aria in Axel's care, though he didn't explain a thing about Aria to Axel. He just left the wizard speechless.

"Hey, Zach. Who's this girl?"

He asked while looking at Aria's broken arm. The question left the demon speechless this time.

".....Why do you even bother to ask?"

Zacharias replied with sarcasm. He didn't look back at Axel. He knew Axel for a long time so he's pretty sure, Axel could find her identity out on his own. For all this time, Zacharias had never met any creature that was smarter than Axel. Axel is like, the smartest person he had ever met for his entire life, thus, he's not worried about leaving Aria in his care.