Return To Mattidis City

"They are in the way, and they will surely die," Kylian spoke with determined eyes.

By now he had made up his mind as to what his path would be. After taking a pause he spoke his mind. "I wish to rule."

Benn looked at Kylian and would have made a small jest had Kylian not looked so determined.

"I still follow" Benn replied immediately, even though he had no idea on whom Kylian wished to rule, but he would not back down now.

Kylian had done his share to warn now it was upto Benn what he wanted to do,

Kylian then looked at 'Hodor who by now was already up,

".....I follow...." 'Hodor replied immediately when he saw Kylian looking at him.

Kylian simply nodded, and started walking away from the two, he wanted to test his mana reserve and sturdiness of the shard, which he could not test earlier.

"Where are you going ? " Benn complained when he saw Kylian going away, thinking he was trying to leave them behind.

Kylian paused in his course and turned "I want to test something,"

"You can test it here,." Benn replied immediately, still suspicious of Kylian.

Kylian thought over it for a while, if Benn and 'Hodor were to follow him in his journey they would eventually come to know about his ice affinity.

Kylian outstretched his hand aiming at a tree a dozen strides away. In his experimentation earlier Kylian had found out that it was nearly impossible for him to use his affinity using just his thoughts at his level. So it was best to use his affinity this way.

Kylian could feel the mana flowing towards his hand, it felt quite different in here.

A small ice shard manifested infront his open palm, as Kylian slowly used more of his mana, the size of the shard expanded. In just five seconds the shard was already 2 meters big, Kylian could feel half of his mana reserves empty.

He then brought his other hand too and used all the remaining mana.

The ice shard slowly enlarged to 4meter, in the next second he let go of the shard towards the tree.

"BAMMMMMMMMM" the giant shard crashed on the tree, and hundreds of broken ice crystals along with dust flew in the air.

"HOLY COW KYLIAN" Benn shouted, once the dust and ice particles had settled. "You are a battle mage now."

The tree which was as thick as half a meter was broken in two by the strong impact. It looked like some calamity had struck it.

"That was extremely good." Chepi excitedly swirled around Kylian. "Using your whole mana in a single strike is applaudable, even by someone like me." she commented.

Kylian was breathing heavily it was really taxing on his body, but he was satisfied with the sturdiness of the shard, but mana was still a problem.

He doubted Cenetaur has used even one-tenth of his mana when he had effortlessly brunt the boulder, but as he was hoping his level ups could deal with the mana problem.

Kylian rested his back on the ground and spoke "Sleep well you two, we will be leaving for Mattidis city at daybreak." Kylian then closed his eyes, and immediately drifted off to sleep.

Obviously, Benn wanted to throw a thousand questions at him, but he decided otherwise.

Thanks to 'Hodor who had kept some extra clothes for Kylian otherwise it would have been really troublesome to walk in his tattered clothes.

The party of three moved through the outer circle of the Mattidis city. Benn lead the group, followed by Kylian and then 'Hodor at the end, each at a few step distance from one another. It was kind of impossible to walk side by side and 'Hodor almost took a space of two grown men.

"Is it just me, who feels this place has gotten even worse ?" Benn spoke looking around him.

Kylian could tell it too, there were more people on the streets, small physical and verbal quarrels were happening throughout the outer circle. Kylian even spotted a few buildings that were down to shambles and the surprising part was it looked they had been demolished forcefully. The outer part was in disarray.

Kylian watched as a woman purposely walked into Benn, and fell down. As 'Hodor was about to interrupt Kylian gave a slight hand gesture for him to stop. Kylian wanted to see how this turns up, and who knows Kylian could even benefit from it.

"What are you doing shorty" the woman complained, her face was nothing but extra layers of shinny makeup, "you have just torn my new skirt. See" the women pointed at the hem of her skirt, which was already torn from before.

"Now you have to pay me." the woman spoke aloud, stretching her hand. "A silver coin for my new silk skirt and for these bruises."

"Whom are you calling shorty you old hag ? " Benn shouted furiosuly, he had been teased far too long for his short height and now he was taking none "And that cheap skirt is not even worth a penny. If you want to beg for money ask nicely." Benn tossed two pennies at the woman "Here take this. Probably the most amount you had seen at once."

The woman's nostrils flared at the insults, "Youu...You will pay." She turned her head to a side "Mark, this dim-wit here is harassing me," she called out aloud to a bald man, standing at the entrance of the alleyway just a few strides from them.

This was all preplanned, Kylian could see it as broad daylight.

"Aren't you going to help him ?" Chepi asked, while seated on his shoulder.

Kylian obviously did not reply, he did not wanted to look like a fool taking to himself, and he knew Chepi would shower him with questions if he replied.

The bald man, named Mark instantly made his way furiously towards Benn, followed by three more people. The four of the men towered against Benn on all four sides, trying to intimidate him.

"You dare disrespect, my woman." Mark spoke with his hoarse voice, "Do as she says, and we might let you go with just a bruised eye."

"Huhhh" Benn gave a snort, he was not the least intimidated "I don't even have a bronze shrilling, and this old hag is asking for a silver" Benn spoke his voice unwaverd, he was still smothering for being called a dwarf.

Mark was furious by the insult, he grabbed Benn's collar "Now you are good as dead." he pulled out a knife and rested it on Benn's throat, while the remaining four people covered Benn and Mark from the sides so no one could see clearly what was happening.

"Excuse me..... Sir" a voice interrupted the group.

All the six people present including Benn were shocked to see a young boy who looked like a Noble, standing timidly. It was none other than Kylian.

Benn had to blink twice to be sure that it was Kylian, his usual demeanor gone and he looked so frightened even his legs were trembling.

You....a ..noble ?" the woman stammered. All the remaining members of the group were by now inspecting their surroundings, trying to spot any guards.

"No...mamm" Kylian replied, not even meeting any of their eyes.

The group let out a sigh of relief in unison, "What do you want kid ?" one of them spoke.

"Ummm... he is a friend of mine.....If I could pay for him instead." Kylian spoke "But..please... put that knife down" Kylian showed them a big fat pouch. Even though the pouch looked fat, it just had a silver coin and the rest were pennies.

The group's face lightened up, they could not believe their good luck at. They would have definitely killed Benn, but then what ? He had claimed he did not even have a bronze shrilling, and the whole of their plan would have gone wasted and not to mention the dead body.

"Now you have to pay two silver coins" Mark spoke out, his eyes drooling on the sight of the pouch.

"...Okay.. but promise me you will leave him.."

Mark gave a wide grin and nodded.

Kylian then undid the thread on the pouch but then suddenly stopped and looked around. "ummm....There are too many people in here. Can we go in there ?" Kylian said pointing towards the alleyway.

"Yes, yes of course follow us." Mark's face lit up a notch.