A Wandering Magician

A young man walks around the forest as he stealthily tries to go from trees to trees. His clothes are soaked in blood and wounds are evident on his face and hand.

Heavily panting, he stops on one tree and lies down. It is beyond his expectations that his party will try to kill him. They have been adventuring for a long time together. What has pushed them to hunt him down?

As he lies down in confusion, he has fallen in a deep sleep. He has suffered extreme blood lost and has exhausted his mana to help him recover a bit. It is a good thing that there are not many monsters and beasts around. However, it will surely take only a few moments before the stench of his blood reaches the noses of these savage beasts.

The reality of this jungle strikes the young man as the howling of the wolves wakes him up from his slumber. His mana is slowly recovering but it isn't enough to fight this group of wolves. Luckily, he has restored a bit of his health and stamina, forcing his body to run as fast as he can.

He passes a lot of trees and he runs with no direction. His energy is drained quickly because of his full speed running. The mana that he has saved up is used to restore even a bit of his stamina. It is a fortune that he knows some healing magic or else he will be a goner.

The wolves continue to howl and their speed also starts to increase. The young man is already exhausted and has started to lose all hope. Suddenly, he sees a city nearby. Normally, wolves will be scared of going inside cities but it is a different case for a small village.

When the young man regains his hope, it is quickly destroyed when a wolf has pounced to him, making him stumble. He sees the large fangs of the wolf above him and closes his eye. There is no way to survive this but if he ever did, the people that have pushed him to this unfortunate incident will pay.

The young man has already accepted his fate when he hears a loud and unusual bang above him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It is followed by multiple more of this sound and he feels a heavy weight pushing down on him. He opens his eye and sees the dead wolf lying on him. He immediately pushes the wolf away as he hears human footsteps.

"See that, Jose? You have helped me create this weapon." The young man cannot help but overhear their conversation.

A small old man walks toward the young man. "Are you okay? What's your name?"

This old man is Jose and they are testing out the handgun that Arthur convinces him to create. Although Jose is shocked about the power of this weapon, he is more worried than the life that is almost killed.

It is fate that made it possible for him to receive the deal and create this absurd weapon for Arthur. Jose is shocked to know that they are able to save a life because they are testing this weapon. After all, the city has limited military strength and most guards are ordinary swordsmen.

Arthur looks at the gun on his hand. If he hasn't followed the training manual, he will probably be shocked by the recoil.

When the young man has recovered from the shock, he replies to Jose. "I am okay now and thank you for saving me. My name is Billy. I am an adventurer."

"May I ask who you two are?" Billy looks at Arthur and Jose.

"My name is Jose, a blacksmith of this city. Behind me is the City Lord." Jose answers him sincerely. He doesn't know what the young man experienced to be in this state but it surely isn't a good memory.

Billy suddenly stands up and bows in front of Arthur. "Sorry for being rude and not thanking you properly, City Lord."

Arthur begins to laugh at the sudden action of Billy. "You almost died and you were still thinking whether you are rude or not?"

Billy has always had a bad memory with the nobility. He sees them as prideful and will not hesitate to kill people if their ego is hurt. This is the reason for his sudden change in tone and action. His voice when he is asking was nonchalant.

"You don't have to worry about being rude or not. I can tell that you are shocked with what has happened to you. I am not someone who judge people on how they act in front of me but how they uphold their values. Of course, you still have to be respectful." Arthur offers a clean clothes to Billy.

This is suppose to be a change for his clothes as he wants to do a little bit of hunting with this new weapon. However, it is urgent to bring this guy to the clinic and they have already tested the weapon anyway.

"Thank you." Billy accepts it and throws his blood-drenched clothes.

After Jose and Arthur collected useful resources from the wolves, they have moved toward the city and recommends Billy to a clinic.

Arthur tries to analyze what type of adventurer Billy is while he is walking back to the castle. With his robe, he is surely a magician. If Arthur wants to develop the city into a kingdom, there are necessary things he must make sure of.

Arthur must make sure that the city can run and support itself. It needs to have an academy for both magic and swordsmanship, an adventurer's guild, and a lot more that needs to be considered. In short, the city has to have a systematic government that regulates the entire territory's functions.

Though this is not sufficient, this is enough to help the city's expansion. When the City Lord has expanded his territory and conquered enough cities, it is possible to declare this region as a kingdom under his rule.

Billy is also a great partner in improving the military strength and finding citizens with magic talent.