After 5 Years

I took a sip of the warm, aromatic tea, and the subtle flavors danced on my tongue.

The cup was made of marble with a nice blue pattern. And as I placed the cup on my wooden desk, I looked at my office.

Rich wooden panels lined the walls, and each book was carefully placed on the bookshelves. The sun poured through the large window behind me. The soft, golden glow cast across the room.

It was the kind of light that made you want to close your eyes and relax. And as I closed my eyes for a moment, I took another sip of my tea.

"It's so relaxing."

My eyes fell on the calendar on the wall, and as I looked at the date on the calendar, it was July 15, year 535.

I realized that five years had already passed since I first arrived here.

A lot of things have changed since then. Especially the place I was at.

From the window, I could see the beautiful garden filled with flowers and greenery. In the center, there was a gate that led to the outside world.

It had statues of lions made out of stone, and there were two knights standing guard at the entrance.

I could sense a faint magical energy emanating from them.

"A rank warriors."

It was a little pointless to have A rank warriors guard my mansion, but it was included when I bought it.

The kingdom I was in is called Eldoria, and it was an 'edge kingdom'. Meaning that it was at the edge of the empire and had the highest risk of getting attacked by monsters.

The reason I bought the mansion wasn't because it was supposed to be safe. If I wanted a mansion away from monsters, then I would have bought a mansion in the kingdoms close to the center of the empire.

Not all people lived here with the same reasoning as me. 

But because of the new law, awakeners who don't live in the 'edge kingdoms' will get heavily taxed.

The law forced the awakeners to live in the 'edge kingdoms' if they didn't want to get taxed. At the same time, non-awakeners got temporary citizenship in other kingdoms away from the edge kingdoms.

The law was basically made so that awakeners would be on the frontlines and non-awakeners could move out of the edge kingdoms.

It was a good law, but there were always problems.

Especially the civilians who had gotten temporary citizenship.

At first, it was decided that they didn't pay taxes to the kingdom because they had gotten temporary citizenship. And instead, they would pay taxes to the original kingdom they were from.

But the kingdoms that had gotten temporary citizens were very dissatisfied. So they changed it so that the citizens would pay the taxes to the kingdom they were in. But if there were any awakeners, they would belong to the original kingdom.

This was a good deal on both parts. Because the kingdom would earn money by getting the tax from the temporary citizens. And the original kingdom would still keep its awakener.

But, of course, not everyone was satisfied.

There was a group of civilians who weren't happy. They said that they should pay taxes to the original kingdom, even if they were temporary citizens.

And the people who were dissatisfied were mainly nobles. They didn't want their citizens to leave their land in the kingdom.

The nobles were the ones suffering the biggest loss, since they couldn't get any money.

There was a civil war brewing in the empire because of this.

The nobles were gathering their armies.

This is where me and other SSS rankers belonging to the empire stepped in. In an instant, we subdued them and forced them to withdraw.

It made the situation worse because the empire was seen as an oppressor. Someone who would use force instead of compromise.

"Which isn't wrong" I said while taking a sip of my tea.

There were probably better ways to fix the problem, but I didn't care enough to find them. And it shouldn't be my job to do so.

However, I agreed with the new law because it's better to have awakeners in the edge kingdoms than normal civilians.

There was a knock at my door.

Knock Knock.

I sensed the presence outside, and I knew it was the maid.

"Come in."

At the same time, I felt a small vibration coming from the small circular crystal hanging on my neck.

"Monsters are approaching 200 kilometers to the north; it is at least a danger level gryphon." A robotic voice came out of the crystal.

"Umbralith."

A dark portal appeared out of the thin air.

The maid entered the door, but I was already on my way out.

"Is it an emergency?" I asked the maid.

"No, sir."

"Okay, I will see you when I come back."

I entered the dark portal, and I appeared on top of the wall on the east side of the kingdom.

I saw countless people get ready under the wall, but now that I was here, there was no need for them to go.

At the same time, I gripped the circular crystal hanging on my chest.

"I, Rylan Ashencroft, will fight the monsters, so stop preparing."

Immediately from below, I saw people get the announcement, and their tense faces were replaced with a relaxed one.

"Are you going to do it alone, as usual?" The same robotic voice came out of the crystal.

"Yeah, I work better that way."

Ever since the attack on the Hozora kingdom, I have been fighting my battles alone.

If they weren't an SSS ranker, then they would only be a burden. So it was a better decision to fight alone.

And it's not like a danger level of gryphon was dangerous. It meant that there were at least 2-3 SS-rank monsters, which wasn't that strong.

I jumped down from the wall, and as the soldiers noticed me, they saluted.

"Open the gate."

The gears turned, which made a rattle, and the metal gate slowly lifted up.

The reason they opened the gate was because that was the only way to get out of the kingdom.

The portal, which I got from Shadow by copying his insignia, couldn't be used because the barrier would block it.

The barrier blocked both magic and physical insignia. With the only exception being the portals in the middle of the kingdom. Which probably was because it used magic crystals, but I didn't care enough to understand.

As I stepped out of the gate, I looked at my surroundings.

Long stretches of grass and faint figures of tall mountains were on the horizon.

"Since it was 200 kilometers to the east, it shouldn't take that much time."

The way I would travel is by using the insignia 'Umbralith', which is the dark portal I used before.

The portal can only be used for locations that I have been to at a distance of 50 kilometers.

But it can also be used if the location that I want to teleport to is within my eyesight.

"Umbralith"

A dark portal appeared, and as I stepped into it, the scenery changed. The walls, which were almost 30 meters high, now looked small as I was much further away.

"Umbralith."

Another dark portal appeared, and I continued the process of entering and making another portal.

It was then that I felt the presence of numerous monsters. At the same time, I could feel the presence of five unique monsters who had much more mana than the others.

A smirk appeared on my face.

"So it wasn't a dangerous level of gryphon after all."