The party ended with a massive ending scene, Zane had sparred with multiple other children. He showcased his skill, quick judgment and, raw power. Since it was just a spar, there were no weapons nor staffs so there would be minimal damage.
Zane was fighting against five other volunteers, with their strength was not lacking at all when compared to the entire school. Two were wizards while the other three were melee combatants.
They had formulated a plan when dealing with Zane. They all knew that no one could beat him mindlessly but they stood a chance if they worked together.
One wizard was in charge of channeling a massive attack while the one was in charge of limiting his movements. The other three melee combatants were focused on immobilizing him.
After finishing the general plan they directly went on the offensive.
While the three were charging at him, he dodged all of their attacks on him by completing a complex maneuver. Two attacks directed at his legs while another one was directed at his chest. Immediately, he made a counter-attack towards two of them, the one who was targeting his chest had his arm caught by him while the one who attacked his left leg was kicked away.
It was a smooth and fluid movement as if it was an art piece. The last one managed to back off and said, "I knew there was a disparity but I never thought it was this much, still we have to give everyone a good show!"
"On my command, lock those in a prison, Ice Prison"
The mage focused on immobilizing Zane finally finished his spell and ice formed at Zane's feet. With Zane's movement locked down, the person who was still fine attacked Zane at the side where he had his hand locked on to another person.
Zane saw this and dragged the person he was holding to block the attack. He then threw that person towards the kid who was kicked away earlier, leaving only one melee combatant left.
The mage who was building up a massive attack finally finished it. The remaining two sighed a breath of relief.
"Destroy those who stand in my path, Explo-."
Zane broke off the ice that was shackling his feet and directly went to the wizard who was chanting a massive spell. He punched him in the chest and knocked him out.
"It's your win, Zane."
The crowd yelled in excitement as to what they just witnessed. Although fighting against multiple enemies in a turf war may seem troublesome, there were people beside you who could help you out but in this scenario, it was just Zane's own skill.
"Did you see that?! He immobilized two of them in one attack!"
"He even used his enemy to block another enemy's attack, genius!"
"What are you talking about? That's common sense but look at what he did. He hid the fact that he could break the restrains at any time and only did it when the enemy lowered their guard."
The crowd continued on their praise until they left. When everyone was gone and Zane was just about to finish talking to everyone, a kid showed up a gave him a letter then left.
Zane looked at who it was from and hid it. When he was at the entrance, Adam showed up behind him and said, "Congratulations! Seems like all your hard work has finally paid off. Enjoy your time of popularity."
"Hey Adam, I thought you already left? You said you would only stay around for an hour."
"Someone came and talked to me. That reminds me, I saw one of Richard's subordinates gave you something. You want to share it or you want to keep it a secret."
Zane scratched the back of his head and meekly said, "It says to not let you know."
"Don't worry about it! My guess is that he wants to meet you. Other than being my bodyguard, you are free to do whatever you want. Just be on my side when the time comes."
"Thanks." Zane brightly smiled and Adam patted him on the back and left.
"Just don't stay too late now, I'll be increasing your workload tomorrow. You can't slack off now." After that Adam was nowhere to be seen.
Zane opened the contents of the letter and read it. He then arrived at a fancier place than what he was accustomed to. He came forward to a clean looking lady and said, "I am here for Richard, I was told to give you this."
The lady took the emblem and verified it. After this, she let Zane in and had someone guide him. After walking for a while, they arrived at where Richard was staying.
"This is it, please, do behave yourself." The person guiding Zane then left.
Zane swallowed his saliva and knocked on the door. A small kid opened it and welcomed Zane with a bright, innocent smile.
"Are you Zane? Boss said to be hospitable to you! Am I doing it right?"
"Yeah, can you lead me to him?"
"No problem!"
When Zane entered, it was bigger than expected. It was quite a large room with full of bright lights and a few children playing around while some were training.
"Follow me!"
The small kid led Zane upstairs and entered a relatively large room where Richard was inside.
"Hi, Zane, nice to formally meet you. I am Richard, more likely known as Beast King Richard. Welcome to my home."
"It's... nice."
Zane was a little overwhelmed by Richard's pressure. This was someone who was taking the entire school by storm. Someone who was rumored to not even using his all.
"So, what has Adam been telling you about me?"
"He, just, told me about the times he made fun of you in the wasteland."
"Is that so? Hahahaha! Of course, he would." Richard's laugh was pretty hearty, in stark contrast to what he was like in front of Adam.
"He also never told me about why you have a title. I asked him but he said its related to how Richard will become a hero."
"He never told you that? I am sure he was going to when you reach the right age, it's not my place to ruin his plans. Besides, I don't plan on using my trait until I graduate."
Richard stood up, "Well now that the atmosphere has settled in, I have to make sure of something. Do you mind?" Richard went close to Zane emitting mana.
"Not at all." Richard then inserted his mana inside Zane and found a tiny blob of Adam's mana.
"He could be listening on us or this is just to tell where you are but I need you to ask him to not interfere."
Zane felt a little off and brought out a magic scroll from his storage ring, which Richard felt a tinge of pain from. It showed Adam in his bed with a lazy look on his face, "Ah, something personal? Sure why not."
Before Zane could say anything, Adam understood what was happening from Zane's face and that little blob of mana dissipated.
"He really trusts you. What I am about to tell you is something that you should remember."
Zane looked down and said, "I don't know why but I feel like I can trust you."
Richard said in a serious voice, "I am Adam's hero, I should always be rightful and fight for the weak. Even if he didn't force me into a hero, I would've become one later on. He's just stimulating something earlier."
"I now see why he said that it had to be you, I don't have that kind of ideology."
"Now let's move on to the main point..."
Zane left Richard's place with a dazed on his face. He thought to himself, I'll just do what I have to do and stop him if he gets too evil.
He went back to the dorm and laid on his bed, he said to Adam, "Did you really not hear?"
"Why should I? I know everything he knows, even I know my own personality. Besides, the worst thing he could tell you is that I already have a title."
"Yeah, so I am using our deal to force you. I want you to help people."
Adam softly said, "Why should I? Why should I help ants?"
Zane made a resolve and firmly said, "If people are safe, then I'll have a clear mind that I can fully devote to training."
Adam softly sighed and said, "Reasonable, fine. But there's someone who caught my eye in this place, it's related to a crime so I won't deal with the school."
Zane smiled and relaxed, "I'll take what I can get. You will make them pay later on right?
Adam's eyes suddenly turned serene but full of intent, "Oh, don't worry. They will wish that they were never even born. I'll make them even wish for hell if she joins us."
Zane thought to himself, one step at a time. If I can change how he views people, then he can be the hero instead of the villain.
The following month, crimes went down to the bare minimum, corrupt officials and nobles were exposed for their crimes and there was a sudden company that appeared that helps the poor and needy by feeding them thrice a day.
The morale of the entire kingdom increased and all of them sent their praises to the king.
"Oh, glorious king! We thank you for giving us a chance to move on!"
"Oh, your majesty! I will forever be your devoted servant!"
"Oh, your highness! You truly are the king of kings! Our sorcerer-king!"
The people started to learn of the rumor of a perfect kingdom, Maghim. A king with enough power to demolish a kingdom with a flick of his fingers but has a magnanimous attitude towards his subjects. He governs with his people in mind and focuses neither on wealth nor beauty.
People from all over the country moved went out of their ways to move to Maghim.
Meanwhile, all of this was happening, the sorcerer-king was in his castle researching. So the person who dealt with all of this was his son. He didn't know how it happened as well but could only give his suspicion towards the True Underworld King.
There was only one problem, why would he go through all this trouble? The prince was in thought so he took a step back and only then did he notice it.
"Damn it! So that's why!"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In the wasteland, Zane and Adam were doing their usual training.
Zane was lifting up a giant boulder with his bare hands putting it in front of him and was using mana to act as an adhesive.
"Adam, I knew I said to help people but aren't you being a little too much?"
Adam was lazily skimming through random books and throwing them out. There was a sizeable stack of book behind him.
"Not really, wanna know why?"
*Thud*
Zane dropped the boulder and took and deep breath then said, "Yeah, tell me."
Adam closed his book and got off his hammock made of mana.
"See, the royal family had it out for me. I was going to make them all disappear or make them fear me enough so that they won't bare their fangs on me. Now look at the state of the kingdom, better than ever, safety as its priority, everyone in the underground is profiting since the economy is booming."
Zane took up the same rock did the same thing, "I see, but can you explain it even more?"
Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and said, "I thought you were getting smarter? Nevermind, now, if they remove me from the equation, the underground will revolt, the people will get mad about why all the benefits suddenly disappeared and, they will have to face my wrath."
"Even if they manage to keep up appearances for a bit, they are just stalling for time. If that prince has half a brain, he would understand this and should be finding a way to contact me. Too bad though, I'll never talk to him."
"So, my little request turned out to have this gigantic effect."
"Yes it did, now you should realize why you should work even harder to protect me."
"Have you ever lost in your entire life?"
"Never have and never will! You can be sure of that. And you can even be more sure of that if she joins us too. For now, I'll let her finish her little game and feel powerful for a little while"
Zane now instead of dropping the rock was using his strength to pulverize the rock to dust, using his mana to maintain its shape causing it to look as if it's getting smaller.
"You've been hyping her up for quite a while now, who is she?"
"She'll be your future lover, so be kind to her!"
Adam showed Zane a picture and Zane dropped whatever he was doing and stared in shock.