Clak! Clak! Clak! Clak!
The sound of the hoof of the horses as the walk along the dirt road. I wake after a long sleep and take a look at the other people in the carriage, 2 girls and 3 boys. Of the 2 girls one is Elisa Crown princess to Gakula Empire, she has purple hair, purple eyes with milky white skin and she is known as the flower of the Delura continent. The other is Melisa she is the daughter to a wealthy merchant with brown hair, brown eyes and tanned skin due to her spending time running the merchant caravan with her father and we know each other from my monster hunting and campaigning days.
The tallest of the three boys is Zack Kasis as he stands at 5ft'6 and has blond hair, brown eyes and is a massive pervert being the eighth son and twelfth in line to the Kasis throne and that is excluding his uncles and cousins.
The other two are Hong Dai and Hong Zun. Twin brothers that hail from the farthest reaches of the Eastern Republic, sons to Duke Hong a man who earned his rank and position through much blood shed as he rebelled and joined the Kasis kingdom with 20 000 heavy infantry, but they are the goons of the young prince as they have nothing else special about them from the little amounts of conversation I've had with them.
The carriage comes to stop in a clearing and I stick my head out of the window and see at least 20 other carriages with the children aboard disembarking and gathering in the front. I turn to the fat Zack as he tries to get in good with Elisa and I said "It's time to disembark and the others are gathering in front."
I was proud of myself as I managed to not as much as to even twitch at the sight of Zack and I'm rambling again. This two souls one body business is not working out for me at all.
"OK."
""Sure.""
""Thank you.""
The ladies reply was pleasant to hear but the boys were well boys.
I open the door, get out and grab my short sword and luggage containing my shirts, pants etc... and 24 spirit stones. The two magic books and other 21 spirit stones are stored in the magic ring which is tied around my neck to prevent theft and because magic rings are rare and worth even the mages up front willing to steal it.
From the crowd I could see six rank 1 mages of varying ages and colored robes.
"Listen here My name is Alex, this is Steff and we will lead you to the testing grounds for the mage organizations. I am going to set some rules." shout the mage as he gestures to the young lady next to him."
Rule 1: We will not save any of you until there is only 30-40 of the 120 of you left.
Rule 2: Any consultation of us mages cost 3 Spirit stones.
Rule 3: You will need to set up camp, hunt for and make your own food.
"Any questions?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"What must the rest of us do to survive?"
"Make a plan."
After saying that Alex waves his had and took 3 spirit stones from the boys coin pouch with and evil grin on his face as he stuffs the new stones into his own pouch.
"Hey those are mine!" screams the boy in panic at the loss of his only spirit stones.
Alex waves his hand again throwing a fireball at the boy burning him alive.
Rule 4: No complaints.
Everyone flinches at the sight and sound of the young boy burning to death. Max looks at this site and sighs. What where you thinking you idiot. He shakes his head and boards a new carriage with his luggage and sword. Max lifts the storage space at the back of the carriage, places his suit case in and is about to put his sword away and then remembers Rule 1.
'Better keep it close.'
...3 Months later...
Awooo
Awooo
Two wolf packs where calling out to each other as they coordinated an assault on the caravan. 20 large, 5 meter long and 1 meter tall, wolves with green fur and green eyes charged at us coming over the hill to our left catching us off guard as we assumed they would attack at night.
Seeing the wolves attack one of the carriages in front of mine, I quickly climbed out of the carriage I was in and drew my short sword. The Gladius in my hand was a blade I had custom made to serve as my main weapon as it was light, quick and good for stabbing the vulnerable underbelly of the plains wolves who where rank 0 magic beasts.
I looked at the beast while I hunched my back in preparation to dive to the side. The beast stopped attacking the wooden carriage and looked at me with a bestial blood-lust that would frighten any normal man but I was a battle hardened warrior who has slain many a magic beast and man.
The wolf jumped at me covering 12 meters in one leap but I was prepared and dived to my left, as there was a carriage to my left, and I thrust my blade straight at its vulnerable waist carving up its innards and breaking its lower spine as I slashed upwards with my blade in its stomach and killed it in one move, all of this happened in a span of 5 seconds.
I quickly turned around and rushed to a wolf behind me attacking a boy of large stature, standing at a height of 5'8 and decked out in full plate with a tower shield and axe in hand. I slashed the tendons of its back legs, jumped on top of it and drove my gladius, point first, into its ear killing it.
"Damien go help Elisa and Melina deal with the 4 wolves attacking the supply cart and John ready your bow and help me save those wimps up front." I commanded with an authoritative voice of a leader leaving no room for negotiation.
"Anne lead the 12 archers to the hill over there and aid those who struggle fighting the wolves, James take 4 warriors to surround and attack the wolves from behind."
After giving orders to those I deemed capable to lead I charge at the wolves, slid under its hind legs and cut open the stomach of the lead wolf before I thrust my blade threw the neck of a wolf who jumped to dodge the arrow fire from John and Anne. The skirmish lasted 20 minutes causing the deaths of 23 students and 18 wolves. We bandaged up the injured and as I was about done reviewing the situation of the dead and injured, the damage to the carriages and loss of equipment, I was called up to the front of the mages by an apprentice mage.
I followed him and stood before the mages as they looked me up and down before Mage Steff said "Well done for managing that rabble group and keeping the damage to the smallest possible. As the leader of this group I am required to reward you. So what would you like uh?"
"Maxwell Mage Steff. You may call me Max if you prefer." I said in a calm and servile manner trying not to provoke the ego of the mages in front of me like one of the others had done.
"So what would you like?"
"Could I have a summery of the mage organizations background, specialization and the tuition of the different organizations."
"Oh that was a smart choice but how would you know I even have that knowledge and how did you know about the tuition?" She said with an obvious smirk on her face.
"I had a magic book of an old rank 1 mage and it said that one needs to pay a tuition to the academies, groups and what not. There is a saying among mages and that is 'equal trade' and so its obvious that to learn magic I had to pay something in return and a tuition seems logical." said with my head lowered.
"Oh you have an inheritance?" said Mage Alex while looking at me with hostility as I was hogging the attention of Mage Steff.
"No not really. All it has is a breathing technique to train the mind and a few simple spells" I said before adding "and some basic knowledge a person needs to become an apprentice mage."
"Here, take this book. Now go and set up camp." she handed be a thick book with a hard leather cover and it looked worn.
'You cheapskate.' I thought before leaving to set up camp.
"Surround the injured with the carriages and light the fires we are making camp per mages orders." I shouted at the idling children. 'Naive fools' I thought when I overheard the grumbling of a few kids. The mages obviously had an ulterior motive for setting up camp so close to the battlefield. What could it be?
Wolf hide? No, they are merely rank 0.
Magic stones? Maybe.
Ah! Wolf King. I just slew an alpha but this is the twelfth alpha already so they should be after the wolf king. Now it all makes sense. The past few months we have been hunting the wolves and bandits on the green plains but we have seen no wolf king so they be trying to provoke it. Its a rank 1 and has the mind of a teenager and won't put itself in harms way but with us killing its subordinates it should attack at night fall.
"Elisa!" I shout at the top of my lungs as I realized their plan. I look at the mages and I see Mage Steff smirk at me and that sent shivers down my spine as if to confirm my thoughts.
"Yes Max, what is it you need from me?" she says as she tries to catch her breath from running from the back of the caravan.
"How many of the children are left and how many can fight?"
"There is 74 of them left with 14 heavily inured, 22 light injuries and 41 can fight on the front with 19 archers if the situation gets worse we can get 6 of the heavily injured to fight."
"Good, get twelve of the fighters to dig trenches, have seven of the remainder to go 12 kilometers south and collect all the wood they can before night fall. The twenty two others can get the carriages in a circle with the trench facing out ward. The injured are to be moved to the center and are to be kept out of the way."
"Why do we need to do all of this work after the battle?"
"The wolf king is coming with its whole pack, that means 1 rank 1 magic beast, 12 peak rank 0 magic beasts and 180 rank 0 magic beasts that we will have to deal with. The mages are going to use us as bait and weaken the numbers and exhaust the wolf kings subordinates. Only tell Melina, John, Anne and Carl."
"Why?"
"To stop the spread of panic before it even begins and so that they work harder, without fear. Now stop asking question and go."
"OK."
I had her go give the orders because she is the crown princess of the Gakula Empire, the others are willing to do as she says due to being the only person of empire status and ranks above all the other nobility and commoners here. Which helps but also because I'm anti-social I don't get along with people and so that if anything goes wrong I won't get blamed.
... 6 hours later ...
The carriages are in a circle surrounded by pit falls with wooden spikes, trenches and a small man-made earthen hill in the center for the archers. Bon fires have been lit, 12 warriors and 4 archers are on patrol and food is being cooked. The others are none the wiser as to why they had to build what they had but the where happy to just relax and bask the in warm and intoxicating smile of Eilsa after all the work they had done.
I mean while went on a walk out side the encampment to calm my high strung nerves. I was walking without a torch in the dark under the night sky with the sunset behind me as I entered the woods, or what was left of it after the mass logging that went on, Zack and his 2 goons surrounded me with their hands on their weapons and 4 more boys with their arms crossed looking at me with hostility. I know why though as they where forced to dig pit falls and trenches like commoners and from the looks of it Elisa had told them it was my idea.
Sigh
"What do you want Zack?"
"Pay back for forcing us to dig along side the commoners."
"Do you speak for everyone here?" I said while looking at everyone.
"Yes I do."
Thought as much.
"This is your last chance to leave if you want to." I said while relaxing my muscles.
"Our last chance? You don't even have your weird sword." said one of the other boys.
"It's a Gladius and to deal with weaklings like you I won't need it."
All their faces flush red with rage as they draw their weapons I rush Hong Dai, push him down ,with my left hand, to the ground, grab his dropped long sword with my right hand and I swing up ward to block and redirect Hong Zun's blade and thrust the sword tip into his throat then slash to the right while the blade is still in his throat. I grab his collar my left hand and shove him into the two boys, who's names I couldn't be bothered to remember, behind him. I cut Hong Dai's head clean of his shoulders with one clean slash. Zack drops his sword and of the other two boys one charges at me with his axe which I side step, cut of his right hand at the wrist and I run the blade through the back of his heart until the hand guard and the tip of the blade pierces the ground keeping him kneeling even after death. The other boy pisses him self and faints. All of this sounds long but it all happened in the span of 5 seconds.
I pick up Hong Dai's sabre and I walk over to Zack before I stop after I see him piss himself under the moonlight sky. I place the sabre at his neck and he quivers.
"W-W-Why did you kill them?" he asks trembling in fear with his back to a tree.
"In a fight to the death one must kill or be killed."
"B-But we weren't going to kill you."
"I didn't know that and what if one of you accidentally does kill? What then? All I did was defend my self from seven aggressors. Besides even if you go complain to the mages they will do nothing as it doesn't concern them. Now tell me what you know about the mages and their academies."
"W-Why?"
"If you don't I'll cut little pieces off of you until you die or I get what I want." I said after running the sabre into the tree pinning him to the tree. I proceeded to loot the corpse's of the Hong brothers and find 23 spirit stones, a magical necklace. I killed the two boys who had fallen under Hong Zun and got an additional 12 spirit stones.
"I-I don't know much but to enter a mages academy you need to pay 26 spirit stones per year. But first you need to pay a deposit of 12 spirit stones for the first year. They will test you on your magical affinity, talent and if you fit an academies standard you will be accepted."
"How many spirit stones do you have and don't lie to me." I said after looting axe boys corpse for 3 spirit stones and fainted boy for 5 spirit stones. For a grand total of 88 so far. Quite wealthy if I'm honest.
"I have 24 spirit stones all together. I have 8 on me and the rest in my baggage."
"You are cooperating nicely. Why and do these other idiots have any more?"
"My life is in your hands so I will cooperate for my life and these six have no other spirit stones."
"Fair enough. Hand me your spirit stones and space pouch and I will let you go free."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Here."
He tossed me the pouch and I stored 35 of the spirit stones in the pouch and the rest in the space ring around my neck after Zack had left. I know have 96 spirit stones in total, 35 in the pouch, 24 in my luggage and 37 in the ring around my neck. I fiddle with the ring I got from Hong Zun as I new there was an inscription on the ring but know idea what it did. I look on the inside of the ring and there was a sentence which read 'In death I will live on' and after I said that the ring glowed a bright red and it pricked my right ring finger. A drop of blood fell on the ring and it turned orange then green. Something told me that I should put the ring on my right ring finger but I had no idea where this thought came from but I proceeded to do so and after three seconds it melted into my finger. It felt as if my blood was on fire but no matter how I screamed no sound came out.
Loading...Loading...Loading... Complete.
Initiating bonding process 1%...12%...37%...63%..100% boding complete.
Hello master.