Inside HGA students affair office, a red hair youth wearing black face mask was sitting in front of a stern looking, uptight officer who had a deep frown between his brows.
"However Ares, don't think we will let you be. Your grandpa asked us to give you an appropriate punishment," the officer in front of Ares said with a seemingly forced smile.
Ares remained silent and no one knew what he was thinking about. Ignoring the stoic look on his face, the officer continued talking.
"After a discussion with Chief Director Shabina Vien, we decided that you will help your Monster Research instructor, Prof Joseph Abraham in his experiment and report writing until the end of the semester. That include providing him with fresh monsters that you catch yourself. That is the punishment."
'Why does it feel like it was grandpa that decide on the punishment since I once said to him that I wanted to learn how to dissect monsters?'
Seeing Ares lack of response, the officer thought Ares didn't agree with the punishment.
However, before he managed to even start persuading him, Ares suddenly spoke, "When should I start?"
"You can discuss that with Prof Joseph yourself"
"Not bad" Ares muttered but the officer could clearly hear him.
'He seemed more obedient but more mischievous than the other Zanuki that I have dealt with.'
The officer is a senior officer working in the students' affairs office. He had met with all five Zanuki studying in HGA currently.
For him, Zerisa is a model student while Karin is like an active volcano. Kara on the other hand never caused problems other than her magic theories sometimes sounded crazy and absurd.
Adrian was just like Karin but calmer while lastly, Ares was the most unpredictable. He seemed meek but from his eyes alone the officer knew it was literally the opposite.
The officer had already prepared a few persuasions if Ares didn't agree with his punishment but it seemed it was useless since he even seemed to like it.
'Is this really a punishment?' The officer thought but he was too busy to dwell on the issue and immediately move on.
Without knowing what kind of impression he had given to the officer, Ares proceed on meeting with Prof Joseph and he was elated that he unexpectedly got an informal assistant for his research.
"Thank you so much Ares. I'm really grateful that it's you," Prof Joseph looked normal but his lab was the opposite.
Stacks of papers and plastic packages of food were everywhere that Ares had to tiptoe when entering the lab. The lab reek with the smell of chemicals and there were parts of animals or monster carcasses inside glass display filled with liquid all around the lab wall.
Ares slightly looked around before continue inquiring, "Is there any specific monsters you want me to catch?"
"Yes I do. I'm currently doing research about the extend of monsters mutation caused by demonic energy thus I wanted mutated monsters from Kazigare Dark Forest if you're ok with that."
'No wonder he felt excited and grateful after I came here,' Ares thought.
Kazigare District was under Zanuki territory since it was their hometown before they moved up north to Soga Mountain.
Kazigare Dark Forest on the other hand was considered one of the world five forbidden places. Even dark elves didn't want to live there.
It was called the second demonic realm due to the area filled with demonic energy. That's why all the area in Kazigare District filled with Demonic energy in the air despite it being a bit faint outside the forest thanks to the dark mages purifying the area by turning the Demonic energy into dead mana.
If an outsider wanted any monsters from that forest, the easiest way was to ask a Zanuki to get it.
If Prof Joseph had to do it himself, there would be a lot of paper works and legal documents to be settled just to get permission to enter Kazigre Dark Forest.
Then he had to hire a few priest to help him from being corrupted by Demonic energy inside the forest until he finished catching a few monsters.
However, the Zanuki could enter the Dark Forest without being harmed due to their resistance to Demonic energy. They also didn't have to get permission from the matriarch or do any paperwork.
"I try to find a few species but don't expect me to dwell too deep into the forest," Ares decided before Prof Joseph even have the chance to give him the list of monsters that he wanted.
"Aww don't be so uptight, if you encountered some of these guys in the list, please bring them to me," Prof Joseph chuckled slightly and put a piece of paper with a list of monsters name.
Ares glanced at the list, looking at the monsters name that looked similar to dinosaurs name from his previous world.
'They don't really have dinosaurs inside that forest right?' Ares thought, taking the list before keeping it inside his spatial bracelet.
"Tell me where is the best place to find weapons?" Ares asked.
He needed more weapons and Tuah had been telling him to buy more variety of weapons to train with.
"Oh I think you can go to Herza City. Most famous blacksmith and weapons dealers I'm this country live there."
Herza City located at the southeast region of Hargan Empire, bordering with one empire and a kingdom. It was under Heizt family jurisdiction and that was where most Heizt army situated to maintain and secure the border area.
Unlike Zanuki who has their forces scattered all around the world, the Heizt dedicated themselves to protect the empire border along with the Kiba on the southwest region.
Taking all the documents about the monsters he needed to catch, Ares went back to his room to prepare for his new monster hunting activities.
"You want to go to Herza City?" Tuah asked Ares that night when he saw Ron and Ran busy packing Ares's luggage and documents for travelling.
Ares have to board the train after he finished the last class tomorrow and it would take around four hours to arrive in Herza City from the capital city.
"Yes. Have to stock up on weapons before we started hunting in Dark Forest."
Tuah had been staying inside Rose Quartz building for almost two weeks and no one realize anything except Prince Theo who live in the opposite room of Ares. He just thought Tuah was Ares's new unruly butler due to Tuah's habit of using informal speech all the time.
"Hey that Prince is weird," that is Tuah first impression on Prince Theo.
"Oh he's a quarter dark elf," Ares just told him nonchalantly since that fact would become publicly known by everyone in the future later on thus he didn't think he did anything wrong by telling Tuah.
"Oh so you must also know he had an elemental with him"
"Yes? Did his elemental sense anything strange with me?"
"Don't worry. Only spirits could sense something from you. So for the time being no one other than me will know about your relation with the Tree of Life."
Ares had asked Prince Theo if he wanted to come along to Herza City with him but Prince Theo declined, saying he already had a plan.
Ares didn't bother to inquire about what kind of plan he had and decided to just go to Herza City with the Moran twins and Tuah. Of course the other Shadows would also tag along.
***************************
[Welcome to Herza City and thank you for using our Raijin Express Train service. May our passangers always have the most pleasant journey]
A monotone female voice reverberated around the area after the train stopped at its destination.
Ares and his entourage arrived in Herza City main train station and it wasn't crowded with people since it was already midnight.
Since the city was located near the border, the security was strict and all the passengers have to pass immigration checkpoints after arriving.
"Young master Ares Zanuki is this all your entourages," a huge man around his 40s asked, looking at Ares's group.
"Yes"
At the immigration checkpoints, the Shadows who always remained hidden have to show themselves because its the rule. No one could use any of their abilities, spells or artifacts to hide from the immigration officers.
Currently there were four Shadows following Ares along with the Moran twins and Tuah.
The officer looked at the red hair youth in front of him who was waiting to pass through the immigration checkpoint.
"What is your purpose for coming to this city," the officer asked after confirming the identification documents and gave them back to Ares's butler.
"I want to find weapons," Ares answered truthfully.
"Oh is that so. Then you may pass. May you get your dream weapon here," the officer said politely allowing them to pass the checkpoint.
"So much hustle," Ares muttered when they arrived inside their hotel room.
The four Shadows had long went hidden again and he shared a suite with Tuah and Ron while Ran was in another room.
"Maybe we can just teleport here," Tuah suggested.
There was indeed teleportation portal in Herza City but only adult could use it and Ares is just 15 years old, not yet an adult.
It's irritate him that his age was the problem. He was almost 30 before he died but in this world he couldn't use teleportation portal because he was underage.
"It was said such rule was made by the Heizt patriarch in order to avoid child trafficking coming into the territory," Ron explained.
Even if he could use the teleportation portal, he had to do more paper works to confirm his identity and reasons for coming. It would also took time to be confirmed thus taking the train was easier.
Being a city located near the border, there were a lot of crimes happening here especially child trafficking and slaves trade.
Hargan banned both activities and if you're convicted by those two crimes, prepare to spent the rest of your life in prison.
"Hey Tuah, you can use teleportation right?"
"Of course," Tuah answered proudly.
"Young master, the mage in this city will catch anyone who illegally teleported here. They have special device to detect such people," Ron frowned looking at his young master who already started to cause mischief again.
Even though the Zanuki was a prestigious noble family, Ares still would be punished since Heizt was on the same level as Zanuki in terms of nobility hierarchy.
The punishment for illegal teleportation is the perpetrator mana would be restricted for half a year using mana restriction bracelet. It means that individual couldn't use his mana during that period.
Such act would cause some mana point inside the body to be damaged after a long period of restriction.
It's like if you try to put a block inside your blood vein. It would swollen and then burst since the blood couldn't flow properly.
A Zanuki that have a huge amount of mana would experience the worst if their mana was restricted thus Ron was worried.
"Ok I won't do it," Ares said but no one knew for sure whether he was being truthful or not.
Ares himself knew about all the rules of Herza City thus Ron's worries weren't unfounded.
The next morning they went to the city to look around the weapon shops that filled most of the area.
"It's indeed befitting its name as the Weapon Haven of Hargan," Ron said to Ares who still looking around.
However, contrary to his expectation Ares just continue looking around like normal tourists and bought some street food in the meantime. He didn't look interested in any of the weapon shops.
"Young master, shouldn't we at least go inside one of the shop first?" Ron asked seeing his young master seemingly wasting his time.
"Not interested. Nothing catch my attention," Ares answered.
Tuah on the other hand was crouching in front of Ares, listening to the seemingly nonsense story told by a male story teller in front of him. It sounded nonsense but the stories the man said sounded similar to fairytales or folktales Ares had heard in his previous world.
"So that's it? Isn't he just dumb?" Tuah asked seemingly irritated that he even listened to the story until the end.
"What do you think is the message from that story?" The story teller asked.
His story is about a young man, a golden bird, a golden horse and a princess from a golden castle. The story was similar to the fairytales Ares have heard in his previous life called *'The Golden Bird'
*(Just type the title in Google and you'll find it.)
"Can I answer that?" Ares asked.
"Yes of course young lad."
During his stay in the orphanage during his childhood in his previous world, he also have been asked similar question and the still immature and childish him at the time answered, "You can't be too kind because not every kindness will be awarded."
The main character, the youngest son is too kind and even helped his brothers when they were almost decapitated. It backfired him when the same brothers try to kill him and stole his achievements.
However after becoming an adult, Ares realised the actual message from the story.
"It shows the true nature of humans"
"Oho, this is the first time someone gave a correct answer with only one sentence," the story teller seemed elated.
True nature of humans shown by the main character in the story is the hope human always had, the hope to live a nice, happy life and to be recognized for his hard work. The main character also shows how humans would choose dumb choices or decisions but soon learn his lesson.
Other than that its also portrayed humans side that is full of desires, greed and selfishness.
"So what I get for giving a correct answer?" Ares asked shamelessly.
"Err, young master...." Ron never thought his young master would try to get something from a middle-age man story teller that looked like a beggar.
"Hoho never thought a young noble lad will try to get something from me. Alright then, ask me anything you want to know," the story teller didn't seem to mind Ares's antic at all.
"I want to know where is the shop of the best blacksmith in this area," Ares asked.
"Ho what an unexpected question. There's dozen of smithy around here but you don't seem interested in them even a bit. Ok then I will tell you but it's up to you to believe or not," the story teller proceed on giving Ares an instruction on how to find the best blacksmith that could peak his interest.
Tuah who already lost his interest in the story teller just remained quiet while Ron felt skeptical.
"May we meet again, young master. It's fun interacting with you," the story teller grinned at Ares, showing his uneven yellow teeth.
Ares glanced at him before walking away.
'Didn't expect that I would meet the wandering sage here'
Ares realised Tuah seemed to know something since he was the one who greeted the story teller first.
In the novel, the Wandering Sage was only describe as a man, wandering from one place to another. Telling stories to people.
The stories usually sounded childish or nonsense but the message inside the story wasn't. Those who could answer the sage's question after he finished telling the story could asked about anything from him.
It was said the sage knew everything about the world but Ares wasn't interested to ask a heavy question thus he just asked about thing he wanted to know at the moment.
"Master, why didn't you ask something else? Like maybe your father?" Tuah asked.
"As expected you know who he is," Ares smiled slightly before sipping his drink.
Ron and Ran were currently searching for the blacksmith to confirm the authenticity of the story teller's words leaving Ares with Tuah and the other Shadows.
The Shadows usually wouldn't pry into their master's conversations and Tuah also put up a noise cancelling barrier around them to avoid others from listening to them.
"Master, you're the most unpredictable human I've ever met. I won't ask how you know about the sage but isn't it a waste to ask for just a blacksmith's whereabout from the sage when you can even asked him where the Demon King is?" Tuah seemed unsatisfied.
"Why should I know where the Demon King is?"
"I'm just saying. It's one in a lifetime to encounter the sage"
"Maybe we can meet him again"
"How?"
"Don't you know the sage is the Godfather for the Hellios clan?"
Our protagonist Cedric is the last descendant of the Hellios clan thus the sage would later protect him using his knowledge. He would appear more often when the world started to plunge into chaos caused by the Demons and Djinns.
Cedric ancestor had made an agreement with the sage to help guiding the Helios clan descendants.
"We can use that friend of yours to meet the sage later on, is that what you mean? Nice," Tuah seemed satisfied.
Ares didn't bother to reply since he wasn't that interested with the sage.
Ares's father? He felt he would know about him eventually without the help of the sage. Tuah also seem to know something but he never reveal anything without reason.
Tuah always told him information based on the situation. He wouldn't suddenly tell Ares about everything he knew at the same time.
'Whatever it is that Tuah knew, I'm confident I will get to know about it in the future,' Ares thought calmly since the current timeline was still early before the chaos started.