As Xavier walked inside Baron's home with his new grimoire. He was stopped by Sophia's grandfather. He hadn't seen him for such a long time yet he appeared blocking his path.
The old stretched his muscular arms," A letter for you."
Xavier knew it had to have been sent by Vivian. As he tore through the letter, he saw the context.' Happy birthday, Xavier, this is for you." It was a set of strange clothing. It looked that of a traveler; perhaps it was for him when he becomes an adventurer. It was a bit too big for the little Xavier—which meant that it could only be worn until he was older.
The old butler held a box with his hand," For you."
This was sent by Feran. It was a magic bracelet that held a magic stone. Seeing all those gifts made Xavier cry. He didn't even remember that it was his birthday. He wondered how surprised they would be to see him coming home the same day. Xavier sobbed in admiration for them. As he walked through the hallway, he was stopped by Katherine.
" H-happy birthday." She threw something at him and ran away.
' Well, isn't someone embarrassed today? I wonder if she'll miss me?' Xavier acted smugly. As Xavier caught it, he saw a bag of sweets.' Yep! I should have known! Definitely, something she would do!' he thought.' Knowing Sophia she probably has nothing for me after all I keep bumping into her. I wonder if she thinks I'm doing it on purpose.' Xavier felt a bit bad leaving without saying goodbye to her.
As Xavier held his things, he looked back at the house," Until next time." Xavier then walked into the carriage.
***
As the driver dove the carriage outside of Rivermouth, an explosion happened in front of the carriage; it was bandits." Damn it!" Xavier scowled as he walked out of the carriage and told the driver to leave.
It was right in the middle of the road surrounded by a forest. The environment was to the bandits' advantage.
Xavier drew his daggers," I like it when the odds are against me." He grinned.
As a bandit flickered his way aiming for his head, Xavier blocked the attack and slashed with his other dagger; the bandit dodged and retaliated back to the shadow of the trees. Xavier had no idea how many of them there were. But he could sense he was outnumbered by them.
" Come on, are you really that scared of a kid?" Xavier provoked one of them into coming out.
"Arg!" His bait worked as one of the bandits really came out. The moment they dashed while drawing their sword at Xavier— instead of slashing he kicked them onto the ground. As Xavier pulled off their mask, he saw distracted.
" Wow!"
It was a golden hair girl whose hair extended to her waist, she was nothing short of gorgeous. While Xavier was captivated by her beauty another came out at him. As they approached him, Xavier spun around and thrust his dagger forward. The bandit retreated in time to save their head. All Xavier did was a single cut on their face which was covered with a mask.
" Your swordsmanship is a joke." The bandit ridiculed Xavier.
" Oh? Maybe you should observe closely." Xavier pointed at the bandit.
' He's paralyzed!' Xavier grinned. With one cut, the venom bite dagger could paralyze someone.
" Hey! What's this!" The bandit tried struggling but couldn't move." Get this bastard!"
It was exactly what Xavier wanted. He needed a way to get all of them to attack him at once. As they left shadows, multiple enemies attacked Xavier; and the moment they landed on the floor— Xavier plunged his palms on the floor freezing the whole area. They were frozen." So weak!"
The moment Xavier said this, a wave of mana approached him. Xavier was shielded by his ice spike which he made to slow down the attack. It was a vertical flame attack in the form of a visible slash. The attack broke through every ice spike Xavier made. And while he was shielding the incoming attack, the caster dashed behind him and slashed. Xavier was sent flying with a burning fire slash on his abdomen. The moment he hit a tree, he coughed out gallons of blood.
The enemy didn't wear a disguise. It was a short black-haired woman who wore a revealing clothing style. She wore a full black bikini with a dagger on her waist.
" Oh, you're still standing?" The woman said.
' I know this isn't the time but why is her voice so seductive and what type of clothing is that?' Xavier looked away as he stood up.
" Bastard, you couldn't be looking at me with those filthy eyes of yours!" The woman scorned Xavier.
' I'm looking away dumbass!'
As Xavier stood with odds against him, his grimoire appeared next to him.' Huh?' Xavier looked at the grimoire which seemed to reset pages once again into a different spell. As Xavier looked closely, the grimoire wanted him to use a smoke spell." Fine!" Xavier drawer mana from his bracelet's magic stone and summoned the smoke spell.
The smoke circled the whole forest. It wasn't long until Xavier couldn't be seen." That bastard is running away!" The woman shouted. As all the bandits went forward chasing after the direction Xavier last was; Xavier hid on the very tree he slammed into. He tricked the bandits.
" I'm not letting anyone ruin my precious birthday nor my chance to see my family." Xavier chuckled as he saw them running in the wrong direction.
Xavier couldn't win either way. He could now see their numbers from the tree— there were thirteen of them. Xavier managed to run away in time to save his life. The grimoire had saved him.
' So this thing changes pages depending on the situation.' Xavier watched as the pages turned back to how they once were.' Even Baron's unaware of it. With that aside, when I froze the ground I wasn't expecting the whole area to be frozen. What's happening with me? Is it because of this bracelet or not but how would that explain the salamander situation when I didn't even have the bracelet yet. Damn it, I can't wrap my head around this.'