Humans were the most fragile creatures on the Aurelian continent, they were also the cruelest, greediest and most selfish creatures on to ever exist. No matter how beautiful humans portrayed themselves to be, most creatures tend to avoid humans and some even associate them with demons, the scene in front of him was an example as to why they did that.
The hunters In front of him held weapons filled with blood and looked down at a dying beast as they laughed. It was a fire wolf, although it was a low level beast, it was one of the few beasts that could reproduce without a male and its core was medicinal and it could be sold on the black market, but since its core was surrounded by flames one couldn't extract it till the wolf died.
But that wasn't the problem, hunting is done all over even he himself has participated in hunts but not of soul beasts, the people he was looking at were hunting a soul beasts. İt was the very first and most basic thing every child whether commoner or noble is taught 'protect the soul beasts and hunt the demonic beasts'.
Unlike demonic beasts, soul beasts were tamer and didn't attack indiscriminately so hunting of them unless it was for the sole purpose of forming a contract was illegal.
He then spotted another wolf pup behind the men. They probably planned to sell the pups on the black market since selling of pups is illegal in the empire because they get weak mentally without their mother's support and grow rabid. But some nobles like to keep them for sport, some find the process of taming them thrilling.
As he motioned for the guard to pull back the bow string some other men, huge in stature came from the direction of the town, they looked like the ones who were beating the person who Riau had suspected of stealing.
"Damn it we lost one, Shira is going to get angry," one of the men said.
"Stop talking and start parking, we can't let the other one run too,"
"It's still young it couldn't have gone far I could try and find it," the other said.
"I said stop talki…"
As he was talking an arrow passed him slightly grazing his cheek and embedding itself on the tree behind him.
"Apologies, but you guys were causing such a ruckus that my curiosity got the better of me," Cerrise smirked, his eyes fixed on the guard beside him, who smoothly notched yet another arrow.
The men seemed to tense up before slowly relaxing.
"It's just a kid and a low level guard, we can deal with them, and look at the kid's hair, it reminds me of snow no it seems whiter and his eyes look like blue gems how unique, maybe if we bring the kid to the Shira she may forgive us for losing the pup," one of the men says with a greedy look as he took out his dagger but before the man could hold the dagger well an arrow was shot past him knocking the dagger off of the man's hand the force causing him to bleed.
The atmosphere grew tense as the man held his bleeding hand and looked up to Cerrise, who remained eerily calm despite the obvious danger with their disadvantage in numbers. His expression was a mixture of curiosity and confidence, giving off an air of mystery that unnerved the hunters.
"You little shit, do you know who you are messing with?" the man growled, his anger simmering just beneath the surface.
Cerrise's lips curved into a small, enigmatic smile. "No, would you like to enlighten me?"
His response only seemed to fuel the man's rage further. The other hunters readied their weapons as if remembering that they outnumbered, Cerrise and his guard.
"You're in the territory of the Blackwood Hunters," one of them sneered, "you are in Shira Blackwood's territory do you really want to fight us."
Cerrise's eyes flickered with interest at the mention of Shira Blackwood he hadn't had of the name, so he probably wasn't important, but he maintained his composure. "Ah, so the infamous Shira Blackwood is your leader? Quite the reputation she must have. But isn't this the dukes territory."
The man laughed then snickered, "By duke, do you mean that child? He wouldn't know how to lead a goat, let alone manage this territory. Shira, on the other hand, is the true force behind these lands. A formidable leader with a reputation that strikes fear into the hearts of even the bravest souls."
Cerrise arched an eyebrow, intrigued by the man's candid response. The mention of Shira Blackwood had undoubtedly piqued his curiosity, even if she was just a small crook, he learnt from Eliphas never to ignore any thing that could be a potential threat.
"A child playing at being a duke, you say?" Cerrise mused, his tone tinged with amusement. "And yet the child managed to build up a falling duchy with only the help of the few people who trusted him while fighting the kings ridicule, your views are interesting."
He glanced around, the corners of his lips curling into a faint smile. "As for territories, they often change hands, don't they? Power is a fickle thing, slipping through fingers like sand. Those who can adapt and seize the opportunities that present themselves are the ones who emerge victorious."
The guard at Cerrise's side remained attentive, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Cerrise's demeanor was still composed, but his eyes gleamed with a newfound spark of interest.
The man stepped forward, narrowing his eyes. "You talk too much, boy. We'll teach you a lesson about respect."
In that moment, Cerrise's guard took a step forward, his bow firmly drawn and ready for action.
Just then the ground started shaking vigorously, suddenly the guards held him by his hand and jumped behind before the ground on the point they were standing collapsed.
They both turned to the other man's companion, he was an earth elemental. The ground stated to shake again and it was messing with the aim of the guard. They need to be closer, but that would mean leaving Cerrise behind which was a danger in itself.
As the ground continued to quake under the influence of the earth elemental's power, Cerrise's guard kept his bow steady, struggling to maintain aim amidst the unsettling tremors. He knew they had to act swiftly to counter this unforeseen threat, but leaving Cerrise unprotected was not an option.
Cerrise, with his usual composure, assessed the situation with a keen eye. The earth elemental was proving to be a formidable opponent, and the collapsing ground added an element of danger that could not be ignored. The guard's loyalty was unwavering, but they needed a different approach to handle this situation.
"Let me handle one," Cerrise asserted calmly, seeing his guard's strained expression. "Take care of the earth elemental."
The guard simply stayed next to him not moving an inch.
"Look, I may not seem like it but I am very strong," he still wasn't budging.
"And also, I wasn't asking," Circe's voice took on a firmer edge, the steel in his words unmistakable. "It's an order."
The guard seemed to realize he was a servant and the boy in front of him was the master.
"Last warning kid, stay still and I will let you keep an arm," the man said with an ugly smile.
"But I don't want to," he said with a fake pout.
"Then we'll make sure you literally scream your lungs out before you die,"
"That's an interesting torture method," he said looking directly at the man who could have sworn he saw his eyes glowing but quickly dismissed the idea because you need to be very proficient in your control of power for your mana to physically manifest into a beast like creature that is seen through the eyes of the person. The person before him was obviously less than twenty years old so theoretically that was not possible.
As he calmed himself the man charged threw a fire ball at Cerrise who extinguished it before it could reach him, before the man could make his next move, roots shot out from underground came up and tangled themselves around him, he tried to struggle to get free but he felt them becoming tighter. His ego was still intact, he still had the stupid thought that since he was a fire mage mere weeds shouldn't be blocking him and holding back. But he slowly began to notice that he couldn't move or even use his power. He looked up and noticed that his opponent was smiling…the smile looked innocent but it sent shivers down his spine and his movements became frantic but the vines didn't budge.
"Good job boy," he said patting the vine which moved obviously happy, he then turned to the man, "the more you struggle the tighter they become."
Cerrise said as he left him hanging and walked towards where the other wolf pup was hiding and picks it up by the neck. He looked down at its dead mother and sighed. He bent down and used a blade and sliced the wolves chest open and took its core which was located below its heart and placed it in his bag, even though their mother was dead the pups still needed its energy, he could use the core to supply them with energy.
As he was getting ready to carry the little beast back he noticed that the surroundings were too quiet. A shadow appeared above him causing him to reflexively throw an ice blade towards the owner of the shadow before turning around and moving a step back.