The old man approached and bowed before he spoke.''Emperor Osoric Avalon, I'm here to discuss some local gossip from the western part of your empire that is very important to the Church Of Light.''
When the west was mentioned, Leonard's ears pricked up. Osoric looked at this cunning old fox before replying. ''What does the church want with the western part of my empire?''
Hadwyn started to explain. ''Five days ago, a company of knights was investigating the mana storm that occurred there three weeks ago. That's when they arrived at a town called Oxfair.''
But before he could continue talking. Leonard was getting impatient and interrupted the Archbishop. ''Get on with it, old man. The Emperor doesn't have all day!''
The Archbishop gave him a dirty look before continuing. ''A Deacon in charge of the holy knights engaged with a strange boy. He was a newly born white dragon who killed twelve knights and got beaten back, but he vanished before he could be captured. The church claims all ownership over the beast, so I'm here to tell you to keep out of it.''
After he finished speaking, he turned on his heels and marched out of the hall, leaving the five people in the room in shock at the news.
Chloe rushed over to the Emperor before telling him excitedly as she watched the duke from the corner of her eye. ''Darling! My spies have gathered information about the boy the church has claimed.''
The Emperor looked at her before nodding, giving her permission to speak.
''Well, about three weeks ago, a young boy in Vassia City signed up to become an adventurer after being kicked out of a noble's house,'' Chloe explained.
She stared at Duke Ashguard with narrowed eyes before continuing. ''Taking his first quest to hunt wild dogs, he completed it without any issues and saved a group of adventurers called the Sparrows.
He took a second quest, a wolf hunt outside of Oxfair Town. Just before he arrived, the mana storm occurred in the region.
After the event, a boy appeared at the town's gate, looking scruffy and unkempt. The spy who witnessed him enter the town saw the boy buying loads of food from a stall, and that's when he got into a fight with the holy knights.''
The Emperor got a strange look on his face as he asked her. ''Who's the noble family who kicked the boy out?''
She looked straight at Duke Ashguard before asking. ''Why did you kick your son out of your house, Duke? Care to explain your reasoning.''
Everyone stared at him like an idiot, but he answered nonetheless. ''He wasn't strong enough to stay in the family and was a scared child. After he lost in a fight, he completely closed up and didn't speak to anyone, not even his mother.''
The Four people looked at him, already knowing he was lying. They didn't believe a word he said.
Empress Chloe spoke up. ''No, you and the rest of the Ashguard family shunned him after losing the fight. Even your other children abused the boy until the day he fell into a coma. When he woke up, you banished him.''
She walked up to the duke with anger written on her face. ''You banished a white dragon! The only living ones are born once every five thousand years. Are you an idiot, Duke?''
Leonard didn't bother defending himself as he was already drowning in regret. The Emperor then ordered him to send out some men and try to convey a message to the boy.
He wanted to get to Archer before the church could deal with him. They still hold a grudge against dragons for all the wars they fought against each other.
***
[Back to Archer]
Archer managed to get away from Oxfair. He was out cold because of mana depletion, blood covering his body.
The damage he received from the spell Justice Strike was tremendous. His Regeneration was slowly mending the damage, but it was worse than any injuries he had had up until now.
It took the skill longer than usual to start. Archer's right forearm was hanging on by a few strands of skin while blood was spurting out of it.
His chest was burnt, and ribs could be seen as the skin slowly stitched itself together. Archer's head was covered in blood because of a massive gash across his forehead.
An hour after running out of mana, he woke up. He tried lifting his upper body but collapsed back onto the ground. He looked at his arm and saw the muscles slowly regenerating but getting healed nonetheless.
Laying on the floor, he remembered using Blink after getting hit by the beam that sent him crashing through some houses. As he couldn't get up, he checked his status.
'Status.'
[Experience: 600/2000]
[Level up: 23>24]
[SP: 22>24]
[Regeneration: 2>3]
[Fire Missiles: 0>1]
[Plasman Shot: 1>2]
[Blink: 0>2]
Happy that he leveled up, he decided to upgrade his status by putting ten points onto HP, four on mana, four on constitution and stamina, and two on charisma.
[HP: 800>900]
[Mana: 2900>3020]
[Constitution: 330>370]
[Stamina: 330>370]
[Charisma: 430>450]
[SP: 24>0]
He felt good as his stats increased, and the pain disappeared. Most of his body was healed. So he tries to get up again.
This time around, he manages to get to his feet. Archer saw the skin on his arm and chest stitching together until it was back to normal, but the pain was still lingering.
Looking around, he saw a tall tree not far from him. Making his way over, he struggled to climb up.
Getting settled on a branch once he was up, he looked up at the evening sky. Pulling out some orcish bacon and dwarven flatbread, combined them and started eating.
But his stomach wasn't happy, so he took out three meat wraps and ate them all. He took out his water skin, drank some, and then settled down.
After a little while, he fell into a deep sleep while leaning against the tree. Archer stirred from his slumber, his consciousness awakened by a distant voice calling his name. "Archer, come on! Father wants us to train!"
As he slowly opened his eyes, he found himself lying amidst the serene beauty of the Ashguard castle gardens. Confusion washed over him as he scanned his surroundings, trying to make sense of the situation.
His gaze fixated on his sister, Hyara, who stood before him, her voice beckoning him. It deepened within him, for she had mistreated him after his failure in their father's test.
At that moment, a realization dawned upon him like lightning—this wasn't reality but a vivid dream. Archer stood frozen in the Ashguard gardens, his mind grappling with the surreal nature of the situation.
Before he could fully process his surroundings, his sister Hyara's voice echoed through the air again.
"What are you waiting for? Father is waiting!" Her voice carried a mix of impatience and mockery, just as it had when she belittled him for his failures.
As her words reached his ears, a surge of memories flooded Archer's mind. The hurtful taunts, the relentless bullying.
Each memory is etched deep within his consciousness. The weight of past humiliation resurfaced, tugging at his emotions like an invisible force.
That's when he saw her walking toward him. As she stopped in front of him and reached out for him, Archer woke up.
He looked around and remembered falling asleep in the tree the night before. While getting up, he looked around but didn't spot anyone or anything.
After doing that, he checked on himself and saw all the wounds had closed, but he was still covered in blood.
That's when he cast Cleanse on himself and felt all the dirt and blood vanish. His clothes were ruined, so he changed into new ones.
After changing, he jumped off the branch and walked toward Vassia City while eating. He traveled for two days straight to reach the city.
He wasn't attacked on the way, which surprised him. When Archer approached the city gate, he entered without anyone bothering him.
Archer decided to look for a cheap clothes shop. He can't afford to keep buying new clothes after every fight.
Heading for the plaza, he passed many people who stared at him, mostly at his beautiful white horns and violet reptilian eyes. After a ten-minute walk, he saw a shop that sold clothing and made his way toward it.