A new day. A beautiful day.
The sun was shining warmly, and an occasional breeze would cool my sweat-drenched body.
Currently, I was having my outdoor training.
I was carrying a boulder weighing half a ton in addition to another half a ton of weight plates spread all over my body. With this much weight, I sprinted up the tallest mountain in the valley surrounding our residence.
This was the outdoor training that I had been doing for the past six years.
At first, I could only lift about 50 kg, but I gradually increased the weights and made the training harsher. It was strenuous, but the results were quite good.
Not only did my baseline strength increase a lot, but I also got taller and muscular. I was now about 170 cm and looked like a young adult of age 17 rather than a toddler of age 10.
After reaching the peak of the mountain, I put the boulder on the ground. I felt a sense of accomplishment and took a view of the region surrounding the valley, only to detect an anomaly.
Instead of the usual beautiful and peaceful landscape, there was a small fire in a region close to the forest's edge. Even the various aerial beasts were moving away from that particular area.
Just out of curiosity, I decided to move towards that direction and check the cause of this commotion.
When I was a few meters away, I could see sparks flying and hear the clashing of metals. There were two different groups of people fighting against each other.
The valley was situated at the centre of the forest. Many small settlements surrounded the woods, connected through roads on the forest outskirts.
And as the forest was full of beasts, humans rarely entered it. Thus, this was the first time I saw any other human besides those in our residence.
To not let them alert of my presence, I climbed up a tree and moved towards them stealthily under cover of foliage and eventually found the cause of the commotion.
Two girls and a few guards were defending against a group of men covered fully in black cloth.
I guessed that they were assassins or members of some organisation, and thus didn't act impulsively and baited my time until I analysed the situation thoroughly.
The guards of the girls were killed, and they were captured.
One of the black-robed men put the edge of his knife on the neck of one of the girls and drew a little blood. The girl flinched due to pain. Seeing this, the man chuckled and said in a cold voice.
"I say, little missy, if you tell us where your grandfather hid the seal, we will let you live. If not, your dainty little lives would wither away."
Hearing the words, the girl had a defiant glint in her eyes and spoke the words in a furious tone.
"We would never tell you the place even if ever knew. We would rather die than give the seal to you evil guys. Our family protected the seal for generations. You guys would never get anything."
The man scoffed at those words and tore open the upper garments of the girl with his knife.
"Missy, there are various other ways which are more torturous than death.
If you don't answer, my men will unleash their pent-up frustration on your body. Then you will be sold to the lowest brothel and spend the rest of your life in misery."
The men started to inch closer to the girls. Seeing this, the girls shivered in fear of their upcoming fate.
Thinking that I had gotten enough information and to help the girls out of their distress, I jumped down on a black-robed man standing beside the leader.
Even though this guy wasn't the leader, he was stronger and had a more stifling aura than the leader. And though he had cultivated up to the same level as me, he was no match for my ambush.
That man sensed danger and tried to shift his body out of my sword's path, but I twisted my body and swept a kick on his neck. He couldn't anticipate my kick and died with a broken neck.
Only after that did the leader step back from me and take out his sword, taking a defensive stance. The other men also noticed me and started to encircle me.
"Who are you? Why are you butting in our job?"
The leader questioned with a ferocious glare, but I just dismissed it casually and exposed the identity of the group.
"So, you guys are from Shadow Pavilion."
Shadow Pavilion was an anonymous organisation. They had many branches with different names. Even the ones who took their services didn't know the actual name of this organisation.
Although our family lived far from civilisation, my mother had collected information, known and unknown to others, regarding various empires and organisations on this planet with the help of the maids.
It was no secret to me that the maids in our household were not ordinary. They might even be stronger than anyone else on this planet, well... excluding my mother.
Thus, my sudden statement baffled the black-robed men as well as their leader.
"Wha-What! How do yo--!!"
His words were cut short as I took this chance, stabbed my sword through his heart, and closed the distance to another black-robed man.
As I killed the two strongest in their group easily, their morale dropped a lot, and thus, they were easily cleaned up within a few more minutes.
After sheathing my sword, I moved towards the two girls and untied them. They had similar facial features and thus could be deduced to be sisters.
"Introduce yourselves. Name and age. Where were you going and why?"
Hearing my blunt words, they were shocked.
My bluntness could be associated with my low social skills, as I never talked with anyone outside my family.
Over the years, I had developed a taciturn personality, never deeming anyone else worthy to whom I should speak politely.
Obviously, my mother and sister and the maids were the exceptions.
And so, even though I knew the maids in our household for over a decade, I was straight to the point without any unnecessary courtesies. But I became a little mellow with them over time.
Leaving all that aside, after I confronted the two girls, the older one was the first to compose herself and reply.
"I am Elfie Luna. Age 17. And she is my younger sister, Seline Luna. She just turned 15. We thank you for saving us from our distress."
Elfie bowed gracefully like a noble, but the younger girl bowed shyly. After straightening themselves, Elfie continued her explanation.
"We were going to the capital Angor for the admission test in the Highland Origin Sect but were ambushed and chased by those men into the forest. Thankfully, you saved us."
She stopped after the brief explanation, but I found her explanation unsatisfactory and thus continued to look at her sternly while shifting my hand on the hilt of my sword.
This made the girls shiver before the older one started speaking again.
"Truth be told, all the Body Tempering practitioners within 20 are allowed to undergo the examination. They would be divided into inner and outer disciples according to their talents and score in examinations. And…"
She hesitated, but seeing my stern gaze, she continued in a defeated tone.
"And the next year, the inner disciples would be allowed to enter the Turquoise Realm, which only opens every five hundred years. The realm is said to be full of precious herbs and unique beasts.
Right now, my grandfather is in a coma, and our family physician said that the Tertraspine plant's extract can save him.
It can not only make grandpa regain consciousness but can also increase his lifespan by healing his meridians, which were damaged over time.
And this Tetraspine plant can only be found in the Turquoise Realm."
Hearing her explanation, I understood her situation well and got some new information, too. So I released the hold on the sword and relaxed my expression, which consequently made the two girls relax a little.
As I had killed their ambushers, there was a high chance that the backup would already be suspicious due to a lack of communication. So, to prevent them from being saved only to get harmed, I led them to my residence.
Not only that, but Alice would also be happy to meet new people.
"Follow me. I will take you to a safe place."
The girls followed me without much protesting. No one uttered a single word to the other.
After a few hours of continuous walking, I finally reached near my home.
It had turned late into the night as we approached the door to my residence.
However, there was someone still waiting for me whom I saw running towards me with a worried face.