After learning about Ilya's combat prowess from Locke, Horn decided not to pursue trouble with him. After all, he was no match for the man.
He shared with Douglas that Ilya was a level six warrior, which only elicited a slight smile from Douglas's old face.
He didn't seem the least bit concerned about a level six powerhouse after him!
Since Douglas himself wasn't worried, Horn decided not to dwell on this individual anymore. His target was a magician, and the teacher hadn't been active for over a decade; it would be strange if Ilya could find him.
Days passed, and the fervor over the Evil-faced One incident in the city cooled down. Life in Lien City went on as usual, and the arrival of the prominent figure Ilya Oduin didn't bring any change to the small city.
These days, Horn spent his days working as a carpenter with Douglas and his nights practicing magic with Enoch. A few days of dedicated practice finally stabilized Enoch's sea of magic. Perhaps the previous persecution by the North Wind Church had stimulated Enoch, as he now practiced with great diligence.
Seeing his sea of magic stabilized, Horn taught Enoch the spells and magic circles of the three first-level spells he knew.
Enoch tried each and found that he couldn't form the magic circles for fire and lightning spells in his sea of consciousness at all, only the water spell, Water Flow, showed a hint of success.
Enoch's enthusiasm for learning new spells was high, wishing he could meditate even while eating.
During the day, he naturally didn't stop thinking about ways to slack off, but hoping to find a chance to practice magic next to Douglas was just a dream.
Enoch had no chance to slack off; he had once tried casting an illusion on Douglas so he could practice while Douglas worked, but Douglas easily dispelled it every time, making Enoch realize Douglas was no ordinary person.
The peace didn't last long before trouble arose again in Lien City. Recently, minor disturbances from weak monsters in the North District became frequent. These monsters were not powerful but annoying enough to pose a significant threat to ordinary people.
Initially, bounty hunters were relied upon to exterminate them, but since these monsters left no corpses upon death, disputes between clients and hunters arose. Moreover, new monsters would appear not long after the previous ones were killed.
With no other option, the city lord sought help from the church. The North Wind Church, naturally, did not stand by idly, as this was their jurisdiction. However, the church faced its second defeat of the year against these monsters,
The first defeat, of course, involved Horn and Enoch.
The church faced the same problem as the bounty hunters: the monsters were not strong, and a trained North Wind knight could easily handle them, but it was a nuisance that these monsters would randomly reappear in the North District after some time.
Random appearances, disappearing upon death, followed by the appearance of a different monster after a while—how was one to deal with this!
The North Wind Church found a tough nut to crack, and the frequent monster attacks in the North District couldn't be kept secret. Now, the presence of monsters in the North District was common knowledge, replacing the Evil-faced One as the new topic of conversation for the city's elders.
Meanwhile, Horn and Enoch were having dinner as usual, with Enoch wolfing down his meal without leaving the table, immediately beginning to meditate.
Horn, on the other hand, ate leisurely, preferring to chew slowly, making him always the last to finish and the one to wash the dishes.
The carpentry shop's rule was that the last to finish eating had to wash the dishes, a rule Horn had never beaten in over a decade.
Suddenly, a dark little head peeked in through the door, belonging to a bald child whose eager eyes were fixed on the food in Horn's hand, drooling in hunger.
"How about it, hungry? Want something to eat?" Horn's keen perception had noticed someone sneaking into the yard early on, so the child's appearance didn't surprise him much.
Under the governance of the North Wind Church, the city outwardly thrived, but a walk through the countryside or the slums of Lien City would reveal many who couldn't afford meals. This was why Douglas ran a carpentry shop to support rural carpenters, offering whatever help he could.
Horn poured a bowl of porridge and offered a bun to the child, who lay at the doorstep, revealing only his upper body, looking pitifully weak and unable to stand.
"Here, eat this and then leave. Don't just climb into people's yards next time. If you meet someone with a bad temper, getting beaten is the least of your worries," Horn said, pushing up his round glasses with a smile.
"I'm hungry," the child didn't take the food but continued to stare directly at Horn.
"If you're hungry, then eat. I won't hit you," Horn pushed the food closer.
"Okay, thank you. You're a good person. I'll start eating," the child's eyes turned blood-red, and his cheeks split open into a gaping maw with sharp teeth. His lower body, revealed, was that of a caterpillar as thick as an adult's waist and two meters long!
The child-like monster lunged at Horn, catching him off guard and knocking him down, and began to gnaw at him, sending flesh and blood flying.
"Enoch, isn't this a bit too harsh? It's still a child," Horn covered his face, unable to bear the sight. It was too cruel.
"What normal child would be so hungry they'd want to eat people? You're too kind," Enoch kicked the monster's chubby belly hard, splattering green ooze on his leg, which he disgustingly shook off.
The monster, interrupted while eating, looked around angrily but saw nothing, then turned back to continue gnawing on the bloody mess beneath it.
Unfortunately for the monster, the bloody mess wasn't Horn but a one-meter-long giant iron saw used for cutting wood!
The blood on the saw wasn't Horn's but the monster's own from its mouth, now covered in wounds from the saw, yet it was oblivious!