"Are you sure you're not going to bring anything else for this trip of yours, boy?"
Looking at the only family he has, wearing nothing but everyday clothing underneath the pure black cloak, Arthur couldn't help but ask in worry, intending to make the young man, his son, wear light armor under his cloak as well, at the very least.
"All I need is in the bag, old man, and besides, armor won't do me any good if I'm being honest, you know my body, I might be fast, but I'm not that strong at all, not to mention I can't even utilize mana all too well yet…"
Argus replies, making sure to mix in truth with lies so that his father believes him while still allowing him to refuse wearing armor for this trip, after all, wearing armor is truly nothing but a hindrance for him, but not in a way that his father expects.
Seeing the determination and will within his child's eyes, the Ever-Burning Sword Dragon helplessly sighs as he decided to no longer insist on his intent, after all, the child has grown to be quite the young man now, and being a youthful person once in his life as well, he knows full well that excessively imposing his will on the young man, even as his father, won't result in anything good.
"Alright, take in as much of the world as you can, Alaric will make sure to remind and pick you up three days before the academy's entrance trial…"
Arthur said as he pointed towards a person, slightly older than him and having a slim, yet powerful build. The person bowed towards the young man as his lord mentioned his name, the young man nodding after he bowed before giving his goodbyes.
"Alright, I'll see you in a few weeks, Alaric. Also, old man, don't tire yourself too much from paper works, it won't be bad to move around your land every now and then."
Hearing the farewell from the already moving Argus, both the young man's father and the servant standing behind the towering, ashen gray-haired swordsman smile, the father a helpless one, seemingly thinking that his son is joking with him, while the servant agrees, thinking that the young lord's suggestion is something not that bad at all.
It will be a few weeks from now that both these two, amidst all their experiences in the past, grand and vast, each one worthy of being a tale of legend in and of their own, will be given one of, if not the greatest, surprises of their lives.
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"And so the Knight of the Crimson Moon picks up his own head, still flowing blood, and continues to walk, his white armor now dyed of both obsidian and red from the fire and slaughter, wanting to find victims that he can inflict with the same pain that he had once gone through… "
Gathering around a campfire with each person sitting on a cut log serving as a chair, one person, holding a small stringed instrument to himself, told with such vigor and passion to the small crowd eagerly listening to his tales, all of them seemingly quite impressed with his ability to tell such lively, realistic tales.
"That's really impressive, Gustav, you're really suitable to be a bard…"
One of the people around the campfire praised as she looked at the bard, finding him quite an attractive person, despite the face not being that different from an average one.
"Well, there are quite a few things that are better than a bard, so I will take this compliment of yours with pleasure, Lady Riona…"
The storyteller bowed slightly with a faint smile on his face as he received the praise, his friendly, yet respectful demeanor towards the lady who just spoken hinting something about her status.
"The lady is right, if only everyone in the group is as good with words as Gustav…"
Another lady agreed with the previous one's word, her jeering seemingly aimed towards one another, an entirely different person in the group, yet despite that, her gaze is not towards anyone gathering around the campfire, but rather, a few meters away from it.
"Tsk…"
Seeing that despite her obvious provocation, nobody seems to respond to her, the lady couldn't help but click her tongue in utter annoyance, wondering how such a person exists in this world.
Beneath the shade of a wide tree, making it so that barely any moonlight passes through its leaves, sits a young man wearing a pure, black cloak, obscuring his appearance from everyone's view. At the bottom of the tree, he lies motionless, as if something is wrong, as it had been almost three hours since he entered such a state of being.
What made the rest of the group think less of him all the more is what they assumed as wind magic gently wrapping around him every time he enters such a state, almost as if he is wary of them, and this sort of wind magic is something that can help him detect when someone approaches his proximity.
'Although given how weak that wind magic is, I doubt he can react if we really want to do something to him…'
The lady thought to herself, truly wanting to test the young man, and yet, she stops, as time and time again, the young man they are paying the most attention to in this trip, the young bard, reminds them not to poke around too much, as if there's something about this figure that he wants to hide from them.
While they are curious about him, in not that good of a way, however, the cloaked young man merely remains to himself, seemingly resting every time that they are not moving, as if he's too tired from all the travel they are doing.
"Forget about him, Lyria, he's here for a different purpose than us, so there's no need to—"
Seemingly well aware of what is going on in her friend's mind, the lady named Riona convinces her with an expression of helplessness in her face as in fact, even she herself already tries to get along with this young man, however, all her attempts serve futile as the more she attempts to do so, the more the young man seems to avoid her.
Right in the middle of her words, however, the lady was interrupted as they heard rustling from the distance, immediately alerting them, given the location they were currently camping in.
Almost as if they are already well trained regarding such matters, their group immediately fell into an unpracticed, yet silent unison before motioning towards each other the location of the noise, each of them already reaching out to their sides where most carry their armaments.
"Hoh~~? Quite the gathering we found ourselves in, boys, looks like we will have some great harvest and fun tonight~~~."
As if they just heard the voice of death whispering through their ears, this group of young traveler had their face turn extremely pale the next moment, their hands that were once steady and prepared to deal with whatever beast might approach them now trembling as they realized that it wasn't a mindless beast that they were about to face now.