General Jiten took a look around after piercing the heart of a soldier. Of the invaders, only their commander was left standing, covered in wounds. On the ground laid people from both sides, many were dead, others were simply too wounded to stand.

Lauhr City Forces had won.

“Surrender now, soldier of Feld-Ehia, the battle is over.”

Prince Amir, while wounded, still retained his elegant demeanor as royalty, his back was straight and he held his head high as he pointed his saber at the Feld-Ehian Commander.

“Hehe, I’d rather die than be captured by you desert dogs.”

“And I’d rather kill you for the crime of invading this land, but you will be useful after an interrogation, so I can’t let you die.”

Two arrows pierced the commander’s legs from behind him, and a fast strike from Jiten disarmed him.

The prince’s escorts proceeded to restrain him and knocked him out.

Amir then turned to the Hunters.

“Thank you for helping us, you arrived right in time.”

“No, Your Highness. It is us who need to thank you, we are originally the people from this city, it’s natural for us to fight against invaders. It was your unexpected presence here what has helped us.”

Kareb replied courteously to his prince, it was truly the hunters of the city who were most thankful, they were the ones living here, it was obvious that they would fight, but a member of royalty risking his life to protect this place was something unexpected.

“It is the duty of royalty to protect the lands under our care. The hunters here are truly impressive, to think you managed to get rid of that monster horde so quickly.”

“Ah, about that…”

Kareb and the other hunters looked at each other and then explained to Amir and his group the circumstances of the matter while they tended the wounded.

“I see… a mysterious foreigner boy, Ethan Bhreg… he is truly brave to face the monsters and use himself as bait for them. I would like to meet with him.”

“Your Highness, I will lead an expedition team to search for him, he might have survived, but there are multiple dangers in the desert. He also may have tired himself escaping the beasts, with a riding beast it will be faster for him to return.”

Kareb offered to look for Ethan, they owed him a huge favor for driving the beasts away.

At that moment the General’s voice has heard.

“Watch out, something is coming from the north!”

Everyone turned their heads immediately and found what he was staring at: a huge monster bird was approaching them at high speed.

“What’s that?”

One of the hunters asked; he couldn’t identify the monster from such distance.

Kareb stared at the beast before shouting commands to the hunters.

“That’s a Voracious Vulture! Archers, ready your arrows! Those with long distance spells, start chanting! We need to weaken it before it gets too close!”

His voice was loud and clear, every hunter obeyed and prepared for the incoming battle. The prince escorts got into a formation in front of Amir, Anwe and Rufus drank mana potions to prepare for using magic.

The Voracious Vulture got closer fast and started to descend at high speed, but it was too far from them, why was it descending?

The monster crashed into the sands with a loud boom and slid forwards due to the impulse it carried, raising clouds of sand on its way.

Had the monster been wounded before coming here?

“It’s dead.”

General Jiten spoke and started to approach the fallen gigantic bird.

Everyone stayed on alert despite the General’s words; letting their guard down was a death sentence for a Monster Hunter.

The cloud of sand settled and revealed the dead Voracious Vulture; it was a huge 7-meters-long bird with black feathered wings and scaled torso,

Its beak was open, revealing rows of sharp teeth and a long purple tongue.

But what surprised the groups present was not the monster itself, but the person who killed it.

Kneeling over the spiked head of the Voracious Vulture and using a gray spear that pierced the monster head as support, a teenager with copper-colored hair was regulating his breath.

The youth stood up and yanked the spear out of the vulture’s head, the spearhead was perfectly clean despite all the blood spilling from the wound it caused.

“Huff… okay, that was dangerous.”

The boy muttered and got off the monster’s head.

Jiten’s pupil contracted slightly as he saw the boy move.

He lightly skipped, like taking a step into the empty air, and floated off the Voracious Vulture’s head, landing softly and without sound.

It was an exquisite movement technique.

The General took a closer look at the newcomer, carefully observing the details as the boy turned his head to him.

He was very tall at almost 1.8 meters, fair skinned and with a childish face that showed his age despite his height, amber-colored eyes and smooth light copper-like hair; he wore a long-sleeved blue shirt that did not hide his sturdy body, black pants and black boots, each part of his set of clothes was exquisitely made with good materials.

On his hands, the youth held a long gray spear, unadorned but perfectly clean, it was no ordinary weapon, it had pierced the head of a Tier 2 monster from the Desert of Death.

Jiten could not feel any magic coming from it, but all his instincts told him that weapon was dangerous.

“Um, hello?”

The boy smiled awkwardly at Jiten, he moved his mouth in a strange word, but the sound that came out was Sahbadia Kingdom’s language.

So he also knows how to use Magic.

“Greetings, young man. Are you Ethan Bhreg?”

Jiten asked with a stern face, still carefully watching him.

“Yes, I am. But how do you… “

Ethan answered a bit surprised that Jiten knew his name, then he looked past the General and saw the hunters gathered, that explained it.

“Ah, I see.”

Ethan saw another man approach and stand by Jiten’s side.

“Yes, the hunters have told us about you. You have our gratitude for your assistance during this crisis.”

Amir spoke and gave him a small bow.

Ethan hurriedly returned the bow.

“No, it was no problem, I was also staying in the city, so I thought I had to do something to help.”

“And quite something you did, driving away the horde by yourself.”

“Hahaha! Indeed, this is quite the courageous young man!”

Kareb, the leader of the Hunters, approached. He got past Amir and Jiten, standing next to Ethan.

Then he gave him a strong hug and patted him on the back.

“Hahaha, I am glad to see you alive, lad! I was about to go with some of my men to check up on you!”

“I-I see… thanks for the concern, mister.”

“Call me Kareb, I am one of the veteran hunters of this proud city of Lauhr.”

“Nice to meet you, Mister Kareb.”

Kareb laughed loudly at Ethan’s formal response and patted him again on the back.

“Quite a respectful lad! Good, good. As promised, for your help back then, I will provide you with a feast tonight.”

“Mister, that’s not necessary, I was just- “

“A promise is a promise, lad. Besides, we gotta celebrate our victory.”

While Kareb chatted with Ethan, Prince Amir and General Jiten looked at each other for a moment.

“Young man, I am the second prince of Sahbadia Kingdom, Amir Aal Majid. Allow me to once again formally thank you for your assistance in our time of need.”

“I am the General of the Second Division of the Sahbadian Army, Jiten Tohktras, I thank you for your assistance in this matter.”

“It’s an honor to meet you, Prince Amir, General Jiten.”

Ethan answered holding his right fist on his left palm across his chest and bowing slightly to them. Since they were royalty and a high-ranking official of the army formally introducing themselves, Ethan felt a more ‘formal’ salute was needed, contrary to how Kareb had introduced himself in a friendly and informal way.

“I would like to speak with you regarding your participation in this event, please come with us to the city.”

Although Amir said that, Ethan didn’t move, just looked at him.

Kareb stepped forwards.

“Don’t worry, lad. His Highness probably wants to know more about you and how you drove the beasts away.”

“A reward will be handled too. Despite being a foreigner you helped the city, so this is the least we can do. Please be at ease, I mean no harm.”

After Amir spoke, Ethan nodded.

They started walking to the city, many of the horses had been killed during the battle against the invaders, the ones still capable of being used were taking the wounded to be tended in the city.

Ethan noted that the warriors poured some liquids on their wounds, which made them start to heal faster.

Healing potions, eh?

Ethan wondered about how effective they would be, he also had potions on his Spatial Ring, but he hadn’t used any of them.

He hadn’t even touched the first-aid kit and medicines he brought from a pharmacy from his city.

It was the first time he saw that kind of magic object at work, he was very curious about it, he will ask about potions later, he even had money from the selling a few of the beasts he hunted.

Ethan was about to put his spear on the Spatial Ring but noticed that everyone was carrying their weapons; no one seemed to have any object like his ring, so he thought it would be better not to raise more questions about himself.

While his Master hadn’t forbidden him from revealing any of his objects, Ethan didn’t know how the people would react if they knew about his Spatial Ring, it was better to avoid trouble, even if his Master could get him out of any dangerous situation.

After entering the city, the group separated, most of the hunters went to check on the wounded, others went to report to the City Watch, taking the Feld-Ehian commander into custody for interrogation, while some simply went to eat and drink.

Ethan walked along with a group of 13 people; the prince, the General, 8 escorts, Kareb and two of his hunter friends.

The group entered a large building, the City Hall of Lauhr City.

This was the place where the Council of Lauhr gathered to make decisions about the administration, legislation and other matters regarding the city.

Lauhr City did not have a Mayor, instead, they had a City Council and elected a representative manager among the Council Members, Kareb and the two hunters with him were members of the Council, and they met the City Manager, a man called Roenn, inside the City Hall.

After greeting the prince and General, the City Manager led the group to a conference room where they could discuss in private and be informed of the situation.

They entered an ample meeting room, with many chairs and a few tables lined up, it was elegant but simple, with few decorations but neatly maintained.

It had a strange organization and design, Ethan found it very interesting.

There was no ample table like in the meeting boards back at his world; just the opposite, the chairs were placed on a wide circle at the center of the room and there were cylindrical cushions of varying colors standing vertically reaching just above the knees in front of each chair.

Ethan guessed those cushions were supposed to be used as desks or small tables to put foods or drinks for each person, even if he had the urge of putting his feet over them.

Ethan wondered briefly if it was okay for a stranger like him to be there, but realized they all probably wanted to know more about him and how he drove the beasts away, he would be curious too.

The Captain of the City Watch entered the room too, he had news about the interrogation of the spy and the reparation of the walls.

They started taking seats, with Amir taking a seat of honor and his escorts standing around the room, guarding him.

One of Amir’s escorts approached Ethan when he was about to look for a seat and extended a hand.

“I will be taking that spear.”

Ethan frowned when he heard him.

“Why?”

“You can’t be armed in presence of His Highness, this is a conference, there’s no need for you to carry a weapon.”

Ethan did not like the tone of this man.

“Everyone else here is armed.”

“We are the escorts of the prince, it is our duty to be ready to protect him; the others are members of the City Council, you are a foreigner even if you had rendered a good service to the city. It’s protocol, please understand.”

The man then reached for Ethan’s spear, grabbed it and pulled, but neither the spear nor Ethan budged.

“So what you are saying is that I should trust you, a group of 15 armed strangers, while you can’t trust me, a single person with a spear? Let me make this clear, just as I am a foreigner to you, you are all foreigner to me, and I don’t feel comfortable leaving my spear.”

Ethan spoke looking at the man in front of him, but he also noticed movement around him.

The escort felt like he was pulling on a stone statue, despite pulling with more strength the result was the same.

Other people in the room noticed what was happening. The hunters agreed with Ethan’s words, keeping one’s guard up among strangers was natural, they couldn’t blame the young man for wanting to keep his weapon on hand.

However, they kept quiet since they wanted to see how the situation would develop.

The room fell silent for a few seconds, just as Ethan was pondering whether he should punch this man and call his Master to get the hell out of this place, Amir spoke.

“He is right, Tek. Besides, he is a guest, not the suspect of a crime.”

“As you command, Your Highness.”

The escort, Tek, let go of Ethan’s spear and bowed to his prince, then proceeded to stand near one of the walls of the conference room.

“Well, then. Let’s begin this conference with the reports about what happened. Let’s start from the beginning, the spy that sabotaged the wall’s magical protections. City Watch Captain, please give us your report.”

Amir, as a member of royalty, was presiding over the meeting.

“Yes, Your Highness. The spy has been identified as Larin Maprak, a Feld-Ehian assassin with camouflage and disguise skills, using his talents he infiltrated our City Watch disguised as one of our members, whom he killed and impersonated, then he used a magical artifact to cause a disruption in the mana flow of the wall.”

Voices of surprise filled the room.

“Someone from the Maprak Clan? How did you find and capture such a trained spy?”

General Jiten raised his voice to question the Watch Captain. He didn't mean to slight the Watch or doubt their talent in their job, it was just that the opponent was no common spy. The Maprak Clan was known as the shadow knife of the Feld-Ehian Royal Family; they were experts in the art of killing, specialists in espionage, infiltration, and assassination; moreover, they are highly trained fighters. It was not easy to detect them, and even harder to capture them, whether it was dead or alive.

“It seems the artifact he used to sabotage the walls malfunctioned and backfired after usage, our guards found him stunned after they heard an explosion. The artifact’s special effect is also affecting him right now, disturbing his ability usage, despite that, he managed to wound many of our guards during the interrogation, but we managed to restrain him again.”

The Watch Captain answered, he had been present in that interrogation, the spy named Larin Maprak had been a tough fight despite not being able to use any special ability, if he had them, he would have escaped leaving only a trail of corpses behind.

“Of course, measures have been taken to restrict him, even if his abilities restore. We also keep him sedated.”

“Good, thanks for your efforts, Captain. Then the other matter is the beast horde, do we know how it started?”

Amir moved into the next subject quickly.

“According to the prisoner, they used some incense to attract the beasts, they had placed some in the desert and also inside the city. After interrogation, we found and got rid of the incense in the city, freezing them to seal off the smell.”

The Captain responded immediately and took a piece of cloth out of his pocket, there was one frozen stick inside, he handed it to Amir, who then passed it on to other people.

One of the hunters offered the incense to Ethan for inspection, but he refused. He didn’t know anything about such things, after all.

“So that’s what attracted the beasts to the city, causing the monster horde…”

Kareb muttered, the hunters looked at each other, the enemies had come prepared this time, preparing forces outside and inside.

“Then Young Ethan, I believe it is your turn now to enlighten us about your help on this matter.”

Prince Amir turned to Ethan and then asked with a smile. It was time to explain how he dealt with the monster horde.

“What would you like to know?”

“Well, before the matter of taking care of the beasts, there’s something I would like to clarify, according to the hunters you knew I was fighting the invaders, how did you know?”

The detail that Ethan had known about the prince’s presence was not missed by Amir, he wanted to find out about this first and foremost.

“Well, when I woke up this morning and leaned out the window, I saw the dust rising in the distance due to the beast horde. I went to a high point above a building to get a better view and saw Your Highness’ group on the west, it was kind of obvious you were some noble or royalty because of your clothes.”

Ethan paused for a moment to choose his words.

“I decided to help somehow, but I wasn’t confident in taking on such group of soldiers, so I went to the monsters’ side, upon meeting the hunters there, I told them about you and drove the beast away.”

“You have very good eyes, to have seen such things from that distance.”

The City Manager commented with his eyes narrowed a bit.

“Thank you, sir.”

Ethan replied as if it had been a compliment, despite it being more like a suspicious statement, it was better to ignore that.

“How did you lure them to you?”

Kareb asked. Whatever method that could overpower the attraction of the Bestial Incense was definitely something they needed to know about.

“I attracted them using something called a Bloodvenus Crystal, it’s a gem that stimulates monsters’ aggressiveness and bloodlust towards it. It’s highly effective so it's used as bait for hunting monsters.”

“I’ve never heard of such crystal. Can we see it?”

“No, sir. Eh… I threw it into a giant monster’s maw in the desert, one of those huge worm-like beasts with maw lined with several rows of sharp teeth that hide underground.”

Ethan answered while mimicking the monster’s gaping maw with his hands.

“Allghoi Khorhoi, the gigantic Death Worm of the desert.”

Kareb intervened, providing the name of the monster.

“I suppose? Anyways, the monsters of the horde then started to jump into the maws of that giant worm, that’s how I escaped. There’s also no risk of it attracting more monsters to the area since that crystal breaks apart after a short period of activation.”

“I see, so it’s a consumable item… well, that was very brave, Ethan. We will discuss your reward later, is that alright with you?”

“Ah, yes, thank you.”

Amir seemed to have no more questions for Ethan, he was glad for that.

“Where did you get that Bloodvenus Crystal?”

Just when Ethan thought the questions were over, General Jiten asked a question that Ethan really wanted to avoid. Ethan didn’t want to lie; for all he knew, they could have some magic to discern truth or detect lies.

“It was given to me by my Master. I don’t know where he got it or how it’s made.”

“And where is your Master?”

The Prince asked, his curiosity sparked.

“How is that relevant for this issue?”

“Impudent! Don’t talk back to His Highness and answer his question!”

One of the prince’s escorts snapped at Ethan for refusing to answer the question, Ethan glared at the guard in silence.

It was the same escort that tried to take his spear before, that guy was seriously asking for a punch.

“I was merely curious, it’s okay if you don’t tell us.”

Amir spoke in a conciliatory tone.

“I don’t know, we separated in the desert.”

Ethan replied with a tone that made it clear he didn’t want to continue talking about the subject.

“I apologize if I touched a sensible topic. Well, do we have any other information about this matter?”

Amir asked the people gathered.

“No, Your Highness. We may have more information after the interrogation of the Feld-Ehian Commander.”

“I see; then should we adjourn this meeting until we have interrogated that commander? I would also like to question that spy personally.”

“I agree, Your Highness.”

“I agree.”

“I agree.”

With unanimous agreement, the meeting was adjourned and Ethan was free to go.

“Ethan, you are not required to attend the next meeting, but would you like to?”

Amir asked as they stood up.

“No, Your Highness. I came here today only to explain my participation in the matter, I only got involved because I felt that I could help, but the incoming investigation and the meetings of the council are not things I should get involved with.”

Ethan promptly replied, he did not want to get more involved in this investigation, in fact, he was ready to leave this city and the desert behind.

“Alright. If you need anything, feel free to ask. I will have a suitable reward prepared for you later today.”

“Thanks.”

Ethan turned around and started walking away, then he switched his grip on the spear into a reverse grip and slightly inclined the spearhead so that it was placed behind him.

Amir and the rest suddenly had a strange feeling.

It was as if Ethan wasn’t retreating, but rather readying his spear for an attack.

Despite having his back turned at them, he did not let his guard down; just the opposite, he had raised up a wall of spears behind him and even had readied a counterattack!

As they watched Ethan leave the City Hall, they couldn’t help but have the same thought.

This kid... who is he, actually?