When I was young, my grandfather, father’s father, owned a chicken coop with lots of chicken. Since I was really young back then, I cried when I saw him beheading a chicken for my birthday. But now, I’m the one beheading and sometimes, the one who cleans the guts. So all I can say is that I’m immune to real life gore and domestic killing, of animals of course.

***

4 days have passed since I got engaged to two women.

It sounds like a dream come true, but it’s a nightmare for me since I had to work myself just to take responsibility for them. Although I don’t have any problems with Matt as my fiancée since I already took her first time (unfortunately, I’m too drunk to remember what exactly happened).

As for Cherry girl, since I’m going to die if I’m going to reject the Earl’s deal, I had no choice but to accept and take responsibility for it because I value my life.

“Key, don’t be too depressed. You had it coming you know.”

Sora patted my back after saying some words of either pity or insult.

Sora is inside the parlour of my mansion while relaxing himself with the tea Petal offered a while ago.

He puts his feet on the table care-freely and made himself more comfortable. What is this, your house?

“I’ve been thinking about this for a few days now. How exactly am I going to get my peerage raised? I consulted about it to Petal and according to her; it would at least be three years before I get my peerage to become a Baron even if I work myself to the bone.”

While listening to my grumblings, Sora sips the last drop of his Tea and then put the cup back on the table.

“That’s where your mistaken Key. In this word, building connections, increase your income, attract other nobles, and the using of money is valued a lot. Unfortunately for me, being a Royal Knight doesn’t make me rich because I don’t belong from a family of Knights, so I can’t afford spending money a lot. However, it might be a different story when you do it.”

“What are you suggesting?”

He put his feet back on the floor and then leaned towards me. He connected his finger and thumb while showing it to me while smiling.

“Use your money.”

Okay, that’s seriously called bribery. Do you want me to get imprisoned?

As if hearing my thought, he waved his hands in denial.

“No, no, no. I’m not telling you to bribe anyone. I’m just saying that you make connections with it. You know, ‘money connects friends and enemies’ and such.”

“And how exactly am I going to do it?”

“That’s a good question.”

Sora grabbed his chin while thinking deeply about it.

Is just me, or he feels nothing like a friend. It’s like he’s my advisor or something. But let’s not think too deeply about this.

While looking around the room for clues, his gaze suddenly stopped on the painting on the wall that has a Magic Knight swinging his sword painted.

“How about… making connections with the hunting house just outside the capital on the west border as a start? I don’t know much about the owner, but I hear a lot that he was a pretty good hunter.”

“And how is this going to help?”

“No, not helping yet. It’s practice.”

After that, I agreed to Sora’s suggestion. Since he already has his dagger, I took the sword [Vampire’s Reach] from the armoury and used it as my weapon. It’s heavy, but I can still manage.

***

“Good thing you suggested not riding the carriage, or it would’ve been trapped in this forest.”

“Honestly, it was just a guess. I didn’t really think that the road towards that hunting house is this bad.”

Sora and I are having a rough time riding the horsesin the forest. Since the trees are so tall, their roots are also huge. Most of it are blocking the path towards the direction were headed. It’s not impossible for a carriage to cross, but I doubt that it would arrive at its destination in one piece.

“Dude, I can see a torch. I think that’s the place.”

Sora pointed the direction where it was dark and only has a single torch.

We immediately guided out horses toward that direction.

It didn’t take long for us to notice the small housewhich isn’t that far from the torch.

When we arrived, we noticed that the place was too silent.

“Is anyone home?”

As we got down from our horses, Sora called out to the building. To be honest, it feels quite eerie.

“They’re probably out hunting or something. I’m not picking anyone’s presence with my shadow magic.”

Since when did you cast that?

“Is that so? Let’s come back here some other time--”

“Wait! Someone’s coming!”

Just when I was to turn back to the horse, Sora suddenly called me while holding his dagger preparing to fight.

Suddenly, I can hear a rustle behind the bushes. And then—

“What are you doing outside my house?”

-an old man with huge muscles popped out.

It seems to be that this place is his.

Sora deemed him not hostile by putting back his dagger behind him.

“If you young men are here for Brown Bear Coats, I’m afraid you have to wait till next month. There’s a turf war between the Abysmal Hounds and Ashen Wolves below the mountain ranges where we hunt, so you have to wait it out.”

“Sorry sir, we’re not here for coats, we’re looking for the Hunting House. Do you know where it is?”

“Hunting house? If you’re in this area, you must be talking about my place. Please come, keep yourself comfy inside my house.”

Since both of us got welcomed, we accepted the offer.

The interior of the house is nowhere near a house. It should’ve been called a tavern.

Heads of different animals and creatures are hanged unto a wall. For some reason, there’s a skull connected with a short spinal column, and it’s alive. Creepy!

“So, what are two young nobles doing outside the capital?”

“I’m not the one who has some business, my friends here is.”

I walked in front of the huge man and stated my business.

“Sir--”

“The name’s Trevor.”

“Ah, Sir Trevor, I’d like to talk about business. I would like to buy your monthly stocks of coats.”

“Stocks, I see, you want to commercialize my coats in the capital. Continue.”

The timing is perfect.

A few days ago, I went to the market downtown to buy some fruits when I heard about the situation about the supply of coats coming from outside the capital. The store I heard it from was low on stock, so the price of the coats went ten times the original price of 8 silver coins per piece because of the upcoming winter. At first I didn’t care about it, but since I’m lucky enough to know that this place is one of the suppliers of the capital, it might be a good idea to start a business with it with a direct connection from the supplier.

“How much are you going to pay for it?”

“A gold coin per stack should be enough.”

A stack consists of 30 coats. So it should save me quite a lot since the market price of a single stack is 2 gold pieces. If I were to directly buy from the supplier, my offer shouldn’t be rejected since it’s a good deal and would save him a lot of trouble from delivering it to the capital. Since I’m a noble, I won’t be worrying about the gate toll fee.

“If you’re the one who’s going to collect the supply...”

“Of course I will. However, I need it for you to deliver at least on the main road. The carriage can’t properly cross the forest since the road is filled with roots of the giant trees.”

“But it will be troublesome to deliver them to the main road if you consider the distance from here. So I’ll ask some delivery fee for it for a silver coin.”

“Five big copper coins. It’s not that far. The only thing that I should be paying is the trouble of crossing that troublesome road.”

“At least make it six big copper coins. I will be hiring people to deliver it for me to the main road and use that money to pay them. I can’t hunt if I deliver.”

After a few more arguments about it, we finally came into an agreement.

He agreed to my offers and will deliver the first supply of coats by next month. However—

“The delivery next month might not yet be possible if the turf war between the Abysmal Hounds and Ashen Wolves won’t come to an end. Their fighting in the forest scares most of the Brown Bears and migrated to the eastern part of the northern mountain ranges.”

“It all comes to that huh. I guess it can’t be helped. I’ll come back here tomorrow to pay in advance. If possible, I’d like to be informed about the current situation of the war.”

After I said that, somebody had to jinx it.

People suddenly came to the house and banged on the door. For some reason, Sora didn’t react with hostility. In fact, he looks worried while looking out the window.

“Trevor! We need your help!”

A man suddenly cried out to Trevor from outside.

Trevor on the other hand, he picked up some rope and wrapped it around his body, took two sharp short swords and a huge axe. He immediately ran towards the front door and slammed it open.

There, people with lots of burned clothes and skin are waiting in pain outside. Most of them are kids, women and old people.

“What happened?”

“The village got caught in the crossfire between the hounds and wolves. The Abysmal Hounds burned some of our homes while fighting the Ashen Wolves.”

“Are there any casualties?”

“I don’t know yet, but most of us are wounded and some are in critical conditions. Some of the villagers who’re experienced with swords and huntersremained there to try warding them off.”

“They’re just going to die in vain in there. Why didn’t you let them come with you?”

“We tried. But they didn’t run away to give us a chance to escape and call for help.”

Trevor made an angry face and turned towards me.

“I’m afraid that there’s a chance that our deal will not happen before it can start.”

“Huh?”

“It looks like the war between the Abysmal Hounds and Ashen Wolves is getting worse, I have to help the attacked village in order for it not to reach the main road. There’s a chance that I might die there, so let’s call the deal off.”

This world’s too brutal. Even though I admire the fantasy genre and all, this place is ruthless. Even for animals’ fights, humans can still get caught upon it. What are these Gods doing anyway?

While I was contemplating on the sudden change of situation, I felt a hand grabbing my shoulder. I turned my head towards that direction.

“Let’s help them Key.”

“Sora…”

Sora gave me a warm wry smile and punched me lightly.

“What’s with that love struck reaction? No homo bro.”

“Nice one. No homo.”

Afterwards, we turned to Trevor and told him what we’re going to do.

“What? I can’t let nobles face such danger. Let alone to war.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not just any noble.”

While saying that, Sora pulled out a crest from his pocket and showed it to Trevor like a cop showing his officer ID.

“The crest of Royal Magic Knights,you were a knight?!”

“I’m off duty today. I can lend you my temporary assistance.”

After that, we immediately rushed towards the forest in maximum—I’m left behind.

[Activate Spell Macro # 2: >]

Without using verbal chant, I activated the pre-recorded chant and increased my speed as I followed the two naturally fast warriors. It’s not really increasing my running speed. It’s just making me glide and I push myself with each step while reducing the muscle fatigue on my legs.

For a huge man like Trevor, I’m surprised to see him running fast like not caring for his weight. It’s probably the fruits of his daily hunting life. And for Sora, well, I’m not really surprised since I’ve seen him jump seven meters off the ground.

After running for several minutes in the same direction, we suddenly heard a loud cry—no howl. A howl similar to the wolves’ make. Except for the fact that it’s accompanied by a thunderous roar and lightning.

“What the heck was that? Isn’t the day supposed to be cloudless?”

“No, it’s an attack from the Ashen Alpha. It’s getting more dangerous by the minute.”

With Trevor’s warning, we proceeded faster than before.

Then—

“Watch out!”

Sora suddenly made a feint and pushed me to the side with his body. Next, a ball of fire went pass and dodged it barely. After that, an explosion happened where the ball of fire went.

“Be careful. There are Abysmal Hounds in the area. They have the ability to breathe fire so be careful.”

With his warning, I casted asingle layer of > on them and myself chantlessly while starting to run again.

“There!”

Suddenly pointed to the left, there, we can see 3 injured men holding swords while trying to fight two giant hounds that have the size of a bear and a skin of a lizard, yet it looks like a hound.

Without hesitation, Trevor ran towards there.

“>>”

Two chantless keywords were casted by Trevor. With that, he jumped, landed on a tree branched, and accelerated with the air exploding with his sudden movements. Using that momentum, he rotated together with his axe.

In one swing of his axe bathed in red light, he cut the neck of the closest hound who didn’t notice the surprise attack. Well, it is called a surprise attack.

Sora and I were stupefied with his sudden surge in strength.

“A mere hunter can’t be this powerful. I’ve only seen that technique from the military personnel.”

“He might be some kind ex-soldier. But now’s not the time for that.”

Because of Trevor’s sudden appearance, the remaining Hound made a loud bark and four more of them came as reinforcements. The 3 men made doomed expressions while looking at the Hound’s reinforcements.

“You three! Why are there only Abysmal Hounds?”

Trevor asked the three men who’re trying their best to hold up their swords.

“The Ashen Alpha got defeated by the hounds. That howl earlier was a howl of defeat.”

“Tsk. So these guys are just clearing the villages off huh.”

While talking they didn’t notice one of the Hounds was releasing fire from its mouth. Good thing Sora and I are here.

“--### ###>” “>”

A 3 meter tall and 6 meter wide wall suddenly appeared with Sora’s call, but it wasn’t really that strong so I fortified it making it more than three times durable than before.

Since I noticed earlier, the Hound’s breath isn’t simply just a ball of flame. It also has something in the middle of it making it like a cannon ball.

The wall exploded when the fireball came in contact with it. And as expected, it managed to endure the powerful breath of the hound.

“Sora, I go high, you go low.”

“I got it!”

With a front flip and dagger tossed in the shadow of the mud wall, Sora dived inside it and disappeared. On the other hand, I jumped up the wall to face the Hounds. And then—

“Oh shit! They’re scarier than they look from near.”

-I got struck with fear and feel the chills run down my spine.

But now’s not the time to cower.

“Okay, time to use that new spell.”

I clamp my hands together and concentrate.

[Element Row: Lightning (Wind), Effect Column: Accelerate, Target: Load, Direction: Guided Forward Rotation, Mana Output: 400%]

“Crackle >”

Okay, okay. The former wasn’t actually necessary. I just want to say it.

As I separate my hands, electrical lines from both of my hands appeared and slowly rotated turning into a ball of lightning.

It’s quite amazing that I didn’t get electrocuted in the process.

I pulled the [Vampire’s Reach] from its scabbard and casted > on it to amplify its sharpness. Next, I held unto it like a javelin and targeted on one of the giant hounds. When I threw it, I let it pass through the lighting ball and—

“Mach 5 sure is awesome!”

--Bang!

The head of the hound I targeted exploded into bits and fell on the ground dead.

It’s because the sword I threw went past the speed of sound 5 times causing it to break the wind it passed and thus, explode like a small bomb when it came into contact.

The other hounds looked at the sword that’s stuck on the ground that’s making electrical sparks and became agitated from the sudden death of their comrade. They looked and bared their fangs towards me. Well, that’s understandable.

And then—

“Nice distraction dude!>”

Sora jumped out from the shadow from below on one of the hounds cutting its head and at the same time, cooking it raw. I can smell the burnt meat from here.

“Tch, there’s a slight resistance.”

After complaining, he dived to one of the shadows of the nearby trees and disappeared again.

The three remaining hounds barked again and called for more reinforcements.

This time, 5, no 6, wait—it’s 14. 14 huge hounds appeared from behind the trees and more are still coming.

“You two! Run before their Alpha comes.”

Trevor, who was put into side lines while attending to the injured, called out to us wanting to retreat. I was just about to reply, when Sora jumped out of my shadow and answered in my stead.

“I’m a Royal Knight.You are the people of the King’s kingdom. It is my duty to protect your lives. Also, my friend here is a great magician. Together, there is nothing we can handle.”

I admire your praise Sora, but you’re overestimating me.

“Hey, hey, hey! What are you talking about? We’re seriously fighting them?”

“Come on, we can handle this. Although I feel that they’re strong enemies, they’re nothing we can’t handle.”

When we turned back to the hounds, they already reached around 40 in numbers. Just where were the others hiding from with those sizes?

“Can you cast that accelerating orb again?”

“I can.”

Without saying more, I cast two more >, one for me and one for him to use.

“Can you do it?”

“Come on, I’m the one who taught you this.”

After that, he suddenly threw his dagger thru the booster and got accelerated leaving a red trail of light then killed one of the Hounds. But, his dagger immediately came back to his hand like he didn’t throw it.

“How’d you do that?”

“I opened a gate on the hound’s shadow to teleport it back to me, simple as that.”

“That’s sick!”

And of course, I have a competitive spirit.

[Summoning Row: Intelligent Being, Type: Dagger, Class: Physical, Effect: Auto Pilot, Number: Repeat Summoning Upon Destruction]

Five ordinary floating daggers appeared above me. I used and the raised the booster higher and pointed the daggers on the hounds.

“No way…”

“Yes way. I’ll kill these hounds in one go.”

With one snap from my finger—

“Let the carnage begin.”

And thus, my daggers flew, cutting air and grinding meat.