After explaining things to Fraenis, Reinhard placed the rings to his inventory and the two of them went outside of his house. It would appear that Fraenis automatically assumed the role of Reinhard’s protector without any word or discussion. She’d follow Reinhard everywhere during the past few days, always stalking him from his back. When Reinhard enters the privy or wants to be in private, she would stand guard at the door. In fact, she was just doing that earlier before Reinhard woke up, hence, her reaction towards the light that just suddenly emanated from within the room. Everyone seems to realize this and is okay with it though so Reinhard just let things be. Still, this feeling of importance that someone would be constantly protecting you as bodyguard feels weird and alien for him, as he’s never experienced this in the previous life.

They arrived at the treehouse by the barrier. It was previously Tylla’s house but now it’s been re-purposed both as the knight’s barracks as it was tall enough to fit more than nine rooms on the upper levels, with two knights per room, and as the guardhouse on the ground level. This reminded Reinhard of the subdivisions back in his old world. In fact, it wouldn’t be farfetched to say that he’s turning the village into one.

Upon arriving, the knights that saw him immediately began to kneel with their fists onto their chest, the typical knight’s salute. Reinhard saw this and remembered the scene when he inaugurated the knights. He thought that it was needlessly “motion-heavy” and something simpler would suffice, so he approached the knights. Sir Velram was also watching so he thought this would be the perfect opportunity to change it.

“Has that bow always been the way to greet your superiors?”

Reinhard asked the two knights calmly.

“Yes my Lord! Everyone, even the peasants would be taught at a very young age how to show respect to their sovereign.”

The knight on the left replied immediately, cutting off the knight on the right as he was about to open his mouth to reply.

“I see. Well, I’d like to change it.”

He said before continuing, so as to gauge the reaction of the knights. To his surprise, they didn’t seem confused or wondering why he would change a long-practiced custom.

“Very well, my Lord. How shall we greet you from now on?”

The knight on the right was finally able to speak.

Reinhard straightened his body, head facing straight forward. He pointed his equally straight right arm at a 45 degree angle towards his forehead, where his index finger is touching just the outer tip of his right eyebrows. He was doing a military salute in his previous world.

“Like this.”

He replied.

The two knights tried to mimic him, with minor mistakes to which he proceeded to correct.

“I want you to tell every knight and anyone who will join in the future that this is how you greet me. There’s no more need for flashy and pointless bowing. If the point is to show respect, then this does the job just fine.”

“Yes my Lord!”

The two knights replied in unison. He thought that maybe he’d also change the reply to “Yes, sir!” instead, but he realized that knights are actually titled with “Sir” in this world and that would just lead to a lot of confusion so he decided to just let it be.

He approached Sir Velram, with Fraenis naturally following behind him. As he was watching earlier, Sir Velram immediately did the salute that he had just taught the two knights, surprising Reinhard. After a few blinks though, he responded properly by also saluting, as that was the proper way to reply to a salute. Sir Velram’s head flinched a little when he saw Reinhard also doing it. In his mind, it was basically just a replacement for a bow, so the thought of his liege also bowing to him just didn’t feel right and utterly shocked him. Reinhard must’ve saw through his shock and explained after dropping the salute.

“This gesture does not depend on the person’s social standing or whatnot.”

He said loudly so that even the two knights at the back could hear.

“As I’ve said earlier, the purpose of this gesture is to give respect to the person. In my homeland, soldiers were saluted by their Presiden— *cough* by their “king” due to their bravery in combat and their willingness to sacrifice their lives for their country. That’s all there is to it. There’s no hierarchy on who could receive it and who could not. If you feel like the person is worthy of respect and recognition, then salute to them to show your appreciation. Think of it as clapping to someone’s performance. It doesn’t matter who they are or where they came from… You’re clapping at them because you were awed by what they had just performed.”

“I see. Your homeland has an interesting culture, your Majesty.” Sir Velram replied while smiling. “I’d like to go there one day.”

“That’s going to be hard. My homeland is… incredibly far away from here.” Reinhard said, going along with Sir Velram. “Well, anyway, I came here because of this…”

He then took the four rings from his inventory, materializing it into his right hand.

“I made these just earlier. These rings enhance the damage of the wearer’s slashing attacks. It works even more effectively against creatures of water element.”

“Ooooooh?”

Sir Velram awed upong receiving them with two hands from Reinhard. The two knights behind them also couldn’t help but sneak a peek.

“I want you to give those to who you think needs it. I could make one for all the knights but I ran out of claws which are one of the two ingredients so I could only make four.”

“Are you sure it’s okay to just give it to us, your Majesty?”

Sir Velram replied, still unable to believe it.

“What? Of course! They’re not that hard to make and they’re basically the lowest quality that I could create. Don’t worry about it. I’m giving one of them to you, by the way. I know you’d probably give them all to the others if I don’t tell you that.”

“T-then, we humbly accept this gift, my Lord.”

He almost did a bow but had managed to stop himself while on the process of kneeling and quickly corrected it to a salute. Reinhard snorted upon the display while smiling and then saluted back to him.

Then Reinhard left the guardhouse and stepped outside of the barrier with Fraenis still following him.

“Heading out for a walk, my Lord?”

One knight on guard duty asked him.

“No.” He replied smiling. “I’m heading out to hunt.”

Then he materialized both of his staves, flaunting it to the knights there as subtle as he could.

“A-are those the earth and the venom staves, my Lord!?”

The one knight asked in surprise.

“Indeed, they are…”

“Well, they are my only staves though.”

“Wow! They’re so majestic!”

The other knight next to him said.

Reinhard turned around to face Fraenis.

“So, will you still be accompanying me?”

He asked her.

“Of course! Wouldn’t this be the most important part instead? I can’t have you dying from a warg after all.”

She replied at his question jokingly.

“Hm, mm. Well, I hope you don’t KS (kill steal) me.”

“KS?”

“Oh, uh, I mean, I’d like to see how much I’ve improved in combat so I’d like you to just stand watch as much as you can…”

“Ah! Sure. Although, I don’t think there’s much room for improvement when you’re wielding a staff, isn’t there?”

“…”

Reinhard’s mind went into deep-thought mode.

“Ugh. That’s true. Staves have fixed damage and attacks so the only improvement for a staff wielder like me is equipment changing… It’s not like the damage I inflict increases as I level up.”

“Uh, well, improvement with regards to combat movements, I mean.”

“Hmm… Okay then, sure.”

Reinhard smiled internally. He was relieved that even after everything, Fraenis still treats him more or less the same way as from when they met. Of course, now they’re more familiar with each other, in contrast with the knights and other dryads who could only call him “my Lord”. Reinhard doesn’t hate being called that way though, but he doesn’t like it either. If possible, he would like everyone to just call him by his name instead of a title that he’s not used to. Thinking about this, he’s really grateful for Fraenis for her to keep calling him Reinhard. Only when the situation demands for it does she attach a title to his name.

“By the way… How do magic casters usually cast spells?”

Reinhard asked Fraenis while they’re walking westward, away from the barrier.

“Most casters just cast with their hands, though those who are having difficulty with hand casting or would like to further improve the spells that they can hand cast would use a wand as a focus.”

“Spells, huh. I guess that’s also one downside of using a staff. I’m basically stuck with using the same kinds of magic, depriving me of versatility…”

“Can all spells be casted with hand?”

“If the caster is good enough, yes. The highest recorded level of spell that was casted by hand was a Level 10 spell called [Black Inferno] by a Sunkhan battlemage named Iser zeVhan during the War of Thorns sixteen years ago. It had instantly killed seven thousand men in the blink of an eye, burning them in a jet-black pillar of flame that not even bones remained. That was the only time that the human vanguard was forced to retreat.”

“That sounds badass…”

Reinhard couldn’t help but mutter.

“Well he was immediately killed after when the very same spell he casted erupted at his feet just seconds later. It turned out that the human battlemages set that as a trap. They preemptively used [Thaumic Entanglement], a Level 8 spell, on that very ground where the vanguard would stand, reflecting the spell casted to it towards the caster.”

“O-oh… That’s genius, but they sacrificed seven thousand men for that?”

“Well they ended up killing the most powerful caster of that time, so I guess they thought it was worth it.”

“True… If he could kill seven thousand men in just a few couple of seconds then he’s pretty much a one-man army.”

“…”

“So who’s the most powerful caster now?”

“Hmm… Many lay claim to the title, but if you ask me personally, I’d say it’s a tie between Meshken and Nere yoKhin. Meshken is a former earth sprite, now a lich, who dedicated thousands of years of his life studying and steadily building an undead army, while Nere was Iser’s brightest and most promising pupil.”

“An undead army!?”

Reinhard choked at the revelation.

“Don’t worry. The northern states are dealing with him so he won’t be coming here anytime soon. We should be more worried of the destruction that Nere might cause if the war really would resume…”

“Why is that? I thought the forest’s native creatures pose enough threat not to make this place their warzone…”

“Once the elves realize that the humans don’t have you, the chosen one, they’d send their own expeditions in the attempt to take control of you for themselves. What do you think happens when the two forces meet here in the forest?”

“…”

Reinhard was annoyed. Not because of how Fraenis talked to him, nor because of the actions of the two countries. He was annoyed because it was the truth, and he can’t avoid it. The only way for him to ensure the safety of the forest is to leave it, but then that would mean exposing himself in plain sight to the other countries which would use everything in their power to take a hold of him. Who knows what they might do to the branch, an object so powerful that its appearance defines the era? Well, that’s not entirely true. There is another way for him, a way to save both him and the forest… although it would seem too farfetched and the very idea itself is laughable.

As they were walking, the brushes around them suddenly started shaking. They both immediately assumed combat stance. It didn’t take long for the cause of the shaking to reveal itself. It was one of those giant “snake”, basilisks.

It towers over them, about three to four meters not counting the rest of the unseen body and tail behind the bushes. One glance at it would tell the person that this basilisk is different though. Unlike the glimmering black or corrosive dark purple scales that Reinhard had encountered before, this one’s scales fashions a bright red color, its eyes included.

*Hiss…*

It stares at them, seemingly waiting for their move.

Reinhard looked at its name, and besides it is a symbol of a flame, revealing its element.

“Fire type huh?”

“Be careful of its breath. Don't die...”

Fraenis says with a more serious tone than earlier as she slowly backs away to give Reinhard the space to fight.