Chris’ POV:

rustle

I was walking through tall grass searching for my prey. It’s been 2 months since I became an adventurer with Richard and Harry. We’re all C-ranked now. It’s an unprecedented growth since normally it takes a few years to rank up that much. But it doesn’t really mean anything to me; besides the A and S-ranks, the Adventurer Guild is just an assembly of riff-raff after all.

This much is nothing for the vice-captain of the knights of Hale. That said, I still couldn’t compare to that monster in a child’s body Richard. I could still remember how he who had never hold a sword suddenly came to the Captain and asked him to teach the child swordsmanship.

At first, I thought it was just a child’s curiosity. Besides, it’s not unusual for a noble’s heir to learn swordsmanship from a young age. Some of them are even geniuses in the field. However, in just a few months he could already beat me in a spar. I couldn’t accept it. I knew people more talented than me exists in this world but I couldn’t have been beaten by a child.

I knew I wasn’t the most talented person, I was aware that there are people leagues above me. Nonetheless, I who grew up as a commoner and an orphan managed to become the vice-captain of Hale’s knights. I couldn’t accept that someone as capable as me was beaten by a child at the age of 9 who has just started to swing a sword for a few months.

At first, I wanted to give up and just accept that he’s a genius. But when I looked at him closely, his days were filled with nothing but training. I got embarrassed by that and went back to training. Since then, I worked my ass off and kept challenging him to a spar. I never won but I could feel myself getting stronger every time I fought him.

One day, the Captain called me along with some colleagues and gave us a book.

‘That’s the breathing method established by the young master and Harry. We’re training with this from now on and become stronger as the sword that will protect the Count’s family.’

It was bizarre. A newly established path for swordsmen. That child truly is a monster. I became the first one to successfully cultivated qi a week after training. I was faster than even the Captain. I need to be at least this capable if I want to beat the kid Richard’s ass.

That said, I never won against him even after then but I was constantly improving. I never got dispirited from all those defeats. I just kept on training.

Now, I’m his babysitter for his whole trip to the outside world. Despite being such a monster, he’s super childish; always picking fights with me and getting excited over the smallest things like ice cream and a herb collecting race.

‘I think moving together is inefficient, let’s complete missions separately.’

That’s what he told us after the goblin subjugation mission 2 months ago. Harry tried to argue but Richard was adamant about his opinion. Well, it’s not like I’m worried for him; he’s stronger than even myself.

That’s how the three of us quickly rose to C-rank. I kept walking through tall grass and finally arrived at the end of the grass field. And there it was.

“Oink!!”

A group of pig-faced orcs was sitting in a group quite a distance from me, their snorts unpleasant to the ears.

They didn’t notice my presence so I silently approached them. I unsheathed my sword and put qi on the blade.

“Oink!”

One of the orcs saw me and alerted the others. The orc closest to me blindly charged towards me.

Swish

One swing. That was all it took to cut the orc’s head off. Blood spurted from the orc's neck and I ran towards the other orcs swinging my sword strengthened with qi.

Swish Swish

One by one, the orcs’ heads fall off from their necks, and soon after a pool of blood formed on the ground with me standing in the middle of it.

Orcs are classified as B-rank monsters due to their strong physique and their tendencies to move in groups like the goblins but they all fell to my sword just the same.

I’m getting stronger. This is the proof of it.

I went on to dragging the orcs’ heads in a sack as proof of subjugation. As I head towards town, I heard a loud explosion somewhere from within the forest.

‘This...’ I wondered what could have happened.

Before I could think of anything else, another explosion sounded from the same place. I saw a fireball flew upwards and flared up as if calling for help.

I abandoned any thoughts and sprinted towards the source of the sound.

‘We’ll send a signal if any of us got into trouble.’

I recalled Richard’s instruction when we decided to move separately after I saw the flare.

‘This better not be dangerous.’ I hoped as I ran towards the sounds of explosions that were still going on.

***

Harry’s POV:

“[Ice Shield]”

A wall of ice formed from the ground up in front of me and was quickly destroyed by a huge boulder thrown by a bald man with a massive build.

“[Barrier]” I chanted while holding my hands out.

A transparent wall made of mana surrounded me to block the man’s punch and cracked under the force.

‘Such a strong force!’

I was shocked by the man’s ridiculous physique. Other than the young master, no man could ever showcase such strength with physical capabilities alone.

Besides the huge man, a woman with short hair was thrusting a knife from behind me but was blocked by the barrier. I spoke to the man pummeling the barrier I’m barely maintaining by repairing it every time it cracked under the man’s fist.

“Who are you? And what honor do I possess to be targeted like this?”

I questioned their intentions in an attempt to buy time until either Chris or the young master arrive. I really hope the young master doesn’t come first though.

The bald man smirked as if knowing my intentions.

“I know you’re just buying time with that flare you fired just now. But it doesn’t matter, we’ll just capture you and kill the others, including that little kid you’re babysitting.”

My expression darkened at the man’s statement.

“I wonder if you’ll be able to do that.”

Killing the young master? What a joke. That said, I have no intention of letting the young master run into danger to save me, no matter how strong he is.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“[Ground Spear]” “[Warp]”

Sharp stones rose from the ground before I subsequently put down the barrier and disappeared from where I stand. I reappeared a distance away from the two mages. The woman nimbly dodged the spikes while the man just obliterates them all with his punches.

“[Flame Spear]”

Countless spear-shaped flames materialized in the air and shot at those two but once again the woman just evaded everything and the flames didn’t seem to hurt the man in the least. I didn’t lose my composure however and I continued to barrage them with flaming spears.

The woman swiftly approached me and slashed her dagger at me and I blocked it with an Ice Shield. She assaulted me with slashes and I continuously defended against her attack with Ice Shields. I was kept busy with the woman’s attack and failed to notice the man’s move.

“[Ice shield]”

The air freezes and barely blocked a punch from the bald man who ran to my side. The man’s punch was too powerful, however; the ice shield failed to block the punch and I was hit.

Boom!

My body flew back and stopped by a tree. The great momentum caused my body to hit the tree with a huge amount of force.

“Ackk!”

I screamed in pain and I heard a bone crack in my body. It seems that my ribs are broken from the impact. I couldn’t move any longer.

The bald man spoke as he walked towards me.

“Don’t worry, we won’t kill you yet.”

His big hands were about to grab me when blood suddenly spurted out from his arm and the silhouette of a young boy stood in front of me. I couldn’t see clearly with my hazy sight but I could tell who he was.

“Young.... master”

I weakly murmured before losing consciousness.