Bate village. A small village in the Bluewater province of Shadowcrest kingdom.

We arrived before sundown.

As Kyle took care of his sheep, I was feeling refreshed by the sight of more humans.

“Civilization. At last.” I thought.

We arrived in a spacious farm under the name of Mallory.

The next day.

“What do you plan to do? Stay here and be a shepherd for the rest of your life? Or live another life?”I asked.

Kyle looked at the bloodline compass that pointed east and said: “I better start by finding my family.”

“Great. When do we leave?” I asked.

“I must first say goodbye to aunt Katelyn and uncle Zander.” Kyle said. They were the couple that had rescued him from the life of a beggar.

He bid them farewell the same day. He even left them some gold. Enough to live like kings for several lifetimes.

“How do you plan on going there?” I asked even though I knew the answer already.

“I’m going to purchase a horse. What? You have a better idea?” Kyle asked.

“We can fly. It’ll be faster.” I said.

“Alright. Let’s go.” Kyle said.

I cast a spell on him that allowed him to fly.

I also cast an invisibility spell, just to be safe.

It took him a while to get used to flying.

We followed the compass for a whole day without stopping.

“We’re not flying through the night, are we? I want to rest.” Kyle complained.

“I can make it so you’ll not feel tired.” I said.

“No. Let’s stop at the next city. We’ll continue tomorrow.” Kyle said.

We stopped at an inn. The Gold Bow inn of Southston city.

We were still in the Shadowcrest Kingdom.

The next day, we flew in the direction pointed by the bloodline compass once again.

“Now that I think about it, can’t you create a door that opens to our destination?” Kyle asked.

I hated him. I was enjoying the scenery.

“Of course. It’s not opening a door. It’s more like teleportation. You’ll still have to follow the compass once we get there though...” I said.

“If it’s feasible then bring us there.” Kyle said ordered.

I had assumed that it would be fun to fly. Especially, for a human who recently didn’t know that humans could fly.

He was fed up with flying.

I was reluctant at first but I still teleported us near the place the bloodline compass was pointing at.

We arrived near a majestic city. I read the mind of a passerby and gained information about the surroundings.

It was called Dellmoor city. The capital city of Shadowcrest Kingdom.

We descended in a desert alley, and I made him visible again.

We followed the compass. The needle kept turning left and right.

“This is troublesome. Let me perform some clairvoyance.” I said as I focused on the bloodline compass.

Gradually, a map of the city appeared in my head.

Red dots started appearing here and there. They were part of the same bloodline as Kyle.

Next, I found the place with the most red dots.

It was a gigantic mansion located in the central district of the city.

“You can store the bloodline compass. I found the place with the most members of your bloodline.” I said.

We slowly walked to the center of Dellmoor city.

“Did you think of a way to make yourself known to your family? It seems that they have quite a great reputation in the city and they are very rich.” I said.

He didn’t answer.

He had no plans.

“I saw the sign ‘Brightmoon’ at the entrance of the mansion. We can surmise that your family name is Brightmoon. You should be called Kyle Brightmoon.” I said.

“What do you suggest?” Kyle asked.

“First change your clothes. Conduct yourself like a noble. Second, Go to the nearest bank and open an account under Kyle Brightmoon and put some gold into it. Third, buy yourself a mansion and put the name Brightmoon on it. Fourth, hire Hallowed Swordsmen as guards. Fifth, live extravagantly. You’ll attract their attention that way. If you appear to be on their level, it’ll be easy to start a conversation.” I enumerated.

Kyle felt a headache coming as he said: “Are you sure that all of that will help me enter the circle of my family?”

“If you live extravagantly enough, word will spread that there is a new young master of the Brightmoon family in the city. They will be the ones to come towards you as they will be curious to know about you.” I said.

“I was wondering,... do you know the training methods of the Hallowed swordsmen?” Kyle asked.

Of all the paths to power, he had to choose the one that I hated the most.

Well, the Trost empire made sure that it was the only path to power available.

“Yes. I do. But can I interest you in learning magic? You will become just like me...able to conjure anything and cast spells about anything.” I tempted him.

“Not interested. Magic is too difficult to learn. I can say that much even though I know nothing about it.” Kyle said.

We went to buy new clothes for him and then went to a bank.

“Sir, Welcome to the Evenwood Bank. How may we be of help?” A clerk said.

“I am here to open an account.” Kyle said.

“Name?” the clerk asked. He was misled by the new clothes Kyle was wearing. Kyle looked like a noble.

“Kyle Brightmoon.” Kyle said.

“Oh...wait a moment, Sir.” The clerk left in a hurry before he came back with a well dressed middle-aged man.

The middle-aged man then said: “Please follow me.”

Prior to coming to the bank, they had stopped by a deserted alley to take some gold bars out of the copper ring. Twenty-five gold bars in total.

They went into a luxurious room.

Kyle was served tea.

“You are here to open an account with us...I am Barid Stone. Junior elder here at Evenwood bank.”The middle-aged man, Barid Stone said.

“Kyle Brightmoon.” Kyle said.

“Any relation with the Brightmoon family?” Barid asked.

Kyle nodded: “Yes. I am from the Brightmoon family.”

“Are you going to deposit some gold while you open this account?” asked Barid as he wrote something inside a giant book.

“Yes. I will be depositing this....and I have a few requests.” Kyle said as he put the bag he was holding on the table. A light thud was heard as he did so.

“How much are you depositing today?” Barid asked.

“Well...I have twenty-five gold bars here...can you turn them into gold coins for me?”Kyle didn’t know exactly how much he had.

“Let me see...”Barid opened the bag and carefully put each gold bar on the table. He said: “This is quite a big sum...I estimate it will be around forty thousand gold coins.”

“That’s fine. With this, I’d like to withdraw five hundred gold coins.” Kyle said.

“Alright.” Barid went back to his desk and started writing in the giant book.

“Your account number is 937640. Please choose a password.” Barid said.

“The Magician.” Kyle said almost instantly.

“A peculiar and old word. I like it.” Barid said. He got up and went to open a safe in the corner of the room. He counted five hundred coins that he put inside a luxurious bag that he then gave Kyle saying: “Five hundred gold coins as you asked.”

“I would also like to purchase a mansion in the city. Preferably in the central district.” Kyle asked.

“It can be done. We also sell properties throughout the city. If done here, it will be made available to you immediately. If you need servants, you can also use our services. If you choose to do so, we can pay them directly from your account. As long as you have money with us, we offer the service of looking after your employees so you do not have to yourself.” Barid said.

“Good. I will also need several Hallowed swordsmen to act as personal guards.”Kyle said.

Barid said: “Yes. Are talking about Novice Hallowed Swordsmen or intermediary hallowed Swordsmen?”

“All intermediary. I need two of them.” Kyle said.

Barid appeared shocked. He thought: “With such expenditures, he’ll run out of gold coins in four months. Intermediary Hallowed swordsmen are not cheap.”

“Okay. Any preferences on the mansion you’d like?” Barid asked

“None. Just give me the best.” Kyle said.

“Alright, just give me a minute.” Barid said before he hurriedly placed the twenty-five gold bars inside the safe.

“Follow me.”Barid said.

They left the room and then entered another.

He got the keys to his new mansion.

“Your servants will arrive tomorrow. The intermediary hallowed Swordsmen will arrive tonight. The mansion’s cost is twenty-six thousand gold coins. Hiring an intermediary swordsman will cost you five hundred gold coins per month. Times two, it is a thousand gold coins per month for hiring two Hallowed swordsmen. As for the servants, it’ll be a total of three hundred and fifty per month. After this month’s expenses, you’ll be left with roughly twelve thousand gold coins.” Barid said.

Kyle nodded and then left the Evenwood bank in the direction of his new home.

It took us half an hour to get there.

“This is better than what I was thinking.” said Kyle as he looked at the spacious mansion before him.

“We should wait for nightfall to change the sign at the gates. Use your magic to put a ‘Brightmoon’ sign on the gates then.” Kyle said to me.

“How do you plan on explaining that to the Hallowed Swordsmen that’ll be coming here tonight? You can’t hide such a catchy sign. Having it appear out of nowhere will raise eyebrows. Can’t you wait and then hire someone to do it for you?” I tried to help.

“Alright. We’ll wait.” Kyle said.

At sundown, a carriage appeared at the open gates of Kyle’s mansion.

Two silhouettes came out of the carriage.

“We’re here.” One of them said.

The two wore different attires but the only thing they had in common was their long swords.

As if Kyle had appeared out of nowhere, he almost materialized before them but all the Hallowed Swordsmen could see was a shadow heading towards them.

They instinctively went for their swords.

“Relax. I’m your employer.” Kyle said. He had been too lazy to walk all the way towards the gates so he asked me to teleport us there.

The two Swordsmen were relieved.

One of them advanced and presented himself: “ Brandis Dumein. Middle stage intermediary Hallowed swordsman.”

The last one said: “Silas Bersk. Middle stage intermediary Hallowed swordsman.”

Kyle nodded and said: “Please. Make yourselves at home.” He gestured them to follow him.

Night passed.

The next day. Ten servants had arrived and were waiting for their orders.

Kyle thought he had woken up early, but found that he was late to welcome the servants.

“Welcome.” He said.

The servants bowed and one of them advanced and said: “I am Salazar Blackburn. I am the chief servant. I will be in charge of this team.”

Kyle nodded and said: “Make yourselves at home...oh I need you to ask the Evenwood bank on my behalf to put a sign at the gates. The sign must say ‘Brightmoon’.”

Salazar nodded and said: “It’ll be done. Sir.”

“I’ll be gone for a few hours.” Kyle said.

With the two Hallowed Swordsmen in tow, he went to purchase a carriage and hired a coachman named Jones.

His next stop was to acquire training gear. He wanted me to train him into a Hallowed Swordsman.

When he came back home a few hours later, he found a secluded place on his property to train.

He started with sword stances. In his mind, he was warming up but as I watched him, I could see so many mistakes that it gave me a headache.

I was wondering how I was to properly train him into a proper Hallowed Swordsman.