Under a scorching sun, in the middle of an empty wasteland.

Swoosh!

A massive and scaly tail was whipping at high speed in Arte's direction with a whistling sound.

The tail's whip tossed him several feet further with a powerful blow.

Though the blow had managed to slightly numb his arm, Arte was unharmed by the attack, for the black spear he was wielding took the brunt of the tail slam rather than his body.

And despite the raw and blowing force of the attack, Arte was able to keep his balance using his spear, first as a shield, then as an anchor on the ground when he was projected away.

Pulling the spear from the ground it was anchored in, Arted started swinging it in such a way that if a spear expert were to see him right now, he would have noticed that his spear-wielding ability was lacking, for after all, it was the first time Arte had ever held a spear.

"So?! How does it feel?" A voice asked Arte from the sidelines.

The voice came from quite a distance, yet one could discernably distinguish its overbearingness.

"I'm still struggling with the grip, but this spear is without a doubt the best weapon I've ever held," Arte simply answered.

The owner of the voice made no further comment, instead letting a loud laugh reverberate from afar.

The reason for Arte and the man's presence here in the middle of this no man's land today was to put this spear to the test.

The fourteen-foot-long yellowish wolf-like beast with a scaly rat-like tail against whom Arte was battling was the test subject for Arte's spear try-out. Though Arte had no idea what monster he was fighting, he had fought monsters with similar fighting patterns and builds in the previous three months. As such, he knew what he was in for.

Arte knew that creatures of this type have the horrible tendency to abuse their elemental magic when they come to understand that they can't simply physically overpower their opponent.

Stancing his spear out, Arte braced himself for the creature's next attack.

As soon as Arte took position, the creature let out a deep growl, which was quickly followed by the appearance of several lightning sparkles around its body.

It then summoned several lightning bolts that cleaved down at Arte.

Deftly evading, none of its attacks hit Arte.

As shocking as it was at first to Arte, fighting monsters and avoiding their attacks has become a daily routine for him over the last four months, as his master has the habit of taking him here in the middle of nowhere to regularly deal with monsters similar to and most of the time worse than this one.

Perhaps enraged by the fact that Arte easily dodged its bolts, the creature, growling murderously, charged at Arte with the clear and unbleached intent of tearing him apart with its claws.

When its claws cleaved at him, Arte, in an attempt to try the spear further out, tried to deflect them with his spear.

The creature's enormous claws were swiftly directed to the ground, and with a loud clang that erupted a dust-filled explosion that engulfed both Arte and the creature.

Of course, that creature's clawing attack would've been easier to simply avoid, but that would have been counterproductive given that the only reason Arte and the man were here in the first place was to try the spear out.

Arte should have been easily overwhelmed by the monster's might given the gap in height and raw power; the only reason he was able to hold out against it was because he was using a magical combination of wind, earth, and mana to further improve himself, along with a bit of Aina.

After successfully deflecting its first claw attack, Arte evaded the next one and took a risky approach, allowing him to tempt a spearhead thrust into the monster. But, as if sensing what he was up to, the wolf-like creature adjusted its head just enough to avoid being impaled by Arte's spear.

Leaping back and backstepping away, the creature decided to keep a safe distance from Arte, wary of his spear. Then it began to growl once more, this time summoning lightning sparkles all over its body, but this time without sending lightning bolts at Arte.

Seeing it take a charging stance, Arte knew what he had to do.

As the creature started its charge, the bolts of lightning that encircled its body were unleashed at breakneck speed toward Arte.

With his spear, Arte blocked them all, before adjusting the way he held his spear, assuming a throwing stance.

The wolf, jaws wide open, saliva dripping rabidly, was getting closer by the second, but when he was a couple of meters away from Arte, it suddenly tripped.

The creature didn't slip by accident; rather, it had all four of its legs buried in the mud. muddy ground that was not present the instant preceding the instant it walked upon it.

As the creature began to panic, Arte saw it.

The opportunity he had been looking for.

When the wolf noticed Arte approaching, it barked threateningly in a desperate attempt to scare him away, but that was an attempt in vain.

Grasping onto the opportunity that was the wide-open wolf's jaw, Arte, using a combination of aina and wind magic, unleashed his darting spear straight and unhesitatingly at it.

With its jaws wide open and nothing in its way, Arte's spear entered the wolf's mouth and made a half-through exit on the wolf's posterior side of the skull.

Though the attack was vicious, seeing that it had failed to kill the creature, Arte dashed toward the wolf to deliver what would be a killing blow to the wolf.

Arte sent out a kick onto his spear's shoes, which this time allowed the spear to entirely make its way through the poor creature's skull and then land a few meters away from them.

With Arte's second blow, the wolf's body fell lifelessly on the ground, like a puppet whose string had been severed.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Impressive," The same voice as earlier said, while applauding vividly, "I'm quite impressed by your use of your elemental magic along with your mastery of Aina."

"Thanks, Master… but I think that creature was particularly weak, especially for a magical beast."

"It was weak indeed, but you didn’t break a sweat fighting it right, which makes you stronger or at the very least as impressive as those stronger than it."

That was a truthful fact; despite its appearance and ferocity, Arte was well aware of how weak that magical beast was in comparison to others of its kind.

A hulking, hooded figure appeared out of nowhere. He took off his hood to reveal white hair from advancing years and a full beard of the same color. Brawny would be the perfect word to describe the man, despite his old, hobo-like appearance.

The man approached the monster's corpse to inspect it thoroughly before retrieving the spear.

"That being said... don't you think it's a little impolite to treat someone else's gift in this manner? And on top of that, right in front of him."

Though these words were intended to be reproachful, the tone with which they were delivered was devoid of reproach. As such, Arte, knowing his master very well, didn't feel the need to express remorse for what he'd done.

The man's name was Gunther Freshet.

He was the one who gave Arte the spear as a gift.

Despite being one of the Church's Seven Paladins and one of the Fourteen, Gunther Freshet, also known as Thundersnow of the North, was also the master that Arte, as a disciple could only hope to one day surpass.

"I'm sorry... I'm not going to do it again."

The man looked at Arte with a smile on his face, announcing, "I was only joking." before throwing the spear into Arte's hands and saying, "After all, this spear is now yours to do with as you please. Consider it a parting gift. Wield it as you see fit."

Glancing at the monster cadaver, Arte asked, "What are we going to do with this corpse?" I've never seen anything like this in the monster encyclopedia. Should we take it to the fortress?"

First, a mischievous smirk appeared on his master's face, then he asked Arte, "Could it be that when you were a kid, you wanted to discover a new species of monster on your own?"

"Euh... Not really,... I’m not sure. Why?"

"I'm sorry to smash your childhood fantasy, but I've seen this type of monster several times before. It’s just that I never reported it, which is why it is still not yet classified in the encyclopedia."

"Why?"

"Too lazy. Do you have any idea of the amount of paperwork you have to file when reporting a new monster."

The tone and content of what he said did not correspond to the position he held.

"I think many apprentice paladins would be disappointed to hear that from your mouth, Master."

Gunther was regarded as an idol in the Paladin Order, an organization in which Arte was a temporary member as an apprentice Paladin.

Arte approached the Paladin Paladin Order four months ago, at the suggestion of his younger brother, to join as an apprentice paladin. Being an apprentice paladin entailed spending four months at one of the main church's border strongholds. It was then, when trying to enroll, that Arte met his master for the first time.

For some reason, this seemed to have piqued his interest in some way. But, to be more specific, Arte knew it was most likely because of their highly unusual and challenging first encounter that he accepted Arte's enrollment and decided to hire him as a noble attendant some time later, which led the two of them to stick together for the previous three months, slaughtering monsters here and there, beyond the church's barrier in the monster continent, when they had free time.

Arte was naturally hesitant to venture beyond the barrier after everything that had happened in the previous few years, the calamities and other incidents that followed, but that was only for a couple of weeks, as with his master always dragging him along, he soon grew accustomed to it.

"I don't think I remotely care about what they think of me, Arte."

"I don't doubt that," Arte sighed.

"Well, well, it’s about time to go back home," Arte's master announced with an enthusiastic voice before turning his attention back to the monster's corpse, "and about this one... "

He raised his hand and slashed through the air, slashing the monster's neck clean with a wind blade. He then levitated the monster’s severed head and imprisoned it in an ice block.

Arte was left confused as to the purpose of his master's actions.

"To report a monster's existence to the church, bringing a corpse or a part of the monster's body is entirely optional, but believe me, that only works for high-ranking Paladins like me; when a newcomer reports a monster without any proof to testify the monster's existence, he will regret it," Arte's master explained.

"Oh, I see. So, Master, you're going to use only this head as proof?"

All smiles, he said, "Not me, you."

"Who!? "Me?"

"You, sir. You're the one who murdered this poor thing," he said, while tenderly patting the block of ice in which the creature's head was imprisoned. "You should accept full responsibility for it. Besides, you're the one returning to the capital in a week, aren't you?"

Arte, being a temporary member of the Paladin Order, as the fourth and final month of service has now come to an end, is meant to return to the capital in a week's time.

The Holy Capital, where his brother is.

Home.

"Yes, I am."

"It's all settled then. Let us return to the fortress now that our business here has been completed." Arte's Master was making his stride to leave this place when he suddenly stopped, asking, "Ah, I almost forgot, have you already thought of a name for your spear?"

"Yes I did, Master." Arte took a glance at the black spear of his, caressing the pleasing sensation of the carving pattern across its surface. "Allée" will be its name."

"Allé? What a weird name but I can’t deny its originality."

With that, we both went straight to the place that has become like a third home for me over the last four months.

The rebuilt northern fortress