2 years passed, Ilario was 12 years old.

In the northern part of Magnus Forest.

Ilario was standing on the branch of large tree and shot an arrow at head of X-Ursus, a monstrous bear, black fur, black-yellow eyes, its body size was bigger than the wild bear.

An X-Ursus was moving aggressively after it got a shot of arrow at its head.

Ilario shot the arrows continually at its head and its heart until its movements were slower. He activated “Invisible” and went near X-Ursus. He cut off its head with two dagger knives, and stabbed into its heart. He activated “Lumen” on dagger knife to destroy a dark magic stone inside its body. He activated “Fire Burn” to burn its body.

He continued to hunt without using magic power to make his physical strength increase.

After the incident at the cave 2 years ago, there was no experimental monster showing up but the monstrous wild animals were increasing steadily. They were mating and producing many of them. It seemed they got source of dark energies somewhere, their behaviors were more aggressive than before

He trained hard to increase his stamina and physical strength in the past 2 years. He hunted and killed the low level of monsters without using magic power. He grew up fast, he was taller than the average height of the boys at the same age. The hard training had built muscles on his body and increased his stamina. His body size could compare to the teenagers.

He realized how danger it will going to be in the future after he fought with mysterious monster lord. Even though, he could not handle his magic power well at that time but he did not want to neglect the fact that they were very strong and dangerous.

Now, he can handle his magic power well after his physical strength increased rapidly. He could do the same with the time when he practiced in The Practice World for 5 years. He succeeded to increase his stamina and physical strength within 2 years. It was strong enough to resist his powerful magic core.

Luna and Solaris were one of factors to make him success very fast. They did not help him with fights but they adjusted his magic power all this time. In other words, they did nothing but drained his power. In this way, we got the best benefit. Luna and Solaris were stronger after they got a lot of his magic power, meanwhile, he had no problem with overpowering bottleneck when activate magic power, and magic exploded. Apart from that, the capacity of his magic core was slowly increasing after he exhausted himself continually. In conclusion, we increased our powers very rapidly.

Furthermore, Luna helped him to train the abilities of healing magic power. She was very strict with him when he had been practicing these abilities. She wanted him to be able to automatically activate all the abilities of healing magic power, especially ‘Resistance’. She was worried that he might get seriously injured like last time. For that reason, he succeeded it all within a month. He did not need to worry about the poisons, and dark magic power unless they have stronger power than him.

Lyra and Oliver let him go for hunting alone after we hunted and killed monsters together for 1 year. They helped him to remember the way in Magnus Forest because it was very large forest like a large kingdom. They knew that he can survive by himself after they saw him fighting with monsters in the past years. Moreover, they were busy doing their assignments from Queen Agnes. There were a lot of things for them to do after the incident at the cave. They were strictly guarding and inspecting everything suspicious because it might be a sign of the resurrection of Diabolus.

Antlia, Norma, and Sagitta were always greeting him when they met him after the incident at the cave. They were busy surveying areas but they did not ignore him like the first time we met. They often talked to him when they have time.

After finished the hunt, he planned to go to Artis Territory, which has boundary close to Magnus Forest. There was a festival holding in the city of Artis. The villagers in suburb village of Artis were excitingly looking forward to this festival. He heard from village chief that the festival this year was holding in larger scale to celebrate the best harvest in this year.

Oliver often took him to suburb village of Artis to sell the wild animals that we hunted in the past.

After he hunted alone, he could make a lot of money by selling wild animals in the village market. He wanted to spend money and relax himself in the festival after he got hard training continually for 7 years, if he counted the years in The Practice World, it would be 12 years in total.

He was wearing black cloak with hood to cover his appearance. He found that his appearance was the significance of Fortis Bloodline, especially black hair and blue eyes, after he went to suburb village at the first time. The villagers were surprised by his appearance and looked nervously at him. They were afraid that they might do something rudely to him because the lord of Artis also one of distant relatives to Fortis Family.

Most of people in Artis have brown, gold, and silver hair. For that reason, they could notice his appearance easily.

***

The festival was lively and bustling market, a roll of market stalls was filled with every kind of vegetables and fruits you could imagine, a variety of stalls, painter, the entertainment show at the center area, and crowds of people.

Ilario went to food stalls area firstly. He bought grilled meats and finished all of it before he looked around the festival. He was satisfied with the food because he did not eat any meat after he came back from The Practice World.

He was passing many stalls until he saw a weapon stall. There were many unique shapes of weapons; the dagger knives with long claw-shaped, sharp point, one sharp edge, curved blade with unique design of serrated on the edge near the guard. He likes its design. He was using the normal dagger knives, sharp point and two sharp edges, which he got from Oliver for many years.

“You have sharp eyes. The Dwarf forged these dagger knives. He used Mythril Ore to make them. It’s very strong and sharp,” a merchant said.

“How much is it?” Ilario asked.

“5 gold coins each,” a merchant said.

Ilario used ‘Telepathy’ to talk with Luna and Solaris.

“Whoa...the price is quite high. The high grade of dagger knife costs 1 gold coin each. Did he raise the high price?” mind communicated Ilario. He wanted to know the opinion from Luna and Solaris before he decided to buy it.

“No, we don’t think so. We didn’t find any bad intension from him. Dwarves were making very high-quality weapons. They have great skill in forge. The weapons which were made by humans cannot compare to them,” mind communicated Solaris.

While he was using telepathy with both of Luna and Solaris, a merchant thought that he might give up on price.

“I will give you special price today, 4 gold coins each,” a merchant said.

“I will take these 2 dagger knives,” Ilario said and paid a merchant money.

He was satisfied with his new dagger knives. The money in this world is simple, 100 silver coins to a gold coin and 10 bronzes to a silver. He has a lot of gold coins by selling wild animals, especially wild bears. He got a lot of requests for wild bears with less damage and neatly cut on their body. They can sell it parts to nobles with very high price. He earned money up to 30 gold coins each. They gave him high price because the wild bear was too dangerous for ordinarius to hunt it by themselves. There were many nobles in the capital requesting beautiful furs and their meats.

He continued to walk to other area. While he was looking around, he saw a girl, who was wearing brown hood, running to the alley. There were 3 men, wearing light armors, arming with swords, following her but they lost her tracks at the alley. They were looking for the girl seriously, they went to other area when they did not find the girl at the alley.

He was observing the situation and guessed that she might be in trouble. He waited for the 3 men to go far away from alley, then went toward her.

He walked slowly down the alley. He detected her life energy but no sign of magic power. He saw her hiding behind the boxes.

“Do you need some help? I saw many guys looking for someone,” Ilario asked her calmly but there was no answer from her.

“Err...I’m not a bad guy and I think I could be some help of you,” said Ilario sincerely.

A girl appeared in front of him. She was at the same age as him, brown hair, red gold eyes, pretty, and charm. Her eyes were very beautiful, the mixed color of ruby red and shiny gold. He was stunned by her eyes. He could not take his eyes off her. He felt as if he got attacked by her charm magic somehow. It was first time that he felt in this way with the girl, a feeling that he has never felt even in his previous life.

“I’m running away from them. They have no intention of harming me. I would like to look around the festival freely. They are just overprotective,” a girl said after Ilario remained silence for a short while.

“Oh…I see,” Ilario said, he came to his senses. “Ah, Do you want to look around the festival freely, right? I can make you walk around without anyone seeing you.”

“Really?” a girl asked excitedly.

“I will show you,” Ilario said and activated “Invisible” to both of us.

He thought that she might be a daughter of strict noble family. Her actions were understandable when he considered how hard she wanted to run away. It must be hard for her to go out anywhere freely. He wanted to make her feel happy and get a good memory with the festival.

“We can walk out of the alley now. There is no one can see us. Don’t worry,” Ilario said.

“All right,” a girl said and smiled at him.

She walked excitedly out of the alley, then looked around the market happily.

We passed many foods and desserts stalls. She was looking at the food stalls and did not notice the other people. There was a man coming toward us, he could not see us and nearly crashed her.

“Be careful,” Ilario reached out to hold her arm and pulled her toward him gently before a man crashed her.

“I could make you invisible but your body was not transparent for real. You can easily crash to people or something else,” said Ilario kindly.

“Thank you,” a girl said, her face turned red.

She continued to look around the foods and desserts stalls. After a short while, she was looking at one of dessert stalls. Her eyes twinkled, interesting in cotton candies which displayed many colors on the stall.

“Do you want one? What flavor do you like? I will get it for you,” Ilario asked.

“I like strawberry flavor. I would like to get the pink one,” a girl said and smiled.

Ilario bought a cotton candy and a glass of water for her. Afterward, he led her to the place to sit. We found a park bench and sat on it.

“Can you two make illusion to prevent people came to this way?” mind communication Ilario

“I will do it,” mind communication Solaris.

The girl ate a cotton candy quietly, her face looks so happy. She was very cute when she was eating a cotton candy. He smiled without being conscious.

“Is it your first time to come to the festival?” Ilario asked.

“Yes, it is. My mother is very strict. I’m not allowed to go anywhere freely,” a girl said, she was feeling a bit down.

“I see,” Ilario said.

He wanted to change her mood. He looked around and saw a toy stall nearby. He thought that the girl might be happy with a cute bear doll, the cuddly toy.

“Please wait here for a moment,” Ilario said.

He inactivated “Invisible” for himself and went to toy stall. He bought a cute bear doll, and 2 masks. He thought of covering our faces in the area where people crowded.

He went back to her and saw that she has finished a cotton candy but she was still feeling down from last conversation.

He sat beside her, covered his face with bear doll.

“Hello, Young Lady. I’m a lost child. If I could stay with you, I think I would be a lucky bear in the world,” said Ilario with a soft voice.

“Ahaha…what are you doing?” a girl asked. Her expression was better than before.

“I give you this one.” Ilario said and handed her a bear doll. “I don’t know what kind of things you’re carry on. I hoped that this bear doll can help you to feel better. You can look at it when you’re feeling lonely or getting a burden. At least, you can recall the memory you have gotten in the festival today,” He smiled at her.

“Thank you. I have never received a bear doll as a present before. I will keep it well,” a girl said happily.

“Do you want to see a show at the center area?” Ilario asked.

“Yes,” a girl said, a smile spread across her face.

“We should wear masks before we go there. I will inactivate ‘Invisible’. You might get hurt from invisible at the crowd area,” said Ilario nicely. He inactivated “Invisible” after we both wore our masks.

We walked to the center area until we saw the performance stage. They were performing the story of the heroes and the king of monsters. We sat on a bench, which were arranged in front of the stage, and began to see the show.

They performed the story like a fairy tale. He thought that it was enjoyable when it was performing in this way but it was not fun at all when it come to the real fight. He turned to look at the girl. She was seeing the show intently.

“Do you like the show?” Ilario asked.

“Yes, I like it. I would like to know the feeling when they were fighting with the king of monsters,” a girl said energetically.

He stopped to disturb her and continued to see the show. There was a kid coming to sell white roses in the benches zone. She was too young to work. She was in the range of age 7-8 years old. She was wearing shabby clothes. She has a grim expression on her face after she tried to sell the white roses to many people but no one interest in her. She continued to sell many people until she reached to him.

“I’ll take it all,” Ilario said and paid her 1 gold coin.

“I’m sorry. I don’t have any change. It costs only 5 silver coins,” A kid said timidly.

“It’s all right. You don’t need to,” Ilario said.

“Thank you,” A kid said happily. She handed a basket with white roses to him and ran out of the benches area.

After the show ended, he handed a basket with white roses to the girl.

“I think you may like it,” said Ilario, he gave white roses to her without knowing the meaning of flower.

“Thank you,” she was smiling bashfully but Ilario did not know the meaning of her expression.

We looked around the festival until the sun began to go down from the sky.

“I think you should go back now. The sky will be dark soon. I will take you back,” said Ilario sincerely.

The 3 men, who looked for the girl at the alley, showed up nearby and came toward us.

“Ah...they came to look for me. Don’t worry. They are my knight escorts. Thank you for today. I have a good time because of you,” a girl said and smiled at him. She looks more charming when she has a smile on her face.

“It’s nothing,” Ilario said and left before the knights reached to her.

He went back to the elves’ village.

“Did you like her?” Luna asked amusingly.

“Umm...I don’t know but I’m kind of happy when I stay with her,” said Ilario, he was unsure about his feeling.

“You know, we could read your mind,” Solaris teased him.

“Hmm…What did you guys know?” said Ilario bashfully, he tried to change the subject.

“Haha…you will know yourself one day” said Solaris delightedly.

Ilario felt strange, he has never felt this way before. We looked around the festival together without annoyance. We had not even bothered to ask for our names. She was charming when she talks and smiles.

‘Did I really fall for her? Come to think of it, I gave her white roses…’ Ilario thought to himself, bashfully.

After he reached to the treehouse, he saw Ms. Carina waiting for him.

“You came back,” Ms. Carina said.

“I’m sorry for coming back late,” Ilario said.

“That’s all right. Queen Agnes called you and the other Bellators to gather at the training ground tomorrow morning,” said Ms. Carina kindly.

“Yes,” Ilario said. He wondered why she gather all Bellators.

***