Roan picked a delicious-looking red apple from a stack and flipped a copper at the vendor selling apples. He took a bite out of it, the sweet juice exploding in his mouth. It was delicious and the flesh soft. It was quality.

"It's delicious, " He complimented the smiling vendor who was an old guy with wrinkled skin and a wide smile which exposed his crooked yellow teeth.

"Of course, it's imported from Arran. Do you want more? I can give a discount if you take more than two." The old guy said while rubbing his hands together. He seemed like a greedy old man.

Roan shook his head," No, but I might later in the evening if I see you here."

"It's fine. I'll save three for you then." The old man smiled at Roan as he started cleaning the apples with a cloth and putting them back in the stack.

"Ok, see you then. " Roan said and walked away, his destination the adventurers guild. Yesterday had been a hectic day. He had been ambushed by a knight but thankfully managed to turn the fight around and survived. And also managed to learn a lot of things. But he had also made a new enemy. Someone powerful and dangerous. He even had to disguise himself before coming out of the house in fear that the thugs from the gang would recognise him. Three of those thugs had managed to flee and they must have told their boss about him. They probably didn't know that George and Sol were dead. But they should be able to guess it by now. So, they would come after him. No doubt. He was just waiting when they were going to come.

Hiding might have been a better option for Roan at the moment but he knew he couldn't hide forever. He was going to have to face off with them sooner or later.

He exited the market as he bound towards the guild. He just wanted to see some suitable missions inside the town that he could do to earn some money. Buying a house was a dream that he still hadn't given up on. He had been saving up coins for this very reason and living frugally for a year now. Even though the house was going to be empty.

The apple lost its sweetness as Roan relived the pain of losing his friends. It hadn't been easy. But he had pushed through it and now he wanted to live the dreams that they had dreamt together so that he would never forget the memories he had made with them. A worthy aim to live a life for.

And money was now going to be more important than it was before because of all the materials he was going to need for learning magic. Herbs for making something called a calming potion to help in meditation but Roan wasn't going to need it. What he was going to need was a grimoire which he had learned about in the book. He had seen a mission about retrieving the grimoire in the guild but it was a gold-ranked mission which meant that it was dangerous. Not something he could accomplish even with his newly gained powers. Dead zones were no joke.

Grimoires were books that were made from Ethereum, expensive metal. Even more than Ethered iron of his sword. Grimoires acted as a book of spells helping magus cast spells instantly without chanting which most of the spells required except some innate spells. Innate spells were spells that required no chanting and were generally associated with a magus's element. Just like his Time Deceleration and Raise Dead which was the ability to create an undead was called. These spells were innate spells of a Necromancer. Raise dead made sense but Time deceleration didn't make a shred of sense to Roan.

He quickly made his way through town enjoying the sights he had grown up with. The people's lives were fulfilling and made possible by the rule of Andres Tolaga, a very competent ruler. The quality of life in Tolaga was very high compared to other towns of the same size in Ceres kingdom. Competent ruling and the vast resources of Mervielle were the main factors. All the other towns near Mervielle forest had been established very far away, meaning they couldn't harvest the resources as easily Tolaga which was the closest town to Mervielle in all of Ceres kingdom.

But every coin has two sides. Just like the easy access to resources, the town also faced beast attacks due to the proximity of the town to Mervielle. And the beast attacks were now turning into a beast wave due to the reawakening of the Pits. A worrying situation but one that Roan couldn't change. He just had to strengthen himself and try to save the ones that were the most important to him.

Roan arrived at the guild and quickly entered through the door. He squeezed himself through the crowd to reach the mission board. He quickly skimmed through it to see if there was anything new and yes, there was. A notice from the ruler himself, Andres Tolaga. Roan was surprised. He read it and was even more surprised.

Enrollment in the guards for anyone under the age of eighteen. A tempting offer to anyone living in the outer district or the slums. Becoming a guard and working under Soras was one of the most sought-after jobs in the town. Ten silvers per month of salary was already a very generous salary but on top of that, a town guard had a chance of becoming a knight. To become a knight, one had to know a secret breathing technique and exercises that were to be done while using the breathing technique. But those techniques were kept secret, only a select few had access to the technique and to become one of them, enrolling in the town guard was the most significant step for any commoner in the town.

But however tempting the offer may be, Roan couldn't enrol as it would put his secret at risk of being exposed.

Roan shook his head and turned away from the notice and searched for a suitable mission for him. And he found it after some searching. He registered it swiftly and bound towards the location.

_____________________________

Roan returned home after completing the mission as dusk approached. He took the road which passed through the local market, hoping to see the old man selling apples so he could buy some. It was delicious.

Roan took a turn and finally reached the main road of the town. This road led straight to the inner district. But he was going towards the opposite direction, the edge of the town where the slum was.

He walked for some time and finally reached the small street which led to the market and the slums. He was about to turn and enter the street when he saw a small group of people surrounding a carriage pulled by two horses. The people surrounding the carriage seemed like knights wearing shiny armour and carrying shields on their backs. They walked with discipline forming a square around the carriage. Their strides were synchronized showing the amount of practice they must have gone through to achieve those results. They were definitely not some nobody. Maybe even from another Noble family.

The carriage was luxurious, painted in a golden colour and intricate patterns carved into the walls. It had a flag fluttering on the front, an eagle with its wings spread and fiery breath coming out of its beak. Roan didn't know whose flag it was. But Roan didn't know much about the nobles except the ruler of Tolaga and the Royal Ceres family. So, it wasn't a huge surprise that Roan did not know about the flag.

Roan stood at the edge of the road as the carriage passed through. But when it was bout to cross him, a small hand opened the curtains that covered the window of the carriage revealing a fiery red hair whose owner was looking directly into Roan's eyes. Roan become lost as he stared at the beautiful face with strands of red hair clinging to her forehead. Her equally red eyes seemed to see through him as she revealed a smile.

Roan remained frozen even after the carriage had passed, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

'Who was that? ' Roan thought as he finally started walking. He didn't know who she was but she was a beauty.

'what am I thinking? ' Roan berated himself and shook his head. It was a strange encounter, just another one in the many strange ones of the last few weeks.

'Was she a magus? ' Roan shuddered as he thought about that possibility. If it were true then he was screwed. Roan walked faster, not willing to stay here another second, the delicious apples thrown in the back of his mind.