"There are no circles around your core, right?"

"No, I don’t." Circles were a form of level, describing the amount and density of mana in a mage. Each circle can only be formed when the density of mana reaches twofold every time.

"Figures. Your body would collapse if you tried to form a circle at this age." He said it as a matter of fact.

In the first place, I could form my mana core with the help of spirits and my special body disposition. The minimum age to form a core is eight because the human flesh matures a little by then and gets adapted to the mana in the surroundings. It helps to accept the core as part of our own body rather than reject it as something foreign. I can only ask a mage about my current condition. For the time being, I can only try to limit my mana usage. He put another pack of food neatly covered inside the wide leaves. Just from the smell alone, I could guess what was inside. With my stomach grumbling from time to time, I sprinkled another ton of salt on top of it and swallowed it whole. The old man went out, and I, too, followed his suit after completing my meal.

It was daybreak. With no sun, it should always be dark here. But the cave becomes brighter sometimes and darker at other times, representing day and night. Maybe it’s because of those enormous vines that seem to absorb and emit light at certain intervals. He stood near the balcony, watching the arena area. On the wall beside him, there were a set of clothes. He threw them to my side, and I unfolded them to find a dark green cloak that was tattered a little bit on the bottom edges. My fingers ran across it as I felt the comfort and durability it offered. There was a faded crest on the back of it, which I was not familiar with. I wore it and fastened the leather belt near my neck and shoulders. Inside, I still wore bandages and tattered, burned clothes. "Are we going somewhere today?" I asked.

"We are a little short on food, and probably it will also help stretch those new limbs of yours." Walking with these prosthetics was way easier than hopping on a single leg. They were better than I thought. There is no mobility, but they didn’t feel like a burden either. They were light and a perfect fit for my size. To make something like that in a place like this requires some high-level craftsmanship skills. But I do need some practice to get accustomed to them. We went out of the Colosseum, and I followed right behind him as we took a path through dark alleys. It was my first time walking outside in this place, and I saw multiple broken-down walls, with a size almost touching the cave ceiling. Rundown building of unknown designs. A bridge that extended on top of me till wherever my sight fell. It was hard to believe these things were right under an age-old forest. The path we were walking was human-made, with only a few traces left. I looked back, only to find the Colosseum at a distance. We had already walked for close to an hour.

"Are we not there yet?"

"Here, an old man is walking silently, but a young bun like you is complaining. The name Princess does suit you."

"I have a name. It's Ash."

"You bother to say that now? I am Gustav, by the way. If you are curious."

"I’m good with calling you the old man." I walked by his side, increasing my pace, and crossed him in a few seconds.

"I do like your enthusiasm, but we need to turn right there." He said as I went further away from him. Ignoring his words, I looked in that direction. The small alley ended there, but there was a tall mountain with an elongated cliff pointing straight towards us. The cliff looked like the beak of a bird, with the backside of the mountain missing as it was attached to the end of the cave.

"I don’t see a path up."

Putting his hand around my waist, he looked above. I had a very bad feeling about that. "I’m an Aura user, remember?" I do. My thoughts were cut off in the middle as an abundant amount of green Aura emanated from his body and covered us both. The feeling was something unknown. A new type of energy I hadn’t interacted with before. His grip tightened around my waist, and he crouched a little with his leg muscles popping out of his already tight pants. In a moment, he jumped with enough force to leave his footprints below. I was taken along with him. I flew in a straight line, but as our speed receded for another few seconds, I could tell that we would only reach halfway before reaching the cliff. He won’t have any footing from there to make another jump. And even if he did, he wouldn’t reach the end as the top was curved towards us. Aura is a power that deals with physique, like enhancing strength and other senses, but even that has its limitations.

With a click sound, the front part of his hand fired towards the cliff, grabbing a small rock at the edge as we were left hanging halfway up the mountain with a chain of unknown strength. He signalled for me to climb up. Hesitating a little, I wrapped my right hand and leg around the thin chain and tried to maintain enough friction. The bloom of trust I had in this old man withered with every moment. Using both my remaining limbs, I slowly climbed, pulling myself up with all my strength. When I finally reached the top, I struggled to get my body onto the cliff. Catching my breath, I waved my hand to the old man, voicing a loud enough shout for him to hear. Hanging in the middle of nowhere, he looked towards me as a grin formed on his wrinkled face. He held his chained hand with his hand, and with another click, he was pulled up within moments, and his mechanical hand attached back to the arm when he reached the top. Why did I even bother climbing then?

"I thought I would teach you how to climb. It’s not like I can be your staircase every time you come here, right?" I couldn’t rebuke his words.

"Why do I need to get here from now on?"

"Where the job, there the man." I looked behind me, only to find a massive, lush brown forest. It had an eerie feeling about it. I didn't think caves were meant to be this large with this kind of ecosystem. I came over the edge of the cliff, and the view before me went as far as my sight fell, with no visible end. The tall structures that pierced the walls above and the vines the size of tree trunks spread everywhere. It was a mess filled with beauty. A place I could never think to have existed.

"What is this place anyway?" I asked, curious.

"Isn't it beautiful? This was something left by the people who were not of this era. The people of the past. The Ancients. Or the first generation of Mana users." Even if this place was built by them, it is nothing but history at this point. Left abandoned to crumble for years to come. And how long has he been living here for him to know that? I sat on the edge of the cliff with a light breeze tickling against my skin. "Let's start hunting then." He called out to me.

"What do I do about these?" I can’t be of much use with a non-functional hand and leg.

"You are a mage, so just stay back and throw those spells of yours as you always did. For the record, there will be more people envious of your power than fearful of what you are capable of. It will come back to bite you in the form of senseless anger at the end. It’s better to regret not trusting them than to be betrayed by them. The less selfish they seem, the more suspicious they are. One more thing: become strong enough to protect yourself and overpower others. Until then, don’t try to lose any more limbs."

I don't plan to. He looked at the forest behind us. A place that blocked my sight with just a few trees. "I don’t see a weapon on you." He can’t fight monsters with his bare hands. But even if that is possible, that’s just simple suicide. There were far better ways to die. He slid his hand into his pants, and, with some struggle, he pulled out a short sword covered in its sheath. Who would be crazy enough to put it in there?

"Worry not. I had a pocket sewn inside my pants." That’s definitely not the problem here. "It’s better to hide it like that." I don’t think anyone would want to steal that. Not after they know where it came from. "Shall we go in now?" It will be a miracle if I don’t die. I followed right behind him into the mass of trees.

Contrary to Misty Grove, the trees in this forest were smaller vertically but larger horizontally.

"The trunks are huge."

"They are, but they are not trunks but roots."

"Shouldn’t the roots be rooted into the soil, and how are roots this huge?"

"What am I? Your encyclopaedia? Just know that they are roots, not trees." He said in a grumpy tone. Those roots had leaves on top, just like a tree. There were neither flowers nor fruits growing from them, and the leaves themselves were a little strange, with each of them having a bloodshot colour. Some had pale orange and yellow mixed in, but in their entirety, they gave off an eerie feeling. What a strange plant. Many vines covered the ground, and the amount only increased as we went deeper inside. It became hard to walk, and our pace slowed down a little. "Don’t speak out loud from here on. There is a goblin dump near here. They are swift, small creatures, and hard to deal with." Old man Gustav said.

"Even for you?"

"With you around, yes, even for me. I’d rather deal with a single powerful ogre than a goblin. They always stay in groups and are very annoying. And they have a certain level of intelligence; remember that."

"Is that possible? You are not messing with me, right?"

"I am not stupid enough to play jokes now, Princess. There are many monsters born with intelligence, but we humans are not rational when it comes to fear. We don’t sit around and understand what they are trying to do. We just kill if we can and run if we can’t."

I nodded. I still couldn’t believe there were monsters with intelligence. Could it speak like us? Think like us? I couldn't stop myself from being curious.

"Wait!" He unsheathed his sword. But it was chipped in many places. "Will that be okay?"

"You mean this baby? It still has enough strength to go on for years." I wanted to believe that.

"Krrrr!" We heard a low-sounding growl coming from a little distance.

As we walked a few steps, a small, open space of mud came into our sight. It was devoid of any trees, and there were creatures of two-year-old stature, with pointy ears and thin, bald heads. Their bony spine could be seen underneath their dark-greened skin. They were covered in mud and rolling and rubbing their backs all over the place. I could tell they were smiling with their razor-sharp teeth that couldn't be covered even when they closed their mouths. Naked from top to bottom, they were enjoying a nice little bath. That alone made me stare at them a little longer.

“It will be quite a problem with these many.” There were about twenty of them. They didn’t look all that powerful to me and were not a bit savage with the things they were doing. “If I try to attack, they will spread out and be more alert for the next few days. An annoying little monster.” He turned to my side, putting his hand on my shoulder. "You need to stop their escape completely. Can you do that?”

“How, exactly?” He should at least tell me that much.

“You are the mage. You should know at least that much." That's not much. "Remember, their legs are like springs, and with their light bodies, they can jump twice the height of an average man with ease.” Saying that he jumped into the open space of mud filled with goblins. At least give me time to prepare, old man.

Mana slowly flowed from my shrunken core to my hand. This act became more and more natural every time I did it. With a small waving gesture, it circled the entire open area and transformed into a spark of flame, making a ring of fire and blocking the goblins' escape in an instant. I increased the intensity of the flames and made them grow bigger. In the sudden burning fire that appeared out of nowhere, the green goblins panicked. But in a moment, that panic turned into animosity, directed solely towards the person in front of them. Old man Gustav. He sprung forward without giving the goblins a chance to react. His short sword, covered in a green Aura, sliced through one of its necks as it released a painful growl, and at the same time, other goblins became wary and made some distance from the old man. Some of the goblins, covered in mud, tried to pass the wall of fire, but I increased the intensity of the flame up another notch, making them fall back right to the middle. The old man sliced their necks one after another like a piece of butter. His chipped sword went through their flesh and bones, with a splatter of red blood covering the muddy floor. I didn't lose focus, keeping the ever-so-jumpy goblins in check.

Looking at the dreadful situation, the goblins let go of their escape, and with a small battle cry, they faced the old man, circling him with their remaining numbers. They held no weapon, but with their slender hands and sharp nails—the size of a human finger—they were enough to take someone's head off. With an echoing screech, they ran towards him, all at a time. Old man Gustav covered himself with an Aura of green, making him look like another buffed goblin from a distance. When all the goblins were a step away from him, he released his Aura, expanding and blasting it out of his body. It touched each one of them, crushing their bodies under the sudden bombardment and throwing them far away. Some goblins were thrown outside the wall of flame I conquered, falling right beside me one after another. They were half-burned and half-bleeding. Using my other hand, I tried to conjure a gust of wind and wound a few of them, but with a moment of my concentration shifting from my spell, the wall of fire faltered for a second, and that was enough of a chance for the wounded goblins to get on their fours and rush in all directions, escaping this area. Old man Gustav took this chance to instantly attack by one-shotting most of them, but still, they were small and agile enough to quickly get into the forest and use the spaces between the vine-filled ground and the twisted tree trunks to their advantage.

One of them jumped at me from the back, showing its canine teeth with an opened jaw. I let go of the spell and rolled to the front, dodging the attack. But before I got up on one of my knees, it changed its direction, and the weapon-like nails scratched my chest, leaving a small wound with dripping blood. Not losing to pain, I grabbed its hand that was extended towards me and pulled it in my direction. The goblin accelerated, adding more speed as its wide, open mouth was in front of my face in an instant. Letting go of the monster's hand, I punched straight into its mouth with my left hand. Its teeth struggled to dig deeper inside my metal wrist, and using that time, I pulled out mana from my core, directing it towards my left hand and firing a burst of flame that was released straight into its stomach, enlarging it like an inflated balloon before bursting with its flesh and stomach acids that rained down everywhere.

As I was about to sigh in relief, two other goblins jumped at me with bloodshot eyes while I stayed on the ground. I tried to protect myself by manipulating the ground below me, but a green line whistled through the air, passing through their necks, and the next thing that fell on me was their mutilated bodies spurting with a fountain of blood that covered my entire face. The stinky, burning smell accompanied me while I pushed their bodies to the side and got up to look at the aftermath. The fire subsided quickly, but the corpses of dead goblins were all around me.

Cleaning the fresh blood still dripping from his sword, the old man put it back in its sheath. "Two of them escaped." He said as he looked at my blood-covered face and went to check each corpse for signs of life. We both gathered, each of them near a tree. He removed a long rope tied to his waist, under his pants, and tied it to all of the goblin legs, grouping all the corpses into one huge lump. He threw the other end of the rope at what seemed like a tree branch and pulled it from the other side, making all the corpses hang in mid-air. Tying the remaining rope to the trunk, he covered his right hand in green Aura and swiftly jumped high enough to reach the goblin corpses. In a flash, he cut all the remaining heads of dead goblins, making a waterfall of blood for a few moments. Half the goblins that were playing in the mud earlier were up here. "We will go once all the blood from their bodies dries up."

We walked some distance to the other side of the forest, finding a tree with a small cave-like opening to the trunk. Old man Gustav told me to gather dry wood, and he went out to patrol the surrounding area. Time flew by, and the darkness spread over the cave once again. I waited for the old man as a small fire burned near the entrance of the caved tree trunk. Inside it, there were long leaves that were used to store food and ash from burnt wood, along with multiple useless supplies like broken pieces of rope with leather pouches emptied of water and such. I inspected my metal prosthetic arm, which was undamaged from a monster bite. It showed how skillfully crafted it was, and it didn't even take a whole day for me to get used to these artificial limbs. Hearing the sound of footsteps, I came out of my thoughts and saw a short man walk towards me from a distance. I narrowed my eyes and found he was holding something in both his hands. His appearance became clear as the light from the burning flame covered his being. Still as barbaric as ever, the old man dragged both the goblin corpses through the ground, throwing them beside the fire. The corpses had burn scars, but their heads were still intact.

Decapitating them using his hand covered in Aura, he kicked the two heads into the dark side of the forest as if playing balls. He called me over, and I went and sat near the corpses, and he showed me how to skin them. Using his index and middle fingers covered in Aura, he cut through the stomach of the green monster, cutting down all the useless organs inside with ease. Blood spurted out whenever his hands went inside and searched for something to cut. As his hands reached its sternum, he grabbed something, pulled it out, and gave it to me. Dripping in little blood, a size that could fit in my palm, it had an irregular shape with a reddish-black colour, which seemed even deeper at this time of night. It was an amethyst crystal, also known as a monster's core. I could sense a very dense amount of Mana emanating from it. It was a little murky from what I usually feel, but the warmth it spread in my hand had an energy that travelled through my body, revigorating my own core a little. The old man repeated the same process with the other corpse and put a lump of meat sliced into pieces. He took out some sticks from the dry wood placed beside the fire and made a small stand above it, while also attaching a few pieces of meat to it. Holding one side of the stick, I rotated it slowly to cook the meat evenly.

I handed him the monster’s core, and he placed it, along with the one in his hand, in a small pouch hanging from his waist. Sitting opposite me, he added more wood to the fire, and the flame rose high enough to burn one side of the meat to a crisp black. "With all that experience, you still don't know how to cook." Ignoring my words, he grabbed the stick I kept turning and rotated it fast enough for the heat to spread evenly throughout the meat. We both took one piece from it. It was hot and the same as the one I've been eating the last few days, except this was a little fresh and plump yet still a little burnt and smelly. There was no spice or salt to sprinkle on top, but we completed the entire thing as our hungry stomachs sucked in the meat, irrespective of the taste. It became even darker, and the fire went out, leaving a small trail of smoke and soot. We both slept in the cramped space inside the tree trunk, where our backs faced each other.

The huge cave lit up like every day, with an illuminating light coming from everywhere. The rotting stench of blood and flesh greeted my nose as I opened my eyes. Old man Gustav was nowhere beside me. I came outside, where a dried path of flooded blood greeted me, along with dried-up intestines and other body organs, surrounded by a small group of white insects. They looked like little caterpillars with rounded mouths and an unknown number of teeth inside. I looked at the top of the tree, where the corpses of monsters looked skinny with a complete loss of blood. The rope tied around them became a little loose as their bodies shrank in size overnight. After wiping out the sweat from my brows, I picked up some soil in my hands. It was a little moist. Removing my cloak, I walked a few steps to the front and stood below a group of branches and leaves that blocked my view of the cave. I gathered Mana around my palm, and a gust of wind circled with ease. Expanding it in size, I decreased its strength and fired it towards the top. It left my hand, shaking off the leaves and extending branches a little, clearing out a small path for an instant. A few leaves detached from the branches, along with a rain of water drops, fell to the ground while cleaning my sweaty, grimey body.

I let out a fresh breath of relief, and the old man came into sight. He had a small twig in his mouth, which he directed left and right from time to time. "I found something interesting while I patrolled the surroundings today." Putting on my cloak back again, I followed him as we walked in the same direction where we fought the goblins yesterday. A little while later, we reached the mud spot in the open space, clear of any signs of a fight that had happened before. Crossing that space, we walked another few minutes before he signalled for me to stop. From there, we slowed our pace, and the ground below us became steeper and the forest a little narrower. I could see the trees surrounding us decreasing little by little, and the soiled ground became more and more rocky. We came to the edge of another small cliff and crouched on the ground, looking at the scene below. Protected by one end of the cave on one side and a long, extending small cliff on the other, an open space hidden right below us crawled with a whole nest of red, blue, and green-skinned goblins, going on with their daily lives as any other human. The sheer number looked like a bunch of insects crawling on the ground. "Now that will creep the hairs out of us." With a huge gleam and a sharp gaze fixed on that place, the old man spoke from my side.

---

As his assistant, working under Viscount Nathan was something I was proud of. The number of people he helped wasn’t small. He was more than deserving of the title of Viscount in the entire Andor province. And I respect him for that. That’s how it should have been. Questioning his choices was something I never thought of. But after that long, rainy night five years ago, when the young master came into this house, the feeling didn’t remain the same. He changed. In more ways than one, "You have something to report to me, right, Cedric?" I stood before him in front of his desk, as he asked.

"The capital has been peaceful under the rule of our wise king. The provinces ruled by respective nobles are also at peace. Nothing of notice is happening."

"How is the preparation for the banquet coming along? And did you prepare the gift I asked for?"

"The preparations are well within the schedule, and I had already arranged for them a week before. It is on its way and will reach the palace by tomorrow morning."

A gift in namesake only. But a bribe is what it truly was. An unnecessary act to please someone in power. The King of Icemere.

"It will be enough, right? It should be." He tried to hide it, but his anxious thoughts came out, making him sound out of character.

"I was quite thorough while picking them. You don’t need to worry, sir." It wasn't the first time he asked me this, and it wasn't the first time I had to assure him.

"I knew I could count on you, Cedric. I hope he doesn’t plan on anything sketchy; that's all." The king always does something unexpected. For better or worse, that’s how he was. A scheming man of age.

"When is his birthday again?"

"You mean, young master Ash’s? It’s right around the corner, a month away." He didn’t remember his own child’s important day. He could have forgotten, or he didn’t bother to remember in the first place.

"That will mark the day of my rulership over this province. It’s a step forward. A step my father and grandfather couldn’t make." I could feel a certain desire for conquest seeping from his words. A shaky smile formed on his face while an unknown type of excitement became visible in his enlarged eyes. "Cedric. Don’t let a single mistake happen. I know you will make sure everything is alright, but check over things twice and, if necessary, once again."

"Worry not, sir Nathan. I have started to make arrangements in preparation for that day. From overseeing the needs of guests to the late-night banquet celebrating the sixth birthday of the young master, I will be looking over everything from beginning to end."

"Make it grand. Invite the lower classes. Showcase how generous I am. The town should only sing my praises. Give away more free clothes and donations. If it is not enough, bribe them. I’m sure a little money will get the job done. It’s an important day."

A shift in his character was something I’ve been seeing in him recently. Normally, he would have left all the things for me to do, but now he was showing extra attention. That's how important the day was for him. "I’ll do my best to fulfil what you have asked," I said to assure his anxious heart. Again.

"Your best will not be enough, Cedric. It only takes a single mistake for my entire dream to collapse without seeing the light of day. I can trust you on that, right?"

"I will not disappoint you." I felt tired of repeating the same thing over and over. The face he was showing to the outside world and the face I was seeing now. I don’t know which was the real one, but I trust him in whatever he does. This wasn’t the kind of trust built upon my years of service, but a kind of trust that is like a debt that needs to be paid.

"I know you won’t, Cedric. I know." Getting out of his chair, he went near the window at the back. The scene outside the window changed from an early morning sun to the still moon of night as the time within the mansion moved along with the people in it.

Even if he wasn’t the man I once knew, nothing changed. Cracks may have formed in me, but they won’t affect what I do moving forward. I respect him and will continue to do so. I get to have this life because of him. I am not someone who forgets his debts. I’ll be sure to repay you completely one day. However, there was a thought that made me wonder: how far will the Viscount change going forward? Will he remain someone who can be respected? Or will he leave that old him completely behind? Only time could tell that.

I took my leave, and when I was climbing down the stairs, I saw Shaka sitting at the bottom of the stairs, facing his back to me. Hearing the sound of my steps, he turned back. Our eyes met, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a smile. "I was waiting for you, Cedric."

"Do you need something?" I asked, standing where I was.

"Why the long face? Let me guess, you left out the details in your report again, didn't you?" My brows shook in irritation as his words bothered me a little. "I heard young Miss returned from the capital. Know where she is staying?" His smile became a gleam as his eyes, hidden underneath the shadows of his cloak, creeped out in a sign of ecstasy.