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3

Normally, the nobility moved with a big party that denoted their station. This was especially true for those with the rank of Duke. There were numerous retinue that would do the miscellaneous work.

However, Kairen was starting the fire and drawing the water from the stream by himself.

Azell spoke.

“I never thought I would see the sight of you starting a fire, and drawing water.”

Of course, Azell wasn’t fooling around, while Kairen was doing the miscellaneous work. He ran around the forest to hunt down the birds and the rabbits. Since he was a high rank Spirit Order Practitioner, he was able to use his mental wave freely. It felt like cheating using those skills to hunt.

Kairen responded in a calm manner.

“If there is no one to do it, then I have to do it. It isn’t as if these tasks will finish on its own. Do you want to do all of it, since you are my junior?”

“I’ll decline.”

Azell’s skillful hands skinned the rabbit’s leather, and he worked with the meat. He grumbled, while doing this.

“Would it have been better if we packed some provisions from the palace?”

“Mmmm. I never expected you to run so poorly. It was my mistake in overestimating you.”

“.......”

Azell pouted.

The two of them were traveling from the capital to the Dukedom of Tarantos by ’running’

It wasn’t a figure of speech. They were running. Kairen had refused the horses given by the throne, then he cut down as much luggage as he could. Then he made a straight line towards the Dukedom of Tarantos.

It might sound crazy to other people, but it was the most logical method for Kairen.

‘That is the fastest way.’

He could run faster than a galloping horse, and he was able to ignore the terrain as he ran straight towards his destination. This was why he could travel much faster than traveling on a road.

However, he had misjudged Azell’s stamina.

“Tsk tsk. We traveled at such a slow pace, yet you are tired after running a mere 20 kilometres.”

“...if someone overheard us, they would think you were talking in wrong units.”

When Kairen clicked his tongue, Azell grumbled.

They had traveled at a much higher speed than a normal person could sprint, and they had covered 20 kilometres. They cut straight through mountains, forests, and prairies. It was a much rougher journey compared to traveling the same distance on a proper road.

It had been only one month, since Azell had awoken in this era. During that time, he had rebuilt his body by a little bit, and he had increased his magic reservoir. However, it paled in comparison to his prime. When one continuously moves across a long distance, stamina was more important than technique. There was no know-how that would make this easier, so Azell tired pretty fast.

Kairen spoke as he chewed on the cooked bird.

“Since your swordsmanship was so outstanding, I might have overestimated you. I’ll have to adjust my view of you. I planned on arriving there by tomorrow night...”

“.......”

If one measured the distance from the capital to the Dukedom of Tarantos in a straight line on a map, the distance was over 500 kilometers.

“I guess we will target one week as the travel time. Are you going to say you can’t travel a mere 70 kilometers a day?”

“...are you trying to kill me?”

“Ho-oh. I really like the sound of you sounding weak.”

“Ughhh.”

“We should at least find a town to rest tonight.”

Kairen was humming as if he was in a good mood, and he opened up a map.

The two of them really travelled 70 meters everyday in a straight line. As each day passed, his body was screaming out in pain, yet Kairen kept complaining that he was too slow.

‘Ooooohk! Just wait until I recover my strength! I’ll definitely show you a bitter taste, old man!’

At such a young age, he never expected to pine for the old days. He grinded his teeth. Azell cursed Kairen inside, but he covered the fixed distance they had set as a goal. He went to sleep completely exhausted.

Four days had passed.

“Mmmm?”

Suddenly, Kairen’s brows furrowed. They were climbing a mountain when he noticed smoke rising in the distance.

“Azell.”

“Yes. I see it.”

Azell also saw what Kairen had seen.

The two didn’t speak any further, and they started heading towards the location. One would need a professional gear to descend the mountain slope, yet they ran down as if they were running across flat ground. They stepped on trees as if they were flying, and they head towards the source of the smoke.

They arrived at the foot of the mountain, and they saw the fields of the village being razed by fire. A band of bandits that included orcs were plundering a village.

“Mmm?”

The two of them had been heading towards the village at high speed, yet they suddenly stopped when they detected a different kind of being. A person was on top of a tree. This being was hiding himself with a Concealment technique as he looked down at the village.

‘A magician? No, something is off.’

He wasn’t using a high ranked Concealment technique, so Azell and Kairen could easily sense his presence. This person had an old hat on his head, and he was surrounded by a voluminous traveler’s cloak.

They couldn’t see his face. While this person was small in stature, they could sense a significant amount of magic from this being.

‘Dragon Majin? No, it doesn’t seem like it... Perhaps?’

Azell detected the smell of Dragon Demon Magic from this person. Unlike those from the Dragon Demon race and Dragon Majin, this person only had a partial aspect of the Dragon Demon Magic... Basically, he felt like a human, who had gone through the Dragon Slayer’s ritual like him.

‘He doesn’t look to be in the same group as those bastards.......’

It didn’t seem plausible for such an unusually gifted magician to be part of a bandit group attacking a farming village. Still, how could he calmly look at what’s going on unless he was part of the bandits?

-Let’s go. If he is an enemy, we can face him at a later time.

Kairen had already come to a decision, so he spoke to Azell through Whispering. Then they immediately ran towards the farmer’s village. An orc was on top of a female child ripping her clothes away. Kairen descended like a bird of prey.

Pah-hahk!

The orc’s head was separated from its neck at the same time Kairen raised his sword.

Azell was following right behind him. When he arrived, a geyser of blood fountained into the air as Azell severed three necks.

“Ooh-ahk!”

“Who are these bastards!”

The two of them had attacked so abruptly that the bandits were a step slow in reacting. However, Azell and Kairen didn’t care if they reacted or not. They just approached any bandit they saw, and they swung their swords.

The bandits had already killed a lot of farmers, and they were in the process of gathering women and children. The bandits thought they had already won, so they were focused on looting. They hadn’t expected an ambush, so the bandits were being mowed down.

“W...who the hell are you bastards?”

A large man, who looked to be the leader, asked the question in shock.

Azell spoke as he walked towards him.

“Why should I answer your question? You guys are already dead, so there is no point in answering your.......”

At the same time, Azell’s form disappeared.

“...question.”

The sentence came to an end from behind the man. The man tried to turn around in surprise.

Something was wrong. He was just turning his head, yet his vision was rapidly dimming.

Afterwards, the neck that was turning was cleanly sliced. His head slid to the ground, and a fountain of blood erupted from the wound.

Tuhl-suhk!

“Kyahhhhhhhk!”

The bandit fell in front of a woman, and she let out a scream. Azell flinched.

“Jeez. I made a mistake.”

“Your lack of consideration for others is troubling.”

Kairen clicked his tongue as he approached Azell.

There had been about 30 members in the bandit group, but it didn’t even take 5 minutes to kill all of them. Maybe, if they were fully armed and ready to fight, the fight would have lasted longer. However, most of them had their pants down as they were about to violate the women. This was why everything ended so easily.

They released the people tied up by the bandits, and they extinguished the flames burning up the houses. The surviving farmers all bowed their head towards the two men.

“Aigo! Thank you very much!”

While they were doing this, they looked at the two men with fear in their eyes. These two men had overwhelming power that allowed them to kill the bandits in minutes. Moreover, they could overlook Azell, but wasn’t Kairen of the Dragon Demon race? Moreover, he wore black armor that covered his entire body. He was dressed like a knight, and the villagers could tell that this being was a noble.

“Hmmm. There is a farming settlement in such a rural area... Does the local lord here have a bad personality?”

Kairen asked with his head tilted.

He correctly guessed that these workers had run away from the rule of their lord to live as farmer inside the mountain. If a lord was merciless in his rule, one would occasionally come across such a situation. If there was a famine or a problem causing a poor harvest, these farmers couldn’t meet ends meet if the taxes were high. Those who couldn’t pay taxes and even criminals sometimes ran away to form a village.

This was why such a village didn’t have the power to protect themselves, so they were subject to being attacked by bandits. They had escaped from being plundered, and killed. However, the problem was the fact that their savior was a noble.

However, Kairen thought outside the box regarding such issues.

“Well, you don’t to be scared. You aren’t a resident of my domain, and I’m not part of the bandits. I don’t care what you say.”

“...you are very heroic in your temperament. However, is it ok for a great lord that holds the respect of the throne to be speaking this way?”

“Who cares? No one will overhear me here. Moreover, I have a more urgent business right now.”

After saying those words, Kairen glared at the magician atop the tree. The next moment he used his Instantaneous Movement to appear right in front of the magician.

“Uh?”

The magician was so surprised that he jumped off the tree. It seemed he hadn’t expected to be found, since he was using his Concealment technique.

Kairen dropped in front of him. The magician was taken aback, so he asked a question.

“Why are you being like this?”

Kairen and Azell was amazed by his words. Doesn’t he realize how suspicious he looked?

The two of them were a bit surprised when the hat half fell off the magician’s head. He looked to be only 14 or 15 years old. He had curly blonde hair and blue eyes. This youth was looking up at Kairen with an expression that indicated he didn’t understand the cause of Kairen’s action.

Azell was especially surprised.

‘This little shrimp completed the Dragon Slayer’s ritual? No way.......’

Soon, Kairen put on a cold expression as he asked a question.

“What’s your identity? It doesn’t seem like you are in the same group as the bandits.... Are you perhaps the mastermind behind this attack?”

“I have no ties to those people.”

“Then why were you hiding there as you looked on?”

“I was traveling nearby, and the bandits suddenly appeared. I hid, because I was afraid they would harm me.”

“By the look of it, you look to be a proficient magician. Didn’t you have any thoughts about helping the people being pillaged?”

The teen tilted his head at the question.

“I might die if I did. Am I required to do that?”

“.......”

His attitude was so matter of fact that Kairen and Azell got angry for a brief moment.

The teen put his hat back on. He stood up, and he dusted off his clothes.

“I know why you are asking me those questions. However, am I bound by duty to do what you suggest? It isn’t as if I brought the bandits here. I don’t know these people, so I don’t have any sense of obligation to these people.”

“That is...true.”

Kairen spoke as if he didn’t appreciate the young man’s attitude.

The teen’s words were very selfish, but he wasn’t wrong. Even if this young man was a magician with strong magic, it wasn’t guaranteed he would survive against bandits that numbered over twenty. He made a cold decision to prioritize his life over others. It was hard to berate him for that. He could criticize the youth on moral grounds, but it wouldn’t be productive to do so.