With a simple nod, the man leading the other soldiers acknowledged Roland and dismounted from his horse. Standing slightly over 6 feet tall, this man had broad shoulders and bulging muscles to match his stature. With black hair in the fashion of a buzz cut and black eyes to match, this man gave off the feeling of a natural born soldier. Even his black beard seemed grizzled at first but looking closer, it was actual trimmed proper. Wearing a bluish chest plate, the insignia of a rhino with three horns atop its head represented the Rhylo Kingdom. Taking a few steps toward Roland, this man eyed him and the three elders behind him, turning toward the crowd the man spoke in a loud booming voice."People of Sento village, listen up."
With this commanding voice, the loud cheering and excited expressions quickly became quiet murmurs until finally, silence. Everyone suddenly had a nervous look as they stared at the serious young commander. Roland, the elders, and all of the villagers waited quietly for the man"s next words. Once more with a booming voice, the young man spoke.
"I am commander Clovis from the imperial army and have been ordered to investigate the happenings in the area and solve the issues at hand."
Everyone"s eyes and ears perked up as they listened.
"As I"m sure your all aware by now, something has been happening in the forest and mountain. Because of this strange happening, not only this village but other nearby villages as well as the town of Jizhen have been experiencing frequent attacks by roaming wolf packs as well as a large shortage of wild game."
Clovis put two fingers in his mouth and issued a loud whistle. Outside of the village, a few more horses could be seen coming from the distance, behind them a few big wagons were seen being pulled. Why these wagons were so far outside of the village no one knew but by the time the wagons actually made their way into the village square and the people saw what they carried, a few people had put it together. In total there were 6 large wagons and inside each and every one of them were piles and piles of dried meats and jerky. Some people recognized if they would have just pulled the wagons in with no explanation, the people might have disregarded them and would have maybe attacked or stole the food. With the commander, however, grabbing the villagers attention and then telling them why they were here, he instantly built a small amount of trust. With him telling them he would solve the issues at hand and then carting in a bunch of food, the people all knew that Clovis was most likely going to give them some, otherwise what was the point of him saying all that. This was the reason he hadn"t allowed the wagons in at first.
"If everyone would form 6 orderly lines, with each line in front of a wagon, my men will distribute the food out to each man, woman, and child equally. While this is happening I"ll need to have a talk with your Chief, your elders, as well as anyone who has any valid information on the current situation. In the meantime, my soldiers will set up a defensive perimeter around the village. Once you all have collected your food, please leave the village square so others can get their food and then go about your day as you normally would, that is all."
Turning back to Roland, Clovis gave Roland a telling look and Roland led the way. Roland also gave a small order and one of the elders turned and left. As some of the soldiers set up a defensive perimeter the others were generously handing out plenty of food, although the amount wouldn"t last forever it was clearly enough for a month or so, hopefully, the problem would be solved by then. As Lowen watched the situation unfold he was very curious about these soldiers especially Clovis. Lowen could feel a small amount of magic power flowing through him but it wasn"t enough to call him a Mage. Like Lowen, before he became a 1st circle Mage he had learned how to absorb and sense an element, he was neither a regular person nor was he a Mage. This is what Lowen felt from Clovis and yet Roland seemed extra courteous to him for some reason.
As Lowen was stuck in thought one of the elders came upon him. Seeing Lowen perched up on the roof like a bird, the elder wanted to laugh but he knew of Lowen"s strength and instead acted cautiously. Clearing his throat, the elder gently spoke.
"Lowen, The chief has asked that you please come to the Hall as he could use your a.s.sistance."
Lowen rolled his eyes at first, with the Chief having a seemingly new personality he would most likely want Lowen to either help or give his viewpoint. Lowen didn"t necessarily mind helping people but helping the Chief was annoying. With Roland"s new att.i.tude, Lowen hadn"t been able to get mad at him even once and to Lowen, it was kind of irritating. To go from greatly disliking someone to basically becoming completely indifferent and then that person suddenly devoting himself to helping his fellow villagers. If Lowen said no, then he would look like an a.s.shole and if he said yes, Lowen felt he would be doing exactly what Roland wanted and that bugged the h.e.l.l out of him. With an exaggerated sigh, Lowen jumped down from the roof and told Nia and Ben not to worry and with a leisurely att.i.tude, he walked back to the Chief Hall.
As Lowen and the elder entered the Chief Hall, Roland was finishing his explanation of everything he had recently learned, as well as Lowen"s hypothesis. Looking at the people in the Hall, Roland the elders, Clovis as well as another older man Lowen hadn"t noticed earlier, all stood around the wolfs corpse. Standing up Clovis looked at Roland with a questioning gaze and asked.
"Is that true, where is this Lowen? I wish to speak with him on this."
Roland slowly pointed at the small child standing behind Clovis and Clovis turned around. If his face wasn"t one of surprise, then there would be no other way to explain it. Clovis almost started to shout when he saw Lowen.
"You expect me to believe this child killed those wolfs and even came up with that sort of explanation on why they have appeared, do you take me for a fool?"
Roland wasn"t upset in the least he simply shook his head and began to explain.
"I ask that you do not look down on this boy he may look normal but he"s already a 1st circle earth Mage. Not only that but he"s also a very strong fighter as well as highly intelligent, were you to underestimate him then it would be your doom."
Lowen gave a small smile of satisfaction. From the outside in he would look intelligent but really its just past experience but Lowen couldn"t tell them that. As for being a 1st circle Mage and a strong fighter all of that credit was definitely his. Looking at commander Clovis and the older soldier beside him, they both looked unconvinced. Seeing as there was no need to hide his power Lowen decided to reveal a card or two. Taking out a simple stick Lowen pointed it above the palm of his hand. Clovis and the old soldier beside him looked at Lowen as though he were a fool before something strange happened. With a bit of power, Lowen filled this seemingly ordinary stick with magic, as he did an inscription along this stick began to glow with a dim green light and a ball of dirt no bigger than a fist quickly formed in his hand.
The stick had been one of the few he had slowly carved an inscription on a few months back. Although Lowen continued to carve inscriptions almost daily, he still couldn"t put multiple spells on one stick without them completely breaking. At this point though, he had a few spells on separate sticks. The only downside was that each time he used a spell, the stick would either break having a one time use or the stick would have a long cooldown of some sort.
Clovis and his fellow soldier were shocked, to say the least, but Lowen wasn"t finished. Taking the ball of dirt, Lowen chucked it past the men and using just his body Lowen ran past them with great speed, by the time they turned around Lowen had already caught the ball of dirt. Standing there stupified, Clovis couldn"t help but say the first thing that came to mind.
"Uncle, this boy is almost as fast as you."
Lowen, Roland, and the elders included, all stared at Clovis and this older soldier at his side in confusion. They all had the exact same thought.
(Uncle.)
Clovis and this older man could see the confused looks on everyone"s faces. The older man cleared his throat and spoke a few words.
*Ahem*
"My nephew has lost his composure, ah well I suppose it doesn"t really matter if you all know. My name is Bren, although I"m his uncle it"s not by blood. His father is Like a real brother to me so his son is like my nephew and although I"m older I"m actually his subordinate and not the other way around. So please mind how you address us both."
Clovis rubbed his head shyly, it was weird seeing this leader type of guy, suddenly become like a kid after he saw some of Lowen"s ability. Clovis wiped the smile from his face and once again regained an air of authority.
"Sorry about that. It seems you weren"t lying, how fascinating."
Clovis looked Lowen up and down, his eyes filled with curiosity. As though he understood, Clovis gave a few nods.
"So, Lowen was it? You used earth energy to rapidly increase your strength and speed. You must be a rare genius to become so strong at such a young age without Inscription Tattoos."
Hearing this new term, Lowen glanced over at Roland and Roland gave him a look as though he would explain it later. With that look of confirmation, Lowen put the thought away for now and Clovis finally took Lowen seriously and moved the conversation along, however, he couldn"t help but stare at Lowen every few seconds still finding it incredibly difficult to believe. Every now and then his thoughts would wonder.
(This boy must be a prodigy or a genius among geniuses, he could probably compete with that boy from the Dracu Kingdom in the south.)
Noticing Clovis was losing his train of thought, uncle Bren nudged him in the ribs.
"Ah yes, what was I saying, oh right right right. We received word about this problem a month ago and have finally gotten here. What we need to do now is gather a few more men and then head to the most reported areas and begin our investigation. This will be both an investigation as well as a subjugation mission. Chief I can count on you right?"
Roland looked at the elders for a second before nodding his head. With his injuries nearly completely healed his strength was almost complete and e could use a good test. With plenty of soldier for backup, there was no fear of dying and Roland could finally let loose. After Roland agreed, Clovis then looked down at Lowen.
"Normally I would never ask a kid to enter someplace dangerous but I"ve witnessed your abilities first hand, with your speed alone you can almost keep up with my uncle. Tell me does your strength match your speed?"
Lowen hearing this almost wanted to chuckle, lifting his foot a few inches off the ground Lowen gave a small stomp.
*CRACK*
Lifting up his foot once more a small fissure formed on the stone floor beneath his foot. Lowen, six months ago could have done the exact same thing, however, he would have needed to use all of his strength in conjunction with his ki. Now though with constant ki and earth element absorption, Lowen had only used a portion of his strength and that was without any ki energy at all. With Lowen"s estimates, he gathered that he could lift 2 thousand pounds or so and the toughness of his body was even scarier.
Clovis looked at the webbed, cracked floor, and smiled from ear to ear. Seeing such talent and strength in one so young was absolutely thrilling.
"Fast and strong, good, so will you come with us young Lowen?"
Clovis looked at Lowen and noticed a greed in his eyes. Lowen had nothing in his previous life in terms of wealth and being in this new world he had seen not even an ounce of gold. Lowen had wondered for a long time now what it would be like to be rich and the more he thought of it the more he wanted wealth not necessarily to flaunt it but more of a curiosity of what it felt like, so without hesitation, Lowen shot back.
"It depends, what is the reward?"