After that day, the remaining few soldiers seeking their home were travelling through the safest routes to arrive at the borders of the Empire and their kingdom.

  It was difficult despite going through relatively safe places that were ones of the few locations in the Empire habitable by mortals. They had to take detours and were going at an extremely slow pace to survive.

  It took them almost three years to get to the closest Arkravav’s city next to the kingdom they wanted so much to enter.

  It was a tragic realization that the distance between it and Karkov City was actually a distance that could be passed by carriage ride in three to four months in the Vanaras Kingdom.

  For strong warriors, it could be passed even faster.

  But the Arkravav Empire was too dangerous.

  Despite calling itself an Empire, it was in truth just a big wilderness with few safe places that became cities after a long time of development and gigantic powers who had control over such places.

  However, these safe places were akin to a small droplet of water in the ocean compared to the size of the Empire’s territory.

  No proper roads, no resting places.

  The smallest human settlements were as big as Karkov City with several Magisters always inside.

  Beyond the walls of these cities, wild nature brought many treasures and opportunities but also unsurmountable danger.

  Even the Empire’s royal family gave up on taking over everything.

  Acolytes and Magisters decided to move through special ways while Alfred and the soldiers had to risk their lives to pass through this dangerous place.

  They were lucky and didn’t encounter anything that could annihilate them all without a doubt, but still many of them died.

  And when they finally got to Bereva City that was just next to the Ancient Swamp of Zerhuins, they were told that they were not eligible to enter the magic engineering wonder that would normally fly the Acolytes over these swamps right to the capital of Vanaras Kingdom.

  Airships.

  One of the main means of transport for the people in the Arkravav Empire.

  But they couldn’t use it.

  In the end, they could only grit their teeth and enter the swamps.

  For people of Vanaras Kingdom, it was the land of death, but for them, they were already through worse—both in war and later during their journey back home.

  After many grueling days, they actually managed to pass through the swamps, and the rest became history.

  Headmaster Alfred became a legendary figure in the eyes of the common people, and he didn’t stop there.

  Later on, he became a scholar like he wanted to be in the past and decided to help the Kingdom.

  Through knowledge and hard power, he managed to create the first road that went straight through the Zerhuins to help the future victims trying to return to their homeland. It also opened many trade possibilities as a lot of small merchants started to enter the kingdom.

  Since then, many magical items were imported to the kingdom.

  Alfred became a man of power and respect, and together with his brothers-in-arms, he single-handedly made the kingdom a better place.

  He even slayed one of the wyverns that was attacking a small town in the west, getting a moniker of ‘Dragon Slayer.’

  These were truly magnificent stories considering they were about just one man.

  ‘He even has some magic books? This man is a big variable. No wonder they were so adamant to throw all this shit at him. He is someone feeding on his reputation. Without it, he won’t be as big a threat as before. But still…’

  Illyan’s eyes turned somber as he thanked the man and disappeared into another corner.

  ‘He will be hard to deal with if even half of these things were true…’

  ……

  Just as the gates were finally fully opened, the people waiting around felt the ground vibrate in constant rhythm as if the sound of war drums was coming their way.

  Some even held their breath in anticipation as they waited for the Headmaster’s arrival.

  Everyone got quiet as they waited in silence.

  The sound of drumming got louder as more time passed.

  ‘Well, that is definitely not a horse,’ Illyan thought as he felt the ground trembling under him.

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  Just as he thought, he heard a thunderous bleating or rather braying similar to that of a goat.

  Others also gasped as they cheered, and soon a gigantic shadow loomed over them as the sound of hooves hit the stone pavement.

  The gate, although big, was barely able to fit the man on his steed as he passed through.

  The beast was as big as a house and was even bigger than a troll.

  Its horizontal eyes passing through the crowd of people made some of the weak-hearted uneasy, but the creature was very calm with the man who was sitting on its back petting it slowly.

  “Stay away or you will get yourself killed!”

  Still, guards tried to push people farther from the gate as the creature’s enormous horns could reach the ground if the beast turned its head.

  ‘That’s a… Mouflon?’ Illyan watched the beast trotting in front of the gate with surprise as he realized what it was.

  People wouldn’t think of mouflons when it came to steed, but this one definitely looked majestic.

  Its long pure white fur, which was surely taken care of, was making it look like a divine beast, while its horns that were as thick as Illyan’s waist and spiraled sideways into one big loop with their tips pointing forward made it seem as if it was a beast born for war.

  Depending on how much it bowed its head, it could either ram or skewer whatever lay in its path.

  Anything that it missed would be trampled upon by weight that no ordinary man could even endure.

  “It’s fine. Tagufa will behave.” As guards were panicking, a calm but resonating voice came out of the beast’s, which name seemed to be Tagufa, back.

  The voice definitely belonged to an old man, but the power behind it would overshadow even the most zealous young men.

  When Tagufa finally turned around a bit, its head stopped hiding the man sitting on it and Illyan could observe him.

  The old man looked around before jumping down from the mouflon’s back.

  The height didn’t hinder him at all as he elegantly landed on his legs.

  He was very tall and muscular for his age as he towered over normal people. It was as if age didn’t have any effect on him as he stood there proudly.

  The height was similar to Illyan’s, but his aura was even more imposing as his long but gray hair blew in the wind. The heroic appearance made several people gasp in amazement.

  Despite his appearance, his conduct seemed to be refined as his scholarly upbringing from his years of study made a contrast that attracted attention—both the bad and good one.

  His long beard couldn’t hide his stern expression as he looked around as if looking for someone.

  “Now then… Please take my Tagufa to my stables and tell people to retreat. I have some unfinished business that could cause some problems for the civilians.”

  He said to the guards as his voice took a chilling turn.

  “There is no need for that, is it?”

  However, as the guards panicked with pale faces, a leisurely voice cut through the crowd.

  To the front of the crowd came a man with a carefree expression as he brought several men with him. Further back, there was also a weak-looking girl that seemed to be pitiful as she coughed once in a while.

  That was obviously Aurelia, who had to come together with her father for an unknown reason.

  She and Illyan noticed each other’s presence but didn’t show it in their demeanor as they didn’t want to attract suspicion.

  “Brynjar…” A name came out of Alfred’s mouth with bitterness when he looked at the man in front of him.

  “Sir Alfred.” Brynjar nodded politely in a mocked bow.

  Alfred’s expression turned unsightly for a second before calming down as he looked at the man in front of him.

  The tension was palpable as the ones previously cheering stopped and even took steps back as if they expected something to happen.

  Some of them firmly believed that the Headmaster would not have fingers in the thing that happened in the mountains, but there were already people who were persuaded by the facts and were furious at the man.

  “You traitor!” Few, emboldened by Brynjar’s arrival, even yelled out at him, which agitated the crowd even more.

  However, when Tagufa heard the noises, he brayed thunderously as he stomped the ground.

  “Agh!”

  The yells of fear and panic spread, but before anything could happen, Alfred patted the huge beast to calm it down.

  “You’ve done it now, Brynjar. All of you and your little friends, done it. I would understand if you wanted to do something to sully my name. I could even forgive you if you tried to hurt me. But to frame innocent people? For what? Your pathetic ambition? Cowards who would do anything to live just a little longer? How far you have fallen, Brynjar. And now, you even drag your ill daughter into this. How much must Vianna suffer in the underworld for you to finally understand.”

  Alfred’s words, like a heated iron, pierced right through Brynjar’s heart as the Headmaster didn’t mingle with his words.

  The people around were confused as they weren’t privy to the entire story, but they could hear the ‘frame the innocent’ and were wondering if the academics were truly innocent in that incident.

  Brynjar felt a surge of anger when he heard the name ‘Vianna’ and almost drew his saber.

  “Hmph! Your people did something that compromised the lives of hundreds and this is how you act? I may not insinuate that you were part of that scheme, but your behavior makes me think that you do not truly care about people despite your heroic renown.”

  Brynjar scowled at Alfred as he used the justification of that incident to hammer down the man who just came.

  However, Alfred just smirked with an overcast expression.

  “Trying to play hero when acting like a thug? Who doesn’t know that you and your family run a gang that has been tyrannizing people in this town for decades? You guys, together with that snake, are experts at throwing blame around. Am I not right?”

  As Alfred finished, he stared deeper into the crowd.

  Illyan’s heart jolted for a second since he stared in the general direction where he stood.

  However, he soon sighed in relief when from behind him he heard sounds of footsteps as someone got to the front.

  Of course, the feeling wasn’t exactly comfortable since the man who was behind him was undetected by him until now, but considering both of them were hidden within a crowd, they probably could not feel each other’s presence either way.

  As the man finally made a step out of the crowd, Illyan widened his eyes.

  It was Varel, standing there proudly, on his two legs.

  ‘How is that possible? Is it the Minor Recovery Tonic? But that should not be so strong.’ He narrowed his eyes as he watched the smug deserter prancing in front of the Headmaster.

  “I may be of lowly background and I am used to live in filth, but that doesn’t make me a wanton killer that would sacrifice blood of innocent that—”

  Just as he wanted to give a self-righteous speech, he was interrupted.

  “Alright, that is enough. Hearing such words from someone who sacrificed his comrades on the front lines to escape here is unsightly. Now, if you don’t give me an appropriate answer, I will take action. Even if I can’t take care of all of you, I will make sure there will be no place for you to return in this town.”

  Alfred said as he reached into the fur of his mount.

  With a flick of his hand, a hidden pole with a lump of steel at its end was taken down from the saddle, but most only could see a blur because of the pole’s speed.

  Swirling the pole above his head with one hand, he redirected the dull tip of the pole towards the pavement with a loud crack.

  Now, the weapon could be properly seen.

  Alfred stood there straight like a spear as he held a war halberd in his left hand prepared to cleave his enemies open...