Mage Kings Rise

******

A young girl came running towards Ian.

Aldin who was curious asked Richard. "That's his younger sister," Richard said. "Their parents died and he had to take care of her skill he joined the guild but he ended up with the wrong kind of group around him.

Knights came over and pushed her away to continue the execution but then Aldin approached his parents and after sharing a few words the execution continued and Ian's sister, Vale, began to weep loudly.

"For the crime of attempted murder, the adventurer Jake will be decapitated and adventurer Ian will be given away to Aldin Randell as punishment for their crimes."

The crowd was confused by this statement. Whispers began to run wild through the crowd. And Jake from his position began to shout out, Silvia looked at Jake with a cold glare and he froze instantly.

"In service of the kingdom of with thy head," Silvia said out loud and with a swing of her hand Jake's head fell off.

After the execution, Ian was taken away to the knights' barracks and into the captains' office.

"Be glad that you don't have any past crimes or you'd be dead right now," Lark said.

As they were in the room Aldin came in together with Silvia.

"You will listen to his every order," Lark said and he came closer to Ian and began drawing a mark on his head, it was absorbed into his head, "every time you try to go against his commands you'll experience excruciating pain."

'Damn that idiot I'm only in all this trouble because of his damn ego' Ian thought to himself.

Ian

Aldin and I left the knight barracks after the slave seal was done, the kid asked me to take him to where I lived and when we got there we found Vale balling on the floor, when she noticed me getting in she ran up to me and hugged me. Until she noticed who I had come with. Her face went pale with fear and she bowed down immediately.

"No need." The kid said. He looked around at where we stayed, the room was not as fancy as one would expect but it was what we could afford, despite being an adventurer I didn't earn as much as most since I was weaker than average.

"When can you move? I don't want you staying here."

"I'm sorry but I am not able to move, I don't make that much," I answered. Without even looking at me he tossed a gold coin at me.

"Will that be enough?" He asked as he limped out

"Yes, it will be!" I said as I bowed to him. 'Heck I have a sister and we could even live off of it for an entire quarter.'

"Come meet me at the guild after seven days." He said before finally going away.

I was released that I had been able to escape death so narrowly and on the same day, we moved to a better place in the outer circle of the city. And with the rest o could finally send Vale to school. After seven days I went to the guild where I met Aldin, his leg had finally healed, for a normal person it would taken longer to be able to walk.

'Mages sure are something else.' I thought to myself as I approached him.

"Today you will be my porter." He said when I got close enough.

"Where are we going today?" I asked out of curiosity

"To the centre of the forest, there have been complaints about a group of panthers that are making hunting difficult for other adventurers and they are to be eradicated." He said as he began walking away.

After a long walk, we were able to get to the middle forest.

"Stay in this exact spot until I get back," Aldin said before erecting ice walls around me.

All I could do now was sit there and wait.

Aldin Randell

After protecting Ian with an ice wall I was off to hunt the panthers. Using radar I was able to easily find them. They were relatively easy to kill. There were way too many than there normally would have been and the oddest thing was them being in a group, panthers were known to be loners and finding more than a couple in one area was unheard of this would mean that something had caused the change in their behaviour but even after racking my brain it was almost impossible to find a solution. Once I had gotten most of them I went back to where I had left Ian, after freeing Ian we went to collect the carcasses and headed back to the city, I left Ian to deliver the carcasses to the guild.

I had to see Richard and tell him the oddity I had just witnessed.

"Hmm... interesting, what attribute were they?" he asked me after I shared my worries.

"Earth," I said to him.

"Then do you mind following me to the woods there's something I'd like you to see." He said to which I agreed.

As we were going to the woods I noticed he had worn some armour with odd traits that resembled those of a boar.

"Why are you wearing that weird armour? " I asked tired of the curiosity eating me from the inside.

"Well, it looks like this because it was crafted from the parts of a boar-type beast. And although I could make armour using earth magic, it would not be as efficient since armour made from beast parts enhances my magic and also offers better protection."

"Do my parents have some armour," I asked.

"Well, your mother is the crafter of this armour." Those words shocked me but remembered that she was still the same person who had crafted an amulet for Darvin and me.

"Then why doesn't everyone just get one." I asked since he had been the first person I had seen wearing any armour like that."

"Because one needs armour specific for them and hiring a crafter isn't cheap, hunting down the beast is the easiest part."

"Then what are we headed to see?" I asked.

"Well, beasts evolve at a certain point, during that period they need a lot of food and to do that they need subordinates to hunt food for them and bring them food, which explains their sudden appearance after a long time. Right now a beast panther I'd about to evolve and we need to hunt it down before it starts claiming territory."

And as if on cue a roar could be heard from all around the forest and it was one full of anger

"Follow me, I'm going to show you a great show."

We ran all headed to the middle of the woods, we got to a clearing where a giant panther could be seen, it seemed to be angry and on sight it attacked. With its claws, it was ready to take down Richard in one blow

"sit back and watch as I take it down."

Richard went for it and stomping his foot the ground fired earth stakes at it and almost impaled it but it swayed them away. It starched out its claws to him but he dodged them. Running he went under it and with a fast punch hit its rib area, it let out a loud roar of anger and from beneath him earth rose and hit him. The beast had used its affinity to earth and successfully landed other blows on Richard but he was unscathed thanks to our armour.

Not letting him go it followed him up and this time with its maw began attacking Richard trying to bite off his head, when it was close enough Richard kicked its mouth shut.

Anger was flaring in its eyes and it lost control and began fighting recklessly, due to this it was easy for Richard to wound it. Soon it would bleed out but it tenaciously fought despite its bleeding wounds Richard did not escape unscathed he also had some wounds on his body. In a short time, it began losing its foot more and out of anger it let out a loud roar, the ground beneath it began to quake, and Richard was pushed back by this. I expected that he would move back into the fight but his face was filled with terror and soon mana began filling the air and the earth quaked more the panther was the main cause of this as the man was filling it.

******

With the mana of that scale filling the air, it was a clear indication of one thing, the beast was evolving.

This was bad since with this evolution its strength would grow greatly and defeating it would have become harder that it already was. Richard could only shake in his boots at the beast that was in front of him.

'I have to kill it before it evolves or I doubt anyone will be able to stop it and it might even destroy the city.' Richard thought to himself as he jumped in to land a finishing blow. He jumped in expecting to be able to defeat it but it simply stated him and was ready to maw at him.