Marcus landed near Stella’s location after using a couple [Blink Steps] to get to her. She was breathing deeply, sweat dripping down her hair as she stared up at Marcus. A smile then graced her face.

  “Took you quite a while, Sir Marcus,” she softly said. “The horses are safe.”

  “I can see that,” Marcus nodded, looking around her work. “Looks like you wiped out a good number of them.”

  “R-right…”

  He patted her shoulder, and Stella yelped lightly as a response.

  “Good job. Did they give you XP? I’m pretty sure they netted me quite a lot myself.”

  “Yes. I…I am now at level 58. Just two more before I reach platinum rank,” Stella giggled. “I gained twenty-four stat attribute points. They mostly went to my [Magic] and [Dexterity] stats.”

  “What are your total stat attribute points now?”

  “Four hundred and eight.”

  “Well, best maximize squeezing a few extra points before you reach platinum rank then,” Marcus advised. “I myself am now a level 8 [Mage]. I only gained nine stat attribute points though, mostly to my [Dexterity] stat.”

  “That sounds wonderful. If you keep that up, you’ll soon snowball and receive a lot more stat points!”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Marcus lightly shrugged. “Guess my dream of becoming a proper [Mage] really is in sight. Anyway, geez…what a mess.”

  The two stopped discussing their gains, instead looking around the ruins of Hamden. It was utterly devastated, but the first rays of sunlight were filtering in, the darkened clouds retreating from view.

  “Sir Marcus, we might run into the Order of Saint Monica,” Stella warned. “I think we should flee now.”

  “Right. We'll use [Blink Step] and move westward, then continue travelling north.”

  “Hmm…let me double-check first. I know the terrain better.”

  “Okay.”

  Marcus unfurled a map out of his bag, showing it to Stella. The two discussed their next plans, with Stella offering various routes for them to take, alongside their downsides and upsides.

  When she was done, Marcus decided on the westward route. He simply didn’t want to continue riding on the same road they were planning to use earlier.

  As Stella said, there was the threat of the Order of Saint Monica catching them. Those inquisitors were operating nearby after all, most likely preparing for an attack on Hamden. It was apparently a major church policy to move whenever a major attack from envoys of death occurred.

  Hamden was one such example. But, due to the fact that the active envoy here earlier could have been classified as a Yesod-class, they wouldn’t have charged headfirst. With the envoy’s corruption effects now rapidly dissipating, however, they would be circling around the major roads like vultures, ready to charge in and investigate.

  The two soon mounted on their horses, riding out of the ruined city. By the time they reached the outskirts, they rode out of the main northward road, moving west. Then, Marcus used [Blink Step] and [Levitate] to move Stella and the horses quickly to their next starting point.

  Once that was done, the two made their way straight into a nearby town, intending to rest for the day as the sun began to go down. It was good fortune that the envoy’s attack was limited to Hamden, so there was no tightened security around the town.

  They entered without incident.

  “Hey, have y’all heard the news?!”

  “Of course! Hamden’s liberated! The folks from the church did their jobs well for once!”

  “Someone earlier said that it wasn’t the church, though.”

  “Bah, stop spreading stupid rumors, Gregor. How about you pick up our tab instead?!”

  “Man, go screw yourself!”

  Marcus watched as Stella elegantly yawned in her seat. The tavern they were in was quite crowded this morning. Unfortunately, the town they visited was quite small and less wealthy, so there weren’t fancy restaurants or hotels around.

  Last night, they had to settle in a ramshackle inn, one of the few that was available considering how late they arrived in town. Now, they would be having breakfast inside a tavern populated by rowdy construction workers, low-ranked adventurers, and drunk farmers.

  It was certainly not a place where Stella, an absolute princess, belonged. On the other hand, Marcus felt more at home here. It was like he was back in hell, drinking and eating with his old comrades.

  A waiter, a feline demihuman, soon arrived, serving the two with their breakfast meal. While Stella opted for a simple salad, Marcus had eggs, sausages, and bread.

  “That will be eight silvers, nya,” the waitress said, smiling. “You two aren’t from here, are you?”

  “Nope,” Marcus lightly replied as he handed the woman his money. “We’re just visitors.”

  “Nya, there’s not a lot of visitors or merchants nowadays. The countryside is quite dangerous.”

  “I’m her bodyguard,” Marcus said, trying his best to shut down the conversation.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “Oh…” The waitress turned to Stella. “I see. Well, have a good meal, you two!”

  The woman left Marcus and Stella, lightly humming to herself. While Stella dug in on her food, Marcus furrowed his brows. Weren’t demihumans having trouble in the Astrean continent?

  That lady seemed a bit too cheerful and unguarded, Marcus thought.

  “Hey. Explain to me, what the hell is this country?”

  “Hmm?” Stella raised her head, befuddled. “Oh! Wait, give me a second.”

  Stella then cast a silencing spell before she gave him his answer. Marcus, of course, listened closely to Stella’s explanation about the country they were in.

  Ridia, the most powerful nation on the continent, was somewhat decentralized. It was divided heavily between nearly independent lords and princes. The title of ‘Emperor’ itself was chosen by Imperial Electors, the most powerful princes in the Empire.

  As such, Ridia wasn’t that uniform in its local policies. Some principalities, therefore, were quite awful places to live in; some, like this one, maybe not.

  “At least I’m not seeing or hearing slaves around here,” Marcus said, calmly eating sausages. “Makes me feel better.”

  “In Sordale, slaves are also forbidden by law. But, unfortunately, some lords break it and hide the practice.”

  “How annoying.”

  “You know, Sir Marcus…even if you’re quite cold, you do have a pretty strong sense of justice, huh?”

  “I said I’m not cold.”

  “...”

  “Why are you always so unconvinced by that?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Anyway, I’m not sure if I do have a strong sense of justice. That requires me to follow the law. Pigs just rub me wrong, so I kill them.”

  “How grim.”

  Stella winced a bit, but she later smiled.

  “But, Sir Marcus, I think I understand you now,” Stella continued. “I feel like, all this time, I’ve never acted on my own because of the rules of the church and the law.”

  “Yeah?”

  “So, as a result, I’m underperforming in my role.” She looked at her gloved hand, clenching it into a fist. “I need to do better, just like you. I have to be able to act on my own and decide whether someone should be sent to the goddess for judgement or not.”

  Marcus nearly choked on his food.

  Goodness, it’s so out of character for her whenever she speaks that way.

  After all, Stella was quite the gentle and peaceful soul. She wouldn’t harm people unless truly needed. It was just who she was, as [Saint]. But now, she was starting to casually say that she would send people to the goddess for judgement.

  “You’re sometimes scarier than me,” Marcus said, echoing his past comments to her.

  But Stella’s mouth formed a tiny ‘O’, intrigued.

  “Really? Do I sound tough and cool like you now, Sir Marcus?”

  “No, I sound normal. You sound like a psycho masquerading as an innocent young lady.”

  “I…”

  She turned red as she puffed her cheeks.

  “I’m not a psycho, Sir Marcus!”

  Before leaving the town, Marcus and Stella briefly trained in a remote area in a nearby forest. Considering Marcus’ dirty clothes, he needed to finally figure out how to get his most important spell, [Cleaning Vortex].

  Now that he was somewhat of a novice [Mage], and since he had learned a few spells already—which he had not yet mastered—he was able to use [Summon Grimoire]. Immediately, a thin spellbook appeared in his hands.

  He flipped through it briefly, checking his current progress on the spells he was studying. [Ignite], a spell about conjuring a weak fire, was now up to eighty-percent mastery.

  Both [Blow] and [Rock Throw] were currently at seventy-five percent mastery. But his most complex spell, [Cleaning Vortex], was still stuck at sixty percent mastery.

  “How long is this going to take?” Marcus grumbled. “I just want to clean my laundry…”

  “I think you’re close to mastering it,” Stella said, peering into his grimoire. “Let me see…ah, this is where we left off earlier, no?”

  “Yes.”

  “Now, just change this…”

  And on and on did Stella explain to Marcus the various symbols and lines he should focus on. When she was done, which took five minutes, Marcus aimed his wand at a nearby tree.

  Then, he poured mana from his manacore out of his gate, through his wand, invoking a spell circle. He chanted the spell lightly under his breath, mostly just to make himself feel better, and soon, he fired off a vortex of wind and water.

  He did it again, a second time. Then a third time, trying his best to adjust it based on the results of his personal grimoire, which tracked his mastery of a certain spell. It took time, though, as he wasn’t fast.

  While his [Dexterity] stat attribute was quite high, Marcus was used only to using that with his sword and other weapons. He wasn’t used yet to leveraging it for faster spellcasting time or to waving his wand better.

  But practice always helped, and that was what Marcus was aiming for. Within thirty minutes, he finished, noting down his progress.

  “I think with that mastery,” Stella looked at Marcus’ spellbook. “You should be fine already to use it on your laundry.”

  “But I’ve only reached seventy-five percent mastery,” Marcus countered.

  “Yes, but perfection isn’t the aim of magecraft, Sir Marcus. While creating perfect spell circles and being able to recreate them with your mind takes academic rigor and accuracy with your imagination, spells work even when the lines and shapes of a spell circle’s part are imperfect.”

  “It doesn’t make sense. Shouldn’t magic require perfect formulas?”

  “Sir Marcus, remember this. Magecraft is part logic and part art. Mages who only focus on one aspect will fail. Your goal is a perfect formula, yes, but to get there, you must grasp it with your mind.”

  Marcus absorbed Stella’s lesson before nodding.

  “I see, thanks.”

  He closed his grimoire and then unsummoned it. Afterward, he rummaged for his laundry.

  “Once this is done, we’re leaving,” Marcus said, as he began placing his clothes to hang on the branches. “I was planning to pull you into another training run as a reward, but…”

  “You want to help me out with Lady Siris first?”

  “After everything that you taught me, it’s the least I can do. I assure you, I’ll make sure that you’re reunited with your familiar. We've taken too many detours already.”

  “Thank you. I know you will do that anyway, Sir Marcus. I’ll help out with your laundry then.”

  Marcus eyed her curiously.

  “With what?”

  “Why, with drying, of course!” Stella sounded cheery again. “[Cleaning Vortex] will obviously wet your clothes, so it’ll be up to me to dry them immediately.”

  “Ah. You have quite a lot of useful spells tucked in that grimoire of yours, huh?”

  “Of course! I’m quite proud of it.”

  Marcus laughed a bit as he continued preparing his clothes. When it was done, and all of them were hanging securely on the tree branches, he aimed his wand at it.

  “Alright,” Marcus took a deep breath, preparing himself for possibly abysmal results once his spell hit his clothes. “Here goes nothing.”