“This battle was a mess… It showed me that there are plenty of people out there who are way stronger than me. I need to try harder.”

  At the same time, Zelos realized that his basic moves needed some more polish or perhaps power… he thought that the natives could give him a few hints about that, but they had no reason to help him whatsoever. They didn’t want to waste time there further, as well, so the idea of asking them never crossed his mind.

  After training for a bit, Zelos decided to test the effects of the gauntlet and soon he attacked it with his sword… It was hard as steel, and thanks to that, he confirmed the reason behind it… it consumed magic in order to cancel the power of attacks.

  Health: 950/950

  Magic: 500/500

  Stamina: 840/840

  Strength: 50

  Vigor: 45

  Precision: 39

  Wisdom: 10

  Willpower: 40

  Traits: Regeneration Lv 69

  “It seems that it cancels damage that would be equal to the damage directly to my health… so, it can cancel two hundred points of damage. It isn’t much considering my total health and regeneration, but it can be useful in some circumstances.”

  After doing some tests with the gauntlet, Zelos thought that it would be a good idea to try to improve his magic. Considering his training, he thought that his resolve should have improved a bit, but it seemed that physical activities wouldn’t help with that.

  “I bet that Edea uses her magic a lot or used… perhaps keep using a trait that consumes that will increase things like wisdom and resolve, but it shouldn’t be just that. I have to try other things once I get home.”

  Speaking of home, on the next day, the group received another message to dismount the camp on the hill… the warriors that weren’t that much hurt would join the others taking over the town that once belonged to Elmer’s brother and while the rest would retreat. They could only keep their homes unprotected for so long, after all.

  “I guess it is time to return home… Dad just left to us all the things that needed to be done back at home.”

  “It was left to you. It is time for you to reap the benefits of leading and be the future head of the clan.”

  “Zelos, you traitor…”

  “I already have my work on the farm waiting for me. Although I might give you a hand if you pay me enough.”

  “The mercenary’s way of life truly suits you…”

  In the end, after another day, the camp was dismounted and then the group began to head home. The trip could be taken in four days, but they took six since Heirina wanted to delay her work back home as much as possible… she forgot that the more she delays it, more work would be waiting for her.

  Everyone felt relaxed being back home, but Heirina looked depressed. The group soon split up and then Zelos immediately went to the farm to work…

  “I can’t let the old man die of overwork, after all. In any case, I have gotten a bit stronger, so I should be able to finish the job faster. Usually, that would mean more time for training, but I will change my routine a bit.”

  Aside from strength, the fight against Elmer made Zelos realize that he was lacking in many aspects. He had to deal with them before the next battle… because he didn’t want to count on luck or surprise attacks to defeat the enemies. That wasn’t the way that he envisioned his fighting style, after all.

  “Well first, I should get a horse to use and to be mine alone. One that needs to get used to me, my riding skills and all the weight that I carry. After that, I guess I should get used to fighting while riding and using that club as well. Then, finally, get combat experience while riding… it is a problem, but I guess I will have to rely on those guys.”

  Until now, Zelos avoided training with the others, people like Irlan and Heirina were truly the best sparring partners someone could ask for considering their skills and traits. In the end, Zelos will have to put aside his pride for the sake of the future… but the near future already looked too troublesome.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  ………

  The news about the first invasion after focusing on defending their borders for decades quickly put the country of Hillania in the attention of the closest countries. Although that country didn’t lose territory in many decades, it had become ignored by all the countries in the continent aside from its neighbors thanks to its size and lack of accomplishments. Hillania was the smallest country in the continent and didn’t have many geographical characteristics that made it stand out either.

  At first, people thought that it had been a fluke, but soon they learned that the natives joined the battle and helped on ending the campaign after just two days of their arrival. The natives could be found in many parts of the continent and they shared many characteristics among each other, the fact that they were all isolationists was just one of them.

  Also considering that they claimed the heads of two relatively famous mercenaries by the hands of unknown assailants, they picked the interest of other countries. To the point that spies began to enter the country over the next few weeks… soon the country of Hillania would become a part of a massive board where all the players wanted to seek dominance over the whole continent no matter what. Still, the country was far behind all the others for many reasons that soon the spies would find out…

  The first group to realize about the spies had been the natives. Few of them lived outside the mountains, but they did so while following the orders of Reina. At the same time, they had been carefully picked thanks to their skills and instincts and that was exactly why they found the spies… they had a smell different from the spies that they knew already. Unfortunately, they couldn’t do anything against them without warning the enemy countries of their skills.

  At first, Reina didn’t mind that much after hearing about them, but after receiving the tenth report about new spies, she couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows. She expected some sort of reaction, but not that much.

  “I guess this is my fault… my desire to finish things swiftly puts us on the focus of many people that we don’t know of and this is a problem.”

  “Leader, what are we going to do about this? Disposing of the spies should buy us some time, even if others come and are more cautious, it will at least prevent large-scale battles that we might be forced to join.”

  “You are wrong, Eldor. We don’t have to worry about them until our neighbors start to fall. So, we have some time… the real issue is, what are we going to do once the country starts to be attacked even more fiercely than before?”

  “... I suppose the only answer is to make the clans stronger. However, considering that a lot of people fear their influence, they will never grow strongly enough.”

  “Indeed… so something else will have to happen that will be different from a clan. Something that will grow so fast that it won’t have the chance to be held back by idiots. Come to think of it, it is that time of the year already… it is time to ask them to pay back the favor.”

  “Very good… this kind of investment is truly good.”

  Zelos was smirking despite his current situation… he was surrounded by massive piles of manure, but he was still in a good mood. That was because his cows were doing pretty well. He had fifty of them growing into adults and fifty adult ones already. He got a bunch of them after returning to the mission… Hei asked him what he wanted as a reward for killing Elmer, so he asked for cows.

  Usually, a person in that position would have asked for money or land, but Zelos asked for cows. Thanks to that, his business was booming, and he was already considering buying more than one hundred of them to fill the shed of investment into something else.

  “What do you think, old man?”

  “It should be around the right time for you to receive another mission that will make you stay away from the town for a while. The farm is already too big for my wife and all to take care of so many cows. Still, since everyone knows that you are my business partner, then it should be easier to avoid problems with the people that I will hire to help. I will split the hiring expenses with you. Now that I said it out loud, it sounds pretty shameful to have an eleven-year-old kid as a business partner.”

  “Twelve years old… not that there is much difference, I suppose. Anyway, since you are fine with hiring others for some reason, then I will keep investing money until the shed is full again.”

  During the last six months, Zelos didn’t leave the town, and he only did some small jobs for Heirina while she administered the town to the place of Hei. Thanks to that, he had time to focus on the farm and training, so he made a lot of progress in that area. Now he had 130 cows, and the money was starting to pile up again.

  Health: 1350/1350

  Magic: 620/620

  Stamina: 1240/1240

  Strength: 70

  Vigor: 65

  Precision: 59

  Wisdom: 20

  Willpower: 42

  Traits: Regeneration Lv 79

  That was the result of the last six months of training. Zelos felt that he had made a lot of progress. He even learned that studying could help him increase his wisdom, and since he did some grinding to learn how to read and write, his wisdom increased by ten points.

  On the other hand, Zelos’s willpower only increased by two points… that was because one would have to meditate under harsh conditions to improve that parameter aside from physical training that he usually does. Like when one was very hungry or thirsty or when it was too hot or too cold outside. That was why few people practiced that. Zelos wasn’t a fan of meditation either, he would rather move his body since it was more efficient.

  Considering his profits and the money that he received working for the old man farmer, Zelos did the math and confirmed that if things stayed like that, in one year, he would be able to have his two hundred cows. It was a high enough number, so he decided that it would be a good idea to invest elsewhere… in a business where he didn’t have to be directly involved to make sure that the money would keep working for him.

  For a change, and since it has been a while because he had been saving up money, Zelos decided to eat out and fill his belly at his favorite restaurant. When he crossed the entrance, he almost turned around and left when he saw Irlan with a middle-aged woman and a little girl with him. While it was lunch time, they were eating a large pudding together.

  “Zelos! I didn’t expect to find you here.”