Ashton led him to his room and closed the door. Then he took out a small pouch from his closet and gave it to him.
Max took the pouch, staring incredulously at his father. He wasn’t shocked because his father gave him a normal looking pouch but because he knew it was. It was a spatial storage bag. This small pouch despite it being only fist-sized, it can easily store a large amount of things. This was another fantastic product of magic.
The other thing he surprised him was that despite these spatial storage bags being exorbitantly expensive, his father still gave it to him. He knew that he didn’t gave one to his siblings when they left home to join academies. The cheapest storage bag cost fifty thousand gold coins, a amount that even a Viscount like his father can not afford easily. He felt moved by his father’s love for him. He guessed that he must have used most of his savings to buy this.
Ashton smiled at him and said in a cheerful voice, “Now that you are leaving your comfortable zone, you would need this to keep your things with you all the times without being them a burden to yourself. So it will help you greatly.” His eyes reddened slightly and he quickly turned his back to him and said “Go pack your things now. I’ve already prepared a carriage for you to travel to Zexin city.”
From his shaky voice, Max could guess that he was feeling emotional about him leaving right now. Max was also feeling the same, but seeing his father, feeling sentimental about it despite being a strong man, his heart was felt warm. He bowed deeply and said “Thank you father for your gift.” He didn’t know what else to say and walked out.
…
Ashton had calmed down now. He with Esther and Amelia by his side came to send Max off. Butler George, Eva and others were also present.
Max stood in front of them. Ashton patted his shoulder and said “Take care of yourself and don’t get deceived by others.” After pausing for a moment he took a deep breath to calm his emotions and smiled “Come visit us once in a while when you have free time.”
Max nodded. “I will father. Please take care of yourself while I’m away.” He then talked a bit with Esther and Amelia before bidding everyone farewell and entered the carriage.
When the carriage disappeared from their sight, Ashton’s mood died down. Sensing his sadness, Amelia held his hand to comfort him. Esther also looked at him in concern. They knew that he was afraid of Max’s well being.
“You don’t have to worry about him. When you were out on the mission, sister Mina often sparred with him and he improved quite a lot. She even said he was strong enough to defend himself against a peak two-star mage.” Esther said.
Ashton looked at her and Amelia trying to make him feel better and nodded. “Mhm.” Then they turned and went inside the manor. Eva was feeling sad about him leaving too. She couldn’t do it with him again after Lilly went away. ‘I’ll have to break through and join the academy or i’ll get bored to death here.’
…
Max laid in the carriage seat with his hand below his head. He knew that this journey to Zexin town was going to take around 4-5 days so he relaxed.
With one hand he took out the storage bag and stared at it, deep in the thought. He didn’t expect his father to put the blue case which had his mother’s sword in the storage bag. Why didn’t he tell him this?
“Maybe this was the real gift he was talking about.” He mused.
After the carriage has travelled for half a day, it suddenly stopped. Max opened his eyes and asked “What happened? Why did we stop?”
From the outside he heard driver’s voice, “A wild beast is blocking the way, young master. Wait a few minutes; I’ll clear out the path.” Then Max heard him draw his sword and get down from the Carriage.
Max came out of the carriage and saw the middle aged driver to walk toward the bridge with a long sword in his hand. He then saw a buffalo type beast blocking the bridge with its body. This bridge was sole way to enter the forest and continue their journey.
“It doesn’t seem to be a wild beast. Can you handle it?” Max asked as he leaned on the carriage.
The middle aged man turned back and smiled “Young master, I was a two star mage at my prime. Even though I’m not as strong as I used to be. I can still handle a one starred beast.”
Max nodded. The man walked towards the beast and just as he raised his sword and used his mana to reinforce the attack, the buffalo noticed him and charged at him.
The man didn’t seem fazed and hacked down strongly. Buffalo’s horns shimmered in pale yellow light as sword struck on them.
Chak!
The sword and horn collided and one of the horns cut into half and sword landed on its head. But as horn had negated most of the force of the attack, it couldn’t injure the buffalo and the was was thrown back a few steps.
After realising that the man easily cut its horn, the buffalo scrambled away in fear. The man stood up and walked back to the carriage with a calm expression and drove it across the bridge.
For the next few days, they would travel in day and rest in night. They crossed many forests, rivers, towns and two small scaled cities before they finally arrived before the entrance of Zexin city.
“Young master we have arrived.” The driver called out. Max come out and saw many carriages, horses etc around them. At the entrance of the gate stood two guards, they were stopping everyone and telling to enter the city by foot.
The driver explained “Every two year, when various academies come to recruit disciples here, a large number of people gathers here. Therefore, avoid the problem of congestion, they charge fee and prohibits entering the city in carriages.”
Max nodded. Just then, a golden wagon entered the city Without paying any fee and guards didn’t stop it from entering. Max frowned. Others also started complaining and some even started cursing the guards for such partiality.
Like the story? Vote for it~
The 10 Bonus Chapter Mass release between 10-15 November!
