Chapter 160: Northern Region

Reiji and his group started their journey to visit the northern region of the kingdom. 

This is the coldest region of the kingdom aside from the place where the Inferno Wolves and other fire-type Evil Beasts are living…

The three bandits wore thick clothes as they traveled most of the time. They were only resting if the three of them gets tired or became hungry. Of course, it is the same with their horses.

All the Sentient Arcana does not need to rest or eat food, unlike the other living beings they were together with, so they had to camp out near the main roads or perhaps stay at a nearby village…

However, Reiji underestimated Ruthren's notoriety as they were almost attacked by some people… 

Luckily, their horses were still energetic and could run very fast…

"Ruthren… Just what kind of things did you do to end up with this 300 gold bounty?"

Reiji asked after seeing a wanted poster of this person. A while ago, he only considered the strength of his slaves and didn't think too much about other stuff…

Apparently, when he said that controlling "Arcanist" is tough, he meant that his Sword Slave Marker hasn't leveled up yet to have the power to mark them as his slave.

With this in mind, he decided to mark a strong Evil Beast or perhaps powerful men who can at least wield Magic Weapons with their Spiritual Energy…

From the 20 bandits that he fought with before, only these three people have a considerable amount of Spiritual Energy which is why he selected them as his slaves at that time.

However, he has forgotten to consider their current situation and their usefulness aside from being a combatant…

Luckily, only Ruthren has infamy, the other two were not known by the public. As long as they hide his face and perhaps change his trademark weapon, they might be able to avoid getting into trouble.

"Master… My reputation is this incredible because I'm not choosing my victims. Whether they are poor or rich, it doesn't matter to me. I will take as much as I can. This is the reason why I've been given the title "The Pillager" by the authorities. Nevertheless, I learned from my father not to waste anything so I'm always doing my best in our every mission…" Ruthren proudly declared as Reiji and the others shake their head. 

"Senior Reiji… Are you sure you want him as your follower?" Jaymie asked in concern. 

She doubts that a strong Arcana like him would need such bad people so she wanted to know what this wooden sword is thinking.

She also addressed Reiji as her senior since it felt that it was the right thing to do so as they learned that he has been awakened as a sentient one for more than two years now. 

It means that he's truly above the three of them and he's also quite powerful with a rank that is perhaps Legendary or Mythical…

"Haha… What are you saying, Jaymie? He's only keeping them now temporarily to get their treasures and help us travel safely. I'm sure that senior Reiji would discard them if they are no longer useful…" Yerin answered for him as if she can read his mind…

Reiji didn't agree or deny this claim as he ordered the three slaves to set up their camp.

They've been traveling for 3 days now and they were coming close to the nearest city… 

"Do you have enough food?" Felix asked the bandits…

"Yes… This can last us for two more days." One of the bandits answered.

They have some dried fish and some tasty rabbit jerky as their meal to keep them going. They are easy to store and carry so they can bring a lot of them. As for their water, they have several canteens with them and they can replenish them every time they got close to a river or if they've found a small stream of water running down from a mountain.

Reiji already instructed his three slaves to answer and follow the orders of Felix and the two other Arcana so he wouldn't have to give permissions every time.

As time passed, the three other Arcana asked many questions to Reiji's Sword Slaves. After all, they were also interested in humans and they would like to get as much information as they can with this opportunity. 

This way, the three sentient Arcana fully understood how amazing Reiji's ability was… The fact that the unruly bandits could obediently follow any of their requests or commands means that Reiji's mark on them was deeply rooted in their soul…

There weren't any instances that they would hesitate to answer or get conflicted to follow their requests… It was quite scary to think if Reiji would use this for evil purposes…

No—Perhaps there are already some Cursed Arcana that is doing these kinds of things that they are imagining.

***

Reiji didn't mind the three getting information to his three slaves. After all, he was also learning while listening to them.

He would learn about the precious materials, plants, or herbs that the bandits would covet if they ever come across it…

Although he miscalculated Ruthren's notoriety due to his inability to enter villages or cities, he was still quite satisfied after seeing that he knows a lot of things and was updated to the current events around the area…

Well, it was quite understandable if they want to find some profitable targets. 

Although they do not care about the status of their targets, they still care about their gains whenever they mobilized their whole group… 

He then looked at his Sword Slave Marker ability to remember its limitation and avoid making mistakes.

[ Sword Slave Marker Lv1 ] 

[ The user can mark any humans or living creatures with a similar or lower level of Spiritual Energy that you have as your slaves. A higher level can ignore the Spiritual Energy difference and increase the number of your slaves. 

Skills: Slave Mark, Slave Release 

Number of Sword Slaves: 3/5

Notes: Any Slaves that are "Marked" would die if they are "Released". Slaves that are 500 meters away from their Master will die. ]

Reiji then checked the status of his three slaves. 

[ Current Sword Slaves ] 

[ Name: Slave One 

Spiritual Energy: 105 units

Status: Slightly injured, Increased Sword Affinity ]

[ Name: Slave Two

Spiritual Energy: 80 units

Status: Slightly injured, Increased Sword Affinity ]

[ Name: Slave Three

Spiritual Energy: 70 units

Status: Increased Sword Affinity ]

'They have such terrible energy units.' Reiji thought after seeing their Slave Status.

Slave One is Ruthren the Pillager. Although he can change the names on their status, he decided to just let it be since they weren't that important.

'I wonder how much has she improved by now…' Reiji mused after remembering someone. 

Although two years had already passed, he clearly remembers that Stella had more than 400 Spiritual Energy units when they calculated it before… She was just about to turn 15 during that time and these people were already more than 30 years old. The difference is just too big.*

Reiji then looked at the three bandits chatting at the three Arcana…

'It's really hard to find a good slave… but they should be fine for now.'

Anyway, they weren't really practicing their spiritual energy and were only focusing on their job to loot other people, so he could somehow understand that they were lacking in this part.

Aside from this, he also noticed the "Increased Sword Affinity".

Reiji didn't expect this effect on his sword slaves but after thinking about it, he somehow understands the reason behind this. 

After all, they wouldn't be truly called a Sword Slave if they aren't using swords as their main weapon. 

It would be natural to do this increase… Though he's quite curious what kind of effect this would do if he selected some Evil Beasts as his slaves instead.

Their journey lasted for a day more as they finally reached the city closest to the capital where the Eternal Palace of the royalty was located. 

"Whoa… Is this the Cardelle City?" Jaymie curiously asked.

The city was surrounded by stone walls like the others. However, the walls here only have a height of five meters. It is not that tall compared to the other cities but the most surprising thing about it is that they couldn't see its end!

"This is the biggest city in Chodora and perhaps can be considered as the heart of the Kingdom… Aside from the capital, this is the only city with four branches of Knights Orders and the place where the tallest Arcanist Tower is located."

Ruthren explained as he looked at the large and bright city ahead of them.

As Reiji was listening to him, he was similarly thinking about the Defensive Array that they've placed to protect this place from being randomly attacked by flying Evil Beasts.

'They've must've spent a lot of resources to do this… Oh~ Is that the Arcanist Tower he's talking about?'

Reiji glanced at the city and found a tall tower that reminds him of the Skytree in his previous life…

Nevertheless, he remembers this structure as a landmark included in the map that he and Diether discovered from the book that he bought from Mr. Mapan.*