Chapter 6

As an earth knight, Marcus was very sensitive of magic and combat aura. His warning couldn’t be wrong.

Liszt immediately grew nervous.

The squires hurried to pack the tableware. As ordinary people who hadn’t grasped combat aura yet, they would be committing suicide if they were to fight monsters.

Marcus was already on the horse. “Ignore the tableware. Help the baron get on the horse and prepare for battle!”

The squires then hurried to help Liszt.

However, Liszt was a beginner knight with basic combat aura, after all. Holding back his anxiety, he got on the horse. Young and inexperienced, his horse was as nervous as him. Liszt had to soothe it by stroking its neck.

Encouraged by its master, Fire Dragon relaxed slightly. As the earl’s birthday present, it had a remarkable bloodline and was quite adaptive.

Within a few breaths, the monster that Marcus sensed emerged from the woods.

It was a huge gray wolf, with two vague blue stripes on its back.

“It’s a Wind Blade Wolf! An inferior monster! Step back, let me deal with it!” Marcus raised his spear, longer than a person was tall.

After that, he suddenly shouted, “Heya!”

The intermediate combat aura echoed and exploded inside his mouth. All the leaves were sent rustling under his roar.

He hoped that the Wind Blade Wolf could be scared off.

The Wind Blade Wolf slightly crouched as if it were retreating, but it was only a disguise for an attack. Marcus spurred his horse and pressed forward.

The wolf also pranced toward Marcus. In the meantime, a few blue whirlwinds appeared out of nowhere and spun toward Marcus.

The tip of the spear shivered, launching a stream of ivory light that hit the whirlwinds and shattered them. Then, Marcus waved the spear at his back and pierced from the other side, hitting the jumping wolf precisely.

The Wind Blade Wolf jerked and evaded the spear, but the ivory light from the spear still cut a wound on it.

When it landed, another few whirlwinds were released.

Marcus dodged the whirlwinds narrowly. At this point, he was already far away from the Wind Blade Wolf. He charged again for a melee battle, but the Wind Blade Wolf was smart enough to keep a distance from him and drain him with whirlwinds—another quality that distinguished monsters from common beasts was their cleverness.

Such a war of attrition was not a big deal for monsters, which could recover quickly, but knights’ combat auras couldn’t last.

However, Marcus proved himself worthy of nobility and knighthood. He simply put the spear on his back and pulled the bow. In the blink of an eye, two arrows were shot at lightspeed with his combat aura.

The Wind Blade Wolf scorned him. It could easily dodge the arrows.

However, the Wind Blade Wolf’s disdain turned into fear the next moment.

The two arrows knocked against each other in midair. Their trajectories changed, and they stabbed into the Wind Blade Wolf’s back brutally.

“What great archery!” Liszt was amazed as he watched the battle, his anxiety gone.

Under the protection of such an earth knight, he could totally enjoy the battle, at ease.

The life of a lord was truly great. He had servants to serve him in daily life and knights to serve him on the battlefield.

It all happened too fast.

Marcus was about to shoot another two arrows, when the bleeding Wind Blade Wolf turned around and fled into the woods, disappearing before anyone could react.

Marcus, watching the Wind Blade Wolf vanish, laid down his bow.

Carl Hammer, who had been watching with his blood boiling, couldn’t help but suggest, “Mr. Marcus, why don’t you pursue it? The Wind Blade Wolf will be dead after another attack. That’s a monster more precious than pearls.”

“The Wind Blade Wolf is not the only monster in Thorn Hill. Besides, it’s not as badly wounded as it seems… It must have partners that are waiting for us in the woods. You are free to track it if you dare,” said Marcus coldly.

Carl Hammer scratched his head, lost for words.

Ignoring him, Marcus said to Liszt, “Lord Baron, it’s dangerous here. Let’s get going.”

“All right!”

Liszt followed the advice. Inspecting his dominion was only for the mission. He was unwilling to take any risks.

Perhaps because Marcus was worried after running into a monster at the edge of Thorn Hill in spring, he expedited the rest of the tour.

On the way, Liszt asked curiously, “Mr. Marcus, your archery is quite amazing. How can the arrows change their course?”

“It’s an advanced technique that has to be performed with combat aura.”

“It’s both eye-catching and practical. Mr. Marcus, can you teach archery to me at some point?” Liszt was enthusiastic.

Marcus responded less enthusiastically. “The advanced techniques of archery require release of combat aura. Until you become an earth knight, Lord Baron, you should focus on building up your combat aura and learning battle tricks instead of fancy archery.”

“All right. I’ll learn archery after I become an earth knight,” said Liszt.

He would probably become an earth knight with the reward after the mission was accomplished.

They did not encounter any more monsters in the next three hours. After inspecting Thorn Hill, they reached the Blue Wave Ocean on the other side of Flower Town.

Archduchy Sapphire, located at the northeastern corner of the continent, comprised of the Sapphire Islands.

Coral Island was at the northeastern corner of the Sapphire Islands.

Flower Town was at the northeastern corner of Coral Island.

Therefore, the blue ocean that Liszt saw was the boundary of Archduchy Sapphire.

“Mr. Marcus, what’s on the other side of the ocean? Another island, continent, or country?”

“I don’t know. The earl’s fleet has never sailed farther away. However, rumor has it that the ocean on the opposite side of the Blue Wave Ocean is frequented by devils, and nobody can travel there.”

“Not even on dragons?”

“Dragons are the foundation of a country. No dragon knights are willing to explore new places on dragons. Too many lands on this continent are yet to be developed. Why do you care about an ocean that has nothing at all, my lord? With all due respect, you should learn from Lord Earl’s example and occupy more land.”

His insinuation was obvious: only wars could make new nobles.