5 In the countryside, there was a Baron...

Draco Arthur. The father of Linley Arthur. Even in his own territory, he was infamously known to be the boogeymen for little girls basically.

He kidnaps girls and buys quality female slaves. While it is something that is seen in fiction, that nobles kidnap children and buy slaves.

It was known that Baron Arthur scours his land routinely, his eyes piercing through the ordinary means of concealment. No village little girls could hide from his eyes.

As a noble, Baron Arthur has refined taste. He would not pick up just any little girl. He picks the best of the best.

This Baron Arthur was now entering a village that was in his territory. This village was called the Rulid village. A simple farming village with low income.

The appearance of Baron Arthur was of a middle-aged man with slick back hair, dressed in all black fancy attire, along with a cape. Behind his back, was his trusty great sword that was 2 meter longs and 80 centimeters wide.

For this village's security, all it comes to was ordinary guards, both of which were at the meager strength a Rank 4 Warrior. Essentially initial Warrior Student prowess.

That level of power couldn't compare to the Baron at all. With a simple hand gesture and fluctuation of his Battle-Qi at his beckoning. He had incapacitated them in an instant.

The Baron soon approach his target's home. The house was just like the others. It was a stone house roughly one story tall. After all houses made of woods were too frail in comparison to such a sturdy house.

When the Baron was at the front door. He could have easily bust it down. But instead, he has etiquette. He knocked not just once, but at least three times. But no one came to answer. The Baron then casually open the door by turning the doorknob. After all, in these undeveloped poor villages, most homes do not even have locks.

Baron with his sharp senses and superb perception, he could tell there was only one person at home. And he walked towards the direction of that one person.

"So you were just hiding under the bed." Baron spoke casually as he towards a simple cotton bed. One must know the Baron is very strong, the weight of the bed to the baron was no different from a feather essentially. He could lift said bed on one pinkie and can do all his daily task as if it was nothing.

The Baron then casually lifts up the bed. And under it was a little girl with white hair with a tinge of light green onto it.

The Baron could tell with one look at her and surrounding her was a condensed amount of elemental essence particles around her. That her bloodline should have included a hint of an elemental, or a fairy, or maybe even an elf.

"Child, where are your parents?" The Baron asked politely. Unfitting of his noble title to do so to a commoner.

"I don't know, they haven't come back for like 3 days already." The child was nearly sobbing. After all the child was very pitiful. Her parents weren't home, a stranger came in, and she didn't know what to do.

"Child, come with me." The Baron stated his purpose bluntly. No need for the melodrama here.

"Huh...um." The child was about to reject the stranger's offering. But all of a sudden.

Baron Arthur had easily knocked out the little girl without her awareness. After all the Baron simply had utilized the same method he had done with guards. Then the Baron simply carried the girl under one of his arms.

When the Baron was about to leave Rulid village.

Bang! Bang!

Supersonic booms rang throughout the air. As three car-size boulders made of stone were shot towards the Baron as if it was bullets itself.

Baron Arthur's reaction time wasn't too bad. As he quickly draws his greatsword from his back. And performed three strikes in less than a moment.

"You bastard. Drop her down right now!" A young boy yelled at the Baron.

"Oh." The Baron looked towards the kid and noticed it was a blonde little boy who looked to be about 10 years old or so.

Baron had simply judged the previous assault of magic spells. To be about roughly the strength of a Rank 7 Magician. Which means this kid is a ten years old Magician Scholar from the Baron's guesstimate.

'A genius among commoners.' Baron thought inwardly.

The Baron at his might could easily have decapitated the child with one move. But the Baron was not known for being bloody in his territory after all.

The young boy begins performing magic worthy of his title. A Magician Scholar can dual cast or instant cast magic. But this boy was performing both of those feats at once. An instant dual cast.

The previous magic spell attacks that consisted of boulders was merely just a single spell, a charged up version of the Shooting Stones spell which launches 3 projectile made of stone at high speed at the enemy.

The young boy was now casting combination magic. The spells he was using was Meteor and Giant's Fist.

A ten-meter wide boulder was launched and then accelerated by magic to its target as it seems to ignited and surround itself with flames.

Giant's Fist is literally a giant hand made of stone. Normally used to grab their foes and crush them with a mighty grip.

Meteor is only a powerful spell when used by powerful people. An Earth Magician Scholar's Meteor spell could only possess enough strength to blow up one of these one-story story houses at most.

After all the power of a meteor is dependent on its size, attitude, and speed itself. Magician has limits to their power.

The Baron stared at the flaming ten-meters wide meteor and giant stone hand in the sky. Baron Arthur didn't feel threatened by either one of those spells. He could cut that meteor in two in one blow and could utilize his Battle-Qi and strong muscles to flex out of the large stone hand.

"I'm not done yet." The young boy claps his hands.

The giant stone hand grabs the meteor and not the Baron. The mere act of this was comparable to baseball, no it was more accurate to describe this as a basketball dunk. The stone hand latches onto the meteor, not to stop it, but to accelerate it. Thus increasing it's overall prowess by ten times at least. The stone hand was essentially thrusting down the meteor with several tons of strength behind it.

The Baron gathered his Battle-Qi into his great sword. He countered the powered up meteor with a strong and fast thrust.

The powered-up meteor then collapsed into piles of stones losing all momentum from before. The young boy was shocked. After all, this was his strongest move he can perform in a short period of time. A Magician's full power rely on their preparation. After all, this wasn't his time testing out this attack. If the young boy were to compare destructive force of this attack to his past life, then it was no different from an artillery strike that could collapse a building or even raze his entire village into flames in this life.

"You. What rank are you?!" The young boy yelled in shock, he knew he was a Magician Scholar. But he felt that his opponent was least 5 Ranks or even much higher. He might have thought he was fighting against a Supreme, the title that surpasses Grandmaster.

"Kid. I'm only a Rank 12 Warrior. A peak Master Warrior." Baron Arthur spoke honestly while chuckling.

"No way. Is the gap between Scholar and Master that huge?" The boy had to ask.

"You'll know when you get there." Baron Arthur vaguely responded. And then at quick speeds. Baron Arthur knocked out the boy with the bottom of the handle of his sword onto his neck.

The Baron was afraid that the boy after losing all his shock would begin performing some dangerous large scale magic again. After all, if the boy in his rage were to destroy his entire home village by accident. Obviously, the kid is going to be stupid enough to point fingers at the Baron for being the cause.

Soon quickly, the village's elder who knew of the Baron's identity came to greet him after such a loud dangerous battle.

"Greeting, my lord. Is this child to your liking?" The elderly man pointing at this little girl who was under the Baron's arm the whole time.

"Indeed. I would like to know the name of this girl and the boy I just faced against." The Baron spoke getting to the point here.

"The girl's name is Slyph, while I believe the boy's name is Rudy." The village elder spoke with certainty.

"Hmm. What is the background and relationship of these two?" The Baron was a bit curious on why Rudy is in such a fit. It was understandable for hormonal teenagers but children are purpose to be a bit more naive.

"Slyph is the daughter of two civilians both possibly be merchants. While Rudy is the son of an Adventurer who was peak Warrior Scholar. Both of them are from common descent I believe." Village Elder gave his honest opinion and knowledge he acquired about them. "Their relationship is like two close childhood friends, possibly be lovers in the future I hope."

"I see. I see." Baron Arthur was chuckling at those last words. "Tell Rudy, once he wakes up if he wants his beloved girl in the future. Then he has to defeat my son first. Linley Arthur. A genius whose not one bit inferior to him."

"Duly noted. My lord." Village Elder nodded his head.

"Here you go, Elder, here's some monetary compensation for the girl." Baron Arthur has given the old man a bag of coins.

"Sir! This is ten gold coins." Village Elder has to say. A gold coin was enough for a commoner family to live in happiness for a year.

"Some of the money is for the village's relief." The Baron noted as he winked.

"I see. Thank you very much, my lord!" The Village Elder bow on his knees. After all Rulid Village were having tough times due to a recent a drought that ended up killing a good amount of their crops. It was sad to say they were about to face a time of severe poverty, depression, and famine at the same time.

"Now I must be off now." Baron Arthur says his farewell as he was still holding onto little girl under one of his arms. "My child needs another maid."

The Baron's long cape transforms into a pair of long black wings. The Baron's cape is actually a magical artifact, that grants the wielder the ability of flight.

For a Warrior who is limited to the land, gaining the ability of flight allows them to handle foes in the air with much more ease.

The Baron then flew away from Rulid Village and head back to his castle that was in the center of his whole territory.