Chapter 5

Grid who was checking the spellbooks that he acquired as a reward for beating knight Rush, instantly learned the spells without any problems.

[You have learned Fireball.]

[You have learned Wind Cutter.]

[You have learned Water Bolt.]

[You have learned Stone Arrow.]

[Fireball Level 1]

It is one of the most basic fire spells.

Deals damage equivalent to 100% of your current magic power to the target.

Resource consumption: 100 Mana.

Skill Casting Time: 2 seconds.

Skill Cooldown Time: 5 seconds.

[Wind Cutter Level 1]

It is one of the most basic wind spells.

Deals damage equivalent to 100% of your current magic power to the target.

Resource consumption: 100 Mana.

Skill Casting Time: 2 seconds.

Skill Cooldown Time: 5 seconds.

[Water Bolt Level 1]

It is one of the most basic water spells.

Deals damage equivalent to 100% of your current magic power to the target.

Resource consumption: 100 Mana.

Skill Casting Time: 2 seconds.

Skill Cooldown Time: 5 seconds.

[Stone Arrow Level 1]

It is one of the most basic earth spells.

Deals damage equivalent to 100% of your current magic power to the target.

Resource consumption: 100 Mana.

Skill Casting Time: 2 seconds.

Skill Cooldown Time: 5 seconds.

With these spells, Grid thought to himself that training his magic mastery would go much faster, of course before doing that he needed to reach the level of intermediate sword mastery to unlock the aura resource, after checking all the rewards he was ready to leave the training grounds but then he saw Earl Ashur heading towards him, alongside his wife Countess Feya who looks to be in her early 20s with dark blonde hair with a beautiful figure and green eyes.

'Countess Feya... If I remember correctly she died due to some incurable disease in the future, but I doubt that's the case... Because she was the only one who died in their family with an illness, yet her 2 sons didn't have any illness like her?'

Grid who was pondering this came back to his senses and kneeled on the training ground, the others seeing Grid's action were confused until they heard footsteps coming from the entrance of the training ground, they then looked in the direction of the entrance and saw Earl Ashur and his wife Countess Feya, immediately they panic but managed to kneel while looking at the ground.

The couple arrived at the front of Grid, Earl Ashur then proceeded to analyze his face and body after a few seconds or so, he hummed and said. "Introduce yourself, young man."

Hearing Ashur's words, Grid looked up and with his eyes, he stared at Earl Ashur's eyes without showing any fear and said. "I Grid a commoner, greet the Great Magician Earl Ashur and his wife Countess Feya rulers of the Patrian city."

Ashur nodded with a smile and said. "You may rise." Grid nodded and said thank you before standing up with the people around the training ground doing the same, Feya was beaming with pride that Grid a talented individual knew her husband's achievements.

"Sir Grid, I want to personally thank you, a talented individual for visiting Patrian, even though our city doesn't have much to offer. Thanks to you clearing the rabbit grounds, our harvest will be safe, and we will have food to feed our citizens in the upcoming winter, so once again I thank you as the lord of Patrian."

After Earl Ashur said these words, he and his wife bowed their head to Grid, seeing this the other cadets were shocked including the knights and instructors in the training ground since these two distinguished nobles were bowing their heads to a commoner, Grid was surprised by their actions and instantly said.

"Earl Ashur, Countess Feya please raise your heads...! A noble shouldn't bow their head to someone like me a commoner, especially in front of your people!"

Hearing his words the people around nodded their heads agreeing with Grid's words, Ashur and Feya were happy with Grid's character and stopped bowing their heads and looked at Grid and said.

"Once again thank you for the things you have contributed to our city."

"We also hope you join us in our dinner if you have the time."

Grid pondered for a moment and thought to himself.

'Hmm... This is a good chance for me to have a good connection with Earl Ashur and maybe I can even learn some magic from him, also regarding his wife Feya, I think I can find a way to save her life and avoid Ashur's depression due to death of his wife and the eldest son."

After finishing his thoughts, he agreed to Countess Feya's offer, hearing his agreement Feya smiled while Ashur ordered his troops to take a rest for the day, and the three of them left the training grounds heading towards the mansion...

-Eternal Kingdom, Northern Area, Steim Household-

The north area of the Eternal Kingdom where Earl Steim resides, an area where an everlasting snowstorm rages on all year round, only a few players have chosen this area as their starting area due to one simple answer, monsters that are more powerful compared to other territories where the beginning area is composed of level 30 to 50 monster.

And because of this alone, a lot of players quit the game or cursed their past selves for choosing this area, but not all hopes are lost due to Steim and his troops clearing the area because of them their citizens can smile and survive thanks to the Steim who rules the territory wisely.

Lastly, because of the beauty of this area or more specifically the beauty of Steim's daughter Irene who exudes innocence, with her white skin, white hair, and gentle light blue eyes because of this alone, some players chose this area and tried to talk to her but failed at their attempts and Earl Steim being an overprotective father kicks the players out with a severe punishment.

In the center of the northern region where the mansion was located, Irene who was sleeping in her room suddenly woke up from her sleep.

She took a huge breathe of air 'Gasp...!' And exhaled 'Sigh...!' after a few seconds, she rang the bell that's on the top of the drawer to call her maid and bring water, after a few minutes a maid arrived with a tray that holds a cup of water, Irene took it and slowly drank it to calm her self down, after finishing drinking the water she then closes her eyes and looked back at her vivid dream about herself and a man with black hair wielding a dark greatsword.

"Irene I promise to come back as soon as possible."

Irene then looked at the much more mature version of herself who was pregnant smiled at the black hair man and said.

"Dear, I hope you have a safe trip... And always remember that I will be waiting for you."

The black hair man smiled and kissed her other version and said. "I promise, I will be back before our baby is born."

After that, the black hair man left by using the magic fly, Irene who was looking around saw the smile of that man but couldn't see his full face due to some kind of mist covering his face, as she was about to get closer to get a better view she saw the initial Grid carved in the greatsword, she then wakes up from her vivid dream.

Irene then opened her eyes remembering all the details and pondered to herself.

'That man... Is he my soulmate? If he is, I want to look for him... But I don't know where to start… The only thing I know about him is that his name is Grid has a greatsword and with black hair.'

After she's done pondering she looks at the window and mutters in a small voice "Grid..."

-Eternal Kingdom, Patrian City, Ashur's Residence-

After 10 minutes they finally arrived at Earl Ashur's mansion the guards guarding the gate greeted them, and as they opened the gate a few people stared at Grid wondering who he was and what his relation to Earl Ashur or Countess Feya was.

As they arrive at the front door an elderly man opens the door and says "Welcome back Lord Ashur, Lady Feya, and sir…?" Ashur responded with. "His name's Grid, an important guest for today so, show him proper respect like how you treat other nobles." hearing his lord's command, he nodded and led them to the dining hall as they arrived the butler then bowed indicating that he will be leaving the room.

Grid who was left alone with Ashur and Feya waited for them to take their seat. After the two sat down Grid took a sit as well, and after sitting down they talked about various things, but it was mainly questioning Grid on how he cleared the rabbit infestation and how his stay in Patrian has been so far, Grid answered all of it without much problem and also said that the residents of Patrian are quite nice to him.

Earl Ashur was happy that his people were treating Grid with respect, as for Feya she was happy hearing Grid's words about Patrian, as they continued talking suddenly Feya coughed up a small amount of blood, noticing this Ashur immediately went to his wife and use cleanse to clean his wife and handed over a health potion to her.

Feya who noticed Grid looking at her said "I apologize for showing such an unsightly appearance sir Grid." Grid shook his head and spoke.

"There is no need to apologize Lady Feya, since you didn't do anything that needs you to apologize to me… But may I ask a question if I'm not being presumptuous?"

Grid said, Ashur hearing this nodded his head at Grid giving the go-ahead.

"Is Lady Feya suffering from some kind of sickness? Or a curse?" Ashur responded by saying "No Feya is not suffering from a curse or sickness… *sigh She simply has a weak constitution and according to a priest, and doctors she's not suffering from any such thing… They simply said the same thing that she's weak due to giving birth…"

Ashur said with a sad look while Feya just smiled at his husband, and held his hands tightly to show him that she was okay, Grid though was having none of it because it didn't make any sense because if that was the case why did their two sons have any birth defect, for a minute or two the dining room was silent until the door was opened with two maids pushing service cart carrying foods and the old butler carrying a tray with three wine glass and a wine bottle.

After arranging the meals on the table the three employees stood at the side of the dining room, the three people then prayed to Rebecca for good health after that they started to dine but suddenly Grid stopped Feya from eating her food Ashur who saw this yelled.

"How dare you…! Just because I'm being nice to you doesn't mean you can hold my wife's hands…!"

Ashur said while releasing a strong wave of mana, Grid who was holding Feya's wrist let go and said.

"I'm sorry for suddenly grabbing Lady Feya's wrist Lord Ashur, the reason why I stopped her is because the food she's eating will poison her."

Hearing this Feya was a bit terrified because she had been eating this type of food since she was pregnant with her first child. Ashur was somewhat calm down but still showing agitation and said. "Explain." Hearing this Grid nods and says.

"The food itself is not poison in a normal sense because it is edible… But here's the thing if you combine it with certain ingredients it will cause an almost undetectable poison effect that damages both the heart and lungs, it will very slowly and painfully damage the body as time goes by. Think of it as alchemy where the stomach is the flask or cauldron where the ingredients are fused while the food is the ingredient for creating the poison."

Ashur immediately countered by saying. "Then why are my two sons not affected by this…?! Wouldn't they also get affected like Feya?!" Feya was scared thinking that her two sons would suffer the same fate as her, Grid shook his head and said.

"You have a point but you're missing one key point here… Mana unlike their mother they're magicians so they have some natural resistance to this, and thanks to their mana the bad things that may lay inside their bodies are being disposed of by their mana."

After hearing Grid's explanation, Ashur now understood why his wife was the only one sick, as for Feya she was relieved that her two sons were not affected by this. After a minute or two Ashur spoke to the butler.

"Dan… tell the knights to take the head chef to the dungeon and 'question' him about the origins of the ingredients, and who gave him the order to poison my wife…"

Hearing Ashur's cold voice gave everyone a chill on their spine, Dan the butler bowed and left the dining room as for the two maids they immediately took the food from the table and left the room as well, after a moment of silence Feya said to Grid.

"Thank you so much sir Grid… If you didn't notice the food being poisonous I might have died much earlier due to my condition."

Ashur clenched his fist hearing Feya's words, because the food Feya had been eating since being pregnant with his first child was poisonous, after taking a deep breath he spoke to Grid.

"Thank you, Sir Grid if weren't for your intervention my wife's lifespan might have lessened more due to my ignorance, and I'm sorry for suddenly lashing out at you for only trying to help."

Ashur said while he bowed seeing this Feya bowed as well, Grid immediately said.

"Lord Ashur, Lady Feya please raise your head…! I didn't do this for you to owe me a favor, I only did this because it's the right thing to do."

Ashur and Feya smiled at Grid's words, as they raised their head they sat back down, Grid also did the same.

[Affinity with Ashur +25]

[Affinity with Feya +30]

Seeing the notification Grid smiled at that and once again spoke.

"Lord Ashur I know a method to help Lady Feya's body recover if you give me your support I can make medicine in about a week or two."

Ashur hearing Grid's proposition says. "I accept your proposal." As he said this he stretched his left arm to Grid, suggesting they finalize the deal with a handshake, Grid accepted shakes hands with Ashur.

[Hidden Quest: Ashur's Hope

Difficulty Level: B+

Ashur has requested you to make medicine for his dear wife Feya, due to your words his trust for you has risen and personally gave you this quest because of your insight regarding his wife's condition.

Quest Clear Conditions: Make a medicine to cure Feya's body in help her recover her health

Additional Quest: Finish making the medicine in under a month

Clear Reward: Affinity with Ashur and Feya is maxed, you will be exempt from any tax in Patrian City, Ashur would be willing to teach you magic, you can use Ashur's library any time, lastly Ashur would listen to your request as long it's reasonable.

Additional Reward:

Title: Distinguished Person of Patrian.

*Diginity +100

*Charm +100

*Eternal Kingdom residents would respect you more and increase the effect of Dignity and Charm on them.]

Looking at the quest Grid thought to himself. 'The quest is doable, but the main thing that I have to worry about is the assassins who want to kill Ashur's wife because the only clue we have is the chef.'

After his done thinking he spoke to Ashur and Feya about his plans, after talking to them for an hour Grid left the estate and looked at the sky seeing the sun it seemed to be nearing dusk.

-10 minutes later brought to you by chibi Grid using a long sword triple his size and failing to swing it-

Grid finally arrived at Anna's store and saw the door with a closed sign seeing this Grid was a bit disappointed due to not meeting her and her daughter and also wasting time, as he was about to leave he heard someone yelling his name. "Grid?!" He looked back and saw Anna and her daughter who seemed to be 5 years old had short black hair and wearing a tiara made out of flowers.

'Wait… that kid she looks like the flower girl who sold flowers to help her mother buy medicine in the previous turn… At the time I kept buying her flowers thinking she would give me a hidden quest… But the following day she just disappeared and was never to be found again… Now I know the reason why her mother got sick… Hahaha… What a small world we live in… This time I wouldn't repeat that mistake.'

After Grid is done thinking of the past he greets the two by waving his hand, seeing the actions the little girl imitates him while smiling seeing this Anna lets out a soft giggle at her daughter's action, after greeting each other Anna invites Grid to come in, as they entered the store Anna asked Grid to wait over by the table as he gets some refreshments.

"So what brought you here to my humble store Grid?"

Anna asked while she poured some tea into Grid's cup, Grid was silent for a moment, and after 5 or 7 seconds he spoke.

"I came here to check how your daughter is doing, seeing her being lively I take the medicine was effective immediately? And also you haven't introduced her to me yet I don't even know her name."

Hearing this Anna let out a laugh for a few seconds before regaining her bearings and said.

"Hahaha…! Yes I'm sorry about that, anyways the name of my little sweet angel is Lily, thanks to you I was able to create a better medicine due to the plants being exposed to the poison in the area."

Grid was happy that the cure was effective, as he was about to say something, Anna's daughter suddenly came out of nowhere and said. "Are you the prince charming that saved Mama from the bad monsters?" Anna was mortified when Lily said the words 'Prince Charming' without much thought, Grid softly smiled at Lily and said.

"I don't know about being a prince much less a prince charming but… I'm indeed the one who saved your Mama from those bad monsters."

Lily's eyes shone thinking that Grid's some kind of hero not knowing that she was talking to the future King of Heroes/Hero King. After talking for about an hour Lily was already asleep while Anna and Grid talked about the events that happened in their life.

After they were done talking Grid said goodbye with a smile causing Anna to blush, though she still had a smile although a shy one, and waved goodbye to Grid, as for Grid he was ready to hunt in the field once more with his newfound strength and items…