Episode 46: You Have Played Around Again

"Your majesty? You have played around again," Maxwell sighed in exasperation when Archibald returned.

Even though he is a good king, from time to time, Archibald would suddenly disappear from his office. Especially when his workload was too much.

Just like what Maxwell had said, he would move around even shocking the people, just like how he startled Spencer a while ago.

"Can't I have a walk in order for my body not to become stiff?" Archibald complained going back to his seat, ready to continue his work.

Maxwell squinted his eyes, "You look too happy for a simple walk outside."

He tried to remember what Archibald was doing before he disappeared from his office.

He was taking a breather on the balcony.

Maxwell raised an eyebrow, "You went to meet with that adventurer."

"I did not say, I didn't," Archibald shrugged.

Maxwell thought about it more, just meeting Spencer won't make him as happy as this.

'Too bad none of my children got my ability...'

He then remembered that from time to time when Julian and the twins were still young, Archibald would lament about them not having his ability.

"Did you..."

Archibald looked at him innocently.

Maxwell slapped his forehead, "What are you doing, your majesty?"

"What? I am trying to nurture an already polished gem. I just want to polish it even more, allowing it to shine brighter."

Archibald leaned back on his chair with a smile, "But a disciple? What a weird word to say."

"Your majesty..." Maxwell didn't know where to start.

"Those adventurers are only here for a year. I saw their looks with you when you told them about being punished. They were so relieved that they are only staying here for a year."

"But we can never tell the future," Archibald replied.

"You should have seen the excitement on his face when I showed him what I can do. I knew right there and then, that that child will become even stronger."

Maxwell once again sighed. Archibald must have been really happy when he heard about this person from a group of adventurers who understood fire ability a lot, even more than some of the strong knights in their kingdom.

He must have already wanted to meet this person from then.

And the punishment must have been related to how he can watch him from his office.

Julian only spoke about his strength during the meeting, it was a passing suggestion to let him train the others. But Archibald took that suggestion instantly.

"You have planned this all along," Maxwell shook his head.

He tried remembering the time when Archibald was still the crown prince and still leading his team in battles with beasts.

'Will that child be able to keep up with the training of this person?' he ended up thinking after remembering that Archibald was actually a demon then.

Maxwell Elmstone is actually a bit older than Archibald, in his late forties. And he had been his personal knight since Archibald was still in his teens.

Meanwhile, Spencer continued on with his day after receiving an affirmative answer from Archibald.

A thousand years ago, he was already considered as the strongest fire ability user.

That is only because most have decided to remain stagnant after the five of them showed strengths incomparable to most.

He was trained in accordance with the instructions of the king.

This will be the first time that he will be training under a real fire ability user and that ignites his desire to become even better.

But his excitement was replaced with the desire to laugh when the man named Ervin, who he had defeated and was deemed as the strongest, together with his group of thugs surrounded him just as they returned for their afternoon swordsmanship training.

'He must have not seen my fight with Nicholas this morning, disappearing before we even began in fear that he would be found out that he is being a thug right now,' he thought.

Looking at them and feeling the circulation of mana in their bodies, when you become well acquainted with your ability, you will also become well acquainted with the mana that fuels the ability.

And he can feel it at this moment, how they are going to use their ability to attack him as well.

He checked on himself, he had not really used it in a few days. Together with the fact that he had been diligently allowing his injuries to heal even faster than the others.

'I guess this much is fine,' he thought.

He was not as conceited as to actually think he could defeat them without using his ability.

They may be trainees but there are about fifteen of them at this moment.

Even with the beasts he was being careful just as much as he was tasking his groups to be careful while Luna was still unconscious.

"Hey, what do you think you are doing?"

Though before he could say anything, Kyle stepped forward with the others.

He was complaining a while ago about not being able to get home earlier but now he was suddenly there.

He and the other three even stood beside Spencer.

Spencer, on the other hand, didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Even though they know that he was strong enough, they are still standing up for him.

'See, I really do have some cute trainees.'

Ervin scoffed, "Hiding behind your trainees. Aren't you ashamed?"

"Am I behind them?" Spencer asked, gaining some laughter from the others who weren't joining in.

He glanced at them but did not say anything before looking back at Ervin and his group.

Ervin's face was red in anger.

"The four of you, go back to your training," he ignored him and said to Kyle and the others.

"Five hundred swings and five hundred thrust. Twenty laps around the training ground and you can go home."

"But-"

Kyle wished to say more but he interrupted him.

"You want to see him fast right? Go on now."

They looked at one another before sighing. They knew he was strong but after asking around, they also found out that they were injured. That is the reason why they chose to stand up right now.

But seeing his eyes that are filled with tranquility, they know they can trust him and they will respond accordingly.

He is their trainer, he won't be placed there if he isn't strong enough.

"Fine. No add-ons," Kyle squinted his eyes.

Spencer chuckled, "Yes. Finish that and you can go."

After seeing them go on with their training, he looked back at Ervin who was still looking at him angrily.

"To think you would only stare at me in anger for a few minutes. Cat got your tongue?"

Ervin gritted his teeth, "You!!! Do you know who I am?!?"

"No matter what time, is that the most popular question among those who love riding on their high horses?" Spencer answered.

"Everyone, you saw how he acts!!! Get him and show him where he should stand!!"

Ervin decided to just ignore his taunts and got the others too attack.

Spencer shook his head.

Obviously he has no plans to play around with them.

He checked himself not to see whether he can fight them all and the time it would take would cause him damage.

Instead...

He actually smiled at them before raising one hand.

It was as if he was trying to lift something he was not holding.

They furrowed their brows, but ignored it completely, each of them started attacking him with their own abilities. The sky turned dark as Ervin prepared a lighting rain on him. While the others started their own attacks.

But just as everything was about to be in completion, fire erupted from the ground canceling every skill they were about to throw at him.

That only means one thing, their attacks are inferior to the attack he created. Even the strength is inferior.

This power is much stronger than all their abilities.

And it is something that they did not expect at all.

They were sure that his ability must have been weak so they decided to attack him in this way in order to make him feel fear. But the fire that is engulfing them in its entirety brought them fear instead.

It was hot and they all started shouting in agony.

It was so big that others were able to see it as well, prompting knights to run over.

But when they arrived, all they saw were the fifteen knight trainees on their knees, breathing heavily while others were groaning in pain. Yet there were no wounds.

"What happened here?" one asked.

"Well, they tried to retaliate from the words of the king with their abilities even though we are in swordsmanship training so I just retaliated back."

Spencer showed no sign of guilt and his tone was indifferent as if he was talking about a day to day life matter.

He even looked at the one who asked with a shrug.