Walking with An Old Man

Lifton, the headmaster of this academy. A powerful mage who is a devoted believer of his goddess, which now I know is the one of fortune and luck.

He was an S-tier adventurer just before becoming an old man who sat in a chair all day, giving directions to the people under him.

Though, that is pretty much all I know of him.

I have no clue what kind of skills a person like him has or could have, but I do have to keep in mind that they're strong… very, very strong.

"Well, there is no need to ask… how about I take you both down there myself? A bit of curiosity is nice to feed into in your youth," The old man smiled.

"R-Really?" I stuttered in disbelief, and the way his smile seemed genuine really made me feel like he was telling the truth.

He was offering something that I was just begging to know about… so of course, I was quick on the uptake.

"Then let's go," I smiled with the old man getting up from his desk and using a cane to help him walk across the room.

Boy, was he slow as hell…

It took us about half an hour to get back to the training grounds when it normally should've taken only five minutes, with ten minutes being the absolute max.

"Hey, tell us the real reason as to why you're taking us there," Iris muttered, glaring at the old man who basically parted the students like a splitting wave.

The man didn't even entertain the girl beside me with a glance and instead just continued walking until we arrived at the very bottom of the colosseum-like arena.

"Oho, you see that boy right there? That's one of your seniors…." The headmaster pointed at the current participant within the training grounds.

He was fighting what seemed to be a smaller rock drake which breathed flames so intense that his metal gear began to melt.

Can we just get on with the display… I don't care about-

My jaw dropped as I saw the young man in full metal armor cut the drake's flames in half with his metal sword whilst simultaneously releasing a blast of wind that cut into the drake's head, instantly killing it.

"His nickname is the Drake Slayer, and he is currently one of the highest-ranking students within our academy…."

"Can we Ummm…."

"Ah, yes. Forgive this old man for getting distracted, but I just can't help but marvel at the beauty of his swing. If I were to learn the sword in my old age, I'd probably want to have him as my teacher," The headmaster chuckled before leading us into the lower level.

The guard from before noticed the both of us but didn't speak up as the headmaster passed right beside him, eyeing the guard as if he was about to kill him.

"Scary geezer," Iris muttered under her breath before we reached a large metal gate with the stench of blood and medicine hanging in the air, attempting to suffocate me to death.

If I wasn't already used to such thick air, then I would've probably been choking and gasping for air like the little girl beside me.

"If you do not wish to proceed, I won't stop you. Please, do as you will… I would never force a child to suffer,"

"I… I can keep going," Iris muttered, her willpower much greater than I expected.

We moved through the metal gate and found ourselves amidst hundreds of beasts glaring and growling at us with such killing intent that the hairs on my body stood on end.

It constantly felt like I had a scythe hooked around my neck, just waiting to be tugged and decapitate me.

"Quite the interesting selection of beasts we have here… now, how about you tell me the real reason as to why you wanted to come down here?" The headmaster asked, his eyes slightly squinting as he turned towards us.

"Then answer Iris' question first. What is the real reason as to why you allowed us to come down here?" I responded.

"What brash children… well, fine… that rune of yours… what is its function," The headmaster's eyes squinted even further.

"I won't tell you… are you not aware of-"

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" The headmaster suddenly let out a booming laugh that shut up the growling monsters and scared off the monstrous glares. "Who taught you about the rules of a rune? Of course, you never tell the function of the rune…."

"At least you're aware," I muttered before landing my eyes on the collection of docile ice spirits near the very back.

Spirits are normally passive creatures, but upon provoked, they will definitely retaliate.

"Anyway, I can only assume that rune is related to monsters… possibly taming monsters,"

"I didn't try to hide it," I shrugged before walking over to the cell containing all the ice spirits and then using [Miasma Control] to wake them up.

They were angered by my skill which protruded into their zone, and finally began their icy barking as soon as I stabbed one of them.

"Hey… don't go injuring our precious inventory," The headmaster muttered, but I ignored him as I stared intently at the reactions of the ice spirits.

I carefully watched them, attempting to find the easiest prey but also the one who had the most spirit.

And after careful consideration, I finally found one that fit my criteria… and it was as feisty as I had hoped for.

"Come to me," I ordered, and the spirit froze in place upon hearing my voice as if resonating with my very existence.

Most monster tamers create contracts through friendship… but that just slows your progress.

"It is best to do it through a forceful and dominating contract… you will then thank me later, little spirit,"