Trolls

Auric was in his room, meticulously checking all his packed luggage, ensuring he had not missed anything important.

Food, water, weapons, and money were kept in his inventory, while miscellaneous items were stored in his spatial ring.

Actually, he was contemplating leaving the house permanently, planning to run away on his return from Winding Grove town. Who could blame him, though? He didn't even know when Avalon would kill him. He wanted to stay out of danger's shadow and leave as fast as possible.

The only thing he was worried about was Luna's mental health when she would find out that he had run away. But well, he is powerless right now and couldn't do anything about it. He hopes that maybe he will make up for it in the future...

Just when he had finished checking his inventory, Luna arrived in his room, begging him with her puppy eyes not to go or take her with him. "Auric~ I want to come with you too!"

"But sis, you have your magic examination in 5 days, and since I can't use magic, I will defaultly fail. So there's no use of me giving the exam. So, I was just using these days I got as a holiday. And also just reaching Winding Grove would take almost a week."

"Why don't you use the warp gates then? If it's about money, I can ask Mom to give it to you."

"Big sis, it's not about the place. The place I'm going to is in a very remote area. Warp gates aren't available there. Winding Grove is situated in the most southeast part of our nation, and our city is the last city in the south to have warp gates. Try to understand, 'kay? I will come back quickly." Auric said, "Look, it's already time."

Then, Auric left his room with Luna. He was wearing an expensive black dress, but because of his skinny body and dark circles under his eyes, the dress didn't look that good on him. Not that he cared.

When leaving the mansion, Auric saw Elysia waiting for him on the doorstep. "Did you pack everything?"

"Yes, mother, I did, and also cross-checked."

"Well, that's good. Here, take this." Saying that, Elysia took out a pouch from her spatial ring. Auric had some idea of what it could be but said nothing. When talking and checking it out, he confirmed it but was shocked. There were almost ten white gold coins, with which a common family of five could accommodate themselves for a few years lavishly.

"Mother, this is quite too much. I don't need this amount!"

"You always decline when I try to give you some extra money. I won't take no this time. Enjoy your vacation and leave a small amount for emergency situations."

"Okay.. thank you, mother." Hearing that, Elysia smiled at Auric.

Then, they went to where the car was. Auric saw four knights with the torch insignia on their left side of the armor. They were the knights of the Everlight family. Even if they were not from the elite team, they were still strong. They seemed to be C-rank. It seemed like they would be in charge of Auric's safety. There were also several normal guards and maids.

Auric bid farewell to Elysia and Luna and boarded the car. The knights and maids also got on their respective cars, and they started the journey.

***

A black shadow suddenly appeared in a room that seemed like an office. The shadow then turned into a man and kneeled on the spot, "Master, young master Auric boarded the car."

"Hmm," there was another man in the room sitting behind the table doing paperwork. "Did the white trio follow him as instructed?"

"Yes," the kneeling man replied.

"Good." The man got up from his seat and came towards the kneeling man. He grabbed his chin and looked into his eyes. "I don't want any mishaps happening in this mission I assigned you. The boys should not return." The kneeling man had cold sweat on his forehead.

The man straightened his back and said, "You failed killing both when the boy was born. I don't want that to be repeated. Now go and keep an eye on him."

"Yes, Lord Avalon." Saying that, the kneeling man vanished.

"Hmph. Damn kid," Avalon muttered.

***

Auric sat in the car, bored out of his mind. "Ah, so boring!" he said loudly.

< Hey, System, it's so boring here! Do something! >

[What can I do for you?]

< I don't know... It would have been better if the technology in here were more advanced... sigh... I really want to listen to some music right now. >

[...]

< Well, let's just sleep and, yeah, System, update the map. > saying that auric closed his eyes.

Auric had already unlocked the map function and leveled it up to level 2. In level 1, he could only cover 50 m of undiscovered area, but in level 2, he could not only cover a radius of 500 m but also know who is a friend or foe. And through this journey, he was unlocking a wide range of areas.

When Auric woke up, he learned from a guard that they had reached a town and would be staying there for the night. They had already booked a room for him in the inn.

.

.

Three days passed, and there had been nothing unusual. But sometimes Auric would see three red dots following him. At first, he thought they might be some monsters, but as they kept appearing on the map, Auric had his fear creep up to him and had his guard up.

At night, when they hadn't reached a city, they would camp near the road. Even if they could carry on the journey continuously, because of Auric's health, they didn't do it.

On the 4th night, something different happened to them. They were attacked by monsters, trolls to be exact.

Just like the normal day when they made camp after a day of journey, the servants made haste and prepared the camp and food.

Auric was given the most importance and was offered food first, but he didn't like people staring at him when he eats, even if the said person staring at him is a guard. So he just ordered them to eat with him.

The guards declined his offer but were forced to do as he said. Looking at Auric's behavior, the guards were happy that there were still some people who did not behave like they were above another on the social hierarchy.

As they were happily having dinner, suddenly Auric got a notification that there were monsters approaching.

Flabbergasted, Auric turned on his map and saw that red dots were approaching their camp. 'Scared' Auric asked the System if the three dots were the dots he was seeing before, but the System denied, saying these were monsters. The three dots were just 400 m apart from them.

Thinking of a plan to alert the guards about the monsters and not act suspicious, Auric stood up and pointed towards a direction. "Guys, what's that?" A knight near him looked towards the direction Auric was pointing and was shocked. "Those are Trolls, peak D-rank monsters!"

"Alert! Monsters approaching! From the south, 3 trolls!" Hearing the man, everyone got alerted. The trolls were just 300 meters apart. The guard told Auric to come with them to a safe place, even though they were just D-rank monsters and the knights could kill them easily. Anything could happen, and they didn't want Auric to be in danger.

Auric wanted to see the fight, but he had to prioritize his life first and did as the guards told him. Suddenly, he shouted to a knight he was quite familiar with, Kale, "Mr. Kale, try to capture them alive. I want to try killing them."

Even though somewhat doubtful, the knight nodded his head. Everyone knew Auric's hobby was killing beasts and monsters. As the monsters approached, he had a clear view of them. It was his first time seeing a fantasy monster. Quite amazing, isn't it?

The troll monsters were a sight to behold, and not in a good way. Their skin was a sickly green and covered in warts and boils. Long, stringy hair hung down their backs, and their eyes glowed with a menacing red light. Each of them was easily eight feet tall and carried a large wooden club.

As they approached the campsite, Auric could feel his stomach churning with disgust. They had been warned about the trolls in this area, but seeing them in person was something else entirely. He could hear their heavy footsteps thudding on the ground and the sickening sound of their breath as they drew closer.

"Get ready," a knight shouted to his companions, gripping his sword tightly.

The trolls moved closer, their eyes fixed on them.

Auric inspected the trolls with his appraisal.

[ Monster: Plains Troll

Rank: D

Strength (STR): 38

Agility (AGI): 24

Dexterity (DEX): 33

Intelligence (INT): 5

Mana: 17

Element: Earth ]

One of the trolls let out a guttural roar, and the other two followed suit.

As the troll unleashed its earth magic, the ground shook beneath their feet, and Auric stumbled backward. But the four knights standing in front of him stood their ground, their weapons at the ready.

"Protect the young master!" one of them shouted, and they charged forward to engage the trolls in battle.

A troll swung its massive club, but the knights were too quick. They dodged and weaved, striking back with their swords and axes. Their attacks landed with deadly precision, slicing through the troll's thick skin and drawing blood.