Chapter 23

When was the last time I've slept like this? The warm bed. The soft pillow. The blanket that keeps me from the cold. Compared to what I had back then... Everything is like a gift... A wonderful gift...

Though it seems like I've found myself someone who cares for me. Someone who'd keep me warm. Thanks to him I can now see what I want myself for tomorrow. It's all thanks to him that I once again had been able to dream...

Runa woken up due to the sunlight that beam through her window. It was slighly colder than usual. It was due to them being high in altitude. The moment she regain herself she quickly tied her hair and jumped off the bed.

It was a few hours before noon. She had overslept and missed doing her job to maintain cleanliness inside the house. She hurriedly went downstairs to grab her cleaning tools.

The moment she held the broom she then started sweeping the dust that was starting to pile up. Cleaned up the webs that were forming by the edges and brushed some of the moss that were growing.

The thing that made her wonder is that her master was not present inside the house. She checked the study and his room. It looked like Wilhelm went out to again. In a while, after she finished her chores Rune went to the yard. York was resting himself at the center of the yard.

Once finished, Runa doesn't know what she would do. She now either have the choice to train or to read some books. She recalled about the ritual that they performed. It was to increase the mana of a magician.

She was curious as to how much mana she is capable of handling. After the ritual Runa was able to see the depth of her mana pool. She viewed how far did it improve her growth. She was surpised to see that her mana pool has drastically increased in density and depth!

It was nothing compared to Wilhelm's is what she thought but it was enough to make her happy that she grew that much after doing the ritual. She wanted to test how much water she could create with her current mana capacity.

Runa casted a magic circle and water started to take form. Back then she could only create a sphere that was one meter in diameter but now it was ranging arounf five to six meters. But how long was she able to maintain such shape? Runa didn't feel exhausted even though she maintained the shape for about an hour and a half.

Excitement and joy... She was glad of her drastic improvements. Runa wanted to test her control by creating another large sphere. While creating another large sphere, a total of three five-six meter water spheres she was able to create.

The question she had is how to get rid of the water spheres she created. The size was already covering half the entire perimeter of the house. Because of te sudden increase of the number of spheres Runa started to have it hard to control them.

One of the spheres started to act wobbly and the water particles started to drip until it splashed the entire yarn. York who was having a nice sleep found him self drenched by Runa's magic.

"Ah! I-I'm so sorry York..!" The moment she panicked she lost control of the remaining spheres. The entire place was drenched with water.

Runa started panicking even more. The first thing she did was to get back inside the house to get some clean cloth and wiped York's drenched fur. York didn't seem to be upset about the situation. He seemed unbothered knowing that Runa was the one who caused all of it.

Wilhelm appeared by the entrance. He felt a muddy feeling under his shoes. As soon as he saw the entire place wet. He got the idea that Runa was responsible for it. He saw her apologizing to York as she was drying him up.

"You know, you can use your magic to get rid of the water." He said as he approached Runa.

"Ah! M-master! G-good day---" She was scared that Wilhelm would get angry of what she caused.

Wilhelm wasn't angry at her. He already expected that she might drench the entire place.

"Don't worry. I'm not mad at you." He said. It was enough to ease Runa's worries.

"It's your duty to clean up your mess. I'll be waiting inside, I bought us food." he added.

"Yes..! I will..!" Runa was motivated to fix her mistake. She now knows what to do instead of panicking.

With a single goal which is to fix her mistake. Her mind was focused to how she'll clean her mess. Runa recasted the magic circle she used and started to gather the water and slowly direct it off the floating island.

She hugged York and apologized once more. York licked her cheeks and wagged his tail. He wanted to assure her that he was not at all offended by her disturbing his sleep. After drying the yard York then went back to have his rest while Runa went inside the house.

"So? How was it?" Wilhelm asked.

"I-I'm surprised that I was able to create three large spheres." She replied.

Wilhelm patted her head. She was a lot happier to recieve a small gesture of affection from her master.

"Now that your mana capacity has reached to that amount. I plan to teach you on how to use water magic." He said.

...

Inside the royal palace of the Kingdom of Gressaia.

"Your Majesty, the monsters that appeared outside the area are slowly growing in number. The scouts found three lairs of monsters in the Forest of Muze. Krofder also sent an intel about their finding at the mountain range of Rizz."

"The numbers of attacks are getting frequent every week. There are reports of villages being wiped by monsters. The guild of adventurers from every city had reported their findings about the movements of the monsters."

"We have sent soldier to protect our borders. The adventurers have been doing the cleaning of monsters inside the kingdom since the quests sent increased. Our troops have already been dispatched to protect civilians in each cities."

"Your majesty, the crop production has decreased because of monster attacks on our farmers. Aside from the farmers the miners have been requesting the city lord for guards since there are cases of disappearance of the miners."

The king sighed and said, "These monsters are slowly attacking our kingdom. Even if we were to send soldiers to eliminate them they just keep crawling out of their lairs. If we send our soldiers there, there's no guarantee that we won't have any loss."

"But the only solution is to wipe their lairs your majesty. If the lair is destroyed then they'll flee outside the territory. Why don't we post a quest in the adventurers guild? A quest to venture the lair or to subjugate monsters inside the lair? We could then gather intel about the lairs that are rooted inside the dungeons."

The king agrees with the idea. Leaving the exploration to the veterans would be the wisest choice. Their soldiers may be strong against fighting on open fields and they would surely be at the disadvantage if they were sent to an environment that they are not familiar with.

"Then that's settled, send people to the Guilds and ask for their cooperations. Also, gather the soldiers that have experience raiding a dungeon and order them to help the guild." The king said.

"Although we agree with the idea, but doesn't it look like were relying on the Adventurers guild your majesty?" Said by one of the ministers.

The king stood up, "I don't think relying on the guild would damage our reputation as royalties. All I see is that we are doing measures so that we do not embarass ourselves... There are times where we need to rely on commoners, Minister."

"But---"

"The idea is to use them as hounds. We royalties are still the ones who have their leash. They are merely baits... Once we get the intel about the dungeon and what monsters taht lurks inside it we could dispatch our troops to wipe the place ourselves. The recognition will be ours. Do you still disagree with it?" Asked the king.

"We agree to your wise decision your majesty."

"Now, regarding the hero summoning. Each kingdom will send their heroes to learn at the Academy. We are to give them a welcome that's deserving of this honor. The great Academy of Gressaia had been the one to groom great warriors and magicians throughout the continent."

"The reason why they sent their heroes in Gressaia is because of the numbers of lairs spotted within the kingdom and we have the largest academy in the human territory. Our academy will serve as a great experience ground for heroes... I just want to be clear to all of you present here. As the king of this kingdom I do not wish to break the five hundred years worth of peace created by our ancestors."

"Although, I'm certain that in the near future... If each kingdom prosper and the population grow the battle for territory is inevitable... There will be a war against our fellow humans. I know that you, my ministers are aware of it too... We are the hailed as the kingdom of wisemen, I expect that none who are present here are fools that will endanger our kingdom."

"We understand you majesty."

The minister in charge of the academy then opened a new issue, "Your majesty, about the problem with the heroes. We do know that they have monstrous growth. I believe that some of them already have guidance from their kingdom... In order for us to give them the quality learning that they need I want to ask for our kingdom's strongest personas to guide."

"Our kingdom may be the most capable in terms of teaching but we are not the best kingdomm in terms of fighting. If I were to choose then wouldn't the Kingdom of Bernin be the best choice?"

"You have a great point but the idea that the heroes will gather here was supported by the elves. You do know that the elves have been our guide since time immemorial. They have been humanities greatest ally during the great war... Their say holds a weight that can influence each kingdom."

"No great king in the past have strayed their path since they had guidance from the elves. Each king on every kingdom have connection with the elves. Krofder has the strongest bond with them since king Draven was raised by an elf. To put it simply, because the elves suggested that the heroes will attend our academy. The kings choose to believe that it's the best choice."

But why do they believe in the words of the elves in the first place? Elves are peace loving creatures and have a very long life span. The current elders of the elves were once the allies of each kingdom's founders. They do not involve themselves with human wars nor they interfere with out growth.

The meeting in Krofder was proof that there will be a war against monsters and the elves will help humanity against these fearless enemies. Monsters have been the most aggressive creature that has set foot in the world. They attack anyone no matter the race. All they do is devour and annahilate. That is their nature.

"Do not worry about their mentors. Each Hero have their instructors from each kingdom. The academy's job is to offer them facilities that will nurture their growth."

"About our summoned hero your majesty, I believe that it's only best to offer the hero a suitable instructor..."

"Do you have someone in mind?" Asked by the other minister.

"Yes, the Blue Magician would be fit to teach our hero--"

"Denied." The king cut his sentence before he could even finish. The minister wanted to know the reason of the instant rejection.

"Your majesty, most of the minister that are present here agrees with the idea of the Blue Magician to be the instructor of our summoned hero. May we ask why the sudden rejection?"

The king sighed and placed his knuckle at the center of his brows.

"I too believe that Wilhelm would be the best choice but don't forget that we signed a contract with him. He is now a free man that is not affiliated with the kingdom's issues."

"Wilhelm with his power and influence is a threatening entity and could not be eliminated due to his family being an important figure of the academy. And he not only introduced us with mind blowing innovations he also had his personal achievements such as where he got his title."

"The condition of his freedom was simple. He will give seventy percent of the income of the teleportation devices and handed the right to be the owner of his other inventions to the kingdom. Not only that, his research for magic has improved our military strength. He is a walking treasure chest."

"But he is still a citizen of Gressaia and is obligued to answer the calls of Royalties is he not your majesty?"

"Ever since Wilhelm joined the Association of Magic and claimed some rank. He already have the backing he needed to be a free man. That organization has connections to every kingdom and has built several towers for each territories. It such a waste to begin with but we can't force him to comply to our demands."

"If the ministers still want to pursue the Blue magician then our only option is to send him a letter that will ask for his hand with the preparation for the war against the monsters. Since he bought his freedom we can not force with our demands."

"We can only hire him for the job. Offer him something that will take his interest for the position. Also, send the letter to his household so that the contents of the letter will reach him as soon as possible."

"Your majesty, about our offer... What should we give him? Considering that he has a large steady income with his iinventions and his household doesn't have any financial problems for the past decades. Offering him something will be difficult."

"No need to worry about that, Wilhelm is a man who loves magic more than anyone else. Giving him mana stones and mana crystals will surely attract him t

"If there are no more issues to be raised then this meeting is over. Thank you all for coming." The king ajoured the meeting.

A letter was delivered to Wilhelm's household. The content asks for his cooperation with the academy.

"Dear, it seems like our son is needed by the academy. The letter says that they ask him to return and become an instructor."