Chapter 56:Faith

Three years later

The icy wind was whipping and swirling snowflakes. The only sound echoing in the desolate area was the disturbing noise of the wind. Ethan, despite wearing thick clothing, was shivering from the cold, with snowflakes constantly getting into his eyes, which he tried to shield with his hand. However, he had received a report of a creature in this area, and Ethan was the only one who could stop it. If this creature reached the city of Aurendale, it could cause a disaster, and since the roads were closed because of heavy snowfall, getting help from nearby cities was impossible. Ethan continued to advance confidently and eventually reached a cave, at least finding a good place to spend the night.

For the past two days, he had been tracking the creature, but the heavy snowfall was a major obstacle, and Ethan had made little progress in finding it. Perhaps the creature had already reached Aurendale or was attacking at that moment. Ethan decided to continue searching for the creature until tomorrow, and if he couldn't find it by then, he could give up and focus on returning to the city and defending .

With these thoughts in mind, he finally reached the cave and walked inside. Although the cave was quite dark, it was warmer than outside, but still not warm enough. Ethan immediately moved the large rock next to the cave to close the entrance and took out the sticks he had previously collected from his bag, trying to make a small fire. He managed to quickly light the fire using his magical powers and opened a hole at the entrance to avoid being poisoned by the smoke.

Ethan took out a sleeping bag and some pieces of meat from his backpack. These were enough to spend the night. After eating the meat he cooked over the fire, he fell asleep. The next day, he woke up to a disturbing noise. Something was hitting the rock at the entrance of the cave hard. Ethan quickly got up and tried to look outside through the hole he had opened. At that moment, he saw the creature he had been searching for days and began to think about what to do. Creatures were physically powerful beings, and when Ethan pulled the rock from the entrance, he was likely to die or at least get injured.

Ethan quickly began to assess the situation. Seeing the creature waiting at the entrance of the cave, he understood that he needed to make a plan. First, he needed to understand what kind of creature it was. He tried to find a clue about this by focusing on its behavior and appearance.

Squinting his eyes to get more information about the creature's appearance, he tried to examine it carefully. He focused on details such as body structure, skin color, and the length of its limbs to determine what species the creature belonged to. At the same time, he tried to understand its behavior patterns by observing its movements. Understanding whether the creature was aggressive or defensive could help Ethan determine his fighting strategy.

Ethan stepped away from the entrance and used his gravity magic to reduce the weight of the rock above, pushing it aside with the help of his sword. Ethan began to exit through the hole he had opened and finally managed to leave the cave. As he emerged from the cave, he saw the creature. From this distance, the creature appeared to be much smaller, but its body still reached about 3 meters in height. The creature, noticing Ethan, began to attack him. Ethan quickly dodged the attack and then moved away from the cave. The creature was more agile in its insults because it was smaller than an adult creature.

Ethan swiftly ran toward a clearing where there were no trees. After all, trees could obstruct Ethan's magic and restrict his movement. When he came to a place where there were no trees, the creature was already right behind him. Ethan cast a spell at the creature using fire and air elements. When the spell hit the creature, there was an explosion on its face. Ethan had been working on this spell for a long time and finally managed to test it on an actual enemy.

The weakness of the creatures was fire, which was an element Ethan could manipulate. Ethan kept casting spells in succession while simultaneously backing away to avoid the creature reaching him. The creature's furious roar was so loud that even distant birds began to flap their wings and fly around in fear. Ethan used gravity magic to slow down the creature and then created explosions on its body using fire and air elements. Undoubtedly, both opponents were fiercely engaged in battle. Despite its young age, the creature was resisting quite well, and it was certain that it would pose a lot of trouble when it grew up.

After about five minutes of relentless fighting, the creature finally fell to the ground and died. Similarly, Ethan had exhausted all his strength and was quite tired. Still, using his last ounce of energy, he walked back to the cave he had previously visited and gathered some wooden sticks. Ethan immediately built a fire again and cooked and ate the last of the meat, and after resting for about an hour he began to carry the creature's body, lightening it with magic before setting off for the city of Aurendale. Fortunately he left many tracks in the trees on the way back. So he reached the city without getting lost. The guards at the gate recognized Ethan immediately and bowed respectfully.

"Help me carry this creature," Ethan said to them.

The guards immediately rushed to help carry the creature, but it was too heavy, and later they looked at Ethan in astonishment. It seemed unbelievable that a single man could carry such a heavy object for such a long distance. Later, with the help of more men, the guards managed to carry the creature inside, and Ethan carrying the creature alone to Aurendale would spark some rumors among the people.

When Ethan arrived at his mansion, he entered happily and walked towards his bed. Except for the servants and Evelyn, there was no one else in the mansion.

Eleanor had gone to visit her mother a few weeks ago and probably hadn't left because of the heavy snowfall. Aphrodite had gone to the capital to visit her sister. Only Aleria was in the city, but she had recently started to spend more time alone to increase her magical power. The next day, after having breakfast, Ethan went outside and headed to the stable. Last year, Anna had gifted Ethan a horse, and Ethan had grown very fond of it. Ethan had always been very fond of animals.

He entered the stable and walked towards his horse. The horse's white skin was shining, and its muscular body made it look more majestic, but amidst all this, the horse's eyes captivated Ethan. The horse seemed to have human-like eyes. Sometimes it seemed smarter than many humans, and Ethan had named the horse "Faith."

As Ethan stroked the horse's neck, he felt loneliness again. He had never felt so alone since he came into this world, showing how much he had become accustomed to the surrounding people. In his previous life, it was normal for Ethan to not want to talk to people and spend time alone, but now things had changed. As if sensing Ethan's state, the horse gently nibbled at Ethan's clothes and nudged him in response.

"Easy there, big girl. You like me petting your neck, don't you?" Ethan continued to stroke the horse as a guard entered the stable.

"I apologize for interrupting, Your Majesty, but there is a man here claiming to be from the capital and wishing to speak with you."