Knights

Few hours after Noah left the empty village some people on horses approached the village, they were wearing silver armor with a sword attached to their waist.

The one in the front, however, is different, he wore high-quality clothes unlike the rags the villagers used to wear, his clothes had silver and golden patterns with a red robe on his back and a huge crest is printed on the robe.

Unlike the other four whose faces are covered with the silver helmet the one in front had long red hair tied back to his head, he had black eyes and also had a sword attached to his waist but he also had a small dagger with a golden sheath and the same crest that is printed on the man's robe is printed on the dagger's sheath.

There were a total of five knights, four were following the one in the front from behind, all of them were moving towards Noah's village that he left a few hours ago.

All of the knights stopped at the gate of the village, the head knight got off from his mount and headed inside the village, the others did the same and followed him, but once they reached inside what they saw shocked them.

There were ashes everywhere, and clothes with huge wholes inside of it, the rest of the village is silent the head knight and the other four understood what had happened here but the head knight decided to confirm it.

He flared up his mana, his black eyes started glowing an Etherial green, his mana shot from beneath his feet and traveled throughout the whole village, the mana gave the locations of everything inside the village, similar to echolocation but on a higher level.

[sense], this is a simple spell that allows anyone to sense their surroundings, the limit of someone's senses depends on the amount of mana they have.

The head knight now felt everything around him, the presence of living and non-living things both, he could see through the walls of the houses as the houses don't have any runes protecting them from the knight's X-Ray vision.

The head knight decides to check by his sense but to no avail. There is no sign of life in this village, the whole village has been wiped out.

"They are all dead" The head knight said.

His voice seemed to be devoid of any emotions but he did felt bad for the deaths of the villagers.

"Sir Philip are you sure" One of the knight's asked the head knight

The head knight, named Philip just nodded, Philip did felt a bit sad at the death of the villagers, he always comes to this village to collect taxes, he knows the cheerful children of this village and happy people, Philip became angry when he saw the clothes of children on the ground.

He gritted his teeth thinking about the attacker, a psychopath who would kill innocent villagers and children.

"Let's go, we need to report this to the lord" Philip said as he left the village.

The knights silently followed after him without saying a single word.

*****

While Philip and his group of knights were going to the lord's mansion from the village another group of knights was making their way to the forest.

There were a total of four knights but they looked to be in the same position rather than serving some head knight among the group.

All of them wore the same silver armor with a red cape and a golden crest on the cape, the knights didn't seem to have high mana but they did have some weapons that are enchanted with mana.

All four of them were heading towards the woods from the city.

"Mark, do you think the information is true" One of the knight's asked

"Who knows, we will see that once we reach the place" The knight named Mark said.

*****

"Where is the city" Groumbled Noah as he killed another of those one-horned rabbits.

Noah has been walking for a long time but he didn't reach the city, he used all the navigating options he could but he failed, it's as if some illusion is happening around him.

The good thing for Noah is that the woods around his house is filled with weak monsters like the one-horned rabbit that he could actually kill, but the problem here is his stamina, he is just a six-year-old, he may be stronger than the one-horned rabbit but he doesn't have infinite mana.

Noah once again changed directions in hopes to reach the city, he did mark the way back to the village, so if he is unable to reach the city before night time then he would simply go back to the village.

While Noah killed some rabbits he reached an unusual place, he found a wooded house in the middle of the woods, the house looked small, only for a single person.

Noah then picked a stone and threw it, he is just being cautious about traps and other things, once he found it safe he moved towards the position of the stone and repeated the process.

He wanted to make sure about everything before approaching the house.

"Don't worry there are no traps" A voice came from the house

"Who are you" Noah asked while channeling mana into his knife.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you" A man came forward.

He had brown hair with brown eyes, he looked at Noah and then smiled.

"You have quite a lot of mana for the kid" The man said while lowering himself to meet Noah's eye level.

"Sorry for pointing my weapon then, I arrived here by mistake," Noah said, he knew he can't win in a fight against an adult, he got the proof of it the moment the person in front of him sensed his mana capacity.

"No No, you have nothing to apologize for, I set up some mist magic to draw others towards here, I did this mostly for drawing out monsters but sometimes humans wander here as well"

Mist magic is a type of magic that is used in various ways, like poison mist, illusion mist, and even seduction mist, the effects of the mist last depending on the amount of mana one put inside of it, and as Noah is just a kid he wasn't able to resist it.

Noah didn't say anything and just looked at the man in front of him.

"If you are wandering in the woods with a knife, I assume you have lost your parents" The man said with a neutral tone.

Noah didn't respond at that but the man continued.

"I am sorry, I shouldn't have asked that, but I would like to make an offer to you, become my disciple, I would like to train you into a fine mage" The man offered

Noah needed to think about it, he found this man suspicious from the start and now he is offering Noah to become his disciple, Noah already had the option to go to the orphanage.

But before Noah decides to open his mouth to answer the man in front of him looking in a certain direction of the woods with a shocked expression.

Before Noah could ask an arrow shot in between the man and Noah.