2 Years After & Mage Ardent Patrol

 Ardent and Catlin were sitting underneath a large tree in a nearby forest. Both deciding to hangout with each other before going back to their respective tasks.

 "It so nice to stay here, enjoying the peace and quiet." Catlin muttered, her head on Ardent's shoulder. Both of them are now teenagers, already fourteen years old.

 While Catlin recently becoming a 1st Circle Mage, just few days ago, Ardent, officially that is, already become one two years ago, and recently become a 2nd Circle Mage, the third one in the village 

 His fast rise made many of the village's higher upside and Mages looking forward to his growth, as it could help improve the status of the village in the eyes of nearby villages and towns.

 Though, Ardent still did not know why his future father-in-law happily hugging him when he showed a part of his power of a 1st Circle Mage. 

 Moreso when the man gave him a pouch of iron coins, the common currency of the village and its neighbours. It even valid to use in towns and cities in the area.

 'Father-in-law is weird.' Ardent thought before letting his sight fell on a more important visual, Catlin. The blonde girl had turned into a young beauty, with her blonde hair cascading her back and her cute face retaining some cute part while being beautiful at the same time.

 He played with the flowing hair, twirling it around his finger while Catlin let him do as he please.

 "We should not stay here for long." Catlin exclaimed suddenly said, "we still need to do our job." 

 Ardent nodded at her reminder.

 "Of course. Besides, I want to explore the path and maybe become a 3rd Circle Mage." he exclaimed with confidence. 

 Catlin had a strangled smile on her face, 'I only just become a 1st Circle Mage and now you want to become a 3rd Circle Mage.' she was a little upset she was unable to catch up to Ardent. 

 At least, her future husband will be more than worthy enough to take her hand.

-x-

 "Master Ardent, are you going to patrol the north of the village?" a guard asked him as he stopped at one of the guard post.

 "Yes. I heard caravans encounter some trouble there. So I will investigate and make sure the threat is gone or dead." Ardent replied with confidence.

 Even his presumed strength of 1st Circle Mage is more than enough to defeat the run-of-the-mill bandits found in the area, or pack of wild wolves or maybe some hungry bears.

 Though, he did not plan on letting his guard down. Mages can still be taken down by an ambush if they are not careful enough.

 "Do you want us to send in some guards to help you?" The leader of the post asked.

 Ardent was about to shook his head before giving it some thought. "Send in 3 guards, we still need the rest in case they decided to head to the village for some reason." 

 The leader nodded before barking orders to his subordinates. Ardent saw two of the guards being of the younger age, with one of them being his acquaintance and friend.

 "Frank, they send you to guard the north?" Ardent asked. Frank nodded,

 "Yup, but they seem to be having second thought, mostly because of the danger." he answered.

 Ardent could understand the higher-ups regret. The younger guards are often send in to do menial and less dangerous tasks on order to give them some much needed experience for the future.

 After all, when they fight a bandit group, if the younger guards freeze at the sight of blood or the corpses of their comrades, they might froze and endanger the entire group. That's why the younger guards usually guard the post while the older and more experienced one will do patrol, sometime with the village's Mages.

-x-

 After ensuring his group is prepared, Ardent lead the group. Normally, a Mage will be at the back, or so video game logic went. However, in real life, the Mages will be put up front so they can cast their spells without worrying about friendly fire. 

 It is something his Alfon and Cross told him, telling him how Mage will be at the front, but still close enough for the guards to cover them in case of danger. 

 As they walked the path, the guards look at their surrounding with wariness in their eyes. Ardent did not blame them. The report of several caravans being assaulted made them rather serious and anxious.

 'At least they took the job seriously. Way too seriously.' he thought as he use his senses. As a Mage, he is more than capable enough to sense Mana at a certain distance. 

 As now, he did not detect any anomaly as of yet but that might change soon. 

-x-

 "So, this is where the caravans were attacked." Frank exclaimed, kneeling near some of the destroyed crates. While most of the caravans survived, they had to discard several of their goods to distract their attackers. 

 In fact, he could see fresh blood near some of the crates, with more around.

 "Looks like whatever attack the caravans dragged the bodies. So, we can rule out bandits. They will not do such thing." the oldest guards among the trio said.

 "But they said the attackers is humanoid in nature. So, it can't be animals either." Frank argued.

 The old guard nodded, "True. If it is one or two, it might be hallucination from distress, but if all of them said they are attacked by humanoid threats, well, it can't be anything but humanoid threats. It just bandits will not do such pointless action."

 Frank and the other guard nodded in agreement. Both have been taught of how bandits operate so they can counter it, so they knew what ever the old guard say is correct. But still, they could not explain why the entire caravan said they were attacked by humanoid or human threats.

 "So, what co-"

 "Get ready to fight." Ardent suddenly said as Magic Circles appeared around him, a serious expression on his face.

 "We already surrounded."