Dennis' Provocation

At sunrise of the next day, Glin woke up early. Not intentionally but because it was very early when outside was becoming very noisy. It's been like this since he gained his consciousness but after leaving the Stonewill for a long time, it seemed to have changed and he was no longer used to it.

Now that he's back in the city, his life of a hunter living in the wilderness may be over. In the woods, he needed to hunt rabbits and other animals to escape starvation; but in a city, escaping starvation is about money, in short.

Meanwhile, he didn't want to rely on the Valarians to feed him so he planned to go out and get money out of things he had fought out with life and death in the previous months.

When Glin rose from his bed, Theian was nowhere in the room. Theian may not be the Head of the House anymore but he's still an Elder of the House, still busy, he thought as he wore his black robe and his boots.

Shortly, after he dressed himself with some old clothes from the rosewood cabinet, he left the chamber, carrying his sheathed sword in his right hand and his leather bag tied on his waist. The atmosphere in the hallway was still the same as yesterday when he passed through.

While walking, he was deep in his thoughts about how he would price his items when he reaches the "ingredient shop." He was going to sell his eight-month harvest.

But he didn't expect himself to meet someone he hated just a minute after he came out of the huge building.

"Ohh? See who's here!" a boy at Glin's age with short blond hair exclaimed with a grin as he notified his three friends. "It's actually our old friend Glin, the only non-mage in the entire Valarian family."

Glin frowned at the boy but did not say any word. He could tell exactly what the boy meant behind his words. It was the truth and it didn't matter whether he was a real Valarian or not, because everyone thought he is. He could only tighten his grip on his sword's scabbard while concealing his real emotions.

"Come on boys, have a good look. This is the mysterious non-mage born in a thousand-year-old mage family," laughed the blond boy as he insulted Glin with a mocking tone. Hearing this, the three boys laughed behind him.

Glin tried to endure the humiliation but shortly failed. His eyes turned red in fury as he glared at the youngsters in front of him. Out of being peeved, he angrily held the hilt of his sword and tried to pulled it out of the sheath. His face went dark as he did. But before he could draw the edge of the sword halfway out, the blond-haired boy quickly told his friends to his hold him and keep him from moving.

Each of his hands was locked by the hands of two boys, unable to move at will. Meanwhile, the other boy who was fat went behind him and hooked his arm tightly on his neck. Glin tried to struggle and break free but his strength was simply not enough to get him out of the three boys' grip.

"Let go of me!" yelled Glin angrily as he stared at the blond-haired boy.

"You're too noisy. Look, you're no longer the son of the house head. No matter how loud you yell at me, your words don't have any effect on me," the blond-haired boy chuckled. He took Glin's sword and threw it on the ground. "I am the son of the new house head now. You are nothing to me. Once I inherit my father's position, you'll have to call me Lord Dennis."

Glin continued struggling but still can't break free from six hands holding him. He clenched his fists and gnashed his teeth as the blond-haired boy named Dennis said what he wanted. "You brat! If I break free from here, I'll make sure to leave a scratch on your face!"

"Haha, can you even do it? You don't even have magic," Dennis chuckled.

"Tch! You have magic but you're still weak! Don't be so arrogant!" Glin glared at Dennis, wishing he could punch the guy on his face. "Just tell me, what you want. I don't have much time for you!"

"Hmm… What do I want from you?" Dennis asked mockingly, acting as if he was pondering about it. Suddenly, his gaze fell from Glin's face down to the small leather bag on the Glin's waist. "What a nice bag, I wonder what's inside it."

When Glin heard what Dennis said, he struggled again, harder than before. His face showed an angry expression which could no longer be any angrier. What's inside his bag was basically all the treasures he considered he own; he wouldn't allow just anyone to touch it. However, no matter how hard he tried to get out of the boys' grips, he failed, unable to stop Dennis from taking his leather bag.

"If you dare take anything from my bag, I'll swear I'll beat the shit out of your face when I get chance!"

"How brave! A mere non-mage dares to say he can beat me?"

Dennis raised his right hand to the level of his shoulder as he laughed. His palm stopped, facing the white-blue sky as black fire ignited out of nothing in between his fingers. There was no hotness in it, though it exhibited the resemblance of a fire. Rather, it gives one a chilling feeling: a strange, cold flame that could burn one's body and soul.

"How laughable," chuckled Dennis as he continued.

When Glin saw the black fire on the Haerius' hand, he ceased struggling right away. He wasn't actually scared of this peculiar type of flame. The thing he was most afraid of at the moment was actually his bag getting burned under it. He was certain that the leather bag wouldn't last ten seconds if Dennis tries to incinerate it. He had read about it long ago: Magical flames are most dreaded because they could burn things rather quickly, and even things that shouldn't burn may turn to fine dark ashes. If his bag and everything inside it are burned to ashes, he would no longer have anything to truly claim as his belongings.

While he was thinking about it, Dennis' gaze suddenly turned towards the leather bag. It made Glin totally nervous.

Dennis had actually thought about burning the bag. But suddenly, he felt something amiss the moment he switched his attention towards it. A frown suddenly surfaced on his face as he stared at it. He could fell a strange magical strength from inside the bag. Because he was born to be a mage, it was very normal for him to feel something like it. But, this strange magical strength is just too strong and pressuring.

Is it a Magic Relic? Dennis went curious. If it was, it must be at least a Special Relic, he suddenly thought but his face remained solemn.

The black fire slightly trembled and began to fade away. It quickly vanished into the thin air upon Dennis' will.

After he extinguished his black fire, he opened the leather bag right away. Meanwhile, Glin was wondering why Dennis face expression has suddenly turned solemn. He was silent for a moment but his worries still remained.

Dennis was wondering what was the thing inside the leather bag that gave him the uneasy feeling. If there was, how did Glin, get his hand onto it?

When he glanced inside the bag, there were lots of small things: small sealed bottles, tied herbs, tiny sharp tools, stones and crystals with variety of colors, and many other items he failed to recognize.

He fished out the bottles one by one, glancing once on what's inside them before casually dropping them to the dirty ground. He clearly wasn't aware of what those things were and he just casually disregarded them.

Meanwhile, Glin felt his heart aching seeing how his things fell to the ground. His heart was beating fast. Every one of those bottles was precious to him and some of them even almost costed his life acquiring it.

Suddenly, he noticed Dennis suddenly stopped. The guy raised his hand. It already held a black old-looking rectangular object that looked like a perfectly-folded black steel plate. The object didn't have a smooth surface but it was very flat and the lines on the edges were clear and clean.

Seeing it, Glin's face trembled slightly. His brows raised a little and his eyes widened. To his surprise, Dennis didn't drop it like he did with the other things. It seemed like it was the cause of the sudden change in Dennis' face, Glin guessed. He knew mages are sensitive towards their surroundings.

"What is this thing?" Dennis asked curiously. Still wearing his solemn face, he glanced back at Glin, demanding for an answer. However, just before he could utter another word, a hand swiftly snatched the black rectangular object. He didn't even notice anyone beside him before it happened so he was caught unprepared.

"Dennis, you shouldn't touch things that doesn't belong to you," an indifferent voice of a man was suddenly heard.

The man's black robe fluttered the moment he appeared, as if he arrived with high-speed.

When Dennis turned his head to his side where he heard the voice, he startled. At the same time, his three friends were also startled and quickly let go of Glin. Fear lingered in their eyes as all their glances were directed at the man. Meanwhile, joy and relief suddenly flashed across Glin's face.

"Marco!" Dennis took a step back. He didn't think Marco will catch him bullying Glin.

While the four boys, including Dennis, were expecting to be scolded by Marco, Glin quickly recovered and remembered how these boys bullied him a while ago. The reddened face was suddenly revived from Glin. Not even a second later, all the muscles in his upper limbs contracted and his fingers curled into a fist, clenching very hard.

The four boys didn't notice the sudden change in Glin. A heavy fist dug onto the face of one of Dennis friends. It was very quick! The boy who got punched hasn't stabilized his body yet, when another boy on his left got hit by a hard knee on the belly. The guy was also pushed back badly, pale-faced and having trouble with breathing; he suddenly felt his knees weakened after the blow. But before he fell to the ground, Glin has already changed direction and aimed his punch towards the third boy's face.

The third boy was able to see Glin's fist growing bigger in his sight. He startled. He tried to dodge downward and barely succeed. However, when his face was lowered after dodging, a "knee strike" caught him by surprise and hit his nose. His face turned pale as his ass hit the ground hardly. A second later, fresh blood came out of his nose and flew past his pair of lips.

All the three boys had their face gloomy after each of them took a strike from Glin. Only one of them was left standing but something sweet came out of his gums; his mouth was bleeding! Meanwhile, the other two has experienced the worse: One felt his nose turned numb while filled with a bit viscous liquid slowly flowing down, whilst the other one lost nothing but sweat yet suffered the most terrible fate out of the three.

After looking at the miserable faces of the three boys, Glin finally glared at Dennis. The latter could only grit his teeth while watching his friends get beaten up.

Glin really had the urge to beat the crap out of the guy's face. But when he was about to do so, Marco stopped him. Of course, because Dennis was the House head's son.

"Tch." Dennis also glared at Glin while dark-faced, as if trying to say "we're not done yet." He then dropped Glin's leather bag before he left with his gloomy-faced friends, following behind him like beaten dogs with their tails between their legs.

Glin was still gritting his teeth, seeing his enemies fleeing. "Come back here and let's fight! You all have magic but each of you are all still too weak!"

Marco only shook his head. He was six years older than these youngsters. What would the elders say if he allows these kids beating each other, especially when the spoiled-brat Dennis is involved?

"Are you alright?"

"Barely," sighed Glin. He went to pick up his things on the ground. But when he switched his glance back at Marco, his eyes widened for the second time.

"Is this thing a relic?" Marco asked in his mind. He was solemnly looking at the black rectangular object while astounded at the same time.

"Such a very strong magical strength," he muttered.

"Huh? What is it?" asked Glin suddenly. He finally couldn't hold his curiosity towards the black object. He remembered, Dennis' reaction was also like Marco's. What is this thing really?

"I don't know but this thing has a frightening magical strength. Where did you get this thing?" Marco couldn't help but wonder where in the world did Glin get this peculiar thing from so he inquired.

"A kind old woman insisted on giving it to me after I left the village eight months ago. She said I'd need it and told me not to give it to anyone. I'm not a mage and I couldn't feel anything from it like you so I just thought of it as a lucky charm or some sort of talisman, keeping ferocious beasts away from me. Who knows if it is? I've never met any of those scary monsters when I ventured through the forests every day." Glin smiled.

Marco once again observed the black object after listening from Glin. Shortly, he gave it back to the latter. "There might be a reason why that old woman gave you this. It might be best if you follow what she said, this thing is absolutely strange."

Glin nodded.

"You know, some old sages travel across the continent to find a worthy person who will receive their inheritance. Who knows? What if that old woman was a real sage with the greatest wisdom," Marco smiled. He never really gives up motivating Glin; it was his only way to help the boy.