Chp. 21 Wild Blades

"Hmm, nope you're totally lying." Marc said as he turned back to go about his business.

"Wh-what?! N-no we're not!" the girl crawled towards Marc to beg again but they were stopped by the roosters.

"Really? All of you are wearing tattered clothes but I can see they were of quality and some of you even wear some golden rings with precious gems on them. Also one of you is a mage, there is no mage that could develop up to a C-rank adventurer without a good financial backing and that there had been too many of you young kids going to this dangerous place without a care for your lives." Marc ended with that as he walked towards his workshop to fiddle with some things he had been experimenting on.

The young adventurers were led out but somehow they were more stubborn that the ones that came before, most would leave after being scared of the monster town but the girl seems insistent on staying.

Even her companions were scared but since they too were the personal servants of their lady then they cannot leave. They had wanted to drag her out of this accursed land but they cannot match her stubbornness.

Marc went about his daily life as many more adventurers had found courage to step foot in the wildlands as some have been sent back unscathed.

This brought a lot of revenue in tax on Mogard as the people seemed to want to be able to find the path through the fog mountains and the experts were the knights of the Baroness.

So they were hired with high prices and even the Baroness escorted some inside and this included the girl that wanted to be Marc's disciple.

[Mogard]

"How many more times are you going to go inside there and grovel? You should be glad the cockatrices and Steel-backed Boars were tame or else you would have been monster poop right now!" the Baroness was lecturing a group of young adventurers and the one leading them was the girl before.

"B-but aunty, I want to learn under a Saint. *sniffle* Grandp-*ahem*Sage Bertun won't accept me since he already picked big brother who is also going to be the next successor of the kingdom." The girl who was the youngest child of the King of the Naval Kingdom of Portwest now kneeled in front of the Baroness.

"And you went inside there without even informing me!? You even went in disguise and if your mother my sister did not send a letter then I would not have known I sent my niece went inside the dangerous Wildlands!!" the Baroness fumed as she lectured the young girl.

"Boohoo, mom's a meanie!" the girl sobbed but all she received as a smack in her head form the Baroness.

"You little shit! Be glad your mom was able to predict where you wandered off to! Or else I would have to fish you out some beast stomach for you stupidity!" The Baroness, Diane of Mogard sighed in frustration as she lectured her niece.

"But I wanna learn from a Saint! And the Wildlands are not that dangerous anyways, Lord Saint can even live there so why can't I go?" Princess Cindy begged her aunt as she tried looking cute.

"And how can that be my decision to make? I am not the Saint, you want me to force him to teach you? Are you really my sister's daughter? Because she sure hell was not this dumb like you." Diane rubbed her forehead in anger as she looked at the daughter of her beloved smart younger sister.

"Boohoo aunty's a meanie too!!" the princess cried and ran away feeling hurt but before she could go far she was caught by Diane in her collar.

"And where do you think you are going little lady?" Diane stared at her niece in anger as she held her by the enck.

"Teehee, you got me!" the princess acted cute but all she received was a smack in her head.

*Tonk!*

"Ouchie!" Cindy covered her head as Diane's smack hurt her.

"You little shit, trying to dramatize to run away!?" Diane had enough and dragged her niece back to her castle.

"Noo!!!"

[Monster Town]

Marc had a serious expression as he looked in front of him as the swordswoman he saved now stayed behind and was acting like his personal maid.

"Why are you here? Aren't you free already?" Marc rubbed his head in annoyance as he looked at the girl diligently cleaning his workplace.

"Master has freed and I owe you my life so I will repay you with my body." The swordswoman bowed towards Marc as she said these words in a blank placid voice.

"Ughh… don't need one so scram. Or else I will throw you out." Marc did not like it when people are messing with his stuff so he pushed aside the girl and went to get to work.

"But Master, this is the only thing I can repay you and the only thing I know how to do besides killing." The girl said making Marc stop and look at her.

"You said I am your master right?" Marc said as he stared at the woman's eyes.

"Yes." The girl nodded.

"What's your name?" Marc asked.

"Vela." Vela answered.

"Well Vela, here's my first order. You are to leave and find a life of your own, don't bother me here." Marc then turned and picked up a box where a set of armor Marc made is inside.

"Here, take this and go out there and live your life. There are some gems there that I carved in my pass time but I am sure they would sell quite nicely out there. Go, leave." Marc then turned and ignored the confused woman.

But her mind whirred in work as she interpreted Marc words differently, since he is not that fluent his words were misinterpreted.

You are to leave= Go out into the world

Find a life of your own=start a journey on your own for now

Don't bother me=don't let anyone bother me.

Here are some gems= here are some funds to start your journey

Vela was silent a first and then nodded in with renewed resolve as she looked at Marc feeling glad she is now free.

"I shall follow you instructions to the fullest master!" then Vela ran towards her hut to change and start to make a journey befitting her master.

"What the? What instructions? Gahh… Nevermind…" Marc did not know that because of him releasing her she started a hidden group that was funded with the numerous gems he has on his hands and became a feared espionage group dedicated to his cause in the nearby future.

Wild Blades, they will become his dagger in the dark that even he does not know and they will make sure no one would infiltrate the Wildlands with ill intent. Vela had went about her way to find hundreds of Orphans with the money she will earn.

Unbeknownst to Marc, that the gems look normal in the Wildlands as the magic here became erratic. But when brought outside then they will show their true worth.

Three of which were Gems that was coveted by five Sages that fought over them in an Auction fiercely as the gems were very great items for making Staves good enough for a Sage to use.

But Marc did not care as he went about leisurely with his life as he slowly mapped the whole Wildlands. He had been taking notes as he still has not entirely discovered everything about this very dangerous place.

For the next six months that passed the hype for the new Saint still is in full blow but what made the people gather in Mogard were the items traded in by Marc.

High ranked leather from the beast inside as well as bones, claws and even feathers that seemed to be better magic resistance that the ones from outside the Wildlands.

It seemed that the life forms inside had been able adapt and become more suited in battling magical powers as they lived in the magic void place.

That aside, Marc was able to get more tools and stuff that he hoarded in an underground storage he made. He dug out a wide space underneath the Mango look-alike fruit tree and found that the tree has very thick roots going down very deep.

But Marc slowly parted them and made a large hollowed space underneath and made a personalized library where he keeps many books that he liked.

It was not much but there he was able to gather basic tomes about magic and crafting. Marc knew he was not that smart but at least he has his past life's experience where he can draw inspiration from to make some tools.

But right now he is just living life leisurely, but just like many other seasons, this was the calm before a storm.

The next week Marc stood atop his highest tree house that he built and looked at the reddish energy gathering up in the clouds. This was something he experienced every year and his first was not so pleasant at all.