Unlike the trip to the Lurian Empire that takes only around 2 days of flight, Radiance Empire was not only further away, almost 9 days of flying, but the empire was many times bigger than Lurian empire.

They controlled almost 60% the northern territory of the known continent. It is one of the stronger nations with high level of influence in the explored territories.

Xero and Meldie have been flying for nearly 9 days and were arriving at the borders. During the trip, because it was Edge that was flying instead of just a random Greatsword, he could fly continuously without stopping and without Xero’s control.

As such the two had spent most of their time talking, playing or training. At the start they had a lot to talk about but as time passed it became harder to start a conversation so it started to move on to school work talk, exchange of knowledge, then talk of their training and some skills.

Later, Xero began to study the ‘Basic Tool summoning magic and it’s Formula construction’ book. The book was incredibly useful for Xero because Tool summoning magic was much simpler than living being summoning or spawning. The tools ranged from hammers to an oven. These were very useful tool spells to have when out in the wild.

Xero was tempted to add a large brick roasting pit summoning spell to Ashley’s repertoire of spells so that she can cook anywhere.

Still he focused on three important tools, a hammer, an anvil and a smithing Furnace. The anvil and hammer were simple spell formula but the furnace was quite complex, though not extensively but it incorporated a number of things learned only in the 3rd year but it was only in few spots.

In Xero’s mind he was able to replace these spots with a few lower class sections but because he wasn’t satisfied he took out the books on magic knowledge to read to try and figure it out.

“Master, we are approaching the borders.” Edge warned them.

“Just keep going, there shouldn’t be any problems. Meldie, what town does your family live in?” Xero asked.

“It’s called Blue light city, the lord founder if the city is master of a Blue fire Angel so it was named after that.” She said.

Nodding, Xero put away his books and stood on the sword while Meldie remained sitting, Edge had expanded to be around 10 meters long and 4 wide so it gave plenty of space to walk around on. He also kept all the features of the Greatsword making it that wind doesn’t pass stronger no matter the speed.

Bang!

Suddenly Edge trembled as they flew and the three were shaken before Edge fixed himself up and continued on.

“What was that!?” Xero asked.

“Ah!” Meldie suddenly gasped, “I forgot~! The nation has a barrier around the barrier to be able to sense when someone flies inside!” Meldie said suddenly.

WOOSH! WOOSH! WOOSH!

Suddenly several large creatures swooped out of nowhere. The bodies were massive and released an oppressive aura of dominance. With the wind from the creatures blowing hard, even Edge could not maintain stability and began to shake until he got used to it and the three saw what had passed by.

Flying all around them were countless dragons of different kinds. With two true dragons, 20 drakes that looked similar to the true dragons but tiny in comparison and flying all around were wyverns. The wyverns were dragon type beasts but there are two types. One is the kind that have two wings and two legs and are born in mountains normally. These are highly feral and dangerous. The other originates from sea dragon type creatures who possess fins. By altering water magic to air magic, their two fins become longer and their scales become feathers and they get the ability to fly. The almost always hover and only land to sleep, their mature size was between 4 to 7 meters long. Almost 50 of such creature flew around and this type is a domesticated mount trained for military use.

“Who are you and what is your purpose in flying into the Radiance empire without authorization!?” A loud voice came from the true dragons. All the piece wore armor covering their body and half their face.

Meldie quickly stood up and bowed, “I am sorry, I am one of the daughters of the head of the Donima Merchant firm from Blue Light City. Because I don’t normally fly when travelling I had forgotten about our great nation’s barrier!” She said.

At the mention of the firm, the aggressive aura of the men lightened up considerably and one of the wyvern riders flew close before stopping over the blade. Edge expanded, shocking them but the space opened up was enough to land several wyvern and still have some space left over.

Dismounting the man took out a crystal ball, “Please place both your hands one this, it will register your entry into the nation. There is also a 1 gold fee for non-residents when entering.” He said.

They nodded, not going against their words and so they touched it. The orb identified them and made sure to check if they were from the nation or not. Meldie was exempted from the tax but Xero was forced to pay a whole gold coin to enter making Meldie ashamed since she had not warned him earlier.

“Beware of where you fly, there are many such restricted flight zones within the nation, look…” He pulls out a medal with a dragon engraving, “...This is a flight medals distributed by his Marquess of the Crost family for people that have flight abilities. This is required for flight within the Radiance nation and is used to pass the barrier without… crashing as you did.” He said.

“We understand, thank you sir knight.” Xero nodded as he understood that things here were several times more rigid compared to the other nations they passed through.

“There is a nearby outpost so follow us to get all the regulations and flight medal set up to avoid complications in the future.” The wyvern rider said and Xero nodded.

Letting the man mount his beast again, Edge shrank back down and following behind the dragon herd, they eventually reached an outpost that the dragon knight had mentioned.

Xero did the troublesome process to obtain the flight medallion and left with a warning, “The Medallion is valid for one year, when you return to the Radiance empire anytime after a year is over you must go to a border outpost and regulate the validation.” He said and Xero nodded before leaving.

He also obtained a map showing the ‘air space’ of the entire nation. Areas in red were prohibited to everyone but a select few, some area only allowed people above a certain nobility rank.

“So many regulations.” Xero said feeling a headache as he read the complex rules the nation imposed towards flight. He was only thankful that Blue Light City was near the borders and there was much less trouble or restrictions in these areas.

The two were able to finally continue and reached Blue Light City within half a day without any more trouble from the guards.

The Donima Merchant Firm existed inside the town, like most cities, it had an inner and outer city. Only villages and towns did not have the inner city due to the size being small but eventually it would develop it as the population rises forming a ‘noble’ base of the population.

The term ‘noble’ comes from the rich and poor of the population. The Donima family that commands the Donima Merchant Firm is a ‘noble’ yet all it’s members do not surpass level 30 and so it is considered a ‘common noble’.

Of course, even among them there are ranks, the Donima family was a large noble family and instead of living in the Inner city, where there were countless political things to worry about, they purchased land 20 kilometers from the city and built a manor of their own. This was the Donima estate where the family lived.

When they arrived, Meldie directly told him to fly over the walls and landed at the door. When the guards saw her they came up and greeted her, “10th Young Miss, you have returned.” They bowed.

“Hey Meldie, you mentioned before that Halfling come in large numbers but after recounting everything, don’t you have twins?” Xero said.

She smiled, “I was born alone, it was a rare event to Halflings.” She said and turned to the guard and told them to tell her parents she was home before she guided Xero into the house.

The house of a Merchant cannot be underestimated. It has much more glamor than a noble of the state, that is for sure. It made Xero wonder if any of his family would fit as a merchant. After some thought he completely tossed that out into the trash. Nil was a hunter and was good as a leader because he had been an army man before being a hunter. Zip was a blacksmith, Void was more towards a hunter himself, Xero was still a child and his focus was more towards training and magic, Nadir was… her, Nero and Zitch were babies and Opal was too simple minded. Although Jasmine was smart, she was more towards a housewife than a merchant, having no prior training and only some magical knowledge.

As the two wait at the front, Xero admiring the wealth of the family, suddenly he heard footsteps and turned to find a young boy running over and behind him was a beautiful little girl but she was walking with a swollen belly.

“My little girl! You’re back!” The boy said.

“Papa! Mama!” Meldie said and hugged the boy.

Xero was amazed when he heard this. The boy wore a suit made out of fine silk and short blue hair. The girl had long pink hair and a doll like face while she wore a one piece dress.

“Oh dear, you have grown so cute since you left.” The girl who was supposed to be Meldie’s mother said.

Xero was complete out of his element here, the fact that halflings remained youthful was well known but Xero had never expected for it to be to this degree were you couldn’t figure out if the person was 10 or 50.

When the parents finished hugging their daughter the man turned and his eyes turned sharp. “So sweetie, this is my new son in law.” He asked.

“No! He is just a classmate!” Meldie shouted blushing.

“Isn’t that how I met your father dear, don’t be shy.” Her mother said.

Xero was sweating at this moment because of what he was hearing. Marriage in most country happened between the age of 14 to 18, this is considered the marriage window but normally ‘powerful’ people with lots of potential would not marry until their late 20s so as to not distract themselves from their training.

At this time, a sudden rush of children came out of the rooms a total of 14 children, 5 of which were even smaller younger children, came out. They were shouting, “Little sis is back!” and other things.

After a while, similar to the ‘parents’ they looked at Xero examining him.

“Little sis, you sure picked one up early.” A dark haired boy said.

“BIG BRO!” Meldie said while red faced. “Xero, I’m sorry but halflings are really open towards marriage.” She said fidgeting, “Normally starting from the age of 12 they already search for a partner. N-not that I did that!” She said looking down embarrassed.

“Oh my, as shy as always.” One of the ‘older’ brothers sighed.

“Hey, at least she was faster than you.” One of the older sisters said.

At this point Meldie wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out. “S-stop it! I invited Xero because last year he didn’t explore much!” she said.

“Alright stop teasing your adorable sister. Xero was it? I’m Francis Donima and this is my wife, Cristal.” He introduced himself and his wife.

“I’m Xero Null, I’m from the Lurian Empire.” Xero replied and shook his hand.

An interested expression showed up on his face. “Oh a Lurian, that’s quite a distance.” Francis said holding his chin, “If I remember right~, that nation has good metal work. It’s towards the south so the distance would take almost 3 months of carriage to get to the borders.” He muttered. When he got to this point he suddenly noticed something, “Wait, to get to the academy without teleportation or air transport would take 2 months, how did you two arrive in only 9 days?” He asked.

Meldie stepped up hugging her father, “Xero has a flying skill related to his familiar.” She said.

The eyes of the halfling shined instantly, “Oh really! Son-in-law, tell me about it!” He said hugging Xero from behind.

“FATHER!” Meldie shouted embarrassed even more after the subject had been dropped but suddenly returned.

“Now dear, don’t try to take advantage of the young boy. It’s not good for our image.” Cristal said.

Francis trembled slightly but didn’t show it on his face, “Right, let’s have a feast then you kids can rest a while from your travels.” He said and ordered the servants to get cooking.

***

Hiding in the underbrush of the surrounding forest, slowly a blue skinned face with curly black hair stuck his head out. The yellow eyes and black sclera showed it was a demon. He had slightly pointed ears and it picked up all the sound within 1 kilometer of him.

“Good, it seems we lost them for now.” he muttered. The devil turned back and saw a bloodied human. The demon frowned as he felt the strength of the human slowly weaken as the blood dripped from his right leg. There was a large hole there that was bleeding.

“Hang in there Ernest.” the demon said.

The pair was Ernest Wais Nelmoon and Night Gale from the Holy Academy who went to Xero’s camp during the trip at the start of the year. Being a year older he was already exploring and this time he came to the Radiance Empire for a job at the Light god Church here.

“That bitch, the next time I spot her, I make will sure to shove one up her ass. If she didn’t sneak attack us and spout so much bullshit.” Night cursed over and over again as he removed his master’s pants for a moment and ripped out the leather belt on the pants and put the pants in place once more. He then ripped his master’s robe and formed a ball cloth and a sheet of cloth put it against the wound. The ball he stuffed in his master’s mouth then wrapped the belt around the leg and pulled it tight causing Ernest to shout but it was muffled.

The pressure on the leg’s veins caused the blood to slow down while Night took the chance to wrap the sheet around the wound to contain the wound’s blood from flowing out more.

“I need to get to a town that has a Light church and get protection.” Night said.

Sniff!

Suddenly his nose twitched as he looked to the south east, “This smell…!” He muttered.

“FOUND HIM!” a sudden shout from above was heard.

Night turned and saw a young man with a glowing familiar behind him and the radiance was around the master helping him fly.

Night sneered, “Shit, these pesky flies, guess I can only bite the bullet. He should have a flight technique if I remember what Ernest said.” Night said and quickly picked up his master and spread his black feathered wings and broke the tree top.

Suddenly several other people broke the treetops following all leaving behind a ‘holy’ light while Night left behind a blue wind.

“I have found you! Die devils!” A self righteous voice shouted.

Night turned around and there he saw Silvia with a triumphant grin.

“You self righteous bitch, you better hope we don’t survive because if we do, I will make sure to hunt your sorry ass all the way to hell and stuff you into a puny Imp and torture you even if your soul breaks apart!” Night said and focused on his Demon core. It suddenly cracked and mana suddenly gushed out and filled a magic formula on his wings.

The two black feathered wings were suddenly covered in a Holy light and they doubled in size.

“You demon! You dare use our holy magic!” Silvia shouted but suddenly Night flapped and behind him there was a sudden shock wave while his body burst forth through the sky while he carried Ernest away.

***

A day after arriving at the Donima household, the older siblings invited Xero, along with Meldie, to visit the town and enjoy the sights.

The four married brothers and their wives pulled them along in a big ‘date’, much to Meldie’s dismay but even so she dressed up for the event.

One thing should be noted and that is that the two eldest brother’s wives were pregnant but their belly wasn’t as pronounced as their mother in law.

After the women were finished getting ready, a carriage was prepared and they all boarded and went to Blue Light city.

At the city, they allowed the women to lead while the men just casually talked. Xero was surprised that almost all of the Donima were Everlight academy students. Most of them were quite good at magic and their familiars were almost all beasts with exception to the last brother who had a spirit but it had the shape of an animal.

Halflings are known for having beast familiars all of which are used as battle mounts depending on the breed and how it evolves.

“Don’t you all want to rank above level 30?” Xero asked.

The four just smiled it off as they follow the women to go eat some pastries.

After eating and enjoying the sun as they walk around just enjoying the small talk. Suddenly the entire town shook as a huge barrier appeared in the sky and a ripple appeared as a figure burst through.

They flew in a chaotic manner as they broke through the barrier but soon two large holy lights shined mixing with a blue color before the figure fixed itself.

Then it turned and suddenly shot through the sky causing a burst of wind and finally he almost crashed into the ground in front of the group.

The group of men suddenly pulled their wives behind them, Xero unconsciously took a step forward and drew his sword while getting in front of Meldie. His aura started to surge before a strong wind blew from the cloud of dust and revealed the figures.

Laying on the ground was Ernest, badly hurt in the leg while Night was sweating from the almost breaking his limit when he crashed through the barrier and kept flying to land in front of Xero. “You're really here.” He huffed as his eyes blurred, “Save… Ernest.” He said before he coughed while the Dark Cherub collapsed and black blood dripped out. His figure dulled before it turned into blue light and flashed back into Ernest’s familiar seal.

“What’s going on?!” One of the older brothers asked.

“Xero, it’s Ernest! He’s hurt!” Meldie said holding Xero’s shirt while looking from the side.

Swish! Swish! Swoosh!

She quickly sidestepped him and called out Pou but as she reached him several people appeared in the air dressed in pure white robes with angelic familiars.

Meldie crouched down beside him while Xero stepped forward and looked up. He then saw Silvia.

“We finally have you heathen!” She said hissing in anger.

“What did you do to Ernest!?” Xero suddenly said.

Her eyes moved to Xero and her pupils suddenly shrank, “You! You’re another demon worshipper! You’re another demon spawn!” She shouted slightly crazed. “Brothers, this… thing possesses demon spawn for a familiar! He must be executed as well!” She said.

The several other men pulled out white spears and swords without even explaining and were ready to attack when suddenly the Donima brothers stepped up. “Who are you people to so brazenly murder in this city!?” the eldest brother said.

“We are followers from the most righteous order of the Holy Light. That demon spawn must die in the name of the Holy light!” She pointed at Ernest with raging killing intent.

The Donima brothers and their wives sneered, “It is not the place of ‘children’ who are not even properly entered into their order and are ‘just’ students in the Holy Academy.” The eldest brother said.

“You! DARE! Obstruct the followers of the order of the Holy Light in their mission to cleanse the world of demons! You are a demon worshipper as well then for protecting them!” She shouted.

“You have no power in this city, go back before you get hurt, girl.” he said.

To these words the girl sneered, “I have just surpassed level 30, you commoners without backing, you dare order me around. Who are you to command me!?” She shouted.

The eyes of the eldest Donima brother narrowed, “I am Vincent Donima, next heir to the Donima Merchant Firm.” He said.

“A tiny merchant family dare obstruct our order.” She said in a cold voice.

To this retort Vincent grinned and raised his hand. Suddenly on the rooftops and streets, the city guard and the knights order of the city suddenly rushed out. “No, this ‘tiny’ merchant does not care about the working of the Holy Light church but you aren’t members of the Holy Light church and you are acting out of order in this city and attempting to murder the friend of my friend.” He said.

She looked around and narrowed her eyes, “How do you command the city guard and Knight’s order as a rankless noble?”

Vincent grinned, “Are we rankless? I wonder, has it ever passed through your mind why our Donima Merchant Firm can so brazenly own a large manor so close to the city and can command 70% of the economy of the Radiance empire. Do you really believe that rankless nobles can possess so much power?” He narrowed his eyes while his grin widened.

Silvia’s eyes widened while Xero was in shock and horror as he heard something scary. “The firm owns 70% of a nation's business! This is already beyond power, they clearly have their hands in the top ranks of the nation itself!” Xero though. He swallowed hard when he found this out.

It should be known that Radiance empire was extremely prosperous. The size of the land was several times that of Lurian empire and unlike the mountainous nation, this one had a lot of fertile land so they have a large amount of farmland that is exploited.

“So your filthy family secretly infiltrated the nation.” one of the men said.

SWOOSH!

A powerful blade strike came from below and nearly hit the man, “I suggest you hold your tongue if you want to keep it.” A knight commander said narrowing his eye.

The man released an unrelenting killing intent honed and sharpened in deadly combat.

Knights were unlike guards. They swore to the war god to uphold the order and laws it placed down as well as be loyal to their lord. This kind of oath is something engraved in their soul. Besides that they are also Familiar owners, because they are extremely loyal families that had the right to train knights were not stingy when training talented knights.

“You…” The student said pale.

Surrounded by her brothers and completely in control, Meldie seemed more comforted as she summoned Pou, “Pou, use Yin Yang Rebalancing.” She said.

The panda bent its head and nuzzled the forehead of the fallen young man. The body of the panda turned hollow and suddenly it was absorbed into Ernest’s forehead and formed a Yin Yang symbol on the head. It began to spin at a slow pace and from there the strange and mysterious Yin Yang energy flowed through Ernests body. The energy slowly flowed down the body in a particular manner and started to change the manner in mana of the young boy flowed causing it to slowly go from blue to green.

On the outside, from the symbol a green aura slowly spread around his body and soon reached the leg.

Meldie removed the cloth carefully and saw the bloody wound but as the green aura flowed the blood began to solidify and form a cover as the skin began to grow under, on both sides began.

“He is safe now.” Meldie said.

None of the men turned back but the women watched in surprise by the little girl's unexpected healing ability that seemed very profound and strange.

“Are you prepared to go against the church?” Silvia asked in a cold tone.

“That is what I should ask you, are you prepared to go against the Radiance empire and the Light Church?” He asked.

Silvia’s eye shrank as she heard this. The words meant that the Donima family was inside the Light church as well as the nation.

“You think we fear the Light church?” Silvia said.

“Of course not but let me ask you, can you ensure that you represent the Holy Light church? Will they back you up if you keep this up?” Vincent asked.

Silvia frowned because she knew that if she had succeeded they would have definitely given shelter but not if she failed.

“This doesn’t end here.” She said and turned.

“I think you got something wrong.” An extremely loud voice said.

From the lord's manor a halfling casually flew on the back of a huge bird as he came over.

“The lord is here!” Shouted the commanding knight.

“GREETINGS MY LORD!” all the knights banged their chest in greetings.

“What does his lord Earl need?” Silvia asked.

“You obviously committed the crime of trespassing and attempted murder within my walls. If I just allow you to leave, where would my authority as an Earl go?” He said coldly.

Silvia felt a shiver down her spine as she turned to run.

“Imprison them!” The Earl ordered.

At once all the strongest knights jumped out and their familiars appeared ready to bring down the group.

Before they could a large barrier formed, “STOP!”A roar came from everywhere and slowly a figure appeared glowing and materializing in front of the group. “Earl Roz, you attempt to arrest my students yet the boy who invaded the barrier first was ignored.” The figure said behind the shroud of light.

“I am not a blind man, one can see an injured man escaping his murders. Also he is a guest of the Donima family. They are faithful and respected members of our Radiance Empire so how can their guests be someone evil?” he said in a slow and bored manner.

“I will take my students, do you wish to stand in my way?” The man asked.

The Earl sighed and lifted his hands showing his resignation and the man turned and began to move the barrier but turned back to look at Xero.

He looked for a moment before pushing on ignoring those around him.

“Let’s go, brothers get the young man back to the carriage.” Vincent said.

“Young master, do you require an escort?” The earl asked.

“I thank uncle Roz, I would be most obliged if you could provide an escort.” Vincent said.

The Earl nodded and looked at his commander knight who struck his chest, “I shall personally escort them my lord.” he said.

“Good, take a squadron of 200 knights and reinforce the Donima for the time being.” He ordered.

“Understood my lord.” He said.

He called out towards a large group and with their help, Ernest was put in the carriage while still healing under Meldie’s spell and was escorted to the Donima estate under heavy protection, Wyvern