4 years later.

This was the day that King Zeno of Zen Kingdom officially announced the engagement of his son the Crown Prince, and Yume the daughter of Duke Valenz.

I'm now 6 years old. I was outside of the house, holding two wooden swords as I looked up in the sky, I mumbled, "There's too much snow."

I remembered that base on the novel, Yume really liked the snow. But now, it will only be a recollection of the season where her sufferings started.

Hundreds of announcements were spread, news that Duke Valenz is looking for great teachers for his daughter. "I should remember her teachers' names, and make sure to punish them later."

Graham, my father shouted, "Ryu! Dodge!" — Pak! — A wooden sword whacked my face, made me turned twice in the air, and dumped me into a pile of snow.

Plop!

"Ouch!" I whined, "That hurts." I touched my cheek that was getting swollen. I forgot that I'm in the middle of my training.

"What's the matter, son? It seems you're not in yourself today," my father said, "I told you, a shield would be better than using another sword, you could have defended that easily."

My father could have been right, but using a dual sword was one of my fantasies back on earth. "Isn't this much cooler, dad?" I laughed, feeling a twitch of pain in my face. "Ouch."

"Hahaha, it's indeed cool looking. But I don't have a technique to teach you for using two swords at once since I use a sword and shield," he sighed, "well, if I find one, then I'll give it to you."

I stood up and dusted the snow in my clothes using my hand. "Thanks, dad, and don't worry, I would find a master soon to advance my swordsmanship." Picking up my swords.

In these four years, my aunt Sara and I already grasped my father's swordsmanship. The only thing we can do is to make ourselves physically stronger. With this, it's enough to be able to protect ourselves, my goal needs for me to be brutally and incredibly strong, strong enough not to lose to anyone. This's why I wanted to learn more. But without a master is quite difficult.

It's not like some years were wasted. Weird enough that someone left an advanced magic book in my room. It was the continuation of the beginner magic book my mother owned.

I never knew that someone's watching over me, and to gift me this rare book is already thinkable. Maybe he or she was just bored. I even thought it might be the author, but he doesn't have the reason to make himself a secret, so I think the owner of this book is not related to him.

The beginner magic book is about the basic elements, while the advanced magic book teaches about enhancements. Now that I think about it, I chanted, "Afiste to soma mou na epoulothei."

Shing...

I touched my cheek as I cast, it was a magic that I newly learned. It was healing magic. My swollen cheek suddenly deflated as it turned back to normal. "This is unbelievable. The pain is also gone."

"Your magic is remarkable as usual, son," my father said amazed. My parents already knew about me learning magic. I told them after my aunt became an adventurer. When I saw how they accepted my aunt, made all my anxiety disappear, learning to trust them fully.

"Heeeey! Ryu! Brother-in-law!" Sara greeted, shouting in a distance. She was wearing a steel sword, shield, and plated armor. She was carrying a large backpack.

"Aunt Sara!" I greeted back. When she arrived, I asked, "How was your hunt today?"

She made a big grin and showed me her backpack. "I encountered a king boar today, we will be having a feast."

"Awesome!" I cried out. "The meat of the boar with king level tastes the best!"

"You kids really surprise me," Graham said, walking out of our backyard. "I'll go and call your mom."

When my father left, I looked at my aunt in the eyes, I asked, "So... Aunt, how much did you earn today?"

"Not much, just around 10 gold coins. Hahaha."

As always, she became too happy at the sight of money. But she was more adorable when she doesn't cling to it and even trust me to keep it. "Then, let's go to our secret base."

"Yes!"

"Epitrepste mou na psaxo ta gyro," I chanted, this was scout magic to see if there was anyone around a certain distance. When I knew that there is no one near, I cast another magic. "Afiste to edafos na anoixei."

The ground in our backyard suddenly opened, and a stair appeared. "Let's go, aunt."

This was our secret base. I made it within a year since earth magic is not my specialty. It was an underground base below my parent's property. This's where we keep the money we earned and the plans I sketched for the future.

As my aunt's rank advances, the difficulty of the quests also increased, but the reward is also much better. She's currently at C-Rank, it was quite shocking to see that she had a talent for this. My father's skill is equivalent to an A-Rank, so there's only two more rank difference between them.

Sadly, my father had an old injury that prevented him from overexerting himself. If not because of his leadership and teaching skills, he would already be discharged from his guard service.

As we go down the stairs, we arrived at a large room. It was filled with wooden types of furniture that we bought. We even have our rooms.

I designed the room like the one in those secret spy movies, wooden boards are placed on the wall where my plans and sketches are pinned. A table in the middle where to put the map for strategizing. I can't believe I would even do this.

I went to a room where 3 magic seals are placed in the door. These seals are magic locks, to prevent people from opening the door, in case a burglar would find this place. The main door also has a seal, but a cheaper one. Making magic seals is expensive.

Inside this room, there where a pile of treasures, things that we earned and collected. I placed the 10 gold coins that my aunt collected today. She went alone because my father is home, and it's common sense that a kid like me shouldn't come.

Kachink!

I picked up the cash ledger that's used to note down our finances. Then I wrote "10 gold coins - Winter 15, Year 718", including the date today.

In these four years, we completed a total of 190 herb gatherings, 62 F-Rank, 26 E-Rank, and 10 C-Rank monster extermination quests.

With total earnings of 522 gold, 8 silver, and 2 bronze coins minus our daily expenses. These coins are equivalent to one million dollars. "Aunt, aren't we quite rich?"

"Hehe," she grinned, "hehehe."

"You know aunt, if you need to buy something, you're free to do so," I explained, "I believe girls would need things for themselves."

"Don't worry about me, Ryu, I'll take some if I really need to."

I looked at her and saw that she isn't lacking in good equipment. "If you say so."

"Aren't you the one who needed this money? I felt in the past that you already have plans for it, so I'm just helping," she responded sitting on a sofa tinkering about her sword, "just don't forget me when you became someone big in the future." She gave me a satisfied smile.

"Aight. Then I believe it's time to settle some accounts."

My aunt looked at me with a curious look. "What will we do then?"

"It's bad for this money to be dormant. So we should use them," I said.

"Use for what?"

"Use to make more money."

Her eyes became wide open, glimmering for every time we talk about earning more, she said excitedly, "W-W-What are we waiting for?"

"Aunt, please stop your drooling."

"Oops... Sorry."

***

Clink.

We arrived at the Pseudo Trading Guild. The interior of the building also changed much, as more items are displayed.

When we went here 4 years ago, we were shunned for being too young. But this time, we came with money and a lot of business plans. When we entered the building, we saw that the store clerk is now different from 4 years ago. "I hope he isn't unmannered like the previous one," I mumbled.

My aunt held my hand, she said, "Don't worry, you should believe yourself just how I believe you."

"Mmhmm," I replied, holding her hand tighter as we walk inside.

When the store clerk saw my aunt, who was wearing a full set of armored equipment, I surmised that this guy will not treat us badly, he said, "Welcome miss, what would you need in the trading guild?"

My aunt glanced at me and I nodded, she said, "We want to open up a business."

The store clerk was somewhat surprised. "And what business would that be?"

"We want to talk to the one in charge," she said, "this plan is too big for you to handle, mister."

Even I was surprised how my aunt's communication skill has improved over these years. She became someone independent. A strong, beautiful, and courageous lady.

The store clerk had a look of someone hesitating. So I helped by giving a push. "My aunt is a C-Rank adventurer, she is still young, and she will become someone greater in the future," I warned him, "you might not want to make her mad."

It worked. I can see how nervous this man became, he said, "It's nothing like that, I will call the owner of this guild branch," he said hurriedly, "please wait for me."

My aunt and I looked at each other with a triumphant smile. "Thank you, aunt."

"It's nothing. Aren't we partners?" she replied.

I blinked a few times and turned my head away from her. I remembered the time when I even thought of leaving her once she became self-sufficient. But it seems I'm the one who became dependent on her. I was guilty. So I decided that from this point, I wouldn't leave her as long as she wants. "Sorry aunt."

"About what?"

"In the past, I thought of leaving you when you became strong enough."

"How about now?" she asked.

"I won't leave you if you don't want to."

I turned my head to look at her seeing a warm and tender smile, she said, "I will also not leave you. If someone wants to marry me in the future, you will be the one to decide if he's worthy."

"Pfft... Of course," I replied laughing.