Richard’s POV:

I was sprinting in the forest heading towards the direction where the flare I saw earlier was shot from. Something must have happened to either of those two. I poured qi into my legs to increase my speed and finally, I arrived at the scene.

Multiple spots on the ground and trees were charred, destruction of the surroundings being evidence of a fight happening before. I scanned the whole area and saw Harry slumped under a tree; his conditions were a mess while a bald man was trying to grab him.

Qi exploded beneath my feet and I unsheathed my sword before slashing at the man’s burly arm. The arm fell off and blood spewed out from it. I checked Harry’s condition and he fell unconscious by the time I stood in front of him.

“Baldy, did you do this?”

My voice was calm as I asked that question.

“Eh?”

He was looking at his missing arm and was trembling with shock. He finally screamed after realizing.

“AAHHHHHHH! MY ARM! MY AAAARRMM!”

“Hey.”

He finally looked at me when I called him.

“I asked you a question.”

Chiing!

My sword Night clashed with a dagger swung by the woman that has just been standing there when I arrived. The woman barraged me with attacks but I blocked all of them.

“Who told you to butt in?”

Killing intent rose inside me and I swung Night towards the woman’s neck. She tried to block it with her dagger but my sword cut through the blade.

“What?!”

She was shocked to see her dagger broke and tried to dodge my blade but I didn’t give her the chance. I used qi to accelerate my swing and cleanly sliced her neck. Her head fell off and I turned to the one-armed man.

Contrary to my expectations, the man had a hostile look on his face. He seemed angry that I cut his arm off and killed his friend.

“YOU BRAT!”

He swung his remaining fist at me but I dodged easily. Despite losing an arm his attacks were still fierce. I could see how the previous fight went and why Harry lost to him. Although Harry was a 7th circle mage, he’s weak at close quarters. Powerful spells needed time to cast so he could only use basic spells. Unlike monsters, these two are experienced fighters, and it seemed like they were mages too. Harry was never given a chance to fight back to his full abilities. In the end, the typical mages were not suited for these kinds of battles.

“Stop running around like a rat!”

The bald man continuously imbued mana onto the surface of his hands which strengthen his attacks tremendously. Well, rather than strengthening it’s more like they’re hardening the impact. Still, such implementation requires extremely high mana control. The same was true for the woman I killed; her daggers were enveloped in mana despite being easily cut by my blade and their movements were enhanced with spells that controlled air pressure. These people aren’t your typical mages, they use magic differently than what I was taught.

I was enlightened in the middle of our fight, the bald man attacked me with his one arm persistently and I evaded every single punch. I decided to experiment with his methods of using spells.

Boosh

Fire lit up on Night’s blade as I finally attacked the man with a slash. The fire was further strengthened with qi.

“[First Swordsmanship: Second Form]”

Boom!

“[Burning Sun]”

“AHHHH!”

A storm of fire emerged from the slash and the man screamed as he was burned to a crisp. His charred body turned to ashes after the fire subsided.

“Ah, crap. He didn’t answer my question yet.”

I just killed him while trying out a new technique. Never mind, I already confirmed he did that to Harry anyway. I turned to look at Chris that arrived shortly before I burned the man. He stood slack-jawed after witnessing the storm of fire I caused with a sword swing.

“You’re late.”

I walked towards Harry and carefully carried him up. I kicked the ground and dashed towards the direction of the town. Chris followed right behind me after snapping out of his reverie.

‘You better not die, Harry.’

I thought hopefully to myself.

***

Chris’ POV:

“He’s fine, it’s just a couple of broken ribs. Our healer had cast [High Heal] on him so he just needs some rest now.”

“Thank you very much.”

Richard bowed deeply to the doctor. It’s the first time I’ve seen him being this polite to someone. He must have been so worried for Harry.

I ran as quickly as I could to the scene but I still arrived only after Harry was beaten down. For someone to reduce Harry to that state, he must have been powerful. I saw Richard was fighting with someone when I reached the scene and was about to help when suddenly Richard’s blade caught on fire and he swung the burning sword.

I couldn’t believe what I saw right after. A huge storm of fire materialized from the swing. A burning storm! What kind of sword technique suddenly summoned a fire god out of nowhere!?

“What was that?”

I asked Richard bluntly.

“What was what?”

“The firestorm.”

“It’s just something I thought of at the spur of the moment.”

“No, that’s not just something you thought up like that.”

“Is it?”

“Sigh...”

I give up. This kid isn’t normal.

“So who were those bastards?”

They dared to touch Harry. If someone sent them then they need to pay.

“I forgot to ask.”

“What?”

“I got too angry and just killed them.”

“Geez. Now it’s harder to solve this.”

“I’ll find them.”

Richard had a cold look when he said that.

“And I’ll make sure they all suffer for touching one of my people.”

I got goosebumps from the aura he’s letting out.

Whoever sent those two people, they’re fucked this time.

‘You should hurry and wake up.’

I told Harry in my mind.

***

Richard’s POV:

When I carried Harry to town I had Chris report the incident to the town guards and have them retrieve the bodies of Harry’s assailants.

I went to the guard’s post and asked to meet the captain of the guards. They let me see him after recognizing me as the one carrying Harry all the way to town and a companion of Chris who reported the attack.

I was led to a room where the captain was checking some documents. He noticed my arrival and greeted me.

“Oh, you’re here.”

“Did you find the bodies?”

“I sent some guards to the location your companion pointed to and there was indeed the corpse of a decapitated woman and a charred body. The guards also reported signs of a huge fight at the scene.”

“Is it possible to identify them?”

“We couldn’t possibly identify the burnt corpse but the woman’s identity is possible to identify. However, we found a mark on the woman’s body which could mean that your assailants belonged to a Dark Guild.”

“Dark Guild?”

“They’re crime organizations that typically do assassinations work. I intend to report this incident to the capital in which any further investigation will be done by them. I suggest you just let them do their job.”

A Dark Guild. Is it something like the mafia? This has become troublesome. It seems that some people are targeting Harry, but for what reason? With the capital involved, I couldn’t just investigate this on my own. I should lay low for now.

“I understand. I’ll be leaving now, thank you.”

I walked to exit the room but stopped in front of the door before turning back to the guard captain.

“Can I see the mark that you talked about?”

“Huh? Sure, but you better not think of any funny business.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I reassured the captain with a smile.

“This is what the mark looks like. You should be looking out for anyone with this mark they should be targeting you and your friend still. I’m serious when I say you shouldn’t think of anything funny since a Dark Guild is more dangerous than your normal thug. Their connection runs deep in the underworld.”

He showed me a mark that looked like a black rose. It seemed to be the symbol of the Dark Guild that targeted Harry.

“Thanks. I’ll be careful.”

‘Dark Guild or whatever, I’ll crush them.’

I promised myself as I returned to the hospital.