“Hehe, I think I’ve gotten stronger~”

A sly-looking fellow nodded. “Ah, I know what you feel. I never thought I could advance my strength this very short time! I think I can fight a C-ranked beast alone, right now~.”

“You bet.” A boy rubbed his head as he pursed his lips.

Compared to when they were started, the expressions of the students had changed.

Yeah, because of Lyle’s not-so-hard training that made them almost fainted four to five times a day, they couldn’t help but mature quickly.

Lyle even personally began training with the others and spent the rest of the travel doing such. That way, he can get a grasp on each individual’s abilities and can also catch any weaknesses or bad habits they’ve developed and teach them the proper way.

One time, because of the groups stubborn and prideful attitudes, Lyle because of irritation, suddenly shouted ‘You bastards! Are you maggots or something!?’ and so, unconsciously flipped something within him and began to teach them in the hard way.

— Thus, Lyle the Sergeant Drill Master was born!

Because of this, such startling changes can be seen even in a short time, if training is done in earnest.

And most of all, what Lyle always reminded them was to adapt from various environments and situations; if they don’t quickly adapt to their surroundings, they’ll simply die.

Seeing them talking like this, Lyle couldn’t help but feel annoyed. It seemed like someone was growing a little impudent.

Because of their improvements, recently they were becoming too overconfident in their new abilities, and might caused their deaths one day if he don’t correct them.

For that reason, Lyle thought to steel his heart and punished them. However,

Just as the group were talking and laughing, inside the forest, a hundred meters behind them, a man wearing black clothes and with leaves covered all over his face was staring coldly at them.

This man’s mouth was moving nonstop, apparently mumbling the words to a magical spell.

At the same time, the longbow in his hands had been pulled to the limit. Suddenly, the arrow shot out, flashing with a cold blue light. It tore through the air at a terrifyingly rapid speed, traversing the hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

Lyle, who was preparing himself to ‘teach’ them some valuable lesson, suddenly felt all the hairs on his body stand up. His heart immediately reached a maximum level of tension.

An enemy!?

Something had jumped into his mind. That was a strong hostility and six intentions to attack. The moment Lyle sensed that, he began moving.

“Danger!”

A sniper!? No, an archer ! A sniper-archer! Snipcher for short! = =

Sensing the hostility and danger, Lyle’s body sprung into action. The blood in his body boiled and mana began flowing. In an instant, he quickly turned around and jump towards Misuzu.

“Whooosh!”

That high speed arrow shot past him like a bolt of lightning, piercing through the boy behind him. It pierced through his left shoulder, leaving behind a gaping hole as it flew another few dozen meters before piercing a tree.

Clutching the arrow on his shoulder, the boy’s eyes turned round because of fear and pain. Some indistinct words and scream gargled in his mouth as fresh blood spewed forth from the wound in his shoulder.

I didn’t noticed him until now … he must be using an advance stealth technique that even my perception was fooled ? Or maybe he was more than a hundred meters from them ? Or both ?

Tsk!

But Lyle didn’t care about him, Lyle moved instantly towards Misuzu who was dumbfounded by the sudden change of situation.

Swish.

At this moment, numerous arrows suddenly stormed out from the forest and some of it were shot off towards Misuzu’s vital points.

There are two arrows aiming for Misuzu …

This attack was too swift and abrupt. Therefore, Misuzu failed to perceive it and could only watch as the arrows grew larger within her eyes.

But just when the arrows were about to hit her body, Lyle instantly moved in front of her. His left hand thrust before her face while his right hand was on her chest as he grabbed the arrows shot from the shadows.

Clang Clang!

Realizing that she was saved, Misuzu’s face instantly changed. She hurriedly grabbed Lyle’s clothes and stared fearfully into the forest. If it wasn’t for Lyle again, she would have probably been injured heavily or worst … die.

Misuzu was really fortunate that Lyle was there. However, the others were not. Behind Misuzu and Lyle were screams from some of the people in the group who couldn’t avoid the attack.

“Who’s there!” Misuzu glared and shouted out angrily.

Lyle frowned and said: “Our dear guests, please s. show yourselves to these adorable kids. I don’t know if you guys have a hobby of eavesdropping and stalking, but I don’t think that’s good manners. You’ve sneakily followed us for so long already. Yet you’re reluctant to reveal your appearances? Are you worried that we will mock your ugly faces that looked like frogs and bugs ? Or maybe you’re just embarrassed to reveal that you actually looked like hairless monkeys~”

Of course, he was bluffing. Up until now, he couldn’t sense any presence of someone following them but he didn’t show it to his face. There were no surprise or shock reflected and stared at the forest with an expression like a smile yet not a smile.

“Ohoho, as expected for a person, who was known as the ‘Monster Prince’. You’re indeed quite capable.”

From the forest, sounds of laughter rang out. Then, three figures rushed out and landed on a branch. They stared down at Lyle and his group with gazes as if they had spotted prey.

“So you actually noticed us ? Hm … quite amazing indeed. However, why didn’t you do anything ? If I’m not mistaken, you should’ve felt how strong we are … Am I right ?”

Activating his Magic Eyes, the usual inverted star once again showed up on his pupils as it shone a bright crimson light.

The three figures were actually all A rankers. Two A-ranked warrior and one A-ranked Wind Mage.

“I know~ But to think three A-rankers showed up to greet me … Am I actually very popular ? I didn’t know that~” However, even still, not even a slight disturbance appeared, as a smile were still plastered on his handsome face. His eyes never wavered even a slightest bit. “Do you all want my signature ? I’m sorry but please talk to my office first~”

“3 A rankers !”

The group’s heart sank.

These three individuals were actually in no way inferior to Lyle which is also an A-ranker. If it was only one person, it would be easy to deal with them. But with all three of them, even Lyle would find it quite troubling — is what they thought.

As expected, when the man heard what Lyle said, he couldn’t help but momentarily frowned. Seeing that he was still a good distance away from Lyle, he could only gave him a glare filled with hostility!

“Hmph, fool. It seems like your reputation gave you too much credit, ‘Monster Prince’ … You already know our strength yet you didn’t even took any actions to flee~” The man sneered. “… Did you really think that you can defeat us all by yourself ?”

What should I say ? ‘Actually I didn’t noticed you at all~’ as if I could say that!

Would you care about the ants crawling under your feet ? nah, that’s too much.

Lyle’s brain worked quickly and thinking of this, he finally decided what to say. “Well, fleeing or not doesn’t really matter. You will only just chase us to the end of the world~ So why do something troublesome. Anyway, what I want to know is that; is your target … me ?”

“Actually, our meeting right now is nothing but a coincidence.” The man smiled at Lyle. “We had to do something here but some brats accidentally walked in here and so we couldn’t help but go out and do something to keep them silent. However, we didn’t expect that the ‘Monster Prince’ we heard just a while ago actually also came here. Thus, we decided to greet his highness~”

The other two men behind the man stared mockingly at Lyle. It was evident that they did not believe Lyle had the ability to escape from their hands.

“Brats ?”

“Yeah, I think you might know them … ” The man smiled mockingly. “… After all, you’re fiancée is one of them.”

Lyle’s eyes grew big and he almost thought that he had heard wrongly.

As if making him making him angrier, the man continued. “Your reputation precedes you, your highness. As someone who might be a treat towards us, of course, we will exert our utmost effort to investigate you. And that includes the people around you …”

This man would definitely not be joking so what he said is definitely true. Even if he did, his Magic Eyes should have some reaction but there’s none.

At this point Lyly had turned around and looked at the man.

His playful and carefree mind had stopped like a gear suddenly stopped functioning as he stared at the three of them. A hint of sharpness flashed through his eyes.

“Where is she ? Did you touched her ?” Lyle’s voice were cold.

“Who knows~” However, the black clothed man didn’t noticed Lyle’s changes. He only laughed and then sneered. “Maybe my men was already playing with her at this moment.”

Hearing his words, Lyle’s whole body begins to shake, and his eyes begin to get shady. He then looks down and becomes silent.

However, everyone who can see him couldn’t help but stepped back in fear.

Lyle, he has an expression that is not found on a living person……

The three men realize that they suddenly felt chills running down their backs.

Even Misuzu, the group behind him and Aster who immediately rushed to Lyle’s back to protect him was swallowed by fear upon seeing a dark shadow enveloped him.

“…..What is this………!?”