(Sep 7)

In the corner of my eye, I noticed a man sitting in the corner of the tavern chugging down some beer.

He was the man I was looking for.

I stood up from where I was sitting and slowly approached him.

He seemed to notice I was approaching him as he put down his drink and cleared his throat.

“Oh? Are you approaching me?”

I slid into a seat near his table and greeted him.

“Hey Sven! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? How have you been?”

He stared back at me, confused.

He had the same look as my wife when I had first come home.

“Wait, you don’t recognize me? It’s me, Anthony!”

He looked at me until suddenly he seemed to realize.

“Anthony…? What the hell happened to you!?! I didn’t recognize you!”

He stood up from his chair and bro hugged me.

His name was Sven and we used to be… “friends.”

We grew up together as kids, and then we met each other again after many years.

He used to be the bully among all the kids. Actually, he was the leader of all the bullies. He controlled all the other bullies as their leader and united them all.

It seems like child’s play now as an adult, but it still doesn’t the fact that he was able to unite all the bullies and that was impressive.

We chatted for a while, speaking about our lives as we drank and ate together.

I told him a little about the city and about what happen, I could trust him, he was a good man.

Sven wasn’t very skilled in fighting, but his leadership skills and his tactical thinking is second to none that I know of.

He’s a C rank, in a one-on-one fight he would very likely lose, but when commanding a group battle, his talents shine.

He is a natural born commander and he’s pretty darn smart.

If he were to come join the army, he would be extremely useful.

“Join the army? I don’t know, man… I’m not really cut out for fighting. Plus, I don’t think the soldiers would accept commands and orders from someone weaker than them.”

“Well, think about it at least. We could use all the help we can get.”

He was hesitant from what I could see, it’s understandable considering we are potentially fighting dragons and war may break out.

We talked a little more, talking about the good old times as kids together.

“Yea, I used to be quite the asshole, wasn’t I? Being kids sure was simple back then, I sometimes cringe at night thinking back to all the shit I used to do.”

He laughed and chugged down more ale.

I thought back to the old times and chuckled.

He was the son of the bandit chief of our bandit group, so he naturally was raised pretty arrogantly compared to the other kids.

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He was going to succeed his father as the next bandit chief until he decided to move out and look for a better life as an adventurer.

Oh, I don’t think I ever mentioned before but I was raised by bandits as well.

When I met the bandits in the forest, it reminded me of the old times.

I don’t really like talking about my past though.

Before we realized, a couple hours had already passed. Sven was mildly drunk while I was completely fine due to my dragon blood purifying the alcohol in my body…

I can’t even get drunk anymore.

It was sort of getting late, but we continued to chat away, it seemed as if we could talk about anything.

“Hey Sven.”

“Yea?”

“You still remember that spell or whatever you used back when you were a kid to read other people’s minds?”

“Uh, mind reading... You mean telepathy? Yea. It’s not perfect but I can still use it. Why?”

Mind reading, telepathy or whatever was an ability Sven had even as a kid.

Sven was an illusion magic user which suited his commander talent perfectly. He was able to raise morale and fighting power using magic, he could buff others and he was able to give orders via telepathy, and he also has a lot of illusion related skills.

I had mentioned before that he was the leader of all the bullies back when we were kids and united all bullies but that was only half true.

He basically blackmailed most of the bullies into submission… Since he could read other people’s minds, he would use it to his advantage and learn all the secrets that other want to hide and use it as leverage.

With that, he blackmailed all the other bullies using their darkest secrets against them and forced them to work under him…

Honestly, he was super scary when he was a kid.

But although it sound super overpowered, it’s not as amazing as you think it is. Telepathy and mind reading has a limitation, you can’t read the minds of those who are higher ranked than you unless they allow it.

There are also a lot of magic devices and passive abilities that can block out magic spells like mind reading so in many cases, it’s pretty useless.

It was that I had just remembered that he had that ability and I thought it would be cool to experience how it felt to talk to each other in through our minds.

There were also things I wanted to tell him without anyone else hearing…

We chatted a little more until it got dark out, we said goodbye and I headed home.

(Sep 10)

A couple days passed, and nothing really happened.

I continued to live a happy and slow life.

I intend to savor every moment I have spending it with my family.

(Sep 12)

I went to the market with Gabi today and we had fun.

She doesn’t go out very often, she usually just plays outside near the house and so going to the market is like a grand adventure to her.

I worry about her future; I don’t want to put her in any danger. I hope she grows up well and strong, meeting lots of other great people.

Maybe I should train her to fight? I don’t want to put her through too much stress, but she should at least know how to defend herself…

Since she’s a kid and in terms of strength, she would be F ranked and practically anything would be able to hurt her.

Yea, I think I’ll start teaching her some things starting tomorrow.

(Sep 13)

Today, I bought Gabi a wooden sword which she could train with.

My wife was sort of reluctant to let her train with me because she’s too young but she eventually gave in.

Plus, Gabi was extremely excited that she got to “play” with me, and she seemed to be having fun as well. It could also be a father daughter bonding time.

At first, we had a sword fight, a simple one of course where she would charge at me slapping me with the wooden sword while I was holding a stick defending against all of her attacks.

It was… cute to see her swing around a sword wildly at me like that so I let her hit me a couple times and every time she hit me, she would jump up and down with pride.

I showed her to hold a sword properly and how to swing her body around.

She was listening to me very carefully and she was very interested.

Honestly when I was her age, I was a lazy kid and I would probably be half asleep but Gabi was really attentive and trying her best.

After a couple hours, Gabi was exhausted, and she took a break, but I wasn’t tired at all since I had a lot more stamina as an adult.

Next, I wanted her to train her inner chakra.

This was easier than physical training, but it takes more time and patience.

I don’t expect her to be able to wield magic right off the bat or to do anything special yet, but I want her to be able to sense her own chakra.

She sat down crossed legged with her eyes closed, she was meditating.

Occasionally though she would giggle to herself but than compose herself and pretend to be serious again until she finally fell asleep…

When she fell asleep, I brought her inside and put her to bed.

(Sep 15)

Before I left to head home, I told William I would be gone for around a month or so, but I still haven’t been able to convince my wife to come with me to the city and I wanted them to come with me.

If by September 20 or so, she doesn’t change her mind, then I’ll have no choice but to tell her the truth and about everything that was going on.

I intend on heading back to the city before October, so I still have quite a bit of time but not too much…

(Sep 16)

Last night, three assassins tried to kill me and my family in our sleep.