It is now 3 days since Kiefer’s debut as Nicole’s magus butler. Right now, it was the free period before between magic practical lesson and lunch, and having just ended the lesson, almost everyone in the class was now crowding around the genius child butler, barely giving him and space to breathe.

“All of you get away from my Kiefer! He’s my butler! I get priority to monopolise him first!” Nicole was desperately shouting, trying to wriggle her way through the crowd that was bombarding Kiefer with questions regarding magic. The fact that he was handsome did not make things easier as even girls from non-magic classes were beginning to gather.

Finally making her way next to Kiefer after an exhausting effort to squeeze through the crowd, Nicole cast an ice wall that she had just learnt earlier around herself and Kiefer, forcing the crowd away.

“No fair! Nicole! Don’t hog him all to yourself!” (Crowd)

“Yes! Share him with us a little!” (Crowd again)

“Nic! I’m your best friend! At least lend him to me once in a while!” (Chrisse)

“NO! He’s mine! If you want to ask him questions, find some other time!” Nicole yelled back through the ice wall.

Kiefer just shook his head silently and sighed. He was being fought over like a piece of meat that was just thrown into the middle of a pack of dogs. The past 3 days had been rather uneventful for him, aside from Dom’s attempts at sneak attacks on him during practical classes, and being pestered by the rest of the class to teach them magic after seeing Nicole’s drastic improvement.

Kiefer had been keeping his eye on Dom all this while, knowing full well that he wasn’t the type of person to just let things go. True enough, on multiple occasions, Kiefer spotted Dom attempting to hurl spells at him or Nicole, and each time, Kiefer would interrupt him before he could finish chanting.

At times, Kiefer would trip the boy over by suddenly binding one of his ankles for just an instant, other times, Kiefer would give him a sharp whip in the back of the knee with his mana whips. When things got repetitive, Kiefer mixed things up by increasing the gravity around the boy, making him buckle under his own weight, lying face flat in the dirt. Keeping vigilant at all times, Kiefer made sure no one noticed his mana threads or ropes, making it seem like the Dom boy had suddenly become a klutz.

Meanwhile, as per Kiefer’s instructions, Revil had begun hiring more workers for a few new mines he had just acquired. He advertised boldly on recruitments boards all over the city that he could assure the safety of any worker at working at any mine at any time owing to the fact that had had just acquired a talented new mage within his household.

Working in the mines was not an ideal job. The mines were far away from the city, and working conditions were harsh. Despite the relatively high pay, many people avoided working in the mines because in cases of accidents it was unlikely that any help would arrive for days and their chances of survival were slim. However, with the reassurance from the employer, Revil witnessed for the first time, record breaking numbers of applications to work in his mines.

When asked about the new magus under his hire, Revil would just say that he had met an exceptionally talented young magus who had proven to him his skills. In addition, Revil also mentioned that the magus was in possession of a set of mithril armour and assured the employees that the mage had pledged allegiance to him.

With the new security reassurance, the new mines Revil had bought started operations faster than any other mines he had opened before. The first cart loads of res were being carried out of the mines by the end of the week with no incidences. While Revil had his hands full with the new operations, Kiefer had his hands full with the new attention he’s garnered at the academy. It would seem that he was not only talented in magic, but also exceptional in arithmetic as well.

Apart from school, Kiefer also had to make sure things ran smoothly in the mines, occasionally popping by the 26 mines along the port road. While it didn’t take Kiefer more than an hour to get to the furthest mine from the city walls, it would have taken any form of rescue operation at least 3 days by horse to arrive there. Kiefer began to understand why working in the mines was a job everyone avoided despite the high salary.

Over the course of the next week, Kiefer would repeat his daily routine of escorting the young Nicole to and from school, and once she was within the safety of her home, he would then make his way around the mines, teleporting just as one of the workers catch a glimpse of him. With this method, rumors spread like wildfire within the mines. Some speculate specter or a ghost, others were more optimistic, claiming the mysterious armored man to be the new magus their employer claimed to have hired.

Back in the school, Dominick had been avoiding the magical practical lessons, although he still attended the theory lessons. The professor was more entranced by the new prodigy child and his ever improving Mistress Nicole. It seemed like there was no spell this kid couldn’t invoke, and with each spell he learnt, so did Nicole and Chrisse. All seemed to be proceeding smoothly according to Kiefer’s plans and much to Revil’s delight.

And then, accidents started to happen. Though not all at once, but with increasing frequencies, Varradon’s mines were no longer safe. Cave walls collapsed where they should not, toxic fumes from deep within the mines stopped all and any operations. There were even reports of Fientral attacks.

Fientrals were not native to Drigor, hence everybody could guess that one of Varradon’s competitors or enemies must have sabotaged his operations. However, nobody voiced out their suspicions for fear they would be the ones targeted.

Then, as if straight out of the fairytales of heroes and demon lords told to young children, a savior appeared within the Varradon mines. As advertised, the masked man moved rubble with a mere wave of his hands. He siphoned the toxic gases out of the mines and located the source of it, and eliminated the sources. The most intriguing event though, was the incident with the Fientrals.

A group of 10 Fientrals had trapped the miners in a mine 2 days away from the city. Then out of nowhere, the masked man appeared between them and the animals. However, without doing anything, the once aggressive and growling crystalline wolves were now on the ground, whimpering, as if afraid of the very existence that appeared before them. Then one by one, they turned around and ran off into the woods. The masked man then vanished without a trace, leaving zero casualties.

Revil could only be described with one word – relieved. He was afraid Kiefer would not be any to uphold his end of the deal. After-all, no wonder how talented he was, Revil did not believe Kiefer would be able handle all the trouble that had occurred. His life could not get any better – business was booming, daughter was safe and secure, and all of this was brought about by a windfall that his daughter had picked up. Although he was still unclear on Kiefer’s true intentions, he could not feel anything but gratitude for the young man now.

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[[A certain Fientral’s POV]]

We were the strongest in the forest, my brother and I. We could conjure up to 5 images each, making our pair look like a menacing pack of 12. Within our small forest, even the demon bears stayed away from us and the Seraplors kept their disguise on, hoping we would not spot them. But we always did. With our keen sense of smell, we could identify prey and rivals from far away.

Then it happened. One day, the both of us felt a bloodlust so strong it held us in our place. The power emanating from this creature could only be considered monstrous. It was in a human shape, but we knew from the smell that that was no human. It was a dragon. We wanted to run, but our legs betrayed us. The dragon then picked the both of us up, and brought us out of the forest, towards the ocean.

There, we saw another human. This time, a real human. He smelled odd, but weak. We appealed to him, hoping he would save us from the dragoness, but we did not pin much hopes on it. If even we, the mighty pair of the jungle could do nothing to this dragoness, what use would a human be.

Then, our hopes were shattered as we were thrown back into the nightmare. The dragoness smiled back at the human boy, as they started conversing. The human promptly set up a fire, and within moments, my brother was slain right before my eyes and consumed. I knew my life was now over. I would be their next meal, however soon that came.

Without warning, the dragoness threw me into a weird space. It was all white and cold. I was floating, and could sense my surroundings, yet could not even bat an eyelash. It was an eternity, unable to breathe yet not dying, as if time had stopped around me. Then I saw a window, and through the window in the white space, I saw the beach. A hand reached in from the window and grabbed me by my scruff, and pulled me out.

Finally, able to breathe, and free from my prison, I was led by a leash made out of vines like some domesticated dog. Me, a proud Fientral, was treated as nothing more than a pet. And yet, I didn’t dare disobey the dragoness. For whatever reason, the dragoness seemed afraid of the weak human, as if trying to placate the human male any chance she had. Then, I finally understood why.

After some time had passed, the dragoness suddenly grabbed me roughly, and pulled me away from the human, retreating to a faraway place, the look of confusion and curiosity plastered on her face. I stared at the direction she was looking at, and saw the human male doing something.

Within moments, a pitch black sphere appeared in front of him, pulling everything around it into it, never to appear again. Sand, water, trees and snow, all sucked into oblivion. When it finally stopped, in the middle of all the destruction was the human male, laughing loudly. For some reason, it scared me, and I’m sure it did the same to the dragoness.

Valuing my life, I followed the pair obediently, until we reached a human establishment. I was sure I would finally be able to part with them, hoping they would sell me to a merchant or even a butcher. If it was any ordinary human, they would not stand a chance against me. I would just need to bid for time and plan my escape right. But surprisingly, after a night sleep, the dragoness released me into the forest behind the settlement.

I was free at last, and ran with all my might away from the town, as far away from the frightful human again, hoping we would never cross paths again. This forest was larger than the one I ruled over, and yet, the creatures seemed sparse and weak, probably due to human hunting. Sure that I was finally safe, I recalled my instincts as a hunter, a predator and made my way through the forest southwards. I might have crossed though a mountain path or forest at one point, but I did not remember.

I conquered over others of my race, being the only one who could summon 5 images and control them individually, I easily became the leader of a pack. Oh how I wish my brother could’ve been here to see this. We began dominating the forest as a pack, taking out human travelers along secluded paths at first. Gradually, I became confident enough and we ventured close to the human cities, where food was always present in abundance.

Every night, we would have a fresh kill in our stomach to sleep on, and my pack grew stronger with each passing day. That was until we got careless one day.

Spotting an injured horse tied to a tree near a human path, I used my images to scout for human presences nearby, but they all turned up empty. It would seem that a human traveler abandoned his horse after it got injured so that it would not be a burden. Poor animal, used and thrown away by the humans like this, but I was nonetheless thankful for the free meal.

All 10 of us pounced towards the tied horse, only to fall into a pit we could not get out of. Within a few hours, humans had come to the trap, shut a cage celing over us, and hauled us out of the pit, in a cage they had laid down the in the pit. We were caught, and it was all because I was careless.

The humans fed us and gave us plenty of water to drink. Aside from the lack of freedom, we did not need anything else. We were transported by carriages for days on end, eating the same food over and over again. Finally, one evening, the humans who caught us let us go near a human mine.

If there was food to be caught, we would work together to catch our meal. With our images and combined teamwork, the 10 of us managed to gather and corner all the human workers inside the mine. Just as we were about to fill our stomachs with a fresh kill, a man appeared before us.

No. no no no no no. this can’t be right. It’s the exact same aura as the human male on the beach. This unmistakable fear. I did not even need to see his face to know it was him. The dragoness was not with him, but that only made things worse. With no one to hold him back, I would once again lose this life that I so miserably wriggled back from the clutches of death.

I wondered what happened to the dragoness. Did he finally get sick of her? Did she leave him or was she too afraid of him? Regardless, I needed to save myself, and my pack. With a single bark, I orderedthe rest to follow me, as I lay my head low and whimpered, hoping for compassion. The man just stood there, expressionless and as my pack turned tail and ran, he just stayed motionless. Once again, I thanked my lucky stars as I ran back towards the forest.

[[End of Fientral POV]]

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Sorry for late post guys. RL stuff kept me away from my beloved computer. its only a short chapter but nonetheless, hope you enjoy. BTW, FYI, 2000 - 2999 words = short, 3000-3999 words = normal, 4000+ words = decent. thats the way I determine if a chapter is short or not.

Next Chapter: The attempts and the recruitment