Multiple large heat signatures and 2 mana signatures. This is not good, especially so considering their size and form. It looks like 10 humanoids riding on this worlds equivalent animal to horses. The distance I spot them at is 500 meters, a little too close for comfort but considering that we are in a forest it is my luck to have spotted them at such a distance. I immediately turn around and start going away from them, after 20 seconds I can confirm that they have spotted us and are moving in our direction, I wonder how? An artifact? I should be invisible to all of my known methods of detection. I realise my mistake when I look at Aelynthi, white robe, visible mana and heat signature, just great. I turn on the prepping of 2 grenades and decide to unpack my AMR, it is not made for usage at close ranges but if they have armored targets my pistols will be useless. I am afraid of breaking a bone if I shoot my AMR without using a bipod to absorb most of the recoil... I look around and find little to choose as a defendable position, as I would like a high vantage point with multiple points of cover but all I found was a rock a little over half a meter high, perfect to put my AMR on and large enough to hide behind if I use my grenades.

I inform Aelynthi of 10 people coming on horses towards us, at first she looks troubled then says there will be no problem, we just need to inform them that I am a student of a dragon. I pause and look at her, is this really what she thinks? As we do not have time to argue I load up the AMR and set it on the stone, next to the AMR I lay down one of my pistols, hopefully I will be able to use it for at least one or two shots against the most dangerous targets.

As they come up to us I see that they are humans, in my eyes I see the following: 1 rich teenager of mage rank 1, an old man of mage rank 2, 6 swordsmen and 2 crossbowmen. My face stiffens when I see that the swordsmen are wearing wearing full plate armor while the the crossbowmen are in chainmail torso armor and leather for all the other important places. When I take a closer look at what the two mages are wearing I do not feel any better because I see x100 times ambient mana. Looking at their inner mana I see that the teenager has 40ish and the old man has 350ish. Obviously, I center all of my attention on the old man. I will let Aelynthi do the talking as it should be visible to them that she is a higher rank mage than me and it would complicate things if I, a human, start talking via telepathy to them.

My physical buffs are already up while my head spins thinking of various ways to kill them. Directly using the grenades? What if the mages survive thanks to their magic armor and the knights might not be affected at all at a distance larger than 10 meters. Double wield pistols? I will not be able shoot accurately while using both guns at the same time if I do not aim at the same target. My best bet is to hit the rank 2 mage with the strongest thing I have, then the other mage, crossbowman and hope I survive cqc with 6 knights, maybe Aelynthi will show her worth in cqc as she has done in our spars.

They stop 30 meters in front of us and calmly walk to a distance of about 20 meters. The old man is observing my AMR, I suspect he can see through the cloak or at least sees something wrong with its visible mana level, probably the same as my armor. The crossbowmen have their crossbows drawn, they are the priority target after the mages. Although we run the risk of getting a bolt fired at us, I have no choice as my knowledge of mages is limited and I do not wish to experience first hand if they can blow me up with a spell. The rich kid starts the conversation with an amiable smile, while my whole body is tense. After a few sentences are passed between them in a language that is definitely not elvish, Aelynthi starts frowning. I bet I can guess the reason for her reaction as the knights start to encircle us. I am going to jump on my AMR now as I do not want to be surrounded by knights, the older man only forces me to act as I see mana move around him.

I jump on the AMR, point at the old mage and shoot as I see a spell forming in his hands. I do not check the result of my shot as I pick up the pistol on the rock, within a blink of an eye the crosshairs of my pistol are already on the head of the shocked teenager that is looking at the falling body of the old mage. I pull the trigger and pull the trigger yet again within half of a second but this time center mass. I take aim at the right crossbowmen and see a crossbow pointed at me. I do not hesitate to pull the trigger once aiming at his head and start taking aim towards the other crossbowman. I feel something punch my left shoulder, my aim is thrown off and I spend time to take aim at the second crossbowman. He is lowering his crossbow for a reload, I fire at his head.

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Analyzing the situation I see 3 knights on either side of me, 10 meters from us and running towards us with swords drawn. I see that Aelynthi is in arm's reach of me and is casting a spell with her staff so I make a snap decision to use my grenades. First I drop my gun, then I select the 1 second delay trigger and throw both grenades simultaneously in front of the stone. I pull Aelynthi towards myself and push her towards the ground behind the stone as I jump on top of her.

*BBaannGG* A deafening explosion occurs, my ears are ringing and no other sound can be heard. As I get up I pick up the pistol that I dropped and I unsheath my sword.

All 6 knights were knocked down onto the ground. They do not look in the best of conditions with scratches and dents all over their armor. When I take a closer look I see blood in various locations, yet there still is minor movement coming from some of the knights. I understand that I have to finish the job to remove the threat. I walk up to each knight, send a bullet into the helmet visors and then proceed to thrust my sword into the neck just to make sure. I confirm the crossbowmen and mage rank 1 kills then I walk over to the body that has a good sized hole in the center of its chest and just in case I pull the trigger twice emptying my pistol into his head. I turn off my physical buffs. Before I realize it, I have collapse to my knees followed by falling face first onto the ground.

**

I wake up to find myself staring at a rock ceiling, all of my clothes removed except my pants. I notice bandages around my left shoulder with a spot of blood on the bandages, it seems the bolt did penetrate my armor with just the tip going into my skin. I walk outside to see Aelynthi staring at a campfire. As I walk towards her I see her tense up, so I stop and sit down where I am. Looking around I see that we are in a different location, did she carry me or use one of the horses to carry me... Not important, what is important is that I do not see the spoils of battle... No horses, no mage armor, no plate armor... just her and my stuff. I wanted to examine the mage armor and any other possible artifacts they had. Silence reigns for many minutes before I decide to talk.

I say "Thank you for taking care of me." Silence continues again.

"Who are you?"

"Anton Ip"

"No! Who are you? I understand that all of your artifacts are not from Kathorrunth!" She pauses before continuing.

"They are all made from the same material, produce the same deafening sound and you use them as if you made them. I did not see that sword or large artifact when you were at the village, the first time I saw them was when we left the cave and I have not seen Kathorrunth giving them to you. Did you make them? But how, you are only a rank 0 mage! Is this why Kathorrunth took you in as her student?"

Now what should I say... Where should I start? Well, let's say the truth and leave out the details.

"Yes, I made the artifacts. I am from a very far away land. Kathorrunth has not given me any artifacts. My relationship with Kathorrunth is complex."

"What are you doing here? What do you plan on doing? Why is your relationship with Kathorrunth complex?"

"I got lost, I plan to return to my home." Well I think this much information should calm her down, it's not like I know her life story.

"Why don't you say more?! How can I trust you?!" She pauses after finishing her sentence, I guess she can hear her own hypocrisy.

"Why don't you say more about why you are here with me and not in some castle? How can I trust you?"

She opens her mouth to speak but then closes it. She looks down back at the fire. After a minute I hear a feeble "Sorry." After another few seconds I hear "Thank you."

"You are welcome, when do you plan on returning my weapons or do you feel safer with me unarmed?"

She flinches and does not move. "Can I at least have the detection artifact so that we can sleep soundly at night?"

Aelynthi: "How do I know it is not another weapon and..."

I roll my eyes and say with sarcasm: "The other option would be to give me nothing, chain me up when you go to sleep and hope a predator eats me first so you can use me as an alarm system. As trusting me to keep watch is a bit too much for you." Shortly I get a bag thrown at my face. It is my backpack with the security system but nothing else. I go about setting up the security system, I return to see Aelynthi playing with one of my pistols, looking down the barrel. I flinch and say "That artifact is very dangerous as you have seen, put it down."

"How does it work? Without touching it I can not even tell that it is enchanted and what I do feel is that it has very little mana, is this thing empty?"

"It is not empty so put down the weapon." I will not tell you about my weapons girl but stop swinging it around, dammit!

"It is not empty? Really?" She momentarily points the gun at me, then decides better of it and points the gun towards a tree and pulls the trigger. What I expected happens.