All of a sudden, Gaius woke up and then frowned. It was already morning, so he wondered why time had passed so quickly in that place. Moreover…

"It is the first time she said something like that… it looked like it didn't make any sense, but it seemed that… my actions might make things that aren't supposed to happen, happen…" Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "My goal is the asshole lord who tried to tame the village, but I shouldn't focus too much on the east."

Gaius needed some scouts in other directions, but he couldn't just use Rein and Herac for that. The reason for this was… they were his spies in the enemy’s land. Naturally, they would provide him with a lot of information since they worked closely with Ekirenton.

In the end, Herac and his men left the next morning after taking fewer grains than they were supposed to. His soldiers questioned him, but even in that weakened state, Herac silenced everyone.

Gaius forced him to do that and find an explanation for Lord Ekirenton. Neither Herac nor Rein knew who was controlling them, but Gaius could tell that Herac understood his situation pretty well, and that was why he was acting like usual to make himself valuable to Gaius. He didn't want to mess with someone who had so much control over his life.

"What is your plan?" Gaius asked, using his mind.

"...I am going to say that some of the grains were used along the way, and we shared with one of my other groups since they are also traveling to keep his territory under control," Herac replied, using his mind.

"That will suffice," Gaius said. "If you think or do anything that might be inconvenient for me, you will break your own fingers. The first mistake will be equal to one broken finger, the second will be equal to two fingers. The third and you will have broken your entire hand; as for the fourth one… your rapier might end up finding your own throat, capisce?"

"Yes, sir," Herac said.

Gaius gave the same orders to Rein. He would have to keep an eye on their health, but that would inform him if they tried to do anything suspicious.

Unless he forced them to become suspicious but completely obedient machines, there was always a chance that they might find a hole in his command. Gaius couldn't make them fully obedient without making them look suspicious. He couldn't let that happen since he needed them to gather information.

Regardless, when they left the village without causing any problems, the villagers looked relieved and confused. The next task was for Gaius to find out the condition of the kids who had left to be trained… not a single one of those who left in three years had returned.

"Aside from that problem, I guess I finally have some leeway…" Gaius said and then sighed in relief. "But I can't drop my guard yet. First of all… let's reduce the population of desert wolves, and then I will have more freedom to move."

Gaius' Desert Wolf was a lot stronger than the others now, so it probably could take down more than ten of them every day… as long as they fought one on one.

"I guess another way that I have to convince my parents to give me more freedom is to show them that I am not weak," Gaius rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I have fifty free points. Should I distribute them into strength and endurance and try to kick my father's ass?"

Zairus Lv 35

Health: 460/460

Mana: 160/160

Stamina: 220/220

Strength: 48

Endurance: 44

Adaptability: 35

Magic: 04

Resistance: 28

Wisdom: 12

Dexterity: 22

Perception: 22

Luck: 22

Free points: 00

It was possible with magic. Zairus wasn't big without a reason. Strength and endurance were his forte, and he had even leveled up two times in the last three years.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Well, as long as I put up a good fight, it should be enough," Gaius thought while smiling and shrugging his shoulders. "Once Herac begins to level up again, things will look better since my strength will increase."

First of all, Gaius asked his father for a heavier shield and sword. Since Zairus had more parameters distributed than the level-ups granted him, it was clear that one could get them through training as well.

At first, Zairus hesitated, but he eventually agreed and then confirmed that Gaius could use the training swords and shields that bigger kids could use. They couldn't even be called toys anymore… Zairus recalled that he began to use those when he was ten.

"Maybe it is a bit soon to ask you if you seem serious about this," Zairus scratched his beard.

"Yes, it is!" Kaira roared.

"...Regardless, in one way or another, a man needs strength to protect himself in this world," Zairus said while trying to recover his composure. "You should join the other kids and practice with them. Even if you get hurt, it will be fine since—"

"It won't be fine!" Kaira said while glaring at him.

"...Since pain is a good teacher," Zairus finished his sentence and then sighed.

"Yes, pain is a good teacher… he even has the Rinnegan," Gaius thought. "Nevertheless, training with kids is boring. Should I just break a few of their arms, and then I will be taken seriously by the adults? Maybe I should avoid that… rather than prove myself against kids, I would rather train while trying to surpass my own limits. Anyway, Father is rather whipped, huh?"

Gaius ignored his father's suggestion and began to train by himself for a couple of hours every morning. The battle experience was important, but he probably wouldn't miss much while practicing with kids… Gaius really didn't want to train with brats.

After training alone in the morning, Gaius would sneak around in the afternoon and then train his magic. With his current level and aim, he could hit trees two hundred meters away, and his best attack, which had killed Herac, could even pierce three trees before dissipating.

"I reached the limit of firepower when it comes to my current strength. I need to focus on other aspects of magic again," Gaius thought in satisfaction. "As long as I keep increasing my magic, my attack power and the effects of reinforcement will improve. So, what should I do now?"

Gaius recalled that he didn't learn much regarding his research. He failed in mimicking the creation of the wind sphere and Poison Bullet. Maybe he should resume that. It was going to be useful if he could control the elements…

Unfortunately, in the next two years, Gaius didn't make any progress in that area. Still, at least he got stronger physically, and his parameters increased as well. Once the number of desert wolves began to decrease, his father had more time to train with him, and Gaius gained more proper combat experience since he was forced to be a bit serious or his wooden sword would break every day.

During those two years, Gaius also learned that the kids who received training were working as squires and infantrymen for some groups of soldiers. They were receiving payment, and thanks to Herac's intervention that Gaius had forced, they had the chance to return home every year for two weeks… which was better than nothing.

Things were going well in the village. While Gaius didn't have the chance to upgrade his summoning list, at least his summoned creatures hadn't been taken down even once… still, the peace ended when some guards noticed some weird movements coming from the south…

At first, just some weird rumors were spreading, and while the guards tried to keep that a secret, eventually, people learned that soldiers from another territory had been scouting the area.

"Shit… the goblins' camp was supposed to be between us," Gaius thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "Once they noticed that the creatures were gone, they decided to come this far to check the terrain."

"Do we know what they want?" Kaira asked one day when Zairus returned from work.

"Their territory apparently isn't that good for cultivation, and there is a lot of good land here now that a lot of the monsters have disappeared," Zairus sat down and then explained. "We sent the message to Lord Ekirenton since he has been suspiciously nice as of late. We don't have that many hands to cultivate so much land, and we don't have the tools to make up for that. Our village is a good place for them to create a base since the territory of the lord is too far away."

Angela warned Gaius of that. While he was listening to the conversation, he felt like hugging his head and hitting it against the wall. He didn't know much about the other territories, so he didn't predict that… while his actions helped the village, they caused that problem, and no one could deny it.

"Is their territory that close?" Kaira asked. "What about their numbers?"

"They are five days away by using horses," Zairus replied. "Lord Ekirenton's territory is seven days away… they probably put some scouts on the way and at their base, and they will learn soon if he sends reinforcements. They have time to act and take the village. Defending will probably be easy for them since we heard a few years ago that they have a force of ten thousand men. They might lose their territory if they send too many, but two thousand will do the job."