Early in the morning after the breakfast 'Ardrian' and 'Zavier' left the castle by disguising their true appearances for their conviniance so that people could not disturb them while they travel through the capital city of Angria 'Alderwyn'. and in the bustling crowd people can be seen going through their daily routines, Among the many architectural wonders a single structure stood out like peircing through the sky 'the building of magic association' also known has Manarva.
The capital city is divided into three parts: 'Inner' area where the influential and Noble people live and 'middle' area which is used for commercial purposes, and the 'outer' area, where people live who are unable to awaken their veins at the age of 10 years.
And there is also a solution for these people, called the 'Veins Awakening potion', which is only afforded by the rich and influential people.
Adrian like a child with curious eyes was observing everything as they traveled through the crowd after soon they both stopped in front of a three story building bustling with people, Ardrian asked his father what is this shop?, listen here son, this is well known shop for magic items, come lets go inside if you fancy any item tell me.
Various items can be seen in the shop, from swords, shields, armor, magic talismans which store different types of spells to artifacts with different abilities and different potions. a young sales women around 20 years old came to Zavier.
Welcome to our establishment and what are you looking for sir said the woman in a polite tone.
Yesterday was my son's awakening ceremony so we are looking for something that fits him, after after a moment the women spoke, sir we have items from grade 'f' to 's' in our shop and for beginner awakener 'f' grade items are the best suitable and sir forgive me for asking do you have the required money, at her words Zavier took out a pouch of gold coins in his hands and women looked happy, here in eroth the currency is divided in to four different types gold, silver, bronze, and mana crystals. Mana crystals are only used by the high-ranking awakeners.
Ardrian was looking at a F-grade sword curiously, noticing this, the woman came to him and explained this F-grade fire sword, which has fire spell stored in it upon channeling your mana into sword, it will be covered in the layer of fire and it is well-suited for beginners.
After hearing this Ardrian decided to buy this. Zavier asked the price to the woman and she replied as 5 gold coins, and he also brought the space ring to store the sword after buying both Ardrian and Zavier went out of the shop.
Are you satisfied son after buying this trash sword ?,In our palace there are many swords better than this.
No father, my goal was to spend time with you!
As they walked, Ardrian and Zaviier entered the outer area of the capital where slave market is located, father what is this, This is the slave market son which is divided into two areas one is for the common people and another is for the nobility. and I decided to buy you a slave came lets go to vip area , as they entered a tall two story building. After entering the building there were welcomed by the middle aged man looking around 50 years old.
'Sir' what type of slave do you need ?asked the man to zavier.
Zavier turned to his son who was curiously looking at a pink haired elf in one of the cells, the girl was properly clothed and is good looking.
Father why is a elf in this place, at his words Zavier turned to the salesman, he clearly explained that she is Hybrid who is born between human and elf.
In the continent of eroth slave trading of different races other than humans are banned and this also applies to the other continents as well to maintain the political stability and to prevent from happening any possible continental wars.
And hybrids are rare because in this world, there is only a 5% chance of giving birth to any hybrid in all the continents, so seeing this, Ardrian was surprised and wanted to buy this slave at any cost, he asked the salesmen for a price.
Sir, it is only 5000 gold! to this ardrian turned to his father to ask for the money,Zavier give the money to the salesmen.
And after that the salesmen gave a contract scroll and asked him to drop a single drop of blood on it.
Ardrian came in front of the cell and asked the girl for her name, to this she replied with a shaking voice as Rose.
Seeing this Ardrian spoke to the girl in a gentle voice, My name is Ardrian nice meet you relax if you follow my every order I will treat you good.
Ma.. Master Ardrian nice to meet you too, hearing the word master from such a beautiful girl he became quite happy that can be seen in his expression.
After talking for some time with Ardrian the girl became cheerful and was quite happy to have him has her master.
Outside of the building near the dark alley, a group of five men were discussing something secretly among themselves, here in the outer area of the capital thugs were quite common this outer area can be considered a den for outlaws.
one of the men spoke to a man who is quite tall with a broad shoulders and a scar to his left his and was looking quite mean who is the leader of the group.
Boss, the girl you were eying for is being purchased by the duo we saw earlier today. what do we do, boss?
What is there to do we should just rob them replied the boos to his underling with a arrogant voice.
Boss, we should know the strength of the duo before making any decision and also I have a bad feeling about the guy and he carries himself like a noble who sees people around him like ant.
And also we only have you beginner level-5 aura awakener boss and what if the man is Extended rank you know that the beginner awakener can never defeat the Extended rank because when an awakener steps into the Extended rank he awakens the elements.
To this the boss again spoke with a quite arrogant voice, why would a noble visit these parts of the city and the kid is only beginner level-1 awakener and the man with the kid has no mana around him, he is just a ordinary person, once I show my rank he will run like a scared rabbit.
Unknown to the plans of the thugs Ardrian and zavier exited the building with Rose walking beside them, after some walking some distance they were stopped by the five people, seeing their faces Rose's body started to shake and Ardrian, like a good gentlemen, stood in front of Rose, protecting her.
The thugs began to speak. Kid, leave her here, and get out of this area. we will spare you otherwise, you and the man beside you will die here today.
Zavier looked at this scene with the light of amusement in his eyes and spoke to Ardrian, Don't involve me you have to deal with this yourself and vanished from the spot.
Seeing this the group of thugs started to laugh, look at this he ran away like coward spoke one of them .
So, kid leave her here, we will spare you!
No, she is my property, and I will never let anyone of you to touch what belongs to me and then he took out the sword that he bought earlier.
Good sword kid now leave the sword as well and for a mere beginner level-1 you speak like you are untouchable saying this the boss stepped forward and stood in front of Ardrian while releasing his beginner level-5 aura and ardrian became tense and circulated his mana to the sword which lit up with fire and dashed towards the boss while aiming his sword at his neck and boss also channeled his aura through his veins and coated it around the hands like a glouse.
As the sword came near his neck he avoided it by sidestepping and with his aura coated hands he easily punched Ardrian and sent him flying, Ardrian spat a mouthful of blood on the ground and slowly stood up while his body was shaking.
And again rushed towards the boss with his sword this time he aimed for the shoulders while also channeling both his mana and aura which made sword sturdier and quite sharp, unaware of this the boss met the sword with his aura coated right hand only to be pushed back a few steps.
ahh..ahh.. came a sharp scream from the boss when he looked at his right it was bleeding, after that he looked at ardrian who was breathing raggedly and was also not in a good state, because using both mana and aura at the same time takes toll on the body also he only became a awakener yesterday, and he does not even know the properties of mana and aura much less use in the battle.
And seeing this, the boss laughed quite loudly, saying, boys today we made a great catch we encountered a beginner dual awakener if we sell him in the slave market we will live our life in riches.
aah ahh kid what, Are you out of your mana, yes Ardrian was out of his mana and he felt despair in this situation.
Looking at scene in front of her rose started shouted desprately, please anyone help us but no one even bothered to look at them because these things occur daily in the outer areas of the city.
No,I have to think something to get out of the situation an idea came to his mind to use his background and spoke to the boss.
ye you do you know who i am? I am the 11nth prince of the empire "Ardrian de Altan" if anything happens to me the empire will hunt you down.
Hearing this the men started to laugh, so if you are the prince then I am the emperor, and why would a prince visit the outer area of the city that too with out any protection.
Listening to their remark Ardrian's throat went dry and his body started to shake and as a last resort he shouted out loudly.
Father,help me please I beg you please and he started crying.
Zavier was right beside Ardrian and he remained invisible to the others this is a simple trick for a beings at his level to fool low rank awakeners, after some time he removed his invisiblety and stood beside Ardrian while crossing his arms around his chest with a bored look on his face and spoke to the thugs.
You lot did a good job and served your purpose and saying this he simply released his aura at them and with in seconds the thugs died without able to react.
With a deep voice Zavier spoke see this son this is what happens to the people with out strength they lose everything they hold dear and the people around you won't help you and you should help yourself and don't depend on others to protect you.
A determined expression can be seen on the face of Ardrian, he also remembered how weak and helpless he felt and he also remembered his father only helped him because he begged him and he did not want to feel like this again, And he decided he would become so strong that no would look down upon him and he will do every thing and anything to achieve his goals.
Zavier looked at his son's expression and smiled, And Ardrian you should be prepared for the "Trail of the worthy".