One of the bandits at the front squinted his eyes and looked at Caius. "Isn't he the little punk that almost ruined our fun time?"
Some of the bandits looked at him after that and they noticed the features the carriage driver had said he had.
"It is him!"
"He made things easy for us ey boys? whomever kills him first can have his head alongside this girl."
A loud cheer followed after the declaration as the bandits threw their weapons at Caius.
Caius weaved side to side avoiding the weapons and he dashed forward, jumping mid-step to land on one of the bandits face and he used it as a springboard to launch himself into the fray.
The bandits stepped on collapsed on the floor, his nose broken in three different sections, his teeth crushed into his mouth.
Caius landed af the heart ot the bandits and he threw a punch to the one closest to him sending him staggering into the ones behind.
He ducked under a punch from the rear—he balanced on his leg and kicked the bandit on the chin with so much force his head whipped back and he was uprooted from the floor into the ceiling above.
Dropping his foot, he squatted and launched himself at the bandit in front of him—he grabbed his face and slammed him on the floor sending him to the ground and cracking the floor.
After tearing through twenty bandits or so, Caius made his way to the center where the girl was at and he stood before her. "Come at me!" He barked as he removed his robe and handed it to the girl to cover herself.
"No shit! This little punk can actually fight." One of the bandit commented witnessing the carnage behind Caius attack.
"We can take him!"
"Some of us are D-rank adventurers."
Caius' eye narrowed after hearing that—his opinion on adventurers had taken a nose dive after the events of today. In his eyes, these clowns gave Asterion, a legit adventurer a bad reputation.
He watched as the remaining bandits gathered to block the entrance to the building and the ones that were adventurers stepped to the front; their swords raised and they charged at him, a shroud of red mana covering their bodies amplifying their physical capabilities making them not only faster, but stronger and tougher.
Caius weaved under the first strike and balled his hand into a fist striking the bandits in the stomach.
The second bandit swung in a diagonal manner only for his sword to be stuck in the table that Caius pulled up in his hand, he kicked the table pushing it back into the bandits and sending him staggering into the ones behind him disturbing the formation behind him.
He turned his eye to his left and a wave of wind magic flooded the building and expanded around him sending the remaining adventurer bandits flying into the walls of the building.
Caius turned to the white-haired elf. "Come let's go." He knelt down and gave her his back.
The girl watched, her wide, purple eyes staring at Caius in shock. The boy was no older than her and he already was that strong, out of all the bandits only twenty left standing—she nodded and climbed onto his back.
Caius got to his feet and turned to Kraven who had been spectating. "Burn them all."
Are you certain? Cause if I do. We would be killing people, can you live with yourself knowing you gave a command to take life? Kraven asked, his usual demeanor replaced by a stoic grim face.
Caius didn't bat an eye. "They are no different than scum, they had little regard to life so why should I?" The cold look in his eye not once fading—his first death had shown him what true human cruelty was like.
Kraven nodded. As you wish. He jumped from Caius shoulder and his fox appearance faded leaving behind a black dragon with blue eyes, a huge difference than the one Caius met when he died. True Flame Magic: Dragon Roar. He opened his maw a sea of scorching white flames flooded the building.
After doing what was needed, Kraven morphed back into a fox and settled on Caius' shoulder and the group left the burning establishment ignoring the cries of the dying bandits.
****
Caius gently put the elven girl on the cardboard box after they had found a sanctuary within the city that was unoccupied and he sat down on the stone floor. His eye shifted to the three moons in the sky and his lips thinned—he had less than two days to find the place Asterion referred him to, but that would come later.
"Are you alright?" He asked The elf.
She nodded and hugged the robe tighter around her body.
Caius ran a hand into his hair. "Whats your name? Where do you come from? Where are the others?"
The girl's bright eyes stared at him, her lips quivering slightly. "He took them…"
'He?' Caius thought—the bandits had another one he did not see?
"My name is Carla, I'm from the great forest of the elves…" Her soft, yet timid voice broke him out of his trance.
'Elves? That's the forest we were heading to, if there are people who know about elderwood souls it should be them.' Kraven's voice penetrated Caius thought while he snuggled in between Caius' lap.
Caius smiled a bit. "Carla, can you guide me to the forest? I am searching for it."
She gazed at him skeptically so. "Humans aren't allowed into the forest…"
Caius nodded, he knew the history between humans and the other races and the conflicts that stretched beyond centuries but he also knew that Asterion wouldn't just send him to a place he won't return from.
"I know, I am in dire need of the elves help."
Carla stared to the side. "What about the others?"
Caius placed his hand on his chin—To be honest, he did not know what he was going to do to find them, reporting it to the authorities under the holy knights jurisdiction was the only thing that he could do. "I can only lodge a complaint and that should be it."
Her eyes slightly dropped. "I see…" she muttered but did not press the conversation further.
As the sun rose from behind the mountains, Caius and Carla had already left the city where he found her and they were out of the kingdom of Aridth, they were at the edge of the forest of the elves—Carla walked forward and touched the tree causing the magic in the fauna to gather and a ripple opened in space, in the other end of the rift was another forest but flowing with mana.
Caius could feel that much emanating from there.
He watched as Carla vanished into the rift and he followed after.
The rift closed sealing off the forest of elves from the human lands.
Caius looked around with a wide eye, the forest was beautiful, it has a mystic feel to it, the trees around him felt ancient, their mana pure and unblemished by the outside world.
"Pretty," he whispered loud enough for Carla to hear.
The girl blushed, having misconstrued what Caius meant when he said those words, assuming he was referring to her instead of the forest.
"HUMAN! GET AWAY FROM LADY CARLA!"
A loud voice shred through the veil of tranquility as a group of elves dressed in formal white tops and pants landed between Caius and Carla.
The taller woman elf with blonde hair and sharp black eyes drew her sword and stepped forward, pointing the weapon at Caius who had raised his hands in defeat. "You dare lay your filthy hands on the princess?" She spat, hostility flashing in her eyes.
Caius looked around him, atleast six out of the eight elves were on the level of a holy knight and at his current level fighting them was suicide. "This is a misunderstanding…Carla tell them."
The woman who had her sword near his neck gritted her teeth at the casual manner Caius addressed Carla. "That's your majesty you vermin! I should kill you this instant."
'You are a shitty negotiator.' Kraven commented.
Caius glanced at Kraven. 'Not now!'
Carla tugged on the sleeve of the woman's shirt. "He is innocent Merlin."
Merlin glanced at the princess and then at Caius, the Hostility in her eyes still potent and she lowered her sword. "I see…" she whispered, not intending to let the boy just go. Her mana spiked and the fauna shot from around Caius binding his hands and feet causing him to fall.
"Humans are not allowed here! You are to be prosecuted like everyone!"