* * *
Mikhail, who had his arm raised, looked at Anakin the moment he heard those words.
Remembering Anakin’s repeated requests to test his skills, Mikhail agreed.
“…Understood.”
Mikhail readily gave permission, likely judging that it wasn’t dangerous.
In truth, Anakin also knew that the difference in his magic level was too vast to even compare his strength with mere bandits.
Stomp, stomp.
Anakin stepped down from the carriage and slowly approached them.
A massive, bear-like man seemed to be the leader of the bandits.
“What’s this? This little kid. The scent is nice, so is it a girl? Hmm… or an Omega male?”
“Looks pretty, doesn’t it?”
“If we sell this, it’ll fetch a good price, Hyung? Doesn’t he just ooze nobility?”
The first thing they said upon seeing a person was such garbage.
“Hey. Where are you coming from?”
The man who appeared to be the bandit leader asked with a fierce face.
They looked very accustomed to this situation.
Although buying and selling slaves was strictly legal in the Empire and posed no legal issues, wasn’t there an ethical problem?
There was no reason to get involved, and even less reason to simply pass by.
The bandits snickered vulgarly as they looked at Anakin’s silhouette.
“Is that a guard behind you? Only bringing one guard in this area. You must be a noble who truly doesn’t know the ways of the world. Didn’t anyone tell you this is a frequent bandit area?”
This mountain range was a difficult shortcut leading to the city, and it was a region frequently passed by nobles in a hurry who hired reasonably skilled mercenaries.
Perhaps because of this, they seemed familiar with dealing with nobles.
Since they had never been defeated in return, they naturally seemed to assume they were facing an opponent they could handle.
‘Even if I win, there will be no way for them to deal with my master behind me.’
“Why are you blocking the road?”
Anakin asked.
The bandit licked his lips and replied insolently.
“Pay the toll. You look rich. About 100 gold coins?”
To demand 100 gold coins, not even silver coins.
Given the ridiculous price, it seemed they had no intention of letting him go from the start.
Faced with such a typical third-rate extra villain, Anakin decided not to waste any more words and immediately cast a spell from a distance.
Dozens of arrows materialized around Anakin and were relentlessly shot, targeting the bandits.
“Looks like you’ve learned some magic, young master. But that’s a First Circle spell, isn’t i—”
Clang.
The mana arrow struck the rough greatsword held by one of the bandits.
The arrow, upon hitting the steel, bounced off and plunged directly into the shoulder of the bandit leader.
“Agh!”
They must not have known he could meticulously control the arrow.
Surely, given Anakin’s appearance, no one would think he could skillfully manipulate mana at his age.
They were completely looking down on me.
Poking a hole in the guard of a complacent opponent was not a difficult task.
The mana arrows split into three prongs, followed by continuous screams from behind.
The bandit leader gnashed his teeth and shouted.
“What are you doing! You worthless blockheads…”
The bandit leader, deciding that this couldn’t go on, pulled the arrow from his shoulder, grabbed his twin swords, and charged at Anakin.
“There’s one more man in the carriage!”
Anakin glanced at the bandits heading that way, extended his right arm, and created a wind so sharp it felt like it would shave bones, shallowly slicing their bodies.
“Uwaaagh!”
The screams were vividly loud, piercing his eardrums.
The bandit leader, radiating intense murderous intent, brought his sword down over Anakin’s head.
Fzzzt.
As the bandit, who was deflected by the shield, staggered and lost his balance, Anakin pulled out his self-defense dagger from his clothes and forcefully plunged it into his side.
Thunk.
A foreign sensation was accompanied by blood spurting out like a fountain.
Anakin gulped and took a step back.
“I… I lost to a little kid? Cough!”
In the current situation, Anakin was more bewildered than the leader.
It made no sense that people of only this level were defeating the mercenaries hired by nobles and running rampant in this area.
“Who is behind you?”
“…”
At Anakin’s question, the leader slumped down and spat out the blood that had flowed back into his throat.
Seeing that he had no intention of opening his mouth, Anakin finished off the remaining members in the meantime.
Even without experience, he dealt with them too calmly and coldly.
So much so that Anakin himself felt a chill.
“Well done. However, there are still some clumsy aspects.”
Mikhail naturally thrust a Sixth Circle Spiral Ice Magic into the head of the groaning bandit.
Crack!
“Ah…!”
A mana density that was incomparably thicker than his own and an overwhelming destructive power.
The ground where he had attacked was deeply gouged, as if a boulder had fallen there.
It was a force on a completely different level from the magic he had shown him thus far.
With the added killing intent, it was so fierce that a mere brush against it felt like it would disintegrate the skin.
A gruesome sound echoed through the forest, and blood splattered everywhere.
Ugh.
With a sudden surge of nausea, Anakin covered his mouth and dry-heaved repeatedly.
Mikhail, looking at Anakin with pity, approached him with a grim expression and patted his back.
“I imagine you deliberately left them alive. However, if you let people like this live, you never know when they might become a threat later.”
He knew that fighting was unavoidable, but… was there a need to kill them?
“B-But.”
“Young Master Anakin. The outside world is simply like this. They, too, must have harmed people, extorted money, and sold them to slave traders without hesitation, just as I did now. They won’t feel much injustice even if they die. They would have known they would surely die if they encountered someone stronger and fought.”
“…”
At those words, Anakin slowly looked up at Mikhail.
‘This is just how the world is…’
Come to think of it, the Crown Prince, Leo, and Harca in the original novel all killed people without hesitation.
And Anakin had suffered greatly every time that happened.
A world where harming people was commonplace.
Was this what his father had worried about?
…The weight and value of life here was completely different from the modern era.
Anakin arrived at Trica, the great metropolis in the south of the Empire, by carriage.
Trica was the most prosperous city in the south, and it was also a famous tourist spot that people always visited when passing the capital.
Thanks to this, the plaza was constantly bustling with people, and Anakin felt dizzy and disoriented by the chaotic crowds of people with various hair colors passing by.
“This place is still so crowded. Let’s go to the inn we reserved first.”
Anakin took Mikhail’s hand and followed him.
However, it was very difficult to move forward due to being jostled repeatedly.
Just as Anakin was feeling sad about being small, Mikhail suddenly turned around and pulled Anakin into his embrace.
“Ah.”
Anakin, instantly trapped in his arms, was startled, but since it was chaotic, he followed him and moved forward.
When he looked up at him in confusion as they moved, Mikhail, sensing Anakin’s gaze, smiled slightly and looked forward again.
Only then did Anakin realize that Mikhail had done this to look out for him.
After much struggle, they arrived at the luxury inn where nobles stayed.
Mikhail sighed and spoke to Anakin.
“Phew. We finally made it.”
“There are so many people…”
Just as he was catching his breath, an unfamiliar woman who looked like an employee approached and greeted them.
“Welcome, honored guests. The key is here.”
The treatment was definitely good, perhaps because it was a place where one had to reveal their status to enter.
The employee at the desk raised the corners of her mouth and handed over the room key.
“Then have a good night.”
Even a celebrity like Mikhail wasn’t bothered beyond business.
Even the Elders would have had their faces widely recognized in public.
It seemed they did not act recklessly, as the priority of the inn was the management of guest information.
Rumor had it that this place was also an inn directly operated by a disciple of Pasadian.
It was unconfirmed information.
“The exam is at 2 p.m. Then I must be going.”
Mikhail said to Anakin, checking the watch on his wrist.
“Thank you. If it weren’t for Master, I would have gotten lost so badly.”
“Not at all. Anakin, don’t forget that I am always here.”
After a final farewell hug with him, Mikhail packed his bag and waved his hand.
“You will do well. My premonitions are never wrong. Well, I’d be fine even if you fail, though.”
“Ahaha. Master!”
The cheerful Mikhail still showed lingering regret in his eyes, but as it was truly time to go, he exited the inn door.
“Don’t forget to call my name into that bracelet artifact if you need me.
It should be possible to connect a video orb for a call.”
The elegant bracelet framed with gold was an expensive artifact that Roman had given him the night before he left.
He had told him to contact him with it.
It seemed Mikhail also knew the purpose of the bracelet.
“I understand.”
With those words, Mikhail left Trica.
Now he was truly all alone.
There was still some time until the exam…
Looking around the luxurious inn, his attention was drawn to a bar on the right side of the lounge.
“Honestly, I’m sure he’s cheating these days. Is there some Omega he’s kissing and sucking at the red-light district or something, that he picks them up one by one and brings them to the mansion? When I scolded him a little, he immediately took their side. That fucking bastard…”
* * *
