Abe the Wizard - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Under the bright dawn light that shone across the plain, the Bennet Castle, once again, revealed its grandiosity for the whole world to see .

Compared to other castles owned by knights of the same rank, the Bennet Castle was actually a much more extravagant piece of architecture . It was, in a way, what you’d call a ‘work of an era’ . It took about ten years for the First Bennett Lord to finish constructing it . And if it wasn’t for the diligent maintenance of those who came after him, there wouldn’t be such a magnificent landmark standing here to this day .

Due to the incompetence of its successors over the last few generations, the Bennett family was demoted from one of the most prestige Lords in the kingdom to just a family of knights . This was why the Bennetts were always so ashamed when they talked about their past .

As the current ruler of the house, the Knight of Bennet was very regretful to have accomplished so little during the war . He fought bravely and persistently against the orcs, but the achievements he made were not sufficient to change his family’s status .

This was why he was so keen on educating his children . Zach, especially . If Zach could become a knight before the age of thirty, the Bennet bloodline would have no concerns with being cut off . After that, it was up to Zach’s ability to decide his own future .

Abel, though, was not placed with such responsibility . If he never volunteered to become a knight, the Knight of Bennett was going to have someone teach him mathematics . Abel was supposed to find an office job in town when he got older .

The Knight of Bennett was very worried about his younger son’s future . Abel was not going to have his own castle . He was not going to have his own warhorse . He wasn’t even going to have his own armor . Once Abel became older, he would become a wandering knight, and wandering knights were not recognized by the nobles in this country . He would have to spend a great deal of his life just to be able to afford the basic gear . If he could find a stable living before the age of forty, that would be considered more than lucky .

“You ranked up?” the Knight of Bennett asked Abel .

Abel took about two months to become a rank one novice knight . The same process took his father four months, and his brother four and a half months .  Abel wasn’t given the same amount of resources . The attention he received was nowhere near the same as other men, but raw talent alone gave him an advantage at the very start .

“Yes, Father . I became a rank one novice knight last night,” Abel replied, and Zach quickly ran over to give him a hug .

“You’re a genius, brother, my most dear brother!” Zach span his little brother around . He would’ve liked to compliment him a bit more, but Abel didn’t seem to like being waved around like a ragdoll .

“You’re a genius,” Zach said once more as he put Abel back to the ground .

“Shame . Shame,” the Knight of Bennett watched with a complex look on his face . He was happy, but kind of sad at the same time .  If Abel was his oldest son, he would probably make more income than Zach would as a knight . That being said, Zach’s training was already in progress . The Bennett Family did not have any money to spare .

Abel got his Horadric Cube yesterday . He couldn’t use the Scroll of Town Portal in it, but it was always nice to possess an item this valuable .  In fact, after he woke up this morning, all he was thinking about was the formula he used to craft the cube . Even though there weren’t a lot of formulas that he could use now, he might find something useful in town .

“Father, I want to go to Fort Lee today,” Abel requested .  As usual, he was very direct to make this request . He wasn’t used to talking this way before, but knights were supposed to be assertive in their speech .

The Knight of Bennett nodded, “Sure . You just became a knight last night . It’s better if you take a day off from your training today . ”

“I’ll help you get a horse,” Zach said, then ran off to the stable . He got an inferior horse for Abel . After helping Abel to get on it, he even snuck a gold coin inside his pocket .

The Knight of Bennett saw it, of course, but he didn’t point it out . He was very happy to see it, though . After all, a brotherly bond was a rare thing to find from those of noble birth .

Every horse that was not a warhorse was considered to be what was called an ‘inferior horse . ’ A warhorse would be fed wheat and beans, quality feeds which would’ve cost at least 10 gold coins every month . Without receiving this kind of treatment, a warhorse would quickly lose its speed and become a regular inferior horse .

The horse Abel was riding was an inferior horse . It was a two-year-old pony, but it was born from a warhorse that belonged to the Bennett family . If the Bennett family could afford to give it the proper nutrition, there wouldn’t be a problem to raise it as a warhorse .

While Abel was riding on his inferior pony, he had his bodyguard, Norman, following him at his back . Norman was wearing a full set of leather armor . He was carrying a long sword on his back, but he didn’t have a horse with him . Since the horse his master was riding was a pony, he had no problem following it with just his two legs .

Norman was a retired soldier who became back from war with the Knight of Bennett . As an underling to the Knight of Bennet, he lived with the rest of the family in the Bennett Castle . In a way, it was the way of a servant showing his gratitude and loyalty to his lord .

Norman was a very skilled swordsman . He became a rank six warrior after being trained directly under the Knight of Bennett . He didn’t possess any kind of special techniques, but his swordsmanship alone was enough to make him a trustworthy bodyguard of Abel .

“Hold on for a second, Young Master,” Norman drew a sword from his back and scanned the trees on the side of the road . It would take about half an hour to go from here to Bennett Castle . It was also half an hour away from Fort Lee . If something was to happen to Abel, it was virtually impossible to call for back-ups .

“What did you find?” Abel pulled the rein on his pony, then drew his new dagger from his waist pocket .

While Abel was a lot taller than Norman on a horse, he couldn’t see anything that was in the trees . What he could hear, though, was a loud growling from over the distance .

That’s when the shadow appeared . Abel could see it now . It was a shadow panther, and it was leaping straight for the pony’s neck . The pony wasn’t afraid in the least, however . As the offspring of a mare that survived the war, it was more than ready to take on a defensive stance .

Snap . Within less than a second, it quickly jumped back and dodged the deadly bite of the shadow panther . The panther missed and was immediately punished by Norman and his long sword .

Usually, a shadow panther wouldn’t appear during the daytime . It liked being in the dark, and it liked ambushing its prey while hiding at the side of the road . An encounter like this was rather unusual, in a way . This panther must’ve been starving to go so far away out of the forest .

Norman already had his sword ready . The shadow panther, though, was by no means an ordinary feline . As ineffective as its bites were against Norman’s blade, it still managed to dodge every single one of his attacks .

Abel jumped down from his horse to join the fight . The shadow panther didn’t attend to him . Judging from past experience, the larger human was the only thing that was stopping it from getting a full meal .

The shadow panther was right . Well, partly, at least . Abel didn’t make a direct approach . Instead, he just circled around in the distance for an opportunity to strike . He didn’t want to be a nuisance to Norman . It wasn’t like he could do much harm if he just charged forward, either .

It took a while for Norman to make his first contact . He was aiming for the shadow panther’s neck, but it was fast enough to make the blade hit its back, instead .  Worse yet, the sly beast exploited this chance for a counterattack . While Norman was off guard, it used its tail for a surprise whip attack at one of his legs .

Norman was suddenly at a disadvantage . Pain started showing on his face, and his feet were moving slower as he tried to re-adjust his position .  While watching from the side, Abel knew he couldn’t wait any longer .

Abel quickly drew a long, deep breath . He wanted to concentrate all his qi into one powerful attack . If he could release it towards the shadow panther, this should be over in an instance .

He had to be very careful, though . The technique he was using was meant for novice knights to train themselves to exhaustion . If he was to miss and make another attempt, he would probably end up destroying his meridian to the point of no recovery .

In a blink of an eye, the shadow panther leaped towards Norman for a finishing strike . Since there was a momentary pause as it stayed in mid-air, Abel took the chance and took his bet . He ran towards the panther from its back, his dagger pointing forward in his hands .

A painful growl from the shadow panther . It was aware of Abel’s presence the entire time, but the injury Norman inflicted still had an effect in delaying its movements .  It was a close call, essentially . If Abel didn’t step in, the outcome would be very different now .

Having dug his dagger inside the shadow panther, Abel quickly let go of his grip and took a few steps back . The panther, on the other hand, started violently jerking its body as it laid on the ground .  It didn’t have the energy to keep up the fight, but the bloodlust would just never leave its conscience .

It took a while for the shadow panther to die . The more that it growled at Abel and Norman, the weaker its voice slowly started to become . Once it stopped making any noise, that’s also when it stopped moving at all .

Abel wanted to make sure that the panther was dead, but Norman pulled him back when he took a step forward . “Be careful,” he said, as he threw the sheath of his sword towards the shadow panther .

Just when Abel thought that the shadow panther was dead, it suddenly clashed away the sheath with its claws . Even on the brink of death, its reflexes were still much faster than the vast majority of humans .

Now that the shadow panther was certainly dead, Norman still wouldn’t let Abel go check on it . Instead, he went ahead to pick up the sheath that he threw .

“Young Master,” he pointed towards the claw marking on his sheath as he picked it up, “As you can see, most beasts prefer killing their prey instantly . ”

Norman picked up the shadow panther’s corpse on the ground . Then, with a smile on his face, he removed the dagger from its backside and returned it back to Abel .

“How would you like to deal with this, sir?” Norman inquired, “This is your prize, after all . ”

“Let’s carry it and sell it in town,” Abel ordered as he looked towards the injury on Norman’s leg,

“Take the horse from here on . Take the panther with you as well . ”

Despite his role as a humble servant, Norman didn’t hesitate to take his young master’s horse . He would give his life away if it was for the Bennett family, but none of that was contradictory to what he was doing here . Right now, he was an injured man . The most he could do for Abel was to not be a liability . Since there was only one horse available, the fastest way to travel was to have him stop walking on his two legs .