Birth of the Legendary Battle Mage

King Bael

“Won’t you even care to stand in front of me and pass a friendly greeting first?” Julius said with a calm and nonthreatening voice and a face that had gone completely emotionless, betraying the smile he had earlier as though it was never there. The girl standing atop the statue stood silent, not responding to his question.

“Am I talking to myself? Or do you think yourself superior to me,” Julius said while shifting his eyeballs to look at her as he had refused to lift his head. As he finished his sentence, he released an aura that made even the most gluttonous of the eaters present to stop chewing as he forgot the grip on his piece of meat.

The girl who had come to deliver the king’s message flinched a bit before disappearing and appearing in front of Julius while taking a defensive stance, while positioning her masked face upwards to the direction of his face as though looking him in the eye, as she tried to hide her trembling body.

“Oh. So your lips are still too heavy now. Aren’t they?” As Julius spoke this time, his voice had gotten deeper, hinting a tone of disappointment rather than anger. Although his face was still emotionless, the surrounding aura had slightly intensified, and although unknowingly a stream of killing intent could be felt for just a split second before disappearing. Though it wasn’t directed towards anybody present in the hall, including the girl, it still caused quite a scare because of how intense it was.

This surprised everyone in his group, what could make their captain so angry that he would release such killing intent. They feared it was directed at the girl, as their captain was well known for being ruthless, not only on the battlefields but any and everywhere. The story of Julius burning a rich man’s wife who maltreated a slave to ashes was well known and is one of the reason the commoners liked him as they saw it as protecting the weak.

What actually happened that day was that a woman who was the wife of one of the richest man in Esnoch surnamed Barliye, hit and cursed at her slave for dropping her freshly bought fruit on their way home. The little 8-year-old slave had tripped because she couldn’t see the road ahead of her as the big bag of fruits obstructed her view. Although this act disgusted Julius who at the time hadn’t become a captain, he didn’t do anything about it. Having slave was normal here, so it wasn’t as if he saw it as bad, but that the woman would hit a child for such a reason when it wasn’t even her fault, was what disgusted him.

But the woman made a mistake of spitting at Julius’s face, although not intended. This grew his disgust and before she could explain or even alter a word, he burned her. The burn was so much that when the fire extinguished, there was nothing left of her to bury, not even ashes, as he used wind magic to blow away her remains. The guards of the Barliye house around the carriage didn’t dare move against him. Although they knew how ruthless the fabled Julius was, never did they expect he would do what he did, all for a slave.

In reality, He only did what he did because she spit on his face, even though he knew it was a mistake. She was just unlucky to have crossed him while he was in a disgusted mood, which she caused by the way.

With that, he felt he had to take the little slave girl, as she would suffer even more in the hands of her masters if she returned. That slave was later granted the name Ashia by Julius. From that day onward he acted like a big brother to her instead of a master, even though she mostly related with him like a teacher or something close, just more formally unlike you would your own brother.

Seeing as Ashia was there the day it happened, she knew what really went down that day on the lonely street that had just them and Julius there, which meant nobody else saw what happened they just heard it from the guards who portrayed it in a way that made Julius look like a hero, obviously after being coached by Julius using his unique teaching methods.

She could grow to her current strength thanks to her talent for magic, but mostly because she had a good mentor and big brother, though the brother she loved so much had been pushed away by her after hearing so many bad and scandalous things about him through no other but the king. Julius knew that there was something wrong, but what he didn’t know was who. Who was poisoning Aisha’s mind, spoiling the only one he had as family.

...

*sigh*

Julius patted her head slightly for a second before walking away, which, to the surprise of the others, she didn’t react defensively or something similar, even as the stance she had taken earlier was still unbroken. Instead, her body gave off a feeling of sadness, anger, frustration, resentment all mixed up, much like a confused state of mind.

As everyone watched in silence, the masked girl disappeared into nothingness as their captain took several steps away from her.

...

“I have come in response to your summons, King Bael,” Julius said while walking almost slowly towards the king, who was seated on his throne surrounded by a big throne room.

“Ahh, my most capable captain, you have arrived. Come on; let us go to the dining room.”

Julius and the King conversed while eating, though the King had to eat alone as Julius just came from a feast and filled every space in his stomach. Even as the King had always acted in a friendly manner towards Julius, a special treatment only he got, excluding the King’s family. Julius never fully trusted the King, just as he doesn’t every other person. He would prepare anti-poisoning spells or potions, amongst other things, anytime he came to visit.

After dinner, though late, Julius and the king went outside over the walls of the kingdom to check out a site the King had gotten complaints about something suspicious happening.

“Shouldn’t you have just sent a scouting party to take care of this?”

“Come on Julius, I barely leave the palace at all. At least this once let me come out and see the beauty that lies outside.”

“I doubt you’ll be seeing any such beauty tonight King.” The king laughed to this while patting Julius in the back, more like hitting. Since they were on a flying artefact, the King’s patting almost threw him over.

“I think you should never pat your son, K...” Julius said. But before he could complete his sentence, he was interrupted by a sudden stroke of pain in his abdomen. Falling to his knees with he’s hands over his stomach, he felt something. He could no longer use magic.