...Outside Cliove City...
A big carriage was going out of Clive City. There were a few Knights in greenish armours on the horses circling the carriage, protecting it. Soon they entered a forest. In most cases, if you want to go from one city to another, you would have to either cross forests and rivers or Mountains because there was very little civilised land, unlike earth.
Esther and Lilly were sitting inside the carriage. Both were quiet. Lilly was anxious to go and see Max, while Esther's personality was like that. She would only speak if it was something important or she wanted to. However, she knew that this little girl wasn't in the mood to converse with her. Therefore she also stayed quiet with her eyes closed.
This forest wasn't much dangerous because most of the beasts above two-star were killed. After all, many people had to travel through this forest daily to visit Cliove City and go from it to somewhere else, and if they wanted City to prosper, this danger had to be resolved.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
But just as they were halfway through the forest, their carriage suddenly stopped, and the sound of something falling was heard. Esther opened her eyes, a cold glint flash across her eyes. "These bandits are becoming very bold to even rob in daylight."
Lilly also came out of her reverie and asked worriedly, "Mother, is something wrong? Why did we stop?" She knew there was some problem; otherwise, they wouldn't have stopped so suddenly. She had a bad feeling about it. When she was treated as an enslaved person, she had seen all kinds of people and knew that in forests like these, some people group up and rob travellers.
Esther suddenly smiled, seeing Lilly's worried expression and said, "It's nothing. You just wait here." Then she paused and smiled mysteriously and said, "When I call you, come out." She stepped out of the carriage without waiting for her to react.
Lilly was confused by her words. Why did she tell her to wait if there was some problem? Wouldn't she be of help? After all, she was a one-star mage.
Although Lilly didn't quite understand what Esther meant, she obeyed her and didn't go out. She out one ear by the window and tried to hear what was happening outside.
Clank!
Thud!
Swishhh~
Suddenly, Some sounds were heard, but in the next instant, everything went silent. Just as she was wondering what happened, Esther's voice sounded.
"Lilly, You can come out now."
Lilly got out of the carriage and wanted to ask what was all that about when she stared in front of her, surprised.
There were more than twenty people who were frozen and turned into statues, and only one was still unharmed, but he was looking at Esther as if he had seen a ghost.
...
A woman who looked around 40 years old was wandering in the streets of Cliove City. She wore a pure white dress and had white hair. Although she wasn't young and was only average looking, she gave off an oppressive feeling. Her brows were raised as if she was thinking about something. After walking around for a long time, she shook her head and disappeared.
A middle-aged man who was sitting in a restaurant was looking at this woman when she suddenly vanished in thin air. "What? How can someone disappear just like that?" He suddenly exclaimed, startling nearby people?
"What is it, old man? Why are you freaking out? Did you see a ghost?" A youth in his twenties asked. Everyone started laughing.
The middle-aged man apologised and wondered, 'Was she a King ranked mage? Why did it feel like I had seen her somewhere?'
The white-haired woman appeared outside of Cliove city and flew above the forest. She happened to notice Ice magic being used and flew down on a tree and saw Esther freezing all of the bandits except one and murmured herself, "She is not bad at using Ice magic, and her Ice element concentration is also above average. Sigh! she has passed the age threshold, or she would have been a suitable disciple."
She lost interest and was about to fly away when Esther called out to Lilly. As soon as Lilly stepped out, the White-haired woman froze in her place. She slowly turned around, and her eyes glittered as she looked at Lilly. She exclaimed, "100 percent element concentration!"
There was naked excitement on her face. She quickly calmed down and watched the happenings on the ground, but her eyes didn't move away from Lilly.
...
Lilly stated dumbly at the scene. Esther walked to her, patted her shoulder and said, "You want to accompany Max, right? If yes, then you'll have to kill sooner or later. Now that you are a one-star mage let me train you on this aspect. I know you are a very kindhearted girl, but this world is cruel to kind people. Go, Fight and kill him." She sighed and pointed at the remaining man, who wasn't frozen. She had left him on purpose to let Lilly experience her first killing.
Lilly wanted to shake her head as she didn't want to kill someone, especially if it was a living human being, but when she mentioned Max, she clenched her fist and breathed deeply. 'I've to do it if I want to accompany Max in future.' She told herself and walked toward the man.
Watching Lilly walking toward the man without her guard up, Esther shook her head but didn't say anything.
That man had heard what Esther said, and a cruel glint flashed across his eyes. He was also a one-star mage and wasn't some insect you can kill whenever you wanted.
'Do you think a girl like her can kill me? Hehe, I know I'm not going to survive past today, but before that, you'll have to pay for treating me like this with your princess's life.' He sneered inwardly and stood up. He had a dagger in his hand.
