Gale stood above the corpse of the wolf he just killed and waited for the final phase of his battle against the wolves. The last wolf imdiately started running when it heard the howl of the forr, and it ran to the other side of the tree where the human was supposed to be, only to find the place empty.
It ran around the tree and found Gale and the wolf on the other side. To its dismay, the wolf was dead and Gale was alive, without any new injuries. It decided to take its chance against Gale, the human was stronger than him, but he was also heavily wounded and exhausted.
The wolf carefully walked around Gale in circles, trying to find an opening. It saw the 2 steps tactic Gale deployed against the first wolf and decided to be more careful.
"Hmph, you're trying to let bleed to death, aren't you?" he snorted at the wolf.
he knew he couldn't survive a long fight given his injuries. Gale charged two fireballs as always and jumped in the wolf's direction, risking it all. The wolf watched Gale jumping and it took a step backward, trying to keep its distance away. It saw Gale's mouth open and it imdiately dodged to the right, away from Gale's right arm.
The human was predictable, although it thought the human would use first his arm and then the mouth, the order didn't really matter too much. Those thoughts still lingered in the wolf's mind when Gale raised his wounded, broken left arm with a pained groan and aid it at the wolf.
"Ahhh"
He clenched his teeth to resist the pain from his battered body and shot the fireball out. The fireball shot straight to the wolf's brain, leaving a hole in its skull. Gale and the wolf both collapsed, the forr from exhaustion and wounds while the latter from death. Gale fought for breath as he lied on the ground and hoped to be found by Lena before getting eaten by another wolf.
"Who's there?"
He heard the voice of a young man followed by steps approaching in his direction. Gale couldn't shout, so he waited patiently for them to get closer. The steps turned hesitant as they got nearer, the people undoubtedly chose to be careful and not to rush into an unknown situation. A few seconds later, a group of 5 people ca behind a big tree and saw Gale lying on the ground.
"He is severely wounded, let's check his identity."
A man from the back said. Unmistakably, he was the leader of the group. They let go of the spells they prepared in case of an attack and got close to check on Gale.
"Who are you?"
"Gale… Stormborn."
Gale let out a grunt in his pain. He made sure to say his last ti loud and clear, which would reveal his identity.
"Are you from Earl Stormborn's family?"
"I am his youngest son."
"Wait, I heard this na before. Gale Stormborn is the favorite brother of Lena Stormborn, he is the sickly one."
A young woman in the group suddenly said. She was standing next to the young man who gave orders earlier and they seed quite close. Hearing her words, the young man raised a surprised eyebrow.
"Are you sure? Although he is wounded, it's still obvious that this guy looks better than . There is nothing sickly about him."
"Maybe he is faking his identity to make us save him?"
"I don't. I've been healed by my sister a while ago. She should… be here in a few minutes. She's… fighting with a fourth stage alpha wolf."
He had difficulties speaking injured, yet he had no choice but to explain his situation. He didn't know who those people were, but they weren't dressed like commoners and didn't act like ones.
"Okay, even if he lies it wouldn't be a problem, we could just deal with it later. This might be a chance fate has gifted to you to leave a good impression on Miss Lena."
The young woman quickly persuaded her brother to help. She was quite interested in the handso man laying on the ground, but she had other goals by coming there that didn't intertwine well with making a move on Gale.
The young man nodded in agreent and quickly ordered his n to take care of Gale. Their followers consisted of 2 n and a woman, and it seed that the n were serving the young man and the woman was serving the young lady.
"He has a stone inside his stomach. Claire, you have earth affinity, help us take it out."
One of the two n asked the middle-aged woman for help. The woman nodded and ca closer to Gale. She looked at the stone and concentrated. Suddenly, the stone turned into dust which flew out of Gale's body. Gale couldn't perceive her stage, and he assud she was in the third or fourth stage.
"It's out, you can do the rest."
The n quickly fed Gale a potion and his wounds quickly started healing. Evidently, the potion was of high quality and rank, as it could improve even the deeper cuts and the hole in his stomach at a rapid rate.
"You can rest, we will stay here to guard you. Jamie, you go and find out if Miss Lena is all right. Gale, please point in the direction you have last seen Miss Lena."
The young man quickly made his arrangents. Gale started suspecting those people's motives; they clearly were interested in eting Lena. Even the way the young lady referred to him as "Lena's favorite brother" ant they did their research on Lena.
"Who are you?"
Gale decided to ask as they didn't seem to have any ill intentions toward him.
"Oh, I apologize for our lack of manners. We are from the Mynne family."
Gale's eyes opened widely; it was the royal family! The Miyena Kingdom was nad after them. He quickly thought about what the royal family might be doing in their Earldom and connected the dots; the only option was a marriage proposal!
Gale kept thinking and realized it made sense when they talked about leaving a good impression on Lena by saving him. The royal family didn't oppress talented people to remain at the top; they preferred recruiting them to their side, mostly by marriage.
"I see you recognize the na. I'm Prince Florian, the fourth son of His Majesty. She is my little sister, Raya. She is the fifth daughter."
Gale couldn't bow in his situation, so he decided to nod.
"Thank you for your aid, Your Royal Highness."
"We are in the woods, there's no need to be so formal. You can address us as Prince Florian and Princess Raya, or simply as prince and princess as none of our other siblings are present."
Gale felt they were too friendly but just attributed it to their wish to form a good relationship with Lena.
"We heard you were unable to beco a magician, yet I can feel you are in the second stage now. Did Miss Lena really heal you only lately?"
The prince was quite sharp, and he realized sothing didn't sound right. It normally took 5 years for the average noble to get to the Advanced Magician stage once they stepped into the Magician Phase, yet Gale couldn't be healed a long ti ago or their research on Lena would discover this developnt.
"Indeed, there was a weird phenonon when I was healed, and I was promoted directly to the second stage. We didn't understand how it happened either."
"What about your affinities?"
"I only have an affinity with fire."
Gale took out his trump card, and it worked like magic. The prince who was initially interested in the way to improve quickly lost his interest instantly. In his eyes, Gale couldn't be promoted to the Mage Phase with a single elent, so it was all aningless.
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