Valerian, The Legendary

308 Mercy, Hunter.

Valerian carried the girl on his shoulders and moved through the woods. The speed was quick, and movements were silent. After a few minutes, Valerie giggled and said, “You run like a cat.”

Valerian was surprised and asked, ‘Oh, how is that?’

“Because cats are fast, silent, and always land on their feet. I want to do that too.”, replied the child.

The young man stopped and asked, ‘Do you want to do it?’

Valerie nodded, and Valerian said, ‘Come down from my shoulders, and we will teach you.’

Valerie agreed and jumped down from his shoulders. They stood on the ground, and the little girl looked around her. Then, she asked, “Big brother, what now?”

Valerian smiled at her and said, ‘Chase after me.’

Then, he ran away, and Valerie quickly chased after me. The young man was quick but kept his pace in check so the girl could follow through with him. However, he was not holding back in increasing his speed when the girl was almost about to catch up with him.

Valerie ran for two hours, and then her speed began to slow down. The young man with silver hair noticed this and stopped. He said, ‘Let’s rest. You are tired. Take rest.’

.....

Valerie seemed to have heard the goddess sing. She sat on her butt and said, “I thought you would never tell me to stop. You are mean.”

Valerian smiled and picked her up in his arms. The child was confused and asked, “You do not need to rest?”

The young man nodded and kept walking ahead.

...

While the two people were moving through the woods, Solaria stood in the altar hall beside an old man. This old gent was dressed in a similar white and red habit as the two young children were.

The old man sighed and asked, “Was it not too early for you to send him out, Your Grace?”

Solaria replied calmly while gazing at the mural, “The child is ready. He was ready the day he stepped inside the temple and passed through the judgment of Vita. So you do not need to worry, Knight Desmond.”

Knight Desmond was the highest-ranking knight in the Knights of Mercy troops posted in the region.

The old man replied, “You know I am not talking about that trial, Your Grace. I am talking about the killer in his heart. I have asked about him in the western continent. The most fearsome people of that land gave him a name, White Death, for a reason. Are you sure sending him out is good?”

Solaria took a deep breath and said, “Everyone who has ever lived outside the temple’s walls had to fight to survive. Some kill for greed, and some kill for lust. Some people even kill because they find it exciting. Sir Desmond, this boy is not like those people. I will not deny that he has killed people for his good. However, so have you.”

Desmond asked calmly, “What makes him different, then?”

Solaria sighed and said, “This child received warmth from someone, and he lost her. He had a family but left them to find answers. He does not think that love is a foreign concept to him. He did not know how to channel that. Valerie will help him channel that warmth deep inside and change him for the better.”

Desmond sighed and asked, “Your Grace, I do not wish to overstep my bond, but why him?”

Solaria smiled, “Truth be told, half the reason I selected him was his blessings. You do not find someone this young and talented everywhere these days.”

Desmond nodded and bowed to the lady and the mural before he left the room.

...

Valerian came to the depth of the forest and suddenly stopped. Valerie also became alert and opened her eyes. She spoke in a hushed tone, “Something is here.”

Valerian nodded and made a shushing noise. The girl fell silent. Valerian did not rush to cast a magic spell. He wanted to see what this thing was. Suddenly, he heard a clicking noise behind him and jumped to the side.

His reaction was quick and allowed him to avoid a lethal attack. While rolling back to his feet, Valerian cast a spell, ‘Terra Liga.’

The beast that attacked him landed on the ground, but the spell instantly immobilized his feet. Finally, Valerian asked, ‘Valerie, are you okay?’

The girl nodded while her eyes were locked on the struggling beast. She said, “What is this?”

Valerian placed her on the ground and said, ‘Shadow Hound. A wolf-type magic beast, but it is closer to a dog. If there is one, there must be more. Stay close to me.’

Valerie nodded and stood close to the young man. She knew that the situation was not easy to deal with, and she was weak. However, she has learned much about magical beasts over the days and understood that they were challenging.

The young man suddenly thought of something and cast multiple illumination spells. The shadow hounds were beasts that used the shadow element to their advantage. So, he pitted light against dark. And just as he thought, the surroundings lit up, and a dozen hounds appeared in his sight.

The beasts looked smaller than the wolves and had no fur on their skins. Instead, they had dark beady eyes and mouths filled with annoying saw teeth. Valerian could not help but complain about his fate for running into these things on the first night.

The hounds were enraged by this human using light spells to attack him, so they decided to attack him immediately. However, Valerian was not slow either. He cast several binding spells to contain the beasts, then moved around to knock them all out. Then he heaved a sigh of relief and said, ‘Finally done.’

He was not slow either. The young man sat on the ground when he heard a few claps in the background. He saw Valerie smiling and clapping as she hopped to his side and said, “You are so good. I want to do this too.”

Valerian smiled and said, ‘You will, but we have work to do before that.’

Valerie nodded and then, looking around, asked, “Are we going to eat or sell them?”

Valerian shook his head and said, ‘Neither. We will be leaving them alive. One should not kill until it is necessary.’

The girl nodded and sat down beside him for a few minutes. Then, Valerian snapped his fingers, and the blobs of light vanished. They waited till the night passed before Valerian carried the young girl in his arms and rushed through the woods again. On the way, he collected a lot of fruits and herbs that were edible.

He carried the little girl in his arms because she was sleeping, and he did not wish to disturb her. Last night the running must have exhausted her. A few hours later, his smooth movements ended, and he stopped with a jerk. When she sensed this, Valerie woke up and asked, “What is going on?”

Valerian said, “We have settled with humans. It is close by.”

Valerie was surprised and said, “There was no settlement a few days ago when we passed through here.”

The young man raised his eyebrow and said, ‘I see. Don’t worry. We will be fine.’

Before his eyes, across the few meters of the woods, there was a cottage in the clearing. They approached the cabin slowly, but just as they were about to leave the woods, the cottage door opened, and an old lady walked out in a gown. She was holding a basket in her hands.

Valerie and Valerian observed from the side for a moment before they found the lady harmless. Valerian told the girl to walk out later, while he would go first to deal with any danger if that were the case.

The old lady did not seem to be paying attention to her surroundings. However, Valerian made a coughing sound when he walked out of the thicket. This startled the lady, and she jumped. When she spotted Valerian, she was shocked and heaved a sigh of relief as she said, “You surprised me to death, young monk.”

Valerian smiled benevolently and bowed slightly as he thought about what made him look like a monk. But, at this moment, he was surprised. The red robe had unnoticing turned into a blue one. The young man raised his head and made a few signs.

Then he stopped and was about to turn around and call Valerie when the little head poked out of the woods. The lady was surprised, but Valerian beckoned the girl to come over while shaking his head.

Valerie quickly greeted the old lady, “Greetings elder, this is my big brother. We apologize, but he cannot speak.”

The old lady smiled, patted Valerie’s head, and said, “Aren’t you a sweet one? Tell me, what do you need?”

Valerie was confused and asked, “How do you know we need something?”

The old lady smiled and shook her head. Valerian made a few signs and Valerie asked, “Can we use your house for a small stop on our way?”

The lady nodded, “Yes, please.”

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