CHAPTER 33: AUGUS’ RETURN

When Richard returned to the village, he found more commotion caused by the panic of the villagers, with Lisa trying her best to calm them down.

Many of them actually refused to evacuate, as it would not be easy for them.

The reason was that they were not as wealthy as Mr. Joe. Most of them had no savings and lived by relying on the natural resources of the village.

If they were forced to evacuate, they feared they would have nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep.

Fortunately, once they were informed that the Sky Armor Legion would be sending their knights, the villagers finally began to calm down.

Richard was too lazy to approach the villagers. Instead, he entered the orphanage, went to his room, locked the door, and sat down to absorb Aether.

Perhaps later, if a horde of beasts truly came, he would just roar at them.

Unlike Apple Town, the amount of Aether in this village was indeed lower, but not by a great margin.

With his current ability, Richard could still absorb one Aether in less than thirty minutes.

Now, he realized he could not completely rely on the System if he wanted to advance faster, since the amount of Aether he needed to gather was overwhelming.

By evening, he had managed to gather 17 Aether, plus 17 more from his Aether Bottle, making it 34 in total.

[Aether: 34/10,000 Tier 3] +34

[Aether Accumulation: 2034 Tier 3]

Richard smiled in satisfaction at the result, though he did not feel much stronger, since 34 compared to 2000 was barely a 1% increase.

’Time for a bath,’ he thought as he stood up.

His body felt dusty now. In this state, he would not be able to train comfortably later tonight.

"Mm..."

Just as he stood, he felt faint vibrations and the sound of many horses’ hooves.

He quickly went to the window and spotted a group of white horses, ridden by knights in gleaming white armor.

There were around twenty of them, led by Carlos—the same one who had come two years ago.

Richard had not expected them to arrive so quickly, barely half a day since Sister Lisa had sent the message.

Although they had not yet entered the village, Richard could see Sister Lisa and the villagers already there to welcome them.

What caught his eye, however, was Augus—he had grown taller, though still a child.

He was already wearing Sky Armor, mounted on his own horse.

And he wasn’t the only child among them.

There were two others—one boy and one red-haired girl.

Among the three, the girl seemed to hold the highest status, as she rode in the center while the others flanked her sides.

Her eyes shone with curiosity as she looked at the village, as if it were a whole new world to her.

She spoke with Augus, probably asking him about his past life here.

Though only two years had passed, Augus clearly had not forgotten his village, and his temperament had not changed much. Yet, he already bore the gaze of a child raised in the city.

More importantly, he looked sharper now.

Richard knew he could no longer trick Augus so easily in a fight, not like when they had both been ordinary boys.

After observing them for a while, Richard went to bathe, then dressed in fresh, comfortable clothes to await the night.

Unexpectedly, Augus actually entered the orphanage with the red-haired girl and the other boy.

"Look, Emma, this is where I used to live," Augus said enthusiastically.

Emma must have been the one curious to see Augus’s former home.

Her bright eyes scanned the orphanage, then moved toward Richard.

When they landed on him, her gaze lingered, trailing over him from head to toe, as he looked completely different from the other children.

Augus’s brows knitted slightly when he noticed Emma’s gaze fixed on Richard.

"Who is he, Augus?" Emma asked.

"Uh, he’s my friend, Richard..." Augus explained softly, but Richard’s sharp hearing picked up every word.

"Richard? Did he fail to control the Sky Armor?" Emma seemed too curious about him.

"Yes, he failed. I was the only one who succeeded back then..." Augus quickly answered.

Richard almost laughed. It was so obvious—Augus wanted to gain Emma’s attention and panicked the moment she showed interest in another boy.

On the other side, the other boy’s expression soured, clearly displeased at how much Augus spoke with the girl.

"Emma, let’s go somewhere else. There’s still much of the village to see," Augus said again.

When she learned Richard had failed to control the Sky Armor, the girl seemed to lose interest. She simply nodded at Augus.

As they left, Augus didn’t even spare Richard a glance.

’He’s no longer afraid of me, nor does he bow down to me,’ Richard thought with a chuckle.

Of course, he had no problem with that—as long as Augus did not become his enemy.

If he did, Richard would simply show him who the real boss was.

With the arrival of the knights, the village finally regained complete peace.

The Sky Knights began investigating the surrounding area.

Yet, they found no signs of beasts anywhere.

What was happening remained unclear.

After dinner, Richard once again secluded himself in his room, absorbing Aether.

From time to time, he tried practicing his two Codices and Arcane Art on his own, but they were still too difficult, so he gave up.

He absorbed Aether until midnight, gathering 19, plus 19 more from his Aether Bottle, making a total of 38.

[Aether: 72/10,000 Tier 3] +38

[Aether Accumulation: 2072 Tier 3]

His eyes could no longer stay open, and he soon fell asleep, awaiting the next day.

In the morning, Richard woke up a little late.

Tok! Tok! Tok!

He was roused by the knocking on his door.

"Who could it be?" he wondered, thinking it couldn’t be Sister Lisa, who usually just called his name.

Curious, he opened the door—only to be stunned.

Augus.

He was the one knocking, leaning casually against the doorway.

Naturally, Richard had thought he might run into him sooner or later, but not this quickly.

Was it because of Emma?

"Richard, can you help me?" he asked—surprising Richard even more.

He was actually asking for help.

But even while asking, the way he spoke to Richard was different now.

No longer like a subordinate to a superior.

"What do you want me to do?" Richard asked curiously, his eyes falling on the boy clad head to toe in armor.

Augus looked slightly taller, likely because of the high boots that were part of his Sky Armor.

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