ARCHDEUS

VOGUE(4)

The 22nd Anniversary of the Fertiphile Alliance is an annual celebration held in the County of Fertiphile. This alliance was led by the Count of Fertiphile and consisted of several low-level nobles.

At the House of Fertiphile in the morning, a collection of luxury cars has been parked neatly in the field. All the peerage nobles have come one by one. The lords along with the ladies entered the mansion with radiant faces.

In addition to nobles there were several invited guests such as merchants, temple members, scholars, and military figures.

Guests were greeted by the count and countess. As for Clara, she was only a concubine so she could not stand side by side with Harol. So even with a slight feeling of envy in her heart when she saw Harol and Liana standing side by side, she still smiled. At least his son remained by his side.

Clara turned her face to look at Alex.

"...."

Wasn't he just standing here?

Clara is confused as to why her very tall son is missing from sight. A second ago, they stood together.

"Dad, this is sweet! Dad, try!"

Clara saw the figure of a little girl in a pink dress was cool biting a candy made from apple pieces smeared with honey then stabbed using a stick so that it can be eaten like candy stalk.

Honey was a rare commodity in this kingdom. Most honey is imported from countries in Central Laurentia such as the Artemice Empire.

The hand of the little girl who was not holding the stalk of apple candy tightly grasped the hand of a young man who was white and tall. The little girl was very protective and did not want to part with her father.

Clara could only smile wryly. Thinking her son now has a family of his own and her husband is busy making out with his second wife, now is it better for him to apply to a nursing home?

***

Hunting activities are carried out during the day, precisely after the morning meeting has been completed.

The Hunt Area was a forest located not far from the mansion. The House of Fertiphile residence is not in the middle of the city but is quite close to the forest area. The reason is simple, the land in the forest is still spacious and fertile so it is convenient to build a large and cool mansion.

In the hunt, Alex participates. It was exactly he was forced to come along. The object of the hunt can be anything but it has been informed that the most valuable this time is a magic beast called Red Urours.

From the House of Fertiphile, Harol and his three sons will participate. They will hunt by leading their respective teams. Other than them, the other nobles also participated. Most of them hunted with their soldiers or knights rather than flocking with fellow nobles. That was because for them, hunting activities were an event to show off their combat abilities. Especially here are many female guests who attended the previous meeting.

Before Alex leaves, he will say goodbye to Clara and Merry. In addition to the two women, Lacey and Ryana also exist.

"Dad ...."

Alex receives a green handkerchief with a floral motif that has been knitted by Merry.

Based on the information that Merry can, it turns out there is a habit when the husband or parents go to war or hunt, the girls or wives will give a handkerchief that is knitted as a safety talisman. That's why, Merry wanted to make it but unfortunately, he didn't know sewing. Fortunately in this event Ryana and Lacey were present so they helped him.

"It's pretty, did Merry make it?"

Merry shook his head.

"Merry with Ryana and Lacey's sister."

Lacey had a small cough.

Why did you tell little sister?!

Lacey is embarrassed. If someone tells you that he is knitting a handkerchief with a child to give to a hot daddy like Alex, people can misunderstand.

But it turns out Lacey's shame isn't as great as Ryana's. Ryan's face is now colored like a tomato. He came to a strange conclusion from Merry's words.

Because I helped make it doesn't that mean the handkerchief could be a gift of love? kyaa! >///<

It's hard to believe a woman as graceful as Ryana could be so nervous about facing Alex. This nervousness was very visible in the eyes of Lacey and Clara. Maybe Clara felt it didn't matter because she thought Ryana was a good woman. Unfortunately Lacey was worried. Although Ryana said she had no strange thoughts about Alex, even when she was closer to Alex, her dirty thoughts rarely appeared. But still he was worried.

Alex puts a handkerchief in his pants pocket. He had now worn a light armor that covered his chest so the only place where he kept things was a pants pocket or a small bag on his waist.

"Dad be careful."

Alex nodded. Then he stroked Merry's hair and kissed her little girl's forehead.

"Mom, I'm leaving."

Alex then says goodbye to Clara.

Clara who felt touched to see her son was now fully grown immediately gave a hug.

Even his height was already far above me. She was a grown up, Clara thought.

"Be careful my son."

After separating from Clara's arms, Ryan now impulsively walks in front of Alex.

"Mr Alex, please be careful. I pray to the gods that you stay safe."

"Sure, thank you Miss Ryana."

Since their trip to the capital, the relationship between Ryana and Alex has grown closer. Even now they have greeted by calling each other's first name.

Uh, wait, isn't this like praying for a husband to be safe on the battlefield?

Who would have thought Ryan could have such thoughts.

Well, this was indeed not a trip to the battlefield, but for those women, Alex's departure would give a worry in their hearts all.

***

Alex leads a group of 3 knights, 1 marksman, and a slave (Rain). Other than Rain, these four people were county soldiers given by Harol to Alex during the hunt. As for Alex, he carried a magic bow and magic sword. Although he does not have a class as a marksman, but he can still shoot without the need for special skills.

The forest they used as a hunting ground was called the Forest of Le Chant.  Because this forest is a monsoon forest, the distance between trees is far enough to allow hunting by horse.

Alex had no intention of hunting the Red Urours so he wanted to hunt around the outskirts instead of in the deep woods. Unfortunately, his group did not have similar thoughts. Everyone looks optimistic and excited especially Rain and an archer who has a class marksman named Rockie .

Rockie used the arrow as his main weapon. In addition, as the only ranger in this compok, he also plays a navigator.

"Master, in the next 200 meters there is a magic beast. Judging from his footprints, this is a herbivore" Rockie said.

"Wow!!"

The knights were very excited.

"Do you want to hunt him down?" ask Alex.

"Yes, Master!"

"Hah .. well, let's hunt."

Alex resigned, at least he did not hunt the famous Red Urours aggressive.

The group moved back. The horses they rode walked quietly.

In less than half an hour, they finally found the target. It was a magic beast named Rangifer Snowalker that resembled a 1.5 meter deer but its horns were known to be created from eternal ice that would not melt in the hot sun. Moreover, the body of this magic beast was white like snow. Rangifer Snowalker is categorized as a middle-class magic beast and is famous for its breath that can freeze anything at a distance of less than 10 meters. But this magic beast is often hunted for its beautiful horns.

At a distance of less than 100 meters, the three knights separated from the group. They go to the designated points. The goal is to block the escape route.

Alex's eyes were also sharp enough that he could tell where the magic beast was after it was told.

He pulled his bow, pointed an arrow at the target and then shot it. Actually, many people in Alex's group except Rain doubted Alex's ability. They knew their master was not a marksman, besides, he was still new to martial arts practice. The knights advised me to do close-quarter hunting such as using swords rather than arrows.

Alex refused it. He obviously did not want to sweat just to chase the game animals. Not to mention the risk of him falling or hitting trees. That must be very uncomfortable. Alex has suffered enough with all the problems that exist, such as mosquito bites. But not all in this forest is bad, at least with lush trees so that the sun is not too stinging and also the air is quite fresh.

So after the arrows were shot, it was quite surprising that the arrows were indeed pointing right at the target, unfortunately their hunt was a magic beast not a normal animal.

The Snowalker Rangifer knew of the danger, it quickly covered its entire body with the ice armor it had suddenly created. The ice covered his body up to his neck. This was a special skill belonging to the Rangifer Snowalker species known as the [White Cloack of Tarandus] (Species Magic). Even this skill can stem tier 3 magic, [Fireball].

The arrow instantly fell to the ground after striking the ice armor. There was not even a trace of damage in the armor showing how powerful the ice was.

But it wasn't a real shot. From a similar line of fire, this time an arrow containing a green-colored aura shot out and charged towards the Snowalker Rangifer.

Booms!!

The armor instantly suffered a rift.

"Damn!"

Rockie was dissatisfied with his attack.

"Groan!" yell Alex.

The three knights realized Rockie's shot failed to drop the quarry. They instantly came out of hiding and went to attack using their sword skills.

Rangifer Snowalker is not a cowardly animal. Especially if it is a stud, it will attack its opponent.

Rangifer Snowalker uses his ultimate skill named [Rangifer Breath](Species Magic). Its power was equivalent to level 4 magic, [Ice Field] but with the smaller AoE only 10 meters, in contrast to the [Ice Field] which was even capable of freezing objects up to 13 meters. But the advantage of this skill is continuous which means it will be active for up to 5 minutes in the future if he continues to exhale his frozen breath without pause. Unfortunately again, this skill will still work even if Rangifer Snowalker runs so that along the road he goes through will be filled with ice sheets. That was the reason why he was named as a snowalker.