Chapter 32: Becoming a Disciple

William thought for a moment, then nodded and said: "I know, my father is an adventurer, so I've been interested in that profession since childhood. I've seen many famous people's portraits in the guild, so I have an impression of you."

He bluffed, anyway the other had already noticed, so he couldn't deny knowing them.

David of course knew his son was making it up; as a child his son couldn't even be bothered to go to the Adventurers' Guild, and over the past year he'd been training every day, never going anywhere, so how could he have seen the other's portrait? He became more convinced that his son must have known the other before his rebirth, and grew curious about the other's identity.

But David hadn't expected that in his previous life, William had indeed seen the other's portrait only once.

"I see." Bahamut saw that William was still just a brat, and this explanation also made sense, so he didn't pursue it further.

Not long after, Geilan and the others, who had gotten news from the evacuated villagers, also rushed over from Mobius Town. Seeing goblins strewn everywhere and the corpses of four huge ogres, they were greatly startled, but upon seeing that David and William were both safe, their hearts finally settled.

"You had us worried sick, eh, who is this?" Geilan looked at Bahamut and asked.

David introduced: "This is a martial artist who passed by and rescued us."

David then briefly recounted the events to Geilan and the others. Upon hearing that the stranger had slain over two hundred goblins with a single strike, they all widened their eyes, especially Geilan, who revered strength, his face full of admiration as he extended his hand and smiled while introducing himself: "Geilan, silver-rank adventurer, pleased to meet you."

Bahamut, chewing on a grass stalk, glanced at Geilan's outstretched hand, then immediately shifted his gaze elsewhere and said flatly: "Oh."

Earlier he had shaken David's hand to investigate the demonic energy he sensed; now seeing that Geilan's group were adventurers rushing from another town to reinforce, he had no interest in probing their demonic power.

"Pfft!"

Xierna and Oli and the others saw Geilan embarrassed and couldn't help laughing out loud.

Geilan withdrew his hand, scratched his head, feeling no embarrassment at all; he thought such aloofness was the proper attitude of a strong one.

"Bring that goblin with you, find a place—I have questions for it." Bahamut directly ordered David and the others.

David of course understood that the goblin Bahamut meant was the goblin chief he had tied up, so he brought the goblin chief along, and the seven of them went to David's home.

David's house lay to the southwest of the village; fortunately it had escaped the goblin army's attack. The seven gathered in the living room, and David placed the goblin chief in the middle of everyone.

Under everyone's gaze, Bahamut stepped forward and slowly drew from his bosom a soft, pale-yellow-glowing sphere.

After emerging, the sphere opened its eyes, looked around, then floated up, circling Bahamut once before landing on his shoulder, emitting a cute, animal-like sound.

"Doodle-loo."

David and the others were startled, not expecting this thing to be a living creature; William also didn't know what kind of being it was, so he asked: "What is this?"

As if hearing William speak, the pale-yellow little creature noticed William, sensing a mysterious aura from him that attracted it, so it flew straight from Bahamut's shoulder to William's side, circling him nonstop, appearing quite intimate.

Seeing this, Bahamut was also somewhat surprised and said: "This is a forest sprite; it can understand the languages of all races and sense powers we cannot perceive. I didn't expect it to take such a liking to you—I had to spend a great deal of dragon crystals to lure it to follow me."

"

"Dragon crystals?! Such a precious thing just to lure this little creature!" Xierna said in disbelief.

"Don't let its small size fool you; it's a high-ranking elf species. Alright, it's time to find out why these goblins have appeared again." Bahamut whistled at the creature; it reluctantly left William's side and flew back to him, and Bahamut said to it: "Ask it why they attacked human territory."

The creature spoke in Goblin to the goblin chief: "Ji-gu ji, ji-gu ji-gu."

The goblin chief, surprised to hear the yellowish thing speak its language, replied: "Gu-gu wa, gu-wa-wa-la..."

After the goblin chief finished, the creature, in a very cute childlike voice, said: "He says they didn't want to attack humans either, but their homeland was attacked by demons; they are the few survivors scraped from their homes, they wandered for months before arriving here, and to find a new home for his people he had no choice but to attack humans."

"Demons?!"

Upon hearing "demons," everyone's hearts jolted, especially William's reaction was the strongest.

Bahamut stroked his chin, pondering: "As expected, it's related to demons again..."

William asked doubtfully: "May I ask why you say 'again'?"

Bahamut thought, then said: "Over the past few years I've wandered deep in the Demon Forest and near the borders of human territory, noticing many abnormal phenomena that seem linked to demons; I suspect the demons are plotting something."

"So you came here right after sensing demonic energy?" William asked.

Bahamut nodded, then asked the goblin chief several questions, all related to demons; the chief kept answering that he indeed knew demons had attacked other races besides them, but he didn't know why.

Seeing that the chief truly didn't know the answer he wanted, Bahamut said: "Alright, you may go, but you must not attack humans again, or I won't let you off."

Not only David and the others, but even the goblin chief, upon hearing the forest sprite's translation, was somewhat bewildered.

"Can I leave? You're not planning to kill me?"

Bahamut saw David and the others looking at him with doubtful expressions and said: "Gee, why are you all looking at me like that? I already said I'm not someone who kills easily."

David and William thought to themselves, "He sliced over two hundred goblins with one blow, yet he won't even kill a measly goblin!"

The goblin chief immediately vowed he would never attack humans again unless they intended to harm him, in which case he would have to retaliate.

Bahamut had no interest in the goblin's guarantee; to him, the demons' activities behind the scenes were the real key.

"Whoosh."

On the distant road, a group of adventurers came rushing, dust-covered; they were all adventurers urgently summoned by the Adventurers' Guild after receiving the news. The summoning took some time, so they arrived after Geilan's group had already finished.

Upon seeing the ground littered with goblin corpses, they too were dumbfounded, just like Geilan's group, not understanding what had happened.

Bahamut said: "Alright, since there's no sign of demonic activity here, I should be going."

William gritted his teeth; seeing that perhaps only once in two lifetimes would such an opportunity appear before him, he hesitated, then finally resolved and knelt before Bahamut.

Bahamut halted, turned sideways, raised an eyebrow at William; David and Geilan and the others also didn't understand what William intended.

William bowed, placed his head on the ground, and loudly said: "Please accept me as your disciple!"