Gauss and his party walked down the street.
He wasn’t sure if it was just in his head, but he kept feeling that there were far fewer civilians walking around the city than before.
"Aaliyah, you’re saying you might be changing class into another Profession?"
Gauss asked curiously.
Aaliyah had already woken from her coma; she, like Gauss, was not badly injured.
But unlike Gauss, according to Pleos’s explanation, he seemed not to have provided much treatment; instead, a mysterious energy within her had completed most of the self-healing.
"Yes. To be precise, I’m still in the process of changing class."
Aaliyah raised her arm.
She clearly wasn’t using any Spell, yet a clear, bright moonlight coiled around her arm, adding a trace of holy aura to her appearance.
However, when talking about this, Aaliyah didn’t show much joy; instead, she silently sighed in her heart.
The group silently came to the open ground.
Then Aaliyah buried the now completely dried and hardened two halves of the scale-dust butterfly’s body in the earth, and with her own hands scooped up soil to cover it.
As a creature that had once entered into a contract with her, the death of the scale-dust butterfly was also no small loss to her.
"Wuu—"
The silver wolf Ulfen and Raven Aik stopped fooling around as well, lowering their heads, grieving for the departure of their companion.
The battlefield was always ever-changing, and sacrifice could come at the most unexpected moments.
"May you rest in peace."
The group fell silent for a while, offering a moment of silence for their companion.
A small pure white flower sprouted from the soft earth, nourished by Aaliyah’s Natural Power.
With the funeral over, everyone began to head back to Flute Castle.
"Lord Gauss, welcome back to the city."
The guards at the gate saluted respectfully.
In this period of time, the fame of Gauss and the Gauss party had exploded.
Originally, in the vast Flute Castle he had been an obscure nobody, yet overnight, from common peddlers on the streets to nobles and great merchants, everyone now knew of this young and promising Dragon Knight.
And he even possessed a record that was almost beyond imagination.
"Is that him?"
"Move, move, let me see!"
"An elite Professional killing an Extraordinary Professional—this is just too unbelievable."
"Who says it isn’t?"
"That’s the Red Dragon Knight Gauss."
"No wonder he was able to subdue a proud Red Dragon."
"I heard that Red Dragon’s wingspan is bigger than the castle itself."
"And that female Giant is so tall."
"..."
On the sides of the street, the civilians were all extremely curious about the Gauss party, who were appearing in public for the first time since the turmoil; they craned their necks and stood on tiptoe, vying to catch a glimpse of this once-in-a-century genius of the kingdom.
These past few days, while Gauss was resting in the castle, the city had been full of tales about him.
In various taverns and restaurants, the most popular stories the Bards told were none other than those about Gauss.
Whether it was Goblin Slayer, the Lake God’s chosen, the Red Dragon Knight, or his feat of crossing ranks as an elite Professional to slay an Extraordinary powerhouse, all of it was the talk of the town.
They only regretted that they themselves could not be Gauss.
In such a short time he had leapt to become a hero who shook the entire city; his experiences were simply too compelling.
Anyone could foresee that in the future his strength would be immeasurable.
"I’ve heard Lord Gauss is very keen on killing goblins."
"Maybe the secret behind his rapid growth and abnormal combat power is hidden in that."
Some people studied his growth path, believing they had grasped an important key.
Because it was said that in his early days Gauss was no different from other ordinary Adventurers; he even used to be mocked because, in the small town where he first operated, he frequently and in great numbers hunted goblins, earning from other Adventurers the derisive nickname of ’Goblin Slayer’.
The original intention was to ridicule him for being too timid to challenge difficult opponents, indulging instead in slaughtering weak goblins far inferior to himself.
But now, with him displaying such outstanding combat strength and talent, this "black nickname" was beginning to be washed clean.
Even the citizens who had long lived in the city and were almost untouched by goblins began to feel that this title had become rather endearing.
Clearly possessing greater strength, yet able to restrain himself, running through the fields to hunt those seemingly insignificant monsters to hone his skills instead of blindly throwing himself into danger—this was exactly the sort of person worthy of praise and emulation.
Many young rookie Adventurers even came to regard Gauss as their idol.
"I’ve decided—starting tomorrow, I’m going to hunt goblins too!"
"I heard goblins actually aren’t that weak; they’re very cunning."
"..."
Hearing so many people discussing him in his ears, Gauss couldn’t help but shake his head with a faint smile.
This was all backward reasoning: seeing that he was fond of killing goblins, they thought that by imitating his growth experience they could achieve similar progress. That was, of course, unrealistic.
However, from another perspective, he didn’t think the influence this brought was all that bad.
Especially for Bottom Adventurers, they needed even more to keep their feet on the ground and face those unremarkable monsters.
Compared to high-level monsters, the ones that did the most harm to civilians were often these numerous low-tier creatures.
...
"Thank you, teacher."
"Study hard."
Gauss sent Abby into a school.
In a large fortress city like Flute Castle, there were naturally schools that taught boys and girls how to embark on the path of a Profession.
The school was equipped with good teaching facilities, training grounds, and instructors from various Professions such as Warrior, Mage, Ranger, and so on.