Chapter 18: Strolling

The next morning when Theo woke up he felt a pleasant sensation of light pain across his body. The weather today was amazing, it was warm, had no clouds, and a weak wind appeared from time to time. So, Theo had no desire to spend such an amazing day in training or studies.

After finishing his usual morning routine, Theo took his space ring before leaving together with Arthur in the direction of his personal guard. It didn't take long for him to find most of his guard near their manors in the castle territory.

There Theo saw how Bartolomeo and Neo were talking about something with the new knight Gill. It didn't take long for them to notice Theo, and they quickly approached to greet him.

"Good morning, young master, what have you brought here?" asked Bartolomeo.

Theo nodded to his greetings before looking at the new and the young knight in his guard.

Seeing the direction of Theo's glance Bartolomeo was quick to add.

"This is Gill, a new guardian knight that passed the challenges and earned the right to serve the Freinos," explained Bartolomeo, "Young master, though he is a bit green, it's a question of time before he learns everything. He is a nice spear knight on par with Neo, he just needs to gain a bit of experience."

Theo listened closely to Bartolomeo's words, memorizing everything about Gill from his previous life. A moment later he smiled before throwing a quick glance at Gill and moving it back at Bartolomeo and Neo.

"I want to go strolling in the city. I am not sure whether I would do that only in the Freinos inner domain, so my guardian knights better go with me but don't take too many people 4 or 5 would be enough. I plan to leave in half an hour, so you better be prepared and wait for me in the stables."

Bartolomeo nodded to Theo's words before glancing at Theo till he disappeared from his sight.

Turning around, Bartolomeo looked at Neo and Gill.

"Looks like we will have to accompany our young master today, Gill, go call Spartacus, he is with his family, tell him to prepare, we will have to meet our young master in 30 minutes in the stables. Commander Silo is busy with testing new potential knights to our guard, so I will inform him about the fact that we would accompany our young master," said Bartolomeo before turning around, and moving to his room.

Neo and Gill nodded to his words before rushing to their own rooms. They had limited time but had to wear the armor and prepare weapons for duty.

***

A half an hour later, Theo was caressing his beautiful black horse, waiting while his guardian knights would finish preparing their own horses. Several moments later, 4 riders in armor appeared not far from him. Theo threw a quick glance, looking at his knights.

Bartolomeo was dressed in black armor with a sword that hanged on the right side. Neo was also in armor and held a spear in his hand while Gill wore only light armor, but also held a spear in his hand. At last Spartacus, he had a sword hanging to the left side of the horse and the triangular shield hanging on the back of his armor. Even Arthur had a short sword on his right side of his horse while Theo was unarmed.

In short, his guardian knights were armored and ready for any potential problem they could meet on their way.

Theo himself had only ordinary, but beautiful clothes with Freinos family insignia on him, and felt himself a bit uncomfortable when he climbed his horse and his knights circled him to protect him.

Theo smiled at their actions, but decided not to pay attention to that, and speeded up his horse in the direction of the city not far from the castle.

Passing through many block posts on the way to the city, Theo and his knights ended up, appearing in the main street of the city in the Freinos inner domain.

There were many people walking across the street, the old merchant was actively arguing with a buyer, people were entering and leaving into the restaurants, family raiding groups were returning to the "Honor's flower" tavern to celebrate their success in hunting, Blacksmiths, enchanting houses and alchemy shops filled with activity and buyers. In short, the city was filled with actions and activity.

Theo stopped for several moments staring at them before turning his horse and moving in a certain direction. People around him were all loyal retainers of his family for generations, and it didn't take long for them to notice Theo in his outfit, surrounded by knights. So, it didn't take long for them to recognize his identity and bow to him. They continued their business after showing their respect for Freinos, and everything returned to what it was before Theo's appearance.

Theo didn't pay attention to that, but he speeded up, quickly approaching a certain place on the same street on which "Honor's flower" tavern was located. Theo stopped near the restaurant not far from the tavern and quickly noticed a quite beautiful woman that appeared to welcome him.

"Greetings, reputable Freinos," said the woman, bowing to him, "Would you like to order a place for yourself and your people in the main hall, special hall, or on the terrace?"

Theo climbed down his horse, giving the reins to the boy that appeared to take his horse.

"A place on the terrace,"

"Would you like, so that we cleared the restaurant for you?" asked the woman, raising her glance to look at Theo.

"No need," replied Theo, "I am here only to eat your specially cooked ice cream and would leave after that."

The woman nodded to Theo's orders and quickly said several words to the girls nearby, a moment later she returned with a smile on her lips.

"Young Master, you may proceed, your place is already prepared."

Theo nodded to the woman before looking at his knights and entering the restaurant.

A short time later he, Bartolomeo, Neo, Gill, Spartacus, and Arthur were sitting on the chairs around the table.

Finishing his ice cream, Theo smiled with a smile of a person that has just eaten a long missed meal from a distant childhood. In fact, he ate many ice creams throughout his adventures, but he missed the one he enjoyed in childhood. So, that's why this was the 1st place he came to. Throwing a quick glance at his people, Theo noticed that only Arthur was eating his ice cream with delight while his knights made serious, stoic, or conflicted expressions on their faces as they looked at their ice creams in front of them.

In fact, that ice cream was quite popular among the Freinos inner domain, and many people, they included came here many times just to eat it, but now they were on duty and couldn't let themselves relax and lose vigilance.

"Don't worry, we are in Freinos inner domain, nobody would attack me, relax and eat your ice cream, you will need more energy if we go to the inner city," said Theo, continuing to eat his ice cream.

Bartolomeo, Neo, Gill, and Spartacus released a relieved sigh before beginning to eat their portions.

Finishing to eat his ice cream, Theo sat and looked at his knights, throwing a glance from time to time to the street, looking at the "Honor's flower" tavern where family raiding groups gathered and celebrated their success.

Theo smiled, immersing in his distant memories.

The time continued to pass, and soon when everyone finished their meals, Theo left several gold coins for the ice cream before leaving and moving to the next place he wanted to visit.

Theo continued to visit one place to another that had significance for him, it was already afternoon when Theo stopped near the last place that he wanted to visit. He quickly noticed a group of guardian knights that were waiting outside of the Arena. The fact that guardian knights were here meant only one thing that a Freinos was already inside.

Theo smiled, understanding well who it is likely is.

Passing through several corridors, Theo entered into the small open pavilion above the watching places. There were hundreds of seating places around the arena, and many people were actively crying at the monsters that were fighting below.

Theo quickly noticed quite familiar guardian knights before looking at the small girl that was sitting in one of the seats, watching after the battle.

"Who is it today, Lil sister?" asked Theo, sitting in his place, "Is it a black panther and the red wolf?"

Lucia turned her head to look at Theo before returning her glance back at the arena.

"No, it's a grey panther and the lone wolf," said Lucia.

The grey panther was a monster that hunted in small flocks of 3-4 panthers, and it felt itself a bit uncomfortable in the fight against the monster that always hunted alone. Both the monsters were strong and fast, and the battle was in deadlock for a long time, but the small difference between opponents eventually showed itself at the wrong time.

A moment later, the lone wolf jumped at the grey panther, inflicting a serious wound to the stomach of the panther. Though the panther retreated and created a safe distance between itself and the wolf, it became clear that the deadlock was broken.

Lucia furrowed a bit when she saw blood before she took a small bell and began shaking it. A moment later the sound of the bell ringing passed across the arena, making the monsters stop the fight.

Theo smiled when he saw Lucia's actions.

Finishing shaking the bell, Lucia stood up from her place, appearing at the platform to let arena visitors see her. The audience turned silent when they saw a person on the platform and concentrated their attention on the girl that appeared from Freinos family's personal pavilion.

Lucia adjusted her facial expression, making it to show the dignity and pride of the Freinos before moving her glance through the arena, looking at the people. She made a big breath before relaxing herself and looking at the audience.

"That's was a good fight, I enjoyed it a lot. Both the panther and the wolf fought well, I learned many interesting lessons from their fight. I would like to take them to family tamers, so that they served the Freinos, protecting us. So, please take care of them both, I hope you will send them to the Freinos family tamers." cried Lucia with a smile on her lips.

A moment later, a short person in the arena personal uniform appeared on the arena. He quickly bowed in Lucia's direction before clearing his throat.

"Don't worry, reputable Freinos, as the owner of the arena, I promise to take care after these monsters, and would send them myself to the tamers of the Freinos family as soon as possible." said the short man, giving several signals to his men to take after the injured panther and grumpy wolf.

Lucia nodded with delight before returning back to the pavilion and sitting in her place.

"As usual, sister, do you know that there are already hundreds of different monsters our tamers are taking care of. Have you forgotten that father told you to stop sending monsters to our tamers," asked Theo with a smile on his lips.

Lucia made a guilty expression on her face before looking at Theo.

"I just can't do that. If I don't send them to our tamers, one of these beautiful monsters would get killed in the battle. I would better get a remark from parents than let them die while I am here."

Theo smiled, remembering several moments from his previous life.

"By the way, brother, have you heard about the auction that would happen today in the inner city? There would be rare monsters and monster eggs as lots for the public," asked Lucia, returning Theo back to reality.

"No, I was just passing nearby on my way back home."

"How much money have you taken with your brother?" asked Lucia with a slowly increasing flame in her eyes.

"A lot, almost all the money I have is with me."

"Then, you should go there with me, I wasn't sure whether to go there before, but now we can buy a quite rare monster for our family. Who knows we might even find a guardian beast there," said Lucia with a quickly growing smile on her lips.

It wasn't the 1st time Theo dealt with his little sister's quirks, he suffered quite a lot back in his previous life and gained enough experience to deal with such situations.

"Lucia, the last time, you said the same thing we ended up buying an owl for our family for a huge amount of money. It became a messenger, you know, a messenger I spent huge money on, believing that it would grow in size, becoming a flying monster on which we would be able to fly" said Theo with a serious expression on his face, "I can go there with you to take look at those monsters you talk about, but I will make the final decision, and won't spend my money on the bids I don't like."

Theo waited some time watching how Lucia's expression continued to change from angry to tearful and sad, but several moments later, she raised her head and looked at Theo.

"I agree, brother, I won't bid for anything before talking with you, but you have to promise me that we would buy a monster or egg from that auction," said Lucia with a mysterious smile on her lips.

Theo saw such a smile from his sister once in the previous life, but couldn't remember what it meant, so he nodded, agreeing with her condition.

Lucia smiled and jumped from her place, embracing her elder brother in the hug.

Several moments later, she got free from Theo's hug and looked at him with a smile on her lips.

"Brother, let's go, I want to arrive there early, "said Lucia, giving several commands to her personal aide Diana and her guardian knights.