Departure

Baron Reiter, seeing that someone was coming over, turned his heard towards Aren. It was a man in black hooded-robe. As Aren stopped before him, Reiter said.

"Who might you be, sir?" Although nobles were known to be arrogant, Baron Reiter, after once losing his territory and living as a commoner for some time, had learned to be polite in front of others.

"Do you not remember me, Baron?" said Aren as he removed his hood.

"This voice... you're adventurer Ren!" the Baron seemed to have recognized Aren now. Two months ago, he had been saved by two adventurers and Ren was one of them.

"I've searched for you in the adventurers guild while my stay in Havrick. However, even adventurer Lucian didn't seem to know where you went after being promoted to rank E. Those potions you gave were very helpful to Kaldier, my head Knight.

"I was worried that he might not wake up for the rest of his life but who knew, with the help of only a rank 1 priest and doctor Sandor, he fully recovered last week. For this, Me and my family are extremely grateful to you."

'Huh? But the potion I gave him was just a normal healing potion... Though it has some magical properties, it is utterly useless against wounds inflicted by magical attacks, so I didn't think it was that valuable. However, it seems the knight greatly benefited from it.' After he thought up to this, he put a smile and said.

"Oh, I'm glad to hear that knight Kaldier is in good condition. Sir Reiter, you came to Havrick for a purpose, right? Did everything go well?" He asked, trying to put up a good conversation. As he had two hours left, he was not in a hurry.

This baron was also suprisingly not aloof and hurriedly expressed his gratitude as soon as he recognized him. If it were any other noble, they wouldn't even want to talk to a low rank adventurer. So he wanted to maintain a good relationship with this type of honest man.

"After my territory had been overrun by monsters, I came here to seek an audience with His Majesty, the King. After a month of waiting, I finally got the chance. I have been bestowed a land near Porhelm Town and was also made its governer. We are preparing to depart today." The baron said.

'Porhelm...' Aren had heard this name somewhere but he couldn't remember where.

Just at that moment, two carriages and a wagon stopped behind those two who were talking. Seeing that the carriages had arrived, the baron turned his gaze towards the young men and said.

"Looks like the carriages are here, load the wagon with goods and check if there are everything inside the carriages."

The young men, hearing Lord Reiter's commands, deftly saluted and went to work. The baron was just about to continue his talk with Aren when suddenly, a young boy got off from the carriage.

From inside the carriage, a woman's voice sounded, "Luther, be careful while alighting!"

However, the boy was already down and running towards the baron.

"Father, when are we leaving?" He asked as he came before Reiter and held his hand.

Aren looked at the baron's son. He was a young boy having black hair, a wheat-coloured skin, with decent facial features. However, it seemed that he hadn't inherited his father's features as when Aren looked at both the father and son, he didn't notice much of a resemblance between them.

"We will depart three hours later. At that time, the wagon will also be loaded and Kaldier will also arrive here." The baron said to his son as he patted him.

"Who is this person, father?" The boy curiously looked at Aren and asked again.

"Oh, he is adventurer Ren I told you about."

At that time, both Slevena and her son had passed out so they didn't get to see Aren. As soon as the boy heard Aren's other name, he excitedly asked. "Is it true that you defeated those bandits?"

His eyes were glittering as he asked, as if he would jump and shout "Oh wow!" if Aren just said yes.

"...Yes, Me and Lucian were the ones to defeat the bandits."

The boy was about to shout out when his words were stuck on his throat with his mother interrupting him.

"Luther, you should be thanking him first. Did I not teach you how to thank someone?" Slevena said as she gracefully got down from the carriage. Lifting the ends of her skirt, she elegantly curtsied at him.

"Forgive this boy's rudeness, Mr. Ren." Said she.

She was a woman in her late twenties. Her dressing, with her mature yet beautiful features, coupled with the refined way she conducted herself in front of others without any stiffness, truly presented herself as a noble lady.

As if influenced by her, Aren also gave a stately bow towards her as he said "I took no offense in what he said-"

He paused and turned to Reiter. Although, he knew who she was, it was a courtesy to ask the baron about her.

The baron, understanding the meaning, introduced her to him."This is my wife, Selvena. You may call her baroness Selvena. And this boy here is our son Luther."

"It is a pleasure to meet to you, milady." Said Aren as he straightened himself up.

The baron who had been keenly looking at Aren, suddenly noticed something. This was not the behaviour of adventurers. Mostly, even high rank adventurers wouldn't know how to greet someone like this. They were brash and straightforward in their way. Unnoticed by others, Aren's bearing was slightly different from the usual adventurers'. It was as if he was a noble or had learned etiquette from a noble...

The baron's latter part of conjecture was right on mark. Aren had trained in a noble's etiquette. If he was going to use an identity of ''Once I was also a noble'', he had to know proper etiquette. That earlier greeting wasn't also reflexive but of his own conscience. He did that because he wanted the baron to have the exact thoughts about him that the Baron was having right now.

He then chatted with the family of three for half an hour. When he thought the time was right, he started ending the conversation saying.

"It seems I have to take my leave for now. If not, I think I might be late to prepare myself for the journey."

"Oh yes, you did mention that you were going somewhere. Is it another quest?" The baron asked.

"...Well, I some matters to do at Yunisse city." Aren didn't say it was a quest and only gave a vague reply. However, with this reply of him came a pleasant surprise.

"Yunisse city... it is very close to Porhelm town! Why don't you travel with us?" Luther suddenly said.

Although the boy had just said because he thought he could spend some more time with Aren, Baron Reiter still inwardly praised him. This was a good way of repaying the debt. Although it was nothing comparable to saving their lives, it was good enough to show their goodwill towards him.

"Yes, if you're going to Yunisse, it would be better if you could travel with us." The baron said. Taking on one more person with them was nothing.

'That's why the name sounded familiar... My luck is good today. Travelling in baron's carriage would shorten the time taken to reach Deathlands by 5 days.' Time was very important to Aren who had only one month left to deal with the mark of devil. So, he readily took up on their offer.

"Okay, we can do that. However, I still have some things to do at the Merchants Guild. It wouldn't affect the time we depart though. I'll meet you outside the city gates."

Saying that, he strolled around the central district. He also separated 1500 golds from his dimensional pouch and put in a separate bag. Looking around the market and buying some things for another one hour, he returned to the Merchants Guild. After he deposited the money, he got his Adventurer Card back. However, there was something different about it now.

There was this shiny golden coloured rectangular label at one end of it now. Written on it with white characters was the number ''1,500". Aren sensed that the label also had magical properties.

'This seems a little similar to bank card system...' He thought, finding himself mistaken at his understanding of this world. It seemed this world's civilization wasn't backward but peculiar and unique in its own.

An hour later, Aren came outside the city. As he arrived there, he saw that the carraiges from earlierwere lined up a distance away, outside the southern gate from which he passed through.

The two ordinary carriages were in front while the Baron's large carriage was in the middle with the wagon behind it. Aren also saw two new knights and 10 squires guarding the carriages. Head knight Kaldier was in front, talking with the baron, while awaiting his arrival.

Suddenly, he saw Luther peek his head out from the window of the large carriage and shout at him while giving a big smile

"Sir Ren! Come fast, we are leaving now!"

In the daylight, his two rows of teeth which had yet to develop, glistened with a white glow, adding innocence to his young face as he said that.

Aren increased his pacing and met with them. After he boarded the carriage, the horses tied to the carriages at front gave a whinny as the carriage drivers pulled the reins.

With that as a sign, the horses tied to their respective carriages also neighed one by one and increased their gait, pulling the carriages behind them.