Chapter 41: Invitation

Rohan opened his eyes. Before him was the ceiling, the one he had seen each day for a few months for now. He sighed.

He had the same dream, the one he got when Horim had knocked him out. He was just alone in the dark, surrounded by nothing but shadows. And then coming from nowhere, appearing from the void, red dots materialized all around him. They all had the same color of blood, and came closer and closer, forming thread as they connected between them, as if they were living beings.

It enveloped him, painting his whole vision of red, transforming into a cocoon of red threads. But there was something that wasn't like the first time. It was the smell. The smell of blood. It was so strong that even now he had woken up, he still had the impression to be recovered from this pungent metallic and disgusting smell.

He didn't know the meaning of this dream, and it was the first time that he had dreamt about the same thing more than once. Or at least from what he could remember. After all, he always had difficulties remembering his dreams when he woke up, that was why this one had marked his spirit. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was just a normal dream, telling him that he had seen too much blood. But for an unknown reason, an unknown feeling deep in his heart, he thought that it was important.

He shook his head, and sat up on his bed. Or at least he tried, as the moment he straightened up, the pain sent him back lying on the soft mattress with a groan exiting his lips.

The clean up of the bandits' lair had ended last night. After the slaughter that had taken place in the large room, the warriors that could still fight were sent back to the battle, searching and killing all enemies lurking inside the large basement.

At the end, almost fifteen warriors of the expedition were found dead, while all the others were injured. Some heavily, some with just a few scratches, but either way, it denoted the harshness of the fight. From the enemy's camp, that was almost fifty warriors that they had killed. A huge number, in fact, it was even a scary one with a little reflection on it.

Back in the duchy of Barnes, there were a thousand warriors in the whole duchy, and that was because of the demonic crystal they had. In the Kingdom of Prasthana, counting the warriors from the five duchies, there were only between three to four thousand ones. And Rohan reckoned it was the same thing for this kingdom of Daksina as well, from the light memories he had of the books he had read on this subject.

And among this small number, almost a hundred of them were all gathered in the same city, while half of them were working for the now dead rank 5 Beginner Warrior Bradley. Of course, the great majority of these warriors were only rank 1, but it was still an important number.

Even the king of this kingdom couldn't let this operation unverified, as fifty warriors were a huge asset for the kingdom. That was why he would without a doubt send an investigation team to know exactly what had happened. Of course, he was supposed to already know about it, since he had openly refused to help the count of Blanche. But an investigation was still needed, for whatever reason. In any case, it had nothing to do with Rohan.

After the whole basement below the city had been cleaned up of any 'rats' like they said, all the warriors had exited the building which they had used to launch the assault. It was at that time that Rohan had seen Matthew, full of injuries and as bloody as him. The only difference between them was the dangerous glint that could be distinguished inside the eyes of this scary-looking man. He had without a doubt killed, and he had probably done it with a smile.

At the moment, there was a carriage that had appeared, with the crest of the Macker's family on it. it was Elia. Rohan was surprised. The instant the man, frightening enough to make anyone believe he drank blood everyday, had seen his young miss, the glint in his eyes had almost completely disappeared in a second. Even a thin smile, so thin that anyone could miss it easily, stretched on his face.

For what reason such a strong warrior was devoting himself at this daughter of a viscount? Rohan didn't know, but he couldn't help but stare at this obedient man, now acting like a puppy before this beautiful woman. This one had even come near Rohan, and seeing in which state he was, had asked him to come with them for a traitement with her soft voice capable of making every man fall.

But without any hesitation, Rohan, almost on the point to fall on the ground at any moment, had refused. The reasons were multiple, such as he didn't want to own anything to this person, but the most important was what he was holding. Hanging on him, there were two bags, completely filled to the brink.

No one knew what was inside these bags, but Rohan was sure it would only be a question of time. And the instant they would understand that he had smuggled all the goods once belonging to the wizard, That would be a complicated situation. It wasn't complicated to realize that if they saw all the potions he had, as well as the valuable books describing the way to become a wizard, he would probably be stabbed in a second by these crazy warriors before his body would be robbed of all items.

All he wanted to do at that point was to go back in the shop, and hide behind the back of his master Horim. Who would dare to lack respect in front of an Intermediate Paladin? No one! And he just wanted to fully use this reassurance. With this decision, Elia still showed her sincerity by giving him a weak regeneration potion, as well as escorting him back to his home. While it wouldn't do much, and in fact it would do nothing as it was only useful to heal a bit the damage done by mana, it was still a gesture of goodwill from this woman, and Rohan wouldn't refuse it.

As Rohan thought back to the events of the night, the door of his bedroom suddenly swung open. Following the bang of the door against the door, a man in an extravagant golden dress entered, burning the eyes of the young man lying on his bed.

"Rohan! I heard what had happened!" In only a few steps, and with a speed that would make a warrior ashamed, he was already near Rohan. "You could have said to me you were participating in this battle! I was indeed wondering why you would ask me for a warrior's emblem the other day, but I didn't put much thought into it. But this morning, when I got the news…"

Rohan turned his face toward his window, where the sun could be seen, looking down on everything. If he could just teleport through this window to appear near this giant ball of flame, only to burn his ears forever, it would probably be a blessing. Sadly, he couldn't do that.

"...and these fights must have been spectacular: I still remember this day in the forest, when you appeared from nowhere, with just a broken scabbard on the hand and an appearance of a beaten dog. And then Bam! and after that swang! You put all these bandits on the ground. And this fight against their leader, it was…"

Maybe he should have just watched that day. Just letting these bandits kidnap this man, only to release him a few hours before they surrendered themselves to the guards with blood flowing from their ears. Why fight, when you have a Delia, a war machine that could win any war?

"Anyway, I just came here today to tell you the good news!" This sentence made Rohan snap back from his delusion, and a bad feeling emerged from his heart. "The count will hold a party in a few days, to thank all the warriors who had helped him and the nobles to defend their city from these bandits. And of course you will have to come! There would be a buffet with a lot of good food, definitely better than what you are eating in this dump. Plus there will be a reward at the end for…"

Rohan couldn't prevent a loud sigh from coming out from his mouth. But Delia was continuing to talk, as if he had heard nothing. If he would go to this 'party' or whatever, he would kill himself. No joke. That would be full of noblemen, full of frightful laughs all around, full of hypocrisy that would make him vomit. And the worst thing was that he couldn't go with the status of the son of a count.

Back when he was still at Rivoiras with his obligation to go to such parties, he could still use his status to flee most of the time. And he always had the habit of saying what he thought. The number of times he had looked down with disgust at a noble couldn't be counted on his hands anymore. But if he dared to do that with only his warrior's status, that would be a path toward hell.