Chapter 5

It’s now evening with the reddish-orange light coming through the window. The wind gently flapped the curtains while Edwyn helps the now conscious man.

Edwyn sat on a chair as he speak, “Your Grace, I am afraid that you have to stay with me for a while. As much as I have no business with these things anymore, I cannot afford to let you be tracked by them. After all, you are the Duke of the Kingdom and the childhood friend of the crown prince.”

Dromeus glance at Edwyn as he reply, his voice cracked slightly, “Then, you go contact the crown prince for me.”

“As you wish, Your Grace.” Edwyn moved to get up and bring water for Dromeus when the door was opened.

Olivia and Kaiser enter the room only to stop halfway while staring at Dromeus. “He’s awake,” Kaiser said.

“Welcome back. How is it? Did you find the herbs?” Edwyn quickly asked as he distracted their attention from staring at Dromeus. He then quickly locked the door and window.

"I put it in your office."

“Well, thank you for your hard work. Olivia, this is my co-worker from when I was still working. His name is-”

“Dromeus Mansel. You can call me Dromeus.” Dromeus interjected, it’s his turn to stare back, especially at Kaiser.

Olivia sensed it and unconsciously blocked Kaiser, “Is it okay to expose yourself like that, Your Grace?” Her voice was deep and cold as she stares back, the room temperature dropped a few degrees. Her speech may indicate how respectful she’s being but her stance said otherwise.

Kaiser’s kind of shocked. Upon meeting her yesterday, Kaiser could see how Olivia is more expressive than before. ‘It’s been a long time since I saw this side of her.’

Dromeus smiles, amusement in his eyes, “Oh my, you know me? I’m flattered. As expected of someone who was trusted by Edwyn.”

“Wow, he knows how to make people mad. This is the second person I met who has an attitude like this.” Kaiser spoke up suddenly. “Nice to meet you, I’m Kaiser. That’s my friend, Olivia. She’s not like that normally. Hope you don’t mind.”

Olivia glanced at Kaiser who’s trying to dissuade the situation. She gave in and didn’t say anything.

But the glare says it all.

Once again, Dromeus found this amusing so he couldn’t help but laugh, “Don’t worry, you two are good friends of Edwyn so I’m not going to do anything. Plus, what’s the point of keeping it a secret when there’s only one family in the capital who has the lineage of maroon hair. Kaiser, right? Nice to meet you too. Sorry for staring at you earlier. Your silver hair is just too beautiful.”

“....Thank you?” Kaiser replied, kind of confused. He then feels the sudden ice-cold temperature in the room and sees Olivia glaring hard at Dromeus. “Your Grace, I’m afraid we’re busy right now so pardon us for leaving first. You can take the room, we will book another one.” Olivia dragged Kaiser out of the room as the door was slammed shut.

She complained inwardly, ‘He’s dangerous...and weird.’

Edwyn sighed, “Your Grace, Kaiser is not one of them, he has light brown eyes. Why did you do that?”

“Just because. Don’t you see it yourself? His silver hair is really beautiful.” The night he crashed into this room, Dromeus still had some consciousness before he collapsed on the bed and accidentally touched Kaiser’s hair. ‘It’s soft.’

“Your Grace, how long will you be investigating this? Your mother died not because of the ruler’s fault-”

“Enough. Get out, Edwyn. Don’t you dare mention that again if you don’t want to be beheaded.” Dromeus said in contempt. His whole demeanour changed. Edwyn couldn’t help but tremble as he got out of the room.

“What do you know? It’s not you who experienced it.” Dromeus muttered to himself.

*******

“Olivia, do you have money to book another inn?”

“I still have some from selling the monster’s skin including my savings. Besides, we could ask Sir Edwyn to pay us up tomorrow.”

“Hmm, then I’m glad. But anyway, is it a normal thing to compliment someone's hair regardless of gender here? I’m still confused.”

“Of course not. You usually say that to a girl you’re courting. That man is dangerous, don’t get too close to him. Excuse me, I want to book another room for two nights.” Olivia handed the money.

“Please wait a minute...Okay, here’s the key. Thank you for choosing us.” The receptionist bowed.

Olivia gives the key to Kaiser, “They will serve dinner to your room later. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the library. Good night.”

“Alright, good night, Olivia.”

******

“This kingdom is called the Ferdinand Kingdom and we’re in their capital right now. The current King is named Winston Lloyd and the crown prince is Alexander Lloyd. Read this book about this kingdom's history and give me your thoughts about their first king. This one is a book about magic fundamentals. You have to read all this, don’t need to memorize it all, just understand it. It’s not rare for someone to not pay attention in class history but it sure is weird if you know nothing. Don’t read it now though.”

Kaiser looks at the thick books in his hand with a complicated gaze, he asks absentmindedly, “Why? Do we have to go somewhere?”

“Yes, the guild. We need to start taking the mission to collect some money.” Olivia counts her saving last night and they need to start taking the mission. “Can you fight?”

“Fight? Well, I do practice some martial arts. Why?”

Olivia grinned happily, “Good, we can collect some of the low-level monsters.”

******

“These herbs are kind of hard to find without using mana sense and poisonous so please be careful, Olivia.” Sindy, the receptionist who helped them register as an adventurer yesterday reminded them. “Another thing is, these days, some of the monsters from the second area of the forest are running around the first area so please don’t let your guard down.”

“I will. Thank you, Sindy.” ‘Looks like we can’t hunt after all.’ Olivia was dismayed.

“Then, good luck on your first mission.” Sindy bid them with a smile.