Chapter 221: The lord and knight

Eman told her to sleep early as they needed to depart early in the morning. Rossbert was busying himself in cleaning his equipment. He was someone who was fond of making his equipment shiny.

On the other hand, Liz was finishing her chores while Zennie, although skeptical, nodded at him with an unwilling expression on her face.

As Eman said, they continued their trip before the sun rose.

It was the third day of their trip. Everyone was merely conversing as though they were old acquaintances. Even Eina, who was a shy girl herself, was able to speak with Zennie and the others. She was calling Zennie her big sister.

Zennie felt amused hearing it as though it were the sweetest sounding words she ever heard.

This time, it was Eman who was bombarded by questions coming from them. So they learned a few things about him. However, all of them were dumbstruck upon hearing that he was the coming lord of the old mining town, the Sunville Village.

"Sorry, we didn't know that you're a noble, Young Lord Eman." Flustered, Zennie said in haste.

Although Zennie was a daughter of a noble family, she was lower in rank compared to Eman who was a lordship noble.

"Uh, just drop the pleasantries. I'm more comfortable without it. Also, I prefer if you call me by my name alone." He said with a wink while wondering if it was a wise choice to tell them that he was actually a noble.

Eman was unaware of the damage he caused to the poor girl. A fume erupted on Zennie's head after his wink, without him noticing.

Although he was a noble, he had yet to receive his monthly salary for being the Knight of the empire. Well, it was only half a month and a few days since they came back from the reclamation mission. Also, he just became a noble not long ago. And his land was yet to produce money or any supplies. So calling him young master or any lordship names just didn't put right for him.

It was also the first time that Eina heard it. She didn't know that his brother was actually a noble now.

Eman also told Rossbert to drop the pleasantries who tried to call him with the young master and mister attached to his name.

"Don't worry. In truth, I was a commoner just recently." He said to lessen the awkwardness.

Everyone gaped in surprise. Well, there were some occasions where a commoner became a noble after a fateful encounter. Like when someone acquired a super rare artifact that cost millions of gold royals. After getting such a treasure, the commoner rocketed from being a commoner to a noble merchant. There are other cases also similar to that.

Suddenly, Rossbert grinned. "So, Eman, did you happen to acquire a super rare treasure?" He asked.

"Haha, I wished I had. Sadly, nothing like that has happened to me." He replied with a bitter smile.

"R-really?"

Eman nodded.

"Then how do you become a noble?" Rossbert and the rest were interested to hear his answer. Even Zennie and Eina were attentively listening, looking at him as though prohibiting him from going away.

It was already late when Rossbert realized that his question sounds rude. Thankfully, Eman didn't seem cared about it.

A bead of sweat trailed down on Eman's face. Looks like even his sister was looking at him the same as the others. He sighed when he noticed he could not back away.

"W-Well, I was promoted into a Knight!"

"....."

"....."

"....."

The three people were dumbstruck once again. Only Eina had question marks floating over her tilting head.

A-A knight?

Not only a Lord of the land? But also had the title of a Knight? And he is an academy student?

The questions are spiraling in their minds. Maybe Eman was unaware of the weight those titles had.

He looked like an easy-going person, but in reality, he was an awesome person!

The three who were aware of the weight of those titles could not help but felt like they were hit by a thousand volts of lightning tribulation.

This made Zennie more conflicted as she was sneaking a glance at Eman. This person who was younger than her was able to achieve such a high title. She, on the other hand, was yet to accomplish anything. Well, she's now venturing the world. But on different reason though.

In her study under a strict tutor, she learned few things about the outside world. But she could not apply them as she was yet to venture into the outside world.

'Is academy students better than those taught by a tutor?' She thought after hearing Eman's success.

Rossbert wondered how Eman acquired the Knight title. For all he knew, there should be the Squire title first. He wanted to ask him but denied it in a second as he thought it would be rude to Eman. Especially after learning that he was lord of the village and an Imperial Knight.

Who wished to anger such a big fish?

Rossbert and the others secretly gulped. They had no idea they were traveling along with a bigshot. 

Of course, at first, they wondered if Eman was telling the truth. But after Eman showed them his golden badge with the insignia of the Whitestone Empire carved in it, they could only fall silent and shrink like babies.

Rossbert was a veteran Gold rank Guardian. So even he had a gold badge with him. Though it was different from Eman's Knight badge.

However, with just a glance, he could tell that the gold badge in Eman's hand was authentic.

Though, it was surprising that he was traveling casually without some guards. Then again, after thinking about it, the carriage went to a stop. It was followed by a warning coming from the guard leader.

"Mr. Rossbert! Several monsters are blocking the road!" The guard reported.

"What?!" Rossbert exclaimed.

Before he could climb down, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

When he glanced, he saw Eman saying, "Let me," in his usual calm demeanor.

Peeking outside, and looking ahead, he noticed that most of the monsters were as strong as those big beasts that almost killed him yesterday.

Even Zennie and Servant Liz wanted to oppose Eman's decision. They suggested looking for another route.

But Eman stayed firm. "Don't worry. It won't take another minute," he said confidently. He jumped after stroking his sister's head.

"Good luck, bro!" Eina shouted.

After a minute, Rossbert sank to his seat. He finally understood why Eman was traveling without some guards. And maybe it was also the reason he acquired the Knight title. 

When Eman returned to the carriage, there were only dumbfounded faces waiting for him.