39 The Whittlee Estate

"Sir Dalton, please. As one aspiring to be a knight. It is my duty to uphold justice and rid the kingdom of such criminals." Alicia did not get rid of all those bandits to gain praise. She did it so that the citizens of the Alastine Kingdom could use the main road without being ambushed, robbed, and being forced to do things against their will. The scene of Dena struggling under that bandit was imprinted in her mind. As well as the pleading of the girls in the bandits' hideout. She never wanted to see hear such things again.

"Even if that is the case I still have to say my thanks. I hope Little Lady will allow this old man to arrange some accommodations for you and would also like to offer you a meal tonight as my way of saying thanks." Dalton did not feel right not giving Alicia some kind of reward for all the work she has done. He then looked over at the guard that was still kneeling on the grown covered in sweat. Dalton shook his head and sneered at the guard. "Drag him and those few guards off and behead them. No need for a trial since I heard and saw everything. As for the rest of you. In order to not have this happen again, you all will undergo retraining from the ground up. I will personally train you starting tomorrow at four am!"

The greedy guard and the other guards who followed the greedy guard's lead, faces all paled. But it was too late for regrets. Their willingness to follow the greedy guard was enough to be sentenced to death by kingdom law. They knew this but still followed along since they had been getting away with it for some time now.

Alicia did not think much about the sentences of the few guards since she had already memorized the Alastine Kingdom's laws. She only nodded to Dalton and said: "Then I will have to trouble Sir Dalton then. Also for the meal tonight do you mind finding a place with a private room? So my friends do not cause a scene..."

Dalton looked at the white beast on top of Alicia's head and was shocked to see another set of beady little eyes looking at him from underneath the white beast. He suddenly realized why she said friends and not, friend. There was something else hiding under the beast! He thought for a moment and figured it would be best to not have Alicia stay at an inn. "That's fine. I will allow you to stay at the guest house in my estate as well while you are in Parith. This way your little friends will not cause too much of a scene."

Alicia smiled and bowed her head. "Then I, Alicia, will thank Sir Dalton ahead of time."

"Haha! No need to be so courteous. We will be brother and sister in arms soon! I can already tell that you will pass the squire test with flying colors. To be honest I hope you will give me the courtesy of having a sparring match with you later?" Dalton could tell that Alicia was not a normal squire. For her to be able to fell so many bandits on her way here and arrive here in Parith without a single sign of an injury, he knew that she was above average. He really wanted to test her skills!

"I was going to ask you the same. I would love to have a spar with you, Sir Dalton. I have always wanted to test my skills against an actual knight!" Alicia's eyes lit up. She had been wanting to test herself against a knight for a long time now. And now she was finally going to get this chance!

"Haha! Then once you settle in we will have a match." Dalton liked how polite Alicia was. She seemed to be a good honest kid who follows the knight's virtues very whole heartily. This made him like Alicia more. He couldn't help but think of his two little brats. One who always caused trouble and the other who only liked spending money. Maybe a run in with Alicia will do them some good.

It only took twenty minutes by carriage to reach the Whittlee estate. Because he was the commander of the guards here in Parith he was well taken care of by the kingdom. The Whittlee estate was only comparable to the lord of Parith. Lord Dukan had been the Lord of Parith for since the previous King. Alicia found out from Dalton that Lord Dukan was an upright individual and prided himself on his ability to keep Parith a safe place with very little crime.

When the carriage stopped at the Whittlee estate. A large metal gate and the red brick wall was all Alicia could see from the outside. A guard came out and bowed towards the carriage before opening the gate letting them pass. The long pathway was lined with many trees and flowers giving way to a lush green garden and open green grass. Alicia could see a large man made pond in the center of the garden with a small pier hanging off the shore with a boathouse built next to it.

The carriage rolled to a stop in front of a large red brick victorian style house, the kind that she would see on earth. Alicia's first impression was that the house was an exquisite work of architecture. There were many demonic beasts carving aligning the trim of the mansion along with some large statues that stood tall and proud at the two sides of the bottom of the staircase. These same stairs led up to two large wooden doors that were slightly ajar, where a few maids and butlers were waiting.

"Alicia, welcome to my Whittlee estate!"