Chapter 41: Prelude

Chapter 41: Prelude

A week had passed since the St. Nova ceremony. According to the exchange program, the students involved had to temporarily leave the academy and live with the noble affiliated with them.

It was an interesting and funny experience, funny when you think about some of Nebula's students who might come from a higher social rank but will end up in a lower domain, due to their inability to be a true heir.

In my case, it was a nice breath of fresh air. Zuri's family lived on a small plot of land surrounded by a vast forest where weak monsters could be found, making this place my favorite playground.

The Baron's financial situation was delicate and he could not afford to call on knights to protect his own lands, making my presence very welcomed and I could get absolutely everything, non-financial, that I wanted.

I was sitting on a huge stone next to a swamp, while Zuri was in the swamp, collecting disgusting toads.

She stood still for a moment then, with a sudden movement, grabbed a blue toad that was hiding in the mud before putting it in her basket.

"Isn't that enough? I thought we were catching some toads, not making a freaking catalog."

"I don't have the opportunity to go this far usually, better make the maximum now, don't you think? Plus you're not collecting anything so why do you complain?"

"Because it's been 3 hours... How can you do that for hours? You don't have other hobbies?"

"Say the one who kills monsters when he's not eating or sleeping. If you're so bored what about you go play around with them? I can hear them calling your cute name."

I sighed on my stone throne.

"What happened to the shy girl who couldn't speak without stuttering?

"I said cute, now be quiet for a moment, you're distracting me." As she said this, she caught mid-air a toad that was trying to jump away.

"Distracted? That would be fair for the toads, do you have a toad radar or something?"

She didn't respond and stayed focused on her dirty duty while I kept watching.

I learned from her father that she was a very troublesome child, a big fan of the witches of legend, so much that she brewed potions, usually using toad slime, and that she used them on her classmates, degrading her image so much that no one could believe that she had been chosen by a knight.

I still wondered if I had really made the right decision.

We remained silent for a little while when the sound of footsteps came furtively closer.

"... Synergy: Gamma-Sigma"

A servant with black bowl-cut hair, around twenty years old, emerged from the woods, sweating from her run and holding a letter.

"My... My lady! I have finally found you!"

Zuri looked up, a toad in her hands.

"Gretta?"

"You've received a letter, you won't believe what it says!"

"Wait, did you read my letter?"

Before the servant could even respond, three carns, a creature resembling a giant rodent, appeared from the forest and lunged at Zuri and Gretta.

The two girls barely had time to realize what was happening before the three carns disappeared into thin air.

On my rock, I stood up and positioned my hands as if I were holding an invisible bow, pointed towards the forest and when it was "shot", the carns reappeared, thrown in the air.

"Air crusher"

The carns compressed, one on top of the other, as if in a bubble of air which shrank again and again and finally imploded into a blackish mass that held in the air for a moment before falling again.

"I-incredible! Sir Dora, you're really amazing!" Gretta clapped enthusiastically.

"It's nothing, there's no real challenge here, I could really show off... IF WE COULD LEAVE."

"Huh, null and void."

Zuri said as she took the letter from the hand of one of her only two maids.

She read it quickly and soon, her eyes widened. It was enough to awaken fear in the darkness of my mind.

"I didn't say Barron's name on purpose, I lost brain cells when I saw her beauty! I swear on Hope's life!"

"C-calm down! Wait a second I need to confirm this..."

Then again, it only added fuel to the fire of my anguish.

"Confirm? Confirm what?... I've beaten... Killed no human, I am against violence... Your father swore to protect me, didn't he?"

She put a finger on the paper as if she had difficulty reading then threw the letter in the air jumping joyfully, followed by Gretta.

"Amazing! It's amazing! We did it!!!"

"I'm so glad, Lady, it's all thanks to you!"

This scene dumbfounded me, what on earth was that letter? I snapped my finger and it appeared in my hand.

"... Hm... Huh?... Huuuuuh?!"

I was surprised in turn, the letter was a request from the Southern Guild asking for the services of the Baron of Helisk to subjugate a D-rank rift, to put it simply, they were asking me, as a knight of the Baron, to help them.

"Seriously?! How? Why are they asking for someone from outside the Guild?"

This was not an abnormal event, the rifts were a major threat to the world, so solving them was not a matter of competition, but it was still very rare to see a guild directly ask the royal knights to help them in their fight, especially in the face of such a low-level threat.

"That makes no sense, the kingdom is funding the subjugation of the rifts, if they ask the Royal Knights for help they will reduce their prize money, why would they ask us?"

"They don't have powerful emissaries," Gretta explained. "It's a beginner's guild, so most of the people are emissaries who have just started... emissaring. Plus, the kingdom has invested a lot of money into this rift, they want to do it no matter what."

"For money?... They are putting people in danger for money, how is that even allowed?"

Zuri climbed my rock in a second and took the letter back, pointing to a specific number written on it.

"Who cares? Look at how much they're offering! Look at all that money! With that, we could pay off my father's debts to the Duke! We're free!"

I wanted to counter that with a life lesson, then I remembered why I had a royal scholarship in the first place.

Gretta, turning her index fingers together, murmured.

"Hmm... My lady... Your father's debt is about 376 million Lyre... The money the guild offers is 10 million..."

"Whaaaaat?! Is this a joke?! What do they take me for? Reject the offer! Or give me their contact to negotiate!" n.)0velbIn

They argued for a while, to my amusement. It could have been over right now if I had given her my final push, but as I opened my eyes, I stared at this message on an invisible screen, for everyone else, a message that had bothered me for a very long time.

|Main quest: The frog who wanted to be as big as the ox

|Complete a D-rank dungeon

"Well, well, Well, I know a snake who will get happy."

In the meantime in the huge mansion, a girl with silver hair and her little brother were standing in front of a training ground.

In front of them, Hope, on his knees, was facing Cid. The latter with three light balls orbiting around his right hand.

"So? Are you giving up yet?"

"Aah... Aah... I'll... Never stay... Down... No matter how... How much you beat... Me..."

"Thought so."

He pointed his hand towards Hope and the three balls were fired at him. The next moment, a small explosion occurred and Hope rolled in the dust.

Cid walked, hands in his pockets, towards Freya, indifferently speaking to a young girl with black hair a little further away.

"Maybe you should have a talk with your knight, what's the point of always asking for a fight if he only knows how to get trashed?"

The girl sighed in response and then looked towards Cid.

"Stop that now."

The boy raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Hm? It's not my fault if you couldn't pick a better knight... Well it's your fault for picking an idiot though, but you should say that to him instead."

"T's what I'm doin', Hope, stay down!"

Cid realizing, turned around and saw the pathetic scene of Hope, barely standing, his sword in his hands.

"Aaah... hehe... I won't... I will never... stay down... look... my lady... this is your... k... aaah.. "

The girl sighed heavily and the others shook their heads. Suddenly, a butler came from the mansion and stood aside Freya, a document in hand.

"My lady, we got an update about Sir Anesidora Carper that might interest you."

"Is it another monster elimination? It's starting to get monotonous."

"Not this time, my Lady, it's about the subjugation of a rift."

After these words, everyone turned silent. Some, perhaps surprised by the absolute indiscretion of the butler while others heard once again the name of the man whose story had invaded them for too long. Freya turned to her butler, a smile on her lips.

"Proceed."