Aldritch was still thinking about some things when he saw the window being pried open. The very next moment, Lyla came in from it, and on her shoulder was Argus who seemed to be unconscious.
"Lyla, I wondered where you might be when I didn't see you at the location where I asked you to bring him to." Aldritch said to her.
"Sorry master, I had to make a detour due to some nosey bunch, it took me a while." She said.
Aldritch didn't really want to hear the explanation, so he didn't question her further.
"Will he be able to go missing for a couple of days?"
"Yes master, that wouldn't be a problem at all, he normally those so, besides, his family doesn't put him in such a high regard, they don't really care if he went missing for an entire week." She said.
"Very well then."
Aldritch asked her to tie him up well and place him at the corner of the room. He was a bit tired, so he decided to sleep for the time being.
Before doing that, he gave Lyla a little task to book train tickets to the inner wall, luckily, Argus had a few gold coins that Aldritch added to his before giving her the entire pouch. She just had to buy out the entire first class coach so that they would face no issues.
...
"Kyaaa!!" an ear piercing scream woke Aldritch up from his sleep.
He looked to see where it came from, only to find Ingrid staring at Argus who was now wide awake. She certainly didn't recognize him as one of the slaves, neither was any other person supposed to be in there, not to mention the fact that she was already flustered from waking up beside Aldritch, she couldn't help the reaction.
Once she opened her eyes to see Aldritch's back so close to her face, the first thing that came to her mind was the incident that occurred when she walked in on Aldritch and Lina, then all the tales Lina had filled her mind with resurfaced... a virgin's life.
"What is it, Ingrid?" Aldritch asked as he dragged himself out of bed after realizing it wasn't a serious matter like an attack or similar.
"T-there's a man here... he's tied up..."
"He's a bit strong, but that's it, he can't harm you." Lyla said to Ingrid, appearing out of nowhere to stand beside her. The sudden appearance caused Ingrid to freak out, giving her a jump scare, but she immediately recognized Lyla from before.
"Are you the one who brought him in here?" She asked.
"Yeah, master's orders." Lyla answered.
"I see... sorry for the unsightly reaction, everything happened so unexpectedly that's why." She explained herself while helping herself up to her feet shyly.
"Mm. Lyla, what about the task I gave you?" Aldritch asked as he got out of bed, cracking his neck lightly after sitting up.
"Done, these are the tickets." She reached for a pouch behind her back and pulled out several tickets handing them to Aldritch, who gestured for her to give them to Ingrid.
It didn't take long before they arrived in front of the huge mansion.
"For your troubles." Aldritch said while handing a silver coin to the coachman. Sure, it was too much of a payment for his services, but Aldritch didn't mind. Also, spending money you didn't make doesn't hurt as much.
The guards at the gate were confused to see so many people at that hour of the night since it was already close to midnight. Once they saw that all of them were with Aldritch, they were at ease and allowed all of them entry into the house. Aldritch was even surprised when they addressed him as Lord Aldritch.
He could only conclude that it was the doing of Lada, after all, every single person within that family and house was her slave, they only put up a front and behave normally to throw people off, even when there's no one around.
It wasn't like Lada was showing them any bad treatment, so why would they even think of escaping and telling the public that they were slaves under Lada... not that they could.
"My Lord, you're back. Welcome!" Lada rushed out of the house towards Aldritch with a wide smile on her face.
'How did they know? There's no way they coincidentally were coming out of the front door at such an hour, right?' Aldritch thought to himself suspiciously.
Behind her was Lina who was literally running at this point, she too greeted Aldritch in a similar way.
Aldritch was surprised for a bit as Lina referred to him as Lord also, after all, she normally refers to him as master. After looking at Lada a second time, he understood why.
Ingrid who was behind Aldritch saw a very beautiful woman dressed like a noble rushing towards Aldritch and was stunned to say the least. When exactly did he know her? If she remembered correctly, he was asking about information on the kingdom only a few days ago, but now he knew such a figure? Not to talk about the house, it was like one befitting of a king!
'The way she looks at him... master has definitely done things to her!' suddenly, Ingrid's cheeks became flustered a bit as different scenes entered her mind. Heh... it was all Lina's fault.
"I brought a couple promising addition to the family, screen them for me, and the useful ones should be brought to me. As for that man over there and the red skinned girl, keep them separate from the others for now since they are not one of us yet." Aldritch ordered.
"As you say, my Lord." Lada answered with a light smile.
"Oh yes, meet Ingrid. She had been with me for quite a while now and have been very helpful, treat her well." Aldritch said to Lada who nodded before casting a look at Ingrid.
"hmm... are you noble by any chance?"
Ingrid, hearing this, was taken aback for a little bit before regaining herself. "N-no... well, I used to be, but not anymore." She said.
"Sorry, you seem sensitive of the topic, I won't pry further." Lada apologized, seeing Ingrid's reaction.
"No, it's alright."
"We should chat sometime, for now, I have to carryout our Lord's orders. Please, go inside and rest from your journey." Lada said to Ingrid before leaving, waving her as she did.
Ingrid watched Lada walk away with the slaves towards another side of the mansion. Her first impression of Lada was that she was a typical noble lady, pompous and prideful, but after their first interaction just some seconds ago, she felt different.
With a mild smile, Ingrid walked up the stairs into the main door of the house.