Chapter 338: Chapter 336 – Future Plans.

“I’m glad to see that you’re doing fine, Lord Arthur.”

“Yes, I’m glad as well but I would have been even gladder if the bodyguards that I hired actually kept the side of their deal.”

“W-we are terribly sorry, the repair of our equipment took a lot longer than we anticipated and we also encountered some wandering monsters on the way here…”

“I see… What do you think?”

“It’s… possible, sometimes craftsmen overestimate how much they can handle at once.”

Arthur along with the two people in this room looked toward the new addition to the Valerian household. It was the man that defeated the enemy Knight Commander and who was forced into a special knightly getup to represent his lord. On his upper body, he was wearing a specially made gambeson with the household crest around his heart. A set of belts were keeping it tightly together and black gloves adorned his hands. To the side, he had a ceremonial longsword that the sun elf in the room was glancing at.

Aubron and Myrtle from the Platinum adventurer party had arrived late and as punishment was kept from meeting the city lord. Arthur needed to show them that they were actually replaceable and for this reason, Roland had been asked to come here. After spending half a week in the inn they were finally called to his mansion for another talk.

“Master Wayland… Oh, please excuse me, it’s Sir Wayland now. I’ll have to apologize for the treatment from my group during our small expedition.”

“That’s fine, they didn’t know.”

“You are truly magnanimous Sir Wayland. Aubron, how about you say a few words too?”

“Ah… yes… I must apologize for my previous behavior.”

The woman mage that looked like a witch was all smiles but her companion was not the best at playing it off. Previously when he was with them in the dungeon they treated him as a common blacksmith and a porter. The only one that showed some interest in his work was this older lady.

‘Was she so nice to me because she expected something like this to happen?’

At that time he was not a tier 3 class holder so there was no reason to be nice. She was the party leader and perhaps assumed that he was special in some way. Roland didn’t really have anything to substantiate his claim but those were the qualities that a leader should have. By her acting favorably she was able to get rid of a potentially messy situation. The sun elf on the other hand was straining himself to apologize. Considering that a Knight Commander was beaten that out-leveled all of them, he was probably feeling threatened.

“It’s fine, as I stated before, you couldn’t have known of my position. However, now that you are aware I will expect you to handle yourselves as proper bodyguards. I expect you to execute your duties properly from now on and if something happens to the Lord, you will have to answer to me. Do I make myself clear?”

“Of course, we shall perform our duties as was stated by the contract.”

“Y-yes we will.”

Roland found this a little bit cathartic. Usually, it was he that needed to lower his head before people but now it was the other way around. Unless another higher noble than Arthur arrived in the city he wouldn’t really need to bow his head. Even though he was just a son of a noble, this noble was a duke.

Considering that Arthur was taking part in the succession battle he was an officially acknowledged member of the Valerian noble family. Even though almost no one treated him like that in his own household, people from the outside couldn’t be as dismissive. Even if he didn’t win this race for the main title, he could potentially gain a different one.

The title of the duke could only be given to one of the sons that continued the line. Any others that stood out could become viscounts or counts and form a branch family. Usually, they would just continue to work under the duke household as a regular lord and become something like an official.

Roland on the other hand, who was only a son of a Baron, couldn't even become a proper lord. Instead, his career would usually involve becoming a knight just like he did now. Then perhaps if Arthur managed to become a count he could be granted some land along with a baron title for his services. There was always a limited quota of how many nobles could reside in a kingdom or empire.

It was limited by the regions that these nobles were assigned to. Even his father owned land and managed it after being given it for his services. If every area that the kingdom was divided by was managed by a noble then no more titles could be really given. It was possible to divide some land here and there but this didn’t really happen often. Thus usually only thanks to war, death or bankruptcy did a new noble come to be.

“You’re not bad at this, the blood of the Silver Wolf really does run in your veins.”

“Really? I thought that I might have gone too hard on them.”

Roland shook his head at Arthur after the two platinum-grade adventurers left.

“The contract that you made with them was quite vague, they were actually following it so we can’t really punish them.”

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“How troublesome, if I knew this would have happened… I really did overpay for this one…”

Arthur seemed dejected after the interaction. Even though they had apologized they didn’t seem like proper allies that he could count on. In the contract, they were supposed to act as his bodyguards but they didn’t really need to go against people like Emmerson that were nobles. They couldn’t duel anyone like Roland did and if they were hindered by outside sources then they wouldn’t be punished much besides getting a pay cut. Thus it was possible for them to come up with an excuse and Arthur could not really do much about it.

“That you did but this place should start making money soon.”

“Yes, my brother will buy out those knights so you might want to watch your back.”

“For Emmerson?”

“Mhm, he must have a lot of spare change to pay up but not like I can refuse the coin.”

“Just be sure to spend it well, like on some proper knights.”

“Haha, I will!”

Arthur looked a lot chipper than usual and Roland wasn’t sure why. Even with him around, the situation didn’t change that much. Theodore would probably not send out any knights anymore nor his brothers. That approach that had already failed would only cause more harm than good for the participants in the succession. The battle for resources was important but not like they needed that much more money.

All of them were already established lords with grand cities and small armies in their grasp. In Roland’s mind violence was not always the answer. It was possible for a person like Theodore to use bribes but he couldn’t see Arthur selling the city out. Previously he mentioned some type of bet, so joining one of his siblings was off the table.

‘They won’t send assassins out for me, will they?’

There was a possibility of him becoming the main target of people that wanted to infringe on this city. Currently, he had a small amount of protection as Arthur’s movements were considered mysterious. After Emmerson’s fall, everyone would probably send out their spies to find any other potential players in the city. Then after it became clear that he was the only obstruction in their way, his head might be targeted.

He was working tirelessly on his new armor but this was not the only way of defending himself. Just like in the tier 3 trial, there were times when others needed to be utilized. While he was the strongest piece on the chessboard this didn’t mean that he couldn’t get some help. Right on cue one of the pieces that could lessen the burden on his shoulders showed up.

“My Lord.”

“Mary? Come in, we are finished.”

“Good day, Sir Wayland, would you like some tea with cake?”

“Hm…”

He remained silent for a moment as he wasn’t paying attention to Mary but to the status screen in front of his face. Both the maid as well as the lord were wearing an enchanted trinket on their body. These types of enchantments lasted for quite some time but had the downside of only allowing simpler effects. The pendant that he received from his old boss was the same and it could absorb some of the ambient mana to keep the enchantment in effect.

Thanks to this enchantment that he had studied he was now able to see through similar magical devices. Mary’s and Arthur’s status screens became visible to him after he disabled the magical tools they were using.

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