Chapter 4: Good Hunt (2)
Today's morning was different from the usual day of Liam's routine. Unlike his regular schedule where he would be sitting in the study room but instead today he was inside the meeting room. This was something quite rare, in all the time Liam recalled the meeting room being used he was in both of them. The first was a month ago when his mother forced him to sit and he accidentally offended everyone present inside including the person he has most difficulties interacting with.
On his way to the meeting room, he was praying for the absence of General Ishtar and also the other two ministers but he was also fine with only the General's absence.
He held the invitation in his hand and walked to that guard standing before the door and silently handed him the invitation. The guards did not bother reading it and then turned to knock the door before opening it.
"Lord Liam Cinn Unsandra, third son of Baron Markus Dey Ursandra is here to attend the meeting." The guard announced and signals Liam to enter. Liam was irritated that the Guards did not bother to greet him which should have been their first duty when they saw Liam heading towards him.
As soon as he entered the room Liam stated examining the people inside the room and when he did not see General Ishtar or any other personals from the previous meeting he releases a sigh of relief.
"Welcome Master Liam." An armored man greets Liam from the other end of the table while being seated.
Liam looks at the unfamiliar face who has greeted him. He tries to recall his name and when he is unable to place a name on his face he starts to examine him for any clues that might help him remember his name. He finds that the man before him is a knight considering that his attire is better than any of the guards inside the room.
He was accompanied by other soldiers who were also here with General Ishtar in the previous meeting thus Liam concluded that the person before him must be working for General Ishtar.
"Thank you for greeting me," Liam replied.
After confirming that the knight was someone he has never acquainted with, he turns to the other side and sees his mother, Catherine, his caretaker, Portus, and another set of stranger's eyes which were daggering him with focused stares.
Behind Portus stood a young man who must have been in his early twenties, he stood strong with his muscular build that was covered with a gambison under his bronze armor. The sword strapped around his waist was a general sword issued by the lord but on him, it looked like a lethal weapon. Liam's eyes for appraising a warrior were not as developed as Portus's or even Ishtar's but even he could tell that this young man was the strongest man inside this room.
"We were waiting for your arrival," The armored man stated pulling Liam's attention away from the young muscular man, "Please have a seat," he pointed at the empty chairs.
"Thank you," Liam thanked and then gave his mother and caretaker a questioning look which is replied by soft smiles.
He walks towards his mother and before he can grab the chair, the young man who was standing behind Portus pulled it back for him, "Please let me help you with that." The young man preemptively pulled the chair with a soft unhostile smile.
Liam gives the overly eager man a questioning stare but still accepts his help, "Thank you…" He thanked and pretended to recall his name.
"His name is Cain," Portus answered, "He is my grandson." At which the young man smiles proudly.
"Is that so?" Liam accepts his answer and takes the seat.
"You must be wondering why you were invited here, weren't you." asks the armored man.
"Yes, I was Sir…" He questioned the armored person whom he has already concluded him to be a knight from General Ishtar's battalion.
"We haven't met, have we?" the knight spoke pretentiously as if Liam should have prior knowledge about him, "My name is Sir Simon S. Silk." He proudly announced his name which led Liam to try to hold his laughter.
Liam found it quite funny that someone would be named Sir Simon S. Silk. If he were to write Sir Simon's initials then his name would be Sir S. S. S., "I am glad to meet you, Sir Silk." He said with a straight face.
"Please call me Sir Simon." He requested.
"Thank you for your generosity," Liam replied, "You can keep calling me Master Liam." At his words, everyone's eyes widened and the very next moment Simon was daggered with murderous stares from all sides. Simon looked around and saw clear hostility coming from Catherine and Portus. He has just called the only male inside a noble's mansion Master instead of Lord or in Liam's case Young Lord.
If one were to start writing everything he did wrong it could easily make him lose his position as Ishtar's second in command or at most get him and his whole family executed. Simon gave frightened look to the 12-year-old child who just called him out on his mistake. Now he understood why his General was paranoid about this kid. It hasn't been a minute since his arrival but this twelve-year-old boy made Sir Simon a knight shudder in fear. He was also agitated that a child managed to make him feel this way.
Simon understood his mistakes but before he could apologize and correct it, Catherine intervened.
"Sir Simon, I think we should start our discussion. My son has to prepare for the journey."
"Of course," Simon replied with a convincing smile that he practiced all his life while cursing Catherine inside his heart. Catherine gave a sly smile which she hid behind her hand. She was not going to let Simon repair his mistake.
"Sir Liam I assume you were informed by the invitation that we from the battalion of General Ishtar have been tasked to explore the forest near the Feather Inque town. Our task this time is to kill the beasts that are terrorizing the woodcutters making it impossible for them to gather woods."
"I know." Liam lied. He had not yet read the invitation, as soon as the invitation was handed to him Liam was told to visit the meeting room. He was hoping to read the invitation while he was inside but the guards did not bother to return the written invitation.
"We are here to transport you and your companion to the rendezvous, of course, we will leave in two days giving you enough time to prepare for the journey." For some unknown reason, Simon seemed to have turned polite. The previously belittling tone that he possed was nowhere to be found.
"Is that so?" Liam pretended to think, from the way Simon spoke he knew that this was something he cannot refuse. He turned to his mother and caretaker but seeing how they were sitting silently they were also aware of that fact. He cursed himself for not reading the invitation beforehand.
"Are there any questions you want to ask?" Simon asked after seeing Liam sitting there holding his chin like a statue.
He faced Simon and said, "You said there are beasts in the woods right?"
"Yes, it is as you say." He answered.
"So are we going to drive them away or are we going to bring back their carcasses."
"It would be better if we kill all the beasts and brought back their carcasses. Not only will it encourage other beasts to stay away from that part of the forest but it will also bring closer to the families of victims who died by the hands of these beasts."
"Being able to avenge the killers of a family member will bring peace to the heart of the villagers." Portus joined
"That would be a nice thing, If Liam were to join then he would gain some recognition from the villagers and his reputation will also increase. Are you sure you want Liam to join you?" Asked Catherine, she did not believe that a person working for Ishtar wanted to help Liam gather some achievements.
"Yes, we would be honored if Master Liam joins us. It will not only be beneficial for us but it will also serve as Master Liam's real-life combat debut. I am sure Liam hasn't taken part in any of those."
Before Catherine can speak Portus cut her words, "Indeed, our young Lord has not stained-blood and I believe that this will be a good experience for him."
"I am thankful that you understood our views, Master Portus." he respectfully bows hiding his true intentions.
"That is not true I also believe that Liam must be tired of swinging his swords without any goal in his mind. This will be a great opportunity for him to use his training in real life." He said while proudly looking towards Liam.
"I can't wait to stain-blood," Liam said sarcastically which was gone unnoticed by others. They thought of him being confident in his strength.
"Is that so? I hope this expedition brings you great achievements and helps you with growth." Simon spoke with a sly expression.
"I hope so too," Liam answered exactly the same as before but others still thought that he was being confident.
Simon then turned to Portus and asked, "Master Portus will you be joining us as his Guide?"
"I afraid I can't, my age has started to working greatly upon my body. For that reason, I will be depending on my grandson."
"Oh!" Simon pretended to be surprised by Portus's statement.
On being brought attention to him the young man behind Portus, Cain straightened his back and placed a fist on his chest.
"I have personally trained him so you can trust in his abilities." Portus praises his grandson.
"It would be nice to have some young blood in our group but we do regret not having A Great Warrior like you with us," Simon spoke between his vulgar smile.
"Please be at ease when you are with Cain, I assure you that you won't be reminded of my absence." Cain who understood the meaning behind Portus's words stiffened and his cheeks started to flush.
"That is reassuring to hear." Simon then turns to Catherine, "Is milady okay with Master Portus's decision to not accompany Liam."
"As a lady who does not know combat, I am fine with Portus's decision," Catherine spoke with hostility reminding Simon of the insult that Ishtar said in the meeting before the attack of Duke Anarus's Army. He did not want to proceed into bothersome talk so he decided to end the conversation.
"In that case," Simon changed the topic before it went sour, "I guess we should end this meeting. Master Liam and Master Cain need a lot of time to prepare for the journey." Simon started to stand but Liam's voice stopped him.
"Before we leave I have some more questions about the beasts that attacked the woodcutters." Upon hearing his words Simon slowly descended into his chair. He wanted to leave as soon as possible but he cannot let his true emotions appear on his face.
"I don't know much about the beasts that attacked the woodcutters but I can answer everything that I have in my capacity." He answered with a straight face.
"Can you tell me what kind of beast attacked the woodcutters?"
"We are currently unaware that, we only found the dead bodies of the people who were attacked, there were none who survived." He repeated exactly what was written on the reports handed to him.
"Then what about the characteristics of the beast?" Liam questioned.
"Characteristics?"
"Yes, characteristics!" He emphasized, "something like footprints, signs of magic, number of feet, and tails. I believe that you have procured the dead bodies of the woodcutters. I want to know what kinds of wounds did they have, did they have bite marks or claw marks on their bodies, were there any signs of magic being used on the victims or whether there were any footprints or any signs that will help us recognize the beast in the location of attacks."
Simon became silent, he had not expected these questions nor did the reports had anything about the things Liam was asking.
Simon who has arrived in the mansion just the next day after Catherine had received the letter had no idea of the attacks that happened in Feather Inques village. He has not even seen the location yet.
This was done to prevent Liam from having any prior knowledge of this event. Ishtar was convinced by Simon that Liam identifying the mistake in his plan was a fluke but if for some reason it wasn't a fluke and instead a plan made by the mother and son then Simon's quick arrival would stop them from having any time to discuss beforehand.
Even if Catherine meets Liam before the meeting and discusses it she won't be able to cover all the topics that will transpire inside the meeting hall.
When Simon froze in his place for longer than a minute it irritated Portus who used an aggressive tone to wake him from his dreamland.
"Answer the boy," Portus roughly said to the stunned Simon. This was something that he could not accept after working as a head of Baron Aragus's guards.
"I don't have any information about that." Simon's heart ached in shame while he said those words. As a leader of the expedition, he has to be aware of the characteristics that Liam just mentioned but since Ishtar has sent him before Simon could dive deep into the details of the mission he was unable to answer.
All of this was done to humiliate Catherine but instead, he was humiliated. He kept his head down and ground his teeth in frustration while Catherine hid her wide smirk behind her hand.
Cain worriedly stared at the man who kept his head down and the person who made him like that wasn't aware of his actions.
"In that case, we should leave, I have to prepare for my journey," Liam said and started to leave, he was unable to handle the uncomfortable aura coming from the bowing Simon while Portus carefully watched Simon's every move.
"Let me lead you." Cain swiftly walked passed Liam and opened the door for him and his mother to pass through.
"You should leave with them," Portus advised Cain.
Cain who understood his grandfather's feeling left after Liam, "I shall take my leave."
After few moments has passed Portus grabbed the knob of the closed door and spoke, "If this were to happen in my era, you would not be wearing your armor from the very next day." He spoke in a disappointed tone. "At least honor the oath that you took when you were knighted." he left the room closing the door behind him.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
BooKyodai
BooKyodai Sorry for the late updates guys.
I have been busy with IRL stuff and my method of writing in large chunks to avoid plot irrelevance backfired. Now I will be updating a new chapter while writing the story in large chunks.
This will make the chapters shorter than usual but I can continue updating new chapters more frequently.
Hope this works.
Encourage me by writing comments and if you like the story then add it to your library it does helps... (^_^)
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