Chapter 36: Itchy Ears Are Schemers' Doings

"You were attacked by assassins?"

"Yes my lord. Not just any assassins, the shadow assassins." Knight Gustav said, emphasizing with his tone on 'the shadow assassin'

"So you guys got beaten by a bunch of shadow assassins?"

"Young lord, they are a group of assassins that are known not just within the empire but the whole continent. They are a group that is notorious and are backed up by several households, they have a branch in almost all the nine nations of our continent. I'd they are involved in this, then it means someone high up wants you dead." Another Knight said. He had yellow and wavy hair.

'The kind of assassins that can't be hired by just anyone...' I stepped down from where I was sitting, "However, why did they take Knight Denethor?"

"We don't know either, we were all knocked out and didn't see it happen, I was sure I received a stab to the chest..." Knight Gustav responded, touching the part of his clothes that was torn by the piercing of the sword.

"For now, let's go to the capital."

"My lord, the capital is far away, however, the duchy is still close by, I suggest that we go back to the duchy and inform the Duke about this." the yellow wavy-haired Knight said, bowing his head.

"You can go back to the duchy and report it..." I paused and looked at all of them, "But I wonder if your lives will be spared by the ferocious Duke after he learns that you allowed your young Lord to be attacked by a group of assassins."

They all bowed their faces and hid them away from me.

"I'm doing this for your sakes as well. Those assassins didn't meet me here, if I am to guess right, they probably think the information was leaked and this is only a decoy which is why they probably took Knight Denethor since he's the one in command. We won't just be travelling, we'll be saving Knight Denethor and I'll give you guys the chance to redeem yourselves. So there's no need to worry my father about this." I said to them, and they all nodded and were convinced.

"But my lord, permit me to carry you," Knight Gustav said on his knees. His sudden change in attitude was really offsetting me, I preferred the cocky bully that had no shame, that's the one I knew better.

From there hence we began to travel on foot, while we spent the day making sure we cover as much distance as possible the Knight was spent on meals and sleep and I also got to know the Knights better, saw them chat and jest at each other. Even Knight Gustav who I thought was a messed up human being from the beginning seemed to have been through his share of life.

According to the knights' discussion, he came from a prestigious barony but he witnessed his family brutally murdered and burnt overnight at the age of twelve. He was taken by the Duke and swore loyalty, all of them had some sort of ownership sense towards the duchy. They considered it their home and would do anything to protect it, that's what I saw in them as they shared a deep bond with each other every night.

Not our entire journey was peaceful, most nights we encountered beasts, even though they are not demonic, they are quite dangerous because they could harm or kill a man. Beasts are separated into four kinds, the normal beast: the ones that are seen around, every time and can either be dangerous or timid, they can be tamed. Mythical beast: these are beasts that have lived over a hundred years, because of it they gain a special ability and are very strong, these are the kind of beast, tamers prefer to tame because of their abilities. Demonic beast: These are beasts that are made of pure evil, they destroy and kill everywhere they are found and cannot be tamed, they have strong abilities like the mythical beasts and are strongly tied to the demon race. Primordial beasts: These ones are the strongest and the ones on top of the food chain, the likes of dragons and felidars belong to these groups, oh and felidars are horned lions, however, that's not all there is to them.

They were celestial creatures that protected law and order, which is why they after used as the sigil of many courts of law today in different kingdoms. All these and much more I have come to know while travelling with the Knights. My knowledge of the world of Ceria was exhilarating because it caused me to think of the amazing things and people I'll meet. They also talked about races.

The humankind, the beastkind, the elvenkind, the giantkind, the dwarvenkind and the draxonkind. While these are the main races, they have subraces, like how humans have white, black and all, my guess is elves have dark elves, ice elves, wood elves... it was just my guess since they didn't really elaborate but I wasn't oblivious to these kinds of things.

It was truly exhilarating and worth looking forward to.

***

It took us thirteen days to get out of the forest, it was no joke when they say the Maxnor duchy was hidden from the rest of the world by a thick forest on all four cardinals, however, the journey would have been much faster on a horse and we took a lot of breaks, it was sort of an excursion for me.

"Excuse me, we would like to take a room." Knight Gustav said to the bartender.

Ah, an inn, I've imagined about this but the feel of it hits strongly than I even imagined, the sweet aroma of food, the soft laughter and murmurs, the clanging sound of cheers, the wooden round tables surrounded with four chairs each, and the stares of different people, bearded huge man, slim freckled young man, an armed lady, all sorts of people were here. This is it, this is the real transmigration, not being locked up in some dukedom.

"Would you look at that, he's surrounded by Knights, he must be a big shot." One whispered to another.

"Bet he would have a lot of money. Hey, are you thinking what I'm thinking...?" The other whispered back.

"What do you mean, look at those Knights, do you think you can take them out with your grade C vassal weapon? and besides you are only a two-star prima." Another interfered.

"And they might not be primas at all, which meant they have not begun to star up their core..." The first one to talk replied, he was full-bearded and huge-muscled but had a calm look for his size.

"What are we suggesting, we have two four-star primas, which means we should be able to handle them with all we have. Who knows we could be talking about raking fortunes."

The huge man grinned as he looked at me, I could feel my ear itch uncomfortably.

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