“Lady Dulcina.” Armael looked surprised. “You should not—”

  “Are you interrogating our guests, Seneschal? Has old age taken your decorum as well as your wits?” Dulcina’s scathing words shut the man up. “To display such a lack of hospitality… You have utterly failed in your duties as the keeper of this House. Perhaps my Father should seek to retire you before you humiliate us any further.”

  “I merely—” he tried.

  “Do not embarrass yourself. Leave the hall and prepare the room for our guests,” she commanded coldly. “Or do you believe such a simple task is beyond your ability as well?”

  “... As my Lady wishes,” the Seneschal bowed deeply, his expression blank as he departed the hall.

  The rest of the servants hesitantly followed him, leaving the hall void save for the four of them.

  Elen and Eri glanced at each other, unsure of what to make of this development, while Lord Draevan chuckled.

  “I was wondering when she would show up,” the man said, smiling. “Miss Ravelyn, this is my daughter, Dulcina. Dulcina, this is Miss Elen Ravelyn. She is—”

  Before her father could finish, the girl had already run down the stairs, nimbly hopping off the last ten steps and landing gracefully before Eri.

  The boy did not manage a single word; the girl immediately grabbed him and pulled him into a tight hug.

  “I thought you would never wake again,” she whispered. “I’m so glad you are okay.”

  Eri squeaked. The girl hugged him tighter.

  “Y-you too,” Eri choked out. “P-please… Hurts… Still healing…”

  “Ah! Sorry.” Dulcina immediately released her hug. She stepped away and smiled at him.

  Her eyes and expression were so sincere — so entirely unlike the dead gaze he remembered of her — that he was momentarily stunned.

  Matron Elen pulled him away, snapping him out of his daze, before stepping in front of him. “Lord Draevan, Lady Dulcina, it has been lovely meeting you both. Respectfully, however, given that my ward and I have no obligation to stay, we wish to leave. You have my word that we will return tomorrow to answer any questions you might have.”

  “You and Eri are free to leave as you like. I will not deny you this right,” Lord Draevan said. “However, if you aim to leave Kaelreach tonight to flee from House Elathion’s reach, I implore you to reconsider.”

  Dulcina grimaced. Eri sighed.

  It was perhaps too optimistic to think they would not realise the pair was trying to escape.

  “Should I take your words as a threat?” Elen asked neutrally.

  “It is no threat. On House Elathion’s honour, none in my retinue will stop you if you decide to leave Kaldreach this instant,” Lord Draevan vowed. “However, my request for you and your ward to stay is not one of malice, but gratitude. Though I have many questions, my primary desire is to have my debt to your ward fulfilled, and not to so vulgarly sate my curiosities when I owe him my daughter’s life.”

  In complete defiance of his higher station, the Head of House Elathion bowed before them, two commoners with no titles to speak of. “Please. Grant me the opportunity to repay my dues, and from this crisis, form lasting friendships and bonds that might prove mutually beneficial to us both.”

  Eri was stunned, but Elen was unmoved by this display. “Forgive me for being blunt, Lord Draevan, but House Elathion’s recent years have not been kind. A binding contract with you is not in our interest. Furthermore, though my ward and I lack your wealth or power, we do not seek the burdens of noble intrigue or attention.”

  Dulcina bristled at her words, but said nothing.

  “I do not deny your accusation,” Lord Draevan rose, his smile now a little sadder, yet no less genuine. “House Elathion’s standing is fragile, given its endless string of misfortunes over the last century. I understand your want for discretion, as well as your desire to distance yourself from us. Nonetheless, I still wish for a sincere discussion to take place between us, or as sincere as you and your ward may safely allow it. One conversation, that is all I ask.”

  “We refuse,” Elen immediately rejected, taking Eri aback. “If there’s nothing else, we are leaving.”

  “... It is your right,” Lord Draevan nodded. “However, if you are adamant about leaving, then I would have you and your ward take this before you go.”

  The man presented an ornate strongbox. He stopped ten paces away, halted by the matron’s warning gaze, before carefully opening it.

  Elen gasped. Eri stared with wide eyes.

  The System notification message caused him to go pale.

  \-\

  Emerald-Grade Hellgate Core

  Base Value: 18000 Gold

  A harvested Hellgate Mana Core, gained from clearing an Emerald-Grade Hellgate. There are likely fewer than a hundred such Cores left within the entire Empire. Its value eclipses that of entire noble Houses. Such wealth would drive even Saints to temptation.

  And now, it could be yours.

  \-\

  “This is House Elathion’s greatest treasure — a Core said to have been harvested by Saint Elathion herself during the 18th Crusade,” Lord Draevan said, his voice trembling slightly. “I wish for you to have it.”

  “Are you insane?” Elen bluntly stated, abandoning all decorum. “Putting aside how tremendously stupid it is to even just show this to us, House Elathion’s struggling finances cannot possibly accept a trade of this magnitude. Why would you—”

  “Your boy saved my daughter’s life, the last light of my life,” Lord Draevan shakily smiled. “The trade would have been fair at ten times the price.”

  Elen did not know what to say to that.

  But Eri did. “We cannot accept something like that.”

  Well, he could, and for a moment, he was extremely tempted to. That was a godly amount of money the Lord was offering.

  But doing so would likely seal House Elathion’s fate to ruin.

  And Eri could never accept doing something like that for callous greed.

  “There is no need for this. We will stay,” Eri continued before Elen could speak. “But any questions you ask, we hold the right to refuse. If you can accept that, we can have that sincere discussion you wanted.”

  The Lord glanced over to Elen, who was clearly unhappy with the situation.

  Eri tugged at her sleeves, and the pair exchanged a glance. The boy’s eyes were pleading.

  After a moment’s hesitation, the matron sighed. She turned to Draevan. “Only between the four of us, and no more. I sense even a hint of anything off, and you will regret it.”

  The Lord sighed in relief. He closed the strongbox and bowed his head even lower to Eri. “I am in your debt once more.”

  Dulcina skipped over and grabbed the boy’s hand. “Thank you.”

  “Don’t thank me yet,” Eri mumbled. “You may soon regret knowing me when you find out I’m more trouble than I’m worth.”

  “Never,” Dulcina immediately refuted. The intensity in her pale gaze took him aback. “I will never regret knowing more of you.”

  Eri didn’t know what to say to that, so he looked away.

  Elen painfully cracked her knuckle against his head. “Brat, you just about broke every rule I set for you. I’m almost impressed.”

  “That’s not true,” the boy protested. “I didn’t end up in a gaol. A-and I didn’t add to the population.”

  “Not yet, anyway,” the matron murmured, then sighed. “C’mon, let’s go. I’m curious to hear just how much shit you stirred this time…”

  ~~~

  Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

  “Nineteen men?!” Elen exclaimed, aghast.

  The matron nearly spilt her cup of tea on the table as she slammed her palm against it.

  Her withering glare caused Eri to shrink in his chair.

  “Technically, it’s more like fifteen,” Eri protested weakly, his gaze unable to meet his guardian’s. “Dulcina killed a few before I got there. She helped in the fight as well.”

  The young noblewoman huffed, sipping her tea. “I barely reduced their numbers, nor did I truly help you in any appreciable capacity. In the end, you alone were still the one who dealt with the greatest threat: Forliet and Gunther.”

  A Silver-Core knight and a Gold-Core halfbreed giant. The former had barely taken Eri an eyeblink to kill, while the latter was a known slayer of experienced Chosens.

  No matter how he tried to downplay his actions, Eri’s terrifying lethality was plain to see.

  “Most of the public does not know you were the one responsible for averting the ambush on House Elathion, nor that you were the one who slew Gunther,” Lord Draevan offered. “I have forbidden my men from speaking of what they’ve seen, and taken personal care that the investigation into this matter from outside parties would not uncover your involvement.”

  “Those are hardly foolproof measures,” Elen growled. “Men always talk. And the situation is too strange not to garner interest. People will eventually find out.”

  “True, it is likely that even now, rumours of Eri’s incredible feat are spreading,” Lord Draevan conceded. “However, consider this: Eri is still a child and a Copper Core Chosen. No matter how one looks at the situation, it’s absurd to think he would be capable of fending off an entire brigand ambush on his own. Most would dismiss the rumours as mere nonsense, especially without proof or House Elathion’s word on the matter.”

  In other words, though Eri’s name might become connected to the incident, the sheer absurdity of his achievements would likely muddy the truth and conceal his true capabilities.

  It was a small assurance, but at least it helped reduce the attention the boy would receive. The fewer people who came snooping about, the better.

  Elen sighed heavily, rubbing her eyes. “I was gone for just over a month, and you somehow went from clean hands to dirtying them with the blood of over a dozen men. You couldn’t have just started with one or two kills, brat?”

  “How is that any better?” Eri complained, baffled.

  Dulcina blinked. “Wait. Eri, you… You’ve never taken a life before that day?”

  Eri grimaced. “N-no.”

  Not in this life, at least…

  “But with how easily you killed, I thought…” Dulcina continued hesitantly, before shaking her head. “No, it doesn’t matter.”

  “Hold on a second, you saw him fight?” Elen demanded immediately, her right hand tightened into a fist. “What exactly do you mean by that? How much did you see?”

  Dulcina was tight-lipped. She glanced at Eri.

  The boy coughed. “Elen, when I was fighting Gunther… There was no other way. She saw everything. Even my… other skills.”

  The fight went out of the matron. Elen sat heavily back down, groaning. “Fuck.”

  There was a stretch of silence after that. Lord Draevan’s face was carefully blank and polite. Dulcina looked uncomfortable, occasionally glancing between Elen and Eri.

  The matron’s brows were furrowed in thought. Eventually, she was the one to speak first, with her questions directed at Lord Draevan.

  “Why haven’t you involved the Church?” she asked the man, her tone both agitated and confused. “Not that I’m not grateful, but given the… circumstances around Eri, I thought it would have been your knee-jerk reaction.”

  “... Why should I?” Draevan cocked an eyebrow. “There is no reason to involve the Holy Order.”

  “No reason? What are you—” Elen suddenly cut herself off, her eyes widening. “You… You don’t know? But how could you not know? Your daughter must have seen—”

  “I didn’t tell him,” Dulcina interrupted. “I… I didn’t tell anyone.”

  When Elen stared at her, the Heiress further elaborated: “Eri told me not. He said he would save me if I swore never to speak of how he fought. It is impossible to conceal his involvement in the affair, given his presence and the bodies he left behind, but I swear, I have never spoken a word of his capabilities. Not even to Father.”

  Elen glared at Lord Draevan, who shook his head.

  “My daughter was quite adamant in maintaining secrecy,” he confirmed. “I have already said before: a debt is owed. I would not be so craven as to interrogate my benefactor just to sate my curiosity, especially when it is his secrets that saved my daughter.”

  “... Give me a second with my ward here,” Elen spoke through gritted teeth. She did not wait for the Lord’s permission.

  Eri was pulled aside to a corner of the room. The matron closed in, looking very unhappy.

  “I feel like I have been denied,” she whispered angrily, “critical, need-to-know information.”

  “There was no time to tell you anything!” Eri protested.

  “I nearly gave away your origin because I assumed Lord Draevan knew about your past! That could have gotten us killed!” Elen hissed before taking a breath to calm herself. “You need to tell me this in advance. I was getting ready to take him out, right then.”

  “Y-you’re joking, right?” Eri was taken aback. “He’s a Jewelled Chosen, you won’t have stood a chance!”

  “I have my ways,” she murmured. “Would have to sacrifice myself to do it, but if it keeps you safe—”

  “C’mon, Elen! These aren’t bad people. And besides, Dulcina already knows! Why can’t we—”

  “It’s not that simple! You know it's not that simple!” She lowered her voice further, pulling Eri even closer. The boy was shaken by the intensity in her gaze. “The hatred against Hell defines the existence of every single living creature on this continent! The girl is still too naive to understand, but if someone like Lord Draevan learns the truth, he will betray you, regardless of debt or honour. Do not ever make this mistake again: you cannot trust anyone with who you are!”

  Eri understood his matron’s reasoning. He had seen firsthand what the war against the Demon Kings had wrought on the Empire and its people. Eri’s secret could easily get him killed or worse, so it was only rational to never trust anyone with the truth of his origins.

  However…

  “I trusted you before, and it worked out, didn’t it?” he weakly whispered.

  “That’s only because I have selfish reasons for keeping you alive,” Elen harshly replied. “You have no idea how lucky you were that I was your first. Most people are not like me. They will sell you to the Church in a heartbeat. And if that happens, your dreams of becoming a Hero will die before they even begin.”

  Eri felt an unfamiliar pain within. He said nothing.

  Elen wavered. She sighed, releasing him before stalking her way back to the table.

  “You mentioned before you wanted to establish a working relationship between us,” Elen asked Lord Draevan, as if nothing had happened. “What do you mean by that?”

  “As you know, Eri’s killing of Gunther Stormcaller has garnered him significant wealth paid forth from several parties,” Draevan explained, smoothly moving on. “The nobles, the Empire’s bounty board, even the Church… Given your preference for discretion, I can help transition the rewards from those organisations to his hand with little hassle, such that he would not even need to appear in person to receive his gold. I can also act as a liaison for the transaction of his loot as well, should he decide to sell them.”

  Eri perked up. “Loot?”

  “Several bandits’ worth of weapons and armour, as well as the half-giant body of Gunther Stormcaller,” Draevan elaborated. “I have taken a personal hand at calculating the entire worth, and I estimate that, combined with the bounty reward, the final sum would be close to five hundred gold pieces.”

  “F-five hundred?” Eri croaked. He could buy a mansion with that kind of money and still have enough to live the rest of his life comfortably.

  Elen snorted. “And let me guess, you want to charge a fee for this generous proposal?”

  “No fee.” Draevan shook his head. “I would not dare cheat him of his rightful gains. House Elathion will make every effort to secure the best deals for him in Kaldreach, and nothing else.”

  That was a significant favour Lord Draevan was offering. Neither Elen nor Eri held the same mercantile connections that the noble did. It was likely that whatever deal Lord Draevan could make would be several times more lucrative than anything Elen could scrounge up in Kaldreach.

  It was an insane amount of money that Lord Draevan was just giving away. In truth, the noble was under no obligation to give Eri his monetary due nor even entertain the thought. Eri was a commoner and thus had neither the power nor support to go against the noble’s decision.

  Moreover, Draevan must have already spent a small fortune nursing him back to health over the past month, yet not once had the Lord spoken of payment.

  Given House Elathion’s near-destitute state, it was not in a position to so freely hand out such massive sums of wealth when it so desperately needed it.

  It made Lord Draevan’s actions all the more baffling, especially since he was the Head of the House as well, and thus should have a greater interest in preserving its crumbling finances.

  Elen grimaced. “Why? Why are you going so far for him? And don’t tell me that nonsense about debts. If the Head of House Elathion is truly this spineless, your family would have been driven to ruin years ago.”

  Dulcina looked genuinely outraged at the matron’s provocative words. The Heiress rose to her feet, but Draevan waved a hand, and she reluctantly settled back down.

  Contrary to Elen or Eri’s expectations, the Lord did not look remotely insulted. If anything, he seemed pleased. “I am glad to see you are not without guile. Yes, you are correct — I aim to earn your approval through these favours, though I hope my admission of an ulterior motive does not undermine the genuine gratitude I have for your ward.”

  “And what need would House Elathion have for our approval?” Elen asked, a tinge of unease creeping in her voice.

  Lord Draevan placed his elbows on the table and steepled his hands. His expression turned entirely serious.

  It felt as if this was the moment the Lord was waiting for.

  “Before I present my proposal, I wish to clarify something,” he began. “Miss Ravelyn, I am aware of your position as matron of Footfall’s orphanage. Am I correct in assuming you are merely the custodian of young Eri, or have you taken up legal guardianship?

  Elen grimaced. She answered carefully. “Legally speaking, I am his caretaker, nothing more. I do not have formal authority over his life, nor is he recognised as my ward, strictly speaking.”

  Eri shifted uncomfortably.

  The pair had talked over the matter of adoption before, but ultimately, Elen had argued that formal guardianship over Eri would be a mistake. Left without legal ties, it would be easier for the pair to act independently should the need arise.

  There were likely other reasons as well, though Eri knew better than to ask them from Elen, no matter how much he wanted to.

  Lord Draevan nodded, as if he expected the answer. “In that case, rather than being legally under your name, he is still technically an orphan of Footfall, managed through the custodianship of the orphanage.”

  Elen nodded cautiously. The man smiled. “Very good. I shall make my point bluntly, then.”

  “I wish to adopt Eri formally into House Elathion, and bestow upon him the full rights and honours of our noble lineage.”