Catherine watched Lord Arthur's face in utter shock and absolute silence before she started to protest, only for him to shush her by placing his finger on her lips.

  "You want this, am I right? You would like to see the person responsible for your father’s death punished?"

  "Yes..." She whispered and lowered her head. "But that man is untouchable. He is a crime lord who rivals the city lord in terms of influence and power. No amount of evidence we gather will do us any good. He has powerful patrons who protect him. No judge would pass judgment against him, Lord Ives."

  "You are mistaken." He stretched and yawned. "As I stated before, I am an Inquisitor of His Imperial Highness. I'm a judge and executioner; a law bringer sanctioned by the will of fourteen Gods of Arcadia and given the authority to bring his justice by the Emperor Theon Avalon himself. I will judge him and, if I find him guilty, I will execute him."

  She looked back up at him in shock and disbelief.

  "First you will have to meet the man, my Lord..." She shook her head. "I wouldn't lie... If he is guilty, I want to see him dead, but... You should just return to your home. I can't selfishly drag you into something so dangerous."

  "Don't worry about that. I have an idea." He simply smiled and she peered at him closer. "I believe that we have our story ready?"

  "Yes, Sir." She gave him an uncertain smile.

  "Do you need anything else for your story as the maid of a foreign noble?" Arthur asked her after he gave her a considerate gaze.

  "I... I don't know, to be honest." She admitted.

  "Some cosmetics and probably accessories would be good for you to have..." He hummed and grinned strangely at her. "The way you look will be a good reflection of how wealthy or respectable a noble I am. I’ve seen enough maids of various foreign merchants and nobles to discern the pattern. So I'm going to spoil you."

  She opened and closed her mouth in silence because she simply couldn't find the words. His charming smile and the way he talked to her were so unfair. Her head couldn’t assemble a decent response. She took a deep breath and simply smiled, ignoring his obvious joke. She noticed that the merchant was heading their way so she slightly turned towards him.

  "Good morning, Sir Benjamin." She bowed slightly.

  "Good morning... Ummm... Catherine." He smiled awkwardly. "If you are ready, Sir Ives, we should get going. The city is still a ways ahead and we will still need two days to reach it."

  "Naturally." Arthur nodded and looked at the remaining carts. "What should we do about this?"

  "Oh, I will be able to drive the one that belongs to me, but we should take the rest..." The merchant began and looked at Arthur. "Do you know how to drive a cart?"

  "A cart, yes. But command those creatures? Not really..." Arthur admitted as he glanced at the cow-like animals standing patiently on their spots. "What about you, Catherine?"

  "I learnt it from my Father, Sir." She answered.

  "In that case... Oh, well. We should take Solvis' body and his cart to Howthorns. Can you help me connect it with mine? You could drive this one with you."

  "Sure." Arthur nodded and then looked at the Nekomi. "Go prepare the cart, Catherine."

  "As you wish, Sir." She bowed to him and gracefully walked towards the cart.

  He started walking towards the slaver's cart, but was stopped by Benjamin, who grabbed his shoulder. "If I may, Sir Ives..."

  "How may I help you?" Arthur asked with a friendly smile but he was already on guard.

  "I must warn you, Sir Ives." He said with a hushed voice. "When I wanted to buy her, Solvis declined my offer and said that she was destined to be the property of Griss Vul. Solvis told me that he was given specific orders about that woman and what he could and couldn't do with her. I must tell you that Griss Vul is a ruthless man. I don't know what kind of grudge he had against her... But he is a very brutal man."

  "She told me about Griss Vul, but it seemed that she was unaware of how deeply and sickly that man was obsessed with her. Don't worry, I can deal with it." Arthur put his hand on his neck and rubbed it after a moment. "You wanted to buy her? Why? You told me that you never had a slave in your life."

  "And I wasn't lying!" Benjamin raised his hands defensively. "I... It's personal, but I can assure you that I would have set her free and let her work in my company. I was heading to the Howthorns to visit a branch shop but also to visit a very old friend of mine who is a manager there."

  "Uhum." Arthur shrugged. The man had no obligations to explain himself to him but he wasn't lying. "So once you heard that she was basically already the property of that Griss, you backed down?"

  "He is a crime lord. He can't touch me but he would certainly find a way to recover her and I don't believe I could protect her forever." Benjamin powerlessly shook his head. "Do you think you can protect her?"

  "Yes." Arthur flashed his teeth in a smile.

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  "I pray that you are not simply overconfident..." Benjamin shook his head.

  ???

  They travelled quite fast despite how clumsy the buffalo-like creatures looked. They were called cows but they weren't used as cattle, but as draft animals.

  "It's no surprise I couldn't catch you..." Arthur shook his head. "Are they enchanted or something?"

  "Slightly... However, I don't know much about the magic used to enhance them, Sir." Catherine nodded.

  He felt slightly sleepy after the last few days and let out a mighty yawn. The Nekomi giggled as she looked at him.

  "I see that even a mighty Inquisitor needs to sleep. There are still a few hours in the day, so you could try to take a nap inside, Sir."

  "Not a bad idea." He nodded and hopped into the covered cart. Thanks to their speed, there was some circulation of air inside but it was still quite hot. "If you don't mind..."

  He reclined on the floor and meant to lightly rest. When Catherine woke him, it was already dark. Benjamin was setting up the camp and it appeared he had prepared water to boil. Arthur straightened and rubbed his side which was sore from lying on the wood.

  "Good evening, Catherine." He smiled but noticed that she was nervous. "What happened?"

  "I think we might be observed, Sir." She trembled. “The draft beasts are nervous.”

  He closed his eyes and pondered what he should do. "How far from the city are we?"

  "Maybe a half day, Sir..." She said and slowly moved her gaze in a futile attempt to see anything in the darkness.

  "There is no need to panic. I will keep watch for the night. You will eat until you are full, you will drink until you are satisfied, and you will take a bath before you go to sleep." He instructed her as he picked up the unmistakable killing intent. Bandits.

  "Yes, my Lord." She smiled calmly and looked around.

  He prepared hot water for her in the back of the cart and she looked closely at him.

  "It will cool down before you finish eating. Go help Benjamin with the food." He smiled. "I will join you in a few moments."

  "Yes, sir... I mean..." She curtsied. "As you wish, my Lord."

  "Catherine... Please..." He rubbed his eyes.

  "We have to train if I want to pass as a maid of the foreign noble, Sir." She explained with a smile.

  "Right..." He sighed.

  After she left, he sat and watched her talking with Benjamin who gladly handed her cooking utensils and ingredients. Arthur wondered if he had made the right choice. He needed a guide, but he was starting to become emotionally invested in her. Rationally, he knew that the extreme situation he was currently in was influencing his behaviour. However, it wasn't the time to think about it now.

  He took a deep breath and focused. His tracking skills were basic but at least he had them. For anything else, he had Shade. The Bandits observing them weren't a threat. The highest level among them was somewhere between twenty and thirty. He decided to address them once Catherine and Benjamin were asleep.

  "If they move to attack us, take them down. Remember, I want to interrogate them, Shade."

  "Sure. They are very interested in your woman, Arthur." His familiar’s whisper came from the shadows.

  "Oh? Then we might be lucky and catch ourselves some goons of that crime lord." The Inquisitor chuckled. “Also, she is not mine.”

  The Fenrir said nothing, only laughed. Arthur moved over to the campfire just in time for Catherine to finish pouring him a bowl of light soup with vegetables. She stood there until he tried it.

  "It's excellent!" He said with delight and the woman smiled brightly. "I didn't know you were such an excellent cook, Catherine."

  "Thank you, Sir!" She was visibly happy to hear a compliment. "I cooked a lot at hom... Back when..."

  Her smile turned awkward and vanished, but Arthur knew why. The memories were still painful and he couldn't do anything to take those from her. Even killing the man responsible for her misery wouldn't be enough. The blow to her was dealt and the wound still bled. Some part of him wanted to hug her and tell her that everything would be fine. But... He wouldn't lie to her. Things could end badly at any time and he wasn't powerful enough to completely protect her from everything. He wasn't Theon Avalon, who could say something like that and have it just be true. Things would be different if he could just magically take her to Arcadia where a promise of safety wasn’t a simple, comforting lie. But, as long as he was in this situation, so far away from home, even he wasn't completely safe. He looked at her with compassion, hoping it would be comforting enough, but he wasn't sure how much he was allowed to do in Benjamin's presence to not complicate her plan.

  "It's certainly very good, Catherine." Benjamin tried to smile but it was obviously forced. He looked into the fire with shining eyes as if he was holding back his tears. "I hate this messed-up system. Overpopulation, my ass..."

  Arthur looked carefully at the merchant. "What do you mean by that?"

  "Ahhh... Of course, you don't know, Sir Ives." Benjamin poured himself another bowl of the soup and gave another one to Catherine. "Slavery is a relatively new thing in the Kingdom of Saftia. A few decades ago we had a different Royal Family ruling the Kingdom. It's been... Forty years now... Yes, forty years since they were dethroned. The coup was brutal, swift, and mostly successful. Mostly, because the son of the previous King managed to hide somewhere and, with him, the Royal Regalia disappeared. Without them, the mandate of the new Royal Family is flimsy and supported mainly by the strength of their supporters."

  Benjamin swallowed a few spoonfuls of his soup and brought out bread which he offered to everyone.

  "The previous Royal Family wasn't perfect but they didn't treat their people as livestock. At least, from what I was told by my Father. Yes, the taxes were much higher than now, and there was a lack of food, but it wasn't their fault... Well, the scarce food at least. Our homeland has been struck by droughts of various severity for more than two hundred years now. Water is the most precious commodity and food is as hard to get as you can imagine. The raised taxes were used to prepare the country by building dams on the few rivers that we still have but some nobles weren't happy about it. So they rebelled..." Benjamin sighed heavily. "While the old King tried to save as many people as possible, the new one simply declared that the Kingdom was overpopulated. His solution? Slavery. Slaves don't have any rights, so they can be mistreated with impunity. With most crimes punishable by enslavement... Well, you see where this went."

  Arthur looked at Benjamin for a moment. The man knew something and was most likely probing Arthur. He wasn't sure what to do with the new knowledge, but it was important.

  "I truly didn't know any history." Arthur smiled politely. He could play this game. He wasn't a spy but getting information was as vital in his line of work as in the intelligence agencies of Arcadia. "It's a shame that the descendants of the old Royal Family went into hiding. They seemed far more approachable than the current rulers. A discussion with them might be interesting..."

  Thank you all for reading.

  I wish you all a great day and as always I wait for your comments.

  A big thanks to and who edited the chapter!