"I'm terribly sorry, Lord Ives!" Val'narii bowed deeply to him.

  She was trembling slightly, and Arthur couldn't fathom why.

  "What for?" He asked in surprise as he stored the slave collars he had taken back from the corpses.

  "They died because of me and you can't learn anything more from them..." She was very nervous but Arthur started laughing.

  "Please, Dame Val'narii! Compose yourself and stop occupying your thoughts with something so trivial as the death of some common bandits. Someone like them usually doesn't know much, so their knowledge is only useful for getting to their superior, who actually might know something useful. Besides, they were dead the moment they followed us." He said with a carefree laugh and she slowly straightened up. "Speaking about following... Ben, Silfa! You have two more bodies to check. I will go for their carriage. It must be nearby."

  "Lord Ives..." The Elf woman gasped in shock.

  "Right... I have no idea how to drive it." Arthur grinned. "Silfa?"

  "Yes, my Lord!" The girl smiled and quickly approached him.

  "Catherine, we will be back soon. Please, have my tea ready." Arthur smiled at the Nekomi who bowed.

  "Of course, my Lord."

  With that, Arthur confidently stepped into the darkness. When they were a fair distance from the camp he looked at the slightly struggling woman. With a sigh, he conjured a ball of light and made it float above her head.

  "You don't really have to struggle in the darkness. If we needed to move covertly, I would have told you that. Anyway, I wanted to thank you and Ben. You did a great job back there, but... How shall I put it... Are you okay? You killed a person earlier, after all…"

  She blushed slightly and smiled.

  "I'm really happy that you care about something like that, my Lord." She said, her smile slowly fading. "Bandits are something common in this country. Everyone who travels outside the city usually has to kill very quickly. I think that I was eleven years old when I had to kill a person for the first time. Ben was even younger. We... Got used to it. It’s them or us…"

  "I see..." He sighed as they walked. "I already managed to forget how dark the world was before the arrival of the Emperor. Sometimes it is hard to remember it was just only over a year... Anyway, I really wanted to thank you both for trying to protect Cate. However, don't put your life at risk. She is protected by other means."

  "All right, my Lord." She nodded, looking serious.

  "Now..." He looked at the smaller carriage in front of them. "Can you drive that?"

  "Yes, my Lord." She quickly confirmed as she sat in the driver's seat.

  "Calling me 'Sir' is enough. Use 'my Lord' only in official situations." He said as he sat nearby. "You both are promising, but I still haven't decided what to do next. Treat this quest as a test."

  ???

  When Lord Ives disappeared into the night, Val'narii returned near the fire where his maid was preparing the tea. The Elf took a better look at the younger woman and hesitated. If the Black Cat woman was a slave, Val'narii was the Queen of Saftia. The slave collar on her neck was worth more than she earned for the entire year. Her ring of storage had at least five times more capacity than her bag and her clothes were made of the best quality materials.

  "Ummm... What kind of man is Lord Ives?" She asked awkwardly.

  Catherine thoughtfully looked at her for a moment before she poured three cups of tea and sat near the table.

  "Extraordinary." The maid said with a mysterious smile and took a sip of hot tea. "With all certainty, I can say that he isn't like any man you have ever met. He is chivalrous like the legendary Heroes, but he isn't pretending like some of the men you’ve undoubtedly met before. He is also very kind and caring."

  "Who... Who are you for him, if I may ask? Because I don't believe that you are a slave."

  Catherine laughed politely and pointed at her necklace. Undoubtedly, that was a slave collar, but the Elf could hardly believe it.

  "But I am." The maid finally stopped laughing. "However, you can also call me his... advisor."

  Val'narii Ashfallen picked up the cup and took a sip. The liquid was strong and hot, but not hot enough to burn her mouth. It was probably very expensive tea, but Val’narii wasn't a connoisseur, so she could only tell it was excellent. The Elf looked at Catherine with a flat stare and sighed. What exactly did she expect to hear? The Maid wouldn't tell her anything that could be used against her Master. She might even love him and want to protect him. Val'narii sighed again and looked to the east. Somewhere there were the ruins mentioned by that… murderer. Her brother might be somewhere there, buried in a shallow grave or left to rot and be devoured by the scavenger beasts.

  "Tired?" Lord Ives' carefree voice almost made her jump out of her skin.

  "By the Goddess!" She looked at him in shock. How in the world could a warrior be that sneaky?!

  "I don't expect we will have to facilitate any more uninvited guests, so you can take your rest, Dame Val'narii." He said and took a sip of the tea. "It's exactly how I like it, thank you, Catherine."

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  "I'm happy to hear it, my Lord." The maid smiled at him while her tail betrayed how much she appreciated his praise.

  "It's slightly awkward for me, Lord Ives, when you title me Dame, because I'm just a simple person, a commoner. I would feel a lot better if you just called me Val'narii, if that isn't a problem." She stood up and bowed to him.

  "In that case, I would like you to call me just Arthur." He said with a smile.

  "I'm afraid that's impossible, Lord Ives..." She swallowed. Catherine was right. He wasn't like any man she had ever met.

  "We face various disappointments daily..." He sighed heavily in what could pass for disappointment and finished his tea. "Silfa and Ben set up the tents and prepared the water if you would like to take a bath. Good night, Miss Val'narii. Let's go, Catherine."

  "As you wish, my Lord." The maid bowed and they went towards Ben and Silfa.

  A bright brief flash of blue flames marked the place where the bodies of those who attacked them had lain as they were quickly and efficiently disposed of.

  "Wait." She suddenly grabbed the side of the table and looked at the nobles' backs. "Did you really say bath?!"

  ???

  Arthur sat in the tent and tried to unpack the latest events in his head. The fact that the local temple was actively working against Sion was troublesome. Unleashing Shade to covertly get rid of the most troublesome figures wasn't the worst idea. The last thing he needed was to be declared an enemy of the church or temple or whatever, and judging by how that Bishop operated so far, it was a highly likely outcome. Especially since he killed those mercenaries. However, if those problematic figures would disappear while he was away from the city, no one would be able to connect him with the supposed crime. He rubbed the back of his head and hunched forward as he took a deep breath. Cate's and his plan was flawed as fucking possible. Supposedly, he should try to avoid any problems and keep a low profile. Travelling as a high-ranking noble of a foreign nation no one had heard about was hardly low-profile as it was. He will also be hunting dangerous beasts for two reasons. No one in their right mind should attack someone who hunts something the locals need an army to deal with for sport. The second reason was to gather funds. Parts of the powerful monsters were always valuable.

  Very early, he had discarded a stealth approach. He wasn't a spy, had no experience in being covert, and most importantly, had exactly zero patience for such a line of work. Even if he had to, that wasn't going to work either, no matter how hard he would try, and that's why he never entertained the thought of pretending to be a commoner from this kingdom. Too many stupid nobles would try to use him in their games and he wasn't patient enough to play along. Nope.

  Pretending to be an eccentric noble from a foreign Empire obsessed with hunting various monsters was arguably his best cover story he could have come up with. He had managed to build a friendly relationship with Sion Howthorns, gained the trust of one of the biggest Trade Companies of Saftia, and it looked like he had slightly impressed the Adventurers' Centre Manager. His actions were risky, but he was in trouble anyway. So far, his situation had improved, so the risks he took paid off.

  He looked at his hands and his vision blurred as he slightly closed his eyes. Once again, he felt angered on Cate's behalf. He knew it wasn't good but... But he was happy with her just nearby...

  "That Dark Elf woman asked me about you," Catherine said with a thoughtful tone.

  "I guess that's normal. She probably needed something for our evaluation." He rubbed his eyes and turned away.

  Catherine was wearing a light, black nightgown and was sitting on her bed with a smile. She was brushing her hair after the bath. Arthur took a deep breath and enjoyed the fact that she wasn't teasing him like the last time...

  "Are you thinking about something indecent, my Lord?" She asked him teasingly with a small, slightly mischievous smile

  "How could I...?" '...not' he grinned roguishly back at her. "So, what did the branch manager want to know?"

  He stood up, and using the path between their beds, went behind the curtain where they had their washing tub. It was crude, but it beat going to sleep sweaty and dirty.

  "She wanted to know what kind of man you are."

  "Hmmm... I guess that's a valid question? I mean, if I had some dangerous tendencies or something like that, it could be a red flag or something..." He tried to guess but Cate's laughter told him he wasn't even close.

  He started washing himself with a local soap and decided it was good enough.

  "No. If I had to guess, she just assumed that you are just another asshole noble who thinks they can buy their way to become the elite adventurer, only to find out your skills are genuine. I must admit that I was shocked by how easily you dealt with those Temple mercenaries." She said, sounding slightly amused.

  "You also did a great job stunning that one guy." He quickly flushed the soap away, and after drying himself, put on some fresh clothes.

  "I know that you know that I was trying to kill that man..." Cate said bitterly.

  "For any interrogation, it's better to have at least two subjects so you can cross-question them. So not killing that man back then was a better outcome." He said seriously, earning her puzzled stare.

  "I choose to believe you." She said, laying down with a pleased expression, then looking at him with a slightly flustered face. "When that guy called me a Kitten... It might be my imagination, but I think I felt your anger back then..."

  Arthur lay on his bed and felt embarrassed.

  "You are not wrong. I was angry that someone dared to treat you like that." He admitted as he looked at her, but her face was buried into her pillow, and only her tail tip was flicking furiously.

  She moaned something into the pillow and turned off the lights.

  "Thank you, Arthur..." He heard her whisper.

  "You're welcome, Cate."

  ???

  He woke up just after midnight and looked around. His radar skill was picking up something sneaking up on them from the north, but his wards were silent. Catherine was sleeping soundly as a child, but once he stood up, her eyes opened.

  "Go back to sleep. It's my turn to take the watch." He said, and she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

  Arthur left the tent and approached Ben who was yawning but kept the watch.

  "You did a great job yesterday." He said to the boy.

  "Lord Ives..." Ben bowed awkwardly.

  "Don't sweat it." Arthur waved his hand with a friendly smile. "You talked with your sister?"

  "Yes, my Lord." He answered with an uncertain smile. "We will do everything in our power to pass your test."

  "Don't do anything rash or stupid. I don't expect you to hunt down that Lion." He said just in case. "Go to sleep, Ben."

  The young man just bowed and went to the tent he shared with his sister. Arthur focused on whatever his skill detected earlier and observed it flicker in and out of his Radar skill range. After some time, he decided it was some kind of animal or a harmless monster and decided that hunting it down was unnecessary since it hadn't been targeting them.

  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!