“I will?” Jack was startled by the commander’s statement.
“Did you forget already when I told you to stay in the noble district for now?” Commander Quintus said.
“Oh? Why is that?” It was Marquess Fernando that asked.
Commander Quintus then told him about the incident between Jack and Walter. Fernando’s eyes went wide when he heard Jack’s act of crippling the noble youth. Jack stayed silent while they were busy gossiping. After commander Quintus finished telling the tale, Fernando smacked Jack on his back.
“That was one badass thing you did there! Not that I disapprove. I know that prick. He is a typical son of noble who is arrogant because of his birthright and looked down on those without the noble line.”
Weren’t you the same? Jack uttered in his mind.
“Then I will pick you up the morning two days from now at commander Quintus’ residence.”
“Wait! Why do I have to stay in the commander’s place? This noble district should have an inn that I can use, right?”
“Are you saying that my place is not good enough for you?” Commander Quintus gave Jack a sharp stare.
“No, no, of course I don’t mean that,” Jack hurriedly said. “I just didn’t want to intrude. You know, I’m a stranger. I don’t want your family to get uncomfortable due to a stranger in your house.”
“My family only consisted of Lindsey and me, both of us already know you. So that settles the stranger issue.”
Jack was abashed, it was not that he was afraid that the commander’s family would be uncomfortable with his presence. It was him who was uncomfortable. He wouldn’t want to get cooped up by the commander, he still wanted to go out there and level up. He was not that afraid regarding the threat from Walter’s family.
“I would suggest you not take the problem with Walter lightly,” commander Quintus said, as if he could read Jack’s thought. “I won’t take a no for an answer. In fact, you will follow me back to my place right now. We will settle you in nicely. Don’t worry, I know you outworlders were obsessed with increasing your strength. You will not get left behind by staying at my place, you might even benefit from it. Additionally, tomorrow my daughter would be going on a training expedition again, you can join her team if you want to kill some monsters.”
“Will that be a faction mission as well?” Jack asked.
“If you had picked the Military branch, then yes. But since you are of the nobility branch, you will not get any merit point.”
“Ah… a pity.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Fernando barged in. “The nobility branch is much better. Once you rank up and become a proper noble, come and find me. I will show you the many privileges of being a noble.”
Commander Quintus stood up, then said curtly to Marquess Fernando, “isn’t your business done already? You should leave now and stop corrupting a good seed.”
“See! The military branch is too stiff. You have made the right call not picking that branch,” Fernando said.
Commander Quintus gave the marquess a death stare, his hand moved to the hilt of the sword hanging beside his waist. Marquess Fernando took the hint and hurriedly rose from his seat and walked back to the stairs. “I will come to get you in the morning, don’t make me wait! I don’t like it when I have to wait,” he said before going down the stairs.
“Annoying punk,” commander Quintus swore, then he said to Jack, “let’s go.”
Seeing that he was not given any option, he reluctantly followed the commander. Lindsey was waiting outside the tower. She greeted them once they came out. Bailey and the other cadets were gone already.
The commander took them to a structure beside the tower. When they went in, Jack identified the place to be a stable. There were several horses inside.
“Do you have a steed?” Commander Quintus asked Jack.
“No,” Jack answered.
“Then you will ride with me,” the commander said. He then went to the stablemaster who had prepared two horses. Both had their saddles readily prepared. Commander quintus and Lindsey each held the horse’s reins and led them out of the stable. They climbed onto the horsebacks once outside.
“Come,” commander Quintus gestured for Jack to climb up and sit at his back.
Ugh, Jack grunted in his mind. He would prefer to ride his own horse. Getting carried behind another man on a horse was so uncool. But since he had no horse of his own, he unwillingly complied.
The horses started galloping once Jack climbed on. Commander Quintus’ steed took the lead while Lindsey followed from behind.
‘Can I get a steed as well?’ He asked Peniel in his mind.
“You can,” Peniel answered. “There should be a stable near the city gates. You can purchase or rent a horse there. Before you complain that I didn’t give you this information, please know that you are not allowed to ride your own horse within the city limit unless you are a noble. And a horse is not cheap, you are not going on any long expedition so there is no reason to get one.”
The ride was not long, they arrived in a huge mansion with a large courtyard around it. Not as impressive as Duke Alfredo’s estate, but the structure sure conveyed its standing compared to the other houses around.
When they arrived on its patio, some servants took care of the horses as they climbed down. The servants took the horses away as Commander Quintus signaled for Jack to follow him into the house.
The commander asked Lindsey to take Jack on a tour around the house while he took care of some matters. He mentioned for Lindsey to take Jack to the training ground after they finished the tour. Jack was intrigued by the words, and his interest was further piqued when he heard Peniel said, “Training Ground? They have one here? You are in luck.”
‘Really? What is it for?’ Jack asked.
“You will see,” the fairy replied.
Jack didn’t bother her for an answer, he was used to the behavior of this guide of his. If she didn’t feel like sharing, there was no use in pressing for it.
He followed Lindsey’s lead as he toured around the house. It was not as big as Duke Alfredo’s manor, but still imposing nonetheless. Each room was clean and neat. He could see the commander’s strict and disciplined aspect represented in this house.
Lindsey also showed him to the room that he would be spending his night in. It was roughly the same as Duke Alfredo’s guest room that he used when he was there. The girl chatted along the way. She spoke about different kinds of topics mostly about her squire training.
She expressed her excitement to go on a training excursion with Jack again tomorrow. She informed him it would be on another cave, but not the mining cave like the one they cleared today earlier. It was a proper training cave inside Mount Thenias located at the back of the capital.
Mount Thenias was full of such caves filled with various kinds of monsters. The cave that they would have their training excursion would be the caves that had been used frequently for the kingdom’s squires’ training. The danger level within this cave was more controlled, they won’t meet with an unanticipated incident such as today with the special elite Ice Troll Sentinel. They would go to a cave where the average monster was level 20 basic grade.
That was better, Jack thought. He would hate it if he was forced to coop up here without a means to increase his level.
The mansion had two floors. After they walked one round on the upper floor, they came back down to the ground floor. Lindsey led him to the backside of the residence, which opened up to a large enclosed courtyard.
Three-meters high walls encircled this courtyard. Jack could see traces of magic runes along these walls. The upper part was open to the sky. The field was mostly empty with no plant or flower in this courtyard. Instead, the farther side was filled with wooden dummies in the shape of men. They looked similar to the puppets he encountered during his Warrior class test. Commander Quintus was standing at the center of this courtyard with his back towards them.
“I presume this is the training ground?” Jack asked.
Lindsey nodded. “Good luck,” she said, before she turned and left.
