Netheril’s Glory-Chapter 9: Baron Besadas.
The tall man trotted over to Punk and tried to perform a noble's etiquette. He accidentally bent his waist a little too lower, and because of that, his non-elastic linen clothes made crunching noises.
Obviously, this man's actions were very unsightly. Punk immediately knew that this guy had never seen a real noble's salute with his own eyes.
Punk ignored this guy's crude and unintentional disrespectful manners. Now he was thinking about how these people easily recognized his identity as a mage. But after thinking about his flashy Robe, Punk understood everything. After all, the brilliance of his robe could be seen by anyone as long as they were not blind.
However, Punk was not too happy about this guy's clinging manner. Because he was now in an unfamiliar environment, Punk was always in a state of alertness,
And any sudden changes, especially close to him, made him have the impulse to attack.
"Respected Lord mage, What.....What can i........ do for you? "
The tall man seemed to have felt Punk's displeasure. So He took a few steps back while cowering and asked this.
"Who is in charge of this village? I want to meet that person. "
At this time, half of Punk's face was hidden under the hood of his robe. He looked very mysterious while he said this.
"This village is in the territory of Baron Bisadas. But…"
The tall man seemed to want to say something else, but after feeling Punk's gaze, he stopped, and after clearing his throat, squeezed out a sentence.
"Yes, my Lord, Please..... Please follow me."
Punk was a little bit surprised after hearing this answer. Because normally, a Baron or anyone from nobility should live in a town, and their territory should be dozens of villages like this, if not hundreds. Punk thought the tall man would name a town or something like that. But now, from this tall man's reaction, it looked like the Baron lived near this poor village.
Punk questioned the tall man thoroughly, almost like squeezing a toothpaste to the end, then he learned that the Baron's full name was Eklan Bisadas. he was in his fifties, but his health and family both were declining quickly. Punk also learned that the baron situation was this bad because he offended some "Big shot" from the noble circle. And now there were only three villages left as his territory.
Baron's house was on a small hillside in the south of Mok village. And this tall man was one of the Baron Bisadas's henchmen appointed to manage these lands.
Punk was a little relieved after learning all this information because, in the Pheren plane, any professional usually got equal treatment as the noble or sometimes even better. Although this was the case, there were some unwritten factors, like- strength level and reputation. Punk was now a level 3 mage apprentice (Advanced 1 level during the journey), so he was pretty confident that a declining Baron would not be any threat to him.
However, Punk still had to think of a surname for himself, So that he wouldn't lose momentum during a conversation, because in this world, only nobles and professionals could have surnames. The commoners were not allowed to have surnames.
Following a bumpy road made with dirt, Punk reached a mansion that looked like it had not been repaired for a long time. However, as soon as Punk approached the estate, his expression quickly became solemn.
Because he sensed that there was an apprentice-level professional inside this old mansion, where even the iron fence was badly rusted.
Punk wanted to think about this situation carefully. So he told the tall man to leave, and to his amusement, the tall man was so afraid of Punk that he ran away before even Punk could complete his sentence.
"Am I that scary?"
Punk rubbed his chin.
Then Punk became serious, and just when he was about to open the fence gate, the door of the mansion suddenly burst open. A guy ran out, wearing steel armour and holding a lance. Then he made a high jump and accurately landed on the other side of the iron fence while making a crisp metallic sound from his armour. This action of his blew a large amount of dust.
"Wow, it's a rare Mage! Incredibly, there are professionals other than this lord in this kind of ghost place."
After saying that, he casually kicked a clod of soil which again blew a lot of dust.
This bouncing Knight was a young man with blonde hair. He looked the same age as Punk, but he could jump effortlessly while wearing such heavy knight armour.
This sudden situation surprised Punk. He subconsciously started to construct a spell model in his Mind palace(an imaginary place inside a mage's soul), which was the apprentice Level Conjuration Spell-"secondary swiftness." But after seeing that the Knight didn't take any hostile action, Punk paused his incantation.
When Punk looked at the surrounding area, he found out that this young Knight's landing position was in a strategically advantageous position, from where he could easily attack and retreat.
From the silly behaviour of this Knight, it seemed like a coincidence, but Punk thought otherwise.
"Kane, is that how you treat guests from afar? Where are all your manners that a noble should have?"
A middle-aged man with a cane walked out of the already widely open door. This man's golden hair was very soft and combed with a meticulous hairstyle, which was in stark contrast to the blond teenager's fluttering hair at Punk's side. This man was wearing a simple grey robe, with tassels on the corners pointing neatly toward the ground.
The Middle age man strode out from the door and performed a noble's greetings with a criterion action without any flaw.
"I am Baron Aklan Bisadas, and this is my unruly eldest son, Kane. I apologize for his rude behaviour."
"Hey, when am I unruly? I am super handsome and.. ~ OK …"
The blonde Knight, Kane stopped his retort when Baron glared at him, then he muttered something under his breath before completely shutting up.
"I'm Punk Saian. I'm a wandering rogue mage. I was just thinking about visiting nearby cities, and then I stumbled upon sire baron's territory."
Punk said while returning a standard mage's greeting. He did not forget to pay attention to the seemingly inconspicuous Knight. Although the Baron complained about his son, Punk sensed a strong sense of pride from him.
"Hun! father and son are now playing bad cop, good cop to confuse me,"
Punk thought in his mind and said-
"I don't think Mr Kane is rude. He is just young and impulsive."
Punk was not too happy about the young Knight's sudden aggressive behaviour at the very beginning. So he put on the air of a senior being pranked by a junior to tease Kane through Baron's own words.
"You...you are also the same age as this lord, you are really infuriating,"
Kane yelled and started making various movements which were causing clanking sound from his armour. It looked like he was just about to start a fight. But in fact, Punk felt that Kane's battle Qi was calming down.
"Haha, young peoples are always so energetic." In the end, the Baron seized the opportunity to make a comment and defused the situation.
"Then if Mr Saian doesn't mind, we can all go inside and have some food. Mr Saian should know, the wheat bread is a speciality of Mok village ".
"If that the case, then I will have to bother you."
Since the other side showed good intentions, Punk also didn't mind expressing some sincerity. And he also needed some information about the way to a city, from the Baron. It would be more pleasant to just sit down and have a friendly conversation, especially when both sides' strength was similar.
Previously, when Punk asked the system to analyze Kane, he found out that Kane was also a level 3 Knight. So when there was no conflict of interests, it was completely unnecessary and stupid to start a dispute.
And Punk was also curious about why a professional would stay in such a remote place, especially a knight, whose rarity was second only to a mage.