CHAPTER 14: SUDDEN TURN OF EVENTS

Eldric raised his eyebrows, clearly surprised by James’s words. Then, he closed his eyes for a moment, seemingly thinking of something seriously as his eyelids twitching from time to time as though something weighed heavily on his mind.

A few moments later, he opened his eyes and looked at James with a firm expression. "How about this? I’ll work for you temporarily... At least until I meet the fated person, if you’re not the one. That’s the best I can offer."

When James heard it, he frowned deeply for a moment before clicking his tongue in disappointment. "Tch. Fair enough, I guess."

Then, his expression softened into a smile as he extended his hand. "Welcome aboard, Eldric."

Eldric chuckled and clasped his hand firmly. "I’ll be in your care, Young Master James."

’Fortunately, he’s still young...’ He believed he had made a good deal by obtaining valuable items through temporary work.

On the other hand, James’s smile became a grin. ’Who cares about working temporarily or not, as you won’t be able to get out of there once you step into the Steelheart Territory.’

He had thought of a lot of ways to hinder Eldric from leaving or meeting anyone, such as spreading rumors that Eldric was working for the Steelhearts, not allowing outsiders to meet Eldric for whatever reason, etc.

After having a small talk so that they would become closer and know each other better, James decided to depart right away, considering that it would be quite a long journey because Eldric would bring all of his things along.

While waiting for Eldric to prepare the carriages and other stuff, James thought about his current plan that needed to be changed a little bit.

His current plan was rather simple.

He would go back to the Steelheart family to deliver Eldric safely while confirming some things. He also needed to show the other blueprint because he had claimed that the other blueprints were left in the Steelhearts treasury.

Since they would probably arrive tomorrow morning, James had a plan of going back to Uncle Edmund’s territory at noon, as he still had something important to do, which was experimenting by using the cow dung reward that he received in the flower fields there.

After having everything in place, he planned to increase his own strength while waiting for everything to work on its own, such as the research on making [Aureum Bombard and Arcbrace], the result of using the cow dung in the flower fields, and the daily rewards from the Daily Sign-in system.

Talking about the daily rewards, James was disappointed and quite mad with the rewards he had received these past three days.

On the first day, he received a mug that was made out of silver-tier metals.

On the second day—a hundred kilograms of dirty mud.

Yes! A fucking dirty mud, 100 kg in total!

Even though he received a decent reward on the third day, it was useless for him because he already had Eclipsera.

[Attributeless Platinum-Tier Sword]

Half an hour later, Eldric came back and informed James with a smile. "Young Master James, everything’s ready."

"Good." James nodded his head and said. "Let’s depart right away."

"My lord, that insolent brat from the Wolfsblade family is waiting outside." Nyxrael shifted his gaze toward the gate of the mansion.

"Let him be. We’ll see what he wants once we’re on our way." James waved his hand casually.

This time, James didn’t ride the horse as he went inside a luxurious carriage with Uncle Gareth and Eldric. As for Nyxrael, he adamantly asked James to ride the horse alone so that he would always be ready for a battle.

The voice of Darik was heard again just as the gate was opened. "Hey, I want to apologize for what happened before."

James raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised because he had never expected that this rude brat would lower himself and apologize like this.

"Okay, apology accepted. You can go now!" James chuckled in response.

"Huh?" Darik showed a blank expression, as he never expected such a reply. He thought that James wouldn’t accept his apology, and he needed to pay or do something in order for his apology to be accepted.

"Wait! Wait!" Darik shouted, intercepting the carriage that was about to get out of the mansion by moving in front of it while spreading out his arms.

"Darik... What the fuck do you want now?" James frowned and asked with a chilly tone from inside the carriage.

"I’m just curious." Darik said quickly, scratching the back of his head. "Why are there so many carriages? Is Sir Eldric moving out or something?"

"Yup," James replied casually. "Eldric’s working for me now. He’s moving to Steelheart territory."

"What!" Darik was shocked and opened his jaw wide.

He then asked with a disbelieving expression. "Are you being serious?"

"What Young Master James said is true." Eldric answered calmly.

Darik’s expression twisted in outrage. "Why? Why would you accept their offer when you rejected ours?! Do you think the Wolfsblade family is inferior to that fallen family like the Steel—"

James’s and Gareth’s expressions darkened when they heard it.

James immediately waved his hand and ordered with a cold expression. "Kill him!"

Nyxrael instantly vanished from the back of the horse and appeared behind Darik.

The moment he sheathed his blade back into the scabbard, Darik’s head flew out of his body with a normal expression, as he didn’t even know how he died.

"Don’t—!" The Platinum Knight shouted and was about to move, but he was already too late.

"YOU!" the knight roared furiously, crushing the jade token on his waist.

"This..." Eldric was speechless for a second but regained his composure right away as he got up and looked at the men across from him. "We should leave the city immediately and call for a reinforcement from the Steelhearts."

Looking at the panicked man in front of him, James waved his hand casually as if it was nothing. "Relax. We know what we’re doing."

He then glanced at his uncle beside him, who shook his head helplessly. "Uncle, I’m afraid you might have to exercise yourself a little bit now."

Sigh!

Gareth sighed and stood up before glancing at his nephew. "Let’s hope you’re right about your subordinate’s capabilities."

He stepped out of the carriage, glancing back at Eldric. "Stay here and protect my nephew if things get messy... Though, there will be at most one or two fish at Platinum Knights."

’These Steelhearts are really as lunatic as what people say.’ Eldric smiled bitterly, thinking that he might be dead before he could even improve his skills further.

Subsequently, Eldric prepared himself and ordered his subordinates to go back inside the mansion.

On the other hand, James opened the notification that he had received the moment he ordered Nyxrael to kill Darik.

[Ding! You have received a mission]

[Detail: ...]

[Failure: ...]

[Reward: ...]