Arthur sat in the apartment's sitting room with a dull expression and stared at the table. Everything had turned into some sort of baffling comedy, but it wasn't funny. The last thing he had expected was the manifestation of a local deity. The chances that she would contact anyone in Arcadia were slim, and exposing that he had no contact with his Pantheon was out of question.

  "Are you all right, Arthur?" Catherine asked him quietly from his side.

  "I..." He sighed as he leaned forward and rubbed the back of his head. "Can you remind me of the plan you had back when we met?"

  "The one where you are the travelling noble and I'm your maid?"

  "Yeah... That one." He sighed heavily. "I think... I think that I might have failed to follow the steps you proposed..."

  "Do you think so?" She giggled, slightly amused.

  "I'm sure of it at this point." He sighed again and leaned back on the sofa. "You could even say that I have ruined it completely..."

  "I thought you were only improvising those small changes you told me about earlier." She added with her amusement growing even further.

  "Nope... I totally ruined it." He smiled flatly. "Do you think you can salvage the situation?"

  "Not a chance." She leaned her head on his shoulder.

  "I thought so..."

  "However... I was absolutely unprepared for what has happened. I would appreciate it if you could warn me next time."

  "Do you think that I was prepared for how that meeting ultimately went?" The Inquisitor chuckled dryly. "On a scale from one to ten, I fucked up somewhere around twenty. However..." He extended his arm and gently drew her closer. "If that was the price of finding a woman like you, it was still a steal..."

  "I'm glad to hear that." She purred softly.

  "I'm sorry everything turned out like that, my Kitten." He kissed the top of her head. "How are you holding up?"

  "Normally, I would be horrified by what you did, especially by how you talked with a Goddess... However, I think I'm still in shock after being kidnapped, finding out that your familiar is a Shadow Fenrir, and then you finding me and proposing to me... So, yeah, I'm still pretty much in shock... But give me a few days to rest and I'll be properly terrified by everything." She answered with a small sigh. "Or perhaps not? It's a waste of time with you around. I should learn to deal with it as soon as possible for my own good. You will most certainly find a way to impress and shock me every few days."

  "I told you that my common sense doesn't work in Saftia." He gestured powerlessly with open hands and smiled mischievously.

  "I dare to say it probably wasn't working in Arcadia either." She chuckled.

  "Maybe? But my homeland is full of similar surprises, so my antics went unnoticed." He finally chuckled.

  Someone knocked at the door and, after a moment, it opened ever so slightly.

  "Come in!" Arthur raised his voice, and while Cate tried to straighten, he firmly held her in the position she was sitting. He looked at her with a soft smile and added quietly. "You don't have to be that stiff and official while we are in what is considered our place. That reminds me that Sion was supposed to find us a house to rent..."

  "I..." She blushed slightly but nodded eagerly.

  Meanwhile, Ben, followed by Silfa and Val'narii entered the room. Arthur pointed with his other hand at the couch on the opposite side of the low rectangular table and waited for them to sit down. Only then did he straighten and let go of Catherine, who mirrored his posture, yet remained as relaxed as possible.

  "The last days were busy, or crazy, you name it, and I'm glad you managed to survive the attack. I'm sorry I didn't help you, but I was more worried about Cate." He said with a serious voice.

  "I don't think that we would have survived before the training with you, Sir..." Val'narii said with a neutral tone and slowly shook her head. "Not to mention the weapons and armour you gave us, Lord Ives. They are unbelievable..."

  "Perhaps. But you must know that they are nothing special compared to the top of the line Arcadian battlegear." Arthur said and looked at Ben and Silfa. "How about you two?"

  "We were fine, Sir." Ben grinned. "The servants' quarters weren't hit that hard during the attack, so we had time to prepare."

  "And later, it was only tricky to actually find you, Sir. You were moving too fast for us to catch up." Silfa shrugged. "However, we figured that you didn't really need our help, so we stayed away so as to not distract you, Sir."

  "I do feel slightly guilty for that situation..." Arthur sighed and stood up. "Anyway... Happy birthday, Ben. From today onwards, you are free."

  He leaned over the table and pressed the runic stones on Ben’s and Silfa’s collars. The red glow disappeared and the slave collars opened. The siblings smiled at him and, while Ben stored away the collars, Silfa rubbed her neck with pleasure.

  "Thank you, my Lord." The young man said with a slightly worried voice. "What should we do now?"

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "I can employ you as my retinue, or I can pay you for services rendered and you can try your luck elsewhere." Arthur shrugged. "No matter what you choose, you will be in danger because that's the reality of this country. However, staying with me will certainly put you in danger."

  "Sir... We have already sworn our allegiance to you and the Emperor of Arcadia. There is no going back. Besides, if we run now, we won't be able to go to Arcadia with you, Sir." Silfa smiled awkwardly. She looked at Catherine with unmasked jealousy. "However, some people have so much luck..."

  Arthur grinned as he again put his arm across the Nekomi's back and his hand on her shoulder as he gently pulled her to himself. "I do seem to have a lot of luck. That's undeniably true."

  Val'narii rolled her eyes at Silfa and cleared her throat. "I assume that nothing has changed from our previous agreement?"

  "No." The Inquisitor nodded. "However, there are a few things that you will need to know about. The first one of them is that Catherine and I are officially engaged."

  "Allow me to express my congratulations, Lord Ives, Lady Clark." Ben smiled widely while Silfa and Val'narii, for a brief moment, looked very disappointed before they managed to put on more appropriate expressions.

  "The next thing is that she has unlocked a class." He inclined his head towards Val'narii, who looked between him and Catherine with surprise. "Cate?"

  "I'm the Spell Blade." She announced in excitement.

  "I've never heard of a Spell Blade before..." The Dark Elf tilted her head with a puzzled expression. "Maybe it was a Spell Sword?"

  "You can apprise me if you don't believe me." The Nekomi giggled upon seeing the former Adventurers Association manager's expression.

  The Elf's eyes shone slightly and her face twisted in bewilderment.

  "A Mythic Rarity class? That's absolutely absurd..." Val'narii slowly shook her head in disbelief.

  "Not really..." Catherine giggled and inclined her head towards the bedroom. "The most absurd part is that I formed a Familiar pact with the Moonlight Lynx. Her name is Eira."

  A large, majestic feline walked into the sitting room, causing the three newcomers to gasp. She stopped near Catherine with dignity and looked at them with curiosity as she sat on the floor by the end of the sofa. Eira tilted her head and leaned slightly forward, studying the Dark Elf, who looked alarmed by the Moonlight Lynx evidently sniffing her scent.

  "That would be a third thing. So the fourth one is the fact that because of my mistakes, I can't stay low profile much longer." Arthur said wearily as he rubbed at his closed eyelids.

  "With all due respect, Sir, but you couldn't stay low profile no matter what..." Val'narii retorted. "There are exactly zero things that allow you to blend in. You are incredibly tall, well-built, with golden hair and blue eyes. Until I saw you, Sir, I was certain that no such colour combinations existed on people. The next thing is your tolerance, or lack thereof, for the local culture. While most of the people just accept how it is, you not only disagree with most of our basic principles, and even laws, but you also have the power to defy any and all attempts to silence you. In the long run, it was inevitable..."

  Arthur slowly scratched the back of his head as he considered what she said.

  "It's true that I primarily chose violence as the preferred solution, but in my defence, it also happens to work." He finally sighed with a small smile. "It's a part of my job requirements, I'm afraid. You can't be a part of an Inquisitorial strike team if you are not aggressive enough. The Enemies we usually fight have to be mercilessly put down almost instantly, without any sort of hesitation. Anyway... The milk has already been spilt. I expect that one day, I will be one of the people deciding what the future of Saftia will look like, if I manage to survive long enough. The question is whether you are willing to risk it. So, let me ask you again: Would you like to stay with me?"

  He looked at them and felt Cate slowly shifting on his side.

  "I will follow you everywhere." She said with a voice that no longer hid her affection.

  "I don't think it's going to be easier for me anywhere else, so I'll try my luck with you." Val'narii shrugged. "It's much safer that way, Sir."

  "The same goes for us." Silfa quickly nodded while Ben seemed slightly amused when he lowered his head.

  "As you wish." Arthur sighed. "In that case, prepare to return to the platform. For safety reasons, I want you three to stick together until you reach a level of at least fifty whenever you go to the city."

  "If we go back, then we should probably resupply..." Ben hummed.

  "Only if you have any personal needs. Now, let's talk about money." Arthur shrugged and took out three gold coins. "This is your salary for the last two months. From now on, until you reach the appropriate level and acceptable skills that would qualify you as a nominal Guardsmen, you will earn fifty silver coins monthly... What?"

  "You really plan to pay us a salary, Sir?" Val'narii looked at him in shock.

  "You are officially my retinue." He looked at them suspiciously. "Don't your nobles pay their soldiers and servants?"

  "Rarely..." Silfa shook her head and looked at the small gold coin in disbelief. "It's usually a form of servitude that exempts their relatives from other duties for the noble in the case of soldiers, while most of the other servants are slaves. The nobles, like the Baron, are in the minority and even they pay just a few silver coins for anyone’s service."

  "By Verka..." Arthur facepalmed, groaning as he shook his head. "Get used to it since you plan to move to Arcadia. For honest work, honest pay is expected. The payroll of the Arcadian soldiers and squires is strictly regulated. You are not soldiers and barely qualify as squires, but since that position gives you better pay than that of a civilian helper, I can employ you as such. I hope you are fine with it."

  "For fifty silver coins monthly, you can call me whatever you want, Sir!" Val'narii grinned widely. "I earned that much for a whole year of work at the association, and that was considered a lot for someone who doesn't take on any high-risk, high-reward work..."

  "I am a real squire now!" Ben seemed excited, as if that automatically changed his class to a Knight.

  "So we get this gear and the salary?" Silfa pointed at herself, and even took out the bow Arthur had given her. Her expression was beyond dumbfounded.

  "Yes." Arthur shrugged. "You are a provisional Inquisitorial retinue, so the gear is a separate matter. This is the tools of your job, and this is your salary..." Arthur hesitated and focused on something, but then shrugged. "I thought that I had the regulations handbook somewhere, but I must have left it in the barracks. Anyway, you will have to trust me for now that this is what it is. There are a lot of regulations for various things, but mostly they are intuitive, so don't worry about it. Well... Intuitive for me, at least..."

  "So we should prepare for travel..." Ben stood up with a smile of a person who had ignored everything said besides the fact that they were officially now a squire.

  "I think that we should stock up on food. and I have to buy more arrows..." Silfa stood up as well.

  "Let's meet in an hour and we will go to Benjamin." Arthur decided. "You can think about the carriage you have in more personal terms. It's for your use, so you can personalise it. Perhaps we will order another one with fewer beds inside... Anyway, let's meet in an hour. I need to talk with Sion before we go anywhere."

  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!