The worker stopped midway upon hearing the voice and looked at the person who had just called out. He saw a young handsome man who was dressed in high-quality clothes like those that the nobles would wear.
"My lord," The worker greeted in deference.
While the worker did not exactly know who Lucius was, they had seen John accompanying him while being respectful. Plus with his noble appearance, it was obvious that he had a high status.
While they did not know his exact rank, just calling a noble Lord was usually fine and thus that is what the man did.
"My Lord," The other workers greeted as well.
"Lieutenant John." The repeated for John who had come towards them as well.
~Skree~
Because the workers stopped the Bore Shrew got the chance to break free from the circle and escape. But just as it was about to go a meter away, it froze in place. The workers were alerted by its screech and looked towards it, only to see that the beast had collapsed on the ground.
"Huh? Did it die?" Someone said.
The worker who was the closest to the Bore Shrew touched it with a pickax.
~SKREEE~
The Bore shrew woke up in the next second and started to run away again.
~thud~
But in the next moment, a boot fell over its tail, nailing it to the place.
"Not so fast…" Lucius said before bending down and picking it up with its tail.
The Bore Shrew had a long thick tail simian to that of a rat, and now that Lucius looked at it, they did not look like shrews at all.
'Did they perhaps make a mistake in naming the beast?' Lucius wondered.
To him, the beast was more of a rodent than a shrew. Plus, from what he knew of shrews in his past life, they did not dig as much and used the tunnels and burrows of other burrowing animals like rats and moles.
But the rune beast was able to create long tunnels that could potentially make a castle collapse.
"Perhaps there may be a need for name change in the future…" Lucius muttered to himself.
~SKREEE~
The Bore Shrew struggled in Lucius's hands and tried to get free, but Lucius had a firm grip on its tail. The beast's tail was rather pliable, but the beast could not pull his body far enough to bite Lucius or scratch.
John who had been watching the entire thing, wondered why Lucius was doing this.
"What do you want to do, young Lord?" John asked.
"I just wanna do a few tests and this would be the perfect subject," Lucius replied.
"I see…" John responded.
"You- come here," Lucius said, pointing to one of the guards who had accompanied him here.
"Yes, my lord." The Guard responded with his head lowered as was the etiquette.
"Take this beast with you to the mansion and put it in a cage," Lucius ordered.
"As you command!" the guards said without questioning and took the Bore shrew from Lucius's hands.
He then tied it up with a sheet of thick leather so that the beast would not get free, and would not be able to bite through it. Having done that, the guard left to go back to the mansion.
"I guess I should leave, too. Things seem going well here." Lucius spoke.
"Alright, farewell Young Lord. I'll see you in two hours." John said.
"Farewell," Lucius replied before getting onto his horse and leaving for the mansion.
It took Lucius the same amount of time that it had taken him to come here, and upon reaching the mansion, he saw a few people standing at the entrance. Once Lucius got closer he was able to recognize who they were.
"Gellor and his team?" Lucius muttered.
~clip~clop~clip~
The horse came to a halt at the entrance gate, which was currently blocked by the guards.
"I'm telling you, it is Young Lord Asher who called for us," Barty spoke to the guards.
"We cannot let you enter since we have not been informed by the Young Lord." The guards replied staunchly.
While the guards knew about the identity of these mercenaries and also knew that they had worked for their Young Lord before, they still could not permit them to enter when they had not been informed about it in advance.
Such was their duty and they would fulfill it truly.
Lucius came right when these words were spoken, and was intrigued. The guards noticed when Lucius arrived and instantly became alert.
"Young Lord Asher," The guards saluted.
"Young Lord?" Gellor and his companions turned around to see the person who had just arrived.
Their faces lit up after seeing him, as if all of their troubles were solved in one go.
"What are you people doing here? When did I call for you?" Lucius asked, feeling truly confused.
If this was before, Lucius would have fully thought that they were here to infiltrate the mansion for something and were fabricating the fact that he had called them. He knew for sure that he had not told anyone to come to the mansion that day.
But seeing their relieved expression, it did not look like they were panicking. Instead, it looked like someone had just thrown them a floater when they were just about to drown. Lucius wondered if there was a misunderstanding or something.
"Ah, you're here at the right time, Young Lord Asher." Gellor finally spoke.
"What's the problem exactly?" Lucius asked, letting them explain themselves.
"We were informed by miss Kiana that you were looking for some mercenaries for a tough task." Gellor replied.
"Tough task? And me?" Lucius repeated, trying to remember if he had missed something.
"Yes, Miss Kiana sent out a few job recruitment letters to the guild and since we saw it we came right by," Barty explained.
Lucius tried to think if he had ordered Kiana about anything like that and eventually realized it.
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