Despite being much older, Shiro's face didn't change much. His slightly thin eyes, broad chin, and benevolent gaze were the big guy's main traits.
"Shiro!?" Luke questioned incredulously, as he looked at the man in front of him.
"Luke!?"
Shiro, skeptical that what he was seeing wasn't real, hugged the half-wolf with all his strength.
Luke reciprocated; after all, this was really like a dream. After so many years of searching, Shiro was hereafter the remaining trio had given up on finding their friends, and he looked great.
Soon after, Shiro began to tell everything that had happened.
Ten years ago, when Shiro managed to convince Luke to go and seek help, he had been found by the knight in the orange cape, and in an interrogation, he told everything he had seen the tiara do, including the fact that the tiara had fallen apart with his friend.
John Landford, the Sixth Knight of the Table of the Landford Family, didn't believe in any of Shiro's words and handed the boy over for judgment.
At that time, Shiro believed it was his end, the Patriarchs of the Noble Families of Oukiwa weren't normally merciful to thieves, even less when they had the support of bigwigs, like the owner of the trinket warehouse and the Landfords.
However, Shiro's case didn't even come to public attention, because a very perspicacious woman could convince even the Patriarch of the Landford Family that sentencing a child to public death could result in a revolt.
For this reason, nine of the ten knights of the Landford Table decided to raise this boy and adopt him, as a way to clean their image in front of the other Noble Families.
Shiro was happy that he would finally change his life and have opportunities, but he regretted that he could not leave the family property to look for his companions.
Luke listened to the whole story carefully, without interrupting the big man, who was now over six feet tall, and in the end, he asked, "But what about the Landford massacre? Were you there?"
"Are you kidding? Of course not... if I was, I wouldn't be here."
'The Landford Massacre' is how the night three years ago when all the Landfords were killed became known. Since no official witnesses were left, no one knows if it was rival nobles, thieves, or even the craziest theory, demons that killed them.
With trembling hands as he remembered the fateful day that Sarah and Shiro disappeared, Luke said gloomily: "I understand... and I feel I need to apologize for not finding you sooner. I looked for you, both of you, I swear I looked..."
Sitting on a bench near the small maze at the entrance of the Mansion, Shiro extended an arm and stroked the hair between the half-wolf's ears. That's how he always did it when they were kids.
"It's okay... Look at us, we've managed to change a lot and now we're working for the Strogueher."
Luke tried to pull himself together immediately, he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Shiro.
"Are you working as a security guard?" he questioned, seeing that the big guy was wearing black armor and a Claymore in his sheath, both quite expensive equipment.
"Yes, I started a while ago."
At that moment, Luke considered telling the whole truth, that Matthew, Meredith, and he hadn't changed their profession. But he thought better of it and didn't say, after all, as much as they were childhood friends, ten years was still a long time.
"Can you introduce me to the rest of the mansion surroundings then?"
"It will be a pleasure. In this one year that I've been working here, I've had a lot of free time to walk around. I know just about everything."
So, Shiro led the half-wolf on a full tour of the vicinity. Nathalia had already introduced him to the inside of the mansion and some of the staff, his only concern now was the grounds on which the mansion stood.
Since sneak attacks on noblemen's mansions weren't isolated cases, it was also not strange for a new bodyguard to be concerned about this; in fact, Shiro looked upon this with good eyes.
However, Luke's real intention was to learn more about the Strogueher through Shiro, without anyone listening.
On the grounds behind the mansion, was a large plot of land without a tree, and then a beautiful flowering grove, in which a small stream cut through the trees.
Luke tried to talk to Shiro about the number of noble people living in the mansion. To his surprise, the guard replied that Nathalia and Ayumi were the only people from the Strogueher Family living in Vasconcelos. After that, Shiro revealed only basic information, which did not contribute to the robbery.
After a few more minutes of walking through the forest, the pair of friends decided to return to the mansion. During the walk back, Luke asked Shiro to explain where he had been and what he had been doing in past years.
According to him, when the Landford Massacre happened, he was doing escort duty for a medicine shipment, so he was the only survivor of those who lived in the mansion.
He found many different jobs in the Dungeons and even became a Class-C adventurer when this happened. Eventually, he accepted an invite to protect the Strogueher Mansion in Vasconcelos in compensation for the deliverance that the Matriarch of this family did when they were children.
Luke also explained how he had become a bodyguard, but whenever Shiro mentioned the names of Matthew and Meredith, the half-wolf sidestepped the subject. Which made Shiro think that they had split up, or worse, had died.
Soon, other subjects came up to suppress the tense atmosphere between the two friends.
"You've never entered a Dungeon?" Shiro inquired nonconforming when Luke revealed that he was not even F-Class, because he had never entered a Dungeon or taken a Class test.
"No."
"Why?"
"Dungeons are too stinky, just passing in front of their gates makes my nose start to burn."
"HAHA! That's undeniable, the stinkiest Dungeons are always the deepest. If you avoided them for so long, are you sure you can handle it now?"
"Yes... We lived near the sewers back then, didn't we?"
"Yes, and I also bet you won't have much trouble until you get to D-Class. You were pretty agile when we were kids." Shiro spoke, with his arms crossed and nodding his head.
"And you pretty strong... Wait for a second, are you implying that I'm weaker than you?"
"Nah, not so much. I mean, you look pretty fit and your look... well, it's not the same as before. I bet if you train hard, you'll eventually reach the C-Class one day."
The half-wolf felt provoked by these words, he trained hard after his friends were taken away. Yoelona, his Master, taught him everything she knew.
"How about a friendly match of 'Luck or Fight' then?" Luke proposed while remaining inexpressive. "Worth the month's wages."
Shiro didn't know if he was being arrogant or dumb, so he asked:
"What is your salary?"
"One thousand silver coins."
"ONE THOUSAND?!" Shiro was startled because his salary was only two hundred silver coins and one hundred bronze coins.
"Oh! Hehe... Is that too much for you?" Luke said with an evil smile. "If you're confident, we can bet two months."
Shiro believed his forcefulness and made a bold offer while looking at the half-wolf's muscles. "Three months' salary."
The half-wolf hesitated at that second; after all, Shiro was really strong as a kid, and if Luke lost, his friends would have to do several robberies to maintain themselves until the wagon heist.
Still, Luke was also quite confident in his talents, so they closed the bet with a handshake.
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