Seeing the two people casually walking toward them, after instant-killing an early-stage Arch rank magic beast, the guard who was holding up the banner, tensed up, earlier he watched Daimon overpowering the other six experts, but that was because of a difference in speed.
Assassin type mages were quite strong against other humans, but against magic beasts they were at disadvantage, but then the masked solver haired man just killed that sandworm in a mere couple of seconds.
And the previous scene of the same silver haired masked man, killing someone over a small dispute was still fresh, so who knows what could happen now.
Also, it's worth mentioning that the other guards who were all early-stage Lord ranks, were in shock, not only at Daimon's performance, but at the banner with the yellow sword and blue shield that their boss was holding in his hands right now.
And they weren't the only ones, the three remaining peak Lord rank experts, were taken back by it too.
"Is that not the family emblem of the Valleris, if this is a fraud, I don't want to be involved in it", mumbled the glassed girl.
Only those of the main branch of the Valleris were authorized to have that banner on them, as it not only represented the whole city of Tiria, but the force backing it too.
Feigning to be a part of it, was a major insult for the Valleris which resulted in being hunted down and executed including all their families, so the glassed girl was worried that Gary was just trying to pull something that would have horrible consequences.
"Jackes how long are you going to keep that up, you are going to cause a bad impression on our friends", the voice of a young woman came out the carriage, startling the guard who immediately returned the banner to his ring.
"I-I'm sorry young miss!", said the guard as he kneeled down at one side of the carriage, respectfully waiting for the one who talked a moment ago to come out.
The door of the carriage opened and a tall girl, slender girl in her middle twenties came out of it, she had dirty blond hair and dark green eyes, and though she looked rather calm and gentle, she was also exuding the pressure or a middle stage Knight Lord.
And unlike the people at the towns Daimon met before, she actually looked like a proper middle stage Lord rank, he couldn't detect any sign of Will Manipulation from her, but her vitality was quite strong, not losing in quality to the elite young generation of the Clear Water kingdom, like Terry or Lance.
Gary who had an uncomfortable expression on his face, came out after the girl, keeping a respectable distance from her, while bowing his head continuously.
"Don't worry about that, I'm Reyne Valleris, so I'm more than authorized to use the emblem of my family", said the girl to the glassed mage June.
The other guards finally caught up what was happening, their boss which was a merchant was actually escorting an important person, who in this area haven't heard about the young miss of Tiria city.
Not only because of her looks which were completely different to what you would expect, from people that live in a wasteland, having smooth pale skin akin to a noble lady who has never had to spend a day under the blazing sun, but because of her backing.
The Valleris practically owned Tiria city, and not only that, but they actually had an Adjudicator guarding the fort, the only one in this area of the wasteland, in other words they practically had the highest authority in all the nearby zone.
They all kneeled down and remained silent, surviving experts on the other hand were coldly looking at Gary.
The bald still one armed Uli, stood up and with bloodshot eyes he shouted at the short merchant.
"You bastard, why didn't you mention this before, magic beasts can detect people with strong lineages, it was your fault that such a freak magic beast attacked us, and nearly had us all killed!".
How could he not be angry, from his point of view he was used as a meat shield and as result his best friend died, while he suffered heavy losses, that pill he consumed was quite pricey, which reminded him.
"And you masked bastard, you knew about this from the very beginning right, you just wanted to wait until we got rid of the Vulture and tired that thing to get the results without any effort!", he said as he glared at Daimon who was arriving along with Sarah right now.
In his mind, the only reason as to why he was able to kill that sandworm with a single attack, was that black sword which probably was an expensive Beast Weapon, so he put Daimon and that girl from the Valleris family on the same sack, two rich second generations that took advantage of them.
Gary was about to yell back at Uli, when the girl raised her hand to do it by herself.
"You are wrong, certainly magic beasts will hunt humans with strong lineages, the same applies with flesh eating demons, they have developed a sharp sense to detect us, but that's why I'm using a special treasure to alter my presence, as well as that disguise of before", she said as she pointed a necklace with a small core embedded on it, before continuing.
"Not to mention I haven't been out of Tiria until this time, how could I know that there was such a troublesome magic beast lingering around, when even the nearby locals didn't know about it", she looked at the glassed girl who could only sigh in defeat, no one knew about that sandworm, it was as if it had appeared out of nowhere.
Uli gritted his teeth, what Reyne said was right, who could have predicted that such a monster would appear, when there haven't been any Arch rank magic beasts appearing in this part, during the last couple of hundreds of years, there are patrolling teams from Tiria doing some rounds all the time to prevent one from appearing after all.
The only exception are the blood moon weeks, when they don't operate for safety reasons, only mercenaries like Uli and the others would go out to keep hunting, as it was a dangerous time.
That being said, Uli still had something he needed to clear.
"Still, you, if you had the confidence to deal with that thing, then why didn't you do it sooner, no one would have died if you acted earlier!", he shouted at Daimon.
"If I remember correctly, you were the ones that told me to be out of the way, don't tell me you came out during a dangerous time not expecting to risk your life, while just reaping benefits everywhere, if so, you are far more stupid than what I thought", casually said Daimon.
"Y-You!", Uli felt his lungs fill with anger, but Tanner who could barely move after taking a recovery potion placed his hand on the bald mage and shook his head.
"And just to make things clear, I didn't act after all of you got trashed around by that magic beast to take advantage of your efforts, honestly you amounted to nothing, that beast tricked you all from the very beginning, only the head that swallowed that caped guy was "alive", the others were mere appendices with mouths on them, so you didn't really lethally hurt it at all".
"I acted until now because I was hired until now, it is as simple as that", added Daimon, to then completely ignore Uli and his aggrieved expression.
Those guys thought they could get some easy cash by escorting Gary who was offering an insanely good pay in exchange for their services, they were blinded by greed and didn't put enough thought into it, which led to their deaths.
"Lord Gary, given the current situation of things and since you have gotten… better escorts, I will like to break our agreement and return now, I won't be of any use in battles anyway", said Tanner.
What a joke, in his current state even middle stage Lord ranked magic beast will be a problem, so he couldn't care about protecting others when he can't protect himself even.
"I also want to leave, Ken was killed by that thing, I have to inform his family…", said the glassed girl.
Uli spat on the ground, his opinion was clear as day, he didn't want to be with these people anymore, Gary's expression blackened, he was the one that hired them, they dropping the mission like that was a disgrace for him, in front of his young miss no less.
But he didn't want to waste any time with these unreliable guys, if that sandworm came to them because it could detect his young miss's strong lineage, then they couldn't stay here too long, that being said he of course wasn't going to pay them what was accorded.
"Jackes unload all the things in the carriage, since the deal is off, of course you won't receive the payment, but as a show of the graciousness of my young miss, I'll give you this carriage, even if damaged, it should fetch a decent price, you can divide it as you see fit", said Gary.
The other guards who worked for Gary, didn't leave, they had almost no chance to advance further than what they had, so this was a one-time chance for them to leave a decent impression on someone from the Valleris, even if they became mere porters at Tiria, it was better than be on the middle upper level of Brown Wind town.
While Tanner and June felt somewhat thankful, since selling the carriage will at least give them enough money to get some profit, Uli didn't feel any better, the pill he took was too expensive and he also lost his sword, not to mention he would have to stay in the town and rest until he recovered, he will be short on money for quite a while.
Once the captain of the guards, who was the only one that seemed to know about Reyne besides Gary, had taken out all the personal belongings of his young miss, Gary turned to see Daimon before saying.
"I hope young Gabriel is willing to let us share carriage until we reach Tiria, since the other ones are being used for cargo".
Daimon nodded, since this was just an excuse to have a private talk, Gary obviously had more of these carriages in his ring, otherwise he wouldn't have gifted that one to Tanner and the others.
The crazy girl seemed pissed off that someone was interrupting their happy fun time together, which made her glare at Reyne, but since Daimon nodded, then she didn't say anything.
After saying goodbye to the three surviving experts, the guards and the caravan formed once again, this time with Daimon's carriage as its core and they continued advancing towards Tiria.
…
Inside the carriage that advanced at full throttle, there was a slightly awkward silence between the atmosphere, as Reyne gently smiled at Daimon, under the fierce gaze of the crazy girl, while Gary was sitting on the row behind the one in which Reyne was sitting.
"First of all, I would like to introduce myself, Reyne Valleris, the young miss of the Valleris family, it's a pleasure", she said as she slightly raised the sides of her dress like a proper noble lady.
Daimon nodded as he answered.
"I'm Gabriel, and she is Priscila, we are travelers from an exterminated small settlement in the wasteland", this is the story he forged for them, he was sure that with the current state of Kerrol, it should be a pretty common thing, not everyone could live in towns, and it was normal to die if you lived in the wasteland, that also covered why they were strong, since they had to survive.
"Leaving that aside, and while we were never in danger, I don't appreciate to have been kept on the dark regarding this situation", said Daimon, though his voice was calm, the temperature seemed to plummet all of a sudden, making Gary feel his back drenched in cold sweat.
Previously he didn't believe Ender's supposition, that Daimon and Sarah probably managed to survive and escape from a human farm, but he was inclined to believe it now, otherwise he couldn't think of a way for someone to develop such a horrifying aura.
Surprisingly, while the merchant was being intimidated, the gave Daimon an apologetic smile before saying.
"Please don't be angry about it, while it is true that I kept my identity a secret for my safety, it also applies to others, if anyone else were to know I was returning to Tiria, there is a high chance of flesh-eating demons, and humans attacking us instead of just magic beasts", she said.
"Y-Young miss you shouldn't…", Gary tried to tell Reyne to not speak about such things in front of strangers, but Reyne stopped him from doing so.
"Enough, if they wanted to harm me, I think it would be really hard to escape, at least that's what my instincts tell me, so unless I'm being kidnapped right now, I think we are good, in fact this is probably a situation that can benefit both of us, am I right, young Lord Gabriel", she said while keeping her calm and gentle smiling expression.
Daimon had to give it to Reyne, he expected this to be a classy hero situation, in which he was expected to help the damsel in distress, but this girl seemed to have things under control, since she wasn't alarmed even after the sandworm killed Ken.
It is also easy to see that Gary didn't want her to reveal her identity earlier, she took that decision on her own, so she wasn't just a defenseless young miss from a noble family.
"You are right, I want some information and a way to exchange some prisoners for rewards, if you can give me that, we can forget about the hospitality and all", said Daimon.
But Reyne softly laughed as she shook her head.
"I don't mind lending a hand on that, but I still want you to at least enjoy your stay in Tiria, in the palace of my family, since you practically saved my life, of course if you don't feel comfortable with it, I won't push things further, but I will still have to accompany you because the place where you can get what you need isn't accessible for everyone", she said.
Daimon nodded, and then he leaned back on the sofa, with the sandworm which practically ruled this area, dead, there won't be any other peak Lord ranked magic beasts appearing, and middle stage ones could be dealt of by Jackes and the other guards without any problem.
If Tanner and the others were to know that they basically gave up a ride to Tiria, free from any dangers from this point onwards, they would probably vomit blood.
And so, the carriage easily advanced through the wasteland, as Daimon predicted, besides a couple of middle stage Lord ranked magic beasts that appeared on their way, nothing else happened, so it was fine to assume that Reyne's schedule wasn't revealed.
After a couple of hours of that, practically at midday, Daimon got a glimpse of a tall metal wall from the window of the carriage, just to hear Reyne saying.
"There it is, the city that guards the border to the wasteland, Tiria".
Daimon was surprised by the huge difference between a "city" and a "town", even the town closest to this city, didn't have such an imposing wall, which was more than fifty meters tall, not to mention the large number of guards patrolling on top of it.
There were giant crossbows mounted on the walls as well as archers deployed everywhere, not to mention the magic cores embedded on the giant wall, it was basically a fortress.
Another curious thing is that the caravan didn't go to the preferential line, which was clearly reserved for important people, but the general waiting line, meaning that Reyne didn't want practically anyone to know she had returned.
Once their turn to enter arrived, Daimon saw that she had returned to the disguise she was using earlier, while for him it didn't work, she was able to trick the detecting arrays on the walls and the guards who were all middle stage Lord ranks.
Just the guards here were as strong as Ender, and there was a dozen of them stationed outside, the difference between this place and the towns just grew bigger with each second.
But it made sense, since even from outside Daimon could tell there were a few Arch ranks inside this city.
With Gary handling all the paperwork, they were soon allowed to enter the city, the merchant didn't enter the carriage again though, and instead sat next to the coachman, leaving Reyne alone with Daimon and Sarah.
The caravan advanced through the streets until it reached the merchant district, entering a large area which was owned by Gary, it would be more accurate to say that it was a whole street, owned by him and his "associates", so once they reached that, the street was suddenly flooded by people.
From inside the carriage Daimon observed the situation, all the people that appeared out of nowhere, all worked for Gary, he could tell because though it looked random, they were all fulfilling a specific role, not to mention that they were communicating with signals.
They were actually quite good, but not to the level where they could trick his infinity eyes, Sarah could have also noticed it, but all her attention has been on Reyne since they were left alone with her.
Once the caravan had entered an empty yard, the gates closed and they were now isolated from the outside, only then Gary stopped the carriage and opened the door.
"Welcome home young miss, the secret passage has been prepared and the lady is already waiting for you at the other side", said Gary, as he bowed towards Reyne.
Reyne stood up from her seat and then turned to see Daimon before saying.
"Do you two want to come with me, or do you prefer to wait here, I have to meet someone before I get to do anything else".
"We'll go", to Daimon's surprise, the crazy girl was the one that answered, but he was going to say the same thing, so he went along with it.
There was a door that led to the building to which the yard was connected, which opened for Reyne.
"Keep an eye on those two, they can't leave their cages, and you can't approach them either, I'll know if something happens, so I suggest you two warn those guys on the roof to not point those arrows towards me unless they want to die", casually said Daimon to Gary as he entered through the door, making Gary sigh, while Reyne softly laughed.
"Those are members of the shadow guards, who can conceal their presences from even early-stage Arch ranks you know", she said.
"Well, unlike that girl with glasses, I could tell that the sandworm was playing with them, so it is only normal that I can detect them, but you already knew that, right", answered Daimon, making Reyne nod in response.
"Indeed, don't pay them attention please, I can't really order them, they still aim at Gary even if he is a trustable subordinate of my father, but they won't do anything unless my life is in danger, so there is no need to worry", she said.
Daimon did as she asked and ignored them, the secret passage had a lot of those guys hiding here and there, he could feel the countless aims on him, not like it did matter, but certainly the security was tight here.
The crazy girl also noticed them, since she has been trained in assassin techniques by her mother, but she was only paying attention to Daimon right now, as she walked in between him and Reyne.
Daimon wondered what the hell she was up to, but he decided that it was better to not ask, because the answer won't be up to his liking anyway, as long as she didn't do anything too bothersome, Sarah was free to act as crazy as she wanted.
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