Back at the Valleris's castle, more specifically at Daimon's room, Daimon who was laying down on the bed with his eyes closed, heard the door of the bathroom opening as well as slow footsteps coming his way followed by the fruity scent of shampoo.
"If you jump at me right now, I swear I'll throw you out of the room until I finish bathing", said Daimon as he opened his eyes just to see that the crazy girl was laying down on the bed a few centimeters away, staring at him.
Surprisingly she didn't do anything, besides giggling, so Daimon got up and then walked into the bathroom, not without asking Rita to keep an eye on her.
Once inside of the bathroom Daimon took off his clothes and jumped below the shower, one of the good things about humanity or smart civilizations in general, is that whether powered by electricity or magic, technology always followed the same direction, which was, making people's lives easier.
As the water drops fell down on Daimon's body, he heard Rita calling him from within his shadow.
'Daimon'.
'What happened, did that crazy girl couldn't hold back anymore and is trying to barge in the bathroom?', asked Daimon with an unsurprised voice in his mind.
'No, I noticed you were feeling a bit down earlier, would it be of any use, if I helped young master… bath, that is also part of my duties after all?', she said, her voice tone lowering more and more until it was practicable just mumbles.
"…"
Daimon remained silent for a moment, only then he realized something, besides when he was doing naughty things with Aisha and the others, Rita was in his shadow all the time ever since she gained self-aware, in other words, she basically has seen him naked a lot.
'Huh, so you didn't know it, and here I thought you were just enjoying being an exhibitionist~', unless Daimon didn't want her to, Evangeline could hear his thoughts, and read his mood, and she of course couldn't let go of this chance to tease Daimon, since it is rare for something to escape his scope.
'So, Daimon can also be clumsy sometimes~', even Narasha couldn't help but softly laugh, luckily, she has understood joy ever since she met Daimon, and she was making the most out of it.
It's not like it was completely Daimon's fault though, only recently Rita has started to show a more "human" side of her, asking to speak in an informal way to him, on the other hand it could be because she really is timid, to the point that she only comes out of his shadow if he asks for it, or if she has to fight.
"I appreciate the offer, I'm just taking a quick shower this time, maybe another time, also don't worry, I just felt a bit nostalgic since it's been some time since I saw Erin and the others", said Daimon keeping his cool, it would be more uncomfortable to change things now.
But he kept a mental note to have a small conversation about this later, this is a subject he didn't have to discuss with Horals, though he did have to stop the Bone General from "Gathering all the beauties of the enemy's families, to warm his honorable young master's bed".
Rita who was inside Daimon's shadow felt a bit at a loss until she heard the words "maybe another time".
'Okay!', she answered in a strangely enthusiastic voice, making Daimon chuckle, he finished bathing and then came out, just to see why the crazy girl didn't try to break in the bathroom, she was rolling on the bed, more accurately on the part where he was laying down before.
"What the hell are you doing now?", asked Daimon only to regret it the next second as he heard the answer.
"Mixing my scent with yours to keep that bitch away~", she happily said, making Daimon sigh.
"Why did I even bother… whatever, you saw the notification earlier right?", said Daimon, to which the crazy girl who was laying down on her belly right on the spot where Daimon was earlier, nodded.
"Mm, it was something about some guys working behind scenes and us having to stop them, we aren't going to do that right, the reward won't get us closer to Jas, and it sounds boring too?", she casually said as she rubbed her face against the bed.
Ignoring what she was doing, Daimon nodded.
"Of course, we aren't doing it, but we'll drop by the cathedral since we have some time before the black market "opens", according to the information we got thanks to Ender, there are two ways of exchanging those related to flesh eating demons, it's either the government in other words the Adjudicators, or the so-called Church of Justice", he said.
"Okay~", said the crazy girl, usually this led to a fight and she having fun with Daimon, so as long as it didn't get in their way to find Jasmine, it was good for her.
Naturally Daimon had a reason for this, previously he already thought that the name "Church of Justice" sounded like something 100% related to heroes, and this notification/forced mission confirmed it, now he just needed to know which side was more helpful for him, to determine his next course of action.
They apparently cleared that out on time, because not even a few seconds later, past the hour mentioned by Reyne, Daimon heard someone knocking on the door, Reyne to be more accurate, which he knew courtesy of his infinity eyes.
Daimon opened the door, and was met with the elegant and smiling Reyne who came to pick them up, whose attention was momentarily drawn by the fact that Sarah was smiling at her, from her face down position on the bed.
That being said, her calm expression didn't change, her attention just returned to Daimon as she said.
"I'm happy to see that the room was up to your liking, are you ready?".
Daimon nodded, luckily the mask of the Hollow Suit only covered the upper part of his face, so he didn't have to take it off to eat, probably it was designed with that in thought.
…
The two of them followed Reyne through the corridors and halls of the castle, until they reached the dining room, where Jeanne was already waiting for them, sitting on a large table that had space for at least twenty people, there were of course not that many chairs.
The dark gray-haired Emily was standing behind Jeanne, while being camouflaged, Daimon took a seat at the other side of the table, and the crazy girl immediately sat at his right.
Reyne didn't react to that and just walked and sat next to her mother, her position was "casually" right in front of Daimon.
Just as Daimon observed that there were only two free seats, and they were positioned at the two ends of it, very far from the center where he, Sarah and the pair of mother and daughter were sitting, the door opened and two newcomers came from it.
They were two black haired guys, one who seemed to be in his early thirties and one who was in his middle twenties, they both had green eyes too, and were clearly related to the other, since they resembled a lot.
The middle aged one, looked at Daimon with a frowned expression but didn't say anything, that being said it was easy to notice he didn't like the idea of Daimon wearing a mask, not to mention he was slightly exuding his recently ascended peak Archmage aura.
As for the younger guy, he limited to greet Reyne and Jeanne, while ignoring everything else and taking his seat at the down edge of the table, while the older man sat at the upper edge of it.
After a couple of seconds of waiting, it became clear that Daimon wasn't going to present himself first, so Reyne took the initiative to speak.
"Let me introduce you to them, young Lord Gabriel, my father, the City Lord of Tiria, Oliver Tiria and my older brother Eliot Tiria, ah if you are wondering about the difference in last name, the City Lord and his designated successor take the name of the city as their last name", said Reyne.
"A pleasure", said Daimon, the young guy didn't show interest in him so he didn't pay him any attention, as for the old man, he didn't present himself, so Daimon didn't either, which made Reyne give him an apologetic smile, she knew her father was rather strict, and in these kind of situations, the junior should take the initiative, unfortunately when has Daimon respected anyone out of seniority, and that includes people who he is sure had lived tens of times what this mere peak Arch ranked has and yet aren't this petty.
Still, Reyne was clever enough to mention his name while she introduced her father and older brother, so in a sense the presentations were over and so with Jeanne who didn't interfere before, clapping her hands, the chefs and servants brought several dishes from the kitchen and placed them on the table, there were four copies of each so that everyone could reach to what they wanted.
"Enjoy your food", surprisingly the city lord nodded at all the presents, including Daimon and waited for them to reach out to the food, before doing the same himself, it was courtesy but it surprised Daimon, considering he didn't even introduce himself first.
Maing Daimon wonder if there was poison in the food, but that wasn't the case, at all, the crazy girl casually served two plates and then passed one to Daimon with a sweet smile on her face, while she stole a gaze at Reyne.
'Yup, she is doing it on purpose', thought Daimon, but he didn't say anything and just accepted the plate and dug in, the food was actually quite decent, not as good as Elaine's cooking, but that was expected.
The crazy girl was quite hungry herself, so she didn't stand in ceremony and ate plate after plate, knights do consume a lot more of food than mages, due to the nature of their path which makes them more similar to magic beasts.
Reyne was the same though, the difference is that Sarah didn't act as a refined as her, not only because her backstory was of someone who was raised in a settlement in the wasteland, but because though she actually learned high etiquette, she wasn't too fond of it, in that sense her mother was similar, both didn't really like formalities.
"Reyne, I wasn't really going to say it, but is your acquittance really not going to take off that mask, is he perhaps not aware of what wearing a mask while eating means?", said Eliot as he drank from his cup.
"Gabriel survived in the wasteland brother, but I can vouch that he isn't a flesh eating demon, if that is what worries you", said Reyne with a smile that wasn't a smile.
"Little girl, your brother's worries are justified, I didn't hear anything of this beforehand too after all", added Oliver, just to hear Jeanne saying.
"Well, that's not exactly true, Emily called you but you didn't answer, besides I met them before and they are Reyne's benefactors and my guests, so you can drop the City Lord act or leave".
A sepulchral silence fell on the room, until Daimon's chuckle broke it.
"I can swear I'm not a flesh eating demon if that's the problem", he said.
"Humph, can you swear you aren't an enemy?", asked Eliot as he snorted, just to be surprised at Daimon's casual answer.
"Well, that depends on whether you stand in my way or not", he said, making Eliot slightly grit his teeth.
"What did you…", just as he was about to stand up from his seat, Oliver interfered.
"Enough, sit down Eliot, is this how a future City Lord should act!", he said before he turned to see Daimon.
"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, wearing a mask to eat is something those filthy high ranked nobles among the flesh eating demons do… for fun, I didn't know you helped Reyne, please accept my thanks for that".
Daimon nodded, apparently the problem wasn't him wearing a mask, but an association to the flesh eating demons, which Oliver seemed to hate from the bottom of his heart, which was understandable.
"No problem, I guess Gary hasn't filled his report yet, but we have passed the tests of six towns on the way, not to mention this city's ones too", he said.
Oliver nodded back, Gary actually did send him a report, but he hasn't had the time to read it, since he was busy dealing with other urgent matters until he realized Reyne's presence felt stronger, meaning she had returned, so he hurried back to the Valleris's castle.
With that out of the way, Daimon took the chance to ask.
"In the towns I have been, there was no branch of the Church of Justice, nor a representative of an Adjudicator, so I wonder that is the difference between giving a sinner to one or the other?", he said.
"Sinner" was the term used for those who cooperated with the flesh eating demons, the subject attracted the attention of both Oliver and Jeanne, though the latter knew Daimon has captured someone, she thought he had already been through this process before, since her daughter told her how he utterly crushed Jeremy's business.
"Mind your manners you savage, we are eating…", as Eliot was scolding Daimon, his father shook his head.
"As an Adjudicator your duty is never over, and dealing with sinners is one of our major responsibilities, even for a newly accepted one like you, time and situation don't apply to this, unless we are talking of an emergency", said Oliver with a disappointed voice.
Making Daimon inwardly nod, the City Lord was old fashioned but he now got a glimpse of his character, it's not that he was actively trying to pick on him earlier, he just had a strict upbringing, but he was responsible and upright.
Eliot wanted to argue back, but his father didn't allow him to, as he immediately answered Daimon's question.
"It depends, we Adjudicators and our representatives have a fixed "reward" in exchange for sinners, while the guys from the Church of Justice don't, their reward varies, but most of the time it is honestly higher than what we offer, at least in terms of beast cores, we are more resourceful in other fields though, like minerals, information network and permits to other cities".
'So, the church got more support, but they have more authority', thought Daimon as he heard Oliver's explanation.
"I see, thanks for the information", said Daimon to then finish eating his food, before getting up his seat, Sarah and Reyne finished at the same time.
"Thanks for the food, of you excuse us, we'll go out to take a small walk", said Daimon to which Reyne added.
"I'll go too as we spoke earlier".
Oliver turned to see Jeanne who nodded at him, since she has already approved of it, so the City Lord didn't complain, but Eliot on the other hand did say.
"I will tag along too if you don't mind…", he hasn't finished speaking when Daimon interrupted him.
"No", it was a single word and yet it was so cutting that Eliot felt as if he was slapped on the face, but Reyne came to the rescue.
"There is no need to worry brother, aunt Emily has agreed to follow us just in case".
With that, even Oliver felt re-assured, so there was nothing Eliot could do or say, specially since it was obvious, he didn't get along with Daimon, so there is no way the other party will let him tag along if not being obligated to.
And with that, the three of them left the room, and not even a second later, Eliot turned to see his father with a serious expression on his face.
"Lord father, why didn't you let me go too, that guy clearly only worries about benefits or he wouldn't have asked that, what if he tries to take advantage of Reyne, and you why did you stopped me", he exclaimed as he pointed at Emily who came out of her camouflaged state.
Earlier, it wasn't only Oliver saying "enough" what stopped him from moving earlier, the dark gray-haired Emily used her mana pressure to restrain him too, her control was quite precise so that no one besides Oliver and Jeanne noticed it, or at least that should have been the case, but for some reason she couldn't help but believe that the masked silver haired youth noticed it too.
"It would have been too disgraceful if you had to rely on his help against a member of the young generation, in your own house, in a fight you started just by being a brat", said Emily as she pointed at Oliver.
"Are you saying I would have lost, I'm a peak Lord ranked who has been accepted as a preliminary Adjudicator, as I have killed those disgusting flesh eating idiots before!", said Eliot with a disgusted face as he glared at Emily, who had already stopped paid attention to him.
"According to Reyne, he killed a variant early stage Arch ranked magic beast with a single attack, while that might have been due to a Beast Weapon, or maybe poison since the corpse couldn't be retrieved, it is obvious that young man is used to fight those with higher realms than his", calmly said Jeanne, to then casually add.
"There is a high chance that they escaped a human farm as far as we know, so Emily helped you back then… also if I ever see you look at her with those eyes again, I'll gouge them out".
Oliver cleared his throat to interrupt before things got out of hand and because the theory that Daimon and Sarah escaped from a human farm got his interest.
"Ahem, how certain are you of that and why the hell didn't you mention it earlier, any Adjudicator would welcome him with open arms you know, it was the wish of the founder after all", he said.
Emily shrugged in response.
"It's your fault for not taking the call earlier, and being honest at least 80%, that or I just met the most talented person in the history of Kerrol ever since the first king, take your pick", she said, making Eliot snort as he stood up from his seat to leave to his room.
Oliver sighed, but he didn't reprimand his soon, today he was finally promoted to a junior Adjudicator, one of the greatest honors any human being can receive, and pushed the celebration to later, since Reyne had returned and he wanted to tell her, but all this happened in between.
"I'm not as kind as Jeanne, so let me tell you that if he tries to pull something against that kid, he'll die in eight out of ten scenarios", said Emily, to which Oliver frowned.
"What will the two scenarios in which he survives would be?", he asked.
"Well, there is always a chance that a natural disaster kills us all during blood moon week, like a meteorite falling from the sky and killing everyone in the city, before that masked kid destroys him, that or you interfere and he escapes, to then return in the future and kill the two of you", she casually said.
Oliver bitterly smiled, but surprisingly he didn't feel offended, because surviving a peak Arch rank's attack, is within the capacities of someone that has escaped the living hell that human farm is, especially because thanks to the first king, the security and methods of the flesh eating demons improved a lot, so there hasn't been any other known case of someone escaping, since back then, that's why Ender was terrified over his own misconception.
"I'll talk to him, you shouldn't have said that in any case Jeanne…", said Oliver as he stood up to leave.
"He shouldn't have looked at Emily like that, Adjudicator or not, I don't care", said Reyne's mother in response.
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