The girl introduced herself as Sandra. Her situation was similar to Tristan, who was sold by their parents for the sake of some money so that their family could survive.
And they promised that they would follow Noel on his trip until they returned with him to the Muivell Kingdom.
However, before they continued their journey, Noel showed them three problems they had to discuss first.
"First of all. We are still going to the city to restock our supplies. Since we have two more mouths to feed, we have to get more supply than necessary. Hence, Tristan will go with me to resupply." Noel pointed at Tristan instead of Dimitri.
"Huh?" Dimitri frowned. "Master. If you want to resupply, then I will go with you."
"No. It's better for you to stay here and protect Sandra. I'm planning to check the condition in the city as well."
"But…" Dimitri contemplated. He had several reasons to stop him, but he only mentioned the most important one. "Although Tristan can go, he might be recognized as a slave. If someone recognizes him, you'll be in trouble without a doubt."
That was right. If the slave merchant or the townspeople recognized him, they would definitely bring Tristan back and cause some trouble for Noel.
"That's easy." Noel waved his hand to Tristan, asking him to come over. Once Tristan stood in front of him, Noel grabbed the chains and iron bracelets before pouring his Spiritual Energy.
With the skill Old Ru taught him, Noel enveloped the outer layer of the iron bracelet while maintaining the Spiritual Energy so that it didn't burn Tristan's skin. In just three seconds, everything melted into nothing.
Instead of cutting it or breaking it apart, Noel actually melted it. After that, he took off his masquerade, showing his true appearance.
Tristan and Sandra gasped because they never thought that Noel wasn't that much older than them. Yet, he was already this strong. And with the fact that Noel was the author of the rune book, Tristan knew that following him wasn't a mistake.
Before they could say anything, Noel put the masquerade on Tristan, changing the color of his hair and eyes.
With this, Tristan shouldn't be recognizable from those two alone, which caused the people to doubt it.
"This should be fine, right?" Noel asked.
Dimitri couldn't say a single thing. On the one hand, he was worried about Noel, who had to take off his masquerade. On the other hand, this wasn't the Muivell Kingdom, so no one should recognize him.
Ultimately, Dimitri nodded his head, showing his approval.
Seeing how Tristan was going to do all the work, Sandra felt empty. She had been trying to die this whole time without abandoning her humanity, but she was swept away by the situation earlier and ended up agreeing to become Noel's worker.
She didn't know what they should do from this point on.
"I…" Sandra suddenly opened her mouth and begged Noel. "Please let me do something too."
Noel and Tristan turned to her. Tristan objected, "No, you don't have to do anything. Just let me do the rest. This time, I'm the one going to take care of you."
Sandra wanted to refute him, but Noel asked, "Even if I want to ask you, can you do anything? Do you have any special qualities?"
"That's…" Sandra couldn't answer that question. She was just a normal person.
Tristan smiled. "In the past few weeks, you have been the one taking care of me. You give me a reason not to give up and continue to live on. So, please…"
Sandra looked unwilling, but she had no choice but to agree.
Seeing Sandra's face, Dimitri couldn't help but ask, "How about I train her to be a maid? The Ardagan Family has three levels of maids and butlers: Outer, Inner, and Personal. The Outer is a normal maid who handles all the gardens and chores. The Inner Level is those who have at least basic knowledge and skill, including martial arts. They are usually placed around the mansion so that they can help the family in case of emergency. The personal maid is like a combat maid. Not only do you need all kinds of skills, but you also need high combat prowess to protect your master. I am your Personal Butler assigned by your father, Master."
"Hoh?" This was the first time he heard about it. As expected, he only learned the surface of how to manage a family. By creating a lot of layers, it would be hard to shake the family. "If she learns from you, it means that she is going to learn martial arts, etiquette, and all kinds of chores, right?"
"Yes. I'm planning to train her to be at least an Inner Maid."
Obviously, Tristan didn't like this idea. When Noel saw his expression, he added, "That means if Tristan can't complete my test, she should gain some skills so that she can survive. After all, we have to leave them behind, right?"
"!!!" Tristan fell silent after hearing those words. Noel was telling him that even if he failed, they would be able to do something and continue to live on together. Knowing that, he somehow stopped himself from showing an objection.
"I will do it. Please let me do it." Sandra lowered her head.
"How is that, Dimitri?"
"I will do my best. Though, I won't be showing any mercy, especially since they are already a bit too old for training. I have to pick up the pace."
"Alright. You teach them about that basic stuff. After you're done with Tristan, I'll continue with the lesson about runes." Noel looked at Tristan. "Remember this. If you can't even keep up with the training, let alone give you a test, I won't even bother to teach you about runes."
"I understand." Tristan was aware that he was still a slave even if Noel had burned away everything. Noel was already gracious enough to show enough compassion by promising to teach him the runes. If he somehow managed to become the disciple of the author of the rune book, he would be able to turn his life around.
"Alright. Since we've reached an agreement, I'm going to tell you about the second and third problems. Rune has become a vital point of a great change that will occur in all kingdoms soon. So, I, the author, will most likely get targeted, including both of you. I'm going to protect my people, but you should be aware that your life will be in danger if you remain beside me."
"Last but not least, you two have become another variable in my journey. Know that my order considers your safety as well. If you can't follow my order, don't blame me for being a bit merciless." Noel squinted his eyes.
Sandra and Tristan felt chills down their spine despite the hotness of the desert. They weren't adept in this matter because they didn't even have a basic education, so they didn't understand what Noel was saying. But it was clear that Noel was serious about it.
"Then… let's go." Noel stood up and raised his hood.
Dimitri took a set of clothes and a coat and put it on Tristan. With the new clothes, hood, and masquerade, Tristan shouldn't look like a slave at first glance.
Luckily, due to the situation in the desert, if they used high walls to protect their city, the heat would get trapped inside. Hence, there was no city gate or whatsoever.
Noel and Tristan could easily enter the city. As they expected, even after the chaos from earlier, the city didn't seem to be affected.
Noel asked, "Guide me to the place you escaped from."
Tristan was slightly shocked that Noel wanted to go to that place. He thought Noel wanted to hand him away, which scared him. However, Tristan remembered Noel's words earlier and decided to lead him.
Once they reached that place, they saw a crowd surrounding the area.
"Hmm?" Noel frowned. Since he couldn't see it from here, Noel dragged Tristan to an alley.
The building in this city had a similar structure. They were using box shapes that stretched upward.
But because of it, Noel could easily step on the roof. So, he just grabbed Tristan's waist and used the rune to toss him into the roof.
Tristan was surprised that rune could be used this way. But Noel told him to stay here as he walked to the edge of the roof to check what was going on.
He saw numerous people lying on the ground. They seemed to have died, but what concerned Noel was the fact that they had similar clothing as Tristan's earlier.
It was clear they were slaves. And more and more bodies were dragged from the collapsed building.
No one seemed to have survived. Tristan's choice to escape might not be wrong.
However, he also noticed that a fat middle-aged man was clutching his head while shouting, "No. Why did this happen? I lost all my slaves."
"…" Noel frowned. He knew that the middle-aged man was the slave merchant that owned Tristan earlier. But he didn't like how he treated those people like an object even though Dimitri had taught him about this country's slavery system.
Unfortunately, Noel could only remain silent in this different ideology.
Since nothing important could be gained, Noel returned to Tristan and asked, "Do you have anything you want to do to that guy?"
Tristan shook his head. For him, escaping from the slave merchant was already enough.
"Alright then. Let's go around the town to resupply and gather some information. Try to remember the layout of the city, listen to the people's words, and see if there is anything weird."
"Understood."
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