Preparation

 "Wake up you little pig, it's breakfast time." A large shout woke Igor up, he looked at the direction where the sound came from, he saw a teenager with brown hair.

  "Why are you always able to wake up so early? Even those chicken In the barn can't get up so early." Igor stretched his body and climbed down from the bed.

  "wielding your sword when you heard the crow at dawn, move your mind when you saw an enemy in the path. I hope you still remember the Meister words." Vaterian spoke to Igor, he won't admit that he was taunted by his nightmare.

  "We should be leaving today, if Mister Valencians still kept his promise. Prepared your luggage and yourself, just remember to not leave anything behind." Vaterian walked toward the door, but before he went out, he remembered something.

  "By the way, your stuff." Vaterian throw something toward Igor and left the rooms. Igor caught it and inspected the item, it was his comb, the crack had been connected with a metal piece and redecorated with silver. From the brightness of it Igor sure it was smelted from silver coin, the name craved on it dazzling his eye, 'Katharina'.

  "She probably would like to own this comb now." Igor laughed grimly, who ever thought that a comb she threw away would become so valuable for her.

  Igor slipped the comb into his pocket, "So bad I am not a person that always life in the past like Vati did." Igor walked down to the dining area, currently had no one here other than the owner.

  "Where were the others?" Asked Igor. "They are all at the stable or their own room, preparing for their leave, Sir." The owner replied.

  "Make me some bread and sausage, with extra mustard." Igor gave the owner his order, the owner wasn't willing to stay with Igor for any longer, he backed away and went straight to the kitchen.

  Igor facing the hearth, the burning fire warmed up his body and blazed his eyes. Igor took out the comb, stared at it for couple of seconds. "Good bye, Katherina." He threw the comb into the roaring flame, which burnt into ashes minutes later. 

  Igor didn't stay there for long, he turned away after he saw the comb disappear in the orange hue.

___(in stable)___

  "Mister Vaterian, I believe you had an idea about how to handle the horses right? It was the basic knowledge for a nobleman." Valenciano put his hand on one of the horses, and said to Vaterian.

  "You was bold enough to ask a prince to drive a carriage for you, but I like that." Vaterian jumped up to the horseback, even without a saddle it was still not a problem for him.

  "If my daughter didn't leak the name of your sister, I might never have known that there's a prince among us. I always want to experience what was the feeling to be a king, now I have the opportunity." Valenciano laughed soundly, he looked at the muscle at Valerian thigh, he was surprised how strong it was. Not everyone can rode a horse without saddle.

  "I might like to inform you that even my father haven't let me drove a carriage for him, you are the first one who did." Vaterian pet the horse, this might be the worst horse he ever rode, but it was still more adorable than most people he met.

  "So, what duty do you want Igor to serve as? Just as a reminder, although he was my servant, but he only did well at things other than serving people." Valerian jumped down from the horseback, every person knew that riding a horse without a saddle would harmed the horse. This horse might have to follow him until he reached Karchidon, he didn't want to lose it before they arrived there.

  Valenciano thought for seconds before he thought out a suitable position for Igor, "how about being an accountant for us, we got quite a lot of things that need to be analyzed and managed. Those are usually handled by Me and Viridiana, but My current situation wont allow me to do it ,and I don't think she is able to handle all of it alone."

  Vaterian seemed a bit awkward looking, his eye looking in a different direction and running his finger on the pommel of his sword. 

  "Hard to admit, but my friend wasn't the best candidate to be an accountant, he might be good enough to calculate but he always does it in a rather messy way." Valerian won't forget that time Igor manage to use an entire page to just solve one question, it's a skill of over-complicating stuff that he never understands.

  "We will figure it out later than," Valenciano seems to find it hard to find a solution for it, he sets this problem aside and about to move away from the stable. 

  "Mister Valenciano, have you heard the name Kiefer Schneider before?" Valenciano halted his steps, he turned his head and stared at Vaterian. "Where did you hear that name?"

  Vaterian lifted his shoulder, showed Valenciano that he doesn't want to leak the reasons he knew the name.

  "Fine, it's not a big thing after all, it was just a murder happened almost 10 years ago. A man, Kiefer Schneider found his wife and child being murdered. What's special about it is that he served as a civil servant and he lives just near the protectorate. He can even see what happened in the protectorate's villa just from his balcony." Valenciano put his hand under his chin and started to memorize the thing about this event.

  "The Mother and daughter died in a horrific way, they were being hung upside down with their own intestines and blood spilled all over the ground from the deep cut on their throat. A lot of people living on Tharcia Island were terrified during that time." Valenciano started to describe the scene in detail.

  "Seems like you had a lot of contact with the Tharcian, no wonder you can get here without being stopped by the Mathar league."

   "The Mathar League was just a badly organized league of nations; they had no control over individual states. If the protectorate can live within the heart of the city of Karchidon, why couldn't I get around them by just bribing them?" Valenciano mocked the decentralized merchant state, and left the stable.

  "Maybe I really need to talk with that 'senior' person." Vaterian whispered by himself.