Chapter 13

They were standing in front of the baron's mansion seemingly hesitant and uncertain of whether to head in.

"Do we considered ourselves lucky or not?"

Denver muttered all of a sudden. Knowing Jaycee, just like what he expected, he never received a response or even a sigh from him. Instead, Jaycee was just blankly staring at the tall estate's gate as if he was spacing out.

Denver hopelessly sighed and said, "At least give me a short response or simply glare at me. You being silent like this make me shiver in uneasiness."

Well, Jaycee still treated him like air and gave him a silent treatment. Moments later, a knight approached them with a cold and passive expression. That knight's hair was dyed in bloody red along with his ruby-colored narrowed eyes. He was wearing an armor tinted in greyish black and even the sword sheathed at his side was also dyed with it though apparently; a perceivable white panther which seemed to be the barony's emblem was carved onto the swords handle.

"May I know what made you come here, immortal adventurers?"

Jaycee snapped out and responded, "It seems that the owner of this estate wants us to do something for him."

"Is that so? I am not trying to be rude but may I ask for thy names?"

That knight may look blunt and direct with his words, however; the two neither felt any hostility nor enmity towards them. That knight was simply a passively straightforward person.

"I am Jaycee and this person behind me is my companion, Denver."

That knight instantaneously greeted them like an esteemed guest.

He bowed his head down and said, "Greetings Mr. Jaycee and Mr. Denver. The baron just informed me about it and he was looking forward for your arrival."

The two just gave each other a swift glance after receiving an oddly familiar hospitality.

"If you please …"

The gates of the barony estate opened. Without doubting much, the two followed the knight who assisted them. As they were walking, nothing but footstep noises was the only noise they can hear. Denver felt super uncomfortable after realizing that the knight seemed to be an incarnation of his friend.

Despite the overwhelming silence, Jaycee asked all of a sudden.

"May I ask for sir's name?"

They momentarily stopped walking.

The knight faced them with the same expression he had earlier and said, "I'm sorry for the late introductions. I am Schilder Stroacia, the head knight of the Dark Rose Knights under the great baron Rael's orders."

Denver overly reacted and said, "Ooh~ so you're a head knight?"

"Yes."

Just like that, the conversation ended. They resumed their way however; Jaycee noticed something from the knight's actions.

'This knight is rather composed and sophisticated which is completely different from my first impression of that baron. Are my eyes deceiving me?'

"Can you tell us more about the master you are serving?" Jaycee abruptly asked.

That knight slightly looked back with such a suspicious look and mumbled, "Master Rael?"

Jaycee heard his mumbling and responded, "Yes, that's right. When I first saw him in the guild tavern, my first impression of him wasn't really that good. At that time, he looked like a muscle-headed ruffian who knows nothing but purely violence."

After a momentary pause, Jaycee continued, "However, after you addressed the baron as someone 'great'; that made me doubt everything I have concluded so far. I wasn't really expecting this meeting that much however now, I'm slightly curious to see the real side of this master of yours."

A slight grin was briefly seen on the knight's face.

"Indeed, the rumors about him spreading in town were partly exaggerated. Although it was true that he was previously a hunter, it wasn't known to everyone that he is also the third son of the Feliciano dukedom."

"Hmm?" Jaycee's eyebrows arched.

"Yes it's true. Although he was the esteemed third son of the Graciano dukedom, however; after reaching his adulthood, he decided to leave their estate and eventually became a renowned hunter."

"The Dark Rose Knights are commonly comprised of the newest generation of the Graciano dukedom's Silver Knights. Apparently, the current Graciano duke, the previous duke's first son, appointed us as his official knights."

Denver entered the conversation and said, "So they were basically still in touch?"

"The bond between the Graciano siblings weren't even severe but in fact, they were totally close to each other. The first son inherited the dukedom and was fully supporting his third brother even after he was ennobled as a baron for his contributions at the Great War between the State of Afruvite and Holy Kingdom of Fascia. Meanwhile, the second son was working as a chancellor under the crowned prince of Afruvite."

Jaycee was deep in his thoughts and, "I wonder why he left the duke's estate," accidentally voiced out his thoughts.

Head knight Schilder heard his words in passing and responded, "About that, we also don't know his reasons for leaving the dukedom. Even us, are also wondering why a son of a duke would willingly throw away everything he had only to gain unwanted hardships and sufferings."

Silence entranced for a moment.

"Nevertheless, master Rael is still an admirable and commendable master to serve. Despite being highly proficient in magic, his swordsmanship mastery is also polished and refined with excellent expertise."

Denver butted in and asked, "If he is that kind of person, then why did he do such a dramatic scene inside the guild?"

"Well, we also don't know his reasons and he was totally insistent in doing it so, we just earnestly did it as we trust his every decisions. We are his knights after all."

The conversation ended after they surprisingly reached a front door of a room.

"Baron Rael is currently inside and is waiting for the both of you."

The knight slowly opened the door and from the other side, there was baron Rael standing in front of the door and was waiting for them with a wide smile on his face.

"I've been waiting for you two, Adventurer Jaycee and Denver."

Denver and Jaycee was baffled and gone speechless. The Baron they saw that day was totally different to the person who was standing in front of them. If they didn't know whom they will be meeting beforehand, they wouldn't exactly know the person who was standing in front of them. The baron was covered in nobility from head to foot. Although he looked tough and buffed, the feel and his presence alone were already enough to describe his nobleness. Compared to the other day at the guild, the baron they were seeing right now was befitting of being a noble.

***

On the other side, another emergency conference was held in a rush. The reason was pretty much obvious. It's because of the two.

Christopher entered the conference hall with a furious look and yelled, "What did that troubling kid do again?!"

All eyes are on him.

The head of the operations team Rose, approached him and said, "Well, the thing sir is …"

"What is it? Spill it out."

"Jaycee and his friend 'Denver' accepted the level 150 Baron Rael's personal hidden quest."

Christopher sighed and scratched his head as he took a seat.

"Ugh! It's just been two days since the game was launched and these brats are already causing us a headache." He slightly smiled.

"Isn't it common sense to reject such absurd quest? What in the world are they thinking?" He added.

Rose spoke up about that matter and showed them the clip of when they were accepting the quest.

"They were in fact planning to reject the quest sir but as you can see, he accidentally accepted the quest after a minor collision with another player."

"Player 'Jaycee' then forced his friend to accept the quest. In fact, that player really can't oppose him simply because he is undertaking the Albus retainer's quest. Scared of the betrayal penalty, he ended up accepting the quest."

Momentarily silence veiled the entire conference hall soon after.

"What should we do now sir?"

A staff suddenly raised his hand and said, "Isn't that quest only offered to players who established a connection and great contributions to the State of Afruvite? How in the world it appeared so early in game? Matter worse; the quest giver itself took the time to spill it to everyone."

Rose deeply sighed and immediately responded.

"The truth is I also don't know the reason."

"What? If you don't know then, are the supercomputers malfunctioning or something? We didn't even design it to be like this, right?"

"That's likely impossible to happen, right sir?"

Again, all eyes are on Christopher.

Flustered by the situation, he brushed an awkward laugh and said, "Haha~ yes, it's unlikely to happen. Probably there's just an error in our coding but what can we do? They already accepted it and we can't do anything about it."

A staff stood up in fluster and said, "Sir! For the coding team, it's totally outrageous for you to put it up like that! We didn't do three months' worth of all-nighter just to be criticized like this!"

Rose gave Christopher a dubious look.

"Sir, aren't you taking the situation lightly? The coding team is clearly not at fault here. We've done a test run and they were no bugs found. Addition to that, these kids aren't just your common players. They are strangely beyond common sense."

Christopher gradually turned serious and said, "Right, sorry about that."

Rose had a dead serious expression on her face.

"Sir, what should we do now? If they end up finishing that quest, the 'three dogs' will end up appearing earlier than planned."

"Yeah that's true," Christopher sighed.

"If they end up finishing that quest, it'll be the end of us if the 'dogs' came out this early in game."

As the conference somehow turned silent, Christopher slowly dropped his head down and was seemingly pondering on his own. He was somehow acting odd all of a sudden yet no one seemed to notice as everyone was busy trying to find a solution to the current problem.

"Ah~ this is really not good," he mumbled. "If this news somehow reaches 'her' ears, 'she' will definitely burn me to death."