Part 15

The carriage stopped about twenty minutes later, having finally arrived at their destination. Everybody in the carriage quickly walked outside and stopped to appreciate the view. The place we stopped at was soon revealed to be a massive mansion. It was two stories in height, but looked to have room for nearly twenty bedrooms on each floor.

The exterior of the mansion was like an ancient roman temple, with tall pillars decorating the front of the house. Around the house was what looked like a small field that was surrounded by a sturdy wall. The field was freshly mowed, but I noticed a small pond not far from the house itself.

"This is huge!" I shouted without hesitation.

"Again, this is only possible because of Cathy," Mr. Forsyth sighed, "If she wasn't as hardworking as she was, then we would probably be forced to move into our old 2 bath and 4 bedroom apartment."

"That's still pretty decent for an apartment though, isn't it?" I asked as I turned to Mr. Forsyth.

"For a captain of the guard, not really, no," Mr. Forsyth sighed, "Back then, I was just a regular soldier. The money I make now can't be compared to back then. Now, why don't we explore? Cathy already gave us a small team of servants to keep the house modest, but they should've already brought most of our stuff from Pyre."

"Why not?" Jonathan and Evelyn said in unison. Then they dashed forward, racing each other to the front door. I watched the race with interest, hoping to see who was faster. For some reason, the system didn't report stamina points or anything specific like dexterity or agility. Because of that reason, I never really knew how fast something was.

When Evelyn was the first to reach the door, leaving her twin brother several seconds slower, I took a mental note of both of their skills. Perhaps skills that focused on long-range were naturally faster?

I shook my head and banished those types of thoughts for another time. I turned to the twins, then slowly chased after them. I didn't bother running, so I instead jogged there. However, because of my strength difference, my jog was almost as fast as Jonathan's sprint. Icarus chased after me, easily keeping up with my speed.

While the twins focused on opening the front door, I managed to catch up with them. Then, once the doors swung open, the three of us walked into the giant mansion. All of our reactions were similar, as this was the first time any of us had been in a mansion this extravagant. Once we walked into the main hall, we were greeted with a staff of twenty workers.

"Welcome, Lord Jonathan and Lady Evelyn," A specific worker said. They stood in the middle of the line of staff and wore a fancy butler's suit. It was almost as fancy as my own, but it somehow looked more expensive. The butler was an older gentleman with a trimmed beard and straight styled hair. He looked up, then immediately met eyes with me, "Hmm. My name is Nicholas. If you need anything at all, don't hesitate to call upon me. Now, if I might ask, who is this gentleman with the superb dress sense?"

I felt my cheeks redden as my smile widened. Jonathan looked to me, then to Nicholas.

"This is Arthur Aureys," Jonathan said. I turned to Nicholas, then imitated his bow and attempted to hold myself with grace.

『 Skill: 『 Noble Etiquette 』, learned 』

"He will be training Evelyn and me," Jonathan said, "He'll also be guarding us while we're working on quests."

"Guarding you?" Nicholas muttered. He turned to me, then narrowed his eyes as he attempted to evaluate my strength, "Sir Arthur, what makes you strong enough to protect the lord and lady?"

I chuckled, then stepped to the side. After I moved, the entire staff looked down at the ground. All of them but Nicholas suddenly gasped. After all, they were all staring at Icarus. Icarus, on the other hand, was staring back at the staff with a confused expression.

"A trainer?" Nicholas asked, "No, maybe you're just from a rich family."

"I assure you, Nicholas. No amount of money was traded to cause Icarus to be by my side," I told him, "He's doing it out of his own free will."

"Interesting," Jonathan said as he carried a concerned expression. I chuckled, then turned back to Nicholas and appraised him.

﹃

Nicholas Bundy

Race: Human

Level: 24

HP: 56

MP: 51

AC: 15

Rank: D

Skills: Combat Expertise, Telekinesis, Noble Etiquette

﹄

"Oh, you're decently strong," I chuckled as I read his status. Nicholas's eyebrow rose as I spoke, confused and a little arrogant, "If you'd like, why don't we settle this with a duel. If I can beat you with one strike, I win."

"One strike?" Nicholas asked with a soft voice. Then, after a moment of silence, he began to laugh, "Sure! I'll show you how arrogant you are, little boy! Follow me, we'll get this over in a few minutes!"

I smiled, satisfied with his answer. Nicholas turned around and began walking through the mansion. The staff members and the twins were all staring at me with concern while Icarus followed me without a care in the world. However, I was focused on something else. While Nicholas's status was still open, I decided to focus my appraisal on his skills.

『 Appraisal has reached Level 2! 』

'Yes!' I thought to myself. I looked back to Nicholas, then appraised him again.

﹃

Nicholas Bundy

Race: Human

Level: 24

HP: 56

MP: 51

AC: 15

DMG: 30

Rank: D

Skills: Combat Expertise, Telekinesis, Noble Etiquette

﹄

'I can see how much damage people do now? What about me?' I thought to myself as I hurriedly opened my own status.

﹃

Aureys

Race: Dragon

Level: 2

HP: 90 (+)

MP: 135 (+)

AC: 30 (+)

DMG: 30

Rank: SS

Equipped Items: Dark Merchant's Suit

Titles: Dungeon Master

Skills: Appraisal, Morph, Ancestral Magic (LOCKED), Summon, Acrobatics, Combat Expertise, Noble Etiquette

Status Effects: 20% discount for human-sold items (Clothing Bonus), +5 HP, +20 MP, +20 AC

﹄

"I do 30 raw damage per strike? That's not bad! Nicholas's AC will negate 15 points of that damage, so that still leaves me with 15 damage per strike. I should be able to hit him twice to get him low. This will be harder than I thought,' I thought to myself with a gulp. Then, after more than five minutes of walking through the mansion, we finally arrived at our destination.

Nicholas had brought us outside, to the backyard of the mansion, and then to a small dirt field. The staff members all stood on the outside of the field while Nicholas and I moved to the center of it.

"Now then, one hit, boy," Nicholas chuckled, "You won't be able to defeat me at all, but you can certainly try."

"Why are you so confident?" I asked as I subconsciously dug a hole into the dirt with my shoe.

"I have thirty years of experience, kid," Nicholas answered as he raised his fists into a defensive position. I stopped digging a hole into the dirt, then focused more intently on the fight in front of me.

"That stance," Nicholas muttered as his eyes widened, "So, you have『 Combat Expertise 』?"

"Yep," I told him, "Although it's only at level one," I shrugged. Nicholas smirked, then closed his mouth and stared at me. I understood this as the beginning of the duel, so I smirked as well. Then, without any sort of warning, I dashed forward. Because of the strength of my body, my speed was far faster than what Nicholas was expecting.

The distance between us was originally ten yards, but I managed to close that distance within a few seconds. However, it wasn't nearly fast enough to catch Nicholas off guard. He watched as I slowly lowered my body as I came close to him, preparing my right fist to meet with his stomach.

He lowered his own arms as he defended, hoping to catch my fist with the brunt of his defense. It would have worked, too, if I didn't have a plan. I fully intended to lower my body into thinking I was going to attack my stomach, but my target wasn't his stomach in the first place.

When I came within striking distance of Nicholas, I quickly activated my『 Acrobatics 』skill, consuming 10 MP while rewarding me with a 20% boost in speed. As soon as I felt my speed hasten, I slammed my foot into the ground and used the sudden shift of momentum to slam my left fist forward.

Because of『 Acrobatics 』, my attack was much faster than Nicholas was expecting. My fist easily connected with his chest, slamming into him like a sledgehammer. I felt my fist sink into his body, creating a loud 'pop' that traveled across the field.

The momentum of my attack continued, instantly pushing Nicholas back like a stampede. His body was launched forward and his defense was shattered. Not long after my fist connected with Nicholas's body, I saw a sudden wave of notifications appear in front of me.

﹃

Critical Hit!

30 Damage

Opponent has fainted

82.8 XP awarded!

Canceled

50% reduction of XP value enforced due to opponent's living status

41.4 XP awarded!

Level up!

Congratulations, you are now Level 3!

XP: 39.2/400

﹄

"Whoa!" I shouted as I saw the notifications dance across my vision. I pushed all of them aside, determined to read them later, and looked at Nicholas. He was still on the ground, his stillness scarily similar to a corpse. I quickly ran up to him and dropped to the ground to check on his condition. When I arrived at his side, I sighed as I saw the massive amount of blood flowing from an open hole in his chest. His suit was painted red and his skin was becoming dangerously pale. I turned to the other staff members, then shouted out, "Where's a healer?"

"There's one upstairs!" One of the maids shouted. I nodded at the maid, then watched her and a few more of the maids and butlers turn, then dash through the property as fast as they could. I turned back to Nicholas and sighed once I saw his condition again.

Despite looking at his wound, which was threatening his life, I didn't feel any sort of remorse. It was as if the emotion had been removed from my brain. The thought didn't even phase me. Instead, I found myself wondering how this would effect my status with the Forsyth family.