The Count

"Who dares to touch my daughter!?" A thunderous voice came from the distance.

The trio were startled. They all looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man rushing towards them while emitting an intimidating aura.

Almost instantly, they deduced the identity of the man.

'The City Lord!'

Or what they all heard is his known as Count Liam Arcavdol.

The Earl-rank Noble took less than one second to arrive from the moment he spoke. He then released his entire aura, forcing all the people in the market to kneel.

Only Marcel, Delirious, Skyler, and Karen were able to remain standing. However, they felt unpleasant. Moo however, nearly bent his knees and his expression seemed like he was about to suffocate.

Delirious, rolling his eyes in annoyance, gazes at the City Lord and tries to emit his own aura to shut him up.

But that made it even worse when the city lord felt his gaze, he looked at him and snorted.

"Hmph! So it's you!"

Then, he unleashed a punch towards him.

"Dad, stop! They saved me!" Karen cried out, but the attack had already been launched.

Fortunately, Stella manages to be feet from Delirious and kick him before the fist hits him.

With this, it creates a strong shockwave that makes both the City Lord and Delirious on the ground, both look at Stella and yell.

""What's the big idea!?""

"Calm down, Lord Liam. Ask your daughter. And Mr. Delirious, thank me for saving you from nearly getting punched by the City Lord." She said calmly.

Looking at his daughter, the city lord was talking with her.

"They saved you? Stella, explain. What happened?" He asked Karen's bodyguard once again.

Skyler bowed and explained the entire situation.

When the Count heard that it had been Delirious, Brock, and Marcel who stopped the assassins from taking Karen away, he furrowed his brows.

"Is it so?"

He then turned towards the trio and apologized.

"Sorry about it, gentlemens. I acted rashly out of worry. I hope you don't keep it against me."

The three frowned. No matter how they saw it, the man did not seem sincere.

However, some did not want more trouble. Thus, Brock simply nodded.

"Don't worry about it, we understand. Now that everything is resolved, we will leave." Then, he and his two friends turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait!" Count Liam stopped them.

"Anything else, Mr. Liam?" This time, Marcel asked.

"No, nothing. I just wanted to thank you all for saving my daughter. I will make sure you receive an adequate reward."

"It's not really necessary." Brock shook his head. "We did not do it for a reward."

Then, without giving the Count time to talk again, the trio left.

Count Liam looked at them with a frown in his face. He was someone much more experienced than his children, so he quickly discovered that the three of these strange folks were not simple.

"Karen, Stella, who are they?" 

"Their names are Delirious, Moo, and Basically." Stella replied. "Young master and young miss met them yesterday.

She then explained to him everything she knew about the pair.

Liam fell deep in thought. Suddenly, he looked at the shield that Marcel had cut.

Walking towards it, he grabbed it and examined it carefully.

Then, his face turned into one of surprise.

"This is… adamantite?" Liam widened his eyes as he continued to examine the Shield in his hands.

The next second, his expression turned grave.

"Stella, who cut this shield."

"Huh? It was the young man, Basically. He cut it with his black sword."

"Yeah, dad! He was very cool!" Karen blushed. "He cut the man's arm with a slash and then continued attacking!"

"Is it so, huh? With a black sword? What kind of metal is in the sword, Stella?"

"Not sure, I'm not a blacksmith so I have little knowledge about it."

"I see…" The city lord fell silent for a moment before returning to normal.

While they were talking, the City Guards finally arrived.

"Lord Liam!" 

"Investigate who attacked my daughter!" Count Liam yelled out to the guards coldly, "I want all the people related to this incident hanged in the plaza! Nobody attacks MY daughter in MY city and escapes alive!"

"Yes, Lord Liam!"

"Mm, now go. I want all the information about the case on my desk tonight!"

Once he said it, he grabbed Karen's hand.

"Let's go back home. This place is dangerous."

"Yes, father."

Before leaving, though, Karen looked briefly in the direction the three Dupe groups had disappeared.

—————

(Afternoon, Count Liam's Mansion)

*Knock!* *Knock!*

"You asked for me, father?" Herald knocked on the door and asked the man seated behind the office desk.

"Yes, come inside, my son."

Herald nodded. He then sat in a chair across from his father and waited for him to talk.

A few seconds later, the city lord opened his mouth.

"One of the three young mens your sister mentioned, that boy, Basically. How much do you know about him and the other two?"

"Huh? Father, why are you interested in them?"

"Look at this." Count Liam fell silent for a moment and grabbed a shield from below his desk. It was the shield Marcel had cut with his enchanted Netherite sword. 

"An Adamantine Shield, so?" Herald raised a brow, looking at his father at what he was getting at.

"This was caused by that man." His father replied, but it still doesn't convince Herald what his father's point was.

"Umm, I don't understand. I can do something like that too." Herald was confused. Although cutting an Adamantine shield into two was difficult, a Rank 4 or a Rank 5 could do it with a little bit of effort.

"Oh?" Count Liam smiled mysteriously. "So you can cut a reinforced Adamantite Alloy Shield, magically enchanted with an A-rank {Invulnerability} enchantment into two with a single slash, huh. My son sure is very incredible." 

"What!!!? An A-rank enchantment!? But how...?" Herald was flabbergasted, cutting a Shield with an A-rank enchantment in one swing easily is only for something a weapon near at the Demigod level could do it.

"I want to know the answer too. A young man at Rank 2, who isn't even at Rank 3 managed to cut an adamantine shield with an A-rank Enchantment easily. Don't you think it's weird?"

Herald fell silent before saying.

"But there are indeed other weapons that have similar power. The only thing that could manage to do it was weapons from the Superpowers, such as the Veldarun Empire, the Republic of Aetlrus, and especially the Senadate Theocracy who has by far the largest number of Magic Weapons that are capable to do that... but it was highly guarded in their secret vaults."

"That is correct. So, now tell me, what do you know about him and his group?"

Herald shook his head. "Nothing. Uncle Oceans was investigating them ongoing, but he still did not find information about them, even searching any information about them all over Fordalt, still nothing, like they didn't even exist. But I heard the man with the multicolored shirt's surname is Barrus."

"I see…" Count Liam nodded before saying, "...how interesting. I don't remember hearing about any family with the surname Barrus."

Thinking for a brief silence, Liam then finally spoke. 

"Herald."

"Yes, father?"

"Invite them for dinner tomorrow. Tell them that it's to thank them for saving Karen."

"I understand."

His son then bowed slightly and left the Count's office.

Inside, Liam continued observing the shield with a pensive expression.

—————

(Somewhere in the City.)

"I'm sorry, Captain. We failed." A man was kneeling on the ground with a fearful expression. He had a severed arm, and his face was pale due to the loss of blood.

"Get up." A black-dressed man replied coldly. If Marcel or the other two would have been here, they would have recognized him as the assassin with the shield.  "It was not your fault. We simply had back luck to meet those three and the woman when you attacked."

The man on the ground gritted his teeth. He recalled the face of the young man that severed his arm and his eyes turned bloodshot.

"Captain, should we kill them?"

Hearing his words, the Captain frowned. "That young man and his friends look interesting, but not. We came to this city with a mission, remember? Now is not the time to think about your petty revenge."

The man on the ground nodded. Although he was unwilling, he knew his mission was more important.

"Then, what about the Count's daughter?"

"Count Liam is now aware of our presence and he will be now ready that we failed to kidnap her. So we will give up and change our plans a little bit. Also, have you found the escape neko that we search for? The one the Boss asked for."

"Not yet, but our two spies managed to find her but was already taken by her sister, so we lost track of her again. But our men are currently searching for her."

"Mmm, very good. You have one week. After that, we will put our plans in march."

"Understood, Captain."