Solving the Misunderstanding

"Awake so quickly? It's been only half an hour. We barely got you here." Samara looked at Liam with a smile. "You got me pretty hard. I can barely breathe now."

"Should've killed me when you had the time." Liam growled, "You'll regret this decision."

"No I won't." The Lord took a step forward. "I'm certain there is a misunderstanding. I called you here to reward you for saving my daughters from the goblin nest. I have no intention of harming you."

"That's the fattest lie I've heard in my life, how did you get it through the door." Liam smiled, but with just a single look at the lord's face, he was certain it was either one of two things. Either this man is the best liar he ever saw, or he's telling the truth.

Samara glared at Ricardo, "It's your fault, who said you can beat him up? You were told to invite him to the mansion, not arrest him."

"But… he refused to come. It's not normal to refuse a lord's order." Ricardo started at her with a guilty face, "What? Did you want me to just say yes you can ignore the lord's orders? That isn't how it works."

"It's not normal to dive alone into a goblin's nest to save strangers."

The two started shouting and arguing as both Liam and the lord sighed, "So, I'll do my best to believe your words. I saw that girl here earlier." That girl might've been an illusion. I'll slit his throat and flee the moment they undo those ropes.

"Girl? You mean my daughter." He turned toward the door, "You two can enter."

Sara and Lilia walked inside followed by Aisha, their maid. "Sir Liam…" Sara mumbled.

"Father! Why is he still tied? You said you'd release him if he woke up and didn't start a second fight." Lilia glared at her father with a growl.

"I still haven't apologized yet. It might be Ricardo who started this, but it's ultimately my fault for not informing him well." He looked at Liam, "I've been in a similar situation several times in the past. I bet he'll attack the moment we release him." He stared at Liam with a smile. "Am I wrong?"

"I don't intend to harm you, I swear. As long as I'm certain my life isn't in danger." Liam replied with a straight face. Come on, stupid lord, release me and I'll divorce your head from your torso.

"See? He won't harm anyone." Lilia walked past the lord and started undoing Liam's bindings.

"Hey! It's dangerous, get back." Samara stopped arguing with Ricardo and glared at the sisters. "Aisha, get them away from him. He's strong enough to survive a fight with Ricardo and managed to hurt me a lot. He isn't someone that we can save you from if you got caught."

Aisha rushed in to pull the two sisters away.

The lord approached Liam, giving him a gentle bow. "First, thank you for saving my daughters. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't. And secondly, I apologize for Ricardo's actions and my lack of care and attention, I should've informed him better."

What should I do, which is it? Does he know who I am or not? What would get me the best benefits…

The lord stared at Ricardo, "Free him at once, and apologize. Next time if I asked you to invite someone, just invite them, don't drag them here."

Ricardo sighed and walked toward Liam and started undoing the binding. "Sorry lad. I should've left you alone at the guild."

As Liam was freed, he stared at them while thinking. What should I do now…

"Do you want anything as compensation? I'll grant you anything that's within my power." The lord led Liam toward a table and everyone sat down. Maids walked into the room with tea, and Liam could see some of them had bandages over their faces and necks.

"That was your last hit. It trashed the whole hallway and the maids in it." Samara looked at him with a grin, "That was a unique ability, wasn't it?"

"I'll not do something as foolish as discussing my power with someone I just met." Liam glared at her. "You should know that best."

"Sir Liam." Sara looked at him with a worried face, "You aren't injured, are you?"

"I'm fine. It'll take more than this to kill me." Liam replied with a smile, but he could feel his insides twisting. Using magic spells or abilities consumes a lot of energy, and with low mana, the body faces a severe backlash. You get sucked dry. The first symptom is loss of conciseness, the second is organ failure, and lastly death. He's lucky to be able to still talk, probably as his new vessel had just returned from death, he's a bit more resilient.

"Sir Liam." The lord looked at him, "Is there anything you want?"

Liam started thinking about it. He wants to push it as far as he can but knows that there are limits to greed, asking for too much could lead to him getting nothing. It's best to always make it seem like a need more than a request and it should also imply a mutual benefit to increase the chances of getting granted.

"Winter is coming. Quests are going to become harder and fewer in numbers. Most adventurers are going to stay in the inns for the whole snowy season and some even started to migrate south to warmer areas." Liam looked at the lord's face. "I'd like something to help me on that matter, an old empty house would do wonders." I do need a base to start working from. Finding the cultists trying to resurrect me and the hero won't be easy without a place to operate from.

The lord started thinking. "A house… Let me have a look, I don't remember having an empty one." He stood and approached his desk and started going through stacks upon stacks of papers.

"Sorry. There aren't any empty houses in the city. They all got bought last month in preparation for winter. Probably scalpers, but they won't make any money from it, most people are smart enough to go live with their relative until spring if they must." He looked at Liam.

"So no house…" Liam looked at the ceiling.

"But, there are a lot of houses for rent." He looked at Liam. "Since I don't own them, I can't dictate the price, but I can recommend you and I'm certain you'll get a heavy discount. I'll even pay the rent if you want."

"As long as it's an empty house with a basement and a garden, I don't mind the details. I'll try to buy a house by summer anyway." Liam nodded with a smile.

"Then it's a deal. Come here and look at those." Liam stood and looked at the document with the lord and quickly found a large house that was going for cheap, only 8 gold coins a month.

"This one is far larger than the rest, but the cheap price is sketchy." Liam showed the paper to the lord.

"Want to check it out?" The lord smiled.