Staying a Night in the Mansion
I was proud of the village, though. They were the ones who took me in and helped me in the best way they could, and that was what mattered to me.
The man who came to talk with us lead the way, and we eventually stopped in front of a fireplace, sitting on a fine leather couch for our conversation.
Before it began, though, the man ordered his butler to bring something for us to drink.
With a smile, the man looked at us and said. "My name is Lucius Hegerbrand. Why did Steward send you here?"
"I'm Yula, and this is Zephyr. We are here for supplies? Steward said you could get us some weapons," Yula said.
The weapons we had back in the village were not looking too great. If we were going to fight for our future, then we needed proper weapons for it.
"Weapons? Yes, I can get you that, but why does Steward want it?" Lucius asked.
Steward had said that Lucius was someone he trusted with his life, and that it wasn't a problem to share the attack with him. He hoped that Lucius would get us some more help and not just weapons for us to buy.
So we talked with him about that, and to our surprise, he couldn't help us. Not that he didn't want to, but there was something else going on.
"I can't lend you my soldiers for this, and I feel like no one will… The city, and the kingdom, are in a… difficult situation right now," Lucius said.
The way he talked sounded genuine. I pushed him further, trying to get more answers about what was happening in the kingdom.
Lucius didn't look like he wanted to share that with us, but he gave up after a while.
"We might have a war in a few years," Lucius said. "The tribes are coming together, and a foreign kingdom wants our land, too. That's why I can't help you with troops."
Yula had guessed a war was coming, so I wasn't that surprised after hearing it from Lucius, but he did make it sound more serious.
"This is the first time we need to face two different forces trying to conquer us. Honestly, I have no idea what they decided to do such a thing. It happened out of nowhere," Lucius said.
The war thing was new, according to him. No one knew the reason or if it would happen soon or not, but everyone prepared for the worst. I wanted to prepare for the worst too.
How could I prepare? Well, getting strong enough to protect myself, and leave in case my power was not enough to fight my enemies.
Anyway, we talked to Lucius about the shipment he had for us, and it would take us one day to get it.
"I'll have all the weapons you need by next morning, so you'll have to wait a little. But don't worry, my house has lots of free rooms for the three of you," he said.
The weapons weren't cheap. Steward was the one paying for all of it, and it was surprising how much money he had while living in such a small village.
If he wanted, he could have left a long time ago. I was certain of it. After the talking was done, he showed us the many rooms that we could choose from.
This time, I would not share my room with anyone else, which was both good and a shame at the same time. Yula and Julie were both good looking, and I didn't mind sharing a room with them.
It was still early afternoon, so I had a lot of time to do absolutely nothing inside that mansion. I used the time to explore the place, seeing the different rooms.
What caught my attention was the vast library Lucius had. The bookshelves looked endless to me, and the amount of books there was incredible.
I picked a few to read, but my reading skills were not that great. It was a skill that I needed to develop. You know, it wasn't long since I learned the language.
Julie appeared in the library to speak with me. She looked at the vast collection of books and said, "Incredible, right? If you want some, I bet Lucius can give you. He and Steward are great friends, apparently."
"Maybe I'll talk to him later about it," I said.
I could tell Julie was there for something else, and not to talk with me about books or how to convince Lucius to give me some. She wanted to know more about me.
"Your accent is different. Where are you from, exactly? Maybe from the kingdom of Legania?"
"Legania?"
"It's a kingdom up in the north. Your facial features look a lot like theirs," she said.
I had no idea what kingdom that was. "Honestly, I don't know. I lost my memory, so everything is new to me."
That was the story I was using. It was a weird one, I know, but it was not impossible to happen. That was actually more common than I thought it was.
Apparently, many people used magic or abilities from the system in the wrong way, and sometimes the consequences were harsh.
"I see. Well, for someone who lost your memory, you learned a language pretty fast," Julie said.
With a laugh, I said, "You're right about that, haha. Maybe that's a talent I have? Who knows?"
"Could be."
Julie sat in one chair inside the library, grabbed a book, and started reading. I wanted to know more about her magic.
"Can anyone learn magic?" I asked.
The system was not the same for everyone. Each person was unique.
But surprisingly, magic was for everyone.
"Of course you can, but some are better than others. But that doesn't mean you can't try," Julie said.
I liked the idea of learning some magic. Perhaps that was something awesome to look for in the future. But there were more important things for me to do.
We talked for half an hour. I decided to go out into the garden to breathe some fresh air, and that's when I saw a shadow lurking in the forest near the mansion.
"Who's there?" I yelled.
The shadow ran away. I had a bad feeling about staying in that mansion for the night.