First Encounter with a Young Master

''Miss, I am sorry for my incompetence but you also know that according to Master's orders I should not meddle in his matters. Actually, me helping Miss Leyzhen this much is already pushing the boundaries. As for selecting the world he would reincarnate in? I am afraid that would have spelled my doom. ''

Yeqin, wearing his trademark tattered black clothes, was in an extravagantly decorated room with gold and silver ornaments as well as a mirror which had a viscous surface, talking with Leyzhen. From the lack of any personal items around the room, it could be guessed that this was some kind of lodging designed for travelers.

Yeqin was secretly examining Leyzhen's reaction as he talked. Normally, he wouldn't hope to learn anything from such an action but, recently Leyzhen seemed easily irritable. This made him both happy and anxious.

Unfortunately for Yeqin, it was impossible to understand anything from Leyzhen's face this time. Actually, from the time she was a little kid she only showed her emotions twice on her face. The first time was when she found the clue his father left. The second time was when Mayton got executed. It could be said Leyzhen and Yeqin were truly too similar in some ways and totally different in other ways. For example, their indifference and coldness were really similar, but their statuses and appearances were worlds apart.

'' I know of your situation. I didn't blame you for this. What I want from you is finding the other ones. We can deduce that there are three of them from the clue. I am not worried about that mortal at all. At least not for now. Since he reincarnated in this world, it's already a matter of time before we find him. As for the other two, you must find them as soon as possible. ''

Leyzhen said as she turned his back to Yeqin, apparently intending to leave the room and started playing with her hair. Yeqin's eyes narrowed a little when he saw that. He knew that while Leyzhen normally didn't show her emotions, she just had this habit of playing with her hair whenever she was in a dilemma. He tried hard for the situation to become like this but this gesture, strangely, made Yeqin feel uneasy, instead of relieved. He felt like there was something wrong but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

'The end is already so near, a mistake here would be disastrous. Maybe that made me paranoid' thought Yeqin as he tried to rationalize his anxiety.

What Yeqin didn't know was, when he was focused on Leyzhen's hair, Leyzhen saw his eyes narrowing from his reflection on a silver ornament hanging at the door.

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It has been four hours since the hunting party started traveling as a group of three. Even though they encountered a few beasts, it was mostly uneventful. They were here in this forest for exactly this uneventful trip though. What youngsters needed was not some life and death scenario, after all, they were just a bunch of 10 to 15 year olds.

Mayton was trying to learn as much as he can from Old Mert in this trip. Their village didn't have anyone who knew how to read let alone a book with illustrations of various herbs and poisonous plants. Thus the only source of knowledge was the elders' descriptions who also learned it from their elders.

This caused their knowledge to be out of sync with the rest of the world. Them and city folk used totally different words to describe the same things. Only Old Mert who traveled to a few cities and traded at these places knew the correct naming of the herbs.

While Mayton was trying to memorize the shapes of the plants which Old Mert introduced, a scream interrupted his thoughts.

'' It's coming from Bart's group. Everyone follow my lead we will go take look. ''

Since the groups were not that far apart they reached Bart's group in no time and found out the reason of the scream.

It was one of the youngsters in Bart's group that screamed. Mayton had a good impression of this kid named Zgar. He was 10 years old and was a good friend of Mayton's sister, Angeza. There were even some villagers who gossiped about their potential marriage.

Currently, Zgar's leg was trapped in a bear trap. Bart stood in front of him with a face warped with anger. When he saw Old Mert and the leader of the other group, Doyle approaching he turned to face them and said;

'' Damn those bastards from the city! They used their traps in our designated hunting area again. We really should teach them a lesson. ''

Anger could also be seen on the faces of Doyle and Old Mert. If it was his youth, Old Mert wouldn't think about any of the consequences and would rush to teach those snobby bastards from the city a lesson.

The city governor of Flaming Heart city had jurisdiction over all of the villages on this side of the Demonic Forest. Even though his authority was almost none existent over here in the wilderness, he was still responsible for things like dividing the hunting areas and such. Unfortunately, not even people from the Flaming Heart City cared much about the rules set by the governor. This place was simply too far away. Thus incidents like this occasionally happened in these parts of the wilderness.

While the hunting party from the village were fuming with anger about ten kilometers away from them at the edge of the Demonic Forest a group of travelers was camping. From the looks of their fancy tents and strong war horses it was obvious they weren't from any village around here and instead they were residents of some city. Their statuses couldn't be too low either since average city folk can't possibly hire several guards with shiny chainmails. This indicated this was a party of a rich tycoon or a noble.

'' Young master it has already been more than three days since we set our traps we should check them and return to Flaming Heart city as soon as possible. If you miss the young lady's wedding it won't be good for your image in his lordship's eyes. ''

'' Humph that old codger and his commitment to traditions. You need not think about my matters. Since I am out here hunting at such a time I, of course, have my own ideas about the succession. You just do what you are told. We should check out the traps though, I want to eat fresh meat today.''

'' As you wish, young master. ''

Charbel sighed as he answered. His lordship was in his deathbed, so Renas and his brothers fought for the right to succeed the title. He was really feeling conflicted about this whole matter of succession.

On one hand, he did know Young Master Renas was not qualified to lead the family, on the other hand, he saw him growing up with his own eyes and didn't want him to get hurt. Charbel often felt his relationship with Young Master Renas was much more than just a simple servant and master relationship. He never had a child and thought Renas as his own son. This made him feel conflicted about the succession.

When they finally packed up their tents and got ready to go check out the traps they set earlier, a group of hunters clad in pale green robes emerged from the forest. They numbered about 40 including the few youngsters among them.

As Mayton saw the group of people getting ready to enter the forest, he immediately understood what they were dealing with. He was familiar with people who are arrogant and lawless just because they had a little bit of background, thanks to his past life.

'' Were you the ones who sat up traps in our villages hunting area?'' Old Mert bellowed. His tone of voice wasn't polite at all as he directly questioned. With Old Mert's temperament, it was already a miracle he demanded an explanation instead of teaching them a lesson first.

Unfortunately, they were dealing with a group of people whose arrogance etched in their bones. They didn't appreciate Old Mert's 'self control' at all.

''Which mad dog dares to question young master Renas' matters? You are courting death. (Lol) ''

One of the guards shouted as he drew his sword. Actually young master Renas' party were also being cautious by not attacking Mayton's group of hunters. Normally they would capture their enemy first before asking questions, but they were in the wilderness with no possibility of any reinforcements coming to their help. Thus they kept their arrogance in check.

Old Mert thought differently though. He was already fuming with anger. This time, he brought the youngsters for a learning trip and everyone was sure with Old Mert being present nothing untoward would happen to them. But then those group of bastards laid traps in their hunting area and injured a youngster rather seriously which was directly slapping Old Mert's face. And then when Old Mert magnanimously gave them a chance to apologize, they started to provoke him. Truly tired of living.

Mayton was watching Old Mert's facial expressions and knew that today, conflict was unavoidable with Old Mert in charge. He also knew there was nothing to be gained from such a conflict. So he decided to take charge to stop the conflict from escalating any further.

'' These noble friends, sir governors edict assigned this part of the forest to our humble village for our livelihood. We are sure you won't break the rules set down by sir governor thus there is probably a misunderstanding here. We just want kind sirs to help treat our companion's injuries since kind sirs seem like people who care about the weak and the poor, truly epitome of nobleness.''

Mayton took a step forward and said in an amicable way. This not only surprised the guard who has drawn his sword, but even Mayton's own companions were also looking strangely at Mayton. Mayton never left the village prior to today. This made his eloquent speech surprising to the hunters from the village.

Mayton was a city guard in his previous life. At least half his job was defusing situations involving various influential personages in the city. Calming an arrogant young master or two were child's play to him. Of course, this didn't mean he can tolerate anything and everything. He did have his bottom line.

He was angry about Zgar's injury, but the most important thing to do right now was finding a way to heal Zgar's leg. Even though villagers had some herbs with healing properties, ultimately, using a herb without properly processing it, was too crude and ineffective. Since this group from the city obviously came for hunting, they should have some medicine to treat injuries with them. From their reactions, he also understood they didn't really desire the conflict to escalate for whatever reason. They were only concerned about their face.

He was also aware he was denying face to Old Mert with his actions. First, he talked out of turn while his elder was negotiating (!) with the enemy. Then he made the decision for the entire group and let the enemy off without any real consequences even though the enemy was clearly in the wrong. But Mayton always believed that you have to set your priorities straight. What was more important? Saving some face and potentially gaining a strong enemy as a consequence or healing Zgar's injury which may otherwise cause him to have some permanent damage if not an outright disability?

While the guard was still hesitating about what to do an authoritative voice could be heard saying;

'' Give them some medicine for injuries and get ready to return. I lost my appetite for meat. We will return to Flaming Heart City.''

After hearing their orders the guards expressed their acknowledgment and threw a pouch towards Mayton. Mayton caught the pouch and realized it had a black hammer embroidered on it. There were also R and M letters stitched on the pouch.

In the time Mayton was inspecting the pouch, the group of young master Renas were already about three hundred meters away from them. Suddenly Charbel stopped his horse and shouted while looking towards Mayton;

''If you ever come to Flaming Heart City, find me.''

With that young master Renas' group galloped away.

''Brat, you really think I won't beat you, huh. Do you think this old man is a coward who begs his enemy for some bullshit medicine?'' roared Old Mert as soon as it was no longer possible to see Renas' group. His face was flushed with anger. At first, he was surprised at Mayton's way of speaking and before he can comprehend what just happened the pouch was already thrown. This made him unable to react.

''Grandpa Mert how can you have the heart to beat me? At least listen to me first if you still want to beat me I'll suffer this injustice for you and let you vent your anger.''

Mayton's voice was pitiful like a little child who didn't get to eat anything for weeks and wanting some crumbs from a passerby who is stuffing his face with pastry.

Old Mert didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Before he could say anything Mayton started to tell his reasoning. When Old Mert heard Mayton's explanation, he also understood that Mayton did the correct thing, but he still pretended to be angry. After all for someone like Old Mert who was known to be overbearing, losing this much face was unbearable. If the one who caused him to lose face wasn't Mayton even if that person had reason on his or her side it would still be difficult to escape Old Mert's wrath.

Mayton saw that some of the hunters were still looking at him strangely. After thinking for a moment Mayton also realized the mistake he made. He talked without thinking about how he would look from the eyes of the villagers. This again reminded him that when he was little, how some of the villagers thought he was possessed and wanted to purify him because of his mature way of speaking.

Even the thought of purifying made Mayton's heart beat faster. Just when he was thinking of ways to justify his eloquent speech, Old Mert suddenly said loudly as he gave Mayton a deep look;

'' What are you bastards looking at? Never saw someone intelligent? Do you think if he was possessed, I wouldn't find it out? Is it fun to bully a kid? ''

With Old Mert's reassurances, the hunters stopped doubting Mayton as they felt some shame for their action. A bunch of adults bullying a 12 years old kid was not a glorious matter however you looked at it.

Since their problem with young master Renas' group settled they decide to camp here for a while and treat Zgar's injury. It was already noon and they also had some harvest from their trip. They started to skin some of the beasts they hunted while simultaneously starting a fire to roast them.

'' Um, big bro Mayton thank you for getting this medicine for me. You even got scolded by grandpa Mert because of me. '' said Zgar shyly. Actually, he really liked Mayton's sister Angeza and wanted to marry her in the future. This made him very nervous around Mayton. Mayton's out of norm behavior wasn't helping Zgar's nervousness either.

Mayton looked at Zgar and said jokingly as he widened his eyes;

'' Since when am I your big brother? Even if you somehow deceive my sister, you have to first ask if I let her marry you or not.''

This caused other youngsters around to laugh as Zgar's face become as red as a tomato.

After applying the medicinal powder on Zgar's leg, his injuries started to become better at a visible rate. All the hunters couldn't help but compare it to the herbs they used for healing as they collectively sighed at the difference. This powder may not even use precious herbs like theirs in its formula but even inferior herbs became much more effective when combined with a proper recipe for refinement and an experienced alchemist to refine it.

'' Since it's already dusk we might as well spend the night here. The forest is dangerous at night. Especially for inexperienced brats for you.''

No one object to Old Mert's orders as they started to prepare their tents for the night. Even setting up a tent was a valuable experience for Mayton and the rest of the youngsters. While they were setting up their tents, Ghorzhang suddenly twitched as he turned towards the forest.

Mayton was setting a tent together with him, so he also looked that way after seeing Ghorzhang's strange behavior. After a moment Old Mert suddenly darted towards the forest with speed no normal should be capable of. This attracted everyone's attention as they tried to guess the reason.

After a minute of discussion, when nothing was heard from Old Mert, rest of the hunters decided to check out what was going on after advising the youngsters to stay at camp. But before they can reach the forest Old Mert's voice was heard as he became visible among the trees;

''How strange, I am sure I felt a familiar presence. ''

It was a really strange incident but what really intrigued Mayton was Ghorzhang's reaction. For some reason, Ghorzhang's reaction was even faster than Old Mert's. Mayton guessed that was because of Ghorzhang's ancestry.

'' How convenient'' Mayton muttered.

The evening passed without any other incidents. The hunters chose two among them as sentries and rest of them went into their tents for resting.

What they didn't know was, while they were sleeping, a pair of ice blue eyes were staring at them with murderous intent from the forest!