Chapter 24

A while later

I was riding my valiant steed across the vast lands. It was a magnificent feeling!

… Or that's what I would like to say. I am currently traveling through the deep forest on a 10 meter wide paved dirt road that leads to the Mariquess's territory. It has been the exact same scenery for the last hour of travel on horseback. And while the wind felt nice on my face for a little while, after an hour it gets boring and annoying.

I looked up to see the sun above my head, it had started to rise about an hour ago. The sky was clear without a single cloud in sight. Good thing these trees surrounding me provide shade.

I continued along with my monotonous journey, vowing to leave a magic circle the moment I arrived in town so I never had to do this again.

As I rode on my horse I suddenly heard a loud scream coming from the forest. When I looked over I could see a group of about 5-8 people, both men and women being surrounded by a bunch of rough looking people.

I knew I would run into these guys after that obvious foreshadowing…

"Kyaaa! The Westrick bandits! Help!!!" One of the ladies screamed.

"Please save my wife! Anyone!" A man called out from beside her, seemingly the girl's husband.

I could hear the low laughter of the bandits and typical comments. 'No one will save you!' 'You should just accept your deaths' 'Let's have fun with the ladies after we kill the men'.

While I do sympathize with the struggles of these fine people. It has nothing to do with me, plus I don't want to delay my trip any longer. So I continued to ride off in the distance.

As I was leaving, I was spotted by one of the men.

"Hey you! Help us! We are being attacked!"

"Kekekeke! What is one random guy on a horse gonna do when our leader has the strength of 100 men! Puahahaha!" One of the lackeys commented.

Now this made me mad and hurt my pride so I decided to fight them all off and save the day… Is what a degenerate with low self esteem would think.

I couldn't care less about my 'pride' being hurt because they think I'm running away scared. These bandits have nothing to do with me, so I'll just continue on with my day.

"I-I'm a noble! You have to help me! I-I w-will reward you! I'm from the Viscount house of Juxtun!" A different man called out to me.

I saw a small fireball hit the man who just spoke in the chest and badly burned him. He'd die if he doesn't get that treated soon.

"Shut it! That just means more money for us!" The bandit who seemed to be the leader said.

I just ignored them and continued on my way as I was finally out of earshot.

I had finally arrived at my destination. I quickly made my way into an inconspicuous alleyway and set up a magic circle.

Then I made my way to the Marquis's house and took a letter out of my dimensional storage.

I walked right up to the front gates of his estate with a hoodie over my head. I was promptly stopped by a guard.

"Halt! This is the estate of Marquis Sergio! State your business!" The guard called out seriously.

It looks like some guards actually do their jobs properly, unlike the ones at the castle. How many fucking assassins have I had to deal with so far? TOO MANY TO FUCKING COUNT!

"What are you doing here?!" The guard snapped me out of my delusions.

"Ah, I have a letter from the royal family." I answered and handed him the letter.

He looked at the seal and nodded, seemingly recognizing its authenticity. He handed it to someone else before looking back at me.

"Alright, you can go now."

"Actually, I was told to wait for a reply, and deliver it back by hand, apparently it's important, so I'll just wait here until I get the response."

This was total bullshit, I just sent a letter asking the Marquis to meet and needed his permission before I entered his property.

The guard eyed me weirdly, this was obviously not standard procedure, but what was he gonna do, go against royalty?

I waited for about another hour, at some point I pulled out a book and started reading while waiting.

Eventually someone came back out with a letter in hand. After passing it to the guard it finally ended up in my hands, so I immediately opened it, it was addressed to me after all.

"Hey you insolent messenger! What do you think you're doing?!" The guard called out while he pointed his spear at my throat.

I ignored him and read the letter.

"That's meant for the royal family from Marquis Sergio! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" He continued to pester me.

I finished reading and lightly pushed his spear that was a few inches away from me to the side with the back of my hand.

I stored the hoodie I was wearing in my dimensional storage and smiled at the guard.

"Hello, I'm Artemis Nix, crown prince, and I'm here to meet Marquis Sergio." I looked him in the eyes.

He was freaking out right now.

"W-w-what? What did you just say?! I can't just let anyone in here!" He took a step back and put his spear down, just in case I was telling the truth, which I was.

"Ah! Of course you can't! Here's my official invitation from the Marquis." I said as I handed him the letter I had just received from him.

Yes, that is what I went through all of this trouble for, an official invitation.

"Uhh. WHAT?!" The guard called out.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, I left the letter in his hands and jumped the fence.

The guard was stunned, but didn't stop me, so I kept on walking in.