Uneasy Heart

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Uneasy Heart

The clouds on the horizon had been burned fiery red by the setting sun. On this spring evening, a lavishly decorated carriage traveled slowly along a road in Kote Province in the southern part of the Empire. This exquisite four-wheeled carriage had been made from the finest materials. Its solemn, noble black body, the exquisite carvings on the cabin, and the gold-trimmed patterns all proclaimed the lofty status of its owner.

Especially the family crest on the carriage!

A ring of irises curled around the blades of two crossed longswords, while a crown rested upon their hilts, shrouded in blazing flames...

Only nobles sufficiently versed in heraldry would understand how extraordinary such a crest was! Among all the families of the Empire, few were entitled to engrave two crossed swords upon their crest! Those two longswords represented that, at some point in the family's history, it had produced at least one figure of imperial marshal rank. The crown above them symbolized that the family shared blood ties with the imperial family!

Ten guards in light armor rode before and behind the carriage, mounted on fine horses with knightly longswords at their sides. Their armor had been polished bright, their weapons gleaming, but in stark contrast to their splendid appearance, every one of them looked dejected.

Made sat beside the coachman, idly chewing on a grass root. He glanced at the sky, then let out a deep sigh. Turning around, he bent down and knocked on the carriage window. "Young Master Du Wei, should we find somewhere to rest? It's getting dark."

Inside the carriage, Du Wei raised his head after being interrupted in his reading. He pulled open the window and looked at the setting sun on the horizon. "All right."

Made immediately answered. Just then, a horse came galloping from ahead and quickly reached the carriage. A family guard knight in light armor, slightly out of breath, called loudly, "Steward, there's a small town ahead. It seems to be our only option for resting tonight."

Made, once a coachman, still could not get used to being addressed as "Steward." Still, the honest man took off his hat and nodded to the young knight on horseback. "The master has spoken. We'll rest ahead tonight."

Looking at the young knight's loyal, resolute face, Made sighed inwardly. Such an innocent young man.

Only these twenty family guard knights had accompanied Young Master Du Wei back to the Roland Family's ancestral home.

As the eldest son of Count Raymond, the second-in-command of the Imperial military high command, he had brought only twenty guards, one "steward," and a coachman on this journey home.

Such an entourage was far too shabby.

Among the wealthy families and noble houses of the Imperial Capital, even a simple countryside outing would be accompanied by droves of servants and guards.

As for these twenty family guard knights, they had all been "carefully selected."

Everyone knew that Young Master Du Wei had completely fallen out of favor with the family. The family's future rested on his younger brother. Though no one said it outright, everyone understood that Young Master Du Wei had been stripped of his status as the family heir.

There was no doubt that following a master exiled to guard the ancestral estate back home meant a bleak future. Everyone was ambitious. Everyone wanted to remain in the prosperous Imperial Capital. No one was willing to follow a useless master back to some remote backwater and spend the rest of their life in mediocrity.

The knights especially. Who did not want to stay in the Imperial Capital? By remaining at the count's side, perhaps they could one day earn his favor through their martial skills and rise to prominence! So when it came time to assign men to accompany Young Master Du Wei home, everyone had avoided the duty like the plague. Not a single knight wanted to waste his best years accompanying such a pathetic master back home to watch over a bunch of farmers!

As a result, the twenty knights chosen in the end were undoubtedly a group of unlucky men. Either their martial skills were poor and they were unfit for important duties, or they were withdrawn by nature and disliked or ostracized by their peers. Otherwise, they were young, naïve, and easily fooled.

Looking at the young knight who had returned from scouting, Made had already reached a conclusion about him: he was probably one of those young, inexperienced, simple-minded fellows. He had yet to realize that their entire party had been cast out.

Ever since leaving the Imperial Capital, everyone had been in low spirits along the way. The only one who had remained calm and at ease was Young Master Du Wei.

Though he had been exiled, no one had ever heard the young master complain even once. Every day, he simply sat in the carriage reading the books he had brought from home. He rarely spoke, and his manner toward others was fairly gentle.

Pushing aside his stray thoughts, Made shouted for everyone to pick up the pace. This former coachman and current steward was in fairly good spirits. At the very least, he knew how to comfort himself. So what if we've been exiled? Before this, I was only a lowly coachman. Getting this far is already thanks to the young master. Even if I'm only an exiled "steward," I still earn several more gold coins each month. That's a fact!

Rubbing the hard coin purse tucked against his chest, Steward Made broke into a smile.

Hmm, they said Kote Province lay in the south of the Empire. Southern girls had delicate skin and petite figures. Maybe old Made could even find himself a wife here.

Giant Tree Town was the only town within a hundred miles. Among its several hundred households, there was only one tavern, with a very simple name: Giant Tree Tavern.

Since it was the only tavern, its business was not too bad. Cheap liquor, cheap roasted meat, cheap prostitutes... Even people at the bottom of society needed a little pleasure in life, didn't they?

When Du Wei's convoy arrived before the tavern, he raised his head and closed the book in his hands. Then he extinguished the carriage lamp.

As he stepped out of the carriage, Du Wei looked up at the rusty iron sign hanging above the tavern. It swayed back and forth in the wind. Noisy voices drifted out through the doorway, while warm, lively light shone through the windows.

The moment Du Wei's party entered the tavern, they drew everyone's attention. A group of knights in light armor suddenly flooding into such a small tavern was impossible to miss.

Du Wei entered last. By the time he came in, the knights had already done their work well: they had cleared an open space, found a clean table, and formed a secure circle around Du Wei.

Everyone in the tavern examined Du Wei, studying this young-looking half-grown boy.

Du Wei was fairly tall. After all, he had been born into the Roland Family, a lineage of military distinction. Yet his body seemed somewhat thin. His elegant formal attire, with lace adorning even the collar and cuffs, displayed his noble status. Aside from the striking red hair characteristic of Roland Family blood, he gave off more of a scholarly, frail impression.

Pale-faced, slender, fair, and silent, with a book still cradled in his hands.

The other guard knights had already begun moving the luggage. Made tossed out several gold coins, and the tavern owner immediately cleared several clean rooms and arranged for someone to feed the horses.

Meanwhile, Du Wei endured the strange looks being cast his way.

"Oh! Looks like a noble lord."

"Ah, why would a noble lord come to a place like ours?"

"Boss, I think you should keep the chair that fellow sat on. Maybe you could sell it for a good price!"

After a brief silence, the tavern returned to its clamor. Everyone began discussing Du Wei's party. Clearly, in such a small place, for a noble lord in fine clothing to enter a cheap little tavern was a rare sight.

Several heavily made-up women in revealing clothes, their shoulders and cleavage exposed, tried to squeeze over and strike up a conversation with Du Wei. But old Made did his job well and drove all the prostitutes away.

While they shoved each other aside, two prostitutes were pushed away and immediately pointed at Made, hurling a few curses. Old Made paid no mind to the country slang. A drunkard beside them quickly ran over and wrapped an arm around one of the prostitutes. "Aha, my little darling, what's so great about that little brat? Let your uncle dote on you instead." As he spoke, he gave her buttocks a hard squeeze. The prostitute beamed and immediately settled herself into the drunkard's arms.

Du Wei remained calm. He quietly drank a cup of wine. Even as the people around him pointed and whispered, he merely frowned slightly.

The guard knights beside him were also somewhat listless. In this place reeking of cheap alcohol and powder, they could not help lamenting their future prospects.

Ah, how wonderful it would have been to stay in the glittering Imperial Capital!

Just then, the tavern door flew open with a bang, and a group of people entered from outside. There were three men and one woman. From their travel-worn faces and their obviously costly clothing, they were clearly not locals, but outsiders like Du Wei's group.

What instantly silenced the tavern was that nearly every man's gaze immediately focused on the girl among the newcomers.

She was a girl of about eighteen or nineteen, with long brown hair and a gorgeous face. Such a face clearly possessed an aggressively alluring charm to the opposite sex! She wore fitted leather armor, obviously of superior quality. No one knew what magical beast hide it had been made from, but it gleamed a deep azure and bore strange engraved patterns. Her lower half was even more provocative: she wore shorts, leaving her snow-white, full thighs completely bare! A belt was strapped around one thigh, with a dagger tucked into it. A curved blade hung from her waist, while an exquisite little bow was slung across her back, its quiver filled with a row of silver arrows!

From the bright silvery sheen of the arrows, Du Wei immediately recognized that they were made of pure silver! Using pure silver to make arrows truly was extravagant!

The girl's round, shapely thighs immediately became the focus of every man's gaze in the tavern! When she seemed to bend over casually, the uniquely styled leather armor opened at the chest, revealing a stretch of snowy, tender cleavage. The two drunkards seated nearby stared so hard that their wine cups fell from their hands to the floor.

Among the girl's male companions was a burly man built like a wild bull. He wore heavy armor and carried a thick shield on his back. From the fierce air about his face, the astonishing muscles and several scars on his bare arms, he was clearly a strength-based warrior. Another was a tall, thin fellow who looked very alert. A longbow hung from his shoulder. Judging from its black bowstring, his long, powerful fingers, and the black iron thumb ring on his hand, he was likely an archer.

But the last man was the one Du Wei paid the most attention to!

He was a man in a gray robe, with an utterly ordinary appearance save for the cold glint that constantly flickered in his eyes. His attire was extremely simple—so simple that everyone around him seemed to overlook him.

Yet Du Wei focused on him the most! His entire body was hidden beneath the robe, and on his chest was a silver leaf-shaped badge!

The people of this small place did not recognize the badge, but Du Wei did! Some of the more experienced Roland Family guard knights beside him recognized it as well.

That last fellow in the gray robe was actually a mage! Though he wore only one Silver Leaf Badge, marking him as the lowest-ranked, first-level mage...

That silver leaf badge on his chest unquestionably marked him as a genuine mage certified by the Magic Association!

After staring at the badge for a while, a thought immediately formed in Du Wei's mind...

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