Due to a sudden meeting of the Duke Ludenhaus, the classes taught by him were it canceled. Faced with this, Raymond escaped from the palace for what would otherwise have been another session of abuse by his training companions.
Luden was a city with a huge commercial bustle, its privileged position on the east coast, put it at the head of the maritime trade with the old continent within the Imperial territories. For this reason, it was quite common to see members of other humanoid races walking through its streets, such as Dwarves, Semi Elves and even Elves.
Putting aside Luden's rough mix of colors and races, Raymond left the city for the wide grazing fields.
In the countryside, Raymond could afford to forget all his problems, run with the dogs and sheep, chat with the shepherd children.
In that wide-open field, nobody knew his name, the adults thought it was a merchant's son, while the children cared little and simply played with him.
However, like all dreams, always it have to wake up and even though you might be tempted not to, Raymond always ended up going back to the palace.
"¡Raymond!"
As soon as he entered the palace, through a small hole in the wall hidden in the undergrowth, Raymond felt a great chill run through his body when he heard the voice of his uncle Ernest.
"So this is where you usually leave the palace, later I'll make this hole seal, it could be used to harm us."
Far from looking as annoyed as one might expect, Ernest was completely at ease.
"Listen Raymond, there has been a change of plans regarding the trip to Vittoria, you will attend the Emperor's celebration instead of us."
With a quiet smile on his lips, Ernest revealed that surprising news to Raymond.
"Wh-why me?"
It was completely unthinkable for Raymond to be it entrusted with such an important task as presenting himself to the emperor on behalf of the Ludenhaus family.
"Actually, it was my idea to do it this way, since, unlike my son Leonard, you are a complete failure, both in magic and in fencing, and it seems to me that the only way left for you is politics. That is why you should thank me, if you do this well; you will it no longer be considered the useless of the family. "
Although he was not sure he could accomplish such an important task, part of Raymond, he was happy it to finally be of help to his family.
The day of the trip soon arrived and very different from the usual treatment he received, the Ludenhaus family in full, gathered to offer a warm farewell to Raymond.
"Good luck."
In a courteous and diligent manner, Diana said goodbye to Raymond.
"Here's an amulet."
Two years younger than him and Diana, Lucretia, the Duke's second daughter, timidly gave Raymond a small earring.
"Don't spoil this."
With more concern than malice, eleven-year-old Leonard, Ernest's son, said those words to Raymond.
"I hope you finally do something right."
In his usual cold voice, Aurelia, mother of Raymond, spoke those heavy words.
"Do not bring dishonor to the family."
Those were the last words of farewell that Raymond received, these came from Ernest. Duke Ludenhaus simply remained silent.
At dusk, carried by a luxurious carriage with the shields of the family and the empire engraved on both sides, Raymond, escorted by ten mounted soldiers, left the city of Lúden.
The trip to the imperial capital would be long and tiring, in addition to Urbeck's dukedom, Raymond had to cross Derin's dukedom.
Without any inconvenience, the estimated travel time was around ten days.
The crossing of the border between Luden and Urbeck did not present any inconvenience, just as neither did the passage through the wooded territory of Urbeck.
It was already the fourth day of travel, crossing the territory of the duchy of Derin, and by sunset, its capital was already a few hours ahead.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped when some trees fell on the road, which blocked the way.
Completely carefree, several of the guards dismounted to try to clear the path.
The soldiers could not it be blamed for that lack of care, the so-called imperial highway it was a vast network of roads developed in the great years of the Holy Empire. Even in its current state of decline, the empire could boast of keeping these route completely safe thanks to the efforts of the dukes.
Under the constant vigilance of patrols, the bandits were it generally kept away from this route, for this reason, an attack, even in these circumstances, was completely unthinkable.
Surprisingly, a series of arrows came from the undergrowth, before which a couple of soldiers fell dead and others more wounded. Faced with the anguished cry of attack, more than a battle, a massacre took place there.
Raymond, completely overcome with fear at what he could see through the windows of the carriage, unsheathed the small sword that Ernest had provided him with trembling.
Once the cries of pain and agony were it completely extinguished outside the carriage, the door of it opened to reveal a middle-aged man with a patch over his left eye.
"Tsk, are not you supposed to be a couple of pretty noble girls?"
After those words, the man with the patch stripped Raymond, who was in fear, of his little sword and was immobile. Later, the same man took his clothes and abruptly took him out of the carriage.
"Damn, it looks like those bastards found out about our plans!"
Once out of the carriage, a second man younger and better dressed than the rest pulled Raymond hard towards him, exposing the Ludenhaus shield on Raymond's chest.
"Wait, if it's a little princess or a brat does not matter, look at the embroidered shield on their clothes, it's certainly a Ludenhaus."
"What's your name, brat?"
With a voice as cold as his gaze, the well-dressed young man asked the fearful Raymond that question.
"Ra-Raymond Ludenhaus.
Because of the enormous fear he felt, Raymond was unable to put up the slightest resistance.
"Damn it!"
Raymond's answer filled with anger the young man of good dress.
"What's the problem, the brat is a Ludenhaus.
The patch man was unable to understand the frustration of his young and better-dressed companion.
"This brat is the black sheep of the family, a complete failure. The Ludenhaus will not give a bronze sun for him. It is obvious that, knowing our plans, they have sacrificed him to solve their problem of assistance before the emperor."
Both the man in the patch and Raymond understood those words without difficulty.
Being aware of the kidnapping plan and unable to cancel their attendance, the Ludenhaus had sent a disposable member of their family.
In this way, the Ludenhaus, at the expense of an untalented member, would gain the sympathy of the emperor and other nobles by losing a family member who was trying to fulfill his duties.
"Got damn!"
"Got damn!"
The man on the patch let out a fierce scream full of fury, Raymond on his part, even though he understood the words of the bandits, was unable to accept them as true. No matter how badly they treated him constantly, or insults, the Ludenhaus were still his family and as such, they should be unable to use it that way.
"If it does not work for us, I'll cut off his head!"
Driven by anger, the man in the patch grabbed Raymond's arm, then drew his sword. Afraid of fear and driven by the instinct of survival, Raymond gave it a strong bite to his captor with which, he managed to free himself.
With no time to waste and using the practice left by the games with the children shepherds, Raymond easily evaded the many hands that tried to capture him, and then enter the forest.
"Fool! Even if it does not work with the Ludenhaus, a noble child has a lot of value in Baronia! "
Faced by his best-dressed accomplice, the patch man clicked his tongue in anger, and then ran after Raymond.
Making use of all his strength, Raymond, pushed by fear, ran through the forest. However, his bad physical condition, did not take long to take its toll and having completely lost his breath, a huge hand took him by his clothes from the neck and pulled him hard back.
Despite being too old for such action, the patch man had easily overtaken him.
Before the fear of losing his head for the sword of that man, Raymond tried to stop the strong pull by clinging to some branches with his hands. Even so, the branches broke without hardly showing any difference.
"I have you little bastard!"
Those words only increased the level of dread in Raymond, his heart, accelerated as ever and his mind began to cloud.
Once the end seemed inevitable, Raymond, pushed once more by the instinct of survival, putting all his strength in his hand, embedded in the man's face the piece of a branch.
In pain, the man on the patch freed Raymond once more, who without losing time began to run once more.
After several seconds of running without stopping, Raymond it was forced to stop his step to meet the edge of a cliff. Just stopping his step, a singular buzz coming from his back, seemed to approach at high speed towards him.
In an attempt to know the cause of that sound, Raymond turned to his left and without understanding what was happening, an intense heat hit his right shoulder, to it later release an intense wave of warmth.
That ended by pushing Raymond to the bottom of the cliff, and while his body turned in the air because of that force, the smiling figure of the man with the patch with the right palm extended towards Raymond, became noticeable among the trees.
Raymond understood immediately, he had it been hit by the fireball spell cast by that man.
As he rushed to the bottom of the cliff, time seemed to run slower.
In Raymond's mind came the memories of the last days, seeing between the images the faces of the Duke and Ernest, he was finally convinced that he had it been cruelly used and abandoned.
Once the memories of the warm farewell offered to him in Lúden came to his mind, Raymond, for the first time in his life, was it filled with hatred. He cursed each of the Ludenhaus repeatedly, and then finally, everything went black.