Back at the restaurant, Claude felt a feeling of loss, as though he had lost something of great value. He ignored it and kept eating the dish Kayle prepared.
Even though the prices of the food here is a bit expensive, he had to admit that the food tasted delicious. In less than five minutes, he finished everything on his plate and laid back on the chair.
Just as he was about to close his eyes and take a nap, an enraged roar sounded.
"Don't touch the Young Mistress!"
Claude was instantly startled and he unconsciously gripped the table tight, for fear that he might fall on the ground. Just when he was about to scold the person who startled him, he suddenly felt something in his hands.
Turning to look, he found that he had accidentally broke off a part of the table, "This..."
He looked around with wary eyes. Seeing that nobody noticed him, he picked up the empty plates and sneakily switched to another table.
After which, he turned to look at the person who just shouted and said rather bluntly, "Your young mistress isn't here."
"Then..."
Before he had the chance to speak, Claude interrupted him, "Don't you remember how you guys got beaten to a pulp by one man? Tsk, and you call yourselves bodyguards."
Hearing this, the man's cheeks turned red and the feeling of shame slowly crept onto his heart.
Ignoring the man's emotions, Claude asked, "Anyways, why was he so intent to find your Young Mistress? Judging from his strength, he didn't seem to be just an ordinary man. And someone of his stature won't just blindly attack a person. There must be a reason."
The bodyguard recalled the events that happened prior to their beating before retailing it to Claude, "I seem to remember him saying something about a box. It was the box that the Young Mistress bought a few hours before she got attacked."
"Box?" A strange expression flashed in Claude's face, "Can you tell me what your Young Mistress looked like?"
"Uhm..." Even though he was wary, he still said, "She's about a head and a half shorter than me, has brown curly hair, hazel eyes, and a shy personality. Why? Have you met her somewhere?"
'It was her! The girl I duped!' Claude suddenly dawned in realization.
The features that the bodyguard said was the exact same features that the girl had. If this is the case, wouldn't this mean that the box she had was the same one he sold to her?
It's just that... this reasoning simply added more questions than answers. As far as Claude knows, the box only had a pearl bracelet inside and that bracelet didn't seem to have any value at all.
But if it actually didn't have any value, then that man wouldn't be so hell-bent in finding their Young Mistress and take the box for himself.
'No, he might have just took a liking to the box, and that it didn't have any value at all. Yes, this must be the case.' Claude found a reason to stop the stinging pain in his heart.
"Wait, what about the man? What happened to him?" The bodyguard suddenly asked in urgency.
If that man escaped, who knows what will happen to their Young Mistress in the future. That's why hidden evils must be eliminated before they could act.
"Dead. Turned to ashes."
...
"What do you think about him, Uncle?" In the inner depths of the Tavern, Kayle and Argus were discussing.
"Powerful." Argus replied directly, "He must be at least a 4th-Class Mage or a Pinnacle 3rd-Class Mage. Otherwise, he couldn't cast spells as quickly as he did. What's more, he multi-casted spells in the dozens, which is enough to prove his strength.
He had his fair share of experiences back when he was still on active duty. Part of those experiences includes meeting powerful people, such as high ranking Mages in action.
As a result, he developed a keen eye for spotting exceptionally powerful people. Even though Claude's power wasn't close to the people he had met, he is still someone to be feared.
"A Pinnacle 3rd-Class Mage at his age... How talented must one be?" Kayle said in disbelief.
One should know that Claude was only about seventeen or eighteen years old—he said it himself when the two talked. However, despite his young age, he's already a Pinnacle 3rd-Class Mage.
There are many factors required in order for one to advance a class, and one's mana capacity is just one of them. As such, Mages need years or even decades of cumulative knowledge and experience in order to rank up.
Achieving Pinnacle 3rd-Class Mage, especially at a young age, is no less than doing the impossible. Unless if.... one is a Genius.
"Alright, let's stop talking about him now. I feel a bit inferior whenever I compare myself to him," Kayle said bitterly, "Do you have news about my dad and brother?"
Argus can't help but snicker, "It's understandable. Even I feel somewhat inferior, especially when he defeated that guy in only a few breaths. Anyways, I do have some news about your dad and brother."
...
"Is someone talking about me behind my back?" Claude can't help but mutter after he sneezed. He shrugged his shoulders and continued walking.
After he left the restaurant, Claude suddenly felt the urge to go to the marketplace. Since he basically saved the life of his debtors, they wrote off his debt.
As a result, he still has thirty silver taels left.
The currency here is as straight forward as it gets. A hundred copper taels is equivalent to a silver tael. And a hundred silver taels is equivalent to a Gold tael.
The average salary of someone is roughly around five silver taels a month. Unless one is alone, that amount of money isn't enough to live off of.
Soon, Claude arrived in front of a small store.
Inside, a relatively young man can be seen tinkering with an object using his full concentration.
After about twenty minutes, the young man removed his goggles and stretched out his back. It was only at this time where he realized someone was inside his store.
"What are you doing?" A strange look appeared on his face as he questioned the young man crouching on the ground.
"Huh?" Claude stopped brushing his hands on the floor and glanced up before saying awkwardly, "I'm... cleaning...?"