Larne was totally stunned. What did Sophia just say? That beggar said he was searching for a person called Ruslan Long or Lorn? It should be Ruslan Larne, right? That's the name of the original owner of this body. Given that everyone calls me by my nickname Landon, it wouldn't be weird if they didn't remember that my original name, Ruslan Larne and that I am the second young master of the Ruslan Family of the Northlands...
"What's going on? I think I heard Sophia mention your name just now," said Evans. Evans was aware of Larne's full name as he had helped him handle the ownership documents when the building was purchased.
Larne regained his composure and saw that Sophia had already hopped back to the backyard cheerfully. He stood up and said, "I think the beggar Sophia mentioned just now is looking for me. I'll go take a look, they might actually be from my family."
"Oh?" said Evans curiously. He bit into the drumstick in his hand as he said, "I'll go with you."
The two of them reached the backyard and saw the beggar that Sophia had mentioned. Dressed in rags, he sat on a bluestone pavement at the backyard and was consuming a bowl of oat porridge. The chicken drumsticks Sophia had given him were wrapped in a piece of grey cloth. It seemed that he planned to take the chicken away with him.
Sophia chewed on the chicken in her hands as she asked, "Why aren't you eating the chicken? Isn't it a little bland to have the porridge without it? Chicken drumsticks are delicious you know..."
The beggar nodded towards Sophia and smiled. "Pretty little princess, thank you for giving me these delicious chicken drumsticks. However, I have another person accompanying me so I intend to share it with him later..."
After that, the beggar looked towards Larne and froze up entirely. He put the bowl in his hand down and rubbed his eyes before inspecting clearly once again, as if he couldn't believe that the one standing in front of him was indeed Larne.
"Second young master... Sniff... I finally found you... Urrrghhh!.." That beggar desperately crawled towards Larne and even ignored the bowl of porridge that he had knocked over and hugged Larne's leg tightly as he cried nonstop.
"Ugh..." Larne wanted to pull his leg back but the beggar had a rather firm grip on it. "Um, please get up first. You are..."
"Young master, don't you recognize me? I'm Sheams!" exclaimed the beggar with a face full of snot and tears.
"Sheams?" Larne mulled deeply and a scene of a young, honest young servant who shouted as he ran towards him... Young master... Wait for me! At that time, the young Larne was rather haughty and bossed around that young servant quite a lot...
No wonder he recognized me almost instantly... Sheams was actually Larne's personal attendant from a long time ago.
"Sheams... It's been too long... Has it been ten years already? First things first, stop crying and stand up properly," said Larne as he smiled.
However, Sheams ended up crying even harder. "Young master... You must return to the Northlands quickly. The old master is gone... the first young master is dead... and the third young master as well... The Ruslan Family only has you now... Everyone's waiting for you.. for you to go succeed the position as the lord of the dominion... Wuueerrghh..."
Larne's body suddenly shivered. Even though his consciousness was not of this world, he was unable to ignore the blood of the Ruslans that flowed in his current body and the throbbing emotion from the depths of his being shook even the core of his soul.
Evans walked forward and held Larne up and said to Sheams, "Stop crying and say things clearly. What is going on?"
"Last year, the old master lead a group of people to fight against the barbarian raiders but got ambushed and was badly injured. Ever since then, he was bedridden and finally passed away at the start of this year after instructing us to come here to look for the second young master to inherit the dominion. We know that the second young master had went to Akan City for his education but we were unaware of which academy he was studying at. And, given that 10 years had already passed, we weren't sure if the second young master would still be here and could only try our luck. After we finally arrived at Akan City, we went to every academy to ask about the young master but nobody bothered to entertain us because we were from the Northlands. Pitt mentioned that the heroes of legend usually gathered information in taverns, so we did just that. And finally, here at the La Mesa Inn, we finally found you, young master," explained Sheams. The conclusion of his arduous journey that he had with Pitt had caused him to shed tears uncontrollably.
Larne managed to stand up properly again and said, "Sheams, why did you say that my father and two brothers are dead? And, who's Pitt? He sounds rather familiar. Also, doesn't my third uncle know where I study at? What happened to him?"
"The first young master had died from battle three years ago after he was drafted into the army of Duke Lycanns who was serving under the Second Prince of the former empire. When that news reached the old master, he fell sick and became bedridden. The matters of the dominion were handed to the third young master after that. But three years ago, when the third young master was on patrol, his mount got startled by a magical beast and he fell from horseback and incurred serious injuries and passed away despite three days of emergency treatment. The old master's sickness got a turn for the worse, but he recovered a bit during spring last year. Even so, he had to go to the battlefield once again as the barbarian raiders started causing trouble again. In the end... sigh. Second young master, don't you remember Pitt? He is the eldest grandson of the old butler Gordons who had played with you quite often when you were small. He's quite an impressive youth and is already an Apprentice Swordsman. The old butler sent us to come look for you because we were the only ones who knew how you looked like."
Having said that, Sheams started to hesitate. "Second young master, your third uncle Ludwig died seven years ago after the family's merchant convoy was attacked by bandits. There were no survivors. The news stunned the whole of the Northlands at that time and there were even rumors that the soldiers of the First Prince were masquerading as bandits to gather military funds and resources. That's why the first young master pledged his allegiance to the Second Prince rather than the First Prince."
The bad news that came one after another caused Larne to be unable to think clearly. The fact that the once proud and strong Norton Family that was entitled by the Adox Royal Family themselves was actually embroiled in so much conflict and misfortune to the point where they had to summon the second young master that had been exiled from his homeland for more than ten years was rather depressing.
After calming down, Larne asked, "Then, where's Pitt? Isn't he with you?"
Sheams said in an embarrassed tone, "Pitt... Um... He's working as a baggage carrier at the pier..."
"Baggage carrier?"