Chapter 39: Baron Auguinare
Abium sat in the reception hall in silence and soon frowned.
'Assassins… What if Viscount is the one who sent assassins after the Baron in the past?' If it were before, he wouldn't have considered it. But after he met the Apprentice Necromancer with Watson, he thought it might be possible.
At that moment, Helena let out a deep sigh and asked.
"Why did you hide about the treasure chest from your uncle? Isn't he trustworthy?"
Abium blinked his eyes as he heard those words and shook his head.
"He is the most trusted person I've ever encountered. That's why I chose him as my first ally. But the same couldn't be said true for other soldiers and servants. Money can blind people."
As he spoke, he also stood up from his seat and added.
"You are planning to go to the market now, right? Come on; I'll accompany you."
"Oh! That would be great. I'll go and call the Inn Lady now." Helena smiled brightly, hurriedly stood up from her seat, and ran towards the left side wooden door.
But a few seconds later, she returned to the reception alone and shook her head.
"The Inn Lady told me that she has some work to do. Let's go on our own." Saying so, she took the lead and started walking towards the Inn's exit.
But as they walked out of the Inn and entered the street road, Abium suddenly halted his footsteps, frowned deeply, and glanced around. His gaze moved towards the three people who stood on the opposite road, then towards the left side tree, and finally zeroed on the right side food store.
'Hmm, seven thieves are watching our movements.'
At that moment, Helena also stopped her footsteps, moved her right hand towards her waist, and gripped the iron sword's hilt.
She also noticed that multiples eyes were observing them from every direction and turned solemn.
"Enemies? Will they attack us?" Helena asked in a gloomy voice.
On the other hand, Abium shook his head and answered.
"Something is not right. I don't know why these thieves are following us, but they appear too weak."
If those thieves attack them now, Helena alone would be more than enough to beat them all.
'Two of them are First-Tier Warriors with basic stealth and disguise skills, while the rest are Second-Tier Warriors with average skills. But they don't even have a proper weapon.'
Meanwhile, Helena nodded and retracted her hand from the sword hilt.
Then, both moved on the street road, went towards the northern gate, entered the nearby market street, and started buying necessary things for their upcoming journey.
Many shops were placed on the roadside, and vendors shouted continuously to sell their goods.
Abium and Helena roamed in the market street for an hour and brought various things.
After they finished the shopping, both walked out of the market street, entered the northern gate, and were about to move towards the Inn but stopped.
At that moment, they saw a figure standing in front of them, blocking their path.
The figure was a middle-aged warrior with short black hair and looked more like a knight than a warrior.
He had a long sword on his waist and wore old silver armor over his linen clothes and black boots. He had an average height, midnight blue eyes, elongated, thick eyebrows, fair skin, and a square face.
"Who are you, Young Elf? Why the Thieves Guild members are after you?"
A majestic voice came out of his mouth as he folded his arms and asked coldly.
At that moment, Helena showed an irritated look and snorted.
"We also don't know why they are targeting us, old man. Get out of the way. We have many works to do."
Meanwhile, Abium also shook his head and answered politely.
"I apologize for my friend's rude words, Lord Baron. But what she said is indeed true. We also don't have any clue."
It was a lie, though. Abium had a bold guess at that moment.
'There is a high chance that the Mysterious Assassins did this to lure Baron out of the castle. And, they seemed to have succeeded already.' He calmly observed the surroundings and decided to watch out for any sneak attack.
On the other hand, Baron frowned and soon showed a confused expression.
During the past few days, Baron quietly observed the town's tense atmosphere and realized something odd was going on.
He soon discovered that Thieves Guild was acting suspicious and decided to probe further.
After some analysis, Baron leaned that all those clues were leading to the Half-elf standing in front of him.
He shrugged it off at first.
But when Baron heard about the appearance of more newcomers from Viscount Gauvain's territory, he became more vigilant.
Then, he called his trusted aide and asked him to verify both of their identities first.
His aide found much information about Helena within a day through Adventurers Guild's history record and told him in detail.
However, he couldn't even find his name when he searched for clues about the Half-elf.
It was as if the person in front of him had appeared from the Baxbron Woods mysteriously.
When Baron heard of such news, he decided to ask the Half-elf personally and came here in a hurry.
Meanwhile, Abium had different thoughts running in his mind.
He had never met Baron face to face in the past life and only heard a little about him. Unlike other nobles, Baron Auguinare was the first to die in the past.
He died even before the arrival of the Chaos Era!
His full name was Auguinare Foreling, governor of Dust gate town. He was a man who served as a second commander of the Peral Kingdom's army and gained the title of Baron from being a mere commoner.
Baron won many small battles against the Wadel kingdom's invasions twenty years ago and became a hero of that time. To honor his achievements, Margrave Eliot bestowed him the title of Baron to honor his lifetime service and even took him as one of his vassals.
While Abium was in deep thoughts, Helena suddenly bowed her head and apologized.
"I apologize for my rude words, My Lord." She paused for a moment and then asked.
"What do you want from us?"
Just when Baron was about to say something, a loud explosion shook the whole town, followed by a powerful shockwave!
Meanwhile, a drastic change appeared on everyone's face.
Abium also felt a slight elemental change in the surrounding atmosphere and raised his eyebrows.
He then shifted his gaze towards the direction where Baron's fortress was located and soon widened his eyes as he saw a reddish mushroom-like cloud!
"Alchemic Bomb?" He muttered in shock.