When the group realized Henry was from the Maverick, they all made a strange expressions, their rivalry was far too deep, thus conflicts were unavoidable, and they were unsure how to react to being saved by someone from there.
- "Oh, I didn't expect to run into someone from Maverick Academy during a school exercise." Felix sent a curious glance at Nico. " Did they mess with you?" Felix had a hunch that Henry was a good person, and he understood how some guilds behaved around these areas, so he had a very clear sense of what happened between Henry and the other group.
-"Yes, they believed robbing me would be easier." Henry sighed as he glanced at Nico, still not knowing what to do with them. "I'm still undecided about delivering them to the guards." He felt that traveling back to the city would be troublesome, as he wanted to keep gathering more herbs to level up the system.
- "If you don't, they'll just keep targeting more people, they couldn't rob you today, but tomorrow they might target someone weaker than them." Felix didn't think highly of them either.
-"I know, it's just that I'm quite busy right now."
-" Why don't we take them?" Felix's eyes flashed as he had an idea to repay the man's help. " We are already going back as we need to warn our teacher about the Hobgoblin appearance."
-" That would be wonderful!" Henry was happy that he could continue gathering herbs, the feeling he had when seeing his system inventory being filled with items was something addicting to him.
-"That's settled then!" Felix smiled as he looked at the group of robbers, almost everyone in that group was passed out from the Hobgoblin attack, so he and his companion would have to drag them. " What about the monsters? Do you want something from them?"
Henry pouted as he looked at the globin's mangled body, he didn't think that the system would consider this thing a treasure, so he barely had any interest in it, but, he still asked the system.
-' Please make contact with the monster's body.' Henry quickly followed the system's instructions.
The normal goblins hadn't anything that the system considered to be a natural treasure, but, to Henry's surprise, the Hobgoblin was full of useful things. His teeth were considered to be a first level treasure, and he even had a core.
Henry decided to take the Hobgoblin's teeth and core for himself, and leave the group with the rest.
Felix and his group were extremely happy as Henry offered them the monster's body, they take the goblin's ears to the city administration to get some money, and most of all, the Hobgoblin head was sure to fetch them even more money and prestige.
Before long, Felix and his party left, and Henry returned to gathering herbs, he had now collected almost 70 herbs of all types. And as he looked at his system, he saw that the analysis of most of the first level herbs was finished.
Henry felt the urge to level up the system using the herbs, but, he decided to wait a few more hours and continued to gather every herb he found.
While Henry was gathering herbs near the mountain, Jonathan was completing the repair of one of the swords Henry had dropped off. - "Why is Abel taking so long? He'll never believe what this guy had left." Jonathan was tense, and he regretted not dispatching agents to spy on the man who sold him the swords.
Jonathan was deliberating his options when he heard the door to his workshop open. He immediately turned, thinking that Abel had arrived. -" Alden? What has brought you here so early?" Jonathan's face fell as he realized the person who had arrived was Abel's son, not him.
"Hello, Jonathan. I came to see if Henry had left his sword here. I met him at the Spring Festival yesterday."
-" Henry? Did you meet him? He even showed you the sword?" Jonathan thought Henry was being far too open about the treasures he had discovered.
-"Yes, I was shocked, did you know he can even completely control the sword? I was surprised that someone so young could be so powerful." While talking with Jonathan, Alden threw himself on the couch. " By the way, are you waiting for my dad? Did something happen?"
Jonathan frowned, unsure whether Alden or Henry was more naive. - "Is there something? Do you know what this sword means to our family? They are stronger than the ones you have."
- "Oh yeah, I know, I saw their strength when he used them in a wagger with some guy at the festival."
-" He did what?" As he listened to Alden, Jonathan's head began to hurt. "If he really wants to lose this sword so badly, why doesn't he offer it to me instead?"
Alden didn't want to stay on the subject any longer after noticing Jonathan's fool mood. "Never mind, but why are you waiting for your father? Is it something to do with Henry's swords?" Alden's face darkened as he asked. "Hey, Jonathan? Don't tell me that you are actually thinking of stealing his sword?"
Jonathan's face wriggled as Alden realized what was going on. "Of course I am, those swords are too valuable, our family has to keep them!"
-" Father wouldn't approve of something like this!" Alden stood up, enraged by Jonathan's plan.
-"This isn't for you to decide, your father needs all the power he can obtain, if Abel can't strengthen the Whitelock family in time, the Great Nobles will completely crush us!" Jonathan despised Alden's naivety and believed that if he truly wanted to be useful to his family, he needed to be harsher. "Who mentioned stealing from him? We can make him an offer he can't refuse, and if he still doesn't accept it, we can force him to."
-" Are we a family of bandits? And what is the difference between robbing him and forcing him to sell it?" Alden was baffled by Jonathan's thoughts.
Jonathan face's twitched in anger, he was about to scold Alden again, but, the door of his workshop opened one more time, and this time Abel himself had arrived.
-"Alden is correct, the Whitelock family will not fall so low as to become thieves." Abel was nervous as he entered the room, he was caught completely off guard by the news that Jonathan sent him.
"If I may say, my lord, but this is not the moment to be bothered with petty morality." Jonathan insisted on his plan.
"Jonathan, this isn't just petty moral, it's the Whitelock family's most cherished tenet, and it's on our motto and sigil." As he talked, Abel was solemn. "We should not be willing to sacrifice our honor."
Jonathan sighed, knowing how stubborn Abel was, if he made up his mind, no one could change it. "Please pardon me for my arrogance, My Lord."
-"Don't worry, I understand your worry about the future of the Whitelock Household." Abel patted Jonathan on the back and walked up to the swords on the table in the middle of the room. " Is that his sword?"
Abel took one of the swords and felt its sharpness, the swords were truly valuable, and he considered using one of them as a backup weapon if they could persuade the child to sell them.
- "Excuse me, Sir Jonathan, someone came to fetch the sword that arrived this morning." As Abel admired the sword, a knock came on the door:
Jonathan was taken aback, he had not expected Henry to appear at such an inconvenient moment. "Did Henry show up?" Bring him over here now!"
-"Sir, it was his sister that came, not him." The attendant on the other side of the door answered immediately.
-" His sister? So bring her then." Jonathan was disappointed that Henry didn't come himself, but, he still could use his sister to understand him better.
"Hey, Jonathan, I believe Henry gave one of those swords to his sister." Alden felt awkward as he informed them about Henry's alleged gift to his sibling, the idea of Henry giving such a precious gift to his younger sister still baffled him, after all, only big families could afford such a precious treasure.
Before long, Makayla was led into the room and she could tell by Abel's aura and demeanor that he was someone important. - " Excuse me, Henry told me to come to pick up my sword." Makayla swallowed as she realized everyone in the room was staring at her.
-" Could you please tell me where Henry is?" Jonathan instantly asked Makayla about her brother's whereabouts
Alden wanted to intervene since he suspected Jonathan would try to buy one of the swords from her, but he chose to wait and see what happened.
Makayla was suspicious of the circumstances and decided to give only a vague response. -" Henry is busy right now." Makayla was concerned that the people in the room were conspiring against Henry.
-" Busy? Young Lady, in what realm are you currently at?"
- "I only recently broke through the second circle."
-" Oh, so young and already at the third circle? you are quite talented, what affinity do you have?"
Makayla's eyes brightened as she realized what the shopkeeper wanted, she knew Henry had sold part of the swords he obtained to his person, so he was probably interested in getting the rest.
-"I'm sorry, but I can't give you an answer, you'd have to speak with my brother." Makayla instantly shot the man down, even though she knew he was telling the truth. She didn't want to sell this sword because it was one of Henry's first gifts to her.
-"Oh, why don't you look in the storage room to see what weapons we have? Some of them may interest you." Jonathan did not give up and continued his attempts to purchase the sword.
-"I'm sorry, I can't make a decision, if you want to buy the sword, you should speak with my brother."
-"Did he not give you the sword? You certainly can!" Jonathan's patience was dwindling.
-"Jonathan, she already has an answer for you, why don't you stop here? Henry will arrive later so you can speak with him." Alden was well aware that allowing Jonathan to continue taking would ruin their relationship with Henry.
Makayla was happy that the man had finally accepted her decision, she had been worried that they would use her to force Henry to give up the swords.
She was relieved as the group didn't seem so bad, after all, they were nobles and so the fact that they didn't simply take Henry's things to themselves was proof enough that they didn't want to cause harm to her and Henry.
-"Can you tell me your name?" Abel finally chose to talk, he wanted to keep an amicable relationship with Henry and his sister, as he knew that in the future they may want to switch weapons.
-" Sir, my name is Makayla." Makayla bowed and introduced herself to the man.
-" You can drop the formalities, are you a student of any Magic Academy?"
-" Yes, I'm in my first year at the Maverick Academy. I came to pick up my sword earlier because I'm returning to school today."
-" Maverick Academy?" Abel tried to recall the name, but it appeared that he had never heard of it.
- "It's simply a third-rate Academy, I'm sure you've never heard of them." Jonathan noticed Abel's confusion and interjected himself into the conversation.
-" Oh, Do they also take part in the Magic Tournament? If that's the case, I'd love to see you use the sword there."
-"We still need to qualify for it, we'll be competing against the North Sea Academy for a seat in the Magic Tourney."
-" Oh, that's excellent, when will this competition be held? I'm interested in watching it."
-"If my lord desires it, I can arrange a meeting with the academy dean so he can prepare for your arrival." Jonathan understood Abel was doing this to demonstrate his appreciation for Makayla and Henry, after all, any third-rate academy would be delighted to be visited by such a powerful figure as Abel.
-" I'm counting on you then, and I'm hoping you can show us quite the spectacle there." Before leaving, Abel nodded to Makayla and handed her the swords he was holding.
Makayla also left after a few more exchanges, she discovered Abel's identity after he left the room, and she was overjoyed to learn how famous and powerful he was.
Makayla was confident that if such a person came to the academy to witness her fight, her position there would skyrocket. Makayla tightened her fists, knowing she had to try harder not to disappoint Abel's expectations and embarrass her brother.
Makayla began to think about her brother as she walked to the meeting point where the Maverick Students would gather to return to the academy. She wanted to say farewell to him before returning to the academy. - "Has Henry found anything yet? He left so early that I didn't even talk with him in the morning." As Makayla thought of Henry when she realized she hadn't told him about the competition "Oh my goodness, I completely forgot about it. Maybe I'll write him a letter inviting him."