"You are..." Nara covered her mouth, tears flowing down her face like a river.
She looked at Harley.
Harley turned her head away, avoiding looking her in the eyes.
"Harley...You knew?"
Swoosh!
Guard No.1 dashed toward Nara and Harley.
Using all his strength, he pushed Nolan and Layla off the way, throwing them on the ground.
Thud!
He wrapped his arms around the shoulders of both Harley and Nara. He hugged them tightly.
"I thought you were dead!" He screamed through tears.
Nara hugged him back. "I thought you died too."
Harley barely holding back his tears patted Guard No.1 on the shoulder. "You are a grown man. Don't cry."
"Guard No.1, what s going on?" Brutus asked, stunned. This was his first time witnessing Guard No.1 express such intense emotions. No, even if it was the other four elite guards, they had never expressed such intense emotions.
"Can someone explain to me what is going on?" Nolan asked, standing up from the ground. He also helped Layla get up.
Guard No.1 let go of Harley and Nara and looked back at Nolan. "Get us some wine," He said, wiping his tears.
Nolan looked at the employees. "Since none of you had gone home, prepare a hot pot for us." He then looked at Layla. "Bring three jars of wine."
The employees obeyed immediately, and everyone entered the kitchen.
Now, in the dining hall of the restaurant, only five people remained: Nolan, Nara, Harley, Brutus, and Guard No.1
"Sit here," Nolan said, sitting at the closest table.
The rest immediately followed.
A few minutes quickly passed, and no one said a thing. A deadly silence ruled the dining hall.
Creaakk!
The door of the kitchen opened, breaking the silence. Out of the kitchen came Layla, followed by three other women with bruises on their faces.
Layla and two other women carried a jar of wine, while the fourth woman carried cups for wine.
The woman carrying the cups placed them on the table, one cup for each person. Then Layla poured wine into the cups.
Finishing their task, they left the jars of wine on the next closest table.
"It looks like you will not start speaking by yourself, so I will ask. What is the history between you?" Nolan asked.
"Sighhhh!" Harley sighed. "You know that I and Nara were previously nobles. Our Frye family was well known in the capital. However, nine years ago, our family was destroyed.
Back then, though Nara was not very strong, she was favored by the previous emperor as an exceptional commander.
Because of this, the previous emperor favored and financially supported our family. He favored Nara's excellent commanding skills so much that on several occasions, he even compared her commanding skills to that of the Supreme General, The God of War of The Bergon Empire." Harley clenched the cup of wine in his hands. Even after all those years, he could not let go of his anger and hatred.
Nara noticed this, and put her hand over Harley's, calming him down a bit.
"The Supreme General did not like that, and felt that his position is threatened." Harley continued. "Thus, the Minister of Finances, who did not like the previous emperor giving us so much money, and the Supreme General teamed up, destroying our family in one night."
"But you still did not say how you and Guard No.1 know each other," Brutus said.
"Guard No.1, Guard No.2, and Guard No.3, all three of them were my guards, and also my best brothers," Harley said. " Nine years ago, on the night our family was attacked, we fled together, but we got separated. I and Nara thought that they had died."
"We also thought you died," Guard No.1 said. "But Harley, why did you pretend not to recognize us? I even asked you do you have a family. You said you never got married."
Nara looked at Harley.
"You have become stronger. You are now far stronger than Nara. Also, you have your life, new life. You have even changed your names. You seem to be doing well on your own." Harley explained.
"Gilbert," Nara spoke. "I want to ask you since earlier. What is this thing with your name?"
Guard No.1 smiled. "We thought you had died. So we three brothers trained like crazy for two years. We swore to get revenge for you. That's when we met the Boss of the Black Rose organization, Eleanor. Back then, the Black Rose organization had just been formed and only had a few members.
At first, we did not want to join her, but she promised that as long as we follow her, she would help us get revenge. At that moment, we were stunned. After all, how could she know that we wanted to take revenge? And not only that, but she also knew on whom we wanted to take revenge.
She also had good strength. We were convinced she could help us get revenge, so we agreed to work for her. She gave us new names. The new names were to help us hide our identities, but that was not the only reason. The new names continuously remind us why we joined the Black Rose organization." Guard No.1 finished explaining.
"What do you think of her?" Nara asked. "Is she really willing to go against the government officials?"
"I work for her for almost seven years now. But I still can not see through her. She is full of mysteries. But I know one thing. She wants to destroy not only the government officials but also the whole Royal family."
Nara smiled. "Well, no matter what. I am glad you are alive."
"Mom!" A voice came from outside the restaurant.
A few seconds after the voice came, the door of the restaurant opened.
Henry came inside.
"Mom, why is the restaurant closed?" He asked.
However, seeing his father and Nolan, a smile spread on his face.
"Dad!" He ran straight to his dad, hugging him tightly.
"T-This is?" Guard No.1's voice trembled. Tears filled his eyes again.
"This is our son," Harley said, smiling.
"You have a son." Guard No.1 spoke, stretching his trembling hands toward Henry.
Creakk!
Nolan stood up. "I apologize, but I am tired. I will leave you."
Though Nolan spoke, no one cared. He was ignored. No, right now, he was not as important as Henry.
But Nolan did not mind this. He just smiled and headed upstairs.
Since all chambers were empty, he randomly entered a chamber.
He closed the door behind himself and headed straight to the bed.
"Now, let's see what I got from completing the quest." He muttered as he sat on the bed. When they set the Calvus mansion on fire, Nolan received a message that he had completed the quest War but did not have time to check what he got.
"System."
The bluish quest window immediately appeared before him.
[Quest: War - Completed]
[Destroy the noble family Calvus]
[Reward: Exp20, Random banner with special effect]
[You received: Exp20, Earth Banner]
[You leveled up]
[You received: 3 allocation points]
Nolan smiled, satisfied. "Status window,"
[Name: Nolan]
[Age:19 years, 25 days]
[Occupations; Hidden Business Owner-In use, Beggar who knows basic swordsmanship]
[Level 5]
[Exp:0/100]
[Martial Arts: Basic swordsmanship]
[Strength: 16]
[Stamina: 19]
[Agility: 16]
[Allocation points: 3]
'System, add all three allocation points into strength,' Nolan said without even giving it much thought.
[Strength: 19]
"Sighhh!" Nolan sighed. "Now, let's see if the reward is satisfactory enough for all the trouble I went through," He muttered. "Reward Inventory,"
The bluish reward inventory immediately appeared before his eyes.
The earth banner put into a small square immediately caught his eye.
"Earth banner," He muttered. A brown banner with the word EARTH on it appeared. The banner hung down a meter and a half (5 feet) high wooden pole.
"System, show me the information for the Earth Banner," Immediately after Nolan said this, a window containing the information about the Earth Banner appeared before his eyes.
[Item - Earth Banner]
[Effect: 20 percent building boost in a radius of 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the banner]
A wide smile spread on Nolan's face. "System, you don't want me to die after all." He said happily. "With this, I will be able to build the village within the time limit,"
"Close the windows," The windows before his eyes disappeared and he lay on the bed.
Since he had not slept since he got out of prison yesterday, the moment he laid back, his eyes became heavy.
He closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep.