'I guess it's a good thing that I got Sir Lancelot involved.'
It was strategic to show his face to appeal to the knight's conscience.
"Hah, hah.."
He wasn't afraid that things would go wrong on his side, but contingencies are always welcome. Additionally, this would also prove Eli's mettle, although he didn't reveal anything about his intentions to the knight, who was only doing his job.
"Hah… who was that?"
Before he was scolded and forcefully escorted back to the estate, Eli ran away from Sir Lancelot with the younger kid in tow. It was a good thing they were in a place crowded with people on some sort of rest day. Even the knight seemed to be on a rest day but was still patrolling the streets like a pushover employee, though it was out of his own will.
Still, it took them quite a long time before they could eventually shake off the knight.
The kid who got tangled up in his situation looked at him in annoyance after finally catching his breath.
"Hey, who was that?"
"Nah, you won't handle it if you knew, so let's just get going."
Eli only smiled in response.
If his suspicion is correct, then this kid right in front of him is one of the strategies used by the criminals to lure children to their dens; if they get lucky, then they'll be able to fish out noble kids.
"What direction is it?"
"There's a short cut around here."
The almost-exhausted kid once again led him to whoever's house they were going to, and the road they were taking became narrow and serpentine and got less and less crowded. When they came in front of a dark and deserted alleyway, the kid grabbed his cloak.
"Brother, could you wait for me here?"
'Wah, couldn't you be any less dubious about it?'
Thinking about it, the kid's actions have been dodgy since the beginning; it was an amateurish work befitting the kid's age, who seems to be having his own circumstances. It was an act that only the ignorant and stupid would fall for.
"Sure. Go ahead and call them."
The kid who approached him earlier with fake enthusiasm looked at him with uncharacteristically cold eyes before running ahead towards the dark alley.
After a while, he heard the heavy footsteps of people coming from the front and back. From the darkness appeared the kid together with a burly man who looks like your everyday ruffian.
"Is that your Nana?"
He quipped, but the kid deliberately ignored him and just ran past him, accompanied by clinking sounds.
'What would you do if you found a 1 terabyte USB flash drive just innocently lying around in your parking lot?'
The question is similar to what people do when they see money on the streets; both situations might yield similar answers.
Some of the most significant and successful cyberattacks have occurred as a result of the wrong set of actions. That is, for example, someone picking up a USB device unsuspectingly, thinking he's got lucky, then ignorantly inserting the cute USB stick at his personal laptop, or worse, on his desktop at work, and opening a harmless file named "confidential.exe" because it invoked his curiosity.
The next thing he knew, he had already shut down almost half the country's energy resources.
'If it's me, I will also pick up the flash drive. Wouldn't that be such a waste?'
But since he is Argus, he'll just clean it up or revise the malicious codes by giving them his own flavor and passing them on to others. He's a hacker, after all.
It's a hacking method called "USB Drop Attack."
One of the two men from behind take ahold of him and removed his hood off him, showing the sleek, white hair, and fully revealing his face that's enough to receive stellar ratings.
The three were stunned by the product reveal.
'Oh boy, I definitely understand your reactions.'
When he woke up after fainting, he was troubled that he had transmigrated into a kid's body, but it was understandable given that time had also regressed.
The times of Renaris and Lohiya are not in a straight line but have an ugly twist; nonetheless, currently, it's a period when his real body doesn't exist yet. In fact, his parents might not have been born yet.
A day in Renaris may sometimes be a week in Lohiya; sometimes it might be a year.
The gambler was considerate enough to give him his estimated deadline.
That was why Argus didn't really feel disappointed when he woke up as the 10-year-old Eli, although he knew from the get-go that it was physically weak, and terribly so.
It was like all the grace was poured out on the face.
Elior Lichtstiele is a boy with all the best facial features intricately placed on a face that follows the golden ratio to a T. The long eyelashes that beautifully outline his purplish irises fluttered as he looked at the three criminals; it wasn't his own body, so it isn't cringey to brag that Eli is a living work of art.
Overall, he looks like a pretty boy: effeminate and delicate.
It was to the point where he was taken aback the first time he saw his reflection; he was startled enough to ignore the pain just to move and look underneath his pants. When he saw what he needed to see, he was utterly relieved because gender-bender tropes aren't his cup of tea.
"Hah! Hahahahahaha!"
The men must be as satisfied as he was.
The man in front, who seems to be the boss of the gangsters, let out a howl of laughter the moment he recovered.
"Dang, our little boy brought home high-class produce; I should have put on extra coins."
"He's a noble without a doubt; look at these clothes."
"This is certainly platinum coin quality."
Turning him around and sideways carelessly, they began to count their chickens.
"Kid, what's your name?"
"Thumb Drive."
"Thumb? What a weird name, it doesn't suit you at all."
"He's got a family name, so he's an aristocrat or the young master of a wealthy merchant household, but I'd never heard of the 'Drive' family before."
'Should I be grateful to the Imperial family for keeping these people ignorant?'
It was rare to see a nobleman walking in the streets, even if it was the son of the landlord of the place they were living, so it can't be helped.
"Well, you can call me anything you want."
He flashed a wide smile to the gullible people, who weren't even wary of why he was so relaxed in the midst of trouble. Unbeknownst to them, his mind was already scheming and anticipating the extent of chaos he'd cause.
***
"Did you defeat those monsters just by yourself?"
"…"
"You saved us; if we've crossed paths with them, me and my wife are dead meat."
"Thanks, child."
Baa…. Baa…
The muffled old woman's voice, together with the sound of animals, were heard behind the driver's seat, where her husband, an old man, and Caleb were currently.
It wasn't a carriage but a wagon carrying a flock of sheep that a couple planned to transport and sell at the Town of Nina, the outermost town of the Duchy of Illana and boundary to the Lumos Plains.
Caleb would have reproached the two for recklessly traveling at night when their destination was still at least three days away, without a single escort at that. That aside, he was still a kid; he found it even more difficult to decline the offer to ride with them and be dropped off at the outskirts of his village.
In addition, his thoughts were occupied with what had happened earlier. The stories of the old man went from one ear to the other.
"…we would have gone directly to the Crimson Mountains if not for the post we've received from Temani…"
'…Do you know me?'
The man who saved Caleb from the hideous mouth of the otherworlder asked him, and even if he lied, he would be found out.
Even at that moment, despite Caleb's usually blank face, the man would have known every single emotion that was behind it; it was the man's notorious passive skill.
'Interesting. How could a little kid like you know of me, a remnant of the past? Mm.'
Thankfully, the esteemed person didn't pursue the matter when he remained quiet; he neither asked why Caleb was in such a dangerous place at night nor how a kid like him defeated two werewolves. He was still how Caleb remembered him: a person who doesn't meddle in other people's affairs and who has always been careless to the point of neglect.
Eventually, he left after capturing the snow wolf leader alive, saying it was for his provision.
'Sir is still a wanderer at this time.'
In Caleb's previous timeline, the man must have apprehended the lycanthropes; that's why no incident happened. Fortunately, his intervention was nothing major.
And the rest happened; he ended up hitching a ride.
His rumination was halted when the wagon jerked following wild and loud noises from behind. The old man knocked at the small window, where someone then peeked; it was the old wife.
"I'm sorry, dear. Our feisty lamb just woke up, but I've already restrained him."
"Alright."
Not long after, Caleb spotted the sentinel of the village. The old man slowed down, and the couple said goodbye to the kid, who ran towards the wooden gate. Their eyes lingered on the kid's back, then they proceeded; the sun was beginning to dawn upon them.
"Fortunately, he didn't notice."
"That was dangerous; you could have left him be."
"Yeah."
The old woman at the back looked at their precious lambs, particularly the one in the center who had his limbs chained.
Caleb finally returned to the village, brushing aside how it was strange that he was still in good condition. He didn't even notice that the wound on his face that he got when the werewolf's attack grazed his cheek had already healed.
If he had been more curious and attentive, he would have met his most important person at the earliest possible time.
But it was a missed chance that both will never be aware of.