Angora's silence had the old man mistakenly believing that he understood how barren this place was, and so did not bother him.
Seeing that Angora was not that old, he said kindly, "It's getting late. If you don't mind, stay at my house for the night. You should leave early tomorrow morning."
Angora, who had been stiffening his neck and trying to summon the game interface did a double take. "Where's the former liege's residence?"
"The former liege came here and took a look at the town before quickly returning to his hometown with his people, not leaving anything like a residence behind." The old man replied.
"Alright." Angora never imagined that his predecessor would be such an irresponsible person, and sighed. "Then I'll have to trouble you."
It was only on the way that Angora learned that the old man was the mayor of the unnamed town. Years of undead invasions and war had reduced the town that could barely be considered prosperous to its current state.
There were many houses in the town, but most of them were unmaintained and uninhabited haunted houses. Occasionally, bricks would fall from the roofs, while foxes and rats would be startled out of the houses overgrown with weeds.
It was good enough that one out of every three houses was occupied.
In fact, there were only twenty-nine citizens left in the town, including the old man who already had one foot in the grave, with most of them being the elderly, women, and children.
The younger ones had either fled into the Empire's borders while they still had the strength to do so, or were taken away by the imperial army. Either way, there was almost no chance of them returning.
Although the old man was the mayor, his house was no different from the haunted houses of the other townsfolk. The only difference was that the roof was still intact, so there was no need to bathe in starlight while sleeping.
"Grandpa, you're back!" A girl who looked slightly older than Angora ran out of the house, and her gaze fell upon Angora who was following behind the old man. "Who is he?"
"Vela, this is the new liege of the town. Don't be rude," the old man said seriously.
Just as the girl was studying Angora, Angora was studying her as well.
From what he could see, if his sister's appearance was an eight, then this girl named Vela would only be around five or six.
Although there were many knight novels with characters such as' incomparably beautiful commoner girls', it was unlikely in reality. After all, commoners in this era, be it male or female, had to work hard. Under the ravages of wind and sun and excessive labor, even the most beautiful girl would become crude and vulgar.
Incidentally, many places in the Empire still retained the authority of nobles like the right of first night, but almost no nobles would really exercise this right just to sleep with a few dirty and ugly commoner girls.
On the other hand, apart from a few freaks born from incestuous marriages, every generation of nobles would marry beautiful women to improve their bloodlines. Therefore, most of the nobles' appearance could not be said to be outstanding, but at least they were very decent.
That was why even though she wasn't Angora's cup of tea, she was at least 5 or 6 out of 10 in terms of looks, which was already quite good among the civilian girls.
"My name is Angora Faust. You can call me Lord Angora," Angora introduced himself. Having grown up in a noble family, he did not feel that there was anything wrong with a commoner addressing him as Lord.
"For dinner, I have some black bread here … Vela, go get it."
The old man told the girl as they entered the house.
"But Grandpa, we don't have much food left …" The girl appeared hesitant.
"It's fine. Lord Angora is our liege. We have to show our respect and goodwill." The old man said firmly.
Vela knew that she could not change her grandfather's mind, and could only lower her head as she reluctantly took out a wooden bowl from the cupboard.
Inside the wooden bowl, there were three fist-sized balls of black dough with rough and bumpy surfaces.
"Thank you for your kindness, but I've brought some food for myself."
Glancing at the black bread that tasted sour and had grains mixed in it, Angora politely refused.
Then, led by the delighted girl, Angora arrived at the guest room he was temporarily staying in.
"This room isn't even as big as my toilet."
After the girl left the guest room, Angora put his luggage by the wall and looked around the shabby room before grumbling softly.
Then, his eyes reddened. His brother would soon inherit his father's title, and when that happens, the ducal mansion would no longer be his home, and he would never be able to return.
It was fortunate that Angora was the youngest and had been bullied many times since he was young. His mental fortitude was strong, and he quickly calmed his emotions and tried to summon the Overlord Game System.
"I activated the System when I was ambushed by bandits last time. I don't have anywhere to find bandits right now …" Angora scratched his head. "But if I'm not wrong, there should be a way to open that thing under normal circumstances."
That being said, Angora was still clueless about how to bring up the System Panel.
"Hu Ma Open! Hey, come out! Alajo Cave Open! "
He tried all the commands he could think of in the story, as well as the spells he remembered when he was learning magic (though he did not learn it), but nothing happened.
If not for the Debt Collector Beats service that came with the System Panel that saved him from the danger of being killed by bandits, Angora would have thought that the Overlord Game System was just a figment of his imagination.
"There must be something I've overlooked … What could it be …"
He rubbed his chin subconsciously, trying to think.
That was when a white ball of light suddenly appeared behind him from an angle he could not see. The ball reached out a tentacle and poked the back of Angora's head, before disappearing with a whoosh.
Angora did not seem to notice that, but his eyes suddenly lit up as if he had received a revelation from the gods. The words before the system page appeared flashed across his mind.
"Game, grant us new life …" He mumbled the words subconsciously.
Then, the cool game panel appeared before him again!
"I did it! So that's the password! "
Angora leapt onto the bed excitedly, wanting to jump up and down as if he was in his own house to express his excitement. However, the old mayor's slightly rotten wooden bed could not withstand the impact at all and collapsed with a crack. Angora fell heavily onto the ground with it, rolling on the ground while clutching the back of his head in pain.
"My liege, did something happen?" Vela, who had not gone to bed yet, immediately asked in concern when she heard the commotion.
While he looked a little pitiful, Angora's pride as a noble prevented him from letting his subjects see him in such a pathetic state.