One night passed, the sun slowly climbed.
Estina had been standing outside the Warden’s Office for a long time.
“Boss, should we knock on the door?”
“What do you know?” Estina scolded in a low voice.
“Lord Lafeier worked too hard last night. Today he should rest well.”
“Then what are you doing here? Slacking off too?”
Smack!
Estina chopped the guard with her hand knife.
“Spouting nonsense like that! I’m here worried some scoundrel might lay a hand on Lord Lafeier. It’s not like I don’t want to do my duty!”
“Guh! Slacking off is slacking off. Why hit me?”
…
Just as the two were chatting and slacking off with laughter, the door to the Warden’s Office suddenly opened.
Lafeier hadn’t gone to the staff dormitory. Instead, he had made do with the chair in the Warden’s Office for the night.
When he woke up, his whole body ached.
He couldn’t help missing the big bed in the Duke’s mansion.
But no sooner had he woken up than he heard noise outside the door.
He opened the door to find two goofballs lingering at the entrance, cosplaying as Qin Qiong!
“Eep!”
“Good, good morning, sir!”
Estina stood at attention.
“Good morning, Chief Guard Estina. Slacking off isn’t a good habit.”
“Yes, sir!”
The two immediately turned and headed for the stairwell.
“Wait,” Lafeier said softly.
“How is Chief Guard Sophia?”
“Sir,” Estina turned and bowed.
“According to Doctor Sean’s diagnosis, Chief Guard Sophia is out of danger. She just needs a couple of days of rest to fully recover.”
“And Rena? Found her yet?”
Lafeier recalled that red-haired little girl. Though he already had a guess in his heart, he still needed to see her body before making a judgment—he couldn’t jump to conclusions without finding her.
Hearing this, Estina averted her head and said with some difficulty, “For now… no leads yet.”
Lafeier nodded.
“I see. Go about your business.”
Last night, Lafeier had ordered the guards on night duty to search for traces of Rena.
She wasn’t in her room, wasn’t in the office, and hadn’t even shown up after such a big incident. This made the guards all suspect that the person who quietly opened the cell door was Rena, and that she had now fled out of guilt.
After all, only the chief guard had the keys, and Rena was already on the list of suspects.
“Protesting too much, huh?”
Lafeier sneered.
“That trick might work on others, but with me, you’ve miscalculated.”
“But for now, let you rest a little.”
Lafeier had more important things to do: receive the five master craftsmen.
The train traveled through the narrow valley floor. Wheels rolled, kicking up clouds of dust. A whistle echoed across the endless wilderness outside the canyon.
Starting from the Imperial Capital, passing through the Hailinfar Grand Canyon, then crossing the desolate wasteland in the middle, beside the largest freshwater lake in the northern empire—the Great Inner Lake—stood the lake city of Angres.
Tulip Prison sat on the transitional zone between the wasteland and the grasslands. Nearby, at one corner of the Great Inner Lake, stood a lonely little town called Starlight Bay.
Legend said that a meteor fell from the sky, smashing a huge hole into what was then the Great Inner Lake. Meltwater from the eastern snow mountains flowed into the hole, and over 5,000 years ago, the Great Inner Lake was formed. That’s how Starlight Bay got its name.
The people on the Starlight Bay train platform were almost all from the Imperial Capital.
Among them, six stood out particularly.
Five middle-aged men in uniform attire, their arm muscles bigger than their heads, all wearing brownish-yellow coarse cotton shirts, hair only one or two centimeters long, and beards trimmed meticulously and precisely.
“They look like convicts on labor. Let’s hurry and get away before they bother us.”
“Yeah, they don’t look like good people.”
…
The five men paid no attention to the townspeople’s discrimination. They knew their responsibility and mission very well.
But there was one person they couldn’t help paying attention to.
No, they shouldn’t have been paying attention. Why…
The sixth “conspicuous” person right in front of them was a young girl.
A black-and-white maid outfit, a long skirt trailing to her ankles, long black hair falling over her shoulders, carrying a red suitcase in her hand.
Anyone who passed by couldn’t help stopping for two seconds at her appearance—even women.
“Big brother, no, why am I…”
“We came to help our master build his great enterprise, yet we’re bowing here! This isn’t right!”
“The system didn’t write it this way! We’re supposed to be emotionless tools! How can this be!?”
The leading man frowned.
“You guys, calm down.”
“All the pretty girls are already reserved by the boss. You guys? Go wash up and go to bed.”
“Nooo!!!”
…
By noon, two carriages slowly came to a stop in front of the platform.
Lafeier had put in a lot of sincerity to pick them up this time.
He specially rented two carriages so that these five craftsmen could travel comfortably.
Coming from the 21st century, he understood the importance of craftsmen better than anyone.
Since he had no one under his command that he could dispatch at will, Lafeier had to come to Starlight Bay in person.
‘Once I win over Tina, I’ll have someone to do things for me.’
Thinking of this, Lafeier let out a long sigh.
Then he looked toward the platform. The five men were especially eye-catching.
[Individual Name: Shugu]
[Position: None]
[Loyalty: 80 (Loyal and Devoted)]
The leading man was named Shugu. If not for the status window, with the five standing together Lafeier probably wouldn’t have been able to tell who was who.
He got off the carriage.
The five craftsmen recognized Lafeier too and raised their hands, waving.
“Lord Lafeier!”
Lafeier waved back.
“La…feier?”
At the other end of the platform, the maid girl’s ears perked up, and a look of joy immediately spread across her face.
“What a coincidence! This is fate!”
The girl’s petite body burst out with an astonishing volume, the sound almost shattering the eardrums of passersby.
In the distance, Lafeier also heard someone calling his name, and he vaguely felt it sounded familiar.
‘Hmm… who is it?’
But seeing Shugu and the others walking toward him, he shook his head.
‘Forget it. It can’t be Lilya, can it?’
“Young master, were you calling for me?”
“Huh?”
Lafeier looked behind him. The familiar black-haired, straight-haired maid made his vision go dark for a moment.
“Lily…a! How did you get here!”
“Hehe,” Lilya gently lifted her skirt and gave a slight bow.
“Young master, I am your personal attendant. How could you leave without a word to me?”
“Uh… this is…”
Lilya. According to the original game line, she was supposed to be an NPC who survived the fall of the Imperial Capital and gave clues to the player, with no connection to the original owner of this body.
But ever since Lafeier chose to play the part of a fool, to ensure that this idiot young master wouldn’t get himself killed, the Duke had to select one person from among the half-blood warriors to serve as his guard.
That guard was the Lilya who now called herself a maid.
A half-breed of human and orc, but her bloodline seemed too diluted—Lafeier still hadn’t discovered her traits.
So much so that even the Duke himself often forgot that Lilya was a half-breed.
In fact, no one in the Duke’s household except Lafeier and the Duke knew the girl’s true identity.
“Young master, you’re not getting on~”
The maid blinked her eyes. Her azure pupils sparkled “bling~bling~” in the sunlight. The sweet scent emanating from her threw the passing crowd into confusion.