Chapter 20: Chapter 20
"Good Morning! Young Lord!!"
The guard captain's cheerful voice greeted me as I reached the stable.
Well, it's only a stable in the name. In reality, it's just an old shed with four skinny horses.
I wore a leather jacket to protect myself from the cold. Though the cold doesn't affect me, I still wore the jacket. Because it would be too much of a hassle to explain it to them.
In front of me were Joseph and the guard captain, standing side by side. And at a distance, another person can be seen standing beside the horses. It was Cloud.
Initially, Joseph wished to send a team of guards along with me to Derek. But afterward, we found out that only two people in the entire mansion can ride a horse. And they were the guard captain and cloud.
Joseph proposed that I ride one of the horses along with the guard captain. Cloud and another guard will be following us on another one.
But I have to bring that' person back with us. So, I rejected that proposal. Instead, I insisted for Cloud to follow us alone. Although, Joseph was reluctant at first, he eventually agreed.
Greeting Joseph and the guard captain, I walked towards Cloud.
Seeing me nearing him, Cloud bowed and greeted me awkwardly.
"G-good m-morning! Young Lord!"
His demeanour was that of a guilty person. I guess he is still worried about what he did the other day.
"Good morning Cloud. Are you ready to accompany me today?" I asked, after greeting him.
"Y-yes! My lord! I am fully ready!" Cloud answered.
I nodded, "Good. Let's do our best." Saying so I looked towards.
Truly, they are too skinny. Well, there is nothing to feed them in these barren lands, and the economy of the territory is in plummet.
I turned towards the guard captain, "I guess we should get going."
He nodded. "Yes, Young lord. I will get the horses."
He and Cloud brought two of the horses. The guard captain climbed one of them. I jumped behind him on the same horse, as Joseph and Cloud watched us.
Following us, Cloud also rode his horse. Seeing we are ready I said to Joseph.
"Joseph, We will be back in two or three days. Please take care of the mansion and the territory."
Joseph nodded. "Yes, Young Lord. Leave it to me."
Saying farewell to Joseph we galloped away from the mansion.
*General Pov*
In the landscape covered with snow, two galloping horse figures could be seen.
Riding one of the horses were two men wearing leather jackets. The man reigning the horse was middle-aged, with a stoic, rugged face. Behind him was sitting another strikingly handsome young man with clear features.
The horse following them had a younger man riding it. He had an average appearance, not something people would remember after taking a single glance.
They were Aldrich, Cloud, and the guard captain, making their way towards their final destination, Derek.
"Guard captain, how much time will it take for us to reach Derek? We are out for almost a day." Aldrich questioned the guard's captain. A sense of boredom could be felt from his voice.
The guard captain replied, "Young Lord, we are already out of the Sparta territory. It will take at most half an hour to reach there at our speed."
Aldrich nodded after hearing the answer, not that the guard captain could see him nod.
It's been almost a day since they started the trip. On the way, they stopped and rested sometimes. The guard captain insisted on waiting for a much longer time, but Aldrich denied it.
Nearly half an hour later, they reached a check post with some soldiers guarding it. There was no snow in this area, but the weather was still very cold.
Aldrich and company approached the post and paid the charge to enter the city.
While they are inside the city, they had to get off the horse, as it was the rule to not a horse without a charriot in Derek. Although Aldrich being a noble is exceptional to the rule, he insisted on staying in covers for the time they were in the city.
Derek had a mediaeval setting. It looked nothing like the small town of the Gabril barony. The streets are bursting with people. Though the weather is so cold, people are still doing their daily work. Everything is just so busy, much in contrast to the lonely streets back in the barony.
"Guard captain. Let's book three rooms in a cheap hotel." Aldrich said while they were walking down the streets.
Hearing him, the guard captain became surprised. "But Lord, you are a noble! How can you stay in a cheap inn meant for commoners?"
To which Cloud nodded, indicating his support to the claim.
"Haaa~" Aldrich sighed. "There is no need to spend so much money on staying at rich hotels. We have to conserve as much as we can for the betterment of the barony. Not like we are staying in the city for a long time. I can easily adjust it for the day in a cheap hotel."
Aldrich understands that big hotels in this mediaeval era will be extremely costly and the quality will be nowhere close to what the modern world can offer. So it will be much more efficient to take a cheap hotel instead.
"B-but still-" the guard captain tried to insist but was stopped midway.
"No buts." Aldrich dismissed his unheard claims with a no.
They asked a local shop about a cheap hotel nearby and were shown the way to a very old inn.
The inn was very old, with cracks appearing on the walls. But Aldrich didn't care about that.
They booked three rooms at a cost of six coppers each for a day. Which was pretty reasonable taking the rooms' condition into account. The rooms were small with no beds. There were matrices lying on the ground. The guard captain and Cloud complained that at least Aldrich should stay in a room with a bed, but he denied them.
After keeping their belongings in their respective rooms the guard captain and Cloud arrived at Aldrich's room.
"So, now the reason we came here….." Aldrich paused and looked at the duo. "I want to go to the slums."
""HUHHh!!??""
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