Chapter 6: A Troubled Mind

  The clouds at the horizon were set ablaze by the descending sun, and on this spring evening, a magnificently decorated carriage slowly made its way along a certain road in the southern province of Kotte in the empire. This exquisite four-wheeled carriage was crafted from the finest materials. The somber yet noble black body of the carriage, as well as the intricate carvings and gilded patterns on the carriage, all served to proclaim the lofty status of its owner.

  Especially the crest of that family on the car!

  A garland of willow leaves surrounds the blades of two crossed long swords, with a crown on the hilt, enveloped in raging flames...

  Such a crest, if in the eyes of a nobleman who has enough knowledge of heraldry, will see how extraordinary it is! Among all the families in the entire empire, there are not many who can engrave two crossed long swords on their crest! These two long swords represent that at least one imperial marshal-level figure has emerged in the family's history. And the crown above is a symbol of the family's blood relationship with the royal family!

  In front of and behind the carriage, there were ten guards wearing light armor on horseback, with long swords hanging from their belts. The armor was polished to a shine and the weapons gleamed, but what didn't match this impressive appearance was that these knights all looked dejected and dispirited.

  Ma De sat beside the coachman, his mouth idly chewing on a blade of grass, gazing up at the sky before letting out a deep sigh. He turned around and bent down to knock on the carriage window: "Young Master Du Wei, shouldn't we find a place to rest? The sky is getting dark."

  In the carriage, Du Wei, who had been interrupted, raised his head and opened the window to take a look at the sunset on the horizon: "Alright."

  Made immediately responded, at this time, a horse galloped from the front and soon arrived in front of the carriage. A lightly armored family guard knight was slightly out of breath and said loudly: "Master, there is a small town ahead, it seems that this is our only choice for rest tonight."

  Ma De, who used to be a horseman, still couldn't get used to being called "Master", but this honest man nodded his head and took off his hat in front of the young knight on horseback: "The master has spoken, let's rest ahead today."

  Looking at this young knight's face full of loyalty and determination, Madane sighed inwardly: "Simple-minded young people."

  This time, accompanying Master Duwei back to the old house of the Luolin family, there were only these twenty family guard knights.

  As the second-in-command of the Imperial Military, Count Raymond's eldest son, on this trip back to his hometown, he only brought twenty guards and a "steward" plus a coachman.

  Such an entourage is also too shabby.

  In the imperial capital, those aristocratic families would even bring a batch of servants and guards on a picnic outing in the suburbs.

  As for the twenty family guardian knights, they were also "carefully selected".

  Everyone knows that this Du Weishao has completely fallen out of favor with his family. The future of the family is on his younger brother's shoulders. Although it was not explicitly stated, everyone understands that this Du Weishao has been stripped of his "family heir" status.

  Without a doubt, following such a master who was sent back to his hometown to watch over the family business, the future is very bleak. Everyone has a utilitarian heart, everyone hopes to stay in the prosperous capital, and no one would be willing to follow a useless master back to a poor and remote place to spend their life in obscurity.

  Especially those knights. Who wouldn't want to stay in the imperial capital, stay by the earl's side, and maybe one day get the earl's favor with their martial skills and rise to prominence! So when it was arranged for them to accompany Young Master Duwei back to his hometown, everyone avoided this task as much as possible. Not a single knight would be willing to waste their youth accompanying a useless master back home to watch over farmers' days.

  As a result, the twenty knights who were finally selected were undoubtedly a bunch of unlucky ones. They were either inferior in martial arts and not worthy of reuse, or they were solitary and unpopular among their peers, or they were young and ignorant, simple-minded and easily deceived.

  Looking at the young knight who had returned from exploring the road ahead, Madeleine had already made a judgment about this young man in her heart: he was probably one of those young and inexperienced guys with a simple mind. He still hadn't realized that people like them were being sent out on an assignment.

  After Da Di came out, everyone's enthusiasm was no longer high, and the only one who still maintained a calm and composed demeanor was Mr. Du Wei.

  Although he was being sent away, no one had ever heard this young master complain even a single sentence. Every day, he would only sit in the carriage with books brought from home, rarely speaking, and his attitude towards people was also gentle.

  He cleared his mind of distractions and shouted loudly, indicating for everyone to speed up. This former groom, now steward, was still in a good state of mind. At least he was good at comforting himself: whatever happened, whether it was being sent away or not, he had been just a small groom after all. Being able to have today's status was already thanks to the young master's blessing! Although he was only a "steward" who had been sent away, at least his monthly salary had increased by several gold coins, which was a fact!

  Madam Manager's face beamed with a smile as she patted the bulging purse in her bosom.

  "Hmm, I've heard that the province of Cort is located in the southern part of the empire. The girls from the south have delicate skin and slender figures. Who knows, maybe even Old Ma De can find a wife here."

  Jumu Town is the only town within a hundred miles, and in this town with hundreds of households, there is only one small tavern, also with a simple name: Jumu Tavern.

  As it's the only pub, business won't be too bad. Cheap liquor, cheap barbecue, cheap hostesses... even people living at the bottom of society need some joy in life, don't they?

  When Du Wei's carriage arrived in front of the tavern, Du Wei raised his head and closed the book in his hand. Then he extinguished the horse lamp in the carriage.

  As Du Wei stepped out of the carriage, he looked up at the rusty iron sign hanging above the tavern, swaying back and forth in the wind. The entrance was filled with the sound of noise coming from inside, and the windows were lit up with lively lights.

  Du Wei and his entourage walked into the tavern, immediately drawing attention from the people inside. After all, a group of knights in light armor suddenly pouring into this small tavern was quite eye-catching.

  Duvie was the last to come in, and by the time he did, the knights had already done a good job: they cleared out a space, set up a clean table, and then surrounded Duvie with a safe circle.

  Everyone in the tavern was sizing up Du Wei, sizing up this half-grown child who looked very young.

  Du Wei's figure was quite tall and slender, after all, he came from the martial arts family of Luo Lin, only his body was slightly thinner, the beautiful suit on him, even the collar and cuffs were adorned with lace, showing off his noble identity, except for that typical Luo Lin family bloodline red hair being a bit too eye-catching, he looked more like a weak scholar.

  Pale face, slender figure, white and quiet, still holding a book in hand.

  The other guard knights had already begun to move their luggage, and Madel threw out a few gold coins. The tavern owner immediately cleaned up several clean rooms and arranged for people to feed the horses, etc.

  At this moment, Du Wei was enduring various strange gazes shooting from around him.

  "Oh! Look! It's a noble old gentleman."

  "Ah, what is a noble gentleman doing in a place like this?"

  "Boss, I think you should put away the chair this guy sat on, it might be worth a good price!"

  After a brief silence, the tavern erupted into noise once again, with everyone discussing Duwei. It was clear that in such a small place, and especially in such a cheap tavern, the sudden appearance of a noble gentleman dressed in fine clothes was a very unusual occurrence.

  There were still a few heavily made-up and scantily clad women who tried to squeeze over and flirt with Du Wei, but Old Ma successfully completed her professional duties and chased all these prostitutes away.

  In the midst of the crowd, two prostitutes were pushed aside and couldn't help but point at Made and scold her for a few sentences. Those rural slang words didn't faze Old Made, but instead, a drunkard immediately ran over and hugged one of the prostitutes: "Ahah, my little treasure, what's so good about that little brat? Let me take care of you." After saying that, he pinched the prostitute's buttocks hard. The prostitute smiled with her eyes wide open and immediately sat into the drunkard's arms.

  Du Wei's face remained calm as he quietly drank a cup of wine, even when the people around him pointed and whispered to each other, he only slightly furrowed his brow.

  The knights beside him also looked somewhat dispirited, and in this place filled with the smell of cheap liquor and cosmetics, they couldn't help but start lamenting their own future prospects.

  Alas, if I could stay in the imperial capital's world of flowers and pleasure!

  Just then, the door of the tavern was pushed open with a bang, and a group of people walked in from outside. The newcomers were three men and one woman, and judging by their dusty faces and their obviously expensive attire, they were clearly not locals either, but outsiders like Du Wei and his companions.

  The sudden silence in the tavern was due to all the men's eyes being almost instantly fixed on the girl among the people who had just walked in.

  This is a girl of about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a head of brown long hair and a beautiful face. Such a face obviously has an aggressive charm to the opposite sex! And she wore a tight-fitting leather armor, which was clearly high-end goods, but it's unknown what kind of magical beast skin it was made of, emitting a dark blue color, with some strange flower patterns engraved on it. Her lower body was even more provocative, wearing shorts and exposing her snow-white plump thighs! A leather belt was tied around her thigh, with a dagger inserted into it! A curved knife hung from her waist, and behind her back, she carried an exquisite small bow, with a row of silver arrows inserted in the quiver.

  Judging from the bright silver color of that arrow, Du Wei immediately recognized that it was made of pure silver! Using this kind of pure silver to forge a bow and arrow is indeed a luxurious act!

  The beautiful girl's plump thighs immediately became the focus of many men in the tavern! And her seemingly unintentional bow, the snow-white and tender **breasts** popped out from the neckline of the stylish leather armor chest, making the two drunkards sitting nearby stare with their eyes wide open, dropping the wine cups in their hands to the ground.

  The girl was accompanied by several male companions, one of whom was a sturdy man with the physique of a wild bull, wearing heavy armor and carrying a thick shield on his back. From the fierce aura on his face, as well as the impressive muscles and scars on his arms, it could be seen that he was a warrior of great strength. Another thin and tall guy looked very agile, with a longbow slung over his shoulder, and from the black bowstring, his slender yet powerful fingers, as well as the black iron rings on his fingers, it seemed that this person should be an archer.

  And the last guy is the one Du Wei cares about most!

  He was a man draped in a gray long gown, with an ordinary appearance, but his eyes always shone with a cold and stern light. His attire was extremely simple, so simple that the people around him seemed to have ignored him.

  However, Du Wei was most concerned about this guy! Because he was shrouded in a cloak all over his body, and the silver leaf-shaped emblem on his chest!

  The people of this small place don't recognize the emblem, but Du Wei does! Moreover, some of the experienced and knowledgeable Roland family's guard knights around him also recognize it.

  This last guy in gray robes turned out to be a magician! Although he was only a first-class magician with a silver leaf emblem, the lowest level...

  But that silver leaf emblem on his chest was undoubtedly a genuine magician certified by the Magical Academy!

  After staring at the badge for a while, Du Wei suddenly had an idea in his mind...