Before he heads out, Cain passed by Sebas’s office to borrow something that would help him immensely. “Sebas, didn’t you have a cane, can I borrow it for today?”
Sebas stood from his chair and bowed slightly, “Of course, I do have a collection if you want to choose from it.” Sebas pointed at a drawer that was behind the door, inside it, there were about 10 different canes of all shapes and sizes.
“They belonged to my father and grandfather, please pick one that is comfortable for you to wield.” Sebas held one of the canes in his hand with pride, which once belonged to his grandfather.
“I recommend this one as it belonged to my grandfather, it should be quite effective against Lord William!” He swung across the air as if it was a baseball bat.
Cain laughed, “I’m not going to beat him, and why it would be effective against him?” Cain asked thinking that Sebas was joking.
“My grandfather worked for William’s father and he was given full freedom of ‘teaching William’ He should remember how painful this cane is!” Sebas handed it to Cain who was forcing a smile to look normal.
The cane didn’t have that unique a look, it was a plain wooden stick with a bent top. “I bet I will look like an old man walking with this.” Cain leaned on the cane supporting his full weight.
Sebas just smiled at him, with his white hair he could be mistaken for an old man from afar.
Before Cain could leave he met Alice, she seems to have just woken up as her hair was messy and she walked half asleep.
“Ah, Cain where are you going?” She asked approaching him slowly.
Cain didn’t want to bring her or the girls with him to the meeting, he wanted to have a quiet talk with William. If they have gotten the same information as he did then they are most likely to be more open to believing his claims about the catastrophe. Stopping it before it even happens could be a possibility.
“Not used to staying still for this long. I’m going on a walk to keep my blood moving.” Cain said as he leaned on the cane.
Alice took it at face value and smiled back, “Don’t go too far and return as soon as you feel tired.” She said as she turned and headed toward the bath.
As to not get interrupted again he left immediately.
Cain’s body was hurting like hell so he had no way of walking to the lord’s mansion. He instead took a carriage there.
Getting out as soon as they reached the lord’s mansion gate, Cain looked at the bright blue sky as the chilling breeze tingled his nose. Winter is close, a war with the lord of Ourals would be disastrous.
As he enthusiastically walked on the garden path leading to the door he was cut short by a squire. “You stop there, who allowed you inside!” The quire yelled as Cain wasn’t accompanied by anyone.
“Are you new here, brat? I’m in a bad mode so move out of my way.” Cain walked around the squire without much care.
Being infuriated, the squire pulled his sword and pointed it at Cain’s neck. “I told you to stop.”
As Cain glared back at the squire, he wasn’t even an official knight yet he is here stopping people. Where are the rest of the guards?
“Back down, he isn’t someone you can handle.” A familiar voice called, with his flashy red hair and a lean build. Leon rushed to stop the squire from wasting his life.
“Master Leon, is it really alright to leave this man inside?” The squire asked with a worried face.
“It’s alright, he is a part of the family. This Cain Lisworth’s, my brother-in-law.” The squire’s eyes widened as he heard Leon’s words. He did know that Alice had gone with a strong man but Cain’s weak look now made it impossible to believe it.
“Sorry for my earlier rudeness.” The squire quickly bowed, as Leon had cleared the misunderstanding before it could turn into a problem. Cain and Leon quickly went inside to meet Lord William.
“You look awful, has Alice not been feeding you well?” Leon smirked as he scanned Cain’s shriveled.
“You can say she fed me something bad, I’m still capable of blasting this whole mansion though,” Cain said as if he was joking but it was a fact. At any moment he could Call Sylph and she will erase the whole city in the blink of an eye.
“On a more serious note, how are you two doing? We came to visit you but you had already left for a mission.”
“You came? Sebas didn’t tell me about that.” Cain turned toward Leon in surprise, you think that the city lord visiting his house is a matter that will be reported as a top priority!
“I’ve been told you’re quite sick, from your look it seems true. I bet Sebas just didn’t to trouble you with matters that have passed.”
With this, they reached Lord William’s office, Leon opened the door without even knocking. “Father, I have brought him!” Leon said with a strong voice as he looked directly at his father who was sitting at his desk with Lisa standing at his side.
“Leon, mind your manners!” Lisa called him out on the spot, “It doesn’t matter, and we have more important things to talk about!” William said as he stood up and walked toward the black couch that was in the middle of the room. He didn’t like to talk to them while sitting far away. To him, it was more comfortable if they all sat around the same table drinking some tea as they talked.
“Let’s start as I prefer to get back before noon if possible,” Cain said as he took a sip from the tea that Lisa just poured for him.
“You’re right,” William took a big sip, almost half of his cup, and said, “When is my grandson coming?” Cain almost spat his drink as he choked for a moment.
“Not soon, we have a war at our hand. Don’t tell me you don’t know?” Cain replied as he tried to push the conversation back to its track.
“Precisely, it will be a problem if you died there without leaving an heir!” Lisa pulled William’s ear, almost making him drop his drink. “How many times did I tell you that your jokes are bad? Do you want your grandson to be an orphan?”
Watching them fight like that made Cain smile as he decided to speak with Leon instead, he seemed to be more professional than his father.
“Those Idiots spoke very easily as if they had no will!” Leon complained as the interrogation went smoothly on their side as well. After confirming it with Cain, they seem to have gotten the same pieces of information.
“I don’t support the idea of going to war, winter is coming and our troops will suffer greatly!” Leon said with a sad smile, “Sadly my father seems to want it!”
“I bet you can believe what I said before now, Ourals lord is the one who is going to unleash the S-rank dungeon on us. I would prefer you focus on strengthening the city defenses instead of wasting resources on a stupid war.” Cain said his part, “There isn’t a real reason to wage war directly.”
“No way kid. My daughter was attacked in her house. I won’t rest until I drag that bastard face on the main road!” William slammed his cup down, “They have started this, and they should pay with blood.”
“How about you let me handle this? I could bring him alive to you.” Cain suggested. He didn’t have a plan yet but it shouldn’t be impossible.
“Even if we can’t get it done, what could you do?” Lisa said, “I don’t want to hear that from someone who arrived late and had to take prisoners he didn’t work to catch. You have experience but you lack the skill to get the job done!” Cain’s word burned directly at her heart. He wasn’t joking as she wasn’t able to tell his bluff yesterday, a testament to her lack of skill albeit having years of experience.
“Come on, don’t say that about mom. It was possible to react quickly enough!” Leon punched Cain’s shoulder, he didn’t seem to disagree with what he said but instead found a valid excuse for her.
Cain smiled as he looked at the furious William, “See, and while you were busy getting angry your son here found a rational solution and settled the problem. This is what I call skill, it would be better to leave the matters to him.” Cain’s words quickly hit William like a truck. Cain was right.
William thought about how he taught Leon everything he knows and how much he complained about him being too calm (When it didn’t involve Alice).
“Honey, he is right. Let’s leave this matter in Leon’s hand and see how he will handle it.” Lisa was the one to understand where Cain was coming from.
“Humph,” William snorted, “Fine, just report every move to me. It might serve as a good learning opportunity for you!” He looked at Leon with judging eyes.
Leon’s eyes blinked rapidly as he just realized what was dumped on him, dealing with a conflict between lords was no easy matter.
“Are you serious?”