Confused, Noa stared at the Lord in worry, looking back and forth from him and Eisen, still in his demonic form, and before she could say anything, the Lord turned around to look at his Guards. "You will stay here and ensure that they clear everything out. And if you feel like it, get rid of the Demon as well."
He said quite casually, while some more guards came into the room, as they started escorting the workers out. "Wh-What's going on?" Noa asked, starting to utterly freak out at all of this, unsure what she's supposed to do while the guards began escorting the workers out of the building before one of them, who seemed to be in charge here, stood directly in front of Noa.
"You have one week to leave this building. Considering the amount of comfort that the inhabitants of the facilities here have with the Demon, the town-run Orphanage, Hospital, and Shelter will be shut down by order of the lord. The Church itself will continue being run by the Lord but with new Priests hand-chosen by the Lord himself."
The Guard swiftly explained, as the Lord standing behind him quietly chuckled. "If you all like that Demon so much, I would prefer if you go and depend on him now instead of leeching off me and the town."
"B-But Lord, you can't just throw away the-" Noa began to scream before the Lord interrupted her immediately by raising his voice even louder than her. "I can not do what? You have not done anything for this town, now have you? There are other hospitals, shelters, and orphanages here in this town, so why does this one need to exist and take valuable money away from me? I've been looking for a reason to shut this place down anyway, and if I do so because you're consorting with a villainous Demon, even the townspeople that have supported you so far will not complain." The Lord swiftly explained while Eisen was thinking about why he kept encountering such people that seemed from his perspective, to be "pure evil," while still holding positions of power.
"Villainous Demon? That is a bit rude, don't you think, Zaran?" Eisen asked with a smile after quickly reading the Lord's status information with his 'truth-seeing eyes,' noticing something peculiar. Surprised, the Lord Zaran looked back at the Demon in front of him. "Oh? I see that you've heard of me before."
"Likewise. It seems you know that I am the 'Golden-Eyed Demon' as I came to be known in Ornier. I am trying to make up for those actions by helping here, you see. Don't you think it would be better for everyone if you let me do so?" Eisen suggested before the Lord began laughing lowly.
"Sorry, I don't care about what you do here. You could even slaughter every single kid from the orphanage, and I wouldn't care. I'm just using you as an excuse."
Returning the laugh himself, Eisen stepped even closer toward the Lord, being blocked by the Guards on his way, while the old man kept his eyes on Zaran. "That's such a horrible thing to say, Zaran. Well, as expected of someone related to Antonio," Eisen said.
Confused, Zaran now took a step back. "H-How… Do you know that I'm his brother?" The Lord asked before Eisen shook his head.
"I didn't. I could see something interesting in your status. While your name showed as Zaran Grates, it still had 'Hastings' written behind it. You are the one who revealed that you're his brother." Eisen explained, but Zaran glared back at him before asking. "How did you read my status without me noticing? Using appraisal would have caused a reaction."
"It's good that I don't have the Appraisal Skill anymore, then. But-" as Zaran interrupted.
"That doesn't matter. My relations to that man plays no role in any of this. You say it is expected for me to act this way, meaning that you know what my Brother is truly like." Zaran pointed out before Eisen slowly nodded.
"I do, indeed. Your brother betrayed five people that are quite important to this world. From your actions, I can see that you probably would have done the same. If you ask me you're not fit to be the lord of a town like this." Eisen stated quite clearly before Zaran began grinding his teeth.
"Oh? Is that what you think? I'm not sure where you are from, but in this part of the world, such disputes are handled in certain ways usually through a Combat Trial. If you win, you can appoint any Lord you want, or ask anything you wish from me, and if you lose, you and every person currently living here will leave this town. Sounds fair, doesn't it?" Zaran asked before Eisen looked at him with a confused expression.
"You want to deal with something like this through a Duel? You would be willing to give up your position as Lord if you do?" The old man suspiciously asked as Zaran took a step further toward Eisen and leaned in toward his ear, whispering something that confused the old man, before Zaran gave Eisen the chance to deeply look into his eyes and see anything in particular that he wasn't able to initially see in his status.
As if what Zaran just told Eisen never happened, the Elven Lord slowly nodded. "Yes, I would be. If you can beat the one I choose to fight in my stead, that is. You can choose whoever you want to fight for you as well if you're too scared to fight on your own."
Quickly, Eisen then nodded, surprising the four people here that were on his side. "I understand. When should we meet, then? I think we should both get some time to prepare, right? How about the afternoon four days from now?" Eisen suggested, taking the initiative now as Zaran swiftly nodded.
"That is as good a time as ever," Zaran said with a nod, keeping his angry expression up, despite Eisen knowing that it was probably just an act. "Come back here at that time." He exclaimed before turning around and taking his leave.
Confused at what just happened, especially in these last few exchanged sentences, Noa turned toward the Demon. "What were you talking about so nonchalantly? Do you want to fight the Lord? Why would you do that?" She asked before Eisen began to smile softly.
"Don't worry, I won't be fighting, and we will surely win anyway. And Zaran doesn't seem actually to be an enemy." Eisen explained before Kiron spoke up in confusion.
"What do you mean, M'Lord? He is not an enemy, even after all that he said?" He asked, raising his voice as he did, and Eisen slowly nodded.
"Yes, he's not an enemy, I think. But I can't explain the reason behind this while Noa is here, so you will have to trust me, young miss." Eisen said with an apologizing smile before he looked outside and saw that it had gotten a little bit darker already, before continuing. "We have spent a few hours doing this now, so I think it is about time that I return to Koro, Rouge, and Parc as well. After that, we will return to the inn where we have been staying, take care of some other business, and then we will again be back in four days for that fight." Eisen explained, before Noa, the nun slowly sighed, putting her trust into this unique being that has helped out quite a lot so far without demanding anything in return.
Once Eisen and the others' were on their way back to Koro, Rouge, and Parc, Sky turned toward Eisen in confusion. "Erm, could I maybe ask what the hell is going on?" He asked, but Eisen smiled and winked at him, as a signal that he couldn't talk about it right now.
Soon enough, the four of them reached the location where Eisen said for everybody to meet at, where the three young men were already waiting for him. So, to swiftly get a move on and get everything out of the way that needed doing today, and he could explain to everyone what was going on. Eisen promptly asked the boys the question of the hour. "I see you're here already. Good. Now, without further ado, just answer me. Will you become my apprentices?" He asked without beating around the bush, and all three of them took a step forward.
"Yes, Eisen. We will become your apprentices. We do not truly know if you are who you say you are, but you are, without a doubt, a good person and, a great craftsman." Rouge said as he stepped forward, with Parc swiftly nodding and Koro with a complicated expression standing next to them.
"What's wrong, Koro? Do you not want to?" Eisen asked him, before Koro looked at him in surprise, quickly shaking his head.
"It's not that! I do want to become your apprentice; I feel embarrassed about what I did before…" He muttered out quietly before Eisen nodded. "I can understand that, yes. Then from now on, show me that you can take these things seriously, and I will give you a higher-ranking occupation as my apprentice. But for now, Koro, I offer you to become a Craftsman Apprentice. Rouge and Parc, I offer you two to become Magicraftsman Apprentices."
As Eisen said this, the eyes of the three young men focused on something in the middle of the air, as the notifications telling them that they were offered an occupation. In unison, the three quickly accepted their new job, and now something popped up in front of Eisen as well.
[Koro, Rouge, and Parc are now your Apprentices. As their teacher, you are to watch over their status and growth at all times]
With a smile, Eisen waved this notification away and immediately tested this new function. As soon as he did, the status of the three young men popped up in front of him, side by side.
After glancing through them, he managed to confirm a few different things that he figured were the case already. Such as Rouge having the highest mental stats out of the three while Parc had the highest physical stats, and Koro's stats spread relatively evenly.
All three of them were only at level 15, so their stats overall were quite low, but good enough to start with, it even seemed like they received a good bit of experience from the Quest that Eisen gave them before, causing them to be close to leveling up to level 16 already.
"Alright. You three stay here again and spend a few more days with everyone. I will be back in four days, in the afternoon. Until then, you have some free time, but afterward, your training starts." Eisen told them with a smile, and the three boys quickly smiled back at him and made their way back to the orphanage, while the old man chose to get back to the Inn where they were staying to meet back up with the other originals.
He was quite glad that he would be returning to the cave where Bol and Ailren currently were to get Kirisho for the ceremony to break the curse on her amulet since he needed to talk to the Ancient Gold Dragon and ask him a few pressing questions.
At the Inn, he luckily ended up meeting the different groups that had split up for the day, and could quite quickly fill the group in on what was going on.
"Alright everyone, I need to tell you something. First, Brody. I'm guessing you're available four days from now, right?" He asked before the Demon-Orc swiftly nodded.
"Yup, I am. Why're you askin'?" Brody inquired in turn before Eisen quickly explained. "I need you to fight a champion of the lord of the town. Although all of that seems to be just a trick anyway, I'm pretty sure he's going to choose someone that will fight seriously. And I doubt you'd lose to anyone they could throw at you."
"Hmm, sure. I'm interested in seein' what kinda fighters a City of Magic brings forth anyway. But why are ya sayin' it's a trick?" Brody then asked, while the others also quickly listened in to what Eisen's reasoning was, before the old man, who had already deactivated his transformation on the way back from the church, activated his 'Truth-Seeing Eyes' skill, pointing at them with his finger.
"He had the same eyes as mine."