—–
We found ourselves in front of a large house, completely different-looking than the commoner houses. It was also quite away from the center of the town and more to the southwest, surrounded by calmer streets which also had similar-looking houses, but way smaller. There was also a big influx of merchants and the Adventurer Guild was right at the other corner of the streets, making this area of the town quite safe as well. I couldn’t expect more of the house of the “elite” which are the nobles, families that are given the title of nobles by the Kingdom, for either having done something that helped the Kingdom as a reward, or perhaps because they bought the title using money, such as most of how the merchants did it.
Seth is a noble from a family of knights, apparently, although I have no idea how they got their noble title it is probably related to that as they are knights that protect the Kingdom and everything else. He has close ties with other noble families that his knight family protects, and there are many other knight families amidst everything as well.
The house in front of us could be considered more like a manor. It was quite good-looking, and something I wished we could have to live more comfortably with my family. Although I wouldn’t really want to live in this town, these nobles are more like the backwater ones. The poorest ones that own most of these lands and decided to move here because rentability is cheaper, and they get to boss around everybody instead of the capital where greater elites are, and they have to lower their heads instead.
Of course, within the King and the Duke’s mind, these backwater nobles are of no importance and they wouldn’t even care if they were eaten by demons. But I suppose the Duke of our Duchy is not an idiot and responded quite quickly to the demons, so his knights might be on their way here, to hopefully resolve the problem with competent strength and magic power.
“This house is the noble house of the Copperhand Family. They’re a family of merchants that make money off a small company that sells all sorts of products to other nobles that can afford them, they make skin care products, hygiene products, and more. People in here cannot really afford them but the citizens in the capital got way better pay and can afford such things…” Said Ellergest. “The family is divided in three houses, this is the house where the family of the cousin of the head lives with his children, wife, and two concubines.”
Ellergest explained to me and Elisabeth what this place was. The girl with fluffy golden hair seemed to glance at the large house with a wondrous expression on her face, as if she was living a fairy tale. Perhaps our minds were aligned at this moment, as we both thought about how nice it would be to have such a big house.
“I wonder if in the future we could have a house like that, Lord Ellergest…” She said,
“Hm, well, we priests live in the church quarters. We usually don’t have our own properties, we discard most of these riches to the church as well… But it is not as if there is something stopping you from doing so. If you work hard and save money, it should be possible, Elisabeth.” Said Ellergest, petting the girl’s head.
“I really dislike this girl.”
I suddenly heard the voice of Eleanora whispering to my mind, she often doesn’t like any sort of girl I encounter so that’s not rare, but for once I couldn’t help but agree with her. It is not as if I hate her or something, nor I have any resentment against her, and I believe she’s just a genuinely happy girl, but her aura creates an aversion to me and Eleanora that no other holy light user around us can create. I have begun to wonder if she possesses Heaven Element, the element only Angels can wield, which always created this uneasiness within myself and that of my allies… Although certainly, it might not be as strong as the one wielded by them.
“Well, let’s go in, we cannot wait for the second concubine of Lord Markus any longer.” Said Seth, he seemed rather worried compared to the rest of us, perhaps he feels some sort of kinship with other nobles, even though there is no such thing as kinship between nobles, and families are either allies or rivals.
“Ahh… I-Is it okay to enter this place? It looks way too fancy.” Sighed Jack.
“Stop overthinking things and get in.” Said Seth.
The guards of the house greeted us. The entire property was surrounded by walls, the entrance was the only area where you could sneak a sight of the interior, which had the house surrounded by a garden of flowers.
“Oh! Those must be the people from the church, is that the Head Priest Ellergest?” Asked one of the guards.
“Precisely, the very same. I have come with two of my apprentices for today, as they seem to be quite talented.” Said Ellergest. The two guards looked down at us, they gave a brief look at my clothes and began to judge me immediately. They quickly realized I was a serf. However, Elisabeth was way better dressed, and also quite pretty, so the two guards ended with their eyes locked into the young girl.
“Nice to meet you! My name is Elisabeth and I am an Apprentice Priestess… I am still an apprentice, but I will do my best!” She said, The guards immediately felt moved by her “cuteness” and her aura of holiness to the point they blushed.
“And my name is Blank.” I said. “I can heal.”
“Elisabeth, such a pretty girl!”
“If you ever grow up without getting married, would you think about marrying my son?”
“E-Ehh?” Elisabeth looked at the two guards as they praised her beauty and asked weird things from her.
—–