Towels, brooms, mops, and the whole shelf overhead crashed down with Noa in the center of it all. He held himself as small as he could, unmoving━waiting in excruciating moments of silence, She-monstrosity’s breath the predominant sound despite Waroc still banging open doors and rampaging through rooms. The time the door spent open, She-monstrosity’s presence hovering like looming doom, stretched on until she began shoving broomsticks back up into the closet. Her foot even nudged Noa, and he didn’t make a peep, wouldn’t dare too! Instead, he clenched his teeth so tight that his jaw ached.

Blessedly, the door finally closed, leaving Noa in his towel mound. Yet, he still didn’t dare move. Instead, he waited, seconds stretching into minutes, each filled by the sounds of the two monstrosities rampaging through their home. Minutes stretched into hours, even after the sounds settled down. He was not about to tempt Fate until he was certain he was safe. Certainty, however, never came.

Eventually, Noa made the painstaking choice to move, his muscles aching in protest. He slowly dug his way out from under his protective mound, even just barely catching a broom shaft before he knocked it over. Considering the darkness engulfing him, that reflexive move was, in his opinion, not possible, despite the tiny voice in the back of his head telling him that he’d felt it falling when he moved the mound.

Setting the shaft against the corner, Noa reached for the door, and ran his fingertips over it until they caught hold of the doorknob. He twisted it slowly, and pushed it open just a little. Peeking out, he saw nothing in the darkness beyond, not even the slightest light from the window at the end of the hall. There was no sound, save for the softly increasing patter of rain on the roof overhead, and he wasn’t entirely sure when that started.

Noa stepped out into the hall, having to briefly shake a towel off his foot, then closed the closet door. He slowly started down the hall, sliding two hands over the wall as he waited for it to come to a corner. It did after what felt like ten minutes of shuffling along, and he grabbed hold of the railing on the stairs.

After building himself up for a moment, he eased down onto the first step, then the next. Slowly, one by one, he made it to the bottom of the stairs, each step further lessening the fear that emanated within his chest. Making it to the kitchen felt like a godsend, even if the window was closed again. Opening it this time was significantly easier, a flash of white light briefly casting a glow across the uneven pane.

Thunder rolled while Noa stepped out, feeling refreshing droplets of cool water pelt his skin. He turned, closed the window, then ran straight into the orchard. The consideration to return to the servants’ quarters was brief, given that he was sure She-monstrosity and her brutish husband were likely planning to kill him soon. Instead, he went to the next place he knew━a safe place that was always opened.

His clothes were soaked through by the time Noa entered the church, panting and shivering. The door closed behind him with an echo, drawing the attention of the only other person in the room━Blondie the Barbarian.

She looked over her shoulder at him from where she stood in front of the altar, a dark cloak resting over her shoulders. Creasing her brow, she turned all the way around to face him. “Noa, you look miserable,” she said.

Noa nodded, sludging through the room. He held one hand on the waistline of his oversized trousers to keep the weight of the water from dropping them. “I feel miserable,” he said. Once he made it to the second row of pews, he didn’t sit down, he laid across the bench. He hoped Priest Olwen didn’t mind that he was squatting in the church.

Blondie leaned over the front pew, looking down on him. “Why don’t you come use one of my guest rooms for the night?” she offered.

“No offense, Blondie, but I can’t afford it,” Noa waved a hand. The last thing he needed was to be paying her off in servitude as well, even if she’d already proclaimed him betrothed or whatever to one of her sisters.

“I’m not going to make you pay for it, but if you much rather church pews, then...”

Noa sighed and sat up. He looked at her, a frown on his face. He considered taking the offer up, given that he did feel tired, but...

“Is Constable Loic the only police force in this town?” he asked.

“Unfortunately. Sent from the capital. Normally, a constable would pick some sheriffs to help with the job, but Loic is lazy. So is the capital, for that matter. I can’t seem to get a proper court system established here without going through them, and where does that leave us?” Blondie asked.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“With Constable Loic as judge and executioner?” Noa guessed.

Blondie nodded.

“If you own these lands, what power do you have over them?” Noa asked.

“Mostly land taxes or leasing. Some people have bought some parts of the land from me as well, usually farms that don’t want to pay land taxes. I can’t establish a legislation or town council here without further government oversight, but there’s little care for small towns on the edge of the kingdom like this,” Blondie explained. “Unless a bigger force than I steps in, it could be years before anything good actually happens.”

The politics here didn’t make much sense, but Noa was getting the feeling that it was because of some form of governmental micromanaging based on what Blondie said.

Just focus on figuring the farm crap out, Noa told himself, deciding that stepping into politics to solve the policing system wasn’t going to do him much good, particularly with no title. He was a nobody, so he had to do things the way nobodies could, whatever the hell that meant.

“I think I’ll take you up on that room offer,” Noa said.

Blondie smiled, and waved for him to follow. She took him outside, then around the side of the building where a horse was parked under an awning. After she climbed on, she offered him a hand. He took it, but wasn’t convinced she’d be able to━

Oh.

Noa landed on his back on the other side of the horse, air knocked out of him. His back was covered in mud now, the feeling not quite the spa experience he hoped for. He grimaced.

“Oops, sorry,” Blondie said. “I casted [Strengthen] to lift you up. You’re a bit lighter than I was expecting.”

With a groan, Noa got back up to his feet. “What is your class?” he asked. He tentatively took her hand again, but she managed to get him up behind her safely this time.

“I have all three of my base classes, leveling the third one now,” Blondie said. “I’ve picked the path of the grand class [Champion].”

“Sounds... intimidating,” Noa said, holding her tight as she spurred the dark steed forward. They galloped out into the soft misting the rain had turned into. The thunder and lightning, fortunately, was over. Last thing needed was for Fate to rear its ugly had and strike him down so that its journey to the Dark Side would be complete.

“It can be, but the potential military rankings it can bring me may potentially raise my nobility, and by default, the rest of my sisters’ nobility, since I’m their guardian now, assuming all the right people provide the titles,” Blondie explained.

“This sister you want me to marry... how old, exactly, is she?” Noa asked, hesitant.

“Seventeen.”

Ouch. Wait... Noa took a moment to do the math in his head. It took him a little longer, as he had to do the equation in reverse to find what the age would be in his world. Eighteen, around eighteen, he thought, sighing softly. Not gross, but... he did not want to get married just because someone said so!

“I’m really not a good option,” he tried. “Indentured servant, no nobility, nothing to my name...” he listed.

“Mhm,” Blondie hummed, sounding unconvinced.

Noa sighed, and as they passed through the gates, he looked up at Mini Buckingham. Half of the windows seeped with opalescent aetherlight, most of which were on the first floor. How did no one steal all that aether to level?

“Can you use aether from opals to cast spells?” he asked.

“Not enough in them for a lesser spell. That’s what makes them so good for lighting places. Even with a bunch of them together, it would be fruitless to try to harvest aether from them for spellcasting,” Blondie explained, stopping the horse in front of the manor entrance.

While a servant took the lead from her, Noa slid off, grimacing at the mud that squelched in his moccasins. He definitely needed a bath. After waiting for Blondie to dismount, Noa followed her towards the entrance. She held up a hand to him before they even reached the front steps.

“Wait here. I’ll have someone bring you out a change of clothes. I don’t need you tracking all of that through my house,” she motioned to all of him.

Great, now he was going to have to change outside. Well, couldn’t be more awkward than a shared servants’ quarters, could it?

A few minutes later, a woman wearing a long, green dress walked a neat pile of folded clothing out to Noa. She smiled at him, her blond curls and blue eyes reminding him of Blondie. No, don’t tell me, he thought.

“Hello, Noa Kai,” she said, curtsying to him, then offering the pile of laundry. Noa took it, his jaw hanging loose.

Please don’t say it. Please don’t... he thought.

“I’m your betrothed.”