I walked Mila out of the sketchy area where Kinwall had decided to set up shop because I didn’t think it would be too safe for her to be here by herself.

Once we were in a safer place with a crowd, we said goodbye and went our separate ways.

When I was near the guild, for some reason Lucia was leaning on a wall outside of the adventure guild with her arms crossed, looking impatiently.

I wonder why she was here. Is she waiting for someone?

When she saw me, she had a scowl and stomped toward me.

“Oh, hi there, Lucia.”

She looked angry as I greeted her. I think I should apologize to her again.

“I’m…”

Before I could start my apology, she said something totally unexpected.

“I challenge you to a duel, now!”

She pointed her finger and stomped her foot as she said it.

Why is she challenging me? Is it because she wanted to prove something? Either way, this is really going to be fun.

Unknowingly for me, from hearing her words, a grin appeared on my face, to which I wondered why she took a step back all of a sudden, looking a bit perturbed.

“I see, you want to do it now in the training area?”

“Fine then.”

She didn’t seem to back down, and I was getting even more excited, thinking of ways to counter Lucia’s magic when we were going to fight.

As we were going to enter the guild, the door opened, and I saw Iris walking out.

“There you are; I was worried you didn’t show up. They are waiting.”

My grin was immediately replaced with my default expressionless face when I saw her because I remembered I had something important today—to meet up with the noble girls waiting for me.

I turn back to look at Lucia with disappointment in my voice.

“Sorry, I have to do something today. Guess we have to do it on another day.”

“What? You’re going to run away now!”

Hearing Lucia shout at me, Iris looks at me and asks.

“Did I miss something?”

I told her.

“Lucia wanted to duel me, which I kind of forgot about the meeting.”

“Uhh… I see.”

Iris had a perplexed expression, then faced Lucia with an apologetic face.

“Ms. Lucia, I apologize, but Mr. Nyx has to be in a meeting with some important people, so please excuse us.”

Iris then pushed me into the building, and when I looked back at Lucia, she was fuming, causing her hair to glow a bright red.

Pushing me inside, Iris told me to go to which floor and room, meant for a really important guest. She also told me to try not to offend any of them in any way because they are nobles.

I walked upstairs and stood in front of the door where Iris had told me the noble girls would be. I thought for a moment about how I would go in. I should knock since they were nobles, but how should I act to not let them know I’m also a noble?

Either way, I’m going in. Knocking on the door, a voice responds to let me in a second later.

“Please come.”

Opening the door, I saw four girls wearing expensive adventurer gear and equipment, but they still had the presence of a newbie party.

I said a casual hello, and they all smiled gracefully at me. What seemed to be the party's leader asked me politely to sit on the empty couch.

Once I sat down, they introduced themselves.

“Greetings, I am Hilda Hillrose, the leader and support mage of the party.”

“Hello, I am Bianca Arden, the magic swordswoman.”

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“I’m Elesa Cecil, and I am a healer. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Hearing their last names, I recognize them to be from the new nobility faction. They are one of the two main factions in the kingdom and the faction that opposes the old nobility faction. Their families specifically are from one of the more influential families in their faction, and I wonder why they are even here adventuring.

Hearing them introduce themselves and their role in the party, in game terms, their party is pretty stacked with just the three of them and even more so with the fourth person.

I turned to the last person who hadn’t introduced herself yet. There was a silence as everyone looked at her to introduce herself, but she didn’t say anything, just staring at me.

Why is she staring at me like that? Does she know who I am and see through my disguise?

I was on edge and placed my hands near my short sword to draw it out at a moment's notice, and I looked around the room to make a getaway plan if needed.

They are mages, which are a handful to deal with, and I don’t have any experience fighting them, so I cannot fight them and have to make a run for it.

I was doing this with my default expressionless face, hiding my suspicions and intention to run away.

She got up from the couch and walked up directly to me.

I was on high alert, willing to attack them at any moment.

I looked at everyone else, and they for some reason had a look that said, Oh no, she is going to do something again, which was strange.

Once she put her right hand above my head, I was about to grab her arm and twist it to make her a hostage, but to my surprise, she began patting my head.

I was completely stunned and didn’t know what to do. She continued to pat my head like a child, she said.

“Hi, I’m Serena Darcy. I just had to pat you on the head because you're quite the adorable child.”

Hearing that, I was even more at a loss, like my mind just stopped working from this very strange and foreign situation.

Everyone in the room except me and Serena took a deep sigh, and Hilda came to Serena's side with a vein popping out of her forehead. She pinched Serena’s right cheek to drag her away to a corner, then started shouting.

“Why did you have to do something like that every time?!”

Hilda began to scold Sceran while the other two, whose faces were those of a proper noblewoman, broke into laughter like they couldn’t hold it in any longer.

I was taught that the new noble factions were the enemy, oddballs for nobles, and numerous other things that made the new nobility faction look bad. I always thought they were just lies made to influence me, but maybe some of them do have oddballs in their faction because we nobles have to keep up appearances at all times, but they aren’t and were acting too free-spirited.

After things had settled down and I was making sense of things, Hilda apologized.

“I apologize for what you just saw; it is unbecoming of us. Please do not think of us nobles like this. Serena was acting too free-spirited when we began our training, and so were Bianca and Elesa, but to a lesser extent. I will try harder next time to not let this happen again.”

Hilda bowed, and hearing what she said, Bianca and Elesa were taken aback when Hilda compared them to Serena, and Serena spoke up.

“What? I just wanted to pat his head; he is really cute, like a puppy or kitten or something.”

Hilda, with another vein throbbing on her forehead, shouted.

“You can’t just do that to people; do you not know how that is rude and—”

Hilda was back to shouting and gave Serena another earful.

After another while, Hilda apologized again for the sight I just witnessed that would definitely make their etiquette tutor cry out in tears of blood witnessing them.

“I would like to thank you greatly for finding my family pendant. The reason I ask you to come here is to thank you greatly because it would be a great stain on my family’s honor to not repay our debts. If you need assistance in anything, we are willing to offer our help.”

“I see. Thank you for your offer.”

As we were about to finish our conversation about them adventuring to get a feeling for what common life is like, which their parents shockingly agreed to, I was about to stand up and say goodbye, but Hilda asked.

“If you don’t mind, I feel like I have seen you from somewhere…”

Serena, who was sitting silently, not saying a word like a scolded child, spoke up and pointed at me.

“It's because he is the boy we ran past by as we were running away from that disgusting spider monster.”

Hilda had a vein on her forehead again and said.

“Please don't interrupt me, and we are children of nobility; why can’t you just act more like a noble?”

Not dealing with any more of this, I said.

“Ya, I saw you run past me.”

They were surprised when I said yes, except for Serena, who had a smug grin, knowing she was right.

Bianca said with surprise.

“Wait, how did you manage to get down there? Did you do it all by yourself?”

I took out my guild card and showed them my rank since it was the fastest way to prove it to them, which they gasped.

“Unbelievable, you’ve managed to become a C-rank adventurer at such a young age.”

“I just rank up yesterday, but the 10th-floor boss wasn’t much of a problem to deal with.”

“I see, how did you do it? We took several attempts to defeat it.”

Bianca looked at me with glimmering eyes. I told her that I just had to take out its legs, then ran my sword through its weak spot that could kill it instantly.

“That is amazing; it’s a shame that we are leaving soon, but I really would like you to teach me a thing or two.”

Hearing that, I thought it was also a shame since I never fought a magic swordswoman before.

“Yes, that is a shame.”

After I said that I said.

“I think it’s time for me to go.”

I stood up, and everyone said goodbye to me, with Hilda reminding me that they were willing to help me if I asked.

Leaving the room and going downstairs, Iris was waiting on the second floor and asked how it went. I told her it went well, and they offered their help if I asked since they wanted to repay me for returning their pendant.

“I see, with nobles, you really get a mixed bag, and I was worried.”

I said yeah and told her I would be going back to my inn for the rest of the day.

It is time for me to start work on fixing the magical circles on my throwing knives.