“Nice place,” Adam said, taking a seat opposite the baron within the dining hall. Several guards stood nearby, some within the room, others at the various exits, while two knights stood beside their lord. ‘Are we going to Firstfield this place?’

Servants brought out food for the lord and his guests, though they were brought separately for each person. First came the soup, which the baron sipped from his spoon first, allowing the others to eat. Though, as time passed, Lord Moonglow realised the group weren’t going to eat.

“The baron has invited you to eat,” a knight said.

“No,” Adam replied. “The baron has invited us to talk. So, when the good baron wishes to talk, we’ll talk.”

“It would be rude to refuse the baron’s grace.”

“Is it rude for you to shut your stupid mouth?” Adam asked.

The knight blinked through his visor, before reaching for his blade, though the baron raised a hand. “Will you continue to antagonise my guards?”

Adam inhaled deeply, before tilting his head back as he closed his eyes. “By all the gods, the goddesses, the demons, the angels, and all the other higher beings, including the Night Lords, I’m asking for your help. I don’t want to kill people, even considering who I worship, but these nobles can’t help themselves.”

Adam let out a long sigh, before glancing to the side, catching Jurot’s eyes. Jurot bowed his head simply. “Jurot.”

“Adam.”

“The baron is far too close to my axe to be starting nonsense with me, don’t you think?”

“Yes.”

The knights and guards tensed up, while Moonglow stared at the young man, who seemed to have such a big mouth. ‘Is he asking to die?’

“You know…” Adam turned back to stare into Moonglow’s eyes. “Firstfield was about sitting about as far away as you were.” The half elf remained focused on Moonglow’s eyes, leaning in slightly, though he raised his voice slightly. “It didn’t help him. Ain’t that right, Jaygak?”

“That’s right,” Jaygak stated, the young woman resting her arm between her blade and thigh.

Adam raised his brows and made to speak, before pausing for a moment. “Sorry, one second. What was his name? Rock something? Rockcastle, that was it, sorry.” Adam cleared his throat. “Rockcastle, he was smarter, you see. He surrounded himself with more guards than you have right now, mercenaries too, and he poisoned us without us realising he was trying to kill us. The mercenaries also got the jump on us too. He stood so far away, surrounded by knights…” Adam continued to stare into the noble’s eyes. “It didn’t help him. Ain’t that right, Kitool?”

“That is correct.”

“Now,” Adam said, leaning away from the baron, his neck pulsing slightly as he tried to cool the heat of annoyance which filled him. “You wanted to speak with me, and perhaps, if you’ll forgive the unsolicited word of advice, you should remember that. The next time one of your knights starts acting up, I’m taking one of your fingers, baron. Not theirs. Yours. If you can’t control your dogs, you need to put them down, or you’re going to start losing fingers.”

“You seem to believe I will fall for your bluffs,” Baron Moonglow replied, still trying to gather what he knew about the young man before him. He certainly saw the young man do things he could only dream of, but that didn’t mean he could handle all the guards and knights around.

Adam smiled, throwing a look to Jurot once more. “I might be the best brother ever.” Adam glanced around. “You want the knights, Jurot?”

“Yes.”

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“Kitool, Jaygak, will you take the guards?” Adam asked.

“Okay,” the pair replied.

‘Jurot, did you let him take the lead because you wanted to kill more?’ Jaygak thought.

“Hold on…” Adam narrowed his eyes, eyeing up the baron, before checking to see how many guards there were. “No, no. This isn’t right. Since we aren’t going to eat anything, it means we won’t be poisoned, and we’ll know when the fight is starting too. Why don’t you call in more guards? Double, no, triple the amount of guards, that way we’ll have a good story.”

‘Adam…’ Jaygak’s eyes fell across Jurot, who was nodding his head approvingly at Adam’s words. She exchanged a look with Kitool, who reached up to pat the young woman’s shoulder.

Baron Moonglow blinked. There was no doubt Adam had threatened him and cursed at him obviously, multiple times, throughout the short conversation they had. “You want me to… call more guards?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“No one’s going to be impressed if we tell them this tale,” Adam stated. “We should be outnumbered a little more, since most of your guards are barely more trained than the average farmer.” Adam motioned with his hand dismissively. “Go ahead. Arm yourselves with whatever magical weapons you have, bring whatever potions you have, and prepare yourselves. Since there’ll be more guards, I’ll deal with them with Kitool, Jaygak, you deal with Matty boy.”

“You want me to deal with the baron?” Jaygak asked, surprised.

“You’ve got Great Moon, so you should handle Moonglow?” Adam replied, wondering how he can be so poetic. “Plus, I can tell my babbies that I beat up most of the guys.”

“I, too, wish to tell Katool I defeated the most,” Kitool stated.

“Yeah, but I’ve got Fireball.” Adam smirked towards his friend.

Kitool bowed her head, relenting to the half elf.

Moonglow blinked. ‘What just happened?’ He glanced between the bewildered and annoyed looks of the guards and knights, and noted that some of the guards were paler than he expected. They certainly outnumbered the four, at least three to one, no, closer to four to one, and yet the aura around the place made it appear as though they were the victims.

No, they weren’t the victims, they were prey.

“Now that we have revelled in our humour, shall we discuss business matters?” Matteas asked, feeling a cold sweat at the back of his head. He could feel it, the cool metal up against his neck, an axe ready to take his head. “I intended to ask you to assist me in dealing with our neighbours to the south.”

“So that’s why you called us?” Adam asked, staring into the noble’s eyes. ‘Should I keep messing with him? He seems like he has a nice sword, and his castle seems to be a little nicer than the other nobles. Ah, no, if we kill him, our knighthood wouldn’t matter any more…’

“The territory south has been overrun by all manner of wicked beasts, and if I am able to tame it, then I will be able to expand my territory. If I bring other barons to heel, I can gain a greater title, and I will be able to unite the lands against the darkness which encroaches across our lands.”

“You don’t work together?” Adam asked. “I thought you were all nobles?”

“Though we respect one another’s power and title, we are each independent from one another, for it has been difficult to extend our influence too far from our walls. The darkness of the night causes too much trouble for us to focus beyond our walls. There are some distant lands which have managed to deal with the darkness to unite, but such are but stories in these lands.”

“So basically, you want me to make you a count?”

“If you assist in making me a count, as you have mentioned previously, you will be able to knight your companions.”

Adam thought for a moment, wondering what the count really wanted. Power was obvious, but was there something else he wanted? How was he going to betray them?

“If you are willing to assist, I will also hand your companions titles of their own, if you are willing.”

“A temporary title might be nice,” Adam admitted. “We’re currently adventuring to make some coin, and to make a name for ourselves, and then we’ll head back home once we’re done.”

“You do not wish to stay in these lands?”

“No.”

“What if you are made nobles within this land?” Baron Matteas asked, eyeing up the four before him. “Would you not wish to bring your families here?”

“I would rather lay in a bed of fire than to stay in this land longer than I have to,” Adam stated, firmly. “I can barely tolerate you when you know we can kill you, but not everyone’s like you, Lord Matteas. Some people have no idea we have no qualms with killing nobles and getting away with it.”

Baron Matteas cleared his throat, shocked by how overt Adam’s words had become, but also how light they sounded. Adam was speaking about killing them as though he was about to go for a walk.

“We have no time to make you a king,” Jurot said. “It would take too long, and we have other business to deal with.”

“Though, perhaps making you a king isn’t the best idea for the future of the land,” Adam said. “Perhaps making a confederacy of…” Adam’s eyes drifted to the side.

“…” Jurot remained silent, staring at Adam, who seemed to be looking at something else.

The baron swallowed, a moment moment away from signalling his knights to attack, ready to draw his own blade.

“Just how lucky can you get, your lordship?” Adam asked, sighing, his eyes still glued to the side. “It seems like we’re going to make you a king.”