The moment he saw the blonde hair coming up he wasted almost no time crawling towards them. But as they took another step he saw their face. It wasn't one of the maids. It was the adventurer woman who seemed to be their leader.

He quickly diverted and made his way towards a room with an open door. He managed to shut it but he knew she had already spotted him. He wanted to writhe on the floor due to the pain from crawling so much but for these brief moments, he tried his best to stay still, praying she didn't notice him.

He waited with painful breaths as he heard her footsteps. He started to have tears in his eyes from the pain but did his best not to make even a groan.

The footsteps continued. Did she walk somewhere else? As that thought went through his mind he heard the doorknob click and the door promptly pushed open.

He hadn't crawled too far from the door and as it opened it bumped his arm. He choked in pain and the person who opened looked on in sympathy.

****************************************************************************************

(Oh, it's the lord? What happened to him? And why is he shirtless?") Elizabeth thought as she looked at him.

She walked into the room and Albus began fearing for his life. This was it. It all ended here.

Elizabeth wasn't sure what to make of him. The parts of his attire being burnt obviously suggested he had fought Tibaut but for what reason? From the way he lay on the ground, it was obvious he was in some sort of pain. Was this the aftermath of their fight? She did find it quite worrying how little burns he had (The occasional burns she got while sparring him were easily the worst part of it).

For the time she would subdue him with some of the wire she had gotten from Avis. She also knocked him out and healed him to make sure he wouldn't die before she questioned him.

After doing so she hurriedly scuttled over to the large room on this floor and at the very end of it was Tibaut laying on the floor. She quickly rushed over and thankfully his heart was still beating.

He seemed to be unconscious and she checked him for pain over his body. Something unusual she noticed was some of his fingers didn't have any skin on them and he looked unhealthily thin. His cheeks were sunken and through the parts of his shirt torn, she could see bones easily showing through his chest. He looked like he went through a desert without food and water.

Her leading theory was that he used ki more extremely this time and she wasted no time healing him.

("Still the last time he used ki it healed all his injuries, how bad was it this time that his fingers were left unfinished?")

She lifted him up and carried him out of the room.

("Sigh, it seems that the Lord of the Manor was a tough opponent. I'll regroup with the others and question the Lord later.")

She looked into his closed eyes and sighed.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"It seems you weren't looking for trouble this time. Sigh Thankfully the lord wasn't too much of a problem even with your injuries. (Maybe I'll just keep a closer eye on him. With the cult around, keeping him injured and having them show up would do us no good.)"

She left the room and soon reunited with the others.

----------------------------------------

In the fort of the manor, a certain blonde-haired individual stood outside one of the cells. Inside was a person who looked like a princess, with straight black hair that possessed a lustre only a varnish could match and pale skin reminiscent of a vampire. They were sitting in a chair tied up with a metallic string.

The person's head started bobbing up and down and jolted up when they fully awoke.

"Lord Bradley was it?" A voice asked.

He focused his eyes on the figure in front of him. His mind was still foggy and he struggled to recall who the person was in front of him.

"Adventurer?" He asked, confused.

"Yes, I am one of them."

She opened the cell and went inside.

His mind slowly started turning its gears.

("If I remember correctly, I was discussing something with Tibaut and… SHIT")

He started using his magic to struggle out of his confines and he realised the strings were stronger than he imagined. In fact, they left cuts on him even with his strengthened skin.

("Wait, are these!?")

"You can thank your maid named Avis for those. After I finish questioning you, I'll move on to her..."

He struggled in the chair more and glared at her.

"You bitc-"

"If you don't behave," she continued.

He stopped and sighed.

"Fine. But I hope you know who you're messing with. My family isn't some third-rate nobility you haven't heard of. As soon as they (My uncle anyway) hear about this, you'll regret ever stepping foot in this country." He didn't look confident or reassured as he stated this. He made it sound like more of a legal disclaimer than a threat.

Albus didn't have much hope his uncle would avenge him but he would bet all that he was worth, his uncle would kill the woman before him and then other adventurers as a way of flexing his strength.

"I see. But that would cause quite a ruckus wouldn't it?"

Albus wasn't sure what she meant and watched as she reached for something in her pocket. She threw it to the floor and the moonlight coming into the cell illuminated it.

Beads of sweat started forming when he got a good look at it. His breathing started quickening and he couldn't help but clatter his teeth. He began stuttering as he spoke.

"Y-Y-Y-You k-know t-that it's illegal to counterfeit that."

"Oh, it's no counterfeit. How do you think I had so many of those potions?"

"...(Ah, that's where I recognised her.)"

----------------------------------------

He was brought back to a memory of the past. For appearance's sake, his father would carry him with him to various events and balls that had high society gathered.

During one of these, he met a small girl with blonde hair and green eyes. She was the youngest sibling in her family and everyone around had their attention on her.

She walked around the ball with two large men at her side and approached him.

"So there are other girls here." The young girl commented.

"Who are you calling a girl? I'm a boy."

"Haha, then why do you have such long hair? Tomboys aren't actual boys you know!"

Before he could respond his father pulled him away and bowed to the men by her side. They found this reaction odd but considering the family he came from it wasn't too surprising.

He brought his son to a corner.

"Listen here little bastard, don't you dare think you're good enough to be interacting with the second princess."

He looked around the room before giving him a punch to the gut and returning with the boy to the party.

----------------------------------------

"A princess hu- ARGHH."

He groaned in pain and the princess tried to force a sword into his leg. She struggled for a few moments with one hand and had to use both to get it to go inside. After a few seconds of pushing, with the sounds of meat being torn, it went through his leg.

("H-how? I still had my magic up, it should have at leas-")

He felt an odd sensation in his leg and although it wasn't as strong as the object that pierced his body nor Cormac's armour, it was still recognisable even if he had to focus on it.

"That took more force than I'd like to go in. Well, the sword is already dull, so I should have expected as much."