"Two well-dressed men and an adventurer woman?" Lone asked in confusion as he held the door to his and Soph's room open while he looked down at Grella.

Nodding her head, the young woman replied, "Yup! They're probably nobles, so I wouldn't keep them waiting for too long. Bye!"

With that said, Grella scamped along the hall and then out of sight down the stairs. Lone sighed. "As energetic as ever, still, nobles?"

He frowned before he closed the door and looked at Soph who was relaxing on their bed. "Sounds like we might have trouble. I'll need you to change into Sophie, please. It seems like her noble act is required."

Soph nodded. "Mmm. Um, be careful..." She wasn't fond of nobles due to her past experiences on Earth. She only had snippets of her memories of that time while Sophie recalled everything, but what she did remember made her detest all nobles, so she could only wish the man she loved luck when dealing with two men who were most-likely of noble birth themselves.

Her countenance turned frosty before her body grew into Sophie's much-preferred 15-year-old version. "Do we act mute and blind, or just blind?"

"For now, act both. I won't say that you're mute though. It depends if they're related to the Malik household. The duke's daughter is the only one that thinks that you can't speak, after all," Lone suggested.

Sophie shrugged. "Very well. Give us our 'noble' clothing then, please."

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10-minutes later, both Lone and Sophie were ready. Once they had come down to the entry-hall of the inn, an unfamiliar woman with short blonde hair and a pointed expression on her face called out to them.

Lone guessed that she was the adventurer who had accompanied the two presumed-nobles, so he followed her into the inn's backroom when prompted.

Waiting for him and Sophie there were two young boys no older than 15 or 16, of which, Lone recognised one of them while the other was a complete stranger.

Immediately, Lone bowed his head. "I offer my and my master's greetings to Young Lord Leston." He then looked at the other boy and smiled apologetically. "Forgive me, Young Lord. I know not of whom you are."

"You remember me?" George said in surprise while Bastion simply snorted arrogantly.

"I could never forget such a prestigious man," Lone replied.

"I am Bastion Griffset, son of Margrave Griffset, the lord and ruler of Ros. You would do well to remember my name, slave," Bastion said as his eyes landed on Sophie. "Well, at least you look the part. What on Altros is such a beautiful and wealthy noble doing in such a run-down shack of an establishment?"

Sophie ignored him and elegantly sat down without showing any care nor consideration for Bastion and George.

George didn't really care, but Bastion was furious. "I am the son of a margrave. Did you not hear me? Foreign noble you may be, but respect you shall afford me!"

Lone smiled wryly. "I speak on my lady's behalf. Please forgive her actions. If at all possible, would it be okay for you young lords to explain what it is you wish to discuss with her? I shall answer in her place."

"A slave talking for his master?" Bastion snorted. "What fanciful nonsense."

George slowly nodded. "No, I've heard of such things before in foreign kingdoms."

"Is that so?" Bastion seemed sceptical and unwilling to talk to a demi, but if that was what the customs of the noble girl in front of himself demanded, then so be it. "We are here to purchase you, slave. I do not see your slave collar, however..."

"I wear it on my ankle," Lone interrupted coldly. 'I'm sick of these jackasses. If they aren't picking on me, they're picking on Soph, if they aren't picking on Soph, they're lusting after Sophie, if they aren't lusting after Sophie, they're lusting after me. I. Am. Fucking. Sick. Of. It.'

The orb in his pocket responded to his feelings and happily throbbed in response.

"I see," Bastion said before he looked at Sophie. "Five golden coins. That's quite a fair price, no?"

George hid his surprise well upon hearing his friend's shockingly low offer. 'Didn't he say that his father had given him an upper budget of ten ruby-gold coins? That's the equivalent of 100,000 gold coins, and even then, I think that's shortchanging the girl by a lot for a one-of-a-kind slave. Well, two-of-a-kind, technically... I hope she refuses. Just look at his eyes. There's no way he's ever going to be loyal to Margrave Griffset.'

Lone didn't even give Sophie the chance to shake or nod her head. "Five gold coins?" he asked before reaching into his pocket and he then grabbed exactly five golden coins. He rudely and roughly threw them on Bastion, resulting in them tumbling to the floor. "Yes, it's a very fair price to be given the pleasure of never seeing your face ever again."

Bastion seemed stunned. Stunned, then very quickly enraged. "Ceela! Cut his hand off and sever his tongue! How dare a worthless animal look down on me like some I'm some simple commoner!"

Lone had no idea how powerful the adventurer woman was nor how loyal she was to Bastion, so without any hesitation, he willed his tails to snake through the air until they were pointing at Ceela, Bastion, and George, three each, of course. He was a man of equality, after all.

"If you even try to hurt me, I'll kill you all." There was an eeriness to Lone's voice as the orb in his pocket was practically vibrating in glee. "I'm sure you've heard the rumours about my kind, yes? Tails tougher than steel."

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Ceela's eyes very quickly assessed the situation. The verdict of the assessment? Absolutely fucked. 'If I retreat, Bastion will punish me. I'll be lucky if the little bastard only demands my body as recompense. If I try to attack the foxkin, I might die... To be honest, that doesn't sound all that bad...'

"What a mess," an unamused voice called.

Its owner was Guildmaster Gilbert who had entered the room, and stood at his side was Lefakern who sighed softly and wore a disheartened look.

Lone snapped out of his sudden thirst for blood and smiled a bit wryly. "Uh, I know this looks bad, like, really bad, but I swear, there's a good reason."

"I know you, Demi," Bastion spat out. "Guildmaster Gilbert, correct? Execute this beast! He is one of your adventurers, is he not? If you shan't do it, then by the Primals, someone else will."

Gilbert's expression hardened. "Is that so? On my authority as the guildmaster of Milindo's head branch of The Adventurer's Guild, I hereby grant protective sanction to the adventurers Lone Immortus and Sophie Vladimirovich. Pack your things, you live in the guild's residential floor now."

Bastion face was painted with fury. Seeing that, George quickly stood in front of him and said, "Bastion, don't. He's a double-S-ranker. Not even my father can beat him in a one-on-one fight for sure. Let's just back off, okay?"

Running his fingers through his hair, the young lord of Ros nodded. "You're right. I expect a public apology by the end of the week as well as some sort of tribute. Farewell."

George smiled apologetically and awkwardly at Lone, Sophie, Gilbert, and Kerny before he followed Bastion who'd marched out of the room. Ceela avoided making eye-contact with Gilbert as she trailed after the two teens.

Gilbert gave Lone a look that made him feel more ashamed than he'd ever felt in his entire life. "Come with me, both of you."

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"Mr Lefakern's inn now has to be placed under the direct protection of the guild just in case those noble children try to use their influence to ruin it. We've also been forced to compensate Mr Lefakern for this with cold hard cash. Not only that, but when Margrave Griffset learns about this through the skewed account of his son's retelling, no doubt, special and racial tensions will only further spiral out of control. It may even affect the elves and dwarves living somewhat peaceful lives here," Gilbert said in a tone bereft of any amusement. "Thank the Primals I had adventurers keeping tabs on your inn in case something like this ever happened, otherwise, I don't like to think about what would have happened had I not been notified of those boys approaching you two."

"I, uh, I can pay for any damages..." Lone offered.

Gilbert shook his head. "I don't want your money, Lone, I want an explanation. Why did you threaten the life of a fellow adventurer as well as the lives of two noble children? I thought you were smarter than that."

Sophie nodded her head. "We also wish for an explanation. Had you not acted so rash, we would have sent them off after a firm refusal. We are a princess, so no doubt, they would have backed off. We only need to buy enough time for the tournament to come and go. All else after that shan't matter as we will leave this country. What brought on this sudden spell of hasty impulse?"

"I... I don't know..." Lone hung his head. "I guess the stress of being looked at like an animal every time we walk down the street was bottled up so much that it exploded? The same thing almost happened with the hero when we met him, so maybe I was just at a tipping point? I don't really know..."

Gilbert nodded. "That makes sense, even if it's still unreasonable. I understand that being treated like a good that can be bought and sold is very insulting for a proud Golden Foxkin, and no doubt, had you wished to, you could have killed all three of them even though the adventurer was a C-ranker, however, doing so would have been beyond foolish."

"I understand that now. My mouth and my body moved on their own," Lone said.

Gilbert sighed. "It's okay. What's done is done. As I said, you'll be living here in the guild until the tournament. George Leston is a very reasonable young man despite being a duke's son, but Bastion is the culmination of everything that is wrong with a nobility-supporting governmental system. If you need anything, just find a member of staff. You can train in one of the guild's training grounds free of cost, but you're banned from taking quests."

Sophie frowned. "Why?"

"I can't have you both dying to some hired assassins. While very illegal, assassin guilds are still very, very real," Gilbert answered. "Not only is Lone a Golden Foxkin but now I'm learning that you're a princess. I'd rather not deal with the fallout of a foreign princess dying, thank you very much."

'Whoops. The country we are from does not even exist anymore from what Lone has told us. It was foolish of me to mention my former status,' Sophie lamented.

Lone frowned. "I realise and understand the seriousness of my mistake, but please, allow us to take on quests. At least ones that are based outside of Ranton."

"No. I will never reach a day that I stop regretting the death of a Golden Foxkin should such a thing happen due to my actions. If I allow you two to leave this building, then you will almost certainly be either arrested and executed before I can arrange for the Grand Guildmaster to do something, or, you will be assassinated. End of story," Gilbert said in a no-nonsense manner.

Sophie understood the importance of Lone gaining stats better than anyone else, maybe even better than Lone himself. He needed strength, and he needed it fast if they wanted to avoid situations like this from ever happening again in the future. In light of this, she decided to take a risk. "We can teleport freely and instantaneously. Lone also has an ability that allows him to kill anything in less than a moment. Should he so desire, he could end your life right now."

"Sophie!" Lone was very against revealing anything to do with their unique skills or the fact that they were technically heroes and he had made that very clear to both Soph and Sophie, which was why he felt so betrayed by her revealing this to a man who could passively detect lies.

Needless to say, they didn't even know if Lone's Mental Destruction could kill someone as strong as Gilbert. It could instantly end the life of anyone that was up to two ranks stronger than Lone, yes, but above that?

Their current running theory was that if he spammed the skill he could kill stronger entities, but that was a theory, nothing more.

"Shut up. If we can trust anyone, it's Gilbert. You got us into this mess, and we only have two ways to fix it. One would cripple us for a whole month, which we will not allow unless there is no other choice. You will close your mouth and let us reveal what needs to be revealed. Either do that, or we shall agree with Gilbert and we shall personally work around the clock to enforce your house arrest." She turned and sharply looked at Lone's face with those dead eyes of hers. "Do you understand?"

Lone flinched. 'That... that would be an issue. I can still probably sneak out of here to work on fixing her eyes, but not if she's watching me with her Mana Sensing like a hawk...' he thought. "Uh... Yeah, sorry."

Gilbert chuckled. "It must be nice to have a strong-willed woman to help ground you, hmm? You are very scary when you wish to be, now aren't you, Sophie?"

The girl just smiled sweetly in response.

"Well, unfortunately, I know that you're not lying, which either means that you're insane or that you are both a far bigger deal than I first imagined. Very well, I'll make some exceptions, but I shall choose what quests you go on personally and I am coming with you when you take them. It'll eat into my paperwork and result in some backlog building up, but that doesn't matter since it'll only be for a month," Gilbert said.

Sophie nodded. "We agree, don't we, Lone?"

"Yeah, uh, thanks. Really, I know I fucked up, and you didn't have to help us, but here you are, offering us a hand. I don't know how I could ever repay you," Lone said with sincerity.

Gilbert grinned. "I'll ask for the same thing I asked of you when I gave you that communication orb. Live," he said. "Now, is there anyone you need to be told about your new living arrangements?"