In the Sylvester Empire, just like most of the other empires of Zero, obtaining a noble title required not only meritocratic actions and having a good backing, one also needed strength! The nobles were normally seen as the face of a territory; they could not be weak.
However, a baron was at the bottom of the ranking of nobles and so, Baron Ansel who was seen as a monster by the local community, was in fact one of the weakest nobles of the empire. He was only a level 44 NPC.
The vice-captain was naturally aware of that and gasp upon seeing the cloaked man's level. If he was on the town's wall, he might have been confident in dealing with the old man and that was simply thanks to the different formations and weapons found on the wall.
Although they were relatively close to the wall, right now, they did not have any protection and could be easily killed. The vice-captain was hesitating on what to do. It was his duty to die for his country and kill demons but at the same time, he valued his life and that of his subordinates.
Five was confused at the new developments, "Who is this old man? Why is he trying to save me?"
The headless body of the captain in front of him twitched before falling on the ground with a "thum". He stared at the corpse of the powerful captain; thanks to the censorship of the game, no blood could be seen coming out of the corpse, but it was still a scary scene.
He raised his head and watch in awe at the strength of the man.
"Let him go. Now!"
But at that moment, another group of guards appeared in the distance. The vice-captain immediately let out a sigh of relief. Not just because reinforcement has arrived but also because the person leading them was the baron Ansel himself, the most powerful person within dozens of kilometers.
The mysterious old man did not seem nervous at the appearance of the baron. He did not say anything and even slowly lowered his altitude and waited for the baron.
"Halt! Who do you think you are? Going rampant on my territory?" angrily shouted the baron. Despite clearly seeing the difference in power between him and the old man, the baron could not repress his strong pride. This was his territory! He was the strongest, yet, a random stranger just came and blatantly displayed his strength.
"My identity is none of your concern. Just let him go and we shall end this matter here," said the cloaked man with a calm aged voice.
The Baron quickly turned to look at Five who was standing just in front of the water of the moat. The guards already surrounded him, forming a wall of shields around him.
"Why are you trying to save a demon? They are the enemies of our race!" exclaimed Baron Ansel while looking back at the cloaked man. He grabbed 2 long swords behind his back and prepared himself to fight.
"You don't need to know the reason. Just release him."
The old man was not anxious at the idea of fighting Baron Ansel and all the other guards together.
The baron was internally conflicted; he did not really want to fight the cloaked man. He already knew he was weaker but that would mean losing his face! He first thought of ordering his men to quickly kill the demon. However, others might not notice it, but the baron did. Thanks to his high level and the class he chose, [Storm Swordman], the baron was able to detect a faint air current rotating around the demon.
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He already knew that it was a skill of the cloaked man and would without a doubt be able to protect the demon and cause ravages.
The baron gritted his teeth and stared at the man. He valued his reputation and naturally had some special items that could help him deal with the old man but there was still a massive risk since the cloaked man might also have powerful items. In fact, it was extremely likely that he had some!
"Do you promise to leave this place and not attack Etora Town again?"
"Naturally… I want nothing from this tiny filthy town."
A trace of fury appeared in the baron's eyes when he heard that his town was qualified as tiny and filthy, but he kept it inside.
"Men! Let him go!" shouted the baron with reluctance.
All the guards looked at the baron in surprise. It was the first time, they were seeing the baron lower his head! It was something they never expected. In fact, many of them were preparing to flee in case the baron ordered them to fight the cloaked man.
Hearing the order, the guards slowly backed off and moved to the baron's side. They felt relieved that a deadly fight had been avoided.
Five looked at the moving guards and frowned. He did not understand what was happening. Who was that man and what were his motives? Five clearly knew that there were no free meals in this world; that man definitely wanted something from him.
However, as he saw a path open for him, Five briefly looked at the cloaked man, who did not react, before making a slight bow to thank him. Following that, he quickly ran through the path the guards made. He clearly did not want to stay here a second longer.
"D*mn, it looks like I will owe that man a favor. It would be impolite to stay here and ask that old man for his motives. I will just get away from here as fast as possible. Considering his strength, he will easily find me!" thought Five.
The old man did not say anything as Five quickly ran into the distance. He quietly stared at the guards and the baron in front of him. The latter was nervous. He could not see the expressions of the man under his cloak and did not know what to expect.
"Since we fulfilled our part, please sir!" said the baron while nodding.
"Mmm"
The mysterious cloaked man did not say anything and slowly, he started to float higher and higher. His cloaked figure slowly levitated and drifted in the direction Five took.
The guards let out sighs of relief, they really thought they would have to fight that powerhouse! Their hearts were still beating fast at the fright they had. However, the cloaked man suddenly stopped and turned to look at the guards again.
A chill went down the spine of the baron as he saw the old man suddenly raise a hand. For a fraction of a second, the baron saw a white delicate finger appear. It clearly could not belong to an old man but as the baron was staring with a confused look.
A sphere of wind suddenly appeared in front of the finger and flew towards the guards. The guards tensed. It was clearly an attack, but they knew they would not be able to resist!
"D*mn that old man! He still wanted to kill all of us!"
However, the sphere suddenly curved and compressed itself to an even smaller sphere like a bullet. The guards stared at the bullet flying at them and followed its trajectory just to see it explode right on Andre's head.
It was the same Andre that took most of the blow from the gunpowder, the one who was brought a few meters away and was lying on the ground. He just received some first aids and was showing signs of recuperating, yet, that sphere of wind abruptly ended his life.
The baron clearly knew that powerful skill. It was a level 45 skill that belonged to the wind mage class, [Compressed Air Bullet]. Although one of his men was killed, he did not say anything and watch the old man quickly hide back his finger before carefreely starting to gain altitude again.
Quickly, the mysterious cloaked figure disappeared in the clouds. All the guards suddenly felt the pressure on their shoulders vanish. Many of them simply felt their legs become weak and sat on the ground. Even the baron who usually looked valiant and violent, had a terrified expression on his face.
"Sir, why did you not use the sealing array you own? We might have been able to seal that man's level down and defeat him," asked one of the close guards of Baron Ansel.
"Idiot! Do you not read the reports? In the last two days, anomalies had been reported in the plains. The wild beasts there were behaving strangely, all converging to a specific point. We did not know how and why but that old man had been confirmed to be the reason behind that. Two nights ago, our scouts found that mysterious cloaked man slaughtering several powerful monsters of the plain. He simply moved his hands and tornados would appear, quickly killing any monsters."
"We don't know his motives, but I clearly do not want to risk my life to deal with that man. It is better this way! They might belong to an evil cult and I want nothing to do with these lunatics. I don't want Etora Town to be destroyed."
"Just forget about today's event! This demon and the cloaked man never came here, and we were not forced to let them go!"
The baron wore a tired expression. He walked a few steps and turned to the guards. "We are returning to the town! Bring the deceased bodies, I will give them a proper funeral. Their families shall be compensated."