Returning to the manor after speaking with Karja, Ark arrived just in time to see witness his ‘sister’ and the baroness speaking beside one of the ‘gold’ pillars that supported the home.
“-honestly why even use this cheap knock-off material, it's not impressing anyone Fey,” Cecelia said as she ran a gloved finger over the gold column that left her glove stained with gold, “Personally I'd have this whole front of the mansion torn down and replaced, never mind have the man who sold you such terrible work executed. Maybe you can sell a few of your slaves to afford copper pillars? I understand silver is a bit much but -”
Upon noticing Ark Cecelia stopped mid sentence, her face barely able to contain the disgust rolling inside her.
Ark kept his head down, his eyes away as the woman approached and then suddenly shoved Ark to the ground.
Immediately Ark's hands balled into fists, his first desire to beat the brat to death yet he restrained himself.
Outnumbered ten to one with her retinue of knights and magicians, an attack at this time would spell his death.
“There, that's better, I never did like that you were taller than me,” Cecelia said, “Be lucky that mother still cares for you, otherwise I'd have removed a few inches of your skull for offending me with your presence.”
Ark remained silent, not a word said as he made a mental note of the woman and her guards.
“Princess Cecelia, I believe you had other plans you needed to attend to?” Baroness Fey piped in, stepping forward to draw the ire of the noble.
“Hm. Thank you for the reminder. Do take care of yourself Fey, if bandits are so brazen to attack once, it may yet happen again,” Cecilia said smugly before leaning down and whispering in Ark's ear, “Have fun with my sloppy seconds. Bastards and bitches do belong together after all.”
With that she sauntered past Ark, her heels clacking loudly against the cobblestone until she boarded her carriage alongside her guards.
Ark waited before dusting himself off, carefully observing the princess's entourage until they were out of sight and past the treeline before finally moving.
“Oh Loyd! Are you okay?” Fey asked, immediately moving to help Ark off the ground who simply brushed her off.
“I’m fine, is everything okay?” Ark asked with Welkin and the Baroness sharing looks of frustration. “What did she want?”
“To know how we survived the attack,” Welkin said flatley, his gaze shifting to Ark, the man responsible for butchering the majority of the bandits and dousing the majority of the fire on the plantation.
“What did you say?” Ark asked, a sudden feel of alarm blossoming within. If the pair suspected that the Loyd they knew was gone…
“That our guards were fortunately very effective,” The Baroness said, eyeing Ark, “She also offered to buy the twins from me despite putting them on auction in the first place.”
Ark pursed his lips. It was clear to Ark who the mastermind behind the attack was, but to do so and brazenly show themselves and to taunt her victims?
Ark had a better understanding of what kind of person he was dealing with. Fortunately, the baroness was also keen on who Cecilia Winterfell was.
“I think… it would be best if we moved. It's no longer safe here,” Fey said.
It didn't take a rocket scientist to understand what the baroness was saying, or who she was pointing fingers at for the attack. However, there was one thing Ark was confused about.
“Moved?” Ark said, brow raised.
“The lady owns a plot of land in the Nerevar frontier. It's where most of our revenue stems from,” Welkin explained. “The constables won't be of any help here. They're all eager to try and cozy up to the princess.”
Ark eyed the plantation, sweeping his gaze over the numerous serfs and crops that weren't exactly the cash cow that could afford the purchase of so many slaves.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I agree, it isn't safe here… how long will it take for us to leave?” Ark asked.
“With the management of the property and serfs, it will take three weeks or so for Howard to take stewardship. Of geezer won't be so thrilled I imagine,” Welkin replied, the man crossing his arms with a scowl.
Perfect, plenty of time to get my bearings.
“Are you okay to leave the city?” Fey asked before coughing into her handkerchief.
“Whatever needs to be done,” Ark said before entering the manor.
****
“How do I look?” Ark asked, standing before a mirror that displayed his form bound by bandages that covered his entire form save for his eyes.
“You look like an idiot,” Soliloquy said, observing from her nearby nest of cloth and straw on a desk.
“Thanks, can always count on your cheery attitude.”
“This hardly counts as an disguise. Why do you even want to consort with the scum and lowlifes of your kind?”
“Simple,” Ark said, tightening the bandages and grabbing a satchel laden with coins, something Ark had found after digging through Loyd's belongings. “There are ingredients and materials I need to improve my ki. Circulating and purification will only get me so far, and by going through the back channels I can procure what I need without arousing suspicion. If my theory is correct, the princess is watching the estate. Presumably monitoring the Baroness's purchases and any supplies. If I were a betting man, I'd say she would be using this time to ambush us when we leave.”
Soliloquy turned her head to the side, almost as if deep in thought.
“I see. Perhaps I've given you less credit than you are due.”
“Careful, that almost sounded like a compliment,” Ark said, opening his window to the cold night air outside. “Alright… let's see if I've shaken off some of this rust…”
Ark inhaled, taking in the brisk air as he will his ki to circulate.
For the last twenty hours he'd been circulating his magicils, preparing for this very moment when he'd finally attempt a ki technique.
A simple augmentation technique of the Wu variety that turned his ligaments into pistons and his skin like stone.
Ark opened his system, observing the translucent screen until new words hovered over the interface.
[Skill Acquired! Ki Reinforcement]
“Interesting, guess I wasn't hallucinating after all…” Ark muttered, recalling the translucent words he had seen when Injecting his ki onto Karja.
“Ya know you could have told me that this system thing would pick up my ki skills,” Ark said, expanding the new skill list beneath his spells and the ki stat now beneath his HP pool.
-[HP: 30/30]
-[Ki]: 20/30
[EXP: 23.4/100]
[Status: ]
[Phoenix Points: 0]
[Stats]
-[STR: 8]
-[DEX: 6]
-[VIT: 6]
-[WILL: 18]
-[SENS: 9]
[Spell Book](Open)
[Skill List]-
[Skill: Wu-Style Ki Reinforcement(Utilize Wu-Style Ki to strengthen the body and reduce sound profile when moving(+5 Str +10 Dex +2 Vitality.{10kp]. Cannot stack with other ki reinforcements.)
“Admittedly this was not intentional,” Soliloquy chirped, appearing on Ark's shoulder. “The system itself was designed as a tool to track your progress and to grow with you. With your ki and my magic, there may be unintended outcomes due to our… morphology and symbiotic partnership.”
“Interesting…” Arm pondered how he could best utilize this.
“Milord?” Sain called out, knocking on Ark's door.
“Enter,” Ark directed, the guard tiptoeing into Ark's quarters a moment later wearing pajamas and a wig made of black sleipner hairs. “Remember, you have one job. Don't mess this up.”
“Y-yes sir!” Sain said before climbing onto Ark's bed and burying himself in the blankets and pillows. “I'll do my best to pretend you're here while you're gone!”
“Let's hope I'm not gone for too long,” Ark muttered before leaping from the two-story balcony and landing quietly upon the grass of the estate. “Ah… I've missed this feeling…”
Ark frowned, his mood suddenly souring as his thoughts turned to the night he snuck out of the castle with Roland after they had both mastered the Wu-Style technique.
“Featherling. I have a request.”
“What?” Ark replied as he absentmindedly made his way across the plantation towards Karja's but.
“I would like for us to hunt.”
“I thought you didn't need to hunt? Couldn't you live off my time?”
“This is true. But I am bored,” Soliloquy said flatley. “I demand bloodshed.”
“Right, don't worry, I'm sure they'll be plenty of blood to go around soon,” Ark said, opening the door where Karja awaited him. “Ready?”
“Aye boss,” Karja said, the bandit fully armored in her gear including her bronze axe. She raised a brow upon seeing Ark, a small smirk on her face at the noble brat bandaged head to toe in linens. “Nice disguise.”
“Shut up and let's go, we're burning our moonlight,” Ark said before taking off into the night with the purple-haired knight leading the way.
***
Sain smiled, the young man melting into the bed, “Ah… this is nice.”