Mathias Solskjaer, House Solskjaer of Varmcaster. The second in line of the great house with a rather infamous reputation.

“Mathias,” Dayana said with a knit between her brows.

“It’s been a while, flat bread,” Mathias said.

Not a second too late, the scream of an iron sword unsheathing rang. The pointed edge found a new target. “I dare you to say it again,” Dayana said, glaring.

Mathias raised both his palms. “Oh, someone grew rather feisty,” Mathias said. “But a pity something else doesn’t.”

“What do you…” her voice turned silent, and the late realization only poured oil into the fire. Her temper flared, and the maiden took charge. Her sword edge chased the repulsive man. But then a grip held her still. She changed her glare at the man with the wrinkly face. “Let go, or you’ll be the one that tastes my iron.”

“I don’t mind you guys killing each other, but we have our priorities right now,” Zach said.

“And what is this priority that goes beyond me cutting the tongue of this vile lecherous bastard?” Dayana asked.

“Well first, injuring the leader of a group is a bad idea, and second, didn’t I mention a group?” Zach said. His eyes glanced over to the trees around him. Dayana followed suit. To her surprise, they were a few peeking heads from behind the cover of the thick tree trunks. Their eyes were rather anxious seeing how the situation developed.

The tension in her arm lessened, and Zach let go of Dayana’s wrist. She sheathed her sword back, and could only glare at the sight of the foul-mouthed Mathias.

“Thank you for that old chap, couldn’t have survived that without you,” Mathias said. Slightly patting the back of Zach’s shoulder as Zach noticed something peculiar.

“Since when do people have the stomach to follow you?” Dayana took her shot.

“Well desperate time calls for desperate measure. I can’t really shirk my responsibility to my own people can I,” Mathias said. He called out to the people hiding, and one by one they emerged from the shade of the forest.

Zach, who stood in the middle between the three, took note of the appearance of these people. They were six, and most carried the same thing as Dayana, a sword and a shield. He could immediately deduce that these people had taken up the knight class and it went as he had expected. The name of a knight itself carried so much weight that perhaps the only thing bigger was a Noble or a King.

Among the few, he spotted a bow and a flimsy mace. He could roughly guess what classes they were, but surprisingly one of them was empty-handed. And it got him curious. A man of average height, dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes. There was a sense of kindness in his features like a diligent farmer toiling under the bright sun. Yet looks could be deceiving.

Zach had a thought that perhaps this kind-looking man was classless like him, or he could be one of those adventurous spirits that dared take a step towards the arcane. But he doubted it though. Unlike back in his past life where magic was seen as this great thing of freedom and wonder on the big screen, this new life on the other hand saw magic as a vile art that instituted cowardice and evil.

So for now, Zach leaned more to his pessimist side, and he was thinking that this dude might be one of those remnants of the Sun’s Flesh. On second thought, Zach sort of missed the closest one to him. He eyed Mathias up and down and didn’t see anything that could relate him to a class. At the moment, he made a mental note to keep an eye on these two.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Mathias gathered his people, converging near the bank of the pond. Based on how lightly they dressed and their prominent nose bridges, they were definitely people under the governance of the Solskjaer. No wonder Mathias managed to claim leadership over these people. Despite having ill-reputation, Mathias was still the son of the House of Solskjaer.

“True to what the old chap said, we’re blind here,” Mathias said. His voice drew the gazes of the people of Sommerland. “From what the lovely voluptuous lady told me, we’re in here for a war. But the question is, against who exactly?”

“From the way I see it, it might be you,” Dayana said. Her arms crossed over her chest.

“Appreciate the attention, love. But I don’t dig barren lands,” Mathias fired back.

Dayana was readied to give it another go, but Zach came in between. She was relentless. Those words from Mathias definitely pricked her soft spot. Zach even had to hug her by the waist just to keep her from scratching Mathias with her nails. The commotion went on as Mathias only made it worse. He was stupid enough to mention the disadvantages of having no volume on the chest, narrating it like a jester poking fun at a King.

“Unhand me, so I can cut this demon in human skin to pieces,” Dayana roared.

While the nobles bickered, the anxious Sommerlains just watched at a distance. They knew well not to get involved in an argument between high caste people.

“Enough!” Zach said. His voice silenced the whole racket as all eyes were on him.

Dayana who was in his grasp stared at Zach speechless. At the same time, she realized she was in the arms of a man. Something she had never done before more so with a stranger no less. She pushed his arms away and properly stood befitting a lady of her status.

Mathias too had some second thoughts about Zach. For the first time, he looked at Zach more properly, and then he realized something.

“I don’t know what feud between you two, and I don’t care,” Zach said. “Right now all I want to do is to return back home safely in one piece. So if all of you are on board, let’s figure things out and get moving.”

His rational words were met with silence. Dayana pondered. Mathias grinned. While the Sommerlains were shocked that a pleb would dare talk this way to these two great nobles.

“I know the importance of teamwork in this situation. But something begs a question,” Dayana said. “What qualification do you have to command two heirs of the great noble houses?”

Mathias grinned wider. For a while, he had been staring at Zach quite strongly. But before Zach could answer. Mathias volunteered on his behalf. “Why else? He’s one of us.”

Dayana frowned. Her gaze grew stronger towards Zach.

“Sir, it might be rude of me, but may I know from what house you hail?” Dayana asked. The revelation of Zach being a noble turned her to a much polite side.

“Is this necessary?” Zach asked. Even if they knew his name, they wouldn’t recognize him nor were they acquainted.

“It isn’t, but I’m curious though,” Mathias jumped into the conversation. “The nobles I knew like to flaunt their status, me especially.” Mathias gave a fake smile. “And if it wasn’t for me staring rather strongly at a man, much to my displeasure of course. Then I wouldn’t have known such high-quality clothes. Clothes that you could only find in Feywood.”

“Gardwin?” Dayana said. Her gaze softened a bit before opening wide like a saucer.

“I humbly apologize,” Dayana said. Her head bowed lightly in the posture of courtesy, befitting a noble lady. Realizing who she faced, Dayana tried her best to calm herself down. She had been quite pompous to someone from the Gardwin house, and judging by the older appearance then she assumed Zach might be one of the prominent people in Feywood.

“She changed quite fast,” Mathias said. “But I don’t get why would she be this courteous to someone around our age.”

Mathias’ words tugged a string in Dayana’s heart.

“Jokes have their limit, Mathias,” Dayana said. But he ignored her.

“Let's see. Black hair, and grey eyes. Quite an inter—”

“Enough,” Zach said. “I’m Zachary Gardwin, and I’m a noble. Is that enough? Can we move on now?”

“You’re younger than me by a year,” Dayana stood up. Looking at Zach up and down. “But what’s wrong with your face?”

“Hmm, you’re right flat bread. His face is disgustingly ugly for a noble,” Mathias said. Stroking his chin, grateful for being blessed by great visuals.

Despite being the type to always ignore what people said, being called disgustingly ugly pricked him quite a bit. “It’s a long story, and I prefer not—”

“Ah!” the scream of a man cut Zach off. All eyes fell upon the kneeling man. Then he plopped on the ground, headfirst as everyone saw what was jutting behind his bloody back.

‘Is that a stinger?’ Zach asked himself. It was his first thought and for a stinger, it was multiple times bigger than what he was used to seeing. Then it snapped him to reality.

“Take cover!”

He shouted as danger lurked between the trees.