Ning walked up steep pathways and stairs to arrive in front of the main building in the fortress. The lord’s mansion.

The mansion itself had rocky walls with a giant metal gate. The guards standing outside it quickly opened when they saw their leader return with the beast.

“Follow me, and don’t move a single step out of line,” the girl said.

“Understood,” Ning said as he followed the girl.

Jenna immediately turned left, walking toward one of the corners of the mansion. The beast’s living space was outside the main mansion, so Ning followed her there.

A massive wooden gate was opened to let the beast in, but the beast didn’t go in at all. Instead, it remained around Ning outside, scaring everyone who believed it had gone wild.𝑶𝐕𝗅xt.𝒞𝑂𝔪

“Do you have any idea why it likes your sword?” the girl asked.

“I sometimes cut fruits with this sword because it’s sharp. I think that’s why,” Ning said.

The girl shook her head. “Toss your sword inside so we can contain the beast for now,” she said.

Ning hesitated a bit.

“What? Do you think us Tales are a thieving bunch who will steal from you?” the woman asked.

“Oh, no, no,” Ning quickly said. “I’ll put in the sword.”

He tossed the sword into the dark room. It reached quite deep into the room, and the beast followed behind it.

“It will most likely calm down in a bit and fall asleep. We will let you know and you can take your sword back,” the girl said.

“Thank you, uhh… miss Jenna,” Ning said respectfully.

“Don’t thank me,” Jenna said. “We should be the ones thanking you. Thank you for coming with us.”

Ning nodded. “Sorry for being a problem. I had no idea my sword would cause such reactions from the beast,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jenna said. “We will let you know when the beast goes to sleep so you can take your sword and leave. For now… you can stay in the mansion.”

“Thank you,” Ning said and followed the girl. The young lord ignored the two of them and went over to check on the beast first.

“What’s your name?” the girl asked as Ning followed her.

“Ning,” he answered.

“Where are you from, Ning?” she asked.

“No idea,” he replied. “I have missing memories, and I’m going around trying to see if I can reawaken them.”

The girl asked a few more questions, obviously trying to figure out about him, but Ning circled around the truth, never revealing that he was now a member of a gang. He was still not sure how the lord would react to such news.

The girl couldn’t find any information about the sword from Ning and was forced to stop asking questions to make it any more obvious.

“You said you came to the city just a while ago, right? Then you must not have eaten anything yet,” the girl said.

“Actually, no,” Ning said. “I was on my way to some restaurant when the beast found me. I’m famished right now.”

The girl smiled. “Come, I will ask the servants to get you something to eat.”

Ning nodded and followed her into her home.

He was taken to a living room where the walls were covered with moving images that were certainly made up of light capture from the day when these pictures were taken.

There was an older man with a long mustache shaking hands with someone in a fake wig. The old man had features that were similar to the girl that had brought him in and the man that had tried to capture him.

‘Must be their father,’ Ning thought. He looked around and judging by how the photo was next to a woman that was obviously the girl’s mother, he guessed that the father was dead too.

He ate the food that was brought to him and waited. With nothing else to do, he simply sat around doing nothing.

A few minutes later, he heard multiple footsteps coming in his direction. He peeked a glance and saw that it was the young lord.

“You,” the young man shouted the moment he saw him. “I want you to sell that sword to me.”

“I can’t,” Ning said. “It’s an important sword for me.”

“I’ll give you whatever money you want,” the man said. “Just let me have that sword.”

Ning frowned. “You can’t even pick it up. What’s the point?” he asked.

“I want it for little Bong. He is very happy with the sword around him,” the man said.

Ning shook his head. “I can’t do that,” he said. “I will take my sword and leave.”

“I will pay you any—”

“I don’t need your money,” Ning said. “I have no intention of selling it at all. You can’t put a price on something of mine that I don’t want to sell.”

The young man frowned. “Don’t even think about leaving this place then. Guards, make sure he never gets out,” he shouted in frustration and walked away.

The guards looked troubled as keeping Ning here without his consent when he hadn’t done anything wrong was not something the guards were used to doing.

They were guards of this city and were under the young lord, but in the end, they were really just the guards of the Empire itself. No matter what their young lord wanted, if the Empire’s law was against it, they couldn’t do anything.

They thought for a bit and discussed something on their own before sending away one of the guards.

The guards returned with Jenna in their tow. “He did what now?” the girl asked when she heard the arrangements her brother had prepared for Ning.

“You idiots! Shouldn’t you have helped him?” the girl shouted at the guards.

The guards apologized immediately, so Jenna couldn’t find a person to vent her anger on. In the end, she sighed.

“I’m so sorry about my brother’s actions,” she said. “I will make it up to you somehow.”