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Just who was this boy? This was the plain and simple question on the mind of Greg Burton, steward of the Marquess of Trahn, who was currently acting as Katarina’s advisor. This boy, Noah...who had introduced himself as “just Noah.”
To be frank, the word “just” made him sound more suspicious instead of less. If he really were nobody special, he wouldn’t have added that word; people would have assumed as much without him needing to say so. But this Noah had such a captivating charisma that nobody could dismiss him. From the very moment they’d met, both Greg and his mistress Katarina’s attention was forcibly drawn to him. After all, Noah had effortlessly defeated the people who had attacked them.
Half of the assailants’ group had been people they’d hired as escorts, and the other half had suddenly popped up out of hiding along the road. Judging by this, they had clearly been stationed there ahead of time in order to take Katarina’s life. Their belongings only indicated them as rogues, and they had no uniting emblems whatsoever, so this was actually further evidence. Even rogues—especially rogues—often wore some distinct symbol to boast their strength.
The most easily recognized of these were tattoos. They would get tattoos with designs based on symbols of evil or the name of their organization, to show they belonged to the same gang of robbers or underground society. This elevated the group’s identity and sense of belonging, and could also be used for intimidation. When they attacked in a group and one of their number was killed, they could often be tracked down through this, but that didn’t matter to them. They would instead use it to claim that they could be anywhere—that they were snakes poised to strike the moment an enemy let down their guard. The terror they instilled persisted even beyond the grave.
But while the assailants in this instance certainly had that kind of vibe, they didn’t have any body markings or common belongings. It was like they were intentionally signaling that they were plain old lowlifes with no affiliation to any group. These were the kinds of people employed for carrying out assassinations against powerful figures...which was exactly what had almost happened here. People who were planned to be used for these objectives were often trained and taught much better than the average thug.
Simply put, they were strong. And a whole group of them had attacked.
Half of Katarina’s actual escort had been hired men, and the other half had served her family. But even then, it was a tough battle, and they’d been beaten down to only a few survivors. They were by no means weak. And yet, Noah and his companions had defeated the enemy without a hitch.
Greg hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, but that was what the surviving soldiers had reported. According to them, Noah had stood at the vanguard and killed the majority of the enemy with astonishing swordsmanship. The beastmen were each mighty too, and had defeated their opponents without a single injury. There had even been powerful magic fired off from somewhere. The boy had a startling arsenal at his command.
He had to be someone special. It was plain to see. But he himself denied it, which in itself was startling.
That was why Greg’s first and foremost thought was that he should conduct things in such a way to keep Noah and Katarina from interacting as much as possible. Noah’s power was a threat.
Greg had to make sure that this power wouldn’t be turned against the House. And on the other hand, it would be risky to let Noah get too involved with Katarina. That was why the best course of action would be to give the boy a reward and get the whole thing over with. But Noah didn’t even want a reward. He’d said that he was just satisfied to have saved them and he didn’t need anything else.
This seemed somewhat suspicious. It was conceivable that he might’ve fended off the attack in order to gain her trust. But Greg quickly understood that this would have been superfluous. It would have been a lot more convenient for anyone targeting Katarina to just kill her instead of trying to gain her trust. With forces as powerful as Noah’s, they wouldn’t need to take the indirect approach. In conclusion, it was very likely that Noah really was happy just to have saved her.
Of course, Greg hoped that Noah would just continue on his way if this was really the case. But he knew his mistress well. She wouldn’t let the person who’d saved her life leave without any reward.
He recalled that the Marquess of Trahn had been quite similar in his younger days. But while he was glad that she resembled her father in that way, he also sincerely thought that this would be a tremendous bother.
This feeling worsened when he noticed how Katarina regarded Noah with something fervid in her gaze. It didn’t seem to be an emotion with a clear name. But considering the situation—a good-looking, somewhat coarse man the same age as her, coming to her rescue in her moment of peril... Greg was getting up in years, but he knew the kind of feelings that would produce. And at the rate things were going...
That was why Greg drew out what Noah’s wants were. Unexpectedly, Noah wanted some proof of identification not just for himself, but for the beastmen that accompanied him as well.
This would be the perfect opportunity. Greg made a suggestion to Katarina. At the time, he hadn’t yet realized that this was both a grave mistake and a great stroke of luck.