I thought I would be living in a shed, instead, I found myself face to face with something similar to a rundown hotel. The walls of the building seemed to be built with moss instead of wood, and there were more holes than windows. I suddenly wished I could live in a shed instead. While I was having pointless thoughts, the servants who guided me here were busy putting my luggage inside. The one who led them was the same butler I saw in the Duke's office. As he guided me inside, he began to speak.

"Although the exterior isn't up to par, the interior has been refurbished, and the holes on the roof have been patched." He pointed upwards, implying I should check for myself.

He was right, the roof was patched, and everything inside seemed new. I no longer wished to live in a shed.

Seemingly satisfied with my expression, he pointed at a room and continued "Your luggage has been placed in this room, and your meals will be delivered daily. The master has told me to tell you that if anyone asks what you are doing in here, you are to say studying administration. If you have no other questions I shall take my leave."

I was too busy thinking about how this huge hotel will be my residence to respond to him. Everything here was bigger than I expected, even the bed in my room. It was like life gave me an upgrade for no reason. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I continued to stay here after Marquis Venson left.

The butler picked up on my happy atmosphere and silently left along with his colleagues. I was still stuck in dreamland when my door slammed open, shattering my dreams of being a hotel owner. Looks like Kasa came here earlier than me.

"Hey Rorik, looks like you got kicked out too huh."

"What do you mean kicked out? I got upgraded, so did you Kasa."

"Upgraded huh, you are positive in any circumstance huh. You aren't exactly wrong though, this place is much bigger than the shed I lived in. Do you know why we got 'upgraded'?"

"It's your brother's fiancee, it seems she will be staying in the mansion waiting for your brother so they can host their..." I stopped speaking as I noticed Kasa starting to frown. I tried my best to switch the topic.

"I brought as many romance novels as I could hold with me." I could see her expression brightening in real-time. "It's late right now, so I'll give them to you in the morning."

"It's fine you can keep them for now, it'll take me a few days to finish the ones you already brought me."

She was about to leave my room and close the door when she suddenly stopped and stared at me with a strange gaze.

"By the way, you did stop going to the prison when I told you right?"

"Of course I did" I lied without batting an eye. The last time she threatened me with a fireball, what if she threw one at me this time. "Why would you think otherwise?"

"It's because I overheard the servants saying you'll be miserable because this will be the first time you can't visit the prison for months."

Those damn bastards, why aren't they more careful with their words. Don't they know magicians can make the walls speak?

"Don't trust the servants Kasa, don't you already know that in this mansion, you can only trust me and I can only trust you?"

Kasa seemed satisfied with my answer, I saw a large grin across her face as she shut the door, saying "That's right, we can only trust each other."
Although she repeated what I spoke, something seemed off about her tone. I didn't put too much thought into it, it was getting late and I wanted to rest.

The next day, after eating breakfast, I began the next phase of my run-away plan, choosing a country to escape to. Alvaine, the country I live in, is called the vanguard nation. It's landlocked by mountains in the north and has the sea to its south. To its west, it has countries with friendly ties, and to its east, it faces the Land of Monsters. There isn't too much information on the Land of Monsters from the books I have, from what I can tell, it's just an area of land where many monsters reside. I didn't dwell too much on the east side, the Pendell family was a Dukedom on the east of the kingdom.

I narrowed down the possible escape countries to Nvira and Escene. Nvira accepted refugees and didn't have strong ties to Alvaine, so it would be an easy country to hide in. Escene was known as the mage country and had a reputation as a tourist country, with the influx of people visiting daily, I thought it would be hard to figure out when I entered and when I exited. Although I focused on these two countries, I didn't eliminate the other ones either.

As I continued to ponder which country I should escape to, I was approached by Kasa.