'Argh! My head hurts!' Aizen opened his eyes and came across an unfamiliar ceiling.
'Where am I?' He got up and saw that he was in a luxurious room. Furniture and decorations made of gold seemed to be everywhere.
'What place is this?'
*door opening*
"Ah! Aizen-Sama, so you're awake!" A maid came into the room with some medicines.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Aizen asked with a serious expression.
"Calm down, Aizen-Sama! You are at the Duke's house." The maid explained.
"Duke…" Aizen remembered that Elizabeth was the Duke's daughter.
"I'll let you know about your awakening." The maid hurriedly left the room.
Aizen got up from the bed and walked towards the window. Outside he could see Elizabeth training some soldiers.
'This girl doesn't get tired?'
Aizen sat back down on the bed. He decided to see the Lich's loot.
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Level 20>35
Loot:
Apocalyptic scroll
Necromantic magic book
Fragment of the Magnus Key
Ring of souls
Gold coins: 30
Quest Reward: Mystery Box
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His level has increased a lot. He won 4 items.
When Aizen was about to see the item information, the door opened again.
A middle-aged man entered the room and looked at Aizen. Aizen figured that man would be Duke Silverlake.
'This guy has a high level!' He was amazed to learn that he couldn't see the Duke's level, Probably because the Duke had a level higher than 75. Players' analysis skills couldn't see other people's level when their level was much lower.
"Hello-"
"Thanks!!" The Duke didn't wait for Aizen to speak and hugged him suddenly.
"E-Eh?" Aizen was surprised and confused by this guy's sudden affection.
"Thanks! I heard you saved Elizabeth. I don't know how to thank you for that!" The Duke loved his daughter very much. He couldn't bear to hear the news of her death. For the Duke, Elizabeth was his hope.
"You do not need to thank me." Aizen pushed the Duke away from him.
"How about dinner? I'll reward you accordingly." The Duke suggested.
"Well, I don't see any problems." He was a merchant. Rewards=Profit.
"Alright, I'll prepare-"
*Bam! (door opening)*
"Daughter?!"
Elizabeth ignored the Duke and walked towards Aizen, and hugged him.
"I am glad that you are fine!" She said.
"Killing me is harder than you think." Aizen said, with a weak smile.
…
"You can let go of me now." Aizen said when he saw that Elizabeth was still clinging to him.
"A-Ah! I'm sorry." She released him, her face a little red.
'Daughter…' The Duke felt a pang in his heart when he saw this scene.
"Let's go for a walk, I can show you some interesting things."
Elizabeth and Aizen left the room leaving the Duke alone.
'They grow so fast.'
-
Elizabeth showed the Silverlake house to Aizen; Gardens, training rooms, library, etc. Aizen had to admit that this house was very big.
"Do you want some books?" Elizabeth took some magic books from the library.
"No problem?"
"It doesn't." Elizabeth gave him the books.
There were expert books on all the basics. Moreover, there's a book on master mana manipulation.
"Are you sure about that?" Aizen hadn't seen any books on master mana manipulation in the mage guild library. That is, this book is inaccessible to common people. The library of mage guilds sells books that are accessible to all people. Some books are inaccessible to the masses (common people in general).
"Do not tell anyone." Elizabeth smiled. Of course, she was kidding. There was no problem with Aizen having this book.
"Okay, okay." Aizen kept the book in his inventory.
Elizabeth sat beside him.
"Tell me… how did you find out that Balrus was the Lich?"
"Well, he had shown some strange behavior. But I was sure of that the moment you started fighting the Tyrant. Didn't it cross your mind that the person your father hired to protect you was weaker than you?"
"..." Elizabeth was silent. She was embarrassed at this point. Yes, it was obvious, how could her father hire someone weaker than her to protect her?
Aizen had also noticed other strange behavior. Balrus/Lich had said before that the city smelled awful. How did he know that? He had never entered the city. Of course, most of the time cities with a lot of negative energy can end up having a bad smell, since the undead smelled bad. This behavior by Balrus wasn't meaningless, and most people didn't care.
However, when Balrus left town with the group on the first day, he continued to wear the mask. It makes no sense. The reason for this is because Lich's have a lot of negative energy in their souls, so when they have a living body, that body starts to rot. After going through the barrier that Elizabeth put up, his face probably started to rot more quickly, so he continued with the mask on.
"The night you first spoke to me, I had entered the city alone just before that and discovered that there were many magic circles around the city. I didn't destroy them, because that might alert the Lich. The next day, I tried to find out what these magic circles were linked to. Before your fight with the Tyrant, I found out that these magic circles were linked with some item. I waited for a moment of distraction from the Lich (fighting the Tyrant) and took the item (crystal). "
Elizabeth was delighted with Aizen's intelligence.
"Thanks… I was careless."
"Don't worry about it. Let's go, your father must be getting mad." Aizen patted Elizabeth's head and left.
'Why are you treating me like a child?' Elizabeth felt strange. Aizen looked like her younger brother, but he was playing her older brother.
-
Aizen was at the dinner table with the Duke and Elizabeth. He didn't see Elizabeth's mother, so he thought she was busy or something.
"I will introduce myself properly. My name is Xavier Silverlake. This is my daughter Elizabeth Silverlake. May I know her name?" the Duke asked.
Elizabeth realized a big problem. She didn't know Aizen's name. How could she spend so much time with him and not have asked his name? It was so amusing that she barely noticed this problem.
"My name is Aizen LightStar. I'm a merchant" Aizen introduced himself.
"Aizen LightStar… Aizen… LightStar? I feel like I've heard that name somewhere." The Duke muttered.
"So it's you!" Elizabeth has already managed to identify him. Unlike her father, she always checks for guild news. Some of Aizen's information is public, for example, his profession. Aizen also added some information to his "resume", for example, the Rank 4 magic blacksmith.
Non-combatant classes have mastery rankings. The ranks are according to the rank of items they can make.
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Rank 1 | people who can make Rank C(common) items
Rank 2 | People who can make Rank I (uncommon) items
Rank 3 | R Rating (Rare)
Rank 4 | SR Rating (Super Rare)
Rank 5 | EP Rating (Epic)
Rank 6 | L Rating (Legendary)
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These are the KNOWN classifications. Aizen is a rank 4 magic blacksmith.
Elizabeth told her father some of Aizen's stories.
"Rank 4 magic blacksmith? How old are you?"
"15." Aizen replied.
"15?!" Even Elizabeth was surprised. She thought he was older.
"Hahaha! What a promising young man. Wonderful!" The Duke was elated. Humans could live over 200 years if they were powerful. The Duke was excited about this young man's future achievements.
They talked some more until the Duke got to the main subject.
"Young Aizen, I want to reward you for saving my daughter's life."
