'The atmosphere is really tense for some reason'

The little fairy girl said in her mind as she poured a cup of tea for Revlo, she was trying her best to hide her nervousness.

She heard various rumors about the town lord's fiery temperament and tyrannical methods but she couldn't help but make a weird face seeing the man in question wearing a flattering smile.

'Are those just rumors after all? Is this the town lord's true face?'

The little fairy girl thought.

Stewart could tell what the little fairy girl standing across was thinking but he didn't care one bit about ruining his image, currying favor with the kid in front of him was his utmost priority.

"The village in the north, Gevon Village, I heard interesting stories about you"

Revlo said, his voice was calm and his visage looked indifferent.

The town lord's body suddenly tensed up and stiffened even further.

Gevon Village is the name of the village where Revlo lived along with his parents and sister, he only just learned the name after his departure.

When the village celebrated and congratulated him on his journey, he heard some hearsay about gossip involving the town lord.

Unfortunately, the contents of the gossip were anything but positive.

Revlo overheard that there was an edict for the villagers to leave, even though the village is 2-days away via carriage, it was still under the jurisdiction of the Baron's territory.

As for why he wants every villager to evacuate and leave their homes?

It was discovered that there was a large cold iron vein just beneath the center of the village.

The town lord wanted to turn that place into a mining area and extract the ores but the village was in the way and that is why he wanted everyone to leave.

Of course, the town lord promised them some form of compensation.

But this is where the problem lies.

Pretty much every single villager there didn't want to move.

The reason? 

Revlo credited that to sentimental attachment.

Most of them grew up and lived there for their whole lives, moving away without notice made it even more difficult to accept and as result, they were averse to the idea of moving.

They kept refusing the edict over and over again that it had gotten to the point that the town lord had reached his tolerance limit and warned the villagers that if they refuse again, he will have to use force and imprison them.

If it weren't for the sudden appearance of the dungeon, the town lord would've terrorized the village before Revlo left for his journey.

There was a limit on how much he could tolerate that the town lord had to use threats to force them out.

The villagers themselves could have the option of seeking the help of Revlo's parents but didn't bother them with it since they don't have the guts to ask them for help.

The house where Revlo lived was slightly far away from the rest, their house was located on the top of the mountain while the rest lived at the foot of the mountain.

Even if the village turned into a mining area and got wiped off the map, Revlo's home would not be affected at all.

Since they showed Revlo some goodwill, the latter thought he should help them out and with his background, doing so would not be that difficult.

As a result, Revlo didn't hide his identity as a member of the Mason Clan and predicted that the town lord would come knocking on his doors to meet up with him to curry favor or at least give his greetings.

If it weren't for the problem that plague the village then Revlo wouldn't have bothered to reveal his identity since there would be all sorts of people that would rush to meet up with him.

"..." 

The town lord remained silent ever since Revlo mentioned that village.

The latter looked at him in the eyes and the town lord hurriedly lowered his head to look at the ground as sweat trickled down his forehead.

This scene looked to be no different from when a parent would scold their children.

'Why is he asking about that village?'

The town lord questioned in his mind, he obviously didn't know that two legendary figures lived in that very same village that he was threatening to terrorize.

Even though both Vorne and Celine didn't put any sort of effort to try to hide their whereabouts, the people in the know such as the villagers and the people close to them did not divulge or disclose this information.

They were not insensitive people and could tell that Vorne and Celine wanted to live a normal life and raise a family.

If it was known to everyone that these two overpowered individuals lived in that remote village then the town lord would shit his pants knowing that he dared to think of uprooting the seemingly harmless village.

'Of course, father and mother would not sit still if they did that but I like taking the initiative'

Revlo thought.

"I heard that you were planning to imprison every resident there because they refused to move just for some cold iron"

The way Revlo spoke about cold iron sounded as if he was talking about some worthless garbage.

The town lord's left eye twitched at this but chose to remain silent.

Cold Iron was a precious material and could fetch a fortune which is why the town lord coveted it so much and wouldn't even mind imprisoning or killing a bunch of people if it meant he could get his hands on it.

"Excuse me, may I ask what is sir's connection to that village" 

The town lord respectfully said.

He was genuinely curious about what sort of attachment Revlo had with that village for someone with an amazing background like him to speak up for their sake like this.

"Am I obligated to answer you?"

Revlo narrowed his eyes at the town lord's question, the pressure in the surroundings suddenly turned heavy.

"No, no, I dare not, I ask sir for forgiveness" 

The town lord nervously said, his heartbeat suddenly quickened like a frightened deer getting chased down by a lion.

"The thing is, I need you to stop bothering them, am I clear?"

Revlo clarified his intention.

"Yes, yes"

The town lord nodded his head like a woodpecker as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

Revlo put his hands in his side bag and pulled out a fist-sized clump of metal.

The town lord's interest was suddenly piqued and was curious about what Revlo just pulled out.

His brows suddenly shot up when he recognized what it was.

"Mithril?"

The town lord muttered, his voice quivered.

"Here"

Revlo tossed the piece of mithril towards the town lord without any care.

The town lord was stunned, with his reflexes, he had no problem catching it but he couldn't stop his hands from trembling when he held this particular metal in his hands.

"This... "

Seeing the texture and appearance that is similar to the one that he had seen in books, the town lord could confirm that this was an actual piece of mithril.

"If you sell it in an auction, it would sell just as much as you would've earned if you mined the entire cold iron vein or maybe even more"

Revlo said while sipping tea, he didn't want to leave the town lord empty-handed and this could be considered his compensation for making the town lord unable to extract the cold iron vein.

The town had his mouth wide open when he stared at the mithril in his hands, even though the size was not that impressive and could not come close to being enough to craft anything out of it, however, this piece was already enough to fetch a large sum.

Even though it was not as impressive as Fantarium or Adamantium, Mithril was not something easy to come by for most people.

"I-is it alright for sir to hand something like this so casually?"

The town lord said, his reverence and respect for Revlo deepened further, his actions in being indifferent even after giving away such a precious metal left the town lord in awe.

'As expected of a child from the Mason Clan'

The town lord thought.

In the Doni Kingdom, mithril could be considered a valuable resource that could send people into a frenzy but to a massive superpower like the Mason Clan, mithril was no different from a piece of iron.

Suddenly. the town lord had a flash of enlightenment.

Sure, Revlo said he gave him this piece of mithril as compensation for being unable to mine the cold iron vein under that village.

But the town lord knew that the value of this mithril surpassed the cold iron vein by a lot.

Revlo gave this piece of mithril to the town lord to make it harder for the latter to garner favor from the former.

Revlo knew this which is why he had no qualms in giving the piece of mithril away.

It was something that he got from a gift that he received from one of his parent's friends that visited his home.

The town lord weighed the benefits and losses in his mind, should he accept this or not?

The town lord was stuck in between a rock and hard place, he calculated that it was better to not accept this and tried to return it to Revlo with a fawning smile.

"Are you rejecting my sincerity?"

Revlo's cold voice reached his ears, it contained a hint of anger and displeasure like Revlo will tear the town lord's face if he rejected Revlo's gift.

Cold sweat ran down the town lord's back and meekly put the mithril in his pockets as the town lord tried to continue their conversation.

Their meeting continued while the town lord was trying his best to flatter Revlo as much as he could or said some things in an attempt to earn Revlo's favor but the latter only said some perfunctory replies.

The town lord sighed at Revlo's attitude, this kid was much harder to deal with than he thought, he could also tell that Revlo was getting more and more impatient with him.

The sun was starting to set as the clouds were dyed with the color of orange,  the inn was strangely empty with Revlo being the only customer,  the town lord and his entourage of knights had already left a while ago.

Seeing an empty floor that would usually be noisy, the mother-daughter duo smiled bitterly, their heads were still filled with the memories of the meeting between Revlo and the town lord.

Today, they experienced the town lord's true face, he acted like an obedient dog toward a 9-year-old, compliments and words of flattery kept leaving his mouth in a never-ending stream.

"I never thought I would see the day that our inn would become this empty"

The little fairy said as she put her head over her arms and leaned on it while gazing at the stairway that led to the second floor.

*Boom

*BOOM

*BOOM!!!

Explosions resounded in a certain area of the forest, different colored lights intertwined and clashed with each other causing shockwaves to spread out in the surroundings.

The mana in the surroundings has become chaotic as two powerful master rank champions battled each other.

Jacob, who was surrounded by an ethereal glow, gave off a terrifying pressure that gave the surrounding monsters chills down their spine.

His opponent, however, was unfazed and gave off a terrifying pressure of his own as their auras collided creating large sparks of lightning and blinking lights to appear on their contact point.

Covered with a baleful aura, the cloaked man manipulated mana and gathered them in his arms, black energy started to gather and formed large claws and shot it towards the vice guildmaster at breakneck speed.

Jacob dodged to the side but was a millisecond too late as he lost his left arm due to the attack, blood gushed out like a fountain, he looked back only to see that his missing arm was still flying in the air before it landed abruptly on the ground.

Jacob gritted his teeth and endured the pain, his right hand lit up in green light and put it on his left shoulder to cauterize the bleeding.

He could see some form of dark energy attaching himself to him and was slowly spreading out like an infection, Jacob didn't know what this magic was but he was certain it was not a good thing. 

He obviously could tell that it was some sort of curse, the more the black thing on his body spread, the weaker he got, he had to split his attention in fighting and preventing this curse from spreading further.

Despite the state he was in, he didn't panic and remained calm as he stared at the man across him who was similarly staring back at him.

Jacob turned his head to look left and right and he could vaguely see a large magic array that locked him in this place like a cage and therefore prevented him from escaping.

It also had the function of blocking any mana and sounds from leaking which is the reason why no one noticed that a battle was taking place in this area.

"There is no way that he could set up a magic array this big without me noticing"

He looked down at the ground, the two were flying in the air but not too high, as master ranks, levitation could easily be achieved but going any higher would be difficult.

"If he didn't set up the magic array on the spot, there has got to be an array plate hidden somewhere around here then"

Jacob calmly analyzed the situation and calculated his next move.

"Are you done thinking up a plan to slow down your inevitable death?"

A cold but mocking voice entered Jacob's ears.

Jacob did not get angered by such an obvious attempt at provocation and his gaze was fixed on a staff that the cloaked man was holding.

It had a sinister design with a metal skull on top, it also had an orange gem on its forehead, Jacob could tell that it was a magic core of an actual dead champion and not an artificial one, the cloaked man was wielding a master ranked magic weapon.

Jacob also had a magic weapon once, but it had already been broken during his days as an adventurer.

The cloaked man was only a third-class master rank while Jacob himself was second class and was closely approaching the first class but the difference between having a magic weapon and not having one is the main reason why the vice guildmaster was losing.

Explosions could be heard once more and the two of them continued their clash.

At the roof of May's Inn...

A silhouette could be seen standing straight on the roof of the building that was exuding a majestic and powerful aura.

His eyes shined in gold and gazed in the direction where the battle between the vice guildmaster and the mysterious cloaked man was taking place.

"How compelling"

Revlo said, his body was covered in wisps of black smoke and merged with the shadows, he vanished on the spot.

 

<<Afterward>>

Celine: Damn, what's with you acting all chuuni and sh*t at the end.

Revlo: ...

Vorne: You know, Revlo, you could've left in dealing the town lord to us.

Celine: Brat, that piece of mithril was given by your uncle Benzen, how could you just give that away?

Revlo: It was just collecting dust in my inventory anyway and I have no use for it.

Meona: Ugh, watching the events in this chapter made me feel sick, I'm so disappointed in my dad.