Aria and Ren looked around; fewer than a dozen knights were surrounding them.
They all had cautious expressions, wondering where the two had come from and whether they were a threat.
There were more knights, but most were still lying on the ground from the poisonous gas.
Thankfully, after the assassin was accidentally dealt with, along with the assassin's consciousness, the gas also dissipated.
Taking a glance at the knights lying on the ground, it was clear that most, if not all, were still alive and breathing, letting out groans of pain,
"Who are you?! State your purpose!"
The pair turned their gazes from the surrounding knights to the person who shouted.
An old man approached through the knights, his attire was that of a butler's, yet Ren noticed that the man's frame was oddly large for the role, leading him to conclude that the old man was both a bodyguard and a butler.
The one who questioned them was Thetford, who, while staring at the two cautiously, occasionally glanced behind the knights with worry.
Relia was crying behind the surrounding knights, trying to compose herself.
'T-to think Her Highness was so affected by the assassin, I should have known!'
Thetford was surprised yet understood the girl's reaction.
Although nearing adulthood, Relia was still a young teenager; it was impossible for someone her age to stay completely calm in the face of death.
'She must have put on a brave face so the knights wouldn't worry. We have grown complacent under the Aureus name!'
As thoughts of the harsh training Thetford would put the knights and himself through crossed his mind, he took his gaze away from Relia and looked back at the pair.
'Then who are these two?'
Sitting on the ground was a handsome boy with black hair and dark, focused blue eyes that seemed like the ocean waves, holding a heavy determination.
What was most noticeable to Thetford was his unusually pale skin.
'A vampire?'
Vampires were another race living in the world known for their pale skin and, most of all, their tendency to absorb blood to become stronger.
But after some thought, Thetford shook his head internally.
'Vampires have red eyes, then could it be a disguise? That can't be it, my senses are dull after retiring, but not that dull.'
Thetford took his attention away from the seated Ren and focused on the girl standing beside the boy.
Her shoulder length hair was a light hazel, and her golden eyes, formerly dull, now glimmered like sunlight after ranking up.
She looked lively compared to the pale boy, her appearance bearing traces of a beauty ready to blossom, but she was currently leaning more on the cute side than the beautiful.
The girl's young age was contrasted by her oddly mature eyes.
Aria looked around at the knights curiously before glancing at the boy beside her in worry.
'They're quite young, about the same age as her highness… I doubt they're involved with the assassin.'
Thinking about it further, the two had even stopped the assassin, the only suspicious part was the sheer coincidence and timing of their appearance.
Concluding that the two were probably innocent, Thetford started to feel bad about shouting at them so aggressively.
But before he could rephrase his question, the boy stood up, gave a polite smile, and bowed.
"Hello, my name is Ren, and this is…"
Aria glanced at Ren for a couple of moments before turning back, with a smile herself,
"My name is Aria."
"Yes, and we…"
Ren's smile faded into a pained expression as if he had been wronged, and he slowly began to tell his grand story.
…
'They were kidnapped by a powerful mage who saw their potential, then forced into life threatening situations saving the world, before finally being sent to the outside world to gain experience via a thousand meter drop?'
The story was both improbable and quite frankly ridiculous. Thetford took a look at a bracelet around his wrist.
The bracelet was simple in its function; it had a white gem that glowed two colors, red for a lie and green for the truth.
The lie detector was currently glowing a soft green, indicating the truth. The bracelet's limit was both the tool's level and the rank of the person using it, but as a rank 3, getting the truth of two rank 1s was a piece of cake.
'Maybe they have a magical tool that blocks the lie detector?'
Thetford took a look at their equipment, although decent, it wasn't really the best of the best, and didn't have any magical enchantments.
Who in their right mind would get a magical tool to block a lie detector before even protecting themselves?
So it was clear to Thetford that they weren't lying, and as his suspicions disappeared, another feeling took its place.
'How pitiful. Saving the world? As if! They must have had a traumatic experience, especially at such a young age. I've heard stories of young children being kidnapped by eccentric mages and suffering under them; these two must be the same.'
The two had also reminded Thetford of his own grandchildren, a feeling of protectiveness and pity well up; their story had touched him quite deeply.
Seeing Thetford's sadness and supposed understanding of their story, Aria narrowed her eyes, glancing at Ren,
'That… worked?'
Ren returned her gaze with a confused one of his own,
'What do you mean that worked? Of course it did! I weave stories as easily as I breathe.'
Aria looked at him incredulously, then at the bracelet Thetford wore that was currently glowing,
'That bracelet… it started glowing when Ren spoke. Is it a recording device? But there isn't a reason for one with so many people around us.'
As she thought further, she realized what it was,
'A lie detector, the old man took a glance at it after hearing Ren's story, his suspicions disappeared after as well… wait? Doesn't that mean what Ren said was true?'
But as she started picking at his story, Aria nodded.
'Actually… isn't he telling the truth?'
They had been transmigrated, but it would be more accurate to say that they were kidnapped, after that they did save the world and killed gods.
And now they just fell from a massive drop, nearly dying, and although surprising, their story was far from the truth.
But for some reason, Aria felt oddly guilty from the gazes the knights and Thetford gave them.
Turning towards Ren, who met her eyes, he had the same expression as her as they both realized what was happening,
'They don't believe us!'
'They're looking at us like we're traumatized children…'
Even Relia, who had managed to compose herself and was listening to their story, couldn't help but stare with pity.
'To think they've gone through all of that at such a young age… and here I thought I had it rough.'
Although nothing was said, immense emotions flowed in the atmosphere, much to Aria and Ren's dismay.
…
After trying to explain themselves to the group and unintentionally making the pity even worse, Ren and Aria could only sigh in frustration as Thetford approached, bowing courteously,
"Thank you, Sir Ren and Lady Aria, without you, Her Highness would have been injured or even worse, she could have been..."
Thetford both didn't want to voice the thought or even think about it further.
This incident was a spectacular failure of the Aureus knights, who were meant to protect the Aureus bloodline and, by extension, the teacher who taught said knights.
Even though Thetford was retired and wasn't even a knight, but instead a butler, he felt responsible for the assassination nearly succeeding.
But before Thetford could continue, Relia cut him off,
"Thetford, it's fine, I'm alright, aren't I?"
"Your highness…"
The butler looked worriedly towards Relia, who merely shook her head with a smile before turning towards the pair.
"In any case, you two are my benefactors."
Relia walked towards the two before bowing, much to the shock of Thetford and her knights.
It was normal to be respectful to people who saved your life, yet for nobles of the Rael Empire, especially a noble from one of the only 6 households holding the title of Duke, bowing was typically only given towards the royal family.
'If I can't show my sincerity for people who saved my life, what's the point of being thankful in the first place?'
She ignored their gazes of shock, continuing her introduction,
"My name is Relia Aureus, second daughter of Duke Aureus."
Her long golden blonde hair swayed as she looked up, her sapphire eyes glimmered brightly as she gave a kind smile.
"It's only natural to reward you for this incident, be it gold, information, or even a noble title. As an Aureus. I will see to it that your troubles aren't fruitless."
Seeing the young lady so composed, it caused Aria and Ren to also compose themselves, with Ren smiling in return as he fell into thought.
'Interesting, I understand the language, could this be the system's doing? Anyways… Noble house? And a Duke of the Rael Empire? Shouldn't that rank be right under royalty? Is this a good or bad thing?'
As a certain understanding of the world they were in came into view, Ren then peeked at Aria.
Aria had also fallen into thought, but for a different reason, seeing that she was deeply thinking Ren decided to take it upon himself to answer, bowing deeply.
'What should I do? I guess, since she's a noble, I gotta act humble.'
"It is an honor to meet someone as esteemed as you, Lady Relia, or is Your Highness more appropriate?"
As Ren looked up, he was met with Relia's laugh,
"Hehe, Lady Relia is fine, I'm not one for such specifics."
'Ugh, I leaned in way too much! Wasn't Aria a noble? Why isn't she helping!? No… I can use this to my advantage! She thinks I'm young and a commoner, so isn't it normal to act this way?'
In his last life in the Abyss, there wasn't really a civilization left for etiquette to be important, and on top of that, Ren was living on the edge of death day by day. What need would he have to learn etiquette?
Of course, he wasn't dumb enough to talk casually, but the little intricacies of the skill weren't well ingrained in his mind.
Relia tilted her head at Ren's words before chuckling, seeming to understand that a commoner like Ren probably wasn't well versed in noble etiquette.
'He really reminds me of when I first started learning etiquette.'
As a person from Earth, Relia had a hard time adjusting to noble life, especially the etiquette of the world.
On Earth, she was quite the introvert, so learning how to act with the air of nobility was, safe to say, troubling to her.
Feeling somewhat nostalgic, Relia smiled, signalling Ren to continue speaking.
"As we mentioned in our story, we aren't from here, so..."
Relia understood what Ren wanted to say, nodding along,
"So you don't know what you want, right? That's okay, it would be unbefitting of me to force my benefactors into a choice."
"Yes, thank you very much, Lady Relia."
Ren smiled, happy that the noble understood his intention. During this moment, Relia turned to Aria, who had been staring at her the entire time,
"Is something wrong, Lady Aria?"
Noticing what Aria was doing, Ren sent her a message,
'What's up, Aria? You've been distracted?'
Aria smiled, reassuring him,
'I'm fine, but look at this.'
Aria pulled Ren's attention towards a system window, and as he read it, his mind grew blank with surprise.
'Wait, really?'
'Yeah, really. Isn't she mature for her age?'
Ren tilted his head in confusion.
'So that's why you've been staring at her? I mean… I guess.'
Aria nodded in her mind,
'Yes, yes, I've been thinking about how we're going to tell her without being weird about it?'
'I was trying to tiptoe etiquette, and that's what you were thinking about?!'
Ren felt frustrated as Aria smiled, finding his reaction cute.
'I think you did pretty well, but… You shouldn't have bowed so low there since she already bowed; by bowing lower, you're actually rejecting her words. In fact, it could be seen as trying to make yourself equal to the noble in question, and also...'
Aria quickly listed the many mistakes that Ren made during his introduction, causing him to realize how hard it was to speak with nobles.
'Why the hell is it so complicated?'
Ren asked in shock, and Aria answered lightly,
'I'm just making an assumption. It might be different in this world, but nobles typically value vanity; if it's overly complex, it makes them look better if they can do it. Anyways, we should figure out what to say.'
Ren nodded,
'Well, if it isn't about etiquette, I already know what to say.'
Ren quickly explained it to Aria, who nodded, thinking it was appropriate.
'Hmmm? Then I'll leave it to you.'
Their conversation lasted only a couple of moments as Ren answered Relia's question.
"Haha, I apologize, Lady Relia, it's just that Aria hasn't seen a noble before, especially since there weren't any in our… hometown."
Ren put on a sad face after finishing his words. Their story was that they were kidnapped from their home, so to a outsider it was normal to assume that they would want to return to said hometown.
Since they were in a position where Relia wanted to help them, this would inevitably lead to her asking,
"Oh? If I may ask, what is the name of your hometown? I'm sure we can help find it for you."
Aria's eyes glowed as Ren smiled, taking a glance at the system window, speaking in excitement,
"Really!? We come from a village far from any big cities, and we don't use magic… You've probably never heard of it, though… It's called Earth."
Relia's eyes widened, trembling at Ren's words before composing herself.
"Earth, you say? I… think I may know of it."
***
[Mission]
Relia is a transmigrator from Earth; it would be best to befriend her.