The old bartender chuckled. "My name is Xilo."
"That is a young name." Silas smirked and enjoyed his drink.
Roland observed the exchange and silently drank his milk. After that, Old Gin came back and guided them to the room.
They climbed up the stairs and reached the second floor. The room Old Gin reserved was a large room fitted for at least four people but Silas and Roland were the only people staying here.
The rest were on the third floor.
Silas sat on the bed and lay there, waiting for his men to settle in. After Old Gin placed everyone and ordered them to relax, he came to Silas's room.
He knocked gently and heard a murmur. Soon, the door opened and he was greeted by a young knight similar to the sun.
"Hi, there."
Old Gin nodded and entered inside.
Silas was laying on the bed. He noticed Old Gin and stood up, pointing at the empty chair.
"Sat down. I want to discuss my plan with you two." He said flatly.
The two followed and sat down, waiting for the young master's words.
Silas didn't speak and continued playing with mana in his hands. He tried to make it circle clockwise, creating a ring.
It was a training he came up with to increase mana manipulation. It was nothing special.
"What should I say?" Silas said. "Anyway, before I lay down my plan, I want to know the capabilities of my people. Old Gin, tell me about my people. Starting with you."
Old Gin nodded and began to list everything about his men.
Four knights and four servants. Excluding Roland and Old Gin.
"My mother didn't add mages?" Silas asked.
Old Gin shook his head. "No, young master. She said we have a reliable mage. She must be referring to you."
"Not wrong but I think we need another mage." Silas said.
Roland asked from the side. "What is your rank, Silas?"
"Four circle mage. I can perform two tier magecraft flawlessly for now." Silas stated, revealing his talent in magecraft. "Now that I have a good look at my people, I will share my goal."
"The purpose of this journey is to meet the elves in Palm Mountain."
"Huh?" Roland exclaimed.
Elves were notoriously difficult races to interact with. They were arrogant, rude and proud creatures of nature. The only thing they deemed worthy of respect were their own kinds.
"Don't worry about them, I will take care of it." Silas said.
"I don't even know elves live there." Old Gin muttered.
"I got the information from my father." Silas lied. "Now that we have established our goal, I will give you guys a task."
"Roland."
"Yes."
"I want you to interact with those four knights. Make them as followers. That should be an easy task considering your dream." Silas jabbed lightly at Roland's pride.
"Of course. It should be easy." Roland declared.
"Great. Great. Old Gin, I want information about the merchant guild. We will follow the merchant to Palm Mountain. And train the servants to get good at gathering information. It doesn't matter if the information is not important, I want rumors, strange stories, like that."
Old Gin nodded.
After more discussion about the fund, Old Gin left the room, leaving him and Roland alone. Roland took off his armor and took a shower while Silas was busy playing with mana.
After Roland left the bathroom, he sharpened his sword.
"Don't you want a mage?" Roland suddenly asked.
"Yes. In order to form the barriers around the carriage, we need constant supervision from the mage. I can do it but I don't want to." Silas admitted.
"So are you going to go to the mage guild?"
Silas shook his head. "Nah, I have another way of getting us a mage."
Time passed. The sun dropped from the sky and was replaced by a crescent moon, accompanied by many stars.
The heat from the morning also vanished. Wind constantly passed, carrying the chill with them. The winter was getting closer.
Silas got up from the bed and stretched his body. Right now, he was alone.
He had ordered Roland to catch up with the four knights. It was an irresponsible thing for a personal guard to do but Silas assured the young knight.
He opened the door and went downstairs. Noise of various chatter and drunken songs echoed on the first floor. People calling, asking to fill up their cups.
Some argue with others about random stuff. Silas scanned the room and saw a free chair. He went and coughed, gathering the attention of the table guests.
"Can I take this seat?" He asked for permission. The table was taken by a group of three adventures. How did Silas know their occupation?
It was because of the clothes they were wearing and their overall vibes.
And Silas was not scared of these adventures. As a half fourth circle mage ( He still has not completely recorded his full strength.), he can defeat or delay them until Roland arrives.
The middle aged man nodded and said with a laugh. "Sit. Sit. Young man. We are getting lonely. People here are so cold, they don't even want to interact with us."
"Haha. Must be because you guys are famous or something." Silas said, calling a waiter and ordering a drink.
With his remark, the group went silent.
Oh, looks like I hit a mark. Well, let's see if I can get some money from them.
His con man heart was beating, eyes upon the fresh meat. He swallowed a smile and asked. "Are you guys famous? Sorry for not noticing, I am new to this town."
"It is not like that." A young mage answered, waving his hands. "We are somewhat infamous."
"Oh, I want to hear your stories." Silas joined.
At first, the three adventurers were hesitant but after the alcohol entered into their system, their mouth loosened.
They told a story about the start of their adventure journey where they met with a witch and sucked dried.
After that, the rumor started. A very nasty rumor of them raping female monsters.
That was so harsh that Silas couldn't help but sympathize with them. Because of that rumor, they couldn't even get laid in a brothel. They were banned from that.
Silas listened to their heart and nodded.
After some time, he picked up a few contradictions in their stories. Not that he didn't believe in them.
The idea of being this hated for such a reason was absurd. Silas observed the three adventurers.
He rejected the leader, a middle aged swordsman. The man was too rough. It didn't look like he fancied someone.
Now only two remained. The young mage was timid and gave off a scholar vibe. Probably because he is.
And the final candidate was a young slender thief. The thief's gender was unknown to Silas. The two adventures referred to the thief as male but Silas has his own suspension.
If his instinct was correct, the thief should be somewhat of a main character in the game. His mind instantly recalled the information about the game and only one character matched.
Silas smirked.
"I will help you guys." Silas declared in a drunken manner, swinging a beer glass. His behavior was unfit to be a nobleman.
If his mother saw him now, no doubt she would rain down a crazy wind upon him.
Silas hid the excitement. But it seems like he was too loud as he noticed Roland entering the bar, searching for him.
Just as the young knight noticed him, Silas waved him off.
And he resumed drinking with the adventures.
"Drink. Drink. I will pay for everything you drink. Consider this night as my good will. Forget about everything." Silas slammed his hand on the table.
"Yeah. Yeah. Who cares about others?" The old adventure laughed, his face flushed red. "Like a northern saying, Old Hamon grew strength. Young Hamon grew weak."
Silas didn't understand the saying but he sucked them up. His top notch acting skill was working.
After an hour, the two adventures fell asleep, leaving him and the thief alone.
Silas's thoughts wandered. Thief was a valuable profession in the adventure business. Although they were called thieves, they didn't steal anything.
They manage the party, guide them, and find them a path. It was more like a scout.
The name thief most likely stuck to the profession because they steal the time for the party.
Silas stared at the thief and sighed.
Let's stop pretending.
He looked down at his body and was impressed by the alcohol tolerance. But right now, he just wanted to piss. But he couldn't, he needed to take care of the person in front of him.
Silas let out a long and suffering sigh.
Such is life.
He placed his hand on the table, indicating that he meant no harm. Well, there are still those who can kill others with a single glance. But Silas can't do so, he really meant to harm the thief.
"Hi, nice to meet you." Silas said. "I am Silas."
"Haha. You are quite drunk, aren't you? I already know your name."
"Really, my mind must have slipped. I still don't know your name so I thought I have to introduce myself first."
"What do you mean? You should rest, Sir Silas. My name is Dufia."
Silas chuckled. "Such a crappy name. You should think harder than that, Miss Succubus."
The thief narrowed its eyes.