Chapter 434 Ironlake I
Down the castle’s hallway, Cain walked down with Isbert attacking the attention of everyone passing by. Just like Isbert, he was clad in silver armor, his white hair and blue eyes seemed to glow in the shadow.
“What is our first goal?” Isbert asked him.
“The north mine, they a good supply of iron as well as elvish silver, albeit it being a little amount,” Cain replied. Elvish silver was a metal that is found mostly on the elvish continent. That didn’t mean some small amounts can’t be uncovered here.
“That’s the Ironlake property, do you intend to talk to them? They are one of the noble families with the longest history.” Isbert replied.
Living just north of the capital, the Ironlake estate is located at the base of a small mountain that oversees a large lake. The lake feeds directly into the sea through a canal so the country allowed them to start extracting ores and melting them into ingots on the site. They are then transported through ships or directly exported.
“It isn’t wrong to say they are one of the cores of the kingdom economy as they are the most reliable source for iron. The king can’t exactly argue with them a lot if they turned against him.” Said Cain smiling.
“If?” Isbert asked.
“They are taking a neutral stance, they want to wait and see how things are going to develop.”
“How do you know that?”
“I have my ways, I already sent scouts to every noble mansion and shed.” Cain pointed at a dark spot in the corner, Isbert looked intensely to see what he pointed at.
For a moment, it flashed in front of her. A short, red, goblin-like creature was smiling there. In the next moment, it was gone.
“What was that?” She jumped toward Cain, is there a monster on the loss in the castle?
“My scout leader, he is a talented one. Don’t worry about him, he is harmless.” Cain replied. Spindle was reporting to him every few moments with [Message] a small battalion of imps under his command was stalking every noble breathing.
“Cain!” Suddenly they heard a man call them, it was king Baltos rushing at them with a surprised face.
“Baltos, what’s the matter?” Cain asked. “At least address him formally…” Isbert mumbled behind him.
“You didn’t have to become a knight, you could marry her instead!” Baltos said. He has been told by the maids that his daughter was walking around with a snow-white knight.
“This is just temporary, right we’re heading out to the Ironlake estate,” Cain said with a smile. “Do you know how hard it was to find that set of armor right away?” Isbert mumbled behind Cain.
Baltos looked at her, “I got a report that you stole a set of armor from the treasury, is this it?” He knew it was like half an hour but he was already informed.
“As expected, nothing escape your ears.” Cain laughed, Baltos never changed. He had a secret that only his wives knew about.
Almost half of the maids in the castle are his personal maids, they report directly to him about almost everything. The reports are delivered at times when he is alone like in the bath or in his room.
Those maids are led by the head maid Izabella, Cassius’s mother.
-.- Something flashed in Cain’s head.
~Master, save me~ Spindle cried in a message.
Cain sighed, “My scout has been caught, lets’s head before he gets killed again.” With a single flick of his finger, Baltos, Isbert, and he teleported to where Spindle was hiding.
Right in front of their eyes, Spindle was tied and gagged with a piece of clothes. Izabella was standing right behind preparing a bag to throw him in after killing him.
“Don’t kill him,” Cain said looking at her.
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<Name: Izabella Dolly Ruris ><Race: Human><Level: 18/20><Exp: 123055/305000>
<HP: 423(477-54)><MP: 60/60><SP: 459(513-54)>
<Strength: 18><Dexterity: 12(16-4)><Constitution: 15(17-2)>
<Intelligence: 12><Wisdom: 14><Charisma: 14>
<Skills>
[Extra Attack] With each weapon strike, the user can add an extra unarmed attack as a punch, kick, a push… depending on the situation.
[Alert] Increase the awareness of the surrounding area.
[Quick Recharge] A crossbow skill allows the user to charge the crossbow in a quarter of the normal time.
[Weapon Adapt] The ability to use almost all the standard weapons, (Spears, Swords, Bows, Crossbows, polearms, Hammers, and simple Catalyst items)
[Brawler] Hand-to-hand fighting skills
[Tough] Increased durability and pain tolerance.
[Cold blooded] Feel nothing from killing.
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Those skills, she must have gained from constant fighting. Even with her injury, she is still a monster amongst humans.
“This is a devil,” Izabella said.
“And is my familiar. Let him go.” Cain said.
“Do as he says, he already helped us a lot,” Baltos said.
“Isn’t he the one I just saw?” Isbert asked.
Cain turned toward her, “Yeah if I knew Izabella would sniff him out like this I wouldn’t have called him here.” Cain sighed.
“That is my Izabella, you won’t find anyone as skilled as her in the whole kingdom.” Baltos smiled proudly.
“Correcting, any human.” He pointed toward the corner.
As they all looked, Nemmoxon appeared out of nowhere. “She has been following me since I came to the capital. Amazing isn’t she?” Cain patted her on the head but she pushed his hand away.
“I’m not a kid anymore, I became an adult fourth years ago.” She pouted.
“Well, your camouflage skills reflect it. But you need to hide your magic as well.” Cain smiled.
“How did you get here?” Izabella asked.
“Through the door,” Nemmoxon replied.
Dragons are special, their bodies work wonders. Since they are lizards they can change the color of their skin to match the environment and blend in, as magic that includes their clothes as well and it’s the reason they don’t rip apart when they transform. Their humanoid bodies are significantly smaller than their draconic ones so they can slow their heart rate and breathe to an astounding degree. On top of that, they move silently.
“Nemmoxon, weren’t you out in the sea?” Isbert asked, she knew Nemmoxon from the sea fight.
“I ate my fill so I returned,” Nemmoxon replied. “Then I sensed Cain so I followed him.”
After that, they released Spindle and Cain was ready to head to the Ironlake estate.
“I will go with Isbert, do you want to come as well?” Cain asked.
“Ironlake? Stingy people…” Nemmoxon didn’t seem that excited but she agreed to go as well.
Cain nodded with a smile, “But first, let’s get you something nicer to wear.” Cain looked at her, her clothes were clean and beautiful but they weren’t good enough to be standing with a princess.
“There are some spare clothes that she can use, Should I fetch them?” Izabella said with a calm face.
“Yes, make sure they fit her well,” Baltos replied with a big smile. As long as it meant Cain spending more time with Isbert he didn’t care.
Cain and Isbert then went to a room to wait for Nemmoxon to get ready, it was a bit awkward as Cain wasn’t used to idling around in such heavy armor.
“I didn’t expect you to be able to wear that thing,” Isbert said with a smile.
“Nothing that magic can’t fix, I played with heavier things before,” Cain remembers his past life.