"Are you going to keep looking at that for the whole day?"

Max raised his head to look at Lear who was staring at him.

"What?"

"What do you mean 'what'? It's time for my answers." Lear said with a scowl.

"Oh! Go ahead and ask then." Max replied.

"You are pretty strong for a Blacksmith…" Lear said with a smile.

"I don't think we were supposed to talk about myself." Max replied calmly.

'This guy….he even searched for my information. I doubt he would have received any concrete info.' Max thought inwardly.

"Tsk...you are no fun. Give me some reactions. What are you? A doll." Lear said while clicking his tongue.

"So what did you find about me? Keep talking. I might give you some reaction." Max asked in curiosity.

"Well nothing much. From an ordinary family. Had talent in smithing and caught the eyes of Stark Zatch, one of the greatest Master Smiths as well as the rising star in the Smithing world. After that, you got into Arcane Academy through his recommendation."

"Honestly, it sounds a bit unbelievable. A person like you coming from no background. At first, I thought you were from one of the Noble Houses too. After all you have got the name, right. I even doubt if you are a b*stard child."

Max shook his head before replying, "In that case, there are several families with the title Barnes. Don't tell me all these families were started by the b*stard child from your family."

"F*ck off!" Lear cursed.

"You too.." Max calmly replied.

Sparks continued to fly between them before Lear finally leaned back on the sofa and said with a sigh, "Anyway, let's start talking…..for real."

Max looked at Lear whose smile had faded away and his eyes had turned calm.

"The people who are after you are most likely from Dark Society."

"Dark Society? Why would they target a guy like me? I am not even the successor. Don't tell me someone placed a bounty on my head." Lear said with a frown.

"It's not just you…" Max mumbled as his eyes turned grim.

"What do you mean?" Lear asked feeling something off.

"I know it might sound unbelievable, but killing you is just a step. A step towards destroying the Barnes Family." Max slowly said.

Lear looked at Max. There was a total silence in the room. Lear could feel that there was nothing wrong with Max's expression and he could even sense that his heartbeat was totally normal. He didn't seem to be lying.

"You expect me to believe that?" Lear asked with a calm voice.

"If you got a bounty placed on your head, there is no way you wouldn't be aware of it. Don't tell me that the intelligence network of the Barnes family is poor?"

"Yes….it isn't poor and there is no bounty on my head. But it still doesn't prove your point….." Lear replied.

"Knock!!"

"Knock!!"

The knock on the door suddenly interrupted the conversation between them.

"Come in!" Lear commanded and a servant entered.

"3rd Young Lord, the carriage has been prepared." The servant said with a bow.

"Oh! You can go, I will be there in a few minutes." Lear replied and the servant left.

"You are going somewhere?" Max asked in surprise. This guy still dared to leave after surviving the assassination attempt.

"You are coming along with me. I am still not done with you and your answers." Lear replied as he walked up to his wardrobe.

"Don't drag me into this…." Max replied. He was only here to search for traces of demonic aura and he didn't find any. Still he found something even worse. A direct link between Arnold Barnes and James Ovens.

Now he only wanted to find a way and let this guy know of the true danger. After all, he couldn't let a Noble House collapse. They are humanity's fighting forces. Losing them is no different than losing a hand or leg for the upcoming war.

But before Max could do anything, Lear had already dragged him outside the mansion.

Max looked at the golden carriage drawn by horses and his eyes widened.

"Y-You!"

"Surprised, huh?" Lear asked with a smirk clearly proud of his carriage.

"What kind of dumbshit is this!!" Max grumbled with a scowl.

"What do you mean?! This is cool!"

"Cool?! Cool my ass!! Just give me the f*cking address. I will take a cab." Max replied.

"You are coming with me." Lear grabbed a hold of Max and dragged him towards the carriage. He didn't want Max to run away in his absence.

Of course, Max never planned to run away. He was even more interested in helping this guy than he was in solving his own problem.

…..

Inside the carriage….

"Why do we need a carriage." Max asked.

"I am trash. I need to carry out my duties properly. One of them is to flaunt out money and power. What could be better than a golden carriage to show my status as noble?"

"You seriously don't have anything better than this? You need to be trash not a joker." Max replied and Lear's face turned dark.

"Anyway, where are we going?"

"We are going to the red light district." Lear replied with a smile.

"You want to have fun?!" Max couldn't believe this guy.

"Hell no! I am pure even though I go there to act as trash." Lear said as he hugged his body.

Max gave him a look clearly finding it hard to believe.

"Don't look at me like that. Besides, this time it's something important."

"Today one of the biggest auctions is being held there and I have got my eye on a product which I have been searching for a long time." Lear said seriously.

Max remembered about the auction from his meeting with that lady.

'Well I planned to sell the Iron Clay too. It's not that bad I guess.' Max thought inwardly.

….

"Look outside, we are here." Lear said pointing towards the curtain.

Max moved the curtains and saw what it looked like. The place was crowded.

Max could see the girls on the sidewalks in revealing costumes. There were even guys who were offering services.

"You see, the ones on the sidewalks are not reliable. Don't use their service. You may end up with some disease. Go to those verified ones with their own Hotels." Lear said with a smile.

"You sure...you are pure?" Max asked.

"That's common sense." Lear replied with wide eyes.

When Max was about to reply, a screen popped up in front of his eyes.

«Passive Buff «God's Halo» had been activated granting 10% increase in stats»