“I’m Frost Woodwork, most people call me Old Man Frost, thank you so much for saving my life!” Frost said impassionately, while at the same time tying Jacques up roughly, his expressions and hands conveying two extremely different things, causing Lawrence to grin.

“No worries, I did what I thought I should,” Lawrence replied, looking at the blood dripping off of him.

“Get Honourable Lawrence Carstein a bucket of water and some rags for him to wash up!” Jacob shouted at the storehouse, full of curious pairs of eyes to see who had singlehandedly fought off a group of bandits all by himself.

“If I had known you were that strong, I would have just asked you to help me chop down a few trees while we were coming down the hills!” Craig laughed loudly, patting Lawrence’s shoulder.

“Honourable Carstein, may I ask, which knightly order do you hail from?” Roland asked, his eyes forming a thin line. Lawrence could feel a sense of wariness emanating from the village chief. Of course, Lawrence understood that Roland was simply being cautious. However, he did not realize that Roland’s concern was a lot more than just a simple who are you question.

Roland was secretly worried if Lawrence was a knight that belonged to another household, Lord Black may suspect that Black Bay Village, especially that it bore his name, had wavered in loyalty. With this, in the future, should Black Bay Village need help, Lord Black may find much fewer reasons to do so.

“Ah, I’m really an adventurer from a faraway place called Singapore. I swear it by my honour.” Lawrence said earnestly and Roland sighed.

“You helped us, but I doubted you, I should ask for forgiveness, Honourable Carstein,” Roland replied, bowing and Lawrence hastily stopped him.

“It's quite alright. I thought I could help, so I did.” Lawrence replied, gratefully taking the bucket of water from one of the villagers and a towel from a child.

He then proceeded to clean his armour and sword, the cloth swiftly removing the blood still wet to the touch, turning the bucket red almost instantly. Craig on the other hand, was tasked by Roland to see where the bandits have retreated to and if it was likely that they would regroup and attack.

Jacob had the task of informing Lord Black about the happenings of the village and a plea for a small squadron of soldiers to be garrisoned at the town. Roland could tell that there was no way that Lord Black will go for that idea seeing that he was short of men, but negotiations had to start somewhere. It was a bargain to and fro. Maybe Lord Black will send some men to try and root out the remaining bandits because he must be seen as doing something if a passerby was the one who had helped protect his village.

However, this combat had taught Lawrence a precious lesson. Now he knew that he could make use of auto combat during combat situations and turn it off at will if need be. Most if not all of his skills as a level 99 Guardian in Ever Dawn were still working perfectly fine. The effects of all his gear were perfectly fine and worked as well.

This means that the things he had hoarded in all of his bags of holding should be working just fine as well.

In the screen interface, he opted to take off his armour set so that he could clean them and he was once again taken over involuntarily by something or someone that released the clasps of his armour set with ease.

Therefore, it seems that a part of his character’s consciousness was still in effect.

He then realized how appreciative he was that Ever Dawn gave players an amazing set of clothes underneath their own armour. Lawrence had not modified it since he joined the game. It was a white robe with decorative gold linens of the shape of chrysanthemums.

The robe was soft and delicate, not too thick so that you felt like you were walking in the sweltering heat of summer, nor too thin that you wonder if you were wearing anything at all. It was perfect, especially in combat, where the clothes’ elasticity enabled one to move around comfortably.

Frost had brought a cup of tea for Lawrence and many other villagers reciprocated by bringing out foodstuff and other valuables for Lawrence.

“What are these for?” Lawrence asked, confused.

“The Hero’s Bounty, the tradition of these lands call it. If someone asks for nothing in return for help in the area of strength of arms, it is customary to give something you are willing to offer up to the hero.” Roland explained, handing Lawrence a small pouch that was undoubtedly full of coins.

“Ah, I don’t need these, it is fine.” Lawrence had already scanned the Hero’s Bounty and there was honestly nothing he wanted. As for coins, Lawrence had other ideas in his head. The villagers hesitated but Roland shook his head.

“This is a tradition. I’m afraid the Honourable Carstein will have to accept one way or another.” Roland smiled, shaking his bag of coins once again.

“I won’t be able to carry these things anyway, I don’t have a place to stay.” Lawrence insisted, putting his armour back on but Roland’s smile got even wider.

“Hey, Old Man Frost, didn’t Danker’s house move to the city? He left that house behind right?” Roland turned to face Old Man Frost who looked confused for a moment, before nodding slowly.

“It's in a bit of disrepair—“ Old Man Frost was about to finish his sentence when the experienced village chief cleared his throat loudly and shook his head dramatically.

“It is quite an amazing bit of real estate, a house that faces the sea, a small plot of farmland, perfect for even a noble’s retirement, really.” Roland stroked his chin, as if in deep thought.

Amazing piece of real estate? My ass! But your marketing is on point, by the medieval standard at least, Lawrence thought to himself. Roland no doubt had wanted to tie a strong fighter such as Lawrence such as himself to Black Bay Village to help guarantee the village’s safety. Next, if Roland’s suspicions were indeed correct that he was a wandering knight wanted by the Kingdom, then he can simply offer Lawrence up to Lord Black, having done his part as Village Chief.

However, where else could Lawrence go for now? He needed a place to stay and technically he could use his skill to set up housing but that house would pop away every 24 hours.

“How much is it?” Lawrence asked, calculating in his mind what he would potentially barter for the house.

“Oh, absolutely nothing.” Roland laughed and he reached over to Lawrence and raised the Guardian’s hand.

“Let us welcome Black Bay Village’s newest settler, Lawrence Carstein!” Roland announced and the village erupted in cheers, one that was not shared by the bandits several leagues away who have finally stopped running and gotten together.

A man clad in heavy armour had spoilt all of their plans so what are they to do? The 41 of them, are probably only alive because that knight had no doubt was focused on Jacques. They have taken to calling him a knight due to his choice of armour, which was most prevalent among knights and crusaders.

As the group gathered to discuss their next move, an arrow whizzed through the wind, striking the ground in front of them.

“They are coming again!” the bandits screamed, running off once more, not knowing that it was just Craig who had done so, just to force them to run a bit further.