However, I have no interest in delaying my journey to talk to local officials. The town guard only says that the town leaders will be disappointed but let us pass. The leaders only wanted to be able to brag about meeting me, I'm not wasting time for that.

The answer is the same at every town we pass and we stop for the night in a vacant area between towns. If I am reading the map right, we should reach Illium before lunchtime tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up on the news.

As usual Ekard and Haku are full of energy so I let them run around but tell them to stay close. This small patch of woods is between fields owned by farmers who might try to attack them. The woods look unowned so they should be safe enough as long as they stay out of the fields.

Lizzy tells me she doesn't sense any mana beasts nearby, but I am far more worried about humans. A few minutes later Ekard and Haku come running back and hide behind Lizzy. Following them comes a group of ten humans in armor and bearing the badge of a noble house.

Guard Captain says "You are trespassing on the lands of Lord Rychen! You will leave immediately and take your beasts with you or be arrested! You filthy beastman!"

"What did you call me?"

Guard Captain says "I called you what you are, a filthy beastman!"

"Well, those will be your last words! Dark Mark!"

As the purple mark appears on the captain's forehead and he starts screaming in pain the other guards start backing away. His aura is plenty dark enough for Dark Mark to send him straight to Krenocia. The other guards have dark gray auras, not completely evil but not worth sparing.

"Lizzy, I need one to question, you can kill the others."

Lizzy says "Alright!"

Lizzy charges into the guards, who even though they are trying to run away look like statues compared to her. She carefully bats one of the guards back to me with her tail before massacring the rest. The fight between her and them is over very quickly, also very bloodily.

The last remaining guard lands at my feet and pisses himself as he watches the others slaughtered. He is so scared he doesn't even think of getting up and running away while Lizzy is busy. The other guards are all dead by the time I turn my attention to him to begin my questioning.

"All the farms and villages near here look run down and poor. Are they all owned by this Lord Rychen?"

Guard says "Y-Yes! L-Lord Rychen owns all these l-lands!"

"You and the other guards looked well fed and well equipped. Is Lord Rychen poor?"

Guard says "N-No! Lord Rychen is very r-rich!"

"Okay, last question. Where can I find Lord Rychen?"

Guard says "His e-estate is a twenty minute walk that way!"

"Alright, you are free to go. But I suggest from now on you live a better life!"

The guard doesn't answer, he just get up and runs away as fast as he can. He is watching Lizzy as he runs, probably worried she will chase after him. He is so intent on watching her that he runs straight into a tree and knocks himself out cold.

Lizzy says "Why all the questions?"

"This Lord Rychen sounds like the kind of noble I hate. He over taxes his people just so he can live the rich life."

Lizzy says "Are we paying this noble a visit?"

"Yeah, I feel like we can afford a short detour."

Lizzy says "Now, or in the morning?"

"In the morning, there is no reason to short ourselves on sleep."

Lizzy nods and then starts cleaning up the bloody mess, Windy and the kids move to help. When they come back they don't eat much dinner, but I don't ask any questions. We get a good night's sleep and then in the morning, after breakfast, we go looking for the estate.

The guard woke up and ran off during the night so the noble may be expecting us. Not that I am worried about it, all that will change is the number of people who are going to die. I would prefer to just kill the noble, but anyone who attacks us is fair game.

The estate is not hard to find, it is a large sprawling series of buildings. Every building is ornate and made of expensive materials, even the sheds. It is obvious the noble spent a lot of money just to make the place look good.

While normally I wouldn't really care, if he is making his people starve just so he can waste money, then I care. These aren't my people, and I don't know any of them, but I still find myself wanting to fix the situation. I don't even know if killing the noble will help or if it will make things worse.

This is the Free Union, I have no authority here and doing this may cause political issues. Yet I just can't make myself ignore it and ride away, which would be the smart move. So we continue towards the main building, all the servants who see us scurry away and hide.

Ekard and Haku are in the shadow pocket just in case things get interesting. Windy will stay on Lizzy, but against humans I'm not too worried about her. As long as she remembers what I have taught her she should be fine against them.

As we ride up to the main house a man in noble robes with two guards behind him comes out. What surprises me is not only is the man in noble robes young, but his aura is light gray. If this is Rychen, then I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion about him.

The two guards behind him have really dark auras, more like I was expecting. They look tough but when they get a look at Lizzy their faces go white from fear. They are obviously experienced enough to realize they are no match for her.

Noble says "What business do you have here, beastman?"

"I'm looking for Lord Rychen."

Noble says "What business do you have with my father-in-law?"

"I'm here to inform him about his missing guards."

Bodyguard says "What missing guards?"

"The ones I killed for being rude to me."

At that the bodyguard's faces pale even more and the noble starts to look nervous. They don't get a chance to answer as another, older noble with six more guards appears. This noble has the dark, almost black, aura that I was expecting.

Lord Rychen says "Did I hear that right, you killed my guards?"

"That's right. I came here to see what kind of noble would hire scum like them. It seems they aren't the only scum here."

Lord Rychen says "Who are you to call any human scum? You are just a filthy beastman!"

"Funny, that's exactly what your guard captain said right before he died!"

Lord Rychen says "You dare to threaten me!? Guards, kill him!"