Wizard: I brought the wrong system...

Chapter 206 Shadows

The Perrin Estate is exceptionally simple; one can see all the houses in the central area at a glance, and not a single tree is planted inside.

Apart from a few simple cobblestone paths, the other open areas showed signs of being cultivated.

It can be seen that the interior of Perrin Estate was also lush and green before the harvest.

Meanwhile, many huge bonfires were erected on the barren fields, illuminating the manor so that there was not a trace of darkness.

The bonfires were made of several giant trees as tall as a person intertwined, and two young guards were assigned to watch over each bonfire.

They silently added thick pieces of wood to the fire, their movements stiff and numb, keeping the fire growing stronger.

The gleaming giant tree occasionally emitted firecracker-like sounds, with sparks flying out and disappearing into dust in mid-air, turning the surrounding area gray and white.

In other locations around, piles of ashes that had long since cooled could also be seen.

I imagine those were the places where bonfires were lit a few days ago.

This kind of behavior.

It's like guarding against the shadow beasts, and also like sterilizing the soil and fertilizing the fields.

Yaro even had some doubts about whether they knew about the existence of the Shadow Beasts.

Seeing that everyone around him was dressed in new clothes, a thought flashed through Yaro's mind.

"Could this just be a custom of their festival?"

Noticing the haggard look in the eyes of the servants around him and the fear in their expressions, and sensing the heavy and oppressive atmosphere around him, Yarrow dismissed his previous guess.

"No, if it's a holiday, why would they have that kind of expression?"

Of course, Yaro also secretly observed the physique and weapons of the surrounding guards.

No knight's strong bow!

Apart from Claire, who is a formal knight, there are very few even apprentice knights.

Yaro put down the leopard skin he was holding on the side.

At that moment, the burly man who had been guarding the gate strode over and introduced himself: "I am the owner of this manor, Baron Claire Perrin. Sir, what is your name?"

Yaro withdrew his gaze, bowed slightly, and said with a smile, "Baron Claire, you can just call me Yaro."

"Yaro?" Baron Claire looked at Yaro in surprise.

It's as if you're saying, "Is that all you've said?"

What's your surname?

Yaro said little, only smiling silently.

Baron Claire looked at Yarrow's dark skin and thin frame, a flicker of realization crossing his eyes. His mind raced with countless melodramatic scenarios, but he didn't delve further into the matter. Instead, he asked, "Mr. Yarrow, where did you come from?"

Which way are you coming from?

Yaro immediately thought of the abandoned logging camp from before.

Perrin Estate is not far from there, and at this moment, a large amount of wood is being burned.

Could it be... that logging camp was set up by Baron Claire?

With that in mind, Yaro didn't hide anything and pointed directly to the forest, which was in the direction of the logging camp.

There's no need to hide everything; showing off your abilities appropriately can avoid a lot of unnecessary trouble.

"really!"

Claire quickly pressed, "Sir, did you encounter anything on your way here...?"

He suddenly paused, thinking hard, as if considering how to describe it.

Yaro cut to the chase: "Shadows?"

"Yes! A shadow!" A hint of amazement flashed in Claire's eyes.

Since the boy was able to say this, it's highly likely that he also encountered that monster!

"Mr. Yarrow, how did you escape?"

Claire stood ramrod straight, her expression serious, and said, "That monster has been wandering here for months, and has already killed countless people!"

"If Mr. Yarrow has a way to defend against that monster, and it proves to be effective, I am willing to offer ten gold coins and buy you a presentable set of clothes!"

Ten gold coins?

Yaro looked at the young man with a sincere expression in surprise.

What a grand gesture!

The Knight Breathing Technique uses the power of breathing to absorb and exhale the void energy in space. Once you become a formal knight, your body already contains a rich amount of void energy.

Without the power of fear, Baron Claire's body possesses abundant void energy, allowing him to access many evil entities. As long as he doesn't develop too much fear of a single shadow beast, the shadow beast won't pose much of a threat to him.

Even so, he was willing to spend ten gold coins to buy a piece of information that was not of much use to him.

Judging from what Aaron observed.

Even if they didn't eat or drink anything, the area they planted with grain would probably not even bring in ten gold coins a year!

Why would he spend such a huge sum of money just to buy a piece of information that is of little use to him?

Does he really protect his people like that?

Or is it...?

He was actually afraid of... the unknown monster in the darkness?

Baron Claire frowned slightly. "What is it, Mr. Yarrow? Is there something you're having trouble saying?"

"Difficult to explain?"

Yaro chuckled and shook his head in denial.

"No, it's not that it's hard to say, it's just..."

Yaro spread his hands, shrugged, and said helplessly, "You ask me how to protect myself—I don't know either."

"have no idea?"

Baron Claire was taken aback at first, her eyes narrowing slightly, a strange emotion flickering within them: "Then how do you know about 'Shadow'? Could it be... you haven't encountered it?"

"Yes, I did encounter him."

With a slight smile playing on his lips, Yaro slowly extended his hand forward, then suddenly clenched it into a fist.

"I've killed it, so there's no need to defend against it anymore!"

Yaro certainly wanted the ten gold coins, but he wanted to find a place to stay nearby, and even more so, he wanted to find a gathering place for extraordinary people.

and,

Yaro also prepared to make bombs, which required many basic materials.

Unlike a college, things here can't be delivered directly to the accommodations, and manpower is needed in many aspects.

Since Yarrow wanted to be neighbors with Baron Claire and also wanted to use his men, he also had many other things to do.

He had no interest in pretending with Claire and trying to swindle her out of the gold coins.

Arro and Baron Claire were talking at the gate when the guards who had not yet dispersed exclaimed in surprise upon hearing this.

One of the burly men with a horse-like face changed his expression instantly. He drew his knife, stood up angrily, and roared at Yaro, "Impossible! That kind of monster is completely immune to swords and blades. How could a mere brat like you possibly kill such a monster!"

Baron Claire turned and glared at him: "Step back! Did I say you could speak?!"

Aarona's words were spoken in a seemingly casual and understated manner.

For those who experienced that event firsthand, it was like dancing on the graves of their loved ones!

The horse-faced, burly man paused, his body seemingly bound by an invisible shackle, frozen in place. His expression shifted constantly, until finally he gritted his teeth, tilted his head back, and shouted with a face full of grief and indignation, "Baron! There were fifteen men at the lumberyard, including my own nephew! They all died at the hands of that monster!"

"You personally led the team, and they're all top-notch Lesser Knights!"

"And the result?"

"We didn't even know where the monster was until the youngest was swallowed by it, and then we saw that dense mass of human-shaped shadows!"

"And him? Just because he can walk in from the outside, does that give him the right to be so arrogant?"

The burly man with the horse-like face pointed his long sword at Yaro, his eyes wide with rage, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "By saying that, he's trying to harm us!"

Hearing his words felt like being stabbed in the heart!

"He insulted me! He insulted the more than ten people who died at the logging camp! He insulted my brother, Lao Geda!"

"He—further insulted you, Your Excellency Baron!"

Although the horse-faced strongman used honorifics at the end, the context actually gave it a sarcastic tone.

Baron Claire closed his eyes slightly, a hint of reluctance in his expression, but his voice grew even colder: "I said—shut up!"

The other guards rushed forward, pulling the burly man with the horse-faced head back and whispering words of persuasion.

Yaro watched the farce with great interest, pondering the horse-faced strongman's earlier words.

A dense array of human-shaped shadows?

There must be a lot of them, this is the kind of business that's going to make us rich!

Yaro was tempted.

Although it will most likely just be some ordinary Shadow Mosquitoes, you may not get any Shadow Beast materials or earn any Magic Stones.

But—this is experience points too!

Yaro's mind stirred slightly, and he wanted to get up immediately, but his blood and qi surged inexplicably, drawing on the floating power of the abyss, causing him to cough involuntarily a few times.

As darkness fell and the air grew colder, the abyssal energy within my body seemed to become more active.

Hearing Yarrow cough, Baron Claire turned around and explained in an icy tone, "Mr. Yarrow, as you've heard, those monsters outside have already killed quite a few of our people. Please don't joke about such things, otherwise... I might not be able to control them either."

When Baron Claire said he couldn't control them, it sounded more like he was saying he couldn't control himself.

It's clear that Baron Claire was also angry, but he didn't vent it directly because of his image or other reasons.

Several thoughts flashed through Yaro's mind, and some of his previous ideas underwent subtle changes. He smiled and asked in return, "Those monsters killed many of your people, and I killed the monsters. Shouldn't I be your benefactor? Why do you all look so angry?"

The burly man with the horse-faced mask could no longer endure it and struggled for a moment, while his colleague pretended to pull him, but quietly let go.

"You bastard...!"

Before the horse-faced strongman could finish speaking, he was stopped by a thick arm.

The burly man with the horse-like face turned around in disbelief, roaring with a plaintive, almost tearful voice, "My lord!?"

"Alright, leave it to me."

Claire's calm words immediately quelled the grief and indignation in the strong man's heart.

"Yes, Your Excellency!" the horse-faced strongman replied enthusiastically, obediently retreating and then looking on expectantly.

Yaro raised an eyebrow. He hadn't expected that Baron Claire would disregard his dignity and actually prepare to take action personally.

"Mr. Yarrow, since you insist, then let us see just how powerful you really are!"

Baron Claire has already used honorifics, and his actions can truly be described as prudent.

His purpose in taking action was largely to vent his anger.

But before he takes action, he uses rhetoric to position himself as a background character.

As already stated, it's to prove Yaro's strength.

Even if Yaro is really strong, his actions don't really seem provocative given his words.

However, Yaro was completely unafraid!

Since my thoughts have changed.

Therefore, one must demonstrate one's own strength.

Claire stretched out a hand, and the swordsman who had been following him immediately handed him a heavy sword.

"Your Excellency," Yarrow said, feigning confusion as he looked at Baron Claire, "you mean you want me to fight you?"

"Isn't that... precisely why you persist?"

Baron Claire spoke calmly, casually swinging his greatsword, which cut through the air with sharp whistling sounds.

Even standing three meters away, Yaro could clearly feel the chilling wind, and his large bear skin swayed back and forth with the sword wind.

"An interesting baron."

Yaro couldn't help but chuckle.

He had seen many formal knights since childhood and fought alongside them many times, so he was naturally familiar with their strength and knew that Baron Claire had not used his full strength.

Otherwise, if a proper knight were to wield his greatsword with all his might, the resulting wind and waves would be far more than this!

Moreover, he hadn't made a direct move yet; his actions at this moment were more like a warning.

He was warning his enemies to admit defeat and not wait for him to make a move!

Glory, sacrifice, heroism, mercy, honesty, will, justice?

A nobleman who values ​​honor, a nobleman who has been brainwashed by boring books on chivalry.

That's so interesting!

"If you insist..." Yaro held the leopard skin in one arm, opened his other hand, beckoned to Claire, and smiled, "You can give it a try."

Upon hearing this, Claire's expression turned serious. She stopped her theatrical sword-wielding and the whistling wind from the sword gradually subsided.

—The tension between the two is escalating!

Claire gripped the greatsword to the side, her heavy armor fluttering several times—the Knight's Breathing Technique was activated!

"Draw your weapons!"

This was Claire's final warning and reminder, delivered with her last bit of patience.

Yaro smiled gently as before: "I'm afraid of hurting you."

boom--!

Yaro's gentle words successfully ignited Claire's anger!

With that roar, dust flew backward, leaving a small crater in the ground.

Claire used the power she had been building up to unleash tremendous force, her body transforming into a blur!

This is the fighting style that knights strive for!

strength!

As long as they have power, they can move as fast as lightning!

"asshole!"

Claire roared and, using the momentum of her body, suddenly thrust her elbow forward!

Yes, he didn't draw his sword!

Perhaps... he also believed that Yaro was just a boy who happened to have seen the shadow monster and deliberately made up such a lie in order to gain benefits.

Despite this situation, Claire still harbored a sliver of pity and was only prepared to break a few of his bones.

Although, taking action against the weak is not in line with compassion.

But when the weak humiliate her own honor, Claire has no choice but to make this decision!

Looking ahead, the young man remained calm and smiling, seemingly unprepared.

A cold glint flashed in Claire's eyes.

I can accept your pleas for help, I can tolerate your lies, but... the weak should be aware of their own weakness!

Not everyone in this world is your parent, and not everyone will tolerate you forever!

Especially since—you've fallen on hard times!

(End of this chapter)