~ Levalas ~

Levalas was sitting with his back to a wooden wall in the servants' hall, with the other guards who had come from Cinran sitting nearby. It had gotten dark by now, although they hadn't been served dinner yet. Hopefully it will be a good meal. Having only eaten breakfast before this, he was feeling famished. A lot. The teenage squire who had come with them was also sitting nearby, looking at the kitchen with hungry eyes. Levalas had been surprised to see that he hadn't stayed with the knight in the manor house, but for some reason the local guard captain had told him to stay here with the others.

They had also been told by the knight that they would be leaving in the morning, so this would be his last night in Tiranat. However, Zoricus had sent him here for one purpose only, but he had no idea how to go about it even after two days here. That was what had been running continuously in his mind, and by now he didn't know what to do or how to proceed. Deciding to take a walk until dinner to clear his mind, he stood up.

Another guard looked at him. "Where ya goin' ?"

"Just wanna stretch my legs a bit," Levalas muttered. "Been sittin' here all day, ya know?"

Giving a nod to others, he exited the servants' hall, and ran a hand through his fairly long brown coloured beard. He had also let his hair keep growing since the time he had escaped from Tiranat last time, just so nobody would recognize him. That seemed to have worked even here in the baron's manor, since his newly grown hair and beard made him look quite different from the cropped hair and clean shaven look he had the last time.

He was also wearing chainmail armor this time, courtesy of that bastard Zoricus, unlike the last time when all he had was a ragged tunic. That must also have worked to change his look enough for others to not notice him. Although that mercenary-like guard, who had interrogated him last time, had given a few extra glances to him, thankfully he seemed to have other things on his mind, and hadn't recognized him either.

Remembering about why he was here still made him uneasy. The previous night he had thought of trying to assassinate the baron, but there were simply so many guards in the manor that he had found it impossible to find some place where he could try it. There were even a couple of guards patrolling around the manor house all day, which had even made it unfeasible for him to enter the manor house to lie in wait for a good opportunity.

Somehow, all the guards also seemed to be completely dedicated to their duties this time - unlike in his last visit, when many of them were just lazing around, just like everywhere else. That had made it even more difficult for him to even approach the baron.

He had also noticed something else here. Before the winter when he had come to Tiranat the last time, a couple of guards in the manor had seemed way too fat to be of any use, while the rest of them were far too scrawny to be able to do much harm, but right now all of those guards had nothing but muscle! They looked nothing like the lazy, skinny men he'd seen before the winter. And just why were there so damn many of them? Anywhere he looked, there was a guard on patrol, dammit! All of them looked alert and ready, like they were expecting an attack or something.

Wait, it couldn't be possible that the baron already knew that he would be arriving, could it? He shook his head. No, there was no way they knew about him, especially after his changed appearance, otherwise they would have already caught him by now.

As he kept walking aimlessly, he glanced at the manor house, knowing that's where Baron Kivamus must be present at this time, and put a hand on the dagger tied to his leg. This being his last night in this village meant that he wouldn't be getting another chance to complete Zoricus' orders, but the question was, did he even want to?

He could never forget the kindness with which Lord Kivamus had spared his life. The story he had told the baron had been a lie, but even if other nobles had believed him to be truthful, they still wouldn't consider forgiving someone who had been forced to try and kill them, only to make sure his family would be spared. But Lord Kivamus had still spared his life... The whole winter he had been thinking about it, and he still couldn't believe that there could be a noble like him.

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When Zoricus had told him to assassinate the Baron of Tiranat again, he didn't know if he wanted to follow any more orders from that bastard. But he had still taken this chance, so he would be able to meet Lord Kivamus again, to find out more about him. That is why he had spent a lot of time talking to the locals here, both inside and outside the manor, while also listening to others' conversations about the baron covertly. That had told him that it wasn't just an exception for the baron to forgive him. Lord Kivamus genuinely seemed to be a benevolent ruler, as hard as it was to believe.

He had even visited the local temple of the goddess, and talked with Father Edric for guidance. That's where he had found out that Lord Kivamus really was extraordinary. The baron had been using his own savings to feed the villagers over the winter, and had made sure that nobody in Tiranat had gone hungry in the frozen nights - whether they could work to earn their food or not - although there did seem to be more than enough opportunities for work these days. However, a noble using his own gold to feed the villagers? That was something he had never heard in his life. All the other nobles would still have tried to seize what little those poor people owned, even if they were starving.

Father Edric had even told him that this was the very first winter in the whole two decade long existence of Tiranat when nobody had succumbed to death due to cold or hunger in the winter. After that, Levalas had stayed at the ramshackle wooden temple for a long time, hoping she would guide him about what he should do, but he still had no idea about it.

Coming back to the present, he glanced at the manor house once again, thinking about what to do. At this point he was far from sure if he would even be able to get close enough to assassinate the baron - although he didn't feel like doing that at all - which meant most likely he would be caught and executed for sure this time. If he somehow escaped and returned to Zoricus, that bastard was unlikely to forgive him for missing his target twice, which is why he was fairly sure he wouldn't live long after that either.

He sighed. What option was left for him then? Did the goddess really want him to live his whole life in servitude under that fat bastard?

No, he refused to believe that. The goddess was benevolent to all her servants. There had to be a way out he wasn't seeing yet.

Then what? Should he skip trying to kill the baron, while painting a target on his own back from Zoricus? Could he really do that?

"Hey, come on in!" He noticed a guard waving towards him from the servants' hall. "The food is ready!"

Levalas blinked, not realizing that he had taken a full round of the manor by now and had returned right where he started from. He gave a nod, and began walking towards the servants' hall.

Entering inside, he noticed that a lot of guards were there at this time, while waiting for food to be served. Some of them were helping the maids to bring the buckets in which the porridge and bread would be served, while a few had already started eating. It just felt so... homely, and made him miss something he never even had. While he did have some good acquaintances in the count's mansion in Cinran, everyone was only out for themselves in that place, by necessity. That place just didn't have this spirit of friendship—this camaraderie—like he was seeing here.

He glanced towards the wall on the other side, where the group from Cinran had been sitting. He snorted seeing the teenage squire bringing a pair of bowls for the two guards wearing chainmail who were already sitting there. Just wait a few years, and assuming that squire was lucky enough to be promoted to a knight, these other guards will be the ones serving the lad after that!

Wait, someone was missing here. Along with himself, the squire and the two guards, there was another guard who had come with them - Dosol. Shouldn't he be eating at this time too? It wasn't like there would be a separate meal time for a single guard. If the food was already finished, there would be nothing left for him, and Dosol had to know that.

Levalas scanned the hall, thinking that maybe Dosol was bringing his own bowl of food or something, but he was nowhere to be seen. Where was that guy?

That's when something clicked in his mind. Shit! What if Dosol was also sent by Zoricus? What if he was out to do something terrible? As far as Levalas knew, the fat bastard had sent just him to try to kill the local baron, but what if he had sent another man here? Perhaps to make sure that the order was fulfilled in case he failed to kill Lord Kivamus? Or maybe to silence him after he had done that, so there wouldn't be anything connecting the assassination to Zoricus?

Shit! Shit! Shit!

He glanced around in panic, hoping he had just missed seeing Dosol, but he wasn't here at all!