I Became the Childhood Friend of the Northern Duchess

After their brief conversation, Edgar moved somewhere following Creed's guidance.

Helena and Ariel also return to their respective rooms before saying that their meeting place would be decided at a later time.

"You have a pretty well-built body, have you been taking lessons under someone?

“I just devoted myself to training alone every day.”

“Every day! It seems you have got some guys huh"

It's easy to just say it, but it's actually hard to workout daily, whether it's snowy or rainy.

Especially at a young age, where one can be easily swayed by the surrounding events.

In that aspect, Creed's first impression of a boy named Edgar was quite satisfactory.

The hard way of speaking that wasn't appropriate for his age was a little annoying, but that's probably a problem that will be solved by itself when they get comfy with each other.

“There are a lot of turns to take.”

"Yeah, the location is a bit far from the main building, but it is more convenient this way because it helps us from being seen by others."

After following Creed and exiting the main building through the back door, several small buildings appeared.

Creed, who continued to explain that some were spare out-houses and some were buildings for servants, pointed to the smallest building on the far right.

“That will be your home here. I heard that you are the heir to the baron family, are you disappointed with the shabby house?”

"No. On the contrary, the conditions of the house are better than expected, so I am relieved.”

This house nominally was where homeless childrens were brought back to stay for the time being.

He expected a kind of collapsed hut after hearing this factor of the house, but what came into view was clearly a decent and a very common ordinary private house.

No, in reality, the house looked a little stronger and bigger than the normal common ones.

“Haha, it’s good that you're honest, I like that attitude of yours."

Creed burst into his signature boisterous laughter and once again patted Edgar's head quite roughly.

His hands were definitely huge so his gesture didn't seem like he was just patting, but more like putting Ed's head into a sack and leaving his head to roll around in the sack.

‘Ah.. My head felt dizzy. ‘

He would have directly fainted if he was shaken even a little more.

His pats were so powerful that Ed's head still rang in dizziness.

If he were to get ‘patted' twice more, he didn't doubt about him directly waking up to an unfamiliar ceiling!

"We have arrived. Come on, let's go in.”

"Yes."

Creed opens the unlocked door and strides into the building.

Edgar also calmly followed after him.

‘The air inside is quite warm.'

Although the temperature in the city was rather warm due to the influence of the symbol of domination, the inside of the building felt even warmer.

It must mean that the building was not built in a rumble.

It was a two-storeyed structure, so as soon as he entered, he could see the staircase to the upstairs, and there were corridors on both sides.

He heard that there are two more people living there, so maybe they went out to play for a while.

It was so quiet that it made him feel like it was still outside.

“Looks like they are out to play for a while.”

The atmosphere around him wasn't as tight as he had thought.

Since the land he set foot in is not somewhere else but the holy land that the Grand Duke's family resides in, he expected the atmosphere here to be tense and he thought that it would be difficult to do outside activities except for eating and sleeping.

Well, it's not anyone else but Helena, who oversees this place, so the place is not bound to be left uncare.

And the person in charge of this place is also the former Knight Commander to boot at that, so he should have some say in this place too.

“And don’t call me Sir Creed here. Change your tone a bit.”

“Is there any reason?”

“The kids here don’t know my identity. They only know me as a neighborhood guy who knows some swordplays.”

Oh, there is also such an inside story?

Edgar nodded his head slightly as he understood, and immediately pondered over his title.

“Can I call you Mr. Creed?”

“Call me anything. It's okay as long as you don't reveal my origins. You can call me uncle too.”

“Um… … .”

Even so, it was difficult to call a knight that was ranked among the top five in the Empire so comfortably.

In the end, Edgar, who had reached an agreement as ‘Mr. Creed’, followed his guidance and headed to the room where he would be staying.

The interior scenery of his room was very ordinary.

There was a bed, a desk, and a closet to put clothes in.

It was a little disappointing that there were no bookshelves, but it would be difficult to find books here, so this was enough.

“If you need anything, just tell me. For example, is there any book you want to read?”

“Can you arrange that for me too?”

As if Creed had read his thoughts as he was looking around the room, Creed started talking.

When Edgar blinked his eyes and looked up at the one who is a head taller than himself, Creed smiled as if his question was absurd.

“Anyway, the people who live here are like my children. Would it be difficult to get some books for your children?”

“Still, there is a place to get it… ….”

“It would be impossible if it was a very rare book, but thanks to the personal connections I built up in my childhood, I’ll be able to find quite a few books quickly. Just name it without hesitation.”

Creed, who was roughly stroking Edgar's head again, felt something strange and tilted his head.

“By the way, didn't you say that you are the heir of the Billhark family? Why is your hair black then? .”

"yes? ah… … .”

“Did you inherit a lot of your mother’s blood? Even so, it is unusual.”

Edgar laughed at Creed's questioning self-talk and removed the pendant from his neck.

If it's an ornament, what is he doing taking it off ?

The reason soon became apparent.

"hmm? Head… … ?”

When Edgar took off the pendant, his hair began to turn red from the ends, as if it had been stained with paint.

Seeing a sight as if he had seen a mirage, Creed belatedly realized that this was a Form-changing magic.

It is probably a type of magic that is directly involved in the perception of the opponent.

Unlike transforming one's own appearance, things like voices do not change, so there are few uses, but it was a more useful magic in this case.

That would also be the case, because Transformation magic took a lot of time to use, and it was difficult to use it because it was so difficult to enchant the spell in such accessories.

“Oh, actually, I changed my look a bit with this necklace because I was afraid I would stand out because of my hair.”

It was something worn right before entering the castle.

Few people would know his true identity just because he left it alone, but there was nothing wrong with keeping it in mind just in case.

Creed understood only then and nodded his head in satisfaction.

He doesn't know who came up with the idea, but it seems that the person really paid attention to the details.

If it was this boy's plan, it would be nothing but admirable.

“Oh, that's a good idea. So while you're here, are you going to stay like that?”

“For now, I think so.”

“It will be inconvenient. At least it's not even a ring, but a pendant.”

The ring would always be okay to wear unless it was made of metal that easily corroded by water, but the pendant was easily cumbersome to run around.

Creed, who had put his hand on his chin for a while, soon tapped his finger and bounced and opened his mouth.

"Later, I will ask my acquaintance to make a similar item in the form of a ring. If that's the case, it won't be cumbersome even if you wear it all the time."

"You don't have to…….”

"It's because I feel uncomfortable. It's better than using something that is unsure when it will make you get caught."

Even so, it was reported that Creed cared about the details.

Edgar thought it was no longer polite to decline, so he bowed his head and thanked him.

Creed, who laughed contentedly at him, patted him on the back violently and left the room, telling him to organize his luggage.

"You'll probably break my bones if you hit me twice more."

Creed may have hit him lightly, but it was quite a pain for Edgar.

After shedding a drop of crocodile tears for himself, he started to organize his luggage in earnest, and first took out his clothes.

The room soon quickly filled up with his favorite books and frequently used personal items.

"Oh, I'm so tired."

When it was almost over, Edgar lay down straight on the bed.

Did people know that he was coming and clean up the room for him in advance?

There was not a speck of dust even though it was an unused room.

He wanted to take a nap like this, but he also wanted to look around the place as it was his first day here.

Shall he accompany Creed around?

He felt that he would stand out if he were to run around too much alone.

"What?"

While he was lost in thought looking at the ceiling, suddenly the floor vibrated and a loud noise rang out from the outside.

"Is it an earthquake?"

As the vibration gradually got closer and the sound began to get louder, Edgar got up in surprise.

At that moment,

with a thud

"Hi! Are you Edgar?"

"Oh, hello…….”

“……?”

Suddenly, a pair of a boy and a girl broke in and greeted him energetically.

No, to correct it, it was the boy who greeted him energetically, and the girl hid behind his body with only her head sticking out.

"Are you guys the two kids who live here?"

With the given circumstances, he couldn't think of anything else suitable.

Following him came a stuttering dull step, and a huge Creed appeared over the door with a bitter smile.

"These guys really wanted to see you. Let's at least say hello."

"Oh, my name is Edgar. I will be living here for the time being."

The boy, who was standing in front of Edgar's light self-introduction, hit his chest and responded with his brown hair blowing.

"I'm Lionel! I'm 14 years old, and call me Leo comfortably."

‘He's very sociable.’

This was their first meeting, well, at least for Edgar.

It feels like he lights the surroundings up just by talking.

Leo is probably the type of person who is popular with people and his charm will only grow more as he grows up.

"Hey, En. You should introduce yourself too."

"Uh, yes…"

After the self-introduction, Lionel pushed the girl behind him, almost pulling her forward.

The orange bobbed-haired girl, who hesitated and didn't know where to put her hand, recited her name with her head down.

"I, I'm Enya…I'm thirteen."

She is younger than me?

Since it was comfortable to be friends with a year difference anyway, Edgar nodded and accepted the greeting.

"Nice to meet you,En. What's the relationship between you and Leo?"

"Mm, what do you mean by relationship……?”

It's Enya who raises her head and asks back with her face visibly red.

Edgar had a sense of epiphany for a flash of second, but he could already deduce the answer by now.

He pulled up one corner of his mouth and decided to play a mischievous prank on the girl he just met.

"I asked because you looked so close to Leo. I was wondering if he was your boyfriend."

"Le, Leo and I…? Well, that's…….”

Enya was busy shaking her hands in the air, but neither saying no nor yes.

Lionel, who couldn't see her desperation, stepped forward and cut Edgar's words with a single stroke.

"We're just friends! Right, En?"

"Oh, yeah… that's right. We're just friends."

A dark shadow cast over Enya's face as soon as Lionel cut in with such a determined tone that they were only friends.

Edgar, who was watching this, shook his head inwardly.

‘What a sinful fellow. It's obvious even to a third party.'

[T: pot calling the kettle black!🙄]

Other people's love stories are always interesting to hear, but he couldn't interfere in other's case blindly.

It doesn't make sense to butt into someone's life you've just met.

Anyway, he was relieved because they seemed like good friends.

And they don't seem like they would be territorial just because they came in first.

Above all, wouldn't it be fun to watch the relationship between the two from the sidelines?

The new first meeting in such a newly established house was more pleasant than expected.

[T: Join me on discord group for this novel –  https://discord.gg/arPpjtnZ   , you can ask me for updates or chat abt the novel in this group. Thank you all my readers 😘]