Lord of Caldera

"It was a voice I'd never heard before, so I asked who it was. But he wouldn't answer and just told me to open the door, so I got suspicious and didn't open it."

"Grr!"

The village chief's face twisted in frustration. So he hadn't seen where the knight went, after all.

"Wait a minute, are you hiding something?"

A few suspicious eyes turned toward Sylas. If the knight had offered him a reward for hiding him, it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to accept.

"If you're suspicious, feel free to search. I won't stop you."

"Ahem! Then, we'll take a quick look."

Despite his confident attitude, the villagers still eyed him with suspicion. But Sylas had nothing to fear.

'Go ahead, search all you want. Without proper tracking skills, what do you expect to find?'

As expected, the villagers fumbled around, unable to find any real traces. Even with the entrance to the basement right in front of them, they overlooked it entirely. It was the limit of people who had spent their lives farming.

"Chief! There are footprints here!"

"Where? Which way did they go?"

"They lead into the forest! Though they become hard to follow after a while as they step on leaves..."

'Those are the ones I left.'

Sylas stifled a laugh that almost escaped. To a professional, the traces would have been obvious fakes, but the villagers believed them to be genuine.

"Sylas, can you track these footprints?"

"Me? You mean, me?"

"Yes, you're a hunter, aren't you? Help us out."

"You want me to go into the forest at this hour? Are you kidding me?"

Sylas deliberately put on a stern expression as he refused.

"Do you have any idea how dangerous the forest is at night? Even a lifelong hunter wouldn't step into the dark woods. And you're asking me to go?"

"Is it that bad?"

"If everyone in the village goes together, I'll go too. But with so many people, probably only about three will end up being taken by wild beasts."

The villagers exchanged uneasy glances. No matter how much they wanted to catch the runaway knight, none of them were eager to take that kind of risk.

"What would happen if the knight went into the forest at night?"

"Even if it was the greatest knight in the world, he'd probably die. Being a good fighter and surviving in the forest are two different things."

The villagers let out a sigh of relief at those words. If that was the case, there was no need to go into the forest to finish him off. The wild beasts and monsters would take care of it.

"We can probably call it a day, Chief."

"I was just thinking the same. Sylas, if you see anyone suspicious again, let us know."

"Of course, I'll inform you right away."

With that, the villagers dispersed from Sylas's cabin like a receding tide. Sylas remained cautious, surveying his surroundings for quite a while after they left. Only when he was certain that all traces of people were gone did he open the basement door.

"He's passed out."

Whether from stress and exhaustion or from the excessive sedative, the knight was unconscious. Sylas cleaned his wound, applied some medicine, and bandaged it. It was a simple treatment, but judging by the knight's vitality and the superficial nature of the wound, it was sufficient.

[Due to the perfect first aid, experience points have increased.]

[Current First Aid rank: 'Skilled'.]

As he finished the treatment, a pleasing notification rang out. In his previous life, he hadn't intended to raise this skill much, but after tending to his own body so many times, his first aid skills had improved. It might not seem like much, but there had been quite a few occasions where this skill had saved his life.

'Everything's going according to plan.'

A satisfied smile spread across Sylas's face as he closed the basement door.

* * *

Before his regression, the exact same thing had happened. The villagers of Brick had ambushed the knight, who then fled to Sylas for help. However, back then, Sylas was too startled to think of hiding him. He had been deep asleep, so it took him a while to respond.

In the end, the knight was caught and dragged away by the villagers who stormed in.

'I later found out he was a knight of the Corleone family, but there was nothing I could do.'

After all, he had failed to help and could only watch as the knight was killed. While the village would face consequences, there was a high chance the blame would fall on LSylas as well. Thanks to that, the villagers managed to get away with the perfect crime. But this time around, things had played out entirely differently.

'I hid him properly and showed him I'm not like the scum in this village.'

Rather than being lumped in with the trash of the village, he had positioned himself as a noble figure among crows. Even if he were to expose the village now, it wouldn't be an issue. All that was left was to win the knight over.

'A few days from now, another knight from the Corleone family will arrive.'

However, the knight coming next time is under the strong influence of the legitimate wife, Helena. He will likely have been discreetly instructed to pressure the illegitimate son before arriving.

To avoid being bullied into the count's household like before, Sylas needed an ally in advance.

Sylas began placing the expensive candles he had hidden away in a corner. After all, when it came to gaining favor, atmosphere was everything.