Chapter 73: Invitation (2)
Chapter 73: Invitation (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
After the peak hour, the street had gotten much quieter, proven by how there were merely several noble carriages traveling along the way. Angele began to hear thunder rumbling from the sky as the clouds became much thicker; the street became darker as shadows loomed over the surroundings. It was as if nighttime descended, yet it was still noon.
The wind that had its temperature dropped screamed as it blew into Angele's carriage through the window. Angele slightly pulled up his collar to combat the chill; to no avail, however. It was because Angele was wearing a high neck collar luxury suit, which had silver flowers embroidered on the edge of the collar. If it wasn't for the night banquet he was going to attend, Angele wouldn't wear such impractical clothes.
Angele's white, high-neck collar suit looked a bit like a commander's suit but with fewer decorations. This suit he was wearing was similarly one commonly used by swordsmen.
The carriage kept advancing for another half an hour in peace only to be disturbed by a roaring sound. Angele heard this sound drawing near. He looked out through the window and found himself going uphill along a mountain path.
Angele glanced around. At the opposite side, there were mountains, and as he looked down, he found a river leading to a large waterfall at its end. This waterfall was the source of the sound Angele heard earlier. Large pieces of wet stones shined below.
The carriage he was on was advancing on the twisted hill road, which was beside the waterfall.
"We're almost there!" Gerac yelled outside. The noise created by the waterfall had almost muffled his voice completely, so he had to increase the volume of his voice to let everyone hear what he said. Angele nodded, pulling down the curtain to keep his suit from getting wet. Angele now missed his gray robe allocated by the college. The robe had a spell enchant, which maintained a new look and cleanliness. Thus, he never needed to wash it. Ever since he arrived at Lennon City, he hadn't heard any news about the school's situation at all.
“I’m already 16…” Angele closed his eyes and sighed. Many things had happened to him since he reincarnated into this world. He knew he needed to think twice before making decisions, but there were still some decisions he regretted. Angele inhaled the cold and humid air, making him feel refreshed. He stopped thinking about the past.
The carriage quickly arrived at the hilltop. A large, gray castle sat atop the hill surrounded by tall, thick walls. There was a large gate upon the castle walls, which was the only entrance to the castle. The carriage and the escorts stopped when they reached the gate. Angele opened the door and got off the carriage.
Angele hadn't had a haircut for a while, so his long hair flew about in the air as the wind blew. With him wearing a white suit that showed his robust body and his long hair, it gave off a wild yet gentle impression.
"I'll notify them of our arrival." Gerac bowed to Angele before walking into the gate. Angele waited outside along with the other guards.
Angele looked around as he remained standing by the carriage. He could see another hill at the opposite side of the waterfall, and built atop it was a large, gray castle. It had a slightly smaller size compared to the one in front of him, and there were sentry towers built along the hill roads heavily guarding the castle.
The scenery where the large waterfall lay in between the two castles looked magnificent.
"Great place," Angele praised.
"You think so too?" Angele turned his sight to the gate when he heard a voice coming from it. His eyes fell onto a muscular old man wearing a large, white leather coat. He sat in a wheelchair with a pale face, but he seemed to be in good spirits.
"Welcome to Lennon City. I haven't seen such a person with mysterious powers for years. We wouldn't have known you arrived in the city if it weren't for our Merfolk friend who sensed your power," the old man smiled, and he said before asking the maid to push the wheelchair toward Angele.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Alford Reed, Lord of Lennon City," the old man said.
"I'm Angele, pleasant meeting you too." Angele placed his left hand on his chest and bowed in courtesy.
"The night banquet is about to start, please come and join us," Alford said.
Angele nodded in response, and he followed the old man into the castle. Gerac and another white-armored swordsman walked alongside the Lord, while the rest of the guards followed them in the back. Angele had just entered the gate when he heard noises of arriving carriages coming from behind.
"Father! Why did you not tell me there would be a guest today?" a young man said. Angele turned around and saw a blonde man walking toward him with a smiling face. The blonde man had a beautiful face and a soft and smooth skin. Angele thought it was a woman until the blonde man walked closer to him. There was a whole group of guards behind him.
Before the carriage could stop, the young man jumped off it. Alford's facial expression became strange when he saw the young man, but it only lasted for a fleeting moment.
"My son, I didn't get the chance to tell you about Master Angele. I only saw the report today. I decided to invite him to my castle right after," Alford replied with a smile.
"You can call me Tinos, Tinos Reed. Welcome to Lennon City," the blonde man nodded as he said this to Angele. The latter caught the lord's strange expression. It looked like Alford feared his son.
For some reason, Angele couldn't help but do a double-take upon glancing at Tinos. The young man had a feminine face, fair white skin, and a clean, short hair. He was wearing a tight black leather suit. When he smiled, his purple lips caught people's attention. Tinos was strangely beautiful. If Angele were to associate him with something, it would be a thorny purple rose coated with deadly poison.
Angele glanced at the two guards behind Tinos. One of them was taller than the other. Both of them were wearing leather armor. The taller guard was similarly smiling. His white hair was left untied over his shoulders, and he was handsome. He was holding a black dagger.
The shorter one was a lady who had her face covered with a black mask holding two small stones in her hands. Her eyes and hair color were black. Complemented with the leather suit she wore, her attractiveness reached another level. Ten more guards stood behind them, all of which were beauties or handsome men.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Tinos," Angele said as he gently smiled.
"I left the castle right away after hearing Master Angele was in Lennon City. Sadly, my father arrived first," Tinos said. Angele found Tinos's smile charming, causing him to feel a slight jealousy over Tinos's appearance. Angele, who had an average-looking face, had never cared about his appearance before but standing beside Tinos made him feel uncomfortably inferior.
"It's going to rain, why don't we enter the castle first? I hear the Lord has already prepared a banquet," Tinos continued.
"Sure," Alford replied, and Tinos nodded in response. Alford led the way; Angele and Tinos followed him. Some guards were dismissed, leaving the remaining guards to escort them to the castle.
Angele still wished to confirm his suspicions in regards to the strange feeling he had with Tinos. The young man didn't even have a beard, and his skin was smoother compared to other ladies. Angele could smell the woman-like fragrance coming from Tinos, causing him to have second thoughts. Angele kept convincing himself he was looking at a man.
They walked for a while. Every time Angele moved closer to Tinos, he found out the latter trying to stay away from him. It was as though Tinos was doing his best to have minimal contact with Angele.
‘Zero, check Tinos’s body condition and identify his gender,’ Angele thought.
‘Analyzing… Tinos Reed: Strength 2.0. Agility 2.7. Stamina 2.4. Mentality 1.2. Mana 0. Gene limit hasn’t reached the peak. Status: Healthy. Gender: Male,’ Zero reported.
‘So he’s a man… and his attributes are on a knight-level,’ Angele thought. Tinos’s attributes were on a mid-level knight’s, but Angele wasn’t certain of Tinos being a knight-level warrior. The chip was capable of gaining intel on Tinos's attributes, but it couldn't gain intel on Tinos's battle experiences and unique physical skills.
After Angele had become stronger, the results the chip showed had become more accurate. At present, he was 1 or 2 meters away from Tinos, and he decided to check everyone within a 5-meter radius. The two guards in black leather armor had knight-level attributes, and their Agility attribute was relatively high. The other guards had the same attributes as ordinary people's, and it was quite likely that they're worse than the city guards.
Angele hadn't expected to see many knight-level warriors here. However, the most important personage in Lennon City was living here, so the security level of this place must be the highest in the city.
‘Well, it’s likely that Tinos just likes handsome men and beautiful women. Perhaps he even hates average-looking people,’ Angele made his conjecture. Lord Alford had an extremely high Strength attribute of about 5.0, but his Agility attribute was merely 0.5 and also, his Stamina attribute was only about 1.0. It seemed that Alford could no longer walk as he had been sitting in his wheelchair the whole time. Angele assumed that Alford would have been at least a top-level knight before getting crippled into his current state.
Angele also noticed that Gerac and the other white-armored guard kept looking at the guards behind Tinos. Instead, they kept a certain level of vigilance toward these guards. As Angele thought of this, he realized that there were still things he needed to figure out.
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ED Note(s): I apologize for the inactivity during these past few days. Please forgive me as I haven’t been able to edit quite properly because of one single reason: I accidentally broke my laptop several days ago.
*bows*
Please don’t torch me or hang me. Please.
For now, I’m having it fixed so you can expect a normal release rate after 2 to 3 days… hopefully. I’ll have to make do with my contingency plan — revive my antique pc. Heck, it’s actually revived but the OS is still… um, Windows XP. Anyway, I hope that you won’t get too angry with the recent silence in chapter releases. I’ll compensate y’all with more chapters soon.