Noel was overwhelmed by the gift to the point he couldn't accept it easily.
"I'm sorry, Rose. I don't think I can accept this." Noel shook his head helplessly. "These are yours."
"But…" Rose frowned.
"Do you think I don't know their worth? I might not understand the information written on the blueprints, but I know it's worth a lot.
"After connecting some parts, I can see why the Supreme Devil Organization wants these blueprints… no, should I say that the Supreme Devil Organizations want these blueprints because they know their worth?
"You have told me that it's dangerous to possess these blueprints as well, so I can kind of measure their worth. So, you should be the one holding them, not me. These are the gifts from your parents."
Rose's body shook. She wanted to repay Noel for everything she had done. She also had deemed Noel to be a good lord if he ever rebuilt his family.
And with his current character, the people would know him as a wise and just lord. He might want his subordinates' stuff, but everything was for the territory's development.
Even if he had to retrieve it, he would give enough compensation. That was why she gave them to Noel.
She could say she had expected this, but she also wished she could say otherwise. After all, she wanted Noel to receive them.
"I know that you are a bit skeptical of receiving this, but trust me. You need these blueprints." Rose indirectly implied that the blueprints were more important than the dangers.
But Noel wasn't concerned about the danger. He was more skeptical about the worth of the blueprints. He couldn't repay Rose for these. He believed what he had done for her still wasn't worth more than these two blueprints.
"It's not about the danger, Rose. If you give me these two blueprints, I'm afraid that I will owe you so much that it will make me feel guilty."
"Huh? Guilty?" Rose was confused. There was no need to feel guilty since she was the one that wanted him to accept, not the other way around.
"You can understand why I feel that way after following me a bit more. Instead of giving me these two, how about you hold it first for me?
"If you find someone suitable for it, you should give them or hand them to this person. But if you still haven't found anyone, then when I have enough riches, I'll buy them for you." Noel smiled as if asking Rose not to reject this proposal.
"…" Rose bit her lips when she saw her expression. She still wanted to give him, but she ended up respecting Noel's stance. "Alright. But I won't give it to anyone. You are the only ones who can possess them, all right?"
"Thank you."
The atmosphere became awkward after that, but Rose ended up safekeeping the blueprints for Noel.
Rose didn't tell Noel the content of the blueprints. There were two reasons.
Firstly, Rose wished Noel to accept it so that she could repay his kindness. Secondly, Rose wanted Noel to appraise it personally so that there wouldn't be any lies about it.
Even if she told him about the previous appraisal, they might not be correct. After all, civilization had developed further in the past thirty years. So, the answer might be different this time.
In the end, they decided to stop talking about the blueprints and continued on their journey.
Their next destination was none other than the Demon Banner Army's Headquarters, where they planned to meet up with Dimitri.
He was also curious about the development of those kids. They had talent and a unique path. Now that they hadn't met for six months, he wanted to see how far the kids had gone.
Noel couldn't help but tell the story about the kids to Rose, showing how proud he was of them.
After all, they were kids from slums that sought to change and reach a higher stage. They didn't complain about the training and kept making an effort toward their goal.
The story piqued Rose's interest since Septa was talented at his own level while Shale was one of the most powerful people in the Demon Banner Army.
With them agreeing to the assessment, the kids should be good. She wanted to see what kind of sword dance the kids would show her.
It took them three weeks to reach the Demon Banner Army's headquarters due to how far Rose's village was. And their pace was quite high all this time to avoid getting late.
The horses were tired, but Noel and Rose kept pushing them forward just for a little bit until they met the kids.
When Noel and Rose reached their destination, they didn't hesitate to go toward the house where the kids lived.
But to their surprise, the hut was empty and there was dust here and there, showing that the kids had left the hut for a while.
So, Noel had no choice but to go to the barrack to find anyone that was supposed to have seen the kids.
He knew that Shale had stopped teaching and the next instructor was the captain of the Demon Barrier Squad. However, he should know something about them.
Even Shale should know about the kids' talents and tell the Demon Barrier Squad's captain about them.
The Demon Barrier Squad's captain was a middle-aged man whose body wasn't losing against Igor. But according to Rose, this person was more muscle-brain than Igor as they could still tell Igor something and he would follow the advice.
As for this captain, he only thought about muscle and body. All the Demon Barrier Squad members had a similar body to him as if they were trying to become a meat shield. It was no wonder Shale and Septa called this person a gorilla. After all, he only taught the new recruits how to strengthen their bodies.
And the moment they reached the barrack and found the captain, they received an answer that shocked them to the core.
"The kids? They're gone."
