"Noel!" Anna called Noel from a distance while waving her hand. Noel turned out to be working among the people, supervising the place where they could build the second stage storage.
Noel stopped for a moment and turned around, finding Anna and Evan approaching him. Despite Evan's calm expression, his walking speed was faster than normal, indicating that he was eager to know about the runes.
Anna seemed to have done her job of luring him.
Noel gestured to the person next to him to take care of the job while he met these two.
"Welcome to my city, Duke Lorelei." Noel smiled.
"It's truly a surprising city. I guess you have managed to accomplish your first objective, eh? To think that Earl Ardagan has surpassed his father." Evan made a forced smile, showing that he was slightly annoyed that he actually fell for Noel's plan.
"Hahaha. Let's leave it at that." Noel didn't explicitly acknowledge it, so Evan didn't lose his face. He asked, "So, what does Duke Lorelei want with me?"
"Did you seriously ask that question? You were the one who invited me." Evan's eyebrows twitched. "You should be the one mentioning your intention first."
"Is that so? Then, I guess it's fine to disclose it. How about having a cup of tea a few times?"
"…" Evan paused for a moment. What Noel was trying to say was that he wanted to fight against him a couple of times. The number of fights indicated that this was a spar as well as the time for him to train.
Before replying to his invitation, Evan looked around and said, "Let's talk somewhere else."
"Of course. There is an empty building over there." Noel pointed at the half-destroyed building not far away from them.
As soon as the duke agreed, they moved to that building to prevent anyone from listening to them.
"I don't really mind fighting you two, but you should know that I can't hold back for a certain reason, right?" Duke Lorelei squinted his eyes, warning him that the fight wouldn't go according to plan.
"Of course. But that's only the first fight. We have a countermeasure about it." Noel explained.
"The first fight?" Evan pondered for a moment. The first fight was the most important, considering the result would be reported directly by the spies. If those people knew that Duke Lorelei had injured Noel and Anna badly enough, they would definitely feel relieved.
From the second fight onward, it seemed that Noel had a different plan in a way that the spies couldn't kill them. No, it could be said that it was Noel's invitation to eliminate the spies.
In other words, Noel wanted the spies to report about the result of the first fight before getting exterminated. With that, no one would be able to report about Noel and Anna's current condition.
"So, if I were to agree to killing all those spies, what would you give me in return?" Evan asked. Getting suspected by the Royal Family or the Supreme Devil Organization would be annoying, so he had to get something in return.
But when he thought he had seen through Noel, the latter actually corrected the thought in his mind. "Who says I'm going to kill them? The spies are useful because they will report everything to the people behind them."
"Huh? You don't want me to kill them?" Evan was startled. These inventions would be too great to be passed on. And if they knew that Noel and Anna were severely injured, they might take that chance to steal them. Of course, that would wait until he left since it was clear that the duke would be interested in them as well.
That was why not killing the spies was a questionable move.
Noel raised a finger. "Yes. With our injuries, the next battles will only count as training by yourself, isn't it? No one dares to spy on you after all."
"…" What Noel said made sense. After that confirmation, if the duke made a huge scene, it would just look like he was trying to annoy Noel under the pretense of training. But it also meant that their next fight wouldn't be as big as the first one. He didn't care about Noel's aim in that spar. Instead, he focused on what he could get from it. "Suppose we fight like that. In that case, what are you going to do with the spies? I don't want them to take those inventions."
"Sooner or later, people all around the world will know about these inventions. So, it's fine if they spread the word for us. More and more nobles will know about it and give us another source of income." Noel shrugged.
"But you have to be able to protect them before you can say that." Evan warned him.
"Of course. But we are not going to be the ones who protect those inventions." Noel shook his head.
That reply alone was enough for Evan to realize Noel's intention. "So, you're planning to use me. With my interest, there is no way those people would steal it directly. However, you're forgetting something. You need something that can keep me here for a long time… And it's not like you're going to stay here when your territory is going to be attacked, right?"
Noel smirked. The duke wasn't wrong. Noel didn't plan to stay in this city for a long time, so without him, the duke would lose his interest soon.
"Duke Lorelei. What do you think about studying those inventions yourself? I have a Rune Book with me that you can use as a reference. If you can understand three out of those five inventions, I will let you visit the main city and place your order for those three. What do you think?!"
"!!!" Evan widened his eyes in shock. Noel actually allowed him to take a close look at these inventions. While he couldn't replicate it, he could understand the concept.
That process alone would take a few months to complete, which meant Noel would get a free protector for this city. And the moment he headed to the main city, this place would have recovered to such an extent that it wouldn't collapse so easily.
The information about these inventions would spread, which would benefit the Ardagan Family greatly. In exchange, he could be the first person to order it.
No, Evan almost missed one detail. To place an order, he could just send a letter to Noel. Yet, Noel actually invited him to the main city.
That was right. If this city had all these inventions, what would the main city have? The thought alone was enough to pique his excitement, fully knowing that Noel's city would be the first city where all the conveniences had been improved by runes. There was a chance that the things he could order were beyond these five inventions.
But the main city was still lacking in population and if they planned to supply people, it would be easy for them to be infiltrated. That was why before anyone sent a spy, they were planning to have a migration first and with a stricter requirement. He should be able to impose an information blackout for a few months using this method.
With more and more people becoming interested in Noel's main city, they would resort to bribes or any other method in order to get an entry. There would even be the Rune Academy. When that one-year period had passed, it would be difficult to crush Noel's main city.
That was why he might be the first noble to be granted entry to his city, allowing him to be prioritized.
And to get all that, he had to fall for Noel's plan.
Before that, he had to confirm two things. "Tell me about these two. How many people do you plan to bring to your city?"
"The migration is divided into three stages. The first one is in progress but will take a bit longer. There will be about two to three thousand people. The second one will be in five to six months; the amount is close to the first stage. The last stage will be right before the opening of the city. In total, we will have fifteen thousand people in this city."
Duke Lorelei nodded and asked the second question. "Your student is the second princess of the Greenwood Kingdom, right?"
"If you are worried about that, I don't have any intention of teaching her the method just yet. So, in three to four months, I think? After all, she is just barely starting to learn about runes, unlike this one. " Noel pointed at Anna.
It would be weird for Anna to know about all kinds of runes all of a sudden. So, Noel just wanted to reinforce the thought of her learning from Noel since the time they were together in the Demon Banner Army. This way, Anna had several years to learn from Noel, even if they were separated most of the time.
And a lot of people would ask the duke about Anna's knowledge and he would confirm it based on this statement, removing any possibility of them knowing the fact that she regressed.
In addition, this would guarantee that even though Livia was his student, the Greenwood Kingdom's priority would be lower than his. Of course, he had to complete his own objective within three to four months.
Duke Lorelei fell into deep thought. On the one hand, he had planned to remain in the Stargaze Family for a long time. On the other hand, he didn't expect that he would end up being the guardian of these two kids.
Duke Lorelei raised three fingers. "Alright. I can agree to becoming the guardian of this city, but I have three conditions."
"Please." Noel nodded, knowing this would happen.
"First, I want a written statement that my orders will be prioritized."
"That is if your orders are within reason."
"Don't worry. I'm not going to make it hard for you. But you should know that my action will cause me to be suspected by the Supreme Devil Organization as well as the Royal Family. Hence, I want you to promise me that you won't attack the Lorelei Family in the future."
"As long as they remain neutral, I won't do anything. I can promise that for as long as I am alive." Noel agreed without hesitation. He emphasized it with his life because he knew that Duke Lorelei wouldn't really live for much longer. At best, he would still be alive for another ten years, but by that time, he was almost one hundred years old. With all the injuries he suffered in his entire life, there was no way his body could sustain them for that long.
With this guarantee, Evan felt at ease. He added, "Last but not least, I don't want you to forget that humanity's true enemy."
"!!!" Noel was quite surprised by the third condition. It actually implied that no matter how angry he was towards the Royal Family, he wanted him to at least not destroy the kingdom because, ultimately, the demons were their true enemies.
If he never heard his ancestor's story, he might disagree with this. But after knowing how much disaster the demons had brought, he knew that the world was much bigger than he thought.
That was right. His ancestor was on the run for several years. That fact alone showed how big the world was. Instead of focusing his anger on the small Muivell Kingdom, he was much more interested in the bigger world.
In fact, he had originally thought about this. When the needs of Demon Crystals increased, it would be time for humanity to actively hunt those demons.
His great ancestor had stopped the demons from invading this place, so while it might not be him, his descendant might be able to stop the demons so that they didn't come to this world anymore.
That would only happen in hundreds, if not thousands, of years in the future. By that time, he hoped that the world had found another source of power that could make the civilization flourish just like the previous civilization managed to do all that without Spiritual Energy.
Hence, Noel smiled at the third condition, saying, "Definitely. Just like how the sky expands to the horizon, just like how the people of the Zaecuria Kingdom can't explore the vastness of the sea… I would never turn myself into a tiger in a cage."
Noel indirectly implied that he would be strong enough to resist anything in this kingdom. But instead of holing himself and focusing on this kingdom to the point where he became a tyrant, he would rather be free and embark on a new journey.
"Alright. I agree to become the guardian of this city. Still, even if this place is safe, you should worry about your main city."
Noel pointed at the plate they were using earlier and said, "Why do you think this plate is not enough to protect my territory?"
Duke Lorelei was surprised at first, considering Anna couldn't say anything about the plate for a certain reason. And it turned out that the reason was for military use.
After realizing its true meaning, Duke Lorelei laughed out loud while saying, "Hahaha. It seems that Kevin has found an amazing son-in-law to the point where I want to snatch him for myself if I have a granddaughter. Hahahaha!"
