The knight, who was clad in heavy black armor and holding a helm in her hand, was called Sandra, and she didn’t recognize any of them.

They were all strangers to her.

On top of that, she had never heard her master talking about having relatives either, which led her to believe that he was like her, orphaned with no one but herself to rely on until she was taken in by him.

So she was certain that he had nothing to do with them either and looked at them on alert. 

Julian was Damien’s distant relative.

He had been to their house a few times but never came across Julian, as the latter had locked himself in his room every time he visited them. He either disliked him so much that he didn’t want to see his face, or maybe he believed himself to be so inferior to the other that he thought he would be crushed to death from just being in his presence.

On the other hand, Roy was Damien’s youngest cousin, but he was like a stranger to him as they were yet to meet for the first time and establish contact, and his maids and servants weren’t related to him in any way either.

Only Arlo shared such a special bond with him that he dared to come to his house uninvited.

‘It has been three years since I last saw him. I wonder how far he had grown and whether he had solved the problems confining him to this place and forcing him never to step under the light of day.’ Arlo thought.

Arlo caught sight of a silhouette behind the windows on the manor’s second floor. The dark shadow was Lord Damien. It was his daily routine to stand next to the windows and eye the sun, hoping to one day stand under it. He lifted the curtain, gazed at his father as if inviting him in, and dropped them again, walking away.

Arlo moved past Sandra and strode towards the manor with big, heavy steps.

The female knight, seemingly angry at being ignored and worried that they were shady characters here to find trouble with her master, pulled out her sword from the ground before she dashed past them and blocked their way again, this time pointing the sword she was holding toward Arlo and the others threateningly and saying.

“Halt! This is the manor of the feudal lord, Damien Orlando Baldwin. You can’t enter it without permission.”

She had a scar running down her face. It made her look all the more menacing. However, Arlo was three heads taller than Sandra, so when she stood before him, a shadow was cast over her, making her feel like she had sunk into an ocean with dangerously surging currents all around her.

‘I am not afraid of him.’ She thought as she gritted her teeth to stop herself from trembling and raised her head to meet his eyes with hers, not budging an inch from her spot. 

“State your reason for wanting to meet him, and I will relay it to Lord Damien,” she said.

It was evident to them that, without his permission, she wasn’t going to let strangers in.

Seeing a sword pointed at him, Arlo’s eyes raised before he lightly chuckled. “Heh, he has found quite a loyal follower.” 

It has been 16 years since he was last threatened. He was taken aback to be threatened after so many years. Truly, the ignorant did not know how to fear. 

His domineering and mighty gaze landed on her, immediately confining her in place. 

She felt immobilized, and her heart palpitated wildly.

“I am his father. I don’t need a reason to meet him.” Arlo said.

He didn’t scold or punish her, as he could tell she was just doing her job. It was a knight’s job to stop uninvited guests from entering their lord’s manor. He gently pushed her out of the way using his aura and strode forward.

“Y-you…?!” She gaped at him, her jaw threatening to drop to the ground. “I have seen the Lord many times, and he doesn’t resemble you one bit. You don’t look anything like him.”  She said this as she found it impossible to believe that someone like Arlo could have fathered Lord Damien, who looked ravishingly handsome.

“… but I really am his father.” Arlo face-palmed, feeling exasperated. He had faced similar accusations before, and he knew this wasn’t going to be the last time.

“Bam!”

Suddenly, the 5 meters tall doors to the manor opened, and gales of cold winds gushed out from within the manor like waves, blowing Roy’s and Co’s clothes and ruffling their hairs. 

Then, a throaty and thick voice was heard.

“Let them in, Sandra.”

Sandra immediately stopped acting like a poked kitten and dropped her guard, lowering her sword and wearing her helmet.

She humbly bowed to Arlo as if apologizing to him, then said to them, “My master has invited you inside; please come with me.” 

She lifted her eyes to look at them, memorizing their faces. 

Then, she turned around to lead them inside. 

“Sandra.” Arlo looked at her back in bewilderment. “Is that your name?”

She glanced at him, questioning casually, “Yes, Lord Damien gave it to me. What about it?”

Arlo saw her in a new light young upon hearing what she said.

“That was the name of the injured dog he picked up from the road when he was a child. He looked after it for a long time.” Arlo revealed why she was named as such. Maybe Damien saw his dog in her. “It’s a surprise he named you as someone close to him. You must mean a lot to him.”

‘Is my son interested in this little female?’ Arlo wondered.

Damien wasn’t born with a hardened heart. He was a kind and loving child, who did not hesitate to express himself, but it all changed when he became a soul herder.

He became cold and indifferent.

He wouldn’t name an outsider, much less give them the name of his one and only dog, if they didn’t mean a lot to him.

“Was?” Sandra’s eyebrows raised.

Roy knew that she surprisingly wasn’t offended that he gave her his dog’s name. Rather, she smiled as if recalling a warm memory that made her feel happy. That smile came from her heart and was truly blinding.

Arlo nodded at her, “He reached the natural end of his lifespan a few years ago. He has long been given a proper burial.”

The dog had lived a long life and died in his sleep peacefully. Such a good death was given only to a few. But remembering him still made Arlo feel melancholic.

As they entered the manor, the seductive, authoritative, and deep voice was heard once again.

“Sandra, settle the guests into the guestroom and guide my old man to me.”

‘So, he really is his father. How weird.’ Sandra confirmed that Arlo was her master’s father upon hearing what he said and she was shocked.

She took Arlo to Damien before returning to the living room where Roy and the groups were waiting for her, and then she settled them in a large room with multiple beds. Taking their number into consideration, she also gave her the keys to the nearby guest rooms.

She placed one foot outside the room and stopped, turning to them and asking, “Do you need anything?”

“Please bring a large vat of hot water to me.” Roy requested.

“How large?”

“Extremely large. As large as possible.”

“What do you need that for?” Sandra looked at him in the same way she would look at a weirdo.

Roy just gave her a pleading smile. “Please.” 

She found him pleasing to the eyes. He is rather handsome, but not as much as my master.’ She was being biased. But she decided to fulfill his unreasonable request as she was a face-con, and he had the second-best face she had seen.

“Okay, I will.” After speaking, she went out and soon returned with a vat of hot water that was ten times bigger than her.

‘She must be awfully strong to hold that despite her short stature.’ Roy inspected her, realizing she was a level 10 trainee.

“Here you go.”

She said as she placed the 3-meter wide and 2-meter tall Vat in the middle of the room.

Roy turned to look at her with a warm smile, saying, “Thanks.”

“If you need anything, hit me up. You can find me downstairs.” 

Saying this, she walked out of the room and was kind enough to close the door, giving them privacy.

“What are you planning to do with it?” Julian narrowed his eye at him.

“Turn it all into purifying water so that we can put our beast cores to good use,” Roy replied as he immediately opened his subspace above the vat.

『Your subspace has opened up』

A large 5-meter wide hole opened up in thin air. Respective of the vat, it was horizontal.

『All the eternal weeds have been taken out of the subspace!』

Eternal weeds poured out of it in large amounts and sunk into the simmering, hot water that was giving off steam.

『The eternal weed has mixed with the hot water.』

『Core purifying potion has been created!』

Soon, it turned dark and murky.

『You have taken out hundreds of level 1 to level 3 cores from your subspace.』

After letting them scatter on the table, bed, and floor, Roy turned to the group with a big smile on his face.

“It’s time to increase your strength! Don’t be shy and drink as much of this as you can and eat as many cores as you can!” He invited them.

『Ding! Congratulations. Your subordinate Aydin’s stats has increased to 45 points each. He won’t be able to increase his basic stats any longer until he awakens or removes his first limiter.』

Even though it was quite distasteful, Aydin didn’t hesitate to use this method to increase his strength.

『Ding! Congratulations. Your subordinate Maya’s stats has increased to 48 points each. She won’t be able to increase her basic stats any longer until she awakens or removes her first limiter.』

Maya wanted to share her brother’s burden, so she didn’t hesitate to follow in his footsteps.

Julian, Delilah, and Amelia also used this unbelievable method to increase their strength until they could no longer.

『Ding! Congratulations. The basic stats of your friend Julian has increased to 48 points each. The basic stats of your maids, Amelia and Delilah, has increased to 50 and 60 points each, respectively. They won’t be able to increase their basic stats any longer until they awaken or removes their first limiter.』

The system’s notification rang in Roy’s mind.

『Ding! Congratulations. You have gained the last skill shard of the Lord’s blessing skill.』

『It’s detected that you have 20 skill shards of the Lord’s blessing Skill. You can combine them into the Lord’s blessing skill. Would you like to do it?』

“Yes…” Roy said internally.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep