Chapter 225: Lucien Duvant.

Chapter 225: Lucien Duvant."Do the lords accept audiences from nobodies like me?" Lee asked the innkeeper, trying sound as desperate as possible.

"Hahaha! Make a guess!" The man laughed in return, "Don’t even try to go there without a proper gift."

"But then ... what’s the procedure? What do I do if I have something?" Lee asked, but the innkeeper’s eyes lit up.

"What do you have?" He asked.

"Nothing yet. But I have to think of something." Lee said.

"Good boy! Have one more cup!" The innkeeper said, "This one’s on the house. If you get a good present, run it by me first. I’ll take a look to see if it’s good enough. We don’t want you to embarrass yourself in front of the lords, right?"

"Right!" Lee agreed and emptied the cup in one go.

Then he went back to his room, trying to stagger on the way, and cultivated through the night. It was a simple cleansing technique, but he didn’t want any alcohol remaining in his body, so made sure all was expelled before the sunrise.

***



Lee didn’t have that many artifacts left.

Soulcleaver and the spatial glove were completely out of the question, and he didn’t want to part with the ring and his trousers either. The last one has been seriously damaged during the past few months, but the pocket still had the spatial dimension, although it was mostly filled with supplies.

Then there was Stonerend, but Lee guessed that it was a premium sword which even an incredibly talented elemental master at his age couldn’t craft. The other items, though, more or less fit the standard.

Besides three more weapons, there was another set of trousers for wind element users, two robes with defensive properties, beautiful helmet wit a narrow visor, and a circlet with deeply carved runes, designed for a fire element users. One of the robes was going to become his ticket to meet Lord Duvant as the initial present.

Lee intended to pretend to be young and talented artificer, looking for his lost master. The only one who could help find him was the overlord, thus the need to find their location. It was a bit of a stretch, but if a devoted disciple was desperate enough, the reasoning should seem plausible.

The status of an artificer’s apprentice had to carry enough weight for any elemental lord to take him seriously. The downside was the possibility that someone might ask for a demonstration of his skills.

To prepare for that, Lee decided to offer the helmet, circlet and one of the robes, claiming they were his master’s creations, in exchange for information about the overlord’s location, while keeping the weapons for himself. That way, in case of emergency, if he was forced to craft an artifact, he could fake it by forging a random crap and swap midway with a real, pre-made weapon.

There was the chance that Lord Duvant would straight out kill him and take his stuff, but after pondering about it for a couple of days, Lee decided to take the chance. Finding an overlord was his best chance of solving the spark problem and his guess was that if he got killed, it was highly likely he would be born in this particular world again – in that case, he would start over.

Another short struggle he had regarding the glove, Soulcleaver and the other artifacts. If he was killed, it would be practical if they were stashed somewhere. On the other hand, if he was born after several centuries, or even millennia, it was highly unlikely for him to find the items ever again anyway.

In the end, to lessen the risks, he stored the most valuable things in the glove, the rest in the pocket of his trousers, and only the three gifts in the ring. He was reluctant to show off the spatial ring as it surely would incite greed, but technically he could also use it as a bargaining tool.

***

Freeheaven during the day felt like a completely different place compared to the same city at night. Each morning, when Lee stepped outside of the inn, the only sign of the nightly incidents was the blood still staining the streets.

No one seemed to care, though. Passersby didn’t even look down, or in the worst case scenario, simply stepped over the larger puddle as if they were nothing more than leftover rainwater. The place, including its name was surreal, and so looked the stone castle on the high cliff in the very center of it.

It wasn’t opened to tourists or random people.

Lee had to state the reason for his visit and present the token before he was even allowed to take the winding road up. Then, blending in a long line of people pushing wagons and carrying sacks full of supplies, he slowly climbed, cursing the sun that for some reason picked this particular day to burn the back of his head.

On the other hand, it would’ve been much worse if it was raining – the poor laborers would be barely able to take a step without slipping and falling.

It was past midday when Lee arrived at the castle gate, but unfortunately, contrary to the most, this was as far as he got.

"What do you want?" A guard at the gate rudely asked, seeing Lee was carrying a relatively small parcel compared the rest of people who could barely stand under the weight of their bundles and sacks.

"I’m here to meet Lord Duvant!" Lee patiently said, "This is a present ..."

"Get lost, kid, before you regret it!" Another guard stepped forward, but he didn’t shout. The manner and the tone of his voice actually sounded like he was concerned.

"I’m sorry, I should’ve started with it." Lee said, "My name is Lee, I’m apprentice artificer. This is an artifact my master crafted and I’d like to present it to Lord Duvant."

"Show me!" A third man arrived, but this one didn’t wear armor. He had shirt and trousers on, neat and clean, indicating he wasn’t a simple help. Earlier he was discussing something with the leader of the soldiers at the gate and overheard Lee’s words.

Lee expected this, and pulled up one side of the wrapping, showing a piece of dark-green fabric, embroidered with golden threads. One couldn’t tell what it was, but it was clear that the item was expensive.



"Artificer, huh?" The man said, and beckoned Lee, "Follow me!"

Then he looked at the guards, and added, "No need to register him!"

Lee followed, enjoying the small victory, but didn’t notice the guard who tried to shoo him away shake his head and sigh. He was too busy analyzing the inner layout of the castle, counting patrolling guards, and mapping potential escape routes.

***

Lee had no clue who the man was that got him in. He didn’t introduce himself, and after telling Lee to wait in a spacious room with many chairs, left through a large, two-sided door. He took the robe, but Lee figured that at this point it was alright. He was clearly in some kind of official waiting room, and it was the matter of time before he would be invited to meet the Lord of the castle.

Lee used the time to go over the plan one more time, and was called before he had time to get bored. Apparently, the robe was good enough to arouse the interest of the man sitting on the throne.

No one addressed him as His Majesty, but surely he enjoyed all the privileges of a king. In fact, even his throne chair was much more extravagant that Valen Sunvell’s, which Lee already considered to be a priceless treasure.

"Greetings, my Lord!" Lee politely greeted and deeply bowed.

The word on the streets was that the regular subjects had to kneel before Lucien Duvant, but he hoped to hint at his status of apprentice artificer, and, from the looks of it, it worked.

"Welcome, welcome, my boy!" The man jumped off his throne, rubbing his palms together in excitement, but Lee barely resisted gawking back from the sight he saw.