Upon successfully running away from home, I flew as fast and as far as I could in case the pursuit squad still followed me. After about two hours in the sky, I realized that I didn't even know where I was headed to.

I had been flying Southwest, roughly in the direction of the imperial capital, but since I had no map and had never flown so freely like this before, I wasn't sure how fast I had been flying nor how far I had traveled. All I could feel was that it was much faster than running, so I was in a difficult spot since I did not have anything to measure my speed with, no maps to follow nor any idea about my current location.

I randomly looked around in the air. Fortunately, there was a village nearby. I landed and headed towards it.

There were guards standing at the entrance of the village. They were wearing leather armors, iron covering their vital parts as well as a helmet on their head.

Usually, soldiers in the middle ages were imagined wearing full-plate armor and chainmail, but those were only worn by knights due to the amount of iron that was required to forge them. In reality, the armor the guards were wearing at the gates was the best armor ordinary soldiers could normally wear.

"Stop!"

I looked around after the soldiers blocked the entranceway into the village with spears, but there was only me here.

They nodded when I pointed a finger at myself.

"What's wrong?"

The soldiers pointed at my left waist. There was a sword hanging on my waist.

"Oh, are weapons a problem?"

"Yes. You have to show me your weapon permit first."

Perhaps it was due to my inexpensive looking attire or my young face, but the soldiers spoke to me very informally. However, there was another problem.

"Oh, I don't have something like that."

Unfortunately, I did not have a weapon permit.

In novels at least, you could carry around swords like these quite easily.

"No? Then where did you get that sword?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm talking about the sword. It's illegal to sell swords to someone who doesn't have a weapon permit.”

I couldn't believe that in this age there was such a modern, practical, and inconvenient law. I had slightly looked down on the empire due to its feudal system, but it unexpectedly seemed to be a country that enforced its laws.

Come to think of it, even during the middle ages of my past life, a proper ruler probably wouldn't have allowed people to carry weapons around without any regulations. Of course, whether or not people followed those laws was another matter.

"I'm not sure because my father gave it to me."

That was a lie. The sword was crafted by the village’s best craftsman after he expended several days on it. Upon receiving the sword, I was told that it was made out of an alloy of Adamantium, Mythril, and Orichalcum, and it could be exchanged for a large estate outside the village.

"Oh okay."

Fortunately, the soldiers did not seem suspicious that this was not the case.

"However, you still have to get a permit first before you enter the village. You need to have a license for the possession of any kind of weapon."

"Where can I get this permit?"

"Well, these kinds of cases happen surprisingly often, so the related officials who handle these situations are located in the building at the back. But they might be off work at this hour."

I checked the clock, it was currently 5:45 p.m.

Public servants get off work this early.

"If they are off work, you can still enter the village if you leave your weapon behind. What do you want to do?"

The sword I had was really expensive, but since it had magic imbued upon it, it would come back to me whenever I called it. However, it could cause quite a stir if someone found out the value of my sword. I should just put it inside my private pocket space from now on.

The soldier tried to persuade me as I pondered.

"Why don't you just leave the sword behind? Although this area is considered safe, monsters still appear occasionally. Also, looking at your appearance, it looks like you've been camping out for several days. Wouldn't it be better to find a room and take a good rest?"

Unexpectedly, the soldier seemed like a good man. Well, I wasn't really worried since I could just run away if I encountered any problems.

"I'll just do that then."

"Okay. You made a good choice. It would have bothered me if I had to kick out a young guy like you. Hahaha." The soldier smiled nicely.

Although he said I was young, I was an adult now. If I were to include my previous life, I should be over 40 now.

"Then can you show me your identification card first?"

"What’s the problem? Do you not have an ID card? Are you not an adult yet?"

The soldier revealed his concern on his face.

It seemed like I couldn't enter the village if I didn't have an ID card. Come to think of it, a few months before I became an adult, Hestia gave me some cards that she said were IDs for the empire and the republic. I remembered thinking that it looked different from what I expected.

"No, I have it. Just a moment."

I pulled out my identification card from my pocket space while pretending to rummage through my pockets. I used magic to change the ID card to one that looked like a resident registration card. It was a precaution in case someone from the village came to find me.

The soldier’s face hardened on the spot when he saw my ID.

"You are a noble?"

The soldier gave an unexpected reaction.

"Yes, I am."

I answered as if it was obvious. Well, I wasn't lying.

Since Uncle was a marshal of the imperial army, I was also a noble as one of his family members.

"Excuse my rudeness. You are free to go in."

The soldier's reaction took a 180-degree turn. Well, I guess there were no harms in the change...

"Oh, but what about the sword—”

"You are free to just enter. Nobles are free to carry around weapons anyway."

"I'll go in then. Have a good day."

I waved my hand as I entered the village. At that time, I was not aware that my ID card was only given to high-ranking nobilities above the rank of count.

The story of me finding that out later and struggling to forge the identification card of a lower-ranking noble to become a public servant was a story for another day.

-o-

In the heart of the empire's capital, home to over a hundred noblemen, a large hawk flew into a certain mansion. A small tube containing a letter was attached to its leg.

Bloody Blade, owner of the mansion and marshal of the imperial army, opened the letter that had come directly from his hometown with a little bit of excitement.

For the past half-year, he had spent his time protecting the region bordering Demon’s Territory, so it had taken a long time for his letters to reach him. However, after returning home, he was able to receive them right away.

To guard the northern border in Bloody's stead, a marshal from the Dragon Tribe had been sent to the border region of Demon’s Territory, but Bloody was still happy.

Half a year later, she would have to switch her spot with a marshal from the Butterfly Tribe, and a year later, Bloody would have to head back to Demon’s Territory to replace this marshal.

The letter started off with talks about the season as usual.

It felt as if there had been something wrong with Hestia's emotions when she wrote the letter, but having been raised in the village, Bloody couldn’t help feeling nostalgia.

However, he had no choice but to become serious as he continued reading the letter.

Bloody’s face hardened after reading the letter.

If it were true that Denburg caught a dragon at age twelve, he definitely deserved to be named Doomstone's successor.

Who else other than such a talent could lead the Crow Tribe of Olympus?