Rowan noticed the bell on the table in front of him, which is used to call servants to his room, and rung it, with Jonathan stood behind as a show of dominance.
Almost immediately, servants rushed into the room in droves, namely the head butler and the head maid.
Their faces were a mixture of terror and disbelief, frozen in shock at the realization Rowan was sitting at the head of the table, meant for the baron.
The head maid Victoria broke the silence. "Hey, you brat! That's the baron's seat. Get up now and maybe the baron will spare you from punishment."
Unlike the head maid, who was stern and unyielding, the head butler was utterly terrified. He had heard of what happened to the baron and his family, but apparently Victoria was still in the dark.
"Hoh! You think you can order me around, Victoria?" said Rowan. "Jonathan, show this fool who is in power now by releasing your aura."
Jonathan immediately brought out his gold-rank aura, radiating it throughout the castle of the baron's estate.
The servants, mainly Victoria, gasped and fell to the ground, clutching their neck, trying to breathe in the midst of the powerful aura.
"Now you see who is in charge here? I have taken it upon myself to seize control of this barony. Jonathan Fireheart, a wandering knight of the gold rank, has recently pledged loyalty to me and will be my backer."
Jonathan withdrew his aura, and the servants started to catch their breath and get up from the ground.
"The baron and the rest of his family, apart from me, are all dead. I killed them. Yes, you heard me right. I killed all of them. This barony is now under my control, and you can either submit or you can die. Which will it be?"
Victoria's eyes bulged out in shock, her face in disbelief. That was a gold-ranking knights aura! After all, she had experienced the former baron's aura previously, and it was much weaker than Jonathan's!
She hated tyranny, and would never support it under any circumstance. But unfortunately for her, she had to, or she would die.
The servants, including Victoria, echoed in unison. "We see the lord!"
Rowan pointed to the servants. "Listen here, all of you. From now on, the fact that our barony has a gold-ranking knight in it's service shall remain confidential. No one shall speak of it outside of this room. Do I make myself clear?"
The servants all nodded in unison, shivering from the intimidating glare not from Rowan, but from Jonathan.
Rowan glanced at the head butler, whose face was shrinking in fright, despite being an iron-ranked knight. "Call all of our essential retainers immediately to convene for an emergency meeting."
The head butler looked up at Rowan and immediately exclaimed, "It shall be done, my lord!"
Meanwhile, the servants were all huddled into the meeting space, some nervously shuffling their feet, others holding back tears.
Rowan glanced at a window outside and noticed multiple bodies being carried out of the house.
"Good, my room is getting cleaned up. Time to take care of other matters, then."
In a place far away from the Evercrest Barony, in the southern region of the Valemont Kingdom, a man jolted upright from his chair and checks the pendant in his pocket.
The pendant was cracked clean through it's center.
The pendant in the man's pocket was a life-registering amulet. When it registered to a person, if that person died, then the amulet would break!
"Broken...?" he whispered, his voice cracking. "Who dares kill my brother?"
The man fell back into his chair, the strength draining from his body as hot tears spilled down his cheeks. He clutched the shattered amulet to his chest, shaking his head as if to deny what he already knew.
"My foolish brother... why now? Who could have done this?" His voice wavered between grief and rage, twisting into something darker.
"I swear... I will find you - and kill you myself. I suppose it's time to make a trip back home." The man emitted a strong killing-intent aura at the silver rank.
With trembling fingers, he tucked the broken amulet back into his pocket, the last memory of his brother he couldn't save. His gaze turned north, toward the barony he once called home.
Back to the Evercrest barony, many individuals stepped into the room.
"My lord, I have brought the retainers." said the head butler.
"As you have not met them before now, I shall introduce each of them one by one. William, step up."
A short, rotund man in his mid-forties whose frame speaks of indulgence steps forward.
"Greetings my lord, I am William Fitzroy, the steward and treasurer for the baron's estate. I am at your service."
The head butler then told William to step back, and ordered another man to step forward.
"Good evening, my lord, I am Hugh Berkeley, the chief knight of the barony. Your will is my command.
Rowan nodded. "Hugh, how many knights do we have in our service currently, and what are their ranks?"
Hugh spoke up. "Currently, we have one bronze rank knight, which is myself, twelve iron ranked knights, and thirty-five unranked soldiers."
Rowan smiled in satisfaction. This was more manpower than he thought the barony had!
"Good, good. And William, how much gold do we have in the treasury, and how many debts do we have currently?"
William nervously stepped forward, and sneezed in fright.
"W-well my lord, actually, the baron was quite lavish in his spending, so were his family, and we are actually in a debt of nearly 500,000 gold coins. We only have a meager 5,000 gold left in the treasury, enough to last us two months."
Rowan stood up from his chair in surprise.
"500,000? Really? Just what were they buying?"
William took out a piece of parchment that listed the baron's recent expenses and handed it over to Rowan. It detailed the lavish vacations, drinks, real estate, and bribes they paid out to various sources.
"Hmph! What a greedy pig. No matter, we can easily pay off this debt now that we have Jonathan with us." said Rowan.
Jonathan said nothing in response, only acknowledging the statement with a nod.
"Who are we in debt to for so much gold?" remarked Rowan.
William spoke up. "We currently owe the Goldwing Merchant Guild all of the gold as a result of taking out a high-interest loan against our barony."
Rowan put his hand up to his chin, deep in thought.
After all, the barony he just seized will soon be seized by someone else if this debt isn't paid off!
"Jonathan, do you have any ideas for getting our hands on some gold, preferably quickly?"
Jonathan stepped forward. "Of course, my lord, we can always choose to hunt magic beasts at the gold rank or lower. A gold ranked beast should sell for about 100,000 gold coins, so we would only need to hunt about five of them to pay off the debt sufficiently."
"Great work Jonathan! I knew I could count on you to think of something. Let's get a move on and hunt some beasts."
Rowan glanced at the chief knight, Hugh.
"Hugh, organize the knights and prepare for an expedition. We're going to hunt some beasts."
Hugh prostrated himself in front of rowan and saluted. "It shall be done, my lord!"
A moment later, Rowan walks outside with Jonathan to the waiting carriage, along with the knights standing guard in front.
"Hugh, leave three knights and ten unranked soldiers here to guard the estate. We can't have any mishaps while we're away."
"Understood, my lord." said Hugh.
The carriage waiting for Rowan was no simple coach; it was a sturdy yet elegant one adorned with intricate carvings of lions and hawks - symbols of the Evercrest barony.
The horses that pulled the carriage were powerful chestnuts, their manes braided with ribbons matching the Evercrest colors.
Rowan and Jonathan stepped into the carriage, sitting down on the luxurious plush seats.
A procession of knights could be seen on the sides of the carriage, ever vigilant and ready to depart.
Suddenly, the carriage began to move, and they took off.
As they departed the manor grounds, villagers gathered by the roadside. Farmers wiped sweat from their brows, wide-eyed children pointed at the knights, and old women bowed respectfully.
Hooves clattered against the cobbled lanes, and dust rose in swirling motes beneath the summer sun.
Together, the carriage and the knights moved steadily toward the shadowed treeline that marked the border of Nightvale Forest, where beasts treaded in packs.
"Look! What's that up ahead?" said one of the knights.
Suddenly, a large group of well-armed men numbering in the fifties appeared out of no where, coming from the forest on the sides of the road and stopped in front of the carriage.
"Listen up you noble brats! My name is Percival and I'm here to rob you of your wares! Get out of the carriage at once! Knights, take off all of your armor and leave it here!"
Rowan was inwardly laughing at this display. After all, who could threaten him here in this small barony? Certainly not some bandits!
But suddenly, the man released his aura, a silver-rank aura.
A silver-ranked knight was rare to find in this world, much less a silver-ranked bandit!
The knights behind the carriage including Hugh began to falter under the pressure of the silver-ranked aura.
Rowan, however, was unaffected, as Jonathan was using his mana to shield Rowan from the invasive aura.
The two of them stepped out of the carriage to face Percival, much to his surprise that Rowan and Jonathan were unaffected by his aura.
"Hmm, let's do this the hard way. It would be too boring for Jonathan to release his gold-ranked aura and have them leave." thought Rowan.
Jonathan looked at Rowan for his orders.
"Jonathan, kill them all, but leave Percival alive."
Suddenly, Jonathan surged forward like a shadow, steel flashing in the sun. His blade moved in a blur - so fast that the eye could barely follow.
The first bandit barely had time to breathe before Jonathan's sword split his chestplate clean through, sending him crashing lifeless to the dirt.
Jonathan's movements were brutal, yet efficient. Every step, every swing, was placed with measured intent. Steel clashed against steel, but his strength and speed overwhelmed them.
Heads flew, and blood began to stain the road and soaked into the earth.
Percival looked back at his army of bandits, and suddenly saw a gruesome scene taking place before his eyes.
"No! My men! Just who is this man? He courts death!" thought Percival.
Percival screamed and charged at Jonathan. He gripped his heavy broadsword with both hands, drawing from his silver-ranked aura until it shimmered around him.
With a powerful step forward, Percival lunged, his blade sweeping through the air with brutal force aimed straight towards Jonathan.
"Jonathan, watch out!" screamed Rowan
Jonathan quickly turned behind him and blocked the blow by surrounding his sword in gold-ranked aura in a single, fluid motion, his arm steady as stone despite the brutality of Percival's swing.
Where Percival was brute force, Jonathan was lethal precision.
With a roar, Percival gathered mana into his blade, the silver aura flaring bright as he unleashed a slash meant to tear Jonathan in half.
The slash bounced off of Jonathan as if it posed no threat to begin with, and Jonathan stepped forward.
For a moment, the two men's eyes met - gold rank against silver.
Jonathan grabbed a hold of Percival's arm, and twisted it, ripping his broadsword out of his hands, sending it spinning to the roadside.
Jonathan used the blunt end of his sword and hit Percival in the stomach, sending him flying to the ground.
"Yield." Jonathan spoke, his voice cold like iron.
Percival was on his knees, his resistance crumbling, gasping for breath.
"I... yield."
Rowan stepped forward, eyes glinting with triumph.
"Good! Great work Jonathan. Percival, from this day forth, you will serve me. Unless you prefer death, that is."