Fifteen minutes later, Octavia returned with the documents Arthur had requested. Since he'd been paying extra attention to Orin, he noticed the boy was staring at the papers with a mysterious gaze.
'He's definitely noticed something,' Arthur thought with a sarcastic tone. Yet at the same time, a sliver of concern crept into his mind. He wasn't afraid of someone like Orin—he posed no real threat. Still, the idea of killing him did cross his mind. Arthur quickly dismissed it. He wasn't a heartless killer who erased every nuisance. In fact, he was trying to leave killing as a last resort.
He took the document containing the census questions and another sheet with a simplified map of the Barony divided into twenty-five regions. He returned the rest of the papers to Octavia and instructed her to take them back to his room.
