The missing only son of Viscount Frank had returned safely.
This piece of good news that wasn't really good news for the viscount's territory quickly spread. Quite a few people personally witnessed the ragged noble young master riding a horse through the city gate.
No one dared mock his clothing. They didn't even dare look at the young master a second time... unless they didn't want their eyes anymore.
David, mounted on his horse, looked at those commoners with lowered heads and finally felt a bit of familiarity in his heart.
Right, this was the normal reaction people should have when facing David Frank. That viscount's son was usually an utterly wicked bastard who bullied men and women alike—notorious throughout the land.
No doubt about it, the people in this city weren't monsters with a dozen eyeballs growing on their faces...
As for Viscount Frank, after instructing his subordinates to give David a horse, he never spoke another word to him and had no intention of asking where he'd been these past few days.
Like this kind of thing had happened plenty of times before.
David couldn't be happier about that. He didn't want too much contact with this unfamiliar "father" anyway. As long as he remained the viscount's son, that identity was enough.
But if the viscount wouldn't come find him, two hunters blocked him at the entrance to David's private manor.
David Frank had seen these two before, but the viscount's son back then had sneered at their identities and paid them no mind whatsoever.
David had to rack his brain quite a bit to recall the two hunters' self-introductions. The male hunter dressed in a black coat was named Muken, and that light-footed female hunter wearing a form-fitting hunter's coat seemed to be called Veronica.
The reason for remembering these two names was because, like Videns, they both came from the imperial capital and had only recently joined the frontier hunters' guild to operate near the viscount's territory.
David Frank had met these three hunters at a banquet. The viscount's son had actively approached Videns for some reason and obtained that delayed-action poison from him, then drank it himself...
Now, David really wanted to know why Videns wanted to kill him, and whether these two young hunters had anything to do with it.
The noble young master jumped off his horse with a servant's help and walked toward those two hunters. He could see some greenness on both their faces. Obviously, these two hadn't been hunters for long—nowhere near a veteran hunter like Videns who'd been tempered by blood and fire.
Muken immediately came forward. His gaze kept locking on the gun and sword at David's waist. He'd already recognized them as Videns's silver sword and gun...
"Lord Frank, glad to see you safe and sound. I'm sure you remember me, my name is..."
"Muken, I remember you." David interrupted him. He walked straight up to Muken and stared directly into his eyes with a cold gaze slightly higher than his.
[Life Energy: 210/210]
The opponent's life energy bar appeared in David's eyes, looking so pitifully short.
A nearly twenty-fold gap in health—that was crushing on the level of life itself...
Some kind of abyssal aura hit him head-on. Muken felt the noble young master before him had suddenly become very frightening. Though he lacked the ability to detect the opponent's strength, strong intuition told him this person was extremely dangerous!
He couldn't help but retreat two steps, his whole momentum weakening considerably.
David raised an eyebrow. He hadn't really cared about fighting these two hunters, but now it seemed they had no such intention.
"Your purpose?" he asked concisely.
"Lord David."
At this point, the female hunter Veronica, noticing the problem, stepped forward and bravely stood before David, speaking frankly:
"We've come to trouble you, my lord, to confirm something with you. Our mentor, Hunter Videns, should have been on good terms with you privately. After hearing the news of Lord David's disappearance, he volunteered to search for you..."
Speaking, she pointed at the gun and sword at David's waist.
"If I'm not mistaken, those should be our mentor's belongings. May I ask if you've seen him? Where is Mentor Videns now?"
Veronica obviously had that stubborn personality and the brash courage of youth. David could read that from her gaze. He smiled slightly and said bluntly: "I saw him. He's dead..."
Both hunters immediately showed surprised expressions.
David continued: "He died saving me. He was a brave, respectable veteran hunter."
Young hunters' psychological activities were really too easy to read. From their bewildered reactions, David was quite certain they didn't know about Videns wanting to kill him.
Speaking, he directly drew the gun and silver sword from his waist and placed them in the bewildered Veronica's hands.
That sword was nothing special—just a hunter's standard-issue silver sword, exquisitely forged craftsmanship, that was all. But that gun was quite interesting. David had carefully studied its construction on the road.
This elegant short gun that fired blood bullets wasn't the gunpowder weapon he knew. It was entirely driven by another kind of mysterious alchemical reaction as the kinetic energy propelling the bullets. More peculiarly, it could even directly absorb the hunter's blood as ammunition to fire.
Too bad David couldn't use this firearm—his blood lacked some component unique to hunter's blood.
So he returned the gun to the hunter, actively ending this probing—if he didn't end it, he couldn't restrain himself, couldn't control his gaze!
That damn Watcher evil spirit kept stimulating his eyeballs, forcing him to place his gaze on that female hunter Veronica!
Pretty face, smooth neck, slightly rising hills on her form-fitting undershirt, slender waist beneath her long coat...
David took a deep breath and simply closed his eyes, turning to leave with complete "disregard for others."
The female hunter had probably already keenly noticed the viscount son's lecherous gaze. She just didn't want to offend a noble over it—especially a notoriously infamous noble young master like David Frank.
...
Returning to his private manor, the first thing David did was gorge himself on a feast under the servants' care, barely suppressing that endless hunger.
Only after that did he have the mood to change into a set of decent, comfortable clothing befitting a noble young master and, under those servants' fearful gazes, announce his return.
A lackey-like attendant actively sidled up to David's dining table, grinning as he handed him a newspaper.
Yes, this world had newspapers. This thing probably wasn't some senior transmigrator's invention, because besides newspapers, the Goliath Empire also had factories, steamships, giant steam locomotives, developed railway networks, and so on...
This was a world similar to the Victorian era of his past life, yet somewhat different. Similar civilizations had likewise spawned various modern-era products, but strangely, the Goliath Empire maintained a backward noble system.
Perhaps because of the world's dark side?
David didn't really understand these things. He tossed aside the newspaper and looked at that fawning lackey, Doug.
This guy had followed David Frank for many years. He had a weasel-like face, was cunning and clever, and had often helped the noble young master handle all kinds of unscrupulous acts like bullying and kidnapping.
"Hehe, young master, this lowly one always knew you'd be fine with your great fortune. That's why I've been waiting at the manor for your return..."
David neither confirmed nor denied, listening to this guy's flattery while inwardly wondering whether he should chop him up...
"...Oh right, this lowly one has good news to tell you, young master. Those two pretty slave women you took out before, this lowly one found them for you!"
This puzzled David. After listening to Doug explain with a taking-credit manner, he learned he meant those two slave women who'd nearly been used as sacrifices that night. Those two slaves hadn't actually died in the tent's melee—they'd just been pinned under corpses.
When the viscount's forces found the place, clever Doug had secretly rescued those two slave women and locked them in David's manor's private dungeon...
"Well done. Lead the way."
David gave Doug a token compliment, stood up, and followed the lackey, who grinned obsequiously all the way to the small dungeon behind the manor
There were also several guards fiercely loyal to the Frank family guarding the prison door. Seeing David appear, they all saluted him expressionlessly... definitely no respect, though.
Soon, David saw those two pretty slave women again. They were held separately in two cramped cages. When they saw David arrive, they appeared very fearful.
"Slurp~ Young master, this lowly one knew you'd definitely come back. I specially kept them safe for you, didn't let anyone touch a hair on their heads, hehe..."
Doug's sleazy smile made David's eye twitch. He coughed and turned his head.
"Very good. You can drag him out and chop him up."
"Ah... huh?" Doug looked utterly confused, asking in disbelief: "Young master, just chop them up like that, isn't that... a bit of a waste?"
"I meant you."
David looked coldly at Doug.
A drop of cold sweat trickled down from Doug's head...