Starting With an SSS-Rank Swordsmanship Talent

Chapter 353: Coaxing Dudu to Follow

Only one Elite Knight remained of the two hundred warriors who had come.

“W-Wait!”

He glanced fearfully at Alaric while slowly backing away. Sweat trickled down his face as he tried to come up with a way to escape this situation.

“Why did you guys come to this village?” Alaric asked as he walked closer to the trembling warrior.

“That…”

The Elite Knight hesitated, but realizing that this might be his last chance at survival, he gritted his teeth and told him the truth.

“W-We were tasked to ca-capture the children in this village with ages below five!”

Hearing this, Alaric furrowed his eyebrows. From his words, it seemed like whoever gave them the mission didn’t want them to know about Dudu’s real identity, but it was understandable. A half-dragon was a being that would attract attention wherever it went.

After getting the information he needed from the man, Alaric didn’t waste more time and stabbed him with his short sword.

Khhsshk!

The Elite Knight’s body turned into an ice sculpture before fragmenting into tiny pieces.

Alaric sheathed his swords and turned around. He calmly walked towards the village under the terrified gazes of the village warriors.

“Your Highness.” Rewin saluted him, his face showing deep respect and a trace of fear.

Seeing this, village warriors recovered from their shock and quickly bowed to Alaric.

“Your Highness!”

Alaric ignored the village warriors and turned his head to Rewin. “Let’s go back to the underground chamber. We need to discuss what to do with Dudu.”

Hearing this, Rewin’s expression became somber. “Your subordinate understands.”

The two headed to the underground chamber. Upon their return, they saw Dudu huddled in the corner, her face covered in tears and snot.

“Grandpa! Wuwu!”

The girl wailed miserably and rushed to Rewin, bawling her eyes out.

The old Knight felt guilty for leaving her alone. He consoled his granddaughter and hugged her tightly.

“I thought you won’t come back anymore.” The little girl rubbed her eyes, her voice trembling with sorrow.

“That’s not true. Grandpa will never leave you.” Rewin gently rubbed her head.

“I saw the bad guys. There are many of them. I thought that…” Dudu cried again when she remembered what she had ’seen’.

Rewin was surprised by her words.

How did Dudu know?

Alaric wasn’t surprised by this. Dudu was a Catastrophe-Grade monster. Most of her abilities and powers might be sealed, but she still possessed the senses of a powerful beast.

“Dudu has probably awakened some of her abilities.” He told the old man.

Rewin looked worried when he heard this.

He had seen what happened to Dudu’s father. Even a powerful beast like him was caught and forced into submission. He was afraid that Dudu would experience the same fate.

Thinking about this, he looked at Alaric and pleaded.

“Your Highness, please bring Dudu with you. Letting her stay here is too dangerous. With this old and crippled body of mine, protecting her would be difficult.”

“Grandpa, are you abandoning me? Wuwu!” Dudu stared at her grandfather, sobbing uncontrollably.

Rewin patted her back, whispering sweet words to pacify the little girl.

Alaric squatted and patted the little girl’s head.

“Dudu, staying in this village will be dangerous. More of those bad guys might come. How about coming with me? I have a newborn little sister. Once she grows up, you can play with her all you want. You can also eat plenty of meat in our house.”

Dudu was initially unimpressed, but when she heard that she would have a playmate and even plenty of meat to eat, she became interested.

“Handsome Uncle, what was your name again? Can I really eat meat?”

Alaric almost fell on his butt when he heard this.

“Dudu, don’t be rude to His Highness.” Rewin immediately scolded her.

Alaric forced a smile and nodded. “Of course. There are plenty of wild animals that we can hunt outside my home. You can eat plenty of meat there.”

Dudu wiped off her tears and snot with her arm before she responded cautiously.

“Okay, but Grandpa must come with me. Otherwise, I won’t go with you.”

Rewin was about to say something, but he closed his mouth when he saw Alaric raising his hand.

“No problem.” Alaric agreed without hesitation. Rewin was a Knight so bringing him along would be great. As for his crippled arm, Samiya’s Ultimate Heal could restore it.

After discussing for a while, they agreed on leaving with Alaric, but Rewin was still worried about the village.

“Your Highness, what about the people here? Without me here, one Fatal-grade monster would be enough to destroy the village.”

Although monsters rarely come to the village, there were a few occasions when they encountered them. It was Rewin who handled those beasts since the village warriors were just too weak to fight them. They might be able to defend against weaker monsters, but Fatal-grade monsters were a different story. Furthermore, Harune might send another unit to the village in search of Dudu.

Alaric smiled faintly. “Don’t worry. I will send a letter to the local aristocrats and tell them to send warriors to defend the village.”

With his current identity, no noble household would dare to go against his words. He also planned to improve the living conditions of the village and have it registered as part of Astania. Although the village would have to pay an annual grain tax, it would be protected in exchange.

Alaric told Rewin about his plans which made the old Knight feel at ease about leaving.

“Your Highness, can I inform the villagers before we leave?” Rewin asked. It didn’t sit well with him to just leave without informing the villagers. The people here had been his neighbors for decades so he developed a strong attachment to them.

“You can, but we need to leave soon so make it quick.” Alaric nodded. His mission was still active so there might be more places that had been attacked.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

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