The walk through the mansion felt like a journey through a nightmare for Eon and Hans. Every time a floorboard creaked or a soldiers voice echoed in the distance, their hearts skipped a beat. They were terrified that the "something" the soldiers found was the hidden room where the Denares brothers were kept. If those soldiers saw Marquess Alaric and Lord Darius wearing slave collars and locked in a room, the mansion would be burned to the ground.
But when they finally reached the destination, both Eon and Hans felt their bodies go limp with relief. The soldiers hadn't found a secret prison or a pile of bodies. They had found the mansion's private warehouse.
Inside, the air was cool and smelled of aged wood and dust. Row after row of high-quality wine bottles sat on sturdy wooden racks. These weren't just ordinary drinks; they were the Count's private collection, some of them decades old.
Captain Valen walked up to a rack and pulled out a bottle with a thick layer of dust. He wiped it away with his thumb, revealing a shimmering gold seal from the Imperial capital.
"Well, look at this," Valen said, a greedy, dark light shining in his eyes. "So, your Count was poor enough to fall into debt and lose his life, but rich enough to hide Imperial wine inside his house? Haha! This is a prize."
Valen turned to look at Hans, the butler. The Captain's expression was full of mischief and greed. "What do you say, old man? It would be a tragedy if the debt collectors found this, right? Why don't we take some of these bottles for ourselves and forget we ever saw this room? If you stay quiet, I stay quiet. Does that sound fair?"
Hans took a deep breath. He pretended to look sad and worried about the wine, but inside, he was cheering. He would have given Valen every bottle in the house if it meant the soldiers would leave.
"The Count is in no condition to enjoy them anymore," Hans said, his voice sounding tired. "Do what you will, Captain. Just... leave us some peace."
The tension that had been hanging over the mansion like a dark cloud finally broke. The Diablo unit stopped being a scary army and turned into a group of thieves. For the next half-hour, they were busy. They didn't want the Duke's investigators or the local people to see them stealing, so they moved with surprising quietness. They carried out case after case of the expensive wine through the back door of the mansion, loading them into their wagons under the cover of the early morning shadows.
Finally, the theft was done. Valen stood by his horse, his mood much better than before. The wine had softened his anger. He looked at Eon one last time before putting his foot in the stirrup.
"You should watch out, kid," Valen warned. His voice was no longer shouting, but it was still cold. "With that tone and those guts, you're going to end up dead. Some noble will take your head just to prove he can. You act like you own the world, but you're still just a slave."
Eon didn't back down. He didn't bow. He gave a short, mocking laugh that made the soldiers nearby turn their heads. "Huh. Speak for yourself, Captain. And for your information, I am not a kid. I am at least 3 times your age, child."
Valen froze. He stared at Eon, his hand hovering over his saddle. Then, he let out a loud, booming laugh that echoed off the stone walls.
"Oh, hahah! My bad," Valen said, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye. "Sometimes I just forget how long you elves live. You look like teenagers even when you're older than our grandfathers. It's a shame you live so long just to be so easy to play with and break."
With one last evil smirk, Valen climbed onto his horse and signaled his men to move. The army began to march away, the sound of their boots and wagon wheels slowly fading into the distance.
Eon stood on the front steps, his amber eyes following them until they were nothing but tiny dots. Only when they were completely gone did he allow his muscles to relax. He felt like a string that had been pulled too tight for too long.
Hans walked up beside him, leaning heavily on his cane. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. Both men looked at each other and let out a long, shared sigh of relief. The danger had passed, for now. But they both knew, when Valen returns home and finds out his lords havent returned yet, he will come back again. Only this time with a full army. They have to be prepared.
They went back inside the house, where Teressa was waiting in the reception room. She looked like she hadn't breathed in hours. Her face was pale, and she was clutching the back of a chair so hard her fingers were blue.
"Are they gone?" she whispered. "Did they find anything? Did they suspect us?"
"They're gone, Teressa," Eon said, sitting down on a sofa. "But we can't relax. Valen is a smart man. Even if he didn't find proof, he knows something is wrong. And since the Denares brothers haven't returned to the army, the soldiers might stay close by. Even if that were not true, they will for sure come back when they return home and see no sight of their lord."
Hans sat down across from them, looking very old. "I am worried about the investigators," he said. "They are like hounds. Once they smell a secret, they don't stop. They had a look in their eyes... like they were just waiting for us to make one small mistake. I don't think they believed our explanation about the brothers leaving."
Eon's heart sank. He had hoped the their act would be enough, but if it really didn't like Hans is saying, then they were in deep trouble.
"I need to prepare," Eon said, his face turning serious. "We need better defenses and better weapons."
As the sun began to rise, the mansion filled with a soft, golden light. It was beautiful, but Eon was too tired to care. He guessed it was about 7:00 AM. He felt disgusting. His clothes were dusty, his skin felt oily, and he was exhausted.
'This world is so difficult,' Eon thought. 'No clocks to tell the time, no modern hygiene, and the lack of a proper toilet is driving me crazy.' He missed the simple things from his old life, hot showers, toothbrushes, and toilets that didn't involve a hole in the ground and a bucket of water.
He knew he needed to unlock his crafting skills soon, but he decided that smithing was the priority. He needed weapons. lot s of weapons.
The swords and spears in the mansion's armory were made for humans. They were thick, heavy, and meant for people with big muscles. Elves were different. They were physically lighter and more graceful. They needed weapons that could carry magic, weapons that were balanced and fast.
"If I want to protect everyone, I have to make the weapons myself," Eon decided. "Using strength potions is okay for a quick fight, but it's bad for the body to use them all the time. We need real gear."
He and Teressa walked toward the West Wing to check on the others. Hans headed to his own room to finally get some sleep. When Eon and Teressa reached the door to the Countess's bedroom, it creaked open.
Elsa poked her head out. She looked tired, but she smiled when she saw Eon. Her silver hair was messy, and her long, pointed elf ears were visible again. The potion Eon had used to make her ears look human had finally worn off.
"Is it over?" Elsa asked softly.
"For now," Eon said. "We're going to the weapon storage room to see what we can find. Do you want to come?"
Elsa nodded and stepped out. "Elora is still sleeping," she whispered, pointing back at the bed.
The three of them, Eon, Elsa, and Teressa, walked to the east side of the mansion. The armory was a large room filled with racks of iron. Eon spent a long time looking at the swords, but he hated all of them. They felt like clumsy clubs in his hands. Elsa found a thin, light rapier and practiced a few stabs in the air, but even that wasn't perfect for her magic.
"Teressa, I need a professional blacksmith," Eon said. "I also might need a forge where I can weapons myself without being seen."
"It's too early, Eon," Teressa replied, yawning. "The village smith won't be awake for hours. Let's go back to the room and rest while we wait."
Eon sighed but agreed. After saying this all decided to go to their room. Teressa also goes to her new room. And Eon and Elsa began to walk to their room.
As they walked back down the hallway, Eon decided to show off a little. He was carrying a standard soldier's sword he had taken from the rack.
"Watch this," Eon said to Elsa.
He opened his "System Inventory" in his mind. With a quick flick of his wrist, he pushed the sword into the invisible storage space. To Elsa's eyes, the long metal sword simply vanished into thin air. One second it was in his hand, and the next, it was gone.
Elsa stopped walking. Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped. She grabbed Eon's hand and turned it over, looking for a trick.
"Where did it go?" she gasped. "Eon! I've never seen magic like that! You didn't even say a word! Did you send it to another dimension?"
Eon gave her a mysterious, teasing smile. "Hmm. What could it be? Maybe I'm just that good."
"Tell me! You're so annoying!" Elsa laughed, hitting his shoulder.
They reached the bedroom door, still laughing and teasing each other. Eon was in a better mood, and his guard was down. He figured Elora was still fast asleep, so he didn't knock. He just pushed the door open and walked in with Elsa right behind him.
But Elora wasn't sleeping.
She was standing right in the middle of the room, between the bed and the window. The morning sun hit her, making her hair look like spun gold.
She was in the middle of changing her clothes.
She had already taken off her nightgown and was currently trying to pull a fresh silk dress over her head. At that exact moment, she was standing there with her shoulders bare, holding the dress against her chest.
The laughter stopped instantly.
The room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Eon's brain seemed to stop working. He stared at her, and she stared back. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her mouth was open in a silent gasp.
A deep, burning red color started at Elora's neck and rushed all the way up to her forehead. She looked like she was about to explode.
Eon felt his own face catch fire. He didn't know where to look. He wanted to turn around, but his feet felt like they were glued to the floor. Elsa was also frozen, her hand still raised from where she had been hitting Eon's arm. She had peeked over Eons shoulders, her eyes going wide as she realized what they had walked into.
The awkwardness was like a physical weight in the air. For ten long seconds, nobody moved.
"I..." Eon finally squeaked, his voice two octaves higher than normal. "I thought... you were... sleeping."
Elora didn't scream. She didn't throw anything. She just stood there, clutching the silk dress to her chest, looking like she wanted to disappear into the floor and never come back. The silence was so heavy and embarrassing that Eon felt like he was suffocating.
Author note: And here is your Unexpected situation. Fits the title of the chapter, right?
If you like my story, please give me more power stones.
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