The unidentified man (1)

"An unidentified man attempted to forcibly enter the mansion."

The expressions of both Alex and Lilia suddenly turned somber.

They hadn't forgotten Ava's warning that someone might try to harm the girls, thus hearing about an attempt to force entry into the mansion made them extremely wary.

"Where is he now?" asked Lilia, standing up.

"He is being held in the guards' barracks," answered Anna.

"Okay, let's go."

With Anna leading the way, the three of them quickly arrived at the guards' barracks and entered after inquiring about the details of what happened and how the man was apprehended.

According to the guards, the man was at level 2. Contrary to Alex and Lilia's expectations, the man didn't initially attempt to infiltrate. He approached the guards and inquired if it was where the late Duke Theodore's son lived.

Not suspicious of the man who looked rather old, the guards confirmed that the mansion was indeed where Alex and his family resided. The old man then requested to meet Alex but was denied access, as it was generally forbidden to allow anyone who wasn't a noble to enter the mansion when the branch members were present.

Despite the refusal, the old man kept insisting that he needed to meet Alex. Seeing that his attempts to persuade the guards failed, the old man resorted to trying to force his way in.

Since the guards weren't expecting such a sudden change in behavior, some of them actually got injured, but it was nothing serious. A few minutes later, they managed to apprehend the old man who is currently detained in the guards' barracks.

'What does this man want from me to the point of trying to pass with force?' wondered Alex. 'Is he from one of the organizations that ha—no, I doubt they would ask permission to enter the mansion if it was really them,' he reasoned.

"Then, who is it?" He wondered out loud.

"I guess we will know in an instant," replied Lilia as Alex pushed open the room in which the man had been detained.

As they entered the room, Alex, Lilia, and Anna came into view of a man tied to a chair by a rope with a vacant gaze.

The man had brown hair and a wrinkled face, looking like an elder. Considering the fact that he was at level two and looked so old, then he was probably very old.

"Did you guys do this to him?" asked Alex, turning to the guard captain who was right behind them.

"What Alex was referring to was the fact that the old man had a missing eye that seemed to have been caused by a wound that still looked fresh.

The captain, a man named Clark, shook his head. "No, he was already in this state when he came here."

Hearing their voices, the old man's vacant gaze cleared, and he looked around in confusion at first. Then, his eyes, or rather his eye, landed on Alex and widened.

"It's you! Yes, you are the noble residing here; you need to help me!"

Alex frowned.

"Old man, you tried to force your way into my house, wounded some of my guards, and now you're saying that I need to help you? Are you aware of how ridiculous what you are saying is?" asked Alex with a stern gaze.

Hearing him, the old man's eye dimmed a little.

"I needed to see you, and they refused to let me pass, so..."

"So you attacked and wounded them?"

"Sorry," apologized the old man.

"So, what do you want from me that was so pressing that you needed to enter even if you had to use force?" asked Alex.

"I want you, no, I need you to save my daughter. She was kidnapped by a group of bandits. Please, I need your help; she is my only child," pleaded the old man.

Hearing the old man's words, Alex's anger subsided, and he calmed down a little. Still, it was not really his place to save people.

"I'm sorry for your daughter, old man, but I can't personally assist you in this. You should have instead reported your daughter's disappearance to the city guards; they are the ones—"

"I already did, but those cowards are too scared of those bandits to do anything," spat the old man with anger.

Alex's frown returned hearing the old man's words.

"Which city or village do you come from, old man?" asked Alex.

The reason Alex was asking this to the old man was simple: the instant he became the head of the branch, he also took the position of baron that Grace was occupying.

Since they were one of the four duke families, the Eswald family managed a large territory. In fact, it governed the third-largest territory after the Fiore imperial family, followed by the Frost family.

The Eswald family governed its vast duchy, within which five earldom families managed their respective territories, each overseeing several baronial houses.

Among the five Earldom, two of them were managed by members of the Eswald while the others were managed by others nobles family.

After being demoted to a secondary branch, Alex's branch was supposed to inherit one of the five Earldoms, considering their status as the main branch since the founding of the Eswald family. However, the current patriarch, not wanting to see their branch gain influence after the demotion, only assigned them a baronet to oversee. Even this baronet was granted to them to avoid making it too obvious that he was suppressing their branch. Without this consideration, they might not have received any baronet to manage at all.

As if that wasn't sufficient, the patriarch assigned them a territory at the very edge of the entire duchy. In this remote location, disputes among noble families, each governed by different duchies, were not uncommon. However, thanks to that this the territory they managed was quite extensive for a baron's position.

The only silver lining in all of this, beside having a bigger plot of land, is that the territory they received was a fertile land, not a barren one. Because of this, there were many people living in their territory.

There were even two cities in their territory, one named 'Tohona' and the other 'Zindal.' Tohona was situated in the heart of their territory while Zindal was situated at the extremity of their territory and was the city in which Grace resided, managing the entire baronet.

All of this to say that now, as Alex held the position of a baron, the safety of the people residing in his territory became his responsibility. Thus, when he heard the old man say that the city guards he had contacted refused to help him due to fear of a group of bandits, Alex's expression darkened.

The old man shook his head.

"I'm not from this baronet."

"If that's the case, then sorry, but I can't do anything to help you," said Alex as he turned to leave.

Just as he was about to order Clark to free the old man...

"H-He promised that you would help me," voiced the old man.

Alex turned back to the man.

"Who promised you that I will help you?"

"Your father!"