"What's for breakfast?"
On my way to the dining hall, I was followed by Julien, who for some reason looked… pitiful.
His eyes were unusually red.
Was he crying his eyes out?
A bad dream perhaps.
He was muttering to the air, or was he asking me?
How would I know what the chef was cooking?
And ain't I his boss? It was me who should be asking that question.
This guy…
I smacked his head as Julien absent-mindedly walked beside me.
"Ouch, sorry boss. I was just talking to myself. Ha ha!!"
What's with that creepy laugh?
"You better prepare yourself for the coming journey. Things will get interesting."
As my strategist, he didn't have to be strong in combat.
But he had to at least have the ability to defend himself.
I was thinking of asking Arthur to train this guy along with me. Though he didn't have any talent for fighting, learning basic skills wouldn't be much difficult.
"I have packed everything that would be needed. There were some new soaps in our room. I took them with me."
Julien puffed his chest.
"..."
Was it something to be proud of?
"I mean, why waste them if they were meant for our use, right?"
What should I do with this guy?
He wasn't wrong in his way of thinking, but I had to do something about his mentality.
Living in the slums for years, his way of life was far different from mine.
I wasn't saying that he had to act like some noble brat, but as an important pillar of D.X., he had to have some presence around him.
An aura that would make others respect him.
To act on his commands without second thoughts.
If he behaved like this, there was no way those prideful villains would ever listen to him.
Ignoring Julien's weak attempts at trying to defend his train of thought, we made our way to the dining hall.
It was filled with people, lining up to get their share of food.
We bypassed the line and arrived at the front.
None of the people present opposed our presence.
Why would they?
Arthur had told everyone to treat us as VIPs.
The staff in charge of serving the meal immediately bowed and prepared our plates.
I took the farthest corner of the room, near the windows, to enjoy my breakfast.
Eating in the early morning was a different novelty.
Julien sat across from me, staring at his plate like a hawk.
The guy must have never seen such quality food.
A pure premium luxury for him.
"Stop acting like a country bumpkin and finish it! We need to leave early."
"Ah! Yes."
Sigh.
***
"I have prepared the men you asked for. Thirty of them are silver core, while fifteen are at gold core. The remaining five are platinum experts."
Arthur explained as we made our way toward the open grounds where our means of transport were parked.
I could see the hesitation in Arthur's eyes.
"Ask it out."
Seeing me give permission to speak, he asked, "Are we going in search of Alfred?"
"Not search. I know he's there at the Ares Mountains."
"Are you sure about the source of your information? It could very well be a trap to lure any possible bounty hunters that are after his life."
He was right.
If I had received this information from any other source, it would have been a risky gamble.
Alfred—that madman—could very well have prepared something similar for his trackers.
But I knew about his location from the game.
No matter what happened, Alfred never shifted his main base of operations.
He was never scared.
Never felt the fear of being discovered.
Maybe he might have some contingencies in case his place was raided.
But…
With Arthur by my side, I could even storm through the royal palace.
Not that I was stupid.
Arthur seemed to have reservations about how I knew about it.
"You don't have to fret over the smaller details. My source is trusted, and even if things go south, I trust you can handle it with ease?"
"That I can… Haa… Okay, let's go then!"
Sighing, Arthur made his way to what could be called a small desert.
The ground was bare, without trees in sight. It looked more like a warzone.
Before us, armoured trucks were parked in line.
One, two, three… There were about six of them, with what could be called a car—an armoured car—leading them.
The car was like an SUV with a broad frame.
The tires looked strong, like they were made to handle a nuclear blast.
Not that such a thing existed in this world.
The science here might have been advanced, but this world didn't have all those inventions from Earth.
The presence of magic meant there was no need for creating conventional weapons of such caliber.
The strongest people on this planet were mightier than all the nuclear warheads combined.
As I inspected the car, there were some interesting… maybe tools attached to it.
Seeing my line of sight, Arthur commented.
"Those barrels are used for attacking."
"So do they fire mana?"
"Not exactly mana, but they do fire projectiles that are what you could call a condensed form of mana inscribed with runes and formations so as to explode upon impact and not detonate in the car itself."
Arthur patiently explained. Though he found it intriguing for someone born into the Frost household to not know about something that could be called basic.
But there was one rule that he had to follow, something every employee must do—
Never doubt your boss!
Looking at the vehicles—the black and white paint used to colour them…
All of them looked intimidating.
This…
It was fucking cool!!