740 Visitor (2/2)

\”You don't need to protect me. Even if I'm currently injured, any existence that can threaten me would be capable of completely ignoring all of you.\”

Although this was slightly depressing to hear, Captain Noat inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. If Roland died on his airship, he wouldn't be able to take on the responsibility for that happening no matter what.

Happily, things remained peaceful after that night, and on the second day's morning, Holy Knight Roland's physical injuries had already completely disappeared. He even started directly gambling in the dining hall with the ordinary passengers…

Noat had indeed heard before about how powerful individuals would have many strange habits. For instance, Princess Rayne of the Mist Alliance was clearly a female, but had married several princesses and started a large female harem… For instance, Emperor Halent of Bardi would often start talking to stone statues whenever he was under too much pressure… For instance, his own country's Auland Emperor had the habit of wearing female clothing, while the Auland Empress had the habit of wearing male clothing…

Of course, such rumors didn't sound real at all to Noat. Typically, he would only smile upon hearing something like this, without treating it as real.

On slow and lengthy journeys, the male airship crew members could be even gossipier than female crew. Their favorite topic of discussion would be rumors regarding powerful individuals. After all, one of the best ways for coworkers to improve their friendship would be to gossip together about their bosses.

But now, it seemed that such rumors indeed had their reasons for existing. At the very least, this famous prince from the Northlands was just like the legends about him. He was definitely no proper rule-abiding Holy Knight at all.

The legends about Roland said that he was extremely knowledgeable and talented, but that he never used his knowledge for anything proper. It was said that he controlled more than 30% of all gambling industries and pornographic material production in all of the Northlands. The legendary mercenary group known as the Absolute Gentlemen Alliance was also supposed to be his fangs that he controlled the entire Northlands with.

Roland was in charge of military munitions deals, running a mercenary group, immigration for elves and beastmen, and so on. He would personally do all these things that ordinary people wouldn't even dare to imagine.

Roland was known as the ruler in the shadows, the crownless king, the one person you absolutely couldn't antagonize in the Northlands, the ruler of the Underground, the last Northlands Knight of the Mist, and so on. He had countless unofficial titles and nicknames.

There was a certain saying in the Northlands—you could antagonize any ruler there, but you absolutely wouldn't be able to say a single bad thing about Roland. Otherwise, no matter who you were or where you were from, you wouldn't possibly be able to leave alive.

\”I really couldn't have guessed that someone so famous and incredible is just like a hoodlum who loves to gamble. Not only that, he's a Holy Knight who gambles and is obviously cheating. I couldn't have even imagined… yet nobody's ever even tried to question his character,\” Captain Noat commented to himself.

Still, when comparing Roland to other saints or villains who all similarly had countless nicknames, Roland seemed to be extremely approachable and easy to get along with.

Noat was someone who had seen much in his life, having been a former military captain for Auland as well as a smuggler who had traveled the world.

In Noat's job field, the most important thing was to be an accurate judge of characters. Noat had met countless others before, but had never seen anyone like Roland.

Noat had met other powerful individuals who were at Myth rank or Level 4. From what Noat saw, no matter what faction a powerful and undying individual was from, they all had one thing in common: such individuals wouldn't really treat ordinary people as people at all. There were some powerful individuals who cared more about their reputation, so they would say nicer things, but they would still keep their distance from ordinary people.

This could be seen quite easily from their behavior. When eating, they would ask for the food to be brought to their room. They would want their own private shower room. Any request that they made, even if it was simply for a spice to add to their food, might need someone lower-ranking to run all over the place for them. The powerful individuals would even feel that this was only natural.

If the powerful individual originally had a noble status or powerful bloodline to begin with, then the individual would be even more arrogant. Even glancing at you would count as him giving face. No matter how nicely you talked to them, if you dared to prepare coarse rye bread for them as lunch, then the powerful individual would immediately become angry.

Yet Roland, who was clearly one of the most powerful individuals in the world, was acting so normally with ordinary people… No, he truly viewed himself as an ordinary person like everyone else. He was eating rye bread, drinking the cheapest wine, arm-wrestling with the alcoholics, refusing to pay up when he lost, and happily enjoying this type of life. In fact, he would even pretend to be drunk and cheat money from the alcoholic gamblers. Noat had never seen a Level 4 individual like Roland before.

\”Ha, at the very least, he seems much better than any noble.\”

A cold breeze blew past as a new morning started with the sun rising from the east. The wind would be coldest right before the sun rose, so Noat carefully adjusted the collar of his coat so that he would be a little warmer.

Noat was no longer worried about all the numerous things that he had heard as rumors before. None of the rumors would have much to do with him. Also, no matter what he felt about Roland, that wouldn't affect him completing his task. Noat would carry out his duties properly as a former military man. His current duty was to safely transport the airship's valued guests to their destination.

After passing by these snowy mountains, the airship would arrive in Bardi's outskirts. With Bardi's dragon knights patrolling the skies in their country, Noat would no longer have to worry about safety anymore.

Suddenly, Noat saw a familiar figure appear on the airship deck.

\”Your Highness Roland? How come you're up so early? Your injuries haven't fully recovered yet. You should get some more rest. Weren't you just inside…\”

This person only glanced at Noat, causing him to instantly stop speaking. Although this person was identical in appearance to Roland, and had the same smile, this person's smile carried completely different emotions.

Roland's smile was one which expressed his friendliness and happiness. His smile was one that communicated his own emotions to others. Meanwhile, although this person was also smiling, he was enjoying his own delight from the bottom of his heart. His eyes didn't value others' existences at all. The words he said were nothing more than absolute commands which he expected to be carried out.

\”Hey, I heard that my older brother is here, so I came to greet him. How about you show me where he is?\”