Lord of Caldera

Chapter 5 The Corleone Family

"It was a voice I'd never heard before, so I asked who it was. But he wouldn't answer and just told me to open the door, so I got suspicious and didn't open it."

"Grr!"

The village chief's face twisted in frustration. So he hadn't seen where the knight went, after all.

"Wait a minute, are you hiding something?"

A few suspicious eyes turned toward Sylas. If the knight had offered him a reward for hiding him, it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to accept.

"If you're suspicious, feel free to search. I won't stop you."

"Ahem! Then, we'll take a quick look."

Despite his confident attitude, the villagers still eyed him with suspicion. But Sylas had nothing to fear.

'Go ahead, search all you want. Without proper tracking skills, what do you expect to find?'

As expected, the villagers fumbled around, unable to find any real traces. Even with the entrance to the basement right in front of them, they overlooked it entirely. It was the limit of people who had spent their lives farming.

"Chief! There are footprints here!"

"Where? Which way did they go?"

"They lead into the forest! Though they become hard to follow after a while as they step on leaves..."

'Those are the ones I left.'

Sylas stifled a laugh that almost escaped. To a professional, the traces would have been obvious fakes, but the villagers believed them to be genuine.

"Sylas, can you track these footprints?"

[Due to the perfect first aid, experience points have increased.]

[Current First Aid rank: 'Skilled'.]

As he finished the treatment, a pleasing notification rang out. In his previous life, he hadn't intended to raise this skill much, but after tending to his own body so many times, his first aid skills had improved. It might not seem like much, but there had been quite a few occasions where this skill had saved his life.

'Everything's going according to plan.'

A satisfied smile spread across Sylas's face as he closed the basement door.

* * *

Before his regression, the exact same thing had happened. The villagers of Brick had ambushed the knight, who then fled to Sylas for help. However, back then, Sylas was too startled to think of hiding him. He had been deep asleep, so it took him a while to respond.

In the end, the knight was caught and dragged away by the villagers who stormed in.

'I later found out he was a knight of the Corleone family, but there was nothing I could do.'

After all, he had failed to help and could only watch as the knight was killed. While the village would face consequences, there was a high chance the blame would fall on LSylas as well. Thanks to that, the villagers managed to get away with the perfect crime. But this time around, things had played out entirely differently.

'I hid him properly and showed him I'm not like the scum in this village.'

Rather than being lumped in with the trash of the village, he had positioned himself as a noble figure among crows. Even if he were to expose the village now, it wouldn't be an issue. All that was left was to win the knight over.

'A few days from now, another knight from the Corleone family will arrive.'

However, the knight coming next time is under the strong influence of the legitimate wife, Helena. He will likely have been discreetly instructed to pressure the illegitimate son before arriving.

To avoid being bullied into the count's household like before, Sylas needed an ally in advance.

Sylas began placing the expensive candles he had hidden away in a corner. After all, when it came to gaining favor, atmosphere was everything.