The Golem Adventurer

Chapter 23 - The Region Lord

Knight-Captain Erzald walked me through the large foyer of the manor. We stopped on the other side with two large wooden doors in front of us. He gave them a loud methodical knock before pausing until we heard the words, "Enter." come from the other side.

The Captain opened both doors, bidding me to enter first. Inside was a finely furbished office, lit by the glow of the morning sun coming from the large window. In front of it sat an elegantly dressed man in front of a desk scribbling into a ledger with a feather pen.

Noticing my presence, he gets up with a smile and slightly bows, "Greetings. You must be Arlan the Golem! I am Selvin Hawthorne, Region Lord of Haldin. Please, take a seat."

He gestures towards the seat in front of his desk and I follow suit. It's feels more like I'm having a meeting with the boss of some company instead of a ruler. Well, there's no prostrating at least. 

He turns his attention over to Erzald briefly, "Thank you for bringing him, Knight-Captain. You're dismissed for now. For the moment, I'd like to speak with Arlan alone."

The Knight-Captain bows deeply before leaving, closing the doors behind him. Lord Selvin returns back into his chair and gives me a look over. I hope my eyes aren't doing any weird flashing at the moment. Even moreso, that weird feeling of being watched and probed still lingered about. It was just me and Lord Selvin here. The infamous Lady Halette wasn't here either. Was she watching me somewhere else?

I'll take a stab at being a diplomat for now, "Lord Selvin, what can I do for you?"

"Arlan, I brought you here before me so that I, along with the city, can give you our thanks. Because of your deeds, you've saved countless citizens along with lives of our soldiers and adventurers who would have perished fighting that Orc Sty," he says passionately, like he was being oddly dramatic.

"Oh, uh, think nothing of it, Lord Selvin. I was just doing my duty as an adventurer." I said shyly. I was a bit taken aback by his flowery words.

He scoffs, "Nonsense! No common adventurer would risk his life fighting an entire orc war band on their own! Not anyone under A-Rank at least. Though I've heard you've been promoted to C-rank just a few days ago. Tell me, what do you think of Haldin?"

Huh? He's asking about my opinion of the city? "I think it's a great city. And quite beautiful. Though to tell you the truth, I haven't been outside of the country yet so I can't really compare."

He seemed happy with my answer, "That's wonderful to hear, Arlan. When I took over lordship from my father, the city along with the country was in a terrible state. Corruption ran rampant and our infrastructure was in shambles. It's taken years to turn everything around to what it is now."

His expression became downcast, "The cities fortunes however, is still in disrepair. We lack outstanding individuals in all of our sectors outside of our crafted goods. We currently boast the highest percentage of craftsman golems in our city compared to the rest of the Nation Alliance. But still, it is not enough to give us a stronger standing with our neighbors. We're currently being strong-armed with demands by both Rudelia and Obryia to the north for their war efforts against the Grav Empire. But now, it's starting to effect us here, especially with the lack of available soliders. The Orc Sty is proof of that."

Why is he telling me this? I'm not versed into the politics of this world, and I'm sure enough not very interested in it. This stuff is above my pay grade.

It was then I noticed a gleam in his eye before he continued, "So, the point of the matter. We're currently looking for outstanding individuals. Would you be interested in joining our Knight's Order?" he says with a serious expression of a car salesman.