Chapter 10

The morning of early December was a bit cold. Today, Bennett Castle was very busy. After getting up, the servants were busy cleaning the carriage, feeding the two draft horses soybeans, and hanging sky-blue decorative pendants on the horses. The attendants, on the other hand, were polishing their weapons, cleaning their leather armor, boots, and carefully grooming the warhorse of the Bennett knight, fitting it with a splendid saddle.

When Aber brought the servants to carry his trunk out of the room, a team of six halberdiers and a carriage, though not luxurious but very clean, were already waiting in front of the castle.

The halberdiers were dressed in uniform sky-blue cloth armor, wearing half-high leather boots and sky-blue cloth caps. They held three-meter-long halberds, and the only real military equipment they had was the halberd. The rest were made by the castle's tailors. The cloth armor could only make it easier to remove arrows from the body, but could not block them, let alone the cloth cap, which was for protection against the cold. The two halberdiers at the front had flags hanging from the tips of their halberds, bearing the Bennett family's thorn shield emblem.

The carriage had no excessive decoration, only the curtains and door curtains were changed to sky-blue. Sky-blue was the main color of the thorn shield emblem, so in formal occasions, the castle's people mainly used sky-blue decorations.

As Aber was loading his trunk onto the carriage, his father, Knight Bennett, rode out of the castle, followed by his mother Nara, who had tears in her eyes, and his older brother, who was supporting her.

Knight Bennett looked very solemn, his shiny silver-white armor reflecting cold light in the sunlight, each piece of armor gleaming. He did not wear a helmet, which, along with his shield and greatsword, hung on the side of the saddle. His hair was simply tied into a ponytail, and the cold wind made it dance continuously.

The shield hanging on the outside of the saddle was covered with a sky-blue thorn shield emblem, which shone alongside the sky-blue scabbard of the greatsword.

Mother did not speak, as if all the words from last night had already been said. She just looked at Aber, as if he were the most precious treasure in the world.

Older brother Zak knew that Aber would eventually leave the castle; it was a tradition, and no one would defy it. So he always cared for and loved his only younger brother. However, he did not expect this day to come so soon. Zak walked up to Aber, hugged him tightly, and the strength was so great that even Aber, who was at the same level, felt the pressure.

"Remember to come back when you have time; this is your home." Usually talkative, his older brother did not say much, but this heartfelt sentence almost made Aber lose control of his already calm heart.

The winter morning sun did not bring warmth, and the wind was strong, making the flags with the family's thorn shield emblem flutter. Aber did not sit in the carriage but rode the nearly three-year-old draft horse, following the team in the middle. The iron-clad armor his father gave him was too large, so he wore a leather armor lined with wool, carrying a light longsword on his back. The sword was actually too light for him, and the gift from his father, who was already at level four, was not very practical.

Aber looked back at his mother Nara and Zak, who were still watching the convoy leave from the front of the castle. He quickly turned his head, afraid that if he looked back again, his tears would uncontrollably fall.

The convoy was not large when leaving, as some attendants and guards had to stay behind. So only six halberdiers, a coachman, Knight Bennett, and Aber, a total of nine people, went. Norman, the attendant who went with Aber to Lifu Town last time, stayed behind to protect the castle as the second-best fighter in the territory after Knight Bennett left.

It should be noted that as the lowest level of nobility, not just anyone could be a knight's attendant. Loyalty, reliability, strong martial skills, and a non-lowly status were all important conditions.

Like Norman in the Bennett family, who followed the knight into battle from the battlefield, after his loyalty was recognized by the knight, he was taught the warrior secret techniques from the family's heritage, making him a formal warrior and elevating his status from a common guard to a knight's attendant, who was of higher status than ordinary civilians.

Many wandering knights wanted to become attendants of a fiefdom knight, which shows the status of a knight's attendant. After the attendant pledged loyalty, the knight was responsible for all the attendant's expenses, including weapons, armor, and the attendant's family's resettlement. Therefore, both the attendant and the knight had to be very cautious about accepting an attendant, as the attendant might save or harm you in the next battle.

The convoy traveled for six hours, resting for only half an hour at noon. No one dared to disturb a noble convoy led by a knight, and even wild beasts could sense Knight Bennett's dormant volcano-like emotions, which could erupt with great destructive power at any time, and thus avoided the convoy.

This was the farthest Aber had ever been from home, whether in the 11 years of his memory or the nearly 2 years he had been in this world. Because it was winter, the scenery along the way was not very attractive, with only some evergreen plants dotting the gray land.

Fortunately, it did not snow. Although the dirt roads were dusty when people and horses walked on them, they were much better than the mud after rain or snow. Aber had heard that in the bustling areas, the roads were paved with large rocks, which reminded him of the concrete roads on Earth.

Aber thought that if he could make cement, these roads could become as hard as those paved with rocks. He patted his head and told himself not to think about such inventions anymore, as lacking strength would harm both himself and his family, just like the castle's water supply system, which Knight Bennett had put on hold.

The road ahead changed from a dirt road to a gravel road, and the surface became much smoother. Knight Bennett turned around and pointed to the road in front of him, saying to Aber, "This is Knight Marshall's characteristic, he is particularly concerned with appearances. He demands that everything be the best. If this were not a plain without mountains to quarry large stones, he would have made this road out of large stones."

Looking at his father Knight Bennett's polished armor, the sky-blue decorations specially prepared for the horses today, and the new equipment of the halberdiers, Aber wanted to say, "If you had the money, Father, you would be even more concerned with appearances than Knight Marshall."

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