Having received the relic custodians' names and places of residence so Chronos could send them an invoice for damages, they entered the carriage once more and went on their way.
Once he was sure they were out of earshot of the gate Chronos said, "Good job Gregory. When the blood spurted out, I thought you might have messed up for a second. But that was a nice clean cut making it easy to heal"
Gregory was leaning back in his seat cleaning a nightweave thread that had a faint red color to it.
"Not at all, that man just has high blood pressure. He should be careful about blood clots in the future."
"I see a shame we didn't get the chance to tell him that," Chronos said with mock concern.
Outside the carriage Christopher couldn't take it anymore.
"Ahahahahahahaha, I can't believe you actually asked them for payment on the carriage after cutting their arm off. Hahahaha."
The rest of the knights started laughing as well, satisfied with the results. It wasn't often that someone would try to steal from you and end up being stolen from.
"It'll only take a few minutes for the repair mage in the mansion to fix this small amount of damage. Are you really going to make them pay for it?" One of the other knights asked.
"Oh of course. This carriage still carries the Great Ulv family emblem; any damage to it is a slight to our name." Chronos righteously said, causing another round of laughter.
"Ahahaha, S-stop it, haha, I can't stand it when you act all proper like that hehehe."
"Right, right. We've got to put an act on when we're in front of so many people but that's already over now. You're going to kill us with laughter if you don't cut it out."
Chronos relaxed into his seat, a smug smile crossing his face, as the mage's city started coming into view above the noble wall. From this point up the mountain, they'd be able to see more and more of the city until all of it was visible.
They say that only fools and smoke liked high places but honestly Chronos could understand why they liked high places. The beauty you could only see from high places was something to be admired.
Whether that made him a fool or not didn't matter to him.
From here the city was a beautiful sight with the sun shining down on it being reflected by the spirit haze over the mines.
Yet even after 30 minutes the carriage continued to climb.
Looking at how high up they were, Lyla couldn't help asking, "Chronos just what is your family's noble rank? I grew up in the capital city, so I know that the higher up your mansion is the higher your noble rank is. And we're already pretty high up, amongst the earls I believe."
A teasing smile emerged on his face.
"You really want to know?"
She nodded.
"Then say please Great Young Master Chronos tell me your secret?" he said while raising his arms in a praying motion.
Bam! Cough, cough!
"How about you tell me, and I don't punch you in the gut again?" she countered.
"Please forgive me, Great Young Priestess Lyla," he said with a sitting bow.
Even if he could see her moving, in such a cramped space there was no way for him to dodge. And honestly, he liked her fiery spirit so he might not dodge even if he could.
"Just tell me already," She snapped at him.
"Alright, If I told you that my family's mansion was just below the Kings plateau would you understand?"
Lyla looked confused, "Just below the plateau? But only the ducal mansions are below the Kings plateau."
A big grin crossed Chronos' face, "You got it in one try. My father is the Duke of the northeastern frontier."
For a moment it felt like the very air in the carriage froze. Then Lyla's and Sariah's mouths fell open in shock.
"Huh, haaaaaaaah. What do you mean he's the duke!? We only have 6 dukes in the entire nation?" Sariah screamed.
Chronos sat there looking smug, "Yep and my father's one of them. Technically that means that Earl Malric is half a servant to my father but most of the eastern plains are managed by the southeastern duke. That's why he doesn't treat me with more respect than I deserve."
Sariah turned to face Gregory who just nodded at her. Then her cheeks puffed up as she began pouting.
"You knew and didn't tell me?"
"It's not that I didn't want to tell you but rather Duke Ulv is a bit of a strange man.
A couple decades ago when the Shield Federation declared war on us the current Duke Ulv enrolled in the army, despite being too young to be at war during the first few years. He spent most of his youth on the southern battlefields fighting off the Shield Federation and undead infestation that was surging at the time.
And because of how much time he spent fighting he actually hates it when people refer to him by title. It makes him feel like all of his work back then is being invalidated."
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't tell me! This is like an explosion spell going off in my face! How am I supposed to act now that I know my lover's best friend is one of the most important people in the kingdom?"
Chronos spun to face her, not letting her get away with that slip of the tongue.
"Oh, admitting to being lovers now, are you?" he said with a teasing grin.
She glared at him, "That's not important right now besides with that nose of yours you've known we were lovers for a long time now."
It was true that he could smell the change the exact day they had started being lovers but that wasn't important to him right now.
"I disagree, knowing you're together and openly admitting it are two completely different things. Now we need to plan a wedding and invite mother and father, Lyla can you act as God's representative."
"Of course, I've been planning this for a while now," she said as she took a thick wedding planner out of her item bag.
Sariah huffed at their antics.
"Let's be serious here. If I'm disrespectful to you, everyone at the orphanage could be held responsible."
That was a very real concern in a society run by nobility especially if it was disrespect to one of the 6 dukes.
The 6 ducal families had protected the kingdom for generations. Openly disrespecting any of them would get a commoner a death sentence in short order. The same was often true of disrespecting their heirs.
Chronos looked at Gregory, "Did you never tell her?"
"No, I didn't think it was important."
"What's not important?" Sariah demanded.
She didn't want to be caught unaware by anything else today. She would soon be disappointed by that hope.
"Should I tell her or are you going to?" Chronos asked.
Gregory sighed, "I should."
"Tell me what?"
Closing the window Gregory activated the silencing array on the carriage. Now Sariah was getting worried.
He carefully held her hands in his and said, "Sariah I need you to stay calm with what I'm about to tell you. Duke Ulv actually has two sons, not one."
"Huh!?"
That was a better reaction than he'd expected.
"You see he and the madam adopted me when I was ten but to prevent anybody from trying to use me against Chronos we kept it a secret. Outside of this carriage only the duke, the madam, and the head butler of the capital mansion, and leader of the Ulv knights back home know that I was adopted."
Silence.
She didn't move or make a sound.
"She's taking this better than I thought," Gregory muttered.
Then she started trembling, her head tilted back and smoke started coming from her mouth.
"Nope looks like you broke her," Chronos laughed.