"Many lives were saved because of you. You have a brave heart, for someone your age." Augustus praised Rudra for his quick thinking. Rudra, on the other hand, was embarrassed, his first time meeting one of the strongest men in the empire, and he was praising him.
"Thank you for your kind words, Sir Augustus. Although I don't think I am deserving of such praises." Rudra replied in a composed manner.
"Such humbleness for someone your age." Said a rotund man who was standing in front of the Duke. Rudra instantly recognized the man as he was the baron of the town himself. The baron was wearing a suit; from the looks of it, you could tell that the suit was tailored using very expensive materials.
Even though the suit was beautifully crafted, the man wearing the suit was far from beautiful. The suit buttons of the suit looked like they would burst open any second; the baron was just too rotund for the suit. Not only was his suit, Baron's head was almost bald, adding to the fact that he was wearing the suit, he almost looked cartoonish.
"Thank you, Sir Sam," Rudra replied to the baron; he didn't dare to voice what he was thinking. This was the first time Rudra was directly talking to the Baron. Although he had seen him a few times when he visited the orphanage, he had never spoken to him in the past.
Rudra didn't really have a very positive impression of the baron; rumor had it that the taxes of this town were quite a bit higher than the taxes in the neighboring territories. That is the reason why many people didn't want to come to this town; businesses, local vendors, merchants, and everyone avoided this place because of the higher taxes. The Baron was the main reason why many people of the town suffered; the economic condition was worse in this town, especially because of this man.
'With all the money you pocket, you built a palace for yourself. Sigh.... ' Rudra mused as he saw the rotund man with no emotion on his face. Rudra remembered that once Sister Maria mentioned that they went to the baron regarding the financial problems the orphanage was facing. This man didn't even lift a finger to help the orphanage, not even once. It was not just Rudra; most of the people in the town hated this man. 'It feels good to see this man standing in front of the duke, not daring to sit.' He scoffed.
"So, Rudra, what were you hoping to discuss with me? What is so urgent?" Maria asked curiously.
"Oh, I heard you were leaving the town," Rudra answered with a confused look on his face.
"Yes, something urgent came up, so I have to leave immediately. There is no need to worry, though, I will be back in a few days after I am done. If you are worried about the finances, there is no need to worry. Sir Sam generously decided to help the town's people as well as the orphanage. He will be providing a lot of funds towards the town and the orphanage. So, we won't be needing to worry about anything for a while." Maria said with a very sinister grin plastered on her face. It was fortunate that the baron was unable to see the expression on Maria as her back was faced towards him.
'So, you finally decided to cough up some of your wealth, huh? All it took was for someone like the duke to show up on your doorstep. This is funny, your heart must be bleeding right about now.' Rudra mused as he looked right at the face of the baron.
"We are so lucky to have such a great person like you as the baron of our territory. I can't even imagine what would have happened to people in the town if we didn't have someone as generous as you. I truly thank you from the bottom of my heart." Rudra said with a poker face as he bowed his head towards the baron; even so, his eyes never left the baron's face. He wanted to see what kind of expression the baron would make.
'You little piece of shit. I wish Duke had never appeared, all my money.... I will lose so much of my money.' The baron thought as his face turned red and blue out of anger. It was not just him; Maria, too, was having a hard time holding her laughter back. Augustus, on the other hand, smirked as he looked at Rudra.
'He is really amusing, daring to provoke a royalty, you never get to see something like this often.' Augustus thought, Rudra had clearly won his heart.
"Is that all you came to ask?" Maria, who had controlled her laughter with great effort, asked Rudra. Even though she was able to control her laughter, her voice still cracked while speaking. This, in turn, made the already angry baron fume in rage. The baron felt aggrieved with all the subtle insults he was receiving; however, he didn't dare to say anything. Someone like him, who was far weaker than the duke as well as Maria, didn't have any right to say anything. Rudra as well as Maria felt gratified by the situation.
'To think that, Baron would fold so easily in front of the duke.' Maria thought that, although she was powerful as well, she was unable to make the baron fold. Just the mere Presence of Augustus made the baron accept all of Maria's demands.
'She couldn't do anything to the baron because she is not a noble; if Maria had used her family background as well, she could have done this way earlier.' Rudra mused, he knew that Maria wasn't just some ordinary person herself. She was very strong; on top of that, if the rumors that he had heard were true, Maria belonged to a very powerful noble family as well. Although he didn't know why, a person like her was currently taking care of an orphanage.
"Actually, I was thinking of leaving the orphanage as well," Rudra said with a determined look on his face. From all of the experiences he went through in the span of a single night, he found out that he was too weak. If he wanted to survive in this world, he had to get stronger; staying here in the orphanage would just cage his potential and goals.
"Oh.... So, the time has finally come, huh? There is no point in keeping you here in the orphanage; you are already a 4th circle mage at such a young age. I am sure you will become someone very powerful in the future. So, have you decided where exactly you want to go?" Maria asked, she looked somewhat sad as well as proud.
'Just yesterday, you didn't have a single ounce of mana in your body; you must be destined to become someone great. Keeping you here in this remote town would just restrict your growth. I had already planned to send you to an academy. Though I didn't think we would have to bid farewell so soon.' Maria mused as she thought of the memories she had of Rudra.
Rudra was just a few years of age when Maria first came to the orphanage. So, she had quite fond memories of Rudra, as well as of the other kids in the orphanage.