Kaisenberg, with his retinue of knights, rode into the town, greeted by a long line at the village which seemed as if the entire village was gathered there. However, they were all facing the same direction, ah, a queue.

Well… That smell…

Kaisenberg’s stomach growled, as did many of his knights and they stared at one another before dismounting.

“Let me see what is going on.” Jacob, who had long dismounted and observed the queue with curiosity, having noticed that it was rather near his own meat peddling stall.

As he moved off, the Knights attempted to move in front of the queue, having started walking up. However, after a moment, one of the Knights held Kaisenberg yet.

“Commander… I think it best we join the queue.” He whispered and Kaisenberg turned around, wishing to reprimand him but it was at that point he noticed the glare of the villagers.

One of them, a skinny woman in a pink frilly dress suddenly opened their mouth.

“I bought one and had to queue from the back again. You have to keep that shred of honour you have by going to the back of the queue, knights.”

There was a murmur of agreement and the knights lowered their heads and collectively walked to the back of the queue. However, from how it looked, it seemed as if the queue progressed quite quickly.

As a little girl skipped away happily, Kaisenberg saw a doughnut and a croissant in her hand.

“Pastries in these parts?” Kaisenberg said incredulously. Pastries required the key ingredients of milk, wheat grounded into flour as well as butter and sugar.

The first two may be acquired one way or another, however, you can forget about getting the remaining two without some effort.

Though milk may be readily available, an area which is not rearing cows will find themselves hardpressed to find milk as well as butter, seeing that the former is the key ingredient of the latter. Transporting milk from one city to another is a fool’s errand. No one peddles milk this way.

For sugar, it has to be imported from the Hassani Kingdom far away and they are carried by massive trading convoys. In fact, some are even named Sugar Convoys, just to symbolise the fact they are carrying nothing but sugar. These ships are escorted by warships from the Hassani Kingdom.

Seeing that they are the only nation that produces the highly demanded sugar, it is no surprise that the Hassani Kingdom is one of the wealthiest nations in this world.

As the knights finally reached the front, they came face to face with an energetic Lawrence Carstein. Jacob and his wife were happily sitting behind Jacob, their faces content as they nibbled on Lawrence’s pastries while sipping what seemed to be a small bottle of wine.

“Welcome, you must be knights or crusaders! I am Lawrence Carstein, the owner of this humble establishment! Once you have tasted the Guardian’s Bakery’s pastries, you will never go to another bakery ever again!” Lawrence said energetically, his armour ringing slightly as he said so in excitement, as if in agreement.

“You are—“ Kaisenberg put on his most serious expression, intending to make use of this chance to question him. It was amazing that a supposedly invincible warrior was here selling pastries, with the smile of a butler in a mansion.

“How about a doughnut? A croissant? Both? Or maybe… Just maybe, dear knights, you will be interested in our homemade wine?” Lawrence said dramatically, eager pushing the croissants and doughnuts forward.

As Lawrence relentlessly sold his products, his brain was thinking quickly. He was not stupid. He had seen Jason coming with them in the distance. The knights, before becoming completely stunned or confused had a look of stern, silent judge in a courtroom. In fact, he resembled the poker face that Robert Mueller is often seen with. Anyway, how is that trial coming along anyway? It must be going crazy in the r/politics subreddit.

However, back to the topic, Lawrence deduced that they must be here because of the bandits. Judging from the appearance of the most senior knight, he was about to ask Lawrence some questions right there and then.

Lawrence was reminded of the German businessman, Oskar Schindler, known for his heroism in rescuing Jews in his factories. Gestapo officers had visited Schindler, only to leave the place drunk and merry, completely forgetting their mission.

So perhaps with enough encouragement… Lawrence may be able to turn it around.

“You know what, such honourable and brave knights like yourselves should get a reward, yes… A reward!” Lawrence declared, quickly opening up his inventory and taking out a carton of sake, having bent down to pretend to be taking something from behind the cloth that covered his table.

In it were six white bottles of ceramic, each containing high-grade sake. Each bottle of sake was extremely strong. With that, Lawrence thrust the entire crate into the open hands of one of the more receptive knights.

“No, wait—“ Kaisenberg protested but the cheers of the knights drowned out his protests as they immediately took to drinking the wine and sake that Lawrence had given them.

Kaisenberg watched on helplessly as his men got rowdier and rowdier. However, he knew what the young man was doing. The experienced knight had seen it before. Kaisenberg turned away from his men and faced the armoured man, who was packing up as if he was done with his work and sales.

Lawrence, with the small bag that he had bought earlier, looked at Kaisenberg, turned away wordlessly and walked towards his home, towards the forest.

Keeping quiet, Kaisenberg followed him and when they reached Lawrence’s house, Lawrence opened the door and held it open for him.

“Come in, come in. Tea? Wine?” Lawrence asked and Kaisenberg entered, the warmth of the house enveloping him after the slightly chilly winter weather. The fireplace leapt to life as Lawrence took off his armour, placing his sword against the wall.

“Neither,” Kaisenberg replied, taking off his own sword and leaning it against the wall.

With that, Lawrence gestured for him to sit by the fireplace, on the single seater couch to be exact. He sat opposite Kaisenberg.

“So what brings you to find me exactly?” Lawrence asked and Kaisenberg breathed in deeply, deliberating on whether, to be honest, or not.

“My lord has certain concerns about a mighty warrior suddenly appearing in his realm,” Kaisenberg replied, his words slow and steady as if hoping that Lawrence will be a more positive influence.

“I’m not, Sir…” Lawrence replied, only to realize that he does not know the knight’s name.

“Kaisenberg Orion, head knight to House Black,” Kaisenberg replied and Lawrence nodded in gratitude at the reply as he continued his answer.

“From the sunny island of Singapore, cross the seas of the Pacific, Atlantic and Adriatic I have travelled, through the lands of Malaysia, Batam, China, Russia, Europe then the Americas did I reach the shores of this land, adrift I had been for a week, surviving on a supply crate aboard the ship and things I hid away in my Bag of Holding.”

“As I spotted land, energy reinvigorated my weary body. I swam across the sea, reaching land, tired and thirsty. A cave I entered to rest myself, but so exhausted was I that I had collapsed the moment I reached the cave.”

With that, Lawrence sat back in his chair and Kaisenberg slowly nodded to himself.

“I have many primary products for food, but I did not have a stove or a grill to use in order to make food. I have many wares in my bags, but these wares can’t feed me or help a tired man.” Lawrence added and Kaisenberg remained silent still.

“Then… From the sounds of it, you… Lawrence Carstein… Seem to be an adventuring merchant?” Kaisenberg asked and Lawrence nodded slowly.

“Where did you learn to fight like that? Not even I could get through the fight unscathed.” Kaisenberg asked and Lawrence immediately checked Kaisenberg’s level, which stood at 15. A level 15 in any game would have no issues fending off low levels, but get enough of them together and they would die all the same.

“I learnt it from Sir Arthur of the Round Table, have you heard of him?” Lawrence asked, putting on a face of slight arrogance as if his teacher was a man of great fame and skill. As expected, Kaisenberg scratched his head awkwardly and shook his head. It was a half lie, Sir Arthur was indeed the faction trainer for Lawrence in the game, Ever Dawn.

“Ah… Well… You see, I find it hard to believe. I apologize. You speak of nations and seas I have never heard before and legendary sword fighting skills that I have not even heard the faintest rumour of.” Kaisenberg said and a silence fell over the two men.

Lawrence sighed inwardly, hoping that a simple act will suffice.

However, that was when it struck him.

Were Ever Dawn cinematic cutscenes still available to him? He quickly skipped to the menu, and saw all his unlocked cutscenes there, which featured his character in them.

Guardians had a skill called Shared Consciousness, which enabled five parties to enter the mind of the Guardian as a mental safe space so that they may control their body from within his mind while being protected from exterior mind damaging magic dealt with their bodies that would otherwise be fatal.

“Then, how about I show it to you?” Lawrence smiled and clapped his hands as he activated the skill, Shared Consciousness.