Bertha sighed the umpteenth time on this trip, and she felt that her work drained her mental energy. The pay is not bad, but her job as a kingdom agent in the village of Eston obliges her to record all events that she feels are important and to report them regularly to her office in the city of Torun.

The first day she worked was fine but gradually she felt uncomfortable because she had to make a detailed report every month, who met which, what were the most important things that happened, did someone important come to the village, etc. she did not think that this job would be so boring.

Bertha was willing to work as a kingdom agent because the young man in charge of recruiting had a handsome face and a sexy body, of course the young man gave an explanation of her rights and obligations as a kingdom agent, but Bertha was instead busy checking the young man's body so she didn't listen to all the explanation, and when the young man asked Bertha if she was interested in joining Bertha immediately answered yes.

What a moron, I am really sucking for a pretty face, after all, any job is better than being nagged at home by mom.

She looks outside and is irritated by this carriage running so slowly. She was sure she would only arrive after years if this goddamn carriage had not gone any faster.

"Walk, you lazy animal!" the sound of the carriage driver's scream distracted her for a while. Reminding her that she paid very little to go to Torun City, it was only natural that she would get a carriage with a bad horse.

Its suck to be poor.

Bertha sighed again, she didn't really want to go to the city, because it was difficult to ask her parents for permission at a time like this and she didn't know what to make of excuses. But she had no choice, somehow her supervisor already knew what had happened in the forest and sent a special letter asking her to come immediately to the office to give an explanation.

Explanation my ass.

She didn't even know what really happened, so what kind of explanation he expected. It seemed like she had to do what was her specialty, make up stories.

Bertha could already imagine that her supervisor would shout right in her face and say that all of her stories were nonsense and as a kingdom field agent she should know that one of her obligations was to find valid data on the events that took place, not just guesswork.

She could already see her supervisor's face red with anger in her mind, his big nose and falling hair made her sure that her supervisor's life must be unpleasant, and she hoped that her supervisor's life would not be long either.

Fucking big nose.

Thanks to the special letter, bertha had to go to Torun in such a hurry, that she was still wearing the clothes she wore when she visited Gordon, luckily she still had time to shower and dress up a little.

Bertha took a small mirror from the small bag next to her and checked her face in the mirror.

"Hmmmm, not bad, even with minimal make up I am still beautiful" she said to herself, she understood that she was not as elegant as her sister. Her mother often admonishes her to be gentler and more shy, because the young men in the village prefer girls of that type, and it has been proven by Sharon.

The village chief's son Markus was crazy about her. Not to mention Gordon who was willing to die for her.

Actually, Bertha herself had tried to be gentler, but when there was a young man that she didn't like teasing her, she couldn't help herself, mostly it all ended with her punching the young man's face, and that was the reason for her mother to tried to immediately find a future husband for her because her mother was afraid that no young man would marry her if she was too old.

Bah, I don't care, they all just a coward, can't take some punch from a woman.

She put the little mirror back in then leaned backwards trying to sleep, because the journey was still long and she felt very bored.

But she had trouble sleeping and opened her eyes, her mind drifted to her visit to Gordon, she felt sure that Gordon had changed drastically from the old Gordon. He was no longer shy, and there was a force behind his gaze that gave the hairs all over her body chills as Gordon glanced into her eyes.

Bertha himself just realized that Gordon, who was lying weakly after defeating the Archmage, looked so charming in her eyes, for some reason her heart said that Gordon would be an important person in the future and she would not waste this opportunity.

She understood that Gordon loved Sharon, but Sharon was about to get married and Bertha knew that Gordon was attracted to her too. She saw how Gordon swallowed hard, and his eyes couldn't leave her breasts when she puffed out her chest.

Men only want one thing, and that makes it easy to manipulate them.

Bertha smiled to herself, and thought that maybe her job wasn't so bad.

********************************************

Gordon was standing in front of his mother's grave which had just been buried, everyone had left earlier but he still stood there, alone. Gordon understood that there was nothing he could do to get his mother back and that he should return home to rest immediately as his body was still not fully recovered. However, his feet felt stuck in the ground where he was standing, did not want to leave his mother's new grave, the ground was still wet and there were lots of flowers on it.

If only it weren't for the tears that kept flowing and his body was shaking violently, one might think that Gordon didn't feel bad about his mother's death, because there was no expression on his face at all.

Gordon actually wanted to say something when they lowered his mother's body to bury it, because it was the custom here that the family was left to say good things about the deceased while they were still alive, but his tongue felt seared and his mind was like a glass that is leaked, couldn't accommodate the idea at all.

He just stood there expressionlessly silent, he did not cry at all at that time, the people who saw him may wonder why he did not grieve over the death of his mother.

At that time, Gordon felt that someone was talking to him, but Gordon's ears were clogged, and his mind was blank, his eyes could see nothing but his mother's body, which was stiff and wrapped in colorful cloth. Maybe that person was Mr. Sully, trying to remind him that he needs to say nice things about his mother but he was not sure if it is true or not. Or maybe it was just someone who tried to say their condolences to Gordon and immediately left after seeing that Gordon didn't care about them at all.

The sky was getting dark, and the wind was blowing hard which indicated a heavy rain was coming but Gordon didn't care at all, he didn't care about anything because nothing mattered. To him everything seemed to have lost its color, the sky, the ground, the trees, even the people who had left looked black and white, everything didn't matter anymore, because the death of his mother took away something from within Gordon, something that made him feel alive.

"Mother" Gordon was finally able to speak.

But those were the only words he could say, Gordon tried to speak more but all the words he was about to say just disappeared in his throat. A drop of water fell on his head, then hundreds of thousands of other drops of water fell on Gordon and the entire burial area.

Gordon looked at the grave next to his mother's grave, written on its headstone. Gordon, was born on the 10th of the month Frogs in 509, died on the 23rd of the month Frogs in 549.

Gordon's father was not a smart person, instead of giving his son another name he named his son the exact same name as himself. Maybe his father tried to imitate the habits of the rich in the hope that he would become rich like them. But for Gordon it was a ridiculous thing, he still remembers when his father was alive his mother was often confused when she had to call them because of the same name until finally his mother decided to call him Gord, which to him sounded like Gurd, a name of a goat belonging to Mr. Samuel that was famous for its oddities, its died while trying to mate with a wolf.

Gordon clenched his fists tightly when he realized that he had broken his promise to his father and his heart hurt even more when he thought that he had just got a job in the hunter guild and with his strength he believed he could earn money more easily, so that his mother wouldn't have to work hard as a farm laborer for very little pay. How ironic it was when things seem to get better, his mother dies.

Gordon walked over to his mother's headstone, knelt down and placed his trembling hand on his mother's gravestone tracing the line on her name, Lucy was born on the 12th of the horse month of 519, died on the 24th of the deer month in 559.

"I am so sorry."

Then Gordon got up and went from his mother's grave, he walked like a drunk along the road but luckily no one reprimanded him until he arrived in front of his house, he cried again when he saw his house, now this house looks very lonely. Gordon could not afford to go into his house again so he walked back not knowing where to go, he walked uncertainly around the village until Mr. Sully stopped him and invited him to return to his house.

Gordon sat in a chair in front of the fireplace in Mr.Sully's house, he just found out that Mr. Sully's house turns out to be right next to the Hunter guild, the building of his house was one with the Hunter guild building so that both of them look like one building.

Mr. Sully gives him dry clothes and a glass of hot chocolate which makes Gordon's heart feel better, he's been sitting by the fire for over an hour, sipping hot chocolate and thinking about his parents, how he broke his promise to his father and how he should deal with his future, to be honest, Gordon had absolutely no plans for his future, his only goal in life had been to help his mother and marry Sharon, plus stealing the crown of spring.

Now that his mother was dead and Sharon was about to get married, the only remaining goal was to steal the crown of spring to save himself which was more like a task than a life goal, to be honest Gordon thought of committing suicide when he heard the news that his mother had died, but he couldn't because he had promised his mother that he would not give up no matter what. He had broken his promise with his father; he didn't want to break his promise with his mother either.

But what made him the most regretful was that he didn't immediately go to see his mother when he woke up, because according to Mr. Antam's wife, Gordon's mother died because of grief that was too deep, great shock when she saw Gordon's burnt body condition affected her heart health which eventually made her die, if only Gordon would leave as soon as he woke up, he would have had time to see his mother and his mother would be saved because he saw Gordon was fine, but what he did instead chatted with Bertha and was confused by himself after knowing that what he had killed was a former adviser to the king. He should have gone straight to his mother; he should have done better, he shouldn't have made his mother worried, he should have known that her mother was physically weak from working hard all these years and more understanding as a child, he should be able to save his mother, he should make his mother feel happy not trouble her to dead, he was the cause of his mother's death, he has killed his own mother.

"Don't, just don't do it"

Gordon turned to the voice he heard, Mr. Sully stood at the door of the living room with a worried face.

"Its not your fault, no need to blame yourself".

"Really, I've thought it through, and the conclusion is always the same, I'm the cause of my mother's death, it's all my fault" Gordon said, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Mr. Sully sighed and took a chair on the edge of the room and sat down beside Gordon.

"It's true she died because she thinks you have died and was deeply saddened, and to be honest I myself am not sure you can still live when I see the condition of your body, but you do not do it on purpose, you do not intentionally injure your body so that your mother will feel worried, You fought bravely against a very strong enemy to save an innocent girl" Mr. Sully said, squeezing Gordon's arm.

"You were badly hurt because you did the right thing." Mr. Sully added in a fiery tone.

"Yes, I managed to save Sharon but my mother died instead." Gordon said, he could not just take Mr. Sully's words.

"No ... no ... no." Mr. Sully shook his head.

"That's not what happened son, your mother didn't die in exchange for Sharon, that's wrong logic."

"You were seriously injured in order to save an innocent girl from a terrible fate, like a hero in a legend."

"Then your mother died of grief because she believed you would die, it was not your fault, son, the situation made it that way but it was not your fault".

Gordon just kept quiet hearing the words from Mr. Sully, while Mr. Sully looked at Gordon's face with a worried look, he thought Gordon was a good young man and had a very bright future. He wouldn't let Gordon get crushed here because of his guilt.

"I shouldn't have attacked them, I should have chased after Sharon and brought her to safety, I could fly quickly, I should be able to do something like that." Gordon said in a hoarse voice, his eyes fixed on the fireplace in front of him.

"Yes, you could choose to do that instead of attacking the two of them head on but I have experienced things like this myself a lot, believe me Gordon making decisions on the ground when an incident occurs is not the same as making decisions when you are sitting in front of a warm fireplace while drinking a glass of chocolate" Mr. Sully said. "Everything happens very quickly and you have to make a decision, you can say that now but who knows when you fly past them to take Sharon, they attack you from behind, you get hurt, they kill you and then take Sharon away".

Gordon turned to Mr. Sully, his face looked confused.

"I do not understand what you mean, Mr. Sully"

"What I mean is that anything can happen when you are in dire straits and you have to feel confident in your decision and I believe Gordon that you felt that attacking them to give Sharon time to save herself was the best choice at that time." Mr. Sully said to Gordon who seemed still unable to accept his explanation.

"Tell me Gordon, what reason did you have for deciding to attack them from behind?"

Gordon paused for a moment before answering.

"I have overheard their conversation before, they wanted to sell Sharon to Nias city, so I concluded that they are slave traders or bandits." Gordon paused to take a deep breath.

“I often hear stories from old John or my friends who hear stories from hunters that the bandits who usually come to our village are ordinary people without special powers and slave traders who have people with special powers always act in groups and they always target important people to ask for ransom or to find slaves with skills because a slave with skill can be sold for a much higher price."

Gordon looked into Mr. Sully's eyes.

"Because of that I believe that these two people are ordinary bandits, and with the strength I have I feel confident that I can knock them out, while Sharon can save herself and I'm sure she will immediately report this to the hunter guild".

"Good observation and I think your decision was correct, you can't possibly know that one of the bandits was an Archmage" Mr. Sully said as he patted Gordon on the shoulder.

"So that's right, Tal was an Archmage?" Gordon said, holding his breath in tension.

"Just a speculation from me, the green sun is the hallmark of Tal Itan Yurik, an Archmage who used to be an advisor to the king, but how do you know that his name was Tal?".

"When I was overhearing their conversation I heard his friend call him Tal".

"Okay, so we can confirm the name was Tal, and are you sure that the one who called the green sun was him?" Mr. Sully asked with a serious face.

"I'm absolutely sure, he looked very angry when I killed his friend, his friend's name was Ros, was he also an important person?" Gordon asked, hoping that Ros was not an important person, he was already very scared because he had killed the king's advisor and confidant. Because even though Tal was no longer an advisor to the king, but he was a trusted man of the king, it was impossible for a king to just be quiet hearing his confidant get killed.

"Never heard of him, and you don't need to worry because you have killed Tal, he has been decided as a traitor, by killing him means you have contributed to this kingdom" Mr. Sully knew that Gordon was afraid of the consequences of killing Archmage Yurik, even Rubben was scared. But Mr. Sully has just received news that the Novus kingdom offers a great reward for anyone who can provide information about the whereabouts of Yurik live or die.

"Our king Yurin en dun Almarik himself promised to give a big gift to the person who provided information about Archmage Yurik" Mr. Sully smiled broadly at Gordon.

"How about the person who killed him?" Gordon still wasn't sure with Mr. Sully's words.

"It is bigger, of course, because the basic rule regarding compensation includes the stipulation that a fugitive is wanted alive or dead, the bigger the reward if the fugitive is dead."

"That sounds absurd, why would they give more if the fugitive has died, instead it would be better if they were caught alive, the kingdom could interrogate them for important information." Gordon asked.

“Ah… that is because we have special provisions regarding things like this, every fugitive who has political power like Archmage Yurik, the King himself will announce that the kingdom will promise to give a number of rewards if someone can provide information about his whereabouts live or die, For the general public this only shows how important it is for this fugitive to be caught because the king himself announced it, while for someone like me it means that the King wants Archmage Yurik to be killed because the king cannot kill him due to political problems so he wants to use the services of a third party, namely whoever is able to kill him will be rewarded "Mr. Sully said to a dumbfounded Gordon.

"Is that true?"

"Of course, son, and I've confirmed what the prize is" Mr. sully grinning

"What's the prize?" Gordon became curious when he saw Mr. Sully's Expression.

"You, Gordon, you will became a Baron"

"What?"