At this moment, the bodyguard spoke, a little ahead of the guy who had already opened his mouth:

- Madam, this is not the best solution. You should consider the possibility that they may be in cahoots with Farnes and "those" people. Leaving them in the manor is too dangerous, and if we take into account that beast ... - he didn’t care at all that the guy and the girl were sitting right in front of him, the old man’s main task was to protect his mistress, but she decided to interrupt him:

- I understand it. And I've already made a decision. - in Lifina's voice, notes of severity were cut through, recognizing which, the bodyguard hastily retreated.

Ray only noted for himself that both the minister and her bodyguard knew perfectly well who was behind the kidnapping.

“Since such is your decision, milady, we will not refuse.

Lifina only nodded at these words, but the guy immediately continued:

"Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to unpack some of my things and get some rest before breakfast."

- Of course, you will be taken. - the woman gave instructions to the maid and she asked Ray and Tessa to follow them.

He got up and, saying goodbye to Lifina, went towards the house. At that moment, three glances were directed at his back at once. One belonged to Tessa, who looked at the guy walking in front of her with slight incomprehension and experience, the girl hoped with all her heart that she was mistaken about the reason that made him stay on the estate.

The second look belonged to the bodyguard. The old man, deep in thought, watched the retreating guy, and many years of intuition told him that the appearance of this man did not bode well.

The third was Lifina, who now looked at the unexpected and very strange guest with completely undisguised interest.

- These are far from ordinary mercenaries ... - the old man muttered, but the woman heard him.

- You are too worried, Griham, - the minister raised her hand, and the old man at the same moment put his own under her palm, helping the woman to rise, - I am sure that they are not going to harm us. But you are right about something. The girl may really just be a mercenary, but this guy...

- Agree. the old man nodded. “He acted too calm in your presence, and the fact that he was able to kill Caim so easily speaks volumes. This boy, Goddess accept him, was undoubtedly one of the best swordsmen of the estate, if not the entire capital. Despite his young years, he could give quite a decent fight even to me.

The light in the woman's eyes shone a little brighter, but after a second it was replaced by a look full of motherly love:

- I promised Mia that I would spend the whole day with her. Now I don't have to go meet those bastards, so I can spend a little time with my daughter.

- We will not do anything in response? Griham asked with a bit of bloodthirstiness, not paying the slightest attention to the expression that had just sounded, inappropriate for a noble person, because he himself completely agreed with his mistress. But Lifina just shook her head.

- The country is already on the brink of war, it is not worth aggravating an already not the best situation even more.

The old man thought for a moment, but was forced to nod slightly disappointedly, agreeing with the correctness of such reasoning.

***

Falling onto the bed, Rey froze for a moment at the unexpected softness. His body literally plunged into an air mattress, and because of the habit, the guy even felt a certain awkwardness. Smiling silly, he looked up at the white ceiling of the guest room and forced himself to relax.

It lasted him five whole minutes, after which he got up a little unhappily on the bed and looked around. The room was moderately spacious and quite richly furnished, except that Ray's whole being, his whole being, felt extremely uncomfortable here. It would seem that the hostess herself invited him to stay and he should not feel that way even despite the slightly wary attitude of the servants and guards, which, by the way, was quite justified. It's just that he got too used to freedom, and these walls, like an ephemeral vise, pressed on him, making him miss the forest that had become so familiar.

Shaking his head, the guy got to his feet and took out armor from the bag, more precisely, its upper part.

"I'll have to find some gloves and a mask so I can move around in forest form just by wearing the hood."

At that moment, another thought came into his mind that made him smile.

“And it is unlikely that anyone would dare to touch a person for whom the First Minister of the country can vouch.”

Thinking about this, Rei clenched the armor in his hands and finally began to put it on. In it, he felt much calmer, although he could at any moment turn into a black snake, the scales of which were clearly stronger. But even in spite of this, the armor became too dear to him. Even in the forest, one could count on the fingers of two hands the creatures that could break through it with a direct attack. Scratch - yes, which, by the way, they did, therefore, from the small cloak that was originally on the back, now only scraps remained, and the entire surface of the armor was dotted with a generous scattering of scratches of different depths. But far from every creature would be able to break through the abnormally strong defense, and those who were capable of such a feat, Ray tried not to let them get close enough.

Finally putting on the armor, he moved his arms contently, enjoying the sensation. The armor was strong, but quite light and did not hinder movement at all, which was a great success, considering that it did not originally belong to him.

When this thought flashed through the guy's head, he remembered the face of his teacher, who, choking on his own blood, lay in front of him, breathing his last breaths.

Clenching his fist, he took a deep breath and another familiar silhouette appeared before him, but this time he did not see a face, only a head covered with a thick tie of white bandages and strange, so human-like eyes. But Rei was sure that it was not a person, and not only because the figure of the creature was slightly more elongated than a human, but because he had never seen a single emotion in the eyes of this creature. No interest, no regret, not even sadistic satisfaction, or rather pleasure. People can be emotionless, but not to such an insane degree.

Finally exhaling heavily, Rey opened his fist and went to the window, wanting to leave the estate in this way. Their rooms were on the second floor, and thanks to Enhanced Jump, even twice the height wasn't too dangerous for him. The main thing was to land successfully, and he had already managed to learn this in the forest.

As he was about to open the doors, he glanced out into the yard. The scene unfolding below was the exact opposite of his heavy thoughts.

A little girl stood in front of a huge panther. Next to Cess, Mia really looked very tiny, but the baby obviously did not care. She said something to a huge cat, but she only lazily licked her paw, occasionally throwing a look at her full of misunderstanding and slight disdain.

Looking around for a bit, Rei noticed two guards nearby who were ready to tear their hair out, not knowing what to do. The guy didn’t doubt for a second that if it weren’t for the helmets, the men really would have done just that, just like this portly maid standing a little further away. Her eyes were filled with sincere horror when the woman watched a huge monster, which only awkwardly turned, could interrupt such a short life of her young mistress.

Ray did not worry about the girl at all, he was sure that Cess would not harm her, especially by accident - the cat controlled her body even better than himself.

Miya was still chatting nonchalantly with the panther, but a moment later, either because of her cat nature, or wanting to tease the poor servants, and Ray had no doubt that the cat's intelligence was enough for this, Cess, slightly He opened his huge mouth and, instead of his paw, ran his tongue over the girl's face. At that moment, a momentary silence reigned, which was interrupted by a whole series of sounds, which, merging into an amazing cacophony, returned the gloomy mood of the guy back to normal.

At first, Mia's ringing laugh sounded, which also did not expect this from Cess. The other sound was much louder - the same stout servant girl, unconscious, fell on the stonework of the yard. The guards accompanied her, tugging at their sheathed swords. The poor fellows were in the most difficult situation, because if the baby gets hurt, or God forbid something worse, their heads will undoubtedly leave their shoulders noticeably trembling due to the absurdity of what is happening.