Marian on hearing such a question from Cornelius turns to Andrew in shock. She didn’t know that such underground transactions has been made without her notice and was swept off her feet by this revelation. “Yes”, Andrew just replies with a straight face without looking in the direction of Marian. “Okay then. What’s the....”, Cornelius wasn’t able to complete his statement before being interrupted by Marian, “What does you mean by dropping me off here?”, she asks Andrew. Andrew turns towards her with a smile on his face before saying, “You would be staying under his care for a period of time, while I would be going towards the city to secure a safe path for you”. “But that’s not what you promised me”, Marian says in a low voice albeit audible to those present in the room.

“Am not abandoning you, am just leaving you here for a while, away from harm’s way”, replies Andrew obviously not understanding why Marian would be protesting about this decision of his. “But that’s not what you promised me”, she raises her voice to a shout this time around while standing up, which makes Andrew stump for what to reply with. He keeps mute as she continues saying, “You said that we would be together through rough and hard times. You promised you won’t leave my side for anything in this world. You won’t ever abandon me, but that’s what you seem to want to do now. Guess I am just a useless garbage to you too”. There was silence in the room for a while as Cornelius watches the proceedings between this two new family members quietly without even a comment coming from his mouth.

Andrew was about to say something but he was forced to close his mouth as Marian continues with tears pouring out of her eyes, “I don’t care if there is any danger on the path. I don’t care if I would even be killed on the way. I don’t just want to be left behind. If you leave me alone too, I would most definitely be devastated. I don’t want to be pampered anymore if that’s what it entails to always be by your side. I want to be by your side to tend to your wounds after a dangerous fight, to listen to your complaints and to grief with you. Not just a person to whom you share your wealth with”. This proceeding almost seem as if a lady was professing her love to the man of her heart and trying to make him understand things from the point of her view but they both know that their relationship was stronger than anything like the love existing between a man and a woman.

Although it was a relationship forged not too long ago, the bond was much more stronger than that forged for years. Andrew just stands up from his seat then walks up to her, just like a kidnapper walks up to someone whom he wants to kidnap but instead of knocking her unconscious as he did before in the past, he hugs her while patting her head. “I know you want to share all my pains with me. But the male has been made since time immemorial to always fend for the female. You should just wait behind for me”, Andrew says in a loving tone at this moment. But Marian doesn’t agree as she pushes him back while screaming, “I want to always be with you, don’t you understand that, Andy. I don’t care about anything else. If you leave me behind, I did be better off dead”, after saying her piece, she storms off the house without looking behind while tears streams out of her eyes, if she had stayed in one place to cry, perhaps she could have formed a mini lake with her tears. Andrew just sighs on her exit, then turns to look at Cornelius before saying, “Sorry about that sister of mine, she is a bit impulsive”.

“I don’t mind it really. It just shows the love you have for each other”, Cornelius says while waving his hands. “Alright then, the first favor would be cancelled then. I would have to take her with me to avoid a situation in which she hurts herself”, Andrew says. “So what’s the favor you want to ask of me then?”, asks Cornelius without any further long talks. “I did plan not to ask about this formally but I still can’t kill my curiosity. Could you do me a favor of satiating my thirst for the answers to this question of mine? It should count as the first favor then since the former has been cancelled”, asks Andrew while sitting down once again. “Depends on the question?”, Cornelius frowns not understanding what Andrew chooses to know that he couldn’t have found out on his own. “Its not something you won’t be able to answer, after all, I am it’s not some tightly guarded secret. It’s about the horses, how come there isn’t any in this village?”, Andrew smiles while asking. “Ohh, since it’s just that, it’s not something truly difficult then. The answer to that is simple, the royal family imposed various restrictions here and there. Those restrictions present in this kingdom are not present in other kingdoms though”, Cornelius pauses for a while as if reminiscing about something of old, before continuing, “This kingdom as we know is bordering on the verge of a coup. These are matters that shouldn’t even be privy to me. Hence those at the top are trying their best to control the way things go and are afraid that letting commoners have access to these stuffs could build the power of the rebels. Although horses are used in the capital and by merchants for moving goods, those of whom used them are under tight surveillance and if they tend to lose the horses, a strict investigation would go on. If the fact that you are in ownership of those horses you are riding gets out, you could be arrested and thoroughly investigated. I guess you got the horses from the bandits, right?”. Andrew nods in reply while his face was totally serious. Cornelius just behaves as if he expected such a reply before continuing, “He probably wants to set you up since he didn’t tell you the implications involved in using them. Why didn’t he use the horses when invading the villages but only used them when you went to his stronghold and even left them for you to use with little to no complaints? Didn’t you think about all that? The reason am even capable of owning a horse was due to the past accomplishments of my ancestors, but the moment I lose the horse, I would be investigated until no stone is left unturned and even my children would be implicated”.

Andrew was shocked on listening to this, he was thankful that he hadn’t spared Oscar on that day, if not he would have regretted it. But what about those underlings whom he left to escape? They all knew where he stayed and would most definitely have some connections of some sorts with the law enforcement agencies otherwise they would have been arrested already.

Andrew now sensed what a great mistake he has made by letting even one of them escape and he now knew that he needed to move as soon as possible to avoid attracting the attention of the law enforcement agencies to himself and end up being locked up in jail due to a crime he didn’t know how he did or plan to commit. He also wondered how petty those above were and how much fear were in their hearts to have imposed those silly laws which had little to no meaning, he didn’t see the sense for all that they were doing as although it made transporting of weapons hard, it could still be done one way or the other although great risks were now involved and the possibility of being tracked became greater.

It would put great strain on the citizens as the process of transporting loads would be more expensive, and difficulty in acquiring horses would make prices of goods soar greatly, but it seems like those above don’t actually seem to care since they had a lot of money in their purses. After a lot of thoughts, he calmed himself down as he wasn’t through with what he wanted to talk to Cornelius about, then he wore his carefree countenance all over again, before saying, “About my second favor, it would be nothing too big of a deal for you. Am about to go to the city with that stubborn sister of mine and I need you to settle all the necessary stuffs over there and get me enrolled into a nice school over there”.

“Why do you need to attend any school? With such a talent of yours, you would be quickly taken by even the royal family, and your tutoring would be forever settled. You are a prodigy wanted all over”, Cornelius frowns in reply. He didn’t understand why Andrew would want to go through all those trouble when he could just display his skills and be picked and specially groomed by the royal family. “There is a lot I don’t know about this world”, Andrew says absentmindedly.

Seems like Cornelius was not able to pick up the under-meaning in his words, after all he has never met a transmigrator and no one in the kingdom has even come in contact with one. “It would be easy for you to know everything you need to once you are under the tutelage of the royal family”, says Cornelius. “I have my own reasons for all that am doing”, replies Andrew. “Okay then. Since it’s what you want, I won’t say anything more than what I have”, Cornelius says while heaving a sigh of relief for some unknown reasons, then pauses for a while before continuing, “So, is there any other thing you need my help with?”. Andrew thinks for a while before talking about the horses if anything can be done about it to prevent any misinterpretation, since Andrew would have to transport his goods over to the capital and can’t move it all by himself. After a bit of discussion, Cornelius decides that he would write a letter with his stamp to prevent much investigation, after all, he did have much power intact although his great decline and respect was still awarded to his status. They concluded the meeting soon enough though and since Eve was about going back to the capital, Cornelius suggested that she moves along with them.

Andrew agrees, although he understood that he would be acting as a protector for her in case of any dangerous situation, but he didn’t actually mind since it was in the way and he won’t even stress himself too much. He also got to understand that although the road leading to the capital was beast free and mostly bandits free, there was still some amount of danger which were all life threatening, and that got him wondering about how this new body of his was able to get down here from the capital. But he shook it off as soon as it came since it was all in the past and what has happened has already happened, no need bothering about it all.