Second World

”Come with me,” Captain Salem instructed.

There were stunningly small woods and a small man-made lake inside the estateʼs ground. Jack could see some fishes in the lake when he passed by its side. After coming out of the woods, a huge mansion was seen. It stood magnificently at the center, lording over the rest of the estate. It looked like a castle, there were three towers at different corners of the mansion.

The front of the mansion was a garden with flowers and small trees which were professionally trimmed by gardeners. A large statue of an officer riding a stallion was erected at the center of the garden. Captain Salem took Jack past the garden and to the front entrance of the mansion.

There were two small lion statues by the large wooden double door which was the mansionʼs main entrance. The captain knocked hard on the solid door. Not long after, the door opened and revealed a middle-aged man in a butler uniform.

”Winston, this is the adventurer the duke has been waiting for,” the captain informed.

The butler called Winston scrutinized Jack with his eyes, before he stepped aside and made a gesture for Jack and the captain to come inside.

The inside of the mansion was as extravagant as the rest of the estate. The foyer hall was decorated with various artworks and antiques. An enormous golden chandelier hung above them, while the whole ceiling was decorated with an enormous painting depicting heaven and angels.

”Come with me,” the butler said, and then added, ”do not wander off, do not make yourself at home.”

He brought them past several rooms and into a long hallway, before coming up to an inner courtyard filled with decorated plants and trees. At the center of the courtyard was a tall fountain with water shooting out from its top and fell to the pond underneath the fountain. A man was sitting on a bench gazing at the fountain, his back was facing Jack and the others as they came into the courtyard.

”Your Grace, the adventurer for the quest that you posted in the Adventurers Association has come,” butler Winston addressed the man on the bench with a bow.

Duke Alfredo stood from the bench and turned around. He looked to be in his fifties, with a square jaw, trimmed mustache, and sharp eyes. He was wearing a luxuriant green robe that flowed down to his legs. His hair was short and tidy, its color was brown with a sliver of grey.

Captain Salem made a small bow when the duke approached. ”Your Grace,” he said.

Jack copied the captainʼs salutation and bowed as well as he uttered, ”Your Grace.”

The duke nodded. ”You are the first outworlder I have met. I always heard that they are a bunch of rough men and women, and have no respect for courtesy and tradition. But I see that you are not as the rumor had described.”

”There are many kinds of us, Your Grace. It is true that not many of us are respectful of rules,” Jack said, then added in his mind, not many would bother with courtesy in a game.

He for one had treated this world as real, and this way of thought had helped him numerous times.

”Then Iʼm glad you are not the disrespectful kind,” the duke said. ”However, rather than politeness and respect, I am more hoping that you are capable enough to solve my trouble.”

”Iʼm all ears,” Jack said.

”All right,” the duke said, he waved to Winston to dismiss him. The butler made another bow before leaving. He then invited Jack to join him in sitting on the bench. The captain took his place standing beside the sitting duke.

”I needed help in finding a possession of mine that had gone missing,” the duke said after Jack took a seat beside him.

”Is it a painting?” Jack asked.

”Mm, something like that,” the duke answer.

”When had it gone missing?”

”Two days ago.”

”So it was just recently, the thief might not have gotten far yet.”

”Actually, the thief has not gone anywhere, he or she is still within this estate,” the duke said.

”Oh? Why are you so sure?”

”Because I activated the barrier formation around this estate once I found out the thing is gone.”

”Maybe the thief has left before the formation was up.”

”Not possible, not even three minutes have passed between when I last saw the thing and realized it to have gone missing. I activated the rune diagram immediately, not possible for the thief to have gone out from my estate within that time frame.”

”Then the thief must still be in hiding somewhere in this estate.”