Hikari: Rise Of The Weapons Master

"So you want me to grant you the title of a count and you are willing to complete any quest I give in order to do that?" Jonathan asked while scratching his beard with his hands.

He had been indeed thinking that the white-haired boy was not fit for a small position like Viscount and needed to get a more fitting title.

But Zack had asked him for promotion before he could think of anything to fight back with.

"Well, I was going to give you a quest anyways but since you asked me earlier, here it is," Jonathan said with a smile as a system screen appeared in front of the boy.

[ Investigation Of Nobles: The nobles in Hethburn, the city of diamonds, had been sending less tax money towards the capital.

Many suspect that the nobles are keeping more money for themselves and refusing to pay taxes. A thorough research on the nobles is needed.

Rewards: Promotion to the title of Count

Time Limit: None

Note: In case the nobles are found to be corrupt, the proof is required to show it to the noble court and get the corrupt officials punished. ]

"You can take your time to do the quest but make sure that the nobles don't catch you being a spy. Just act as though you are noble on vacation to the city of diamonds." Jonathan added.

"Then I'll leave right away," Zack said with a nod as he exited the palace.

Jonathan on the other hand was wondering how Zack treated him casually despite him being the king of the kingdom.

This reminded the red-haired man about his younger days when he was just a normal prince who didn't even have the title of the crown prince.

'I wonder whether you would have been a better king brother.' Jonathan thought with a sigh as his mind went back in time to when his brother had been alive.

But sadly, he had died in the war.

***

'Now where in this city of diamonds.' Zack looked at the map available in the guild masters' room in the guild.

It had a map of the entire kingdom and Zack quickly copied the map to his map screen before searching for Hethburn.

He soon found that the city was 560 kilometers away from the capital and was situated near the coast on the south side of the Eizenburgh kingdom.

Apparently, the city was the biggest supplier of diamonds in the entire kingdom and nobles went there to buy top-quality diamonds.

That was why Jonathan had told him to act like a noble on vacation.

In the past, Zack would have sighed since the place was really far away but he had a flying beast now.

The white-haired boy decided to try the summon beast companion feature to see how it worked. After going to his status, he clicked the name of the scam eagle, and a screen opened in front of him.

[ Daedalus (Scam Eagle)

Location: 'Red Dawn' guild

- Summon beast companion

- Mental Link (active): By thinking about your beast companion, you'll be able to directly talk with them ]

After choosing the summon beast companion option, Zack walked out and stood at the entrance of the guild.

He could have just gone to the beast dormitories but he was too curious to see how the feature worked.

A few seconds later, the eagle was standing above his head and looking at him with a curious expression.

'You called?' He asked through telepathy as Zack nodded.

"We are going on a ride." The white-haired boy replied as Daedalus slowly settled down on the road and allowed Zack to board him.

After that was done, he flapped his wings and shot into the air.

After relaying the information to Daedalus, the brown feathered eagle started flying towards the city of diamonds.

Below him, Zack could see various cities and towns as well as many players roaming around. But none of them were able to see him and the eagle since their speed was too fast for them to comprehend.

Daedalus had been so satisfied with what Zack had provided him with that he decided to take the white-haired boy to his destination as fast as possible.

So half an hour later, the teenager was standing in front of the gate of the city of diamonds.

As usual, guards were standing at the entrance but they were kneeling down. They didn't dare lift their heads and look at Zack and the eagle since they could feel the bird's powerful aura.

"Do you want us to take care of your mount lord Viscount?" The head of the guards asked as Zack shook his head and told Daedalus to leave.

The brown feathered bird nodded and decided to roam the nearing lands. Even though he was a very high-leveled beast, there were a few beasts that were capable of defeating him.

And the royal family had one such beast which acted as their guardian.

But Zack's current focus was on the title of a count. The white-haired boy entered the city and was surprised to see the sheer amount of nobles roaming around in the streets.

The entire city was divided into three markets, the commoner market which stretched from the start of the city to the section that separated the nobles.

The second was the noble market that extended beyond the division of noble places and lasted up to the mansion of the noble family in charge of the city.

Then there was the black market that ran in the secrets of the city. No one knew how one could access but if a person managed to expose the location of the black market, they would be granted the title of a noble or would get a promotion to their existing titles.

The Hethburn city was currently being ruled by the Momonga family and they were very strict rulers.

'Not like I have anything to do with them. If they are at the heart of the corruption, things might get difficult.' Zack thought with a sigh as he decided the best thing to do was to find the black market.

If fewer taxes were being paid, it meant that there was either a shortage of stuff to sell or it was being sold illegally.

The white-haired boy started his search from the alleys of the place since usually, most people in such areas were the ones who knew about the black market.

And no sooner had it been five minutes that a group of bandits jumped out of the shadows and surrounded Zack.

"Know what is a pretty Viscount like you doing here?" A man with twin slashes running across his face asked with a grin as he stared at the white-haired boy.

His mind was already working on how he could sell the young noble and fetch a very high price for him.

[ Bandit Leader (level 20): Just your local bandit leader. There is no way that he would have something special about him. ]

[ Bandit subordinate (level 11): If you can't become a leader or a follower, become a bandit who runs at the first sign of trouble and likes to gang up on people. Has the special abilities of a scummy human. ]

Zack almost burst into laughter when he read the description of the bandits.

The game developers hadn't even given them a name and had gone out of their way to make the very special descriptions.

It was clear as day that these bandits were just meant to be cannon fodder or even less than that.

But since he was having fun, Zack decided to play the part.

"EEK! What are bandits like you doing here?!" He shouted while looking around for help.

This further confirmed to the bandits that the boy was just a spoiled noble who didn't know sh*t about the real world.

So, they decided to make fun of him. The subordinates started to get closer as they 'forced' Zack to stand against a wall.

Their leader then stood in front of him with a smug smile.

"Boy, you chose the wrong place to come to. I, the great Lin Donger, will be the one to personally train you to become a bed warmer and sell you to noble women or men looking for people like you."

And that's when the bandits' leader realized that he had f*cked up.