Chapter 142 - Investments (3)
Chapter 142 – Investments (3)
Ashton walked out of the hospital with a beaming smile on his face, while Seven had a confused look on his face. If Ashton was looking for teammates, he could have easily gotten much better ones.
Hell, even the gold rank adventurers would have jumped at the opportunity to form some sort of connection with him considering his background. Yet, he chose to go for nobodies who had landed him in trouble with the gorillan in the first place.
Whatever Ashton was thinking made no sense to Seven, and he expressed his views to Ashton.
"That's exactly the point," Ashton replied with his ever copious smile, "As long as it makes sense to me, it doesn't need to make sense to anyone else."
Although Seven was still a bit on the edge over Ashton's decision, he knew he could not do anything to persuade this strange kid. So he dropped the topic entirely.
Ashton was glad that Seven did not pursue the matter any further. Even if he had done that, Ashton already had Jonathan's permission to make his own team independent of any royal interference.
As for the reason he was inviting 'nobodies' to join him, it wasn't anything complex. Ashton just wanted to make sure that the people he recruited had nothing to do with royalty or nobility, with the exception of Seven. And secondly, they had to feel as if they owe Ashton something which would spark a sense of loyalty in them.
So far, everyone he had recruited had both or one of these things. Virgil and his team were indebted to him for saving their lives as well as taking care of his hospital bills. While Master Baiter's case was also the same because Ashton gave him the money he required for whatever reason.
Then, at last, came Seven, whom Ashton was partially blackmailing into submission. But Seven too had some shred of gratitude towards him because he had not only saved him but also his loved ones from dying a horrific death.
That being said, the team was coming along great. All of them had already unlocked their classes and three of them even had rare classes. By three of them, Ashton meant, himself, Master baiter and Seven.
While Virgil and his party only managed to get their hands on basic or common classes, Master baiter had received the 'Creationist' class while Seven had the 'paladin' class.
After getting to level 15, Ashton used [Detection] once again on Seven and only then he got to know about the class of the royal knight. However, even with level 15, Ashton could only get the basic information about the knight and nothing about his stats or skills.
"Let's head back for the day. Once Virgil has recovered we will take quests with higher difficulty, till then we'll be doing common quests so that I can get my rank up."
Ashton explained his plan as they headed back to the bungalow that Ashton was given by Jonathan as a reward for accepting his request. Jonathan would have liked if Ashton stayed inside the castle along with the rest of the knights, but he decided against it as his spoiled daughter might throw a tantrum.
Also, this arrangement worked perfectly with Ashton as he enjoyed having his freedom more than anything else. But there was the issue that he cannot risk killing anyone in Deja as a food source. The risk was too high.
Thankfully, he did not need to worry about feeding himself because as long as he could keep visiting the dungeons, he would have an infinite food supply for his genes.
Once Seven had ensured Ashton had safely reached his residence which was guarded by regular soldiers of the empire, he immediately headed back to his home. But Ashton's surprises weren't over yet. The moment he walked into his new home he was greeted by two familiar faces.
"Duncan and Daniella, what are you guys doing here?"
Ashton had not seen either of them after what happened in the academy arena so he was a bit surprised. But not enough to lose his composure, after all, they were his slaves and no longer belonged to the mistress.
"Allow me to be of service." Ashton heard an unknown voice as the following moment a fair-skinned man walked out of the shadows and greeted him with a smile.
Ashton briefly looked at the man. Standing at 6'0", the man had a weirdly suspicious feeling about him. His elbow-length brown hair was worn as a ponytail while his round face was covered in a half-grown patchy beard. Even though he appeared to be in his late thirties.
But the thing which caught Ashton's attention the most was the mark the man had on his palm. It was the brand of slavery. However, this man was, he was previously a human. Just like him.
"Who are you?"
"A messenger… from our mutual master." The man hissed.
"The mistress?"
"Oh my, looks like you are not as foolish as I was led to believe-"
"Cut to chase." Ashton did not want to unnecessarily drag the conversation on as he still had one thing to sort out.
"Nothing much… I've been instructed to remind you of your true purpose here." The man replied back, "Also, the mistress says congratulations on receiving your first class and would like to know about-"
"I got the message, now get out." Ashton calmly but sternly made his point and walked past him, but as he did the man grabbed him by the shoulder.
Ashton did not like this forced contact and retaliated in kind, by grabbing the man's hand and tossing him out of the house through the main door.
"Look, I'm very tired and highly irritable. Even the littlest of things can make lash out so be careful." Ashton took a deep breath in order to calm himself, "As for my reply, tell the mistress if she wants to talk, I have a device on me and also that it would be wise if she doesn't send people my way to threaten me."
He continued, "Because the next time one of her 'messengers' crosses the line, they would be able to cross anything other than the bridge to the afterlife.. Now get lost before I change my mind."