Chapter 4: Running Away From Home
An hour later.
Eleanor stood in front of the Duke’s camp gate.
The guarding knight didn’t stop her, just bowed slightly, tapping his fist against his chest armor.
“Miss Eleanor, the Duke is waiting for you inside.”
“You recognize me?” Eleanor asked, surprised.
“I saw you once six years ago,” the knight replied humbly, then looked straight ahead again, his gaze unwavering.
Eleanor sighed and continued walking inside.
Patrolling knights on the road saw her. Some saluted solemnly, others looked puzzled but quickly bowed along with their companions.
Arriving in front of the temporary command post, the two guarding knights nodded at her, then lifted the tent flap.
“Please come in,” the Duke of Carinthia’s voice came from inside.
Eleanor stepped inside and forced a smile, “Your Grace…”
“Miss Eleanor,” the Duke of Carinthia was signing a document. “Please sit.”
Eleanor hesitated for a moment, then sat down in front of him.
“Your brother is on his way here,” the Duke of Carinthia said.
Eleanor paused upon hearing this, then smiled wryly.
“Let’s dispense with the pleasantries, after all, your father and I are old acquaintances,” the Duke of Carinthia put down the document and looked up. “Why did you run away from home?”
Eleanor: …
“Half a year ago, after you left without saying goodbye, the Weisbach family turned the entire territory upside down.” The Duke of Carinthia said lightly. “Not just Bavaria, but also Carinthia, Lombardy, Burgundy, Franconia… Your father’s envoys went almost everywhere adjacent to your family’s fief. Everyone knows that the second daughter of the Weisbach family ran away from home, leaving only a puzzling letter.”
Eleanor felt so ashamed she wished she could dig a hole and hide in it.
“Anyway, since you’re here, don’t go anywhere until your brother Ludwig comes to pick you up,” the Duke of Carinthia said.
Eleanor looked up: “But the anomaly in the town ahead…”
“That’s the job of mercenaries and vassal knights.” The Duke of Carinthia frowned. “In the Duchy of Carinthia, we have no custom of letting noble ladies go to the battlefield.”
“I’m not a noble lady!” Eleanor argued urgently. “I’m also a mercenary! A mercenary of the Azure Longsword mercenary group!”
“If you say that again, there won’t be an Azure Longsword mercenary group in this world anymore,” the Duke of Carinthia said indifferently.
Eleanor lowered her head, silent.
“Think from your father and brother’s perspective, the daughter of the Weisbach family, being a mercenary?” The Duke of Carinthia let out a low laugh, his tone hovering between wistful reminiscence and outright derision.. “Even if you ran away from home, you could have become a painter, a musician… find some refined work to make a living. What kind of dirty profession is a mercenary? Living on the edge, without honor, willing to do anything for money.”
“You misunderstand our mercenary group,” Eleanor said slowly.
“Save that for your brother,” the Duke of Carinthia lightly tapped the table. “Robert?”
A knight walked in from outside: “Your Grace.”
“Take Miss Eleanor to the inner camp quarters. Then find some daughters of local minor nobles in Löffelach to accompany her, those with good reputations, clean family backgrounds, and dignified appearances.” The Duke of Carinthia ordered. “We cannot neglect the Weisbachs.”
“Yes.” Robert nodded solemnly.
Eleanor remained silent and followed Robert to the noble camp area.
This area housed the Duke of Carinthia’s vassals, cabinet members, and their families. Robert summoned several quick-witted court attendants and had them tidy up the innermost tent.
Ten minutes later, Eleanor walked into the luxurious tent. It was comfortably furnished with velvet and carpets, with a large wooden bed in the center, covered with thick, soft mattresses and quilts.
Looking back, Robert was already standing outside the tent entrance, clearly intending to keep her confined here.
Eleanor sighed and lowered the curtains on both sides of the entrance.
Then she sat on the edge of the bed and whispered:
“Mia.”
Mia emerged halfway from the shadow at her feet and asked, “How did it go? Did you confirm?”
“Confirmed.” Eleanor nodded, then expanded her spirituality and teleported to Furnace Island.
Mia returned to the Shadow Realm, slipped through the gap under the tent flap, and entered Robert’s shadow.
The dutiful Knight Robert stood with his arms crossed, staring straight ahead, his gaze unwavering.
Unnoticed, his shadow on the ground slowly elongated, winding around the base of the tent to the back, then stretching out through a gap in the camp’s wooden fence.
After upgrading to “Shadow II,” Mia could freely manipulate the changes of nearby shadows and truly “dissolve” her body into the shadows.
As long as there was a shadow the size of a fingernail anywhere, she could hide in the corresponding Shadow Realm, unrestricted by her own body size.
As soon as the shadow stretched out from the gap, Mia jumped out of it and left casually.
The deformed shadow then snapped back like an elongated rubber band, returning to Robert’s feet.
On Furnace Island, Eleanor had just teleported in when Nuo, who had been waiting, rushed up to her.
“How did it go?” She asked with concern.
“It’s confirmed, the Duke of Carinthia has already informed my family.” Eleanor sighed.
Nuo also smiled wryly.
Just a few hours ago, Eleanor had confessed to her and Mia that she had actually run away from home.
The family values of the Franks were much more conservative than those of the Solomons. While daughters of minor nobles might be able to go out for business or study, those from major noble families basically stayed at home, taught by private tutors.
After coming of age, they would either marry into other noble families or enter a monastery to “serve God” or “study the truth.”
Eleanor was different from other girls. She neither wanted to marry like that, nor did she like doing research. Instead, she was particularly interested in inheriting the fief and becoming a knight lord.
So, after arguing with her father one day, she took some privately saved money and slipped out of the castle with an outgoing group.
Eleanor didn’t elaborate on how she slipped out. In short, she had wandered around Siris and Asia Minor for a while. After spending all her money, she came to Constantinople to make a living.
Finally, she met Asker.
The reason she chose to run away from home was partly because she didn’t want to stay at home and let her father arrange her life, and partly because she hoped to find an opportunity to prove herself.
Now that she had become a level 4 Transcendental, and her combat strength far exceeded that of ordinary people, she thought that even her strict father would look at her with new eyes.
Encountering the Duke of Carinthia this time was purely an accident. But since it was confirmed that the Duke had informed her family, her plan to confront her family needed to be brought forward.
She wanted to convince her father, as a newly promoted Transcendental.
If her father was willing to acknowledge her transformation and independence, and agree to let her inherit the fief, that would be best.
If not, then she would just run away again. Anyway, with the help of Furnace Island and Mia, Eleanor wasn’t worried about her father having any way to confine her.
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