Raised in Dungeon

"Lady, shouldn't you be wearing peasant clothes?" asked Rachel.

"No way! I won't wear ugly clothes other than to the dungeon! Who would want to be compared to a peasant!"

Rachel was worried that if she wore noble clothes in the middle of the city, someone would attack her, as the capital had a higher crime rate than the Boldenville region. Besides, in the Boldenville region, everyone knew Felicia, so there weren't many people who wanted to mess with her.

Nine days before the whitmoon festival started, the Boldenville family finally arrived at the capital. The Boldenville family brought two carriages, one for family members and the other for maids and goods. As Felicia's knight, Allen was supposed to ride a horse beside the carriage, but since Allen couldn't ride a horse, he sat in the storage carriage.

They left early in the morning and only arrived at the capital late afternoon. Even in the afternoon, the entrance was still full of merchants queuing outside the capital, but since Boldenville was a noble, they entered through the north gate, which had a smaller queue.

During their stay in the capital, they stayed in the noble district, where the nobles lived and rented small houses. The noble district was located near the royal castle, and it still took an hour by horse to get there, so they got there at night.

The next morning Felicia wanted to go out to the capital's shopping center; Felicia insisted on going in noble clothes even though Rachel had warned her.

"Nobles have to wear nice clothes! What if I run into another noble on the street? The Boldenville surname could get a bad name!"

"Only you nobles go to the shopping center, lady. Most nobles don't walk out of town."

"I want to go anyway! Don't stop me!"

Rachel sighed, then she looked at Allen with a worried face.

"Allen, please really protect Lady this time; don't let the previous incident happen again," Rachel said, referring to the thing that happened inside the dungeon. Whichever side of the story you took, there was no mistaking that Allen was why Felicia had fallen in there.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely protect her this time."

Allen's face was not the one Rachel was used to seeing. Usually, he said it because he was forced by circumstances, whereas now Rachel could feel that he meant to protect her not because of coercion but because he wanted to do so.

"O-Of course you should! It's your job after all!" Felicia said as she turned around.

Rachel couldn't accompany them this time. She was the only maid who could be trusted with the Boldenville family's finances, as her family had been serving the Boldenville family for generations. Since she had just arrived, she had to lead the other maids in preparing for the palace banquet and other items like clothes, jewelry, and drinks, and decorating the house in case other nobles visited. Even though it was a rental house and good enough for nobles to live in, the earl's family had too much prestige to be lumped in with other nobles.

Allen and Felicia went to the shopping center after paying for a rider and horse at the post house. A post house is a post office that delivers mail and often uses transportation services according to a specified route.

"Well, as expected to the capital! Lots of people! Lots of food! And lots of merchandise!" Felicia shouted with excitement.

"Lots of danger too," muttered Allen.

Arriving at the shopping center, they got off.

"How much is it?"

"Three-no, four silver coins lady!"

"FOUR SILVER COINS FOR A RIDE?!" Felicia said it so loudly that everyone around her immediately looked at them.

"Hii!!!"

"Are you trying to trick me? What's your name? Just so you know, I'm the earl's daughter. I'll send a soldier to look for you if you lie!"

"Ma-I am so sorry lady! It's only one silver coin! Please don't report this to anyone!"

"Geez, you think you can fool me that easily. Just because I'm a kid, you think I'm stupid! No wonder you're so skinny; you must have been working with dirty tricks all this time!"

Felicia took out three silver coins from her pouch and gave them to the coachman.

"Umm... lady?"

"Just take the three coins. In exchange, you shouldn't lie anymore!"

"T-THANK YOU LADY!"

The coachman left there, continuing his work happily.

"What did you do that for? Do you care about him that much?" asked Allen, who wondered why he should give more money to the lying coachman.

"Of course, for myself. Everyone was listening to the conversation earlier, so there won't be anyone trying to trick me in the future just because I'm a noble and a child."

"I don't understand. There's no guarantee that others won't do the same. If it were me, I'd break the coachman's arm as a spectacle, the rumors would spread, and the fear would keep others from messing with you."

"What a brutal way to think! I won't do such a thing, and I won't let you do it!"

"Just a suggestion..."

Felicia immediately attempted to purchase food nearby, a large meat satay. People around them couldn't stop looking at Felicia because she was wearing expensive clothes and shouldn't be walking in the middle of the city without soldiers. Moreover, Allen who was beside her didn't look like a bodyguard at all, even though he was wearing a knight's outfit.

"It costs two copper coins, lady."

"Here it is."

Just as Felicia was about to eat it, Allen grabbed her hand.

"Don't eat it yet,"

"Why?!"

"Let me eat first; there could be poison," Allen said as he ate the top part of it.

'Allen seems to care too much about me lately—not that I'm complaining, but for some reason he's become more aggressive, and his actions frequently startle me, which is so annoying...' thought Felicia.

"Why didn't you just say you want some too!"

In the end, Felicia also bought Allen one for him to eat.

Just as she walked a few steps forward, someone bumped into Felicia naturally, grabbed her pouch, and ran quickly.

"ALLEN!" shouted Felicia.

"I know..., Reig, two knives."

Allen pulled out two knives from his scarf and threw them straight at the running thief.

"Akh!"

The two knives stuck into the thief's back, and he fell down instantly. Felicia and Allen immediately approached him; Felicia took the money bag while Allen took the knives.

"Allen, don't throw your knife!"

"Why? If I chase after him, I'll have to leave you alone. How could I do that?"

'Huh? What the hell?!'

"He'll die if you do that," Felicia said irritably.

"How foolish. Let him die, he's already stolen your money."

"He doesn't deserve to die just for stealing."

"You and your crazy thought. You should really stop caring about everyone you've never even met. I don't think it'll do you any good if you keep acting like this."

Felicia picked up the knife and was about to slash the tip of her finger, but Allen immediately grabbed Felicia's hand, stopping her from activating her god's blessing.

"Why are you stopping me?!"

"Don't waste your mana like that, he's not dead, and the wound isn't that severe. I didn't throw him a knife with all my might, so the wound shouldn't be too deep."

Allen randomly took the money from the pouch Felicia was holding and threw four bronze and two silver coins to the thief.

"Take it, use it for medical treatment, and get out of here," Allen said.

The thief stood up, took the money and ran away.

"Don't act on your own like that!" yelled Felicia.

"You'll end up doing that too; I should do it directly so you don't have to use your mana for useless things."

"But-"

"It's also your fault for showing your money around. Rachel warned me about this, I didn't expect something like this to actually happen. The capital really is a dangerous place; if possible, I want you to return home."

"Alright! I was wrong! I'm not going home! Next time just use a rock to stop them, will you?!"

"Sure, I didn't think of that earlier."

"Aaargh! You really pissed me off! Let's go and shop more la-"

-PUK

Irritated, Felicia immediately turned around and walked forward without looking properly, resulting in her bumping into someone.

"Ouch!" Felicia fell to the ground.

"Oops, you're too small, I didn't see you." there was a large person there, in front of Felicia, large enough to remind her of when she first met Ottar. He was wearing a robe, and their heads were covered with a hoodie so Felicia couldn't get a clear view of the person's face. All she could see were his sharp purple eyes, looking at her like an insect that could be crushed at any time.

"Uwah, look what you did to this lady. She's a noble. If you hurt her you'll die," Besides that man, there was another man whose body was small compared to his. That man was also wearing the same robe, which also covered his face. He offered his hand to help Felicia up.

"Please forgive my friend, she's a careless person. Pfft, though he's not as careless as you who ran into someone this big," the man chuckled, clearly mocking Felicia, but Felicia couldn't respond. She somehow felt scared.

-PLACK

"Stay away!"

Allen went straight ahead, slapped the person's hand, and took out the longsword at his waist. At that moment, Allen felt something worse than scary Felicia. He could feel an intense killing aura on both of them. Although it wasn't aimed at Felicia, he couldn't ignore these two men standing in front of them.

"Hooo do you want to fight? I can fight you." The big man said as he moved his face forward. Allen unconsciously holds Felicia's body and steps backward quite far.

"Don't do that Adam! Leader has asked us to gather as soon as possible," the man beside immediately pulled the big man's body.

The little one turned to Allen and said.

"From your clothes, are you the knight? You must be so talented that a small kid like you becomes a royal knight. Once again, please forgive us, we will leave here soon."

What took Allen by surprise was that they didn't mock him for being a knight like the others did: "A kid like you become knight," or "Lady Felicia must choose him because she likes him," everyone seemed surprised about him becoming a knight,  but they didn't, which meant they could judge how strong he was just by looking. Allen knew that the two people in front of him were strong, and there was no way he could fight those two while protecting Felicia, so he immediately agreed,

"It's okay, you can go; we'll be leaving soon too," Allen said as he put Felicia down, pulled Felicia's hand, and left.

"Fufufu, did you see that kid? He looks like an other-worlder. Could he be the one Nishizaka is looking for?" asked the small man.

"No way, Nishizaka already said that the other-worlder who moved in with her is the same age as her."

"Don't you think that boy is amazing? especially those eyes. The leader's woven clothes which are supposed to make us inconspicuous are useless to that kid. Maybe he has a unique skill that can read auras?"

"There's no need to bother; a talented kid like him is what I need in the future. My instincts tell me that we will meet again. Right now he's still weak, but he will definitely become stronger in the future. I can't wait to kill him the next time we meet," he said with a big smile on his face.

"Instincts, huh? Your fighting instincts are so great that you can predict people. But he's still a kid; your instincts can't predict to that extent."

"Strong people will always be connected to each other. We will definitely meet again if he keeps living and becomes stronger."

The two men continued walking

They reached the noble district

and then entered one of the houses there.

"Leader, we've spread everything out as ordered," said the small man.

Inside the house, a white-haired man was sitting covered in blood, and in front of him was the corpse of a girl. The man held the girl's head while sewing something into her brain. He was the leader of the terrorist group Noctem Dolls, Ivaylo.

"Welcome back, Adam, Ralph. Let's wait a moment. Our other friends will be here soon."