Chapter 6: Thinking
Inside the room prepared for him and under the light of thick, foul-smelling candles, Arthur sat on a hard bed made of leather and thick wool, eating his food slowly. In front of him was a table with grilled meat, some vegetables, and hard pieces of bread. The food wasn't good—despite being prepared by the best cook in the barony, it barely had any noticeable flavor due to the complete lack of spices. They also used poorly processed rock salt, which left an earthy taste. Not to mention how tough the food was—especially the bread, which was like rubber.
Despite his hunger, his mood wouldn't let him eat. After a few bites, he stopped and sighed. 'What do I do now? If most of the soldiers leave to search for the bandits, security will loosen, but that's not enough. The Baronette certainly won't allow me to leave his sight—he'll assign someone to accompany me.'
The Baronette was the lowest rank among the feudal nobility, and only a few of them existed in the entire kingdom. Most baronies were ruled by real Barons. Only the very small or insignificant baronies—like the Barony of Thornsreach—were ruled by Baronettes.
Thornsreach was the largest barony in the province, but most of its land was made up of untamed forests filled with thorny shrubs. This was because the barony was located on the outskirts of the infamous Thorned Darkwood. In fact, Arthur was lucky he had only roamed around the safe eastern outskirts and hadn't ventured too deep into the forest—there were several vile beasts there that would have killed him on sight. Given how dangerous the area was, the barony's population was extremely low. It had no valuable resources, and even its farmlands were very scarce.
"I only have a few days to come up with a solution. I must not meet the real Arvan—that bastard will rape my corpse if he finds out I've stolen his identity." His fear wasn't baseless. In the novel, Arvan had done evil things so twisted they defied logic, and was intensely hated for it.
Exhale!
"There's no solution... even if I escape now, I won't live in peace given how dangerous this world is. I need to go back home." Suddenly, he realized he had overlooked something.
"Wait a minute—if this really is the world of the novel, doesn't that mean there are mages? And Boundless? That means I can surpass the limits of humanity and increase my power. Yes—power rules in this place. I must rid myself of this weakness."
In this world, humans could follow one of three specific paths to gain superhuman abilities that went beyond ordinary men.