Ashton knew how dangerous it was; he had heard about it multiple times, but it still didn’t change the fact that at this point becoming a lord wasn’t a desire; it was a necessity.
With all the events of the last day, it was just too unsafe for him to not be one; everyone seemed to want to attack her.
Right now, Ashton wasn’t contemplating or even trying to decide; he had already decided the moment he said those words, he only had two problems now, and that was his relatively low willforce by the standard of a Lord, and secondly, he didn’t even know how to become a Lord.
During the last two days, he had gotten a really massive increase in Willforce; the increase was large enough for him not to be considered equal to an average human, but it still didn’t cut it to be a Lord yet.
At least not a lord over something particularly powerful or rare. But Ashton wasn’t really worried; he wasn’t planning on becoming the strongest lord there was, all he wanted to do was have the capability to protect his wife.
The second problem was the actual problem for Ashton because Lords are elusive and mostly grandiose for ordinary people, especially in the outskirts of the kingdom he was currently staying in, so finding a solution wasn’t really in grasp for now.
"What do I do?" he muttered.
Ashton was just about to dive into his mind when he suddenly perceived the smell of the boiling potatoes; they were ready.
He struggled to get up with his injury-riddled body and rushed into the kitchen; he served the food, mashed Selene’s portion and returned to feed her.
This time he didn’t forget to give her water.
[Willforce +1]
He was done with all activities that involved Selene, so he tucked her in and went to bring his food over; tonight he would be sleeping on the ground directly beside her.
He sat there quietly, thinking about the next steps while eating when he suddenly remembered something.
"That book,"
There was a time about a year ago when some men came into their small town to share a basic guide about Lords. If he could remember correctly, they said there were Royal Family consults.
Obviously he hadn’t actually collected a copy himself since he didn’t care about Lords at all, but every other person did, and most people even treated it like treasures.
"Mr. Franklin must have a copy," he muttered while standing up; he was heading directly over to Mr. Franklin’s place.
When he arrived at the door to the room, he took another look backwards and did a final scan of the room before actually leaving.
He got outside his house and headed in a direction he had almost never gone.
Mr. Franklin’s house was directly behind his, the man used to be extremely nice, even going out of his way to come over and greet Ashton every once in a while, but ever since his wife had left him, he was a new man.
He was now almost always cranky, a shut-in that people were just barely short of lumping him in the same category as Ashton.
Since their houses were so close and Ashton was intentionally moving at a brisk pace, he was soon standing directly in front of the man’s door.
Knock! Knock!
"Whoever is standing there should get the hell out; I am not attending any neighborhood meetings."
"Mr. Franklin, it’s me, Ashton. I would like to borrow something," Aston added.
For a short while, there was no response, only silence until that silence was broken by the sound of multiple locks being opened.
"What?" a rough-looking bearded man said with only his head peeking.
"Before you ask, I don’t have protection; I stopped using that a long time ago."
Ashton: "..."
Seeing the expression on Ashton’s face, the man looked at him with an even stranger expression.
"Isn’t that what you are here for? Don’t tell me you want me to teach you some techniques, if that’s what you came for then—"
"No no, I came to borrow a book, that one that was shared by those men," Ashton finally said, cutting the man off.
"Ohhhhh? Well, you can’t blame me for assuming. I can hear everything that goes on in your place."
"It is obvious there is a woman there; only women can change a Man’s life so drastically," his voice was slowly going lower towards the end.
Immediately after, he seemed to have spaced out for a bit before suddenly snapping back awake.
"Ohh, that’s right, that damn book," he said with a face of disgust.
He then turned around and closed the door; a few minutes later, he was back with a book in his hands.
"Here you go, and please don’t even think of returning it; I am looking for a way to get rid of it," he said while handing the book over.
The next moment, he immediately closed his door, followed by multiple locks slamming shut behind him.
Having gotten what he left his house for, Ashton turned around and headed back home as fast as he could.
The first thing he did after getting back home was check up on Selene again. After confirming that she was okay, he picked up the lantern that had alerted him not too long ago and dusted it.
He found a comfortable position beside Selene, lit the lantern, and started with scanning the book.
The book had a green hardcover despite not being that big. It actually had a really exquisite design that attested to the fact that it was made by the Royal family.
He studied the outside for a bit more before finally proceeding to open the first Page where a large text block was waiting for him.
"Guide for Lords and Aspiring Lords"