After mulling over the talk they had earlier, Noel finally got his back to his feet. As much as he wanted to continue thinking about this matter, he realized that no answer would come before he began his investigation.
Whether it was his family, the Marquis Stargaze Family, and the royal family, he would know the truth as long as he investigated them. For the time being, he should focus on getting stronger first.
The trip took around two more days before Noel reached the fort. Instead of going to the training ground, he went to his room first to avoid any suspicion, especially with Anna returning not far from him.
He also made sure that he hid the masquerade as well as his equipment so that Anna wouldn't find any of these to figure out his identity.
Noel wrote a letter and retired for the night since he thought Anna would immediately report what she found during the mission.
However, it seemed he had predicted wrongly again. To his surprise, when he was about to report to Shale before their morning routine started, Anna was also there, waiting for him.
"Oh?! We met again, Noel." Anna smirked, teasing him.
"Yes, it's been weeks." Noel nodded calmly.
"…" Anna rolled her eyes as if she knew that Noel was the one with the masquerade. In her past life, Noel had been bothering her with both identities, so she knew it was Noel. "Whatever. It seems that you have finished your mission."
"Yes, you too." Noel nodded in agreement, not replying to her words that much.
Eventually, Shale arrived in front of them and asked, "So, you two have returned and it seems that you returned at the same time… Is this fate or something?"
"That's certainly not. Well, whatever… I just want to hand in the proof of completions." Noel handed the proof of completions for both individual mission and group mission.
Anna also gave the proof of completion but only the individual mission.
"Alright. I have received them." Shale took a peek at the letter first, confirming the proof. But before he said anything, Shale walked away. "Wait a minute here. I have something to show you."
Shale went inside for a few minutes before coming back with a few letters directed to them.
"It seems that you two are loved."
"Hmm?" Noel tilted his head in confusion and opened the letter.
"Thank you very much, Sir Noble. If not for your encouragement, I won't live to this day. The work is hard for a simple woman like me, but I'll continue working hard. I hope that I can repay your kindness in the future." - Xena.
"The girls have been working so hard. It's true that our bodies hurt so much, but we seem to have found the meaning to our lives. From now on, we will make a group that can do everything and become the best group that consists of only women. We will learn everything here, so that we can work in Sir Noble's territory in the future." - Melinda.
"The villagers have been working hard and would like to say thank you for your help. You are truly the best knight we could ever get, Sir Knight."
"I hope that I can send some vegetables for you in the future, Sir Knight. Not that I can farm anymore though, but if in the future, there's an excess harvest, I'll do my best to send the best crops to you, Sir Knight."
Noel couldn't help but smile when he read all these messages. The first two letters were from the women he encouraged. It was good to know that they were living a good life this time and Noel hoped that they could continue to be that bright for the rest of their lives.
The last two letters came from the village chief and the farmer he met in the individual missions.
The message was simple, but it gave a lot of emotion. Noel had decided that he would treasure these letters.
Meanwhile, Anna had been glancing back and forth between her letter and Noel. She realized that she only had one letter, thanking her for the money. But she didn't receive any letters from anyone else.
She had done her best in the individual mission, but it seemed she was still nowhere near Noel. She felt a bit envious to see those four letters.
"It seems that you have done a splendid job this time." Shale even praised Noel while nodding as if he approved of Noel's conduct.
"Thank you." Noel smiled and took out his own letter. "By the way, can you give this to the commander?"
"Hmm?" Shale hesitated for a moment since the commander wasn't someone they could see easily. But Noel's relationship with the commander was good since the latter asked him to look after Noel personally. Hence, he received the letter. "Alright. I have no promise, but I'll certainly give this letter to him."
"Thanks." Noel then raised his finger. "That's right. We encountered a bandit group that utilized demons when they attacked."
"Huh? Bandits using demons? Do you know what you're talking about? You need a good soldier to be able to handle a demon and you're saying that the bandits…" Shale's expression darkened, not believing what Noel said.
But Noel added, "I witnessed everything. And if you go to the village in our group mission and visit the women there. They will tell you the same thing."
Listening to this statement, Shale hesitated, thinking what Noel said might be true.
"I can testify it as well. I mean, the mission description alone is already telling you the same thing, but is it that hard to believe such a case?" Anna supported Noel's report.
"Yeah. The mission description is basically the people's perception and we don't know whether it's true or not. But if you have seen it with your eyes, I have no choice but to believe it." Shale scratched the back of his head. He also arrived at the same conclusion as Noel.
"If the bandits could use the demons, they could make the villages look like they were under the demons' attack, not them before stealing everything after that. No one will know about it."