Chapter 62: Night excursion
-Katak. Katak. Katak. Katak.
-Katak. Katak.
-Katak. Katak. Katak.
Some horse carriages bearing the insignia of Sungrade house, the sigil of a blazing salamander around a sword and a wand of magic, superpositioned on a hexagonal shield with six distinct gems, were being escorted to the Oren city by knights on horseback.
They were passing through a narrow passage within a hill area, and the caravan was sturdily.
"It’s getting foggy up ahead."
-Katak. Katak. Katak.
-Katak. Katak.
The leading knights were cautious when they saw the fog up ahead.
The mages tried to clear as much as they could with their wind magic, but that did not clear up the entire fog.
-Shaaaaaa...
The moment they entered the fog region, they found out that the road up ahead wasn’t that difficult to find, so they continued on. At the very least, they tried their best to continue one.
"Skaaaa!"
"Monsters! Prepare to engage!"
There were sounds and the mages also picked up the presence of the monsters in the surroundings.
The knights and the guards got into position, while at the same time, the carriages stopped.
-Ooooooooooooong!
Mages created protective barriers around the carriages like they had done several times throughout this journey, and just like the passengers had become used to, they heard various faint sounds coming from the outside.
At the very least, the ones who had great senses were able to hear the voices beyond the sound proofing enchantment.
-Clank! Clank! Clank!
The opponents that had appeared out of the blue were now giving a tough time to the guards, so even the guards that were guarding the carriages needed to dive into the fight.
"Ghaaaa!"
"Take the left!"
"Dodge!"
The knights called out their tamed beasts on top of using the weapon beasts in their arsenal. The mages were there so they believed they would look after the people inside the carriage.
Sadly for them, just like how they believed the mages were protecting the carriage, the mages who were engaged with different creatures believed that the knights were guarding them.
Looking closely, the different groups that were fighting different creatures were seeing different things. They were there, fighting the beasts, getting injured, but at the same time, they were maintaining the positions that they were supposed to.
-Knock. Knock.
In this spreading chaos where the knights and mages both were lost in the moment, a knock was heard on the last carriage, the one that looked no different from the rest.
-Knock.
There were a total of three knocks, and the last one was made a few seconds after the first few.
The knock was a clue, something that the person inside the carriage had been waiting for ever since she received the secret letter at the annual conference venue.
-Scrrrrk.
The door opened, and a hooded figure, covered in a thin layer of negative energy that erased his presence completely, entered the carriage.
"..."
Sitting inside the carriage was a woman wearing a lush green outfit, one that contrasted with her stark red hair in an ethereal manner.
She seemed to be older by age, but there was a strange youth to her mature beauty.
She was breathtaking, and when she looked at the hooded figure entering the carriage, her deep silver eyes shined with the light of a magic lantern.
She observed the figure for a moment: short stature, sturdy looking frame, premium looking gloves, and those glowing blue eyes beyond the hood... she knew she was being deceived by this appearance, but her instincts were the sharpest weapon in all of the empire.
"Greetings, Lady Mililian." His voice was different as well, but she had seen him ever since he was a toddler. Using these strange mystique skills would not change the way she saw him.
"I was genuinely uncertain when I received that letter." She wasn’t surprised even though an unknown person had entered her carriage.
She was also not concerned about the fight that was going outside.
If anything, she was concerned that her grandson would wake up, but his parents were there to look after him so she did not worry about them either.
On the other hand, she was curious about the one that was now sitting before her in the carriage.
"At first, I thought the contents were all made up. How can such a large scale movement happen in the country? But, after I brought the second message to the council’s core members as you wanted, I confirmed it was all true."
The way she spoke was different from how the other ladies spoke.
There was a certain authority of her own in that voice. She was like the patriarch himself, carrying countless burdens and possessing powers that one cannot fathom with their limited knowledge.
"When the battle broke down in the council, we were thankfully able to save most of the important people. Sadly, I cannot say the same for their beasts and the guards present there."
Far too many things had happened in the conference after the existence of the mutineers was uncovered.
The rebel forces had to take over the entire venue and go with a different plan in place of the one that they had been preparing for over the last few years.
And while she had sworn a sacred oath to not speak of anything that happened here to anyone that does not know about it, she was not being punished even when speaking to this person.
Meaning? He was already aware of the happenings at the conference venue.
"Seeing bloodshed isn’t anything new for us anymore, but innocent people died in that place... And I was made to lie to my own family just to stay alive."
The power that so skillfully held back was still not completely contained. The hooded figure could feel it in his heart and soul, the person before him was not someone he should anger even in the worst situations.
"They still don’t know how much of it was the truth." Despite all the bitter feelings, there was one good thing to be happy about.
Not all that she told her family while being under the Duke’s threat was a lie...