15 Split Up

Morning...

"Almost fully healed.", Allen looked at his blackeye on the mirror at the end of the corridor. Aside from his blackeye, he also got a small wound on the face from the battle last night

He felt so refreshed finishing his rest after the devil in his consciousness tried to take over his body.

Additionally, he was also currently wearing clothes provided by Lord Levine for their temporary stay in the castle.

"Hey Allen.", Drake called out from the other end of the corridor where the stairs leading to the ground was.

"What is it?", Allen asked.

"What reward did you get?", Drake asked as he approached the other kid.

"Mr. Levine helped me increase the energy of the body that I could store.", Allen truthfully said.

"Oh? You really needed that.", Drake made a nod. "Well, see you later, I'm going to play with this Speed Amulet!"

In a flash, Drake almost became a blur and he was already at the ground floor.

"What a great gift.", the corners of the kid's mouth curled up. Then he recalled about the woman that saved him earlier.

"I think I should at least thank the lady.", Allen wore back his eyepatch and left the castle.

***

Inside the castle walls...

The sun has already rose up on the horizon, lighting up the battlefield.

The remaining guards were cleaning up the battlefield, the corpses of their fellow men were brought towards a certain spot to isolate them and prevent different kinds of sickness from starting to spread. Meanwhile, the corpses of the assassins were being piled up and burned outside the walls.

Allen asked the guards on the way on where to find that woman who saved him. The guards answered that she's in the training grounds; in addition, he also found out that the name of the lady was Melissa.

***

-clang- -clang- -clang-

As soon as Allen entered the vicinity of the training grounds, he heard the clangs of weapons hitting each other.

The training ground, was just in fact an open area surrounded by wooden fences.

When Allen finally reached the said location, he observed that there were other guards watching the fight; luckily for him, as the night attack has just occurred, the whole place was on full alert and there weren't many watching.

There, he spotted three guards lying on the ground while Melissa stepping on one of them.

"I think I probably overdid it.", Melissa looked worried and helped the three guards to stand up on their feet.

"I guess in one versus three, the captain still easily wins.", one of the beaten guards laughed, followed by the two others and the guards watching the fight.

Melissa smiled at the scene, then her eyes landed on Allen.

"You.", Melissa called out to Allen.

"Erm..."

"Yes, you! Aren't you one of the kids who helped us in the battle?", Melissa asked.

"Yes...", Allen answered.

Melissa approached Allen while she tussled her hair to remove sweat.

Allen's hands slightly twitched at the sight and muttered, "How beautiful."

The guards around him heard what he said and couldn't help but think, 'This kid has a different kind of taste!'

"Oh, why thank you.", Melissa slightly blushed, seemingly flattered.

'What?!' All of the guards became stunned, they couldn't even make that beautiful captain of theirs to blush even for once!

'I want to become a kid again!', most of them thought.

However, due to their duties they didn't stay any longer and all of them left the area, leaving the two behind.

"So, why are you here?", Melissa asked.

"Erm... I'm here to say.... thank you, for saving me.", Allen said.

"Well then, you're welcome.", Melissa replied.

Allen recalled something and asked, "How did you know that an assassin was about to attack you from behind?"

"You saw that? It's because I used the energy of the body to detect the surroundings.", Melissa said.

After a pause, she continued, "Do you want to learn how to do that? You're obviously not an ordinary assassin, could you use the energy of the body?"

Allen's eyes shone, the technique could be helpful during where you can't see anything or to prevent getting sneaked attack by somebody else.

"Yes, I want to! I already know how to control the energy of the body!", Allen immediately answered.

"Well then... listen closely..."

...

It was already afternoon when Allen left the training grounds.

His body felt tired after using up all the energy he had to learn Melissa's skill. He only got to do it once because the skill consumed a lot of energy of the body! The skill was only available for five seconds and it was canceled due to the few amount of the said energy, though he felt the energy that the detection skill used overtime wasn't as much as the Erchian Dagger.

Allen decided to relax for the rest of the day so that he could slowly replenish his energy.

When he entered the castle, he saw Kate reading the encylopedia she got from last night. Allen approached her and checked on what she was reading.

Kate noticed Allen was approaching him and she took this chance to call out, "Hey, I need your help."

"Erm...", Allen sped up his pace and stopped beside Kate.

"What's cardinal direction?", Kate pointed to the said words on the book.

"They're north, east, south, and west.", Allen answered.

"Uhh... how many centimeters are there in a meter?"

"One hundred centimeters."

"There are more figures here, can you tell me their conversation rate into meters?", Kate pointed to other words.

"Do you have a pencil and a paper?", Allen asked.

"Yeah, here.", Kate took out a small piece of paper and a pencil.

Allen then wrote the conversation rate of the other numerical figures on the paper.

"There.", Allen gave back the paper and the pencil to Kate.

"Oh, thanks!", Kate said.

"You're welcome.", Allen rubbed his uninjured eye and exhaustedly walked back to his room and slept.

***

Several hours later...

Night...

The trio including Mr. Sanchez and Lord Levine were in the main hall.

"You're really going to leave so soon?", Lord Levine asked.

"Yes, it is much better that we enter the city under the cover of night.", Mr. Sanchez said.

"Alright then, looks like I can't make you stay. Have a safe trip!", Lord Levine smiled.

"Thank you for everything, old friend.", Mr. Sanchez attempted to hug the feudal lord.

"Alright.", Lord Levine accepted the friendly hug.

After which, he whispered, "And be alert, I have a feeling that there are eyes looking at our location."

They stopped hugging, and Mr. Sanchez gave a solemn and understanding look.

***

Almost an hour later inside an underground tunnel...

"Why are we here again?", Drake asked.

"Didn't you ask the same question earlier?" Kate said.

"I'm just making sure, alright!" Drake snorted.

"It's because there are ambushers waiting for us outside.", Mr. Sanchez, who was holding the torch, said. "Plus, this tunnel leads straight inside the Riverboard City."

"Why don't we fight them? It's not like we can't handle them.", Kate said.

"The ambushers came from the Riverboard City, they don't know our real strength and we'll alert the big fish inside the city if we fight them head on with our full strength.", Mr. Sanchez said.

"So, after we arrived in the city we will immediately go and catch that big fish?", Allen asked. If this was a few days ago, he wouldn't join in the conversation, now, he felt some sort of belonging in the team.

"Yes.", Mr. Sanchez nodded.

"Then won't they thought of a possibility that we'll arrive by an underground tunnel?", Drake asked.

"No, because they are obviously underestimating us.", Mr. Sanchez said.

...

Several minutes later, they arrived at the end of the tunnel where there was a ladder.

Mr. Sanchez took out a map of the Riverboard City from his sleeves and spread it on the floor.

"There are three locations where their leader could be hiding. The first one is at an inn at the city square. The second is at a tavern near the city guards' barracks. The third is at the hotel near the port.", Mr. Sanchez said.

"I'll take the first one.", Drake said.

"The second's mind.", Kate said.

"I guess I'll check the third location.", Allen shrugged as the third option was left to him.

"Here are short-distance communication amulets.", Mr. Sanchez gave the said equipment to the trio, and kept one for himself.

"This is the target. He's the leader of a new criminal organization in the city.", Mr. Sanchez presented a sketch to the three. "If you find him, don't engage him whether he's sleeping or not. You must report it first, alright?"

The three nodded.

"Alright, get on to it."

***

Inside an alley, the ground opened up as the trio climbed out of the tunnel. When the three of them all exited, they immediaty closed up the hole.

"Good luck.", Allen quietly said.

"Same to you too.", Drake said.

"Don't snatch all the credits.", Kate quietly laughed.

After which, the three separated and went to the locations that they were going to check.