22 The Plan and Betrayal

The fours stars were shining as Brightly as every Brightest Star festival. The festival is celebrated once a year when all the four stars which should be far apart in Night sky comes together shining Brighter than ever, they come near forming a square and combining that Brightness they give they make a fifth star in middle which is brightest of all.

The brightest star in the night sky that shines so bright in blue light it seems like it will cover everything in light creating a blue streak of light in the night sky as if painting it that is why it is called The Brightest Star festival. The star is seen as a representation of The Light Goddess.

Every year before this the sight of four stars coming together had been a sight to look forward to for the people living in The Mansion but this time, they are wishing it be slower

"Lady Viscountess, I have packed everything," said Hina as she come in the hall with three filled suitcases

"Thanks, Hina, is Aiena fine??" Lina asked her while thanking her with a worried look in her eyes

"Yes, Lady Viscount but she fell asleep as soon as we reach our room. All that happened must've made her exhausted"

"I worry for her; I hope her trauma didn't get worst due to this incident"

"Do not worry much, Lady Viscount even though Aiena cries a lot she is really strong!!"

"You are right Hina, I was shocked how fast she recovered and how she still holds hope. She is really strong"

Hearing them talk like that Ryu who was in Aiena's arm was hoping he could speak because he wanted to say this

'Yes, she is really brave to speak up to Kyle for me even when he shows clear displeasure to her since arriving, dude, she is the toughest 10 y/o I saw even counting last life'

She and Hina kept talking maybe it is to divert their heart from all those worries that are going inside their heads. Ralph was in his office he left earlier saying he have a few important things he need to take care of before leaving. Lana was in the kitchen cooking to divert her mind and so they would have something to eat in a long way.

The route they chose to escape the town goes through the Ethel Forest even though the number of monsters is low but it is not zero and there is no place to stop for 4 days once inside the vast forest. It is a challenging route no other would think of taking but at the same time hardest to search in too so they chose it.

After an hour everyone was in the main hall waiting for the return of Cable who will be pulling the carriage acting as coachman. Aiena who had just woke up was thinking

'I will not cry; I need to be brave so Lord Viscount would not be troubled'

While she was thinking this Cable finally come back with a little bag in his hand. The stars will just take an hour to get in the perfect square now seeing this Ralph started speaking in a loud voice so everyone in the hall can hear it

"Everyone, do you all remember your parts in the plan. And again if someone wants to back off now is the time, I would not hold any contempt or bad feelings because of it"

At this everyone replied at the same time

"""Lord Viscount, we are with you""" and then one by one they start to recite their part in the plan

"I with Helena will use Lord's carriage will go towards the south exit of the town," Butler said

"I will be pulling the carriage while silencing Bulls steps by the use of silence chant the book, I bring have the chant, it is too hard to properly perform without it," Cable said in a hurry while over-explaining an answer to question no one asked

"I will cast Illusion by glyph I learned in the circle, sitting in the carriage," Snow said with the same look as ever

"I will take care of Ryu and Aiena," Lina said while patting Aiena

The plan was ready now they were going to execute it. At the main gate while seeing Butler and Helena off they were going to cause disturbance and act as if they are escaping the Viscount family Ralph asked with a calm expression

"You don't need to do that; with mages, we might not even need a disturbance"

"No lord let me do it, this might be the only chance I will get to repay you," Butler said while looking towards Helena who nodded to him with a strange sense of understanding and she spoke

"May the luck be with the lord, Aiena be a good girl as I taught you okay" and Aiena hugged her before letting her go and Helena patted Ryu too and said "be well Young Master wish I get a chance to serve you in the future"

After this they leave in the Rivera's carriage which was being pulled by horses and then without wasting a single second everyone rushed towards Vanir's carriage time was one thing, they lacked it would hardly be half an hour before Brightest Star appear now.

Everyone settled down inside the carriage and using a little chalk Snow draw glyphs on the top of the carriage and also on the walls and start challenging her mana inside them and fall in total concentration she could not even move a finger because these invisibility glyphs only work with constant mana input from caster's own body. And then Ralph who had Ryu in her arms spoke

"[Voice cancellation barrier} now we can talk inside the carriage at least, I can not use this skill on Bulls because this skill takes an unmoving base to caste you are a Lifesaver Cable"

At this Cable flinched before speaking

"No worries, Lord, this is all for Young master because of him….I will cast the spell on both of bull's feet now"

With this they began their escape there was a bit of problem because sometimes Light orbs near carriage get more intense in brightness but fortunately, no one noticed it and people were not even able to see the carriage but Snow was putting her all to keep it invisible glyphs were shining due to her mana.

Concerned due to seeing Snow sweating so much and breathing so heavily Lina asked

"Snow it will take at least half an hour more before we reach the edge of the forest, you can rest now I will supply the mana instead"

"No these glyphs only work when someone knows them perfectly, must direct mana in a complex manner"

As Snow said this Lina could not say anything anymore because even after being called Lina of Crimson flames by people, she was bad at fine mana challenging and almost anything related to complicated magic.

'Am only good with flames, sad I could not help her' Lina thought they could talk inside carriage due to [Voice cancellation barrier] but no one speak anything only Hina was humming in low voice. Lana thought

'Hina is holding to her best' Lana knew that humming is the method Hina uses to hide her tension or divert her impulses half an hour passes no one spoke anything. Seeing out of the window Ralph feel relaxed and spoke to everyone

"Edge of the forest is in sight, only 10 more minutes we will be out" Snow hearing this she drinks one more mana potion and concentrates harder on glyph while thinking

'Few, more minutes for baby'

The forest was just a few steps away now almost like 5 more minutes everyone was about to take a sigh of relief but just when they were near the forest Cable started reading from the book, he brought earlier Snow who was challenging mana with concentration heard it and impulsively shouted

"STOP!!!" the Glyph magic wore off due to broken concentration everyone was confused and the Carriage take a U-turn.

In confusion, Ralph shouted

"What are you doing!!?? Cable??" but Cable did not answer and kept chanting

"…..beastly Haste" Cable completed the chant and the Bulls began to run faster they were going back to town at a speed they could not process what is happening, Cable spoke while looking towards Ralph

"He is a Demon Apostle!!! You, I, we all are charmed by hidden skill.....I will save us. I will take him us back to Church. High Priest told me he will not give you or Viscountess or anyone of us any punishment because we are charmed by his skill.....I….could….fight….cause….I…am…strong; Priest said, I need to save us all from Demon"

To be continued ~