Towards the front (9)

"okay next person"

Mars steeped forwards in the queue, it was finally his turn to get cheeked

"do you have any id?"

"yeah... will this do?"

Mars pulled up his steel mercenary tag and showed it to the guard

"yeah that's fine, what about the children, do they have id?"

"no"

"....then its a fee of 50 cell per head"

Mars reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver coin and handed it to the guard

"here"

"okay... next!"

Mars walked through the gates while holding the hands of Lee and Lily, they were the last of the group to pass through the gates of Mirefield

"sorry for the delay... where did Karen go?"

"she went to find a inn with a shower"

"...I see, did she say were to meet up again?"

"she said she would be at the central square in a hour"

"okay... then I guess we storm the castle after that"

"Mars, Mars"

Mars felt a tug in his left hand and looked down

"what is it Lee?"

"I'm hungry"

"okay then let's go find some food, you want to come with Chloe?"

"nah I'm good"

"okay then see you at the central square in a hour"

"see you Mars"

Mars walked off into the crowd with Lee and Lily by his side their fox like ears twitched as they looked with wide eyes at the crowd around them

"Mars, Mars"

this time he felt a tug in his right arm and looked down at Lily that was looking at his with sparkling eyes

"what is it Lily?"

"I smell something good over there!"

"then let's go over and have a look"

mars followed the direction pointed out by Lily and after walking for a bit they arrived at a small market were Mars also began to smell the sent Lily was following and looked over, there was a small stall with a middle aged man cooking skewers with some kind of tasty looking meat, Mars walked up to the stand and brought some meat skewers for them to eat...

"what about the slaves?"

"all hidden away in the warehouse district like you ordered my lord"

"...and the new shipment of magic boosters?"

"they have been stored underground like you instructed"

"good... damn dose dark knights, why are they sending the kingdoms hounds after me anyway?"

"...we are still looking into that, but so far it looks like the order came from the prime minister"

"...shit"

Gas hit the table he was sitting behind with his fist, he had received word form the 8 heads that the dark knights were heading to his territory for a surprise inspection

"what are you standing around for!? go cheek everything again!"

"y-yes my lord"

sending the servant away Gas leaned back in his chair and wiped the sweat off his forehead

"...damn, those bastards"

just as Gas was cursing again someone knocked on the door

"what is it this time!?"

a servant hurriedly opened the door

"th-the dark knights have arrived"

"piece of trash, why didn't you tell me earlier!"

Gas got up from his chair and walked toward the door where the servant stood

"they have only just arrived my lord"

"as if I care about that!"

Gas shoved the servant to the side and walked out of his office

'shit.... shit... SHIT! those damn dark knights!'

the reason Gas was so angry was that the dark knights were a nightmare for any noble, let alone a corrupt one like himself because of one simple royal decree: a dark knight were free to execute anyone breaking the laws of the kingdom, even if the person breaking the laws was the crown prince the result would be the same: death

'calm down... I have hidden all the evidence away... I will be fine...'

Gas walked out of the mansion and into the courtyard were a sleek black magic carriage was parked, unlike the boxy sky carriage Mars's group had traveled in this sky carriage looked like quiet modded with its sleek streamlined form, if Mars saw it he would probably compare it to a old stealth fighter jet, Gas stopped walking a few meters away from the black sky carriage and put on his best smile while he tired to calm his racing heart

'calm down.... calm, shit did I remember to have the sex slaves corpses moved?'

just as Gas was thinking about that did the door of the sky carriage open and a person clad in a dark full plate armor step out, the armor looked like it was made form a piece of the night sky and had a overall sleek and streamlined form like the sky carriage, the only weird thing were that there was no sword belt on the armor instead long sharp black claws where fixed onto the gauntlets

"welcome lord dark knight"

Gas gave a bow but the dark knight remained silent as 2 more dark knights stepped out of the sky carriage, one of them had a long 2 handed war hammer on their back while the other carried a long slender sword

"hey is this the right place?"

one of the dark knights spoke to one of the others

"it should be, unless our navigator got the wrong place again"

"...let's cheek, oi you there is this the town Mirefeild?"

"y-yes lord dark knight"

"hmm... okay, looks like we got the right place this time... are you the lord of this town?"

"yes lord dark knight, my name is Gas Fed---"

"stop talking we don't care about your name and or sob story, we ask a question and you answer it simple as that got it?"

Gas gritted his teeth in rage

"oi you deaf?"

"n-no I understand"

"good, now then..."

the dark knight with the war hammer removed his helmet revealing the face of a man in his early 20's with short brown hair and brown eyes

"Kim, Tony let's get this over with"

""yes captain""

the other 2 also removed their helmets and showed their faces, the one with claws for hands was revealed to be a girl in her teens with green shoulder length hair and green eyes, the one with the slender sword also took of his helmet and revealed the face of a man in his early 50's with graying hair and battle scars visible on his face he was clearly a veteran, the captain turned to Gas and spoke in a commanding tone

"now let's start our inspection first---"

*BANG!!!*

a loud roar of a explosion interrupted the captain, followed by what looked like the warped front gate of the mansion flying cleanly over the roof of the mansion before cashing down in the courtyard, before anyone had a change to react a yell was heard

"GAS I'M BACK FOR YOUR HEAD!!!"

the dark knights turned to the lord and the girl with the claws that was named Kim asked

"your name is Gas right?"

"y-yes"

"then do you know anyone pissed off enough to do that?"

the girl pointed at the warped front gate that now lay in the courtyard

"no I don't, it's probably rebels... let my knight deal with them"

"if you say so, now then let's start our inspection"

turning time back a bit Mars was walking towards the mansion along with Chloe and Adam, Karen was looking after the twins as they would only get in the way in the upcoming battle against Gas and his guards

"there it is, what's the plan Mars?"

"....kick down the front door and go wild?"

Adam gave a sigh while Chloe smiled

"I do like how simple you are sometimes, but is that really the plan?"

Mars remained silent for a moment before he spoke again

"find Gas quickly and end this, after that we leave the town quickly before they lock down the town and head for the empire"

"that sounds a little better..."

"well then let's kick down that door..."

"wait you weren't kidding?"

"I am always serious... well most of the time"

Mars started loading his right arm with 50 units of energy while he walked up to the front gate of the mansion

"hey you, stop!"

the guards tired to stop Mars but he effortlessly sidestepped their attempts at grabbing him and arrived in front of the gate and put his right hand on it

*BANG!!!*

the gate was blown clean off the hinges and flew over the mansion, Mars gave a smile and took a deep breath

"GAS I'M BACK FOR YOUR HEAD!!!"

"rebels! kill them!"

the nearby guards snapped out of their daze and charged at the group of 'rebels'

"I'll go find Gas, I leave theses clowns to you guys"

"sure we got this Mars go!"

"I'll be right back"

Mars activated his [Instant movement] skill and disappeared form the guards encirclement

"where did he go!?"

"never mind that take down the elvers first!"

"...do you think our lord will let us play with them?"

"I call dips on the female!"

"focus boys, we can play with them after we're done!"

"""OHHH"""

Adam's smile widened and so did Chloe's

"dad I think they are looking down on us"

"I think so too, let's show them!"

meanwhile Mars appeared in Gas's office

"empty?"

Mars closed his eyes for a moment and when he didn't hear anything he gave a sigh

"no secret rooms... where did he go?"