Defiance

Koelhar grinned as he watched the troops of Dwenson Stronghold mobilize around the backstreets of the residential areas.

He cherished the thought of being ahead of his enemy since they managed to get critical information from Rowan.

Koelhar practically knew what the rebels were planning and was confident in his victory.

If only he could shake the eerie feeling of doubt that is.

Koelhar did not doubt the plan he made was the best response to the information they received from Rowan.

However, the authenticity of the information was a bit concerning.

'If their plan was escape then that is suspicious in itself.' Koelhar thought.

'Leonin of Redwyn is a reasonable Knight, only second to me. He knows that they have nowhere to return to even if they escape.' Koelhar sighed. 'Escape should have been the last thing on his mind.'

The source of Koelhar's doubt was not only rooted to the plan and Leonin of Redwyn itself. There was also another concerning detail in the scenario that Koelhar thought was too late.

When they captured the two lads from the border, they had stripped them off everything but their clothes.

Koelhar even personally made sure that the dark haired lad, Rowan, had been stripped clean in case he might pull out a number more hidden knives in some god knows wherever on his body he might be hiding them.

However, there the lad was in the interrogation with a necklace.

Koelhar only realized it a few minutes after he complimented Rowan's accessory.

When Koelhar asked about it to the Archbishop, the Priest simply said:

"Do you believe that such a mere stone is able to allow a filthy demonic child resist the judgement of the Great Sun God?"

Archbishop Weissner hissed.

"Watch us reform him completely even with the filthy stone on his neck so you may see the full extent of the power of the Sun God."

Koelhar could only sigh at the situation.

Even though he had learned to trust his gut feeling from his previous experience in the jailbreak situation. Now that he saw another chance, he was simply given a cold shoulder in this situation.

'No matter.' Sir Koelhar thought. 'I should focus on the situation at hand first.'

"Sir Koelhar." Sir Roganoff saluted behind him. "The preparations to storm the Gate Control Tower have been completed."

Koelhar smiled. He would not let go of the opportunity to repay the favor and take back the city in one fell swoop.

"What are you waiting for then?" Koelhar told Sir Roganoff.

"Storm it already before we all suffocate to death."

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"Why did you…" Sir Ulfman was at a loss for words as he sat at the counter in the local pub.

Leonin gave them a few cups of cheap ale to drink as he sat in front of them, completely unarmed.

"Are you really surprised?" Leonin chuckled. "You know I swore an oath to the people, not to the Church."

"I know but…" Rodwell took a sip of the ale and decided it wasn't poisonous. "You should know Sir Koelhar is taking the initiative to do it so we don't have to stain our hands…"

"Yeah, I know." Leonin sighed. "But it's a different story if he does it in front of me."

"It's a pretty low number of deaths compared to other territories." Ulfman downed his mug of ale. "It's not that bad…"

"Ulfman." Leonin said with a serious tone. "Did the reports say that only the people who resisted were killed?"

"Yeah." Ulfman then realized. "Wait. You don't mean…"

"He killed women and children alike and those that surrendered were knocked out and abducted." Leonin downed his mug. "That's worse than what happened in other territories."

"Dear god…" Sir Rodwell could only imagine what kind of brutal scene it was to murder children. "That's way too cruel!"

"But he did it anyway." Leonin refilled their cups. "In every single village."

"He's playing right into the Church's plans." Ulfman shook his head in dismay.

"Now the people are more willing to obey the Church rather than the Duke…" Rodwell said and drank his mug. "It's too late. The Church will soon take over and we will have no power over the people."

"Saying that, maybe we should start finding other jobs to support our small families." Ulfman sighed as he waved his empty mug.

"Wait." Rodwell furrowed his brows. "Leonin, how did you get this place for our meeting?"

Leonin shrugged.

"I was only told to have a talk with you in this pub." Leonin shrugged. "I never expected that we'd have the entire pub to ourselves."

"Wait, weren't you the leader who made the plan?" Rodwell spoke, clearly confused.

"Who in the world told you I made this plan?" Leonin raised his brows in similar confusion. "I don't even know what the entire plan is."

Ulfman and Rodwell shared a look of absolute confusion.

"Just who planned this that you are complying very obediently?" Ulfman asked.

"Dunno, the lad just said 'My name is none of your concern.' and sent me off." Leonin shrugged. "In fact I did nothing else but try to find an opportunity to talk with you."

"Then who the hell let the other prisoners free?!" Rodwell asked in surprise.

"I don't know." Leonin was surprised himself. "Honestly I'm just as surprised as you are."

"What is your role in all this anyway?" Ulfman was clutching his temples.

"I was told to talk to you about some things." Leonin rubbed his head.

"And what would that be?" Rodwell was still too surprised at how things really were in reality when Leonin dropped a bomb on them.

"I was told to offer you a part in helping his Lordship in dealing with the Church."

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Rodric of Redwyn was a loyal assistant to Leonin of Redwyn for a very long time.

Only today he doubted his master's decision for following the plan made by some 16 year old child.

Rodric shook his head as he chiseled away the resonance stones and put them in his pocket.

According to the lad, these stones should fetch a hefty price in the suburbs.

'At least I can fetch a hefty sum for these stones.' Rodric thought to himself.

"Rodric! The Knights are here!" One of the ex-prisoners spoke.

"Damn." Rodric broke in cold sweat.

He was not afraid of the Knights coming to kill them and take back the Gate Control Tower.

He was more afraid that their exact time of arrival was predicted in the plan.

"What kind of devil dwells in that child…" Rodric mumbled before speaking. "Everyone go to your positions!"

All the people under him moved accordingly to their prepared positions and the captive staff of the tower were set free, allowing them to run away from the tower.

The knights charged the front gate of the tower with a siege machine, which was assembled in front of the gates.

Rodric and the people with him were not stupid.

They knew they had to stop the assembly of the machine and so they did not delay in dropping the burning oil on top of the crowd below them.

The oil dropped from the tower and was about to boil the knights alive when it suddenly parted to the side and harmlessly poured at the sides of the formation of soldiers below.

"Barrier mages!" Someone called out from the battlements.

Rodric shifted his eyes to the far back where he could make out the profile of seven hooded figures behind a steel wall of armored knights with huge shields.

"Damn." Rodric cursed.

There were only a very limited number of mages in Dwenson. To send seven of them meant that they were pretty serious in taking them down.

[Hold them off for an hour.]

That was his only order.

"And here I was thinking I was going to have an easy job…" Rodric sighed.

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Duke Rimmenwolfe walked around the Keep without anyone in his company.

He opened the expensive double doors to his study and took a piece of paper from Sir Koelhar's report.

"It seems that Sir Gunther has besieged the tower huh…" The Duke sighed.

"The Church will use this to further their propaganda again, with us raising our swords against civilians and all, I'm bound to be a villain in the people's eyes..."

Duke Rimmenwolfe sighed yet again.

"If I could only cooperate with the other nobility…" Duke Rimmenwolfe put the paper down. "I could have restricted the church a bit…"

"But alas, the Church has restricted your communications with the other lords." A man said as he emerged from the shadows.

Duke Rimmenwolfe didn't sense any hostility from the man and simply asked.

"What do you want from me?"

The man smiled and laughed at him. His dark eyes gleaming in the candle light.

"Defiance of the Church, my Lord."