26 Surrounded

Leon was feeling uncomfortable. After all, he said he would accept anyone that desired knowledge, but now he realized that this promise he made was really hard to keep. He had to focus on the incoming wave of monsters, after that he could slowly take his time to train everyone according to what they wanted to learn. He was willing to share all the things he knew, but he was not going to just give and not receive. He needed people to be loyal to Kyus and to him. People that cared about the city and its people as much as they cared for their own lives.

He was sitting in his room, fixing the plan of studies he made earlier. He was adding and substracting things constantly. Some people didn't even know how to write and read. He also had to teach them that, so reports and letters could become more effective. The way Kyus city Iolten's family delivered messages was a bit tricky. Those that could read, like the big families always sent written letters with a seal. The seal from each family was different, and inside the same family the size of it was either bigger or smaller depending the authority the person that sent the message had. The smaller it was, the more authority that person had. So as long as someone had a way to measure the seal printed in the letter, one could tell how much power that letter had. But when it came to commoners, as they couldn't really write or read. The Iolten family gave voice messages. The person that wanted to send a letter had to tell the messenger the content of what this person wanted to say, and the messenger would repeat the same thing to the recipient. The flaw with this system was obvious. The message could be changed at will, but the Iolten family was really proud on this job they had taken and swore to both, the sending and receiving party an oath in which they will faithfully accomplish their duties.

Leon didn't think they would change the contents of anything, but there was always something rotten in every tree. Be it something that gets disposed of soon, or something that is stuck in the tree with nowhere to go. Either way, it's not good for anyone, and that was why Leon was going to make some changed to the Iolten family. They had already suggested the use of animals to relay messages faster or some way to create a message route.

Lufti entered Leon's room and closed the door tight. Leon changed his attention, from his paper to his brother, listening attentively.

"We are surrounded. Maybe you've noticed and maybe you haven't. But for some reason we're surrounded by a big army. They're either hiding as people that walk by, or beggars or whatever they can think of. They are around 400 people. We don't know from which family they are, but probably they're from the Kriger elites. The only reason why I came to tell you brother, is because we need people to defend this city in the next following months, and we can't afford to just kill them off. What will we do? Leroux is already itching to fight them all by himself".

"How long has it been since they've started this?" said Leon as he stood up and left his room with Lufti behind him, he was walking towards the basement where all their weapons were stored. It was also the best place to talk in secret, it was soundproof due to Lufti using some algae to cover the walls.

"Around 3 hours. They're not in a hurry and they probably want us to split up. They will not take on all 3 of us at the same time. They know that they'd have no chance at all. Well, it's not like they have a chance to beat us even if they come 400 to 1, but they don't know that"

"Okay, I want you to travel light. As light as possible and the fastest you can. Go and tell all the family heads that we have visitors and a show for them. Don't you forget to invite the Kriger family heads as well. After this, we will ask for an explanation and let all the families besides us sort this out by themselves. We've been too lenient on them, we gave them all but asked for nothing. We will have to root out the weeds in our garden this time and do it fast and through" said Leon with a stern face. He was hesitant if he was going to kill these 400 strong people or not. If he killed them, it would be a setback. But if he didn't, he would be seen as someone that always pardoned offenses.

'They are just following orders, but how do I show the people that they're only following orders?!' Leon decided to punish them regardless of things. Killing them all was not a choice right now, he couldn't afford to lose people with combat experience no matter how weak they were, they were still the strongest this city had.

"Go, tell Leroux that I will leave once you've returned and that he is free to fight them all. We will use Leroux as bait, and he can satisfy his hunger for battle"

"I will do so Elder brother. I will also do my best to support this city, and I am sure Leroux feels the same way. I will be on my way now" Lufti's lingering voice could be heard but his body was nowhere to be seen.

'Let us see now, if the Kriger family will be under the same sky as us for more than a day after this'