Caught

"This is sickening…"

The knight looked at the village in flames with a heavy heart. They were too late to save many of the villagers but they had at least managed to secure half of the village in a short amount of time.

The attackers weren't particularly strong, however, they were stronger than the average villager could handle. Coupled with their numbers which exceeded the number of combatants inside the village, it was obvious they wouldn't be able to hold on.

You could even say it was a miracle that half of them managed to survive this long.

"Adjutant, do you have any idea who these people are?"

"No, sir! The only thing we could surmise from their features is that they're not from the neighboring countries. The weapons they use are from different kingdoms as well. Most likely stolen."

"This number of stolen weapons? I doubt it."

The knight counted at least around three dozen attackers. Assuming this isn't their main force and simply just a part of it dispatched to take care of the village, then they'd have at the very least hundreds of weapons in their armory. That wasn't something bandits can take off of random people they rob.

Merchants bring guards and those guards have weapons, but at most they had four guards. And, they aren't able to rob merchants every day. Even five times a month was calling it lucky. Bandit attacks typically only happen once or twice a month, even more so for armed carriages.

"Illegal arms, sir? But, if they're all illegal arms from various countries, then they've got dealers from every country?"

"We won't be able to figure it out until we interrogate some of them. Make sure to leave a few alive, and make sure they aren't able to commit suicide."

"Yes, sir!"

…

The day after.

"That was the report given to us by the Chivalric Order."

"I see."

Amy dropped the report on her hands to the desk and groaned.

'It's one thing after another…'

Due to the amount of work that she had been filtering through for the past week, she hadn't had any time to personally conduct an investigation on Sebastian's whereabouts. She wasn't able to successfully persuade the royal family into letting her into Blue Rose's facilities and guerilla attacks were more common than not within the country.

"...Alright. Allocate more of our manpower from investigation to defense. Have our men be situated near villages that have yet to be attacked and protect it in the case that it does."

"As you will it."

Deimos bowed and left the room.

The reason that Amy was given the report was for cooperation. The Chivalric Order knew that while they numbered the most among the kingdom's forces, they weren't enough to cover everything. Unlike Inheritors, it took an entire group of more than ten knights to form a squad. It was for safety purposes as well as efficiency.

Having any less would risk them unable to fight back against Inheritors and having more would lessen their speed. There were two groups situated near each village and there aren't enough knights to cover each one.

The Four Major Houses will all send reinforcements to the knights, it would damage the House of Luna's reputation if she were to just let the other three houses take all the credit.

'If Father was alive…'

Amy quickly shook her head to get rid of those thoughts.

'No… I can't rely on him forever. I'm the head of the House of Luna, I have a duty to fulfill.'

"Mistress."

Amy raised her head. Deimos had returned already. It shouldn't have been that quick to give out her orders.

"Is something the matter?"

"...Someone suspected to be Lord Sebastian was sighted in Tidas."

…

"It's a little too silent."

Ainslie commented. Currently, she and Sebastian were hiding atop a couple of trees. They had their sights set on the abandoned warehouse in front of them.

While an abandoned warehouse would definitely be silent, they couldn't even hear any animals in the vicinity.

"They're keeping people away from here somehow."

It was in a remote spot inside the city, beside the walls. The only suspicious part was that it wasn't just the warehouse that was abandoned. Perfectly habitable houses were also left vacant.

"Wait here."

Sebastian stood up and then sank into his shadow. Ainslie watched his shadow streak past the open street and into the warehouse. A few seconds later, the door slowly opened and Ainslie maneuvered her way across the houses.

In the slightest chance that someone were to catch sight of her because of her negligence, the mission would become a lot more difficult.

Once she followed Sebastian inside who lit up his hand with fire to see the surroundings better, her eyes widened.

"So many weapons!"

"Looks like it was true."

Sebastian scowled. The contents of the letter were pretty old, but it talked about a trade agreement about weapons being shipped to the warehouse.

"But, how were they able to get the weapons out without anyone noticing? Even a mouse walking into this area would be seen by the people in the streets."

"I don't know, but…"

Sebastian suddenly crouched. His eyes flashed as he stabbed out with his spear. A silhouette leaped back a few meters.

Ainslie reacted a beat too late but managed to bring out her weapon in time.

"I suppose he can answer that."

"You're pretty skilled, but did you know that you're trespassing?"

"Trespassing into an abandoned warehouse that shouldn't have an owner? I see."

The person behind the silhouette laughed. Sebastian made the fire in his hands stronger and illuminated the entire warehouse. Now that they were revealed, there was no point in hiding.

"I can still let you escape."

Ainslie snorted. She had heard the same phrase many times before.

"Let us escape, but will you let us live without losing our limbs and tongues?"

"Hehe… That, I can't promise."

Sebastian looked around. While he could sense if there were other people in the warehouse, like the man in front of him who managed to sneak past his ability, there might be others.

Luckily, it didn't seem like there was anyone near them. Sebastian broke a piece of wood from a nearby shelf and then left it on fire. While he could fight in the dark, the same couldn't be said for Ainslie. Not to mention that with her ability, she requires a wide space.

Fighting in complete darkness would only benefit their opponent, not them.

Ainslie looked back at Sebastian and after glancing at each other's eyes once, she nodded and moved to the left. Sebastian slowly began walking towards the right.

Their opponent was a man with rough features but a slender body. He could even be mistaken for a girl if his head was wrapped in cloth. In his hands were two identical daggers and behind him was a shortsword. There could also be other weapons on his body but Sebastian couldn't tell.

'And, he's an Inheritor.'

A regular person wouldn't be able to sneak past Sebastian's senses. And, at the very least, his opponent was an Adept.

This was no time to be careless.

The man moved first. Letting the two of them close in on him was just unwise. Taking the initiative was better than getting surrounded.

Realizing that Ainslie was less of a threat, he decided to attack her first. He stepped towards her and began swinging his daggers. Ainslie deflected his attacks with daggers of her own. While she would normally bring a spear that Sebastian had taught her with, her left hand was a liability.

Sebastian arrived after they exchanged a few blows and struck with his spear. He wasn't worried that he would hit Ainslie if the man were to dodge.

The man frowned but still dodged anyway. However, just as he stepped back, something grabbed his foot and he lost his balance. Ainslie took that opportunity to stab the man's thigh with her dagger.

DING

Rather than the feeling of stabbing into flesh, Ainslie felt metal. Their opponent was prepared. The man managed to regain his footing at that moment and swung his dagger at Ainslie but she managed to dodge it in time.

Sebastian also tried to attack but the man leaped back several meters once more.

'He's very skilled…'

Even under their combined attack and him losing balance, he managed to defend and dodge them.

"Looks like two versus one is a little too much."

The man spoke. Sebastian frowned and quickly ignited himself in flames. Ainslie also responded by conjuring lightning around her body.

Thinking that reinforcements were about to come, Sebastian charged forward. He planned to end it in one blow.

"Monochrome Flame Thrust!"

Sebastian's spear ignited with a vibrant orange flame. The man tried to dodge it but Sebastian was locked onto his target. No matter which direction he tried to go, Sebastian adjusted his aim.

In the end, the man was forced to block the spear with his daggers but it wasn't easy to fight against the flames. After a few moments, his daggers heated up to the point that he could no longer hold them and his arms were knocked back.

Just as Sebastian was about to drive his spear into the man's chest, an arm wielding a dagger sprouted from the man's chest and cause Sebastian to miss his aim. Another hand also sprouted from the man's forearm and landed a cut on Sebastian's side—forcing him to retreat backward.

"You're too damn strong for me."

The man chuckled.

"Don't think too badly of me that I have to resort to this."

The arms that sprouted from his chest and forearm slowly began growing—no, they were leaving his body. It was as if the arms were ghosts that were just passing through. Soon, entire bodies walked out of the man's own and stood beside him.

They looked identical in every way.

"Multiplication…"

Ainslie gripped her daggers tighter but the man wasn't finished. Along with the original body, the clones also had different limbs sprouting out of them. They came out faster than before, they practically just stepped through doors.

Now, the total number of people inside the warehouse was nine.

"I wonder if you can still handle this."