Chapter 9

"Well, getting carried around by you wasn't part of the plan, Julian," Kenric muttered as he was being carried by Julian, who dashed through the chaos heading to the place he knew would be the safest for Kenric, beside William Trevelyan, so he ignored the fighting that had broken off inside the tower and was just rushing downstairs carrying Kenric who kept quite a hand on the dagger on his waist just in case things went south.

"The Templars will be moving in soon!" Julian spoke as he dodged past some Templars who wanted to stop them, but seeing who they were, they allowed them to run.

Reaching the workshop on the bottom floor, something made him hesitate. As Julian jumped back as magic traps sprung under his feet but missed as he saw a dagger being launched past him, a cry echoed through the chambers as Julian drew his sword, going straight at the mage that had a dagger buried in his arm.

The mage tried to launch another spell, but Julian's sword was faster as the mage was stabbed straight through the neck.

Julian looked at Kenric, who in turn was staring at the dying mage, before he saw him shaking his head as he walked forward, taking out the dagger from the dying man's arm.

"Let's go, Julian," he muttered, as Julian froze a little as he saw Kenric's face as he walked forward.

"You coming?" came the impatient voice from the ten-year-old, jolting Julian out as he ran behind the ten-year-old that jumped through the window on the side landing in the garden as Julian followed close behind.

Something had changed within Kenric Julian could see it. Julian wasn't liking it but everybody coped with death in different ways. In that regard, Kenric was much better for now since the situation wasn't good.

They had just stepped out when Julian pulled Kenric back, who twisted his body, landing on his feet directly. Watching to the right, where two mages stood, one wore a dark red robe while the other wore simple mercenary clothes.

"Seems like two escaped before the barrier could go up," the old man said, looking at the duo.

Of course, there were Grais and Luca, who looked at Julian and Kenric.

Julian sighed before stepping forward, pointing his sword at the two figures.

"I am Julian, a Butler of House Trevelyan; I don't assume that you would let us pass through." Julian spoke as the two mages looked at him and then at Kenric, who held on to his dagger just tight enough to block attacks but not stiff enough to the point that he would be unable to dodge attacks.

"That would be a little too convenient for you, I am afraid," Luca answered as he stared at Kenric.

"I see...."

Shing!!

The next second, Julian was right in front of Luca, who raised his hand as ice spikes shot out of the ground, making Julian slice through them only to find a fireball waiting just behind it.

"Tch.." Julian clicked his tongue as he jumped aside.

Twisting his body, he attacked Grais, but was blocked again by Luca.

Grais, on the other hand, moved towards Kenric, who didn't think twice before jumping over the fence and into the street, running straight into the alleys without looking back.

Grais went straight for Kenric, leaving the two old men in the garden, one holding a sword while the other held a staff.

"How long do you think until she catches up with him?" Luca asked as Julian just smiled in reply.

"Well, it will be a while; unless, of course, he counterattacks right away, then it will be right about now," he said as they heard an explosion coming from the alleys with smoke rising in the air.

*

'Why the fuck does this kid have so many little shitty things?' Grais muttered to herself as she saw the kid jumping through a window straight into a house.

She muttered as she kicked away the cooking knife on the ground. It wasn't something that she couldn't deal with. It was just annoying to fight someone like the kid, who just ran instead of standing his ground like a templar.

She hesitated before going through the door of the house, only to realize that the shitty architecture meant she had entered the wrong one. Couldn't they for one second make the house easy to understand?

"You are dealing with the slums, bitch; what were you expecting?" She heard the question as a kick landed directly in her head from above. As she recovered just enough to move to the right, getting a knife dug into her shoulder, she didn't even get a chance to scream as a punch landed straight in her windpipe. Kenric pulled the knife out of her shoulder and was about to go for the kill when the hair on his arms stood up straight as he immediately dove, and a shard of ice whizzed past over his head.

"You know, when I heard that you would fight back, I didn't think Grais would lose," Luca said as he stepped into the alley, dragging a barely conscious and injured Julian along.

Kenric didn't hesitate as he grabbed the lady holding his own hostage as Luca smiled, looking at the decisiveness of the young lad in front of him.

"Well, master Trevelyan, we have found ourselves in a bit of a conundrum, don't we? I have one of your men while you have my subordinate under your mercy, so where do we go from here?"

"Considering you all are short on time, I should be the one asking that."

"Your loyal guard would die here, young Trevelyan,..."

"So would your mage."

"Won't your guards efforts go to waste if you die?"

"It would be more disrespectful for him to live if I surrendered."

"You don't speak for him."

"And you don't know him."

"He must have a family."

"Ha, he doesn't....."

"....."

"....."

"This seems to be going nowhere."

"It seems like we agree on something at the very least," Kenric said before digging his finger into the shoulder wound of Grais as she tried to move.

"Kaaah!"

"Well, lady, why don't you just behave like a good bitch and remain here?"

Kenric removed his finger from the wound as he looked at Luca, who stared at the kid.

It was at this very moment that the rattle of armor rang through the alleys as Kenric smirked armor, meaning that the Templars, or at the very least the guards of the city,.

Kenric smirked as the Templars entered the alley surrounding them. Well,  this turned out to be easier than he had thought...

Thuck.....

Kenric felt a sharp pain behind his neck as he saw a bearded face holding a sword looking straight at the mage. Kenric fell down, barely keeping conscious.

"You were not supposed to touch the Trevelyan!"

"They saw us; we didn't have a choice." Luca replied, staring at the Templar,

Owen Jastrs gritted his teeth as he looked at the mage in front of him and then at Kenric, who was groaning on the ground.

"You better hold your end of the deal," he said as he saw Grais get up and kick the kid, who was barely able to defend himself.

"Well, he has also seen your face now," Luca said as Grais held her bleeding shoulder. Owen just sighed, thinking this was going to get him killed.

Kenric groaned as he pushed himself up, as he was wobbling as he saw Grais' leg reach up to him. As he twisted his body, dodging the attack, an ice shard struck his shoulder.

"Kaargh!" He cried out due to the sudden pain.

"What do you intend to do with him?" Owen asked as Luca, shrugged.

"Well, he has quite the spirit, so I have quite the plan prepared, and I should also do this.." Luca smirked as he shot an ice spear straight into Owen, who flew back. crashing into the wall of a house whose residents had already run away, hearing the explosions like a majority of the slum dwellers had done, heading for the richer sections of the city for safety.

"N...no~ugh," a groan came from Kenric, who struggled on the ground, trying to get up, only to be kicked in the face by Grais as he was thrown back.

"It is best to leave. The last thing I want is William Trevelyan showing up here," Owen said as he ignored Kenric, who was struggling on the ground but got knocked out by Grais as she kicked him again.

"I agree, having William on our tail would be bad." Luca spoke as he raised his hand, picking up Kenric.

He looked at Grais and nodded as the three of them dissolved into the shadows, leaving Owen and his squad in the slums.

===

"Come again?!" The growl of the knight commander sends shivers down the spines of the templars standing in front of him.

"W.we cannot find a trace of Master Trevelyan anywhere in the slums." The captain spoke as the commander gritted his teeth.

"Get every off-duty Templar out on duty and get me the fastest falcon we have!" He barked out orders as the Templars rushed about executing his orders.

As the Templars exited the office, leaving him alone, he sighed, leaning back on his chair.

Guylian was still shaken up and then snapped alert, staring at the open window on his seventh-floor office. He was pretty sure the window was closed before.

His throat felt dry as he took a deep breath.

"William"

"…find my son, Guylian…" He heard the words as Guylian stared at the figure standing at the back of the room. Maybe he had been there all along.

"….William, I am doing everything in my power to find him. Just give us some time…" Guylian spoke as William stared at him before nodding and walking out, but Guylian couldn't relax.

Bloody hell, it would have been better if William had just shouted at him, but seeing him like this only made him more nervous.

He felt like he was facing a bloody, dark-spawn battalion before having to deal with the monster in his city. Hopefully, the others will be here soon.