Chapter 10: Unexpected Guests

Two shadows were rushing through the streets of Holdinberg. Darkseal led the way and was closely being followed by Trace. He looked back towards Trace and grinned. Taking this as a compliment Trace tried to grin back but to Darkseal's ugly grin his face could only reply with an awkward and forced smile. If it were only Trace, then Darkseal would not have a tough time.

Darkseal's plan failed to consider Lorry's persistence and Trace's acceptance. When he tried to make Lorry stay at the mansion, no amount of reason was enough to make it work. Thus, he was being followed by Trace carrying Lorry in his arms. On the way, he tried to increase speed to ease his annoyance, but Trace always stayed a meter away.

Darkseal wanted to curse at the young Level 3 Sorcerer. He was truly envious of this youth. A young person with an unimaginable and boundless future and on top of it a strong master. But this did not annoy him as much as Lorry and of course Degenre. That bastard Degenre why did he have to take residence in the western Yuushine stronghold.

There were uncountable places if one wished to go to the North or East Holdinberg from Central. But there was only one route towards the West, a mountain pass. And below the mountain pass was a Yuushine stronghold. This little brat, Lorry was bound to make a ruckus there. If it were only Trace, then tricking him into crossing towards West would be no problem.

The night was slowly settling in, streetlamps were lit like ghosts dangling in the air. At the end of this street was a humongous castle surrounded by thick, tall walls. Trace looked up in awe, it was his first time seeing a Yuushine Stronghold. There were five such strongholds, one in the heart of Central, one towards East and West, and two towards the Southern border of Central Holdinberg.

Trace put Lorry down, they were standing in front of a six-meter-tall gate. Darkseal was grinning but this was the only choice he had, for now. There were no guards on the lookout right now. Wild voices could be heard from behind the gate. Apparently, some sort of celebration was in place.

Darkseal believed that the person in the most unfair position was himself. It was unclear if Dorry told Degenre anything about what happened yesterday. To add on top of it, he could not displease Trace. The only path was to go forward and try to rescue Dorry. If only he could get the path back into the Yuushine family along with keeping Trace's trust.

"Trace, are you ready?" Darkseal grinned.

At the party, many Yuushine Sorcerers were getting drunk and enjoying food from various camps set up in the open space. To be accurate it was a training ground. In the mornings, it was filled with hundreds of Sorcerers doing their morning exercises. To enjoy the party there were even more Sorcerers present at this time.

"Is Sir Degenre really marrying the princess?", one drunk Level 1 Sorcerer asked.

"Yes, I heard Leader doesn't care about his useless sisters", mocked one Level 2 Sorcerer.

Dorry pressed her hands against her ears. Degenre locked her in his bedroom half an hour ago. She refused to sit in his bed and thus was sitting on the floor at the corner. The cause of the celebration was her, and she hated every sound of the clamoring and commotion coming from outside the window. Suddenly, a huge bang resounded throughout the stronghold, following complete silence. She frantically looked outside the window hoping her brother came to save her.

"What are you doing?" Darkseal tried to pull Trace's foot that was stuck into the thick wooden gate.

Trace and Lorry were panicking looking at the struck foot. With much difficulty Darkseal finally manage to pull it out. At the same time, drunk Sorcerers were looking at the shoe poking out of their strongholds gate. Degenre, eyes squinted as he looked towards the gate. His hands did not move to drink the toast he just made.

Only after the shoe was pulled back did they realize the possibility of what could be happening right now. Even the most drunk Yuushine Sorcerer was instantly sober upon the realization. There was only one person who could do something so bizarre. Forget about the guts, there was only one person in Central who could blast a hole through the stronghold's gate.

"Faro….", the glass slipped through Degenre's hand.

"Brother!" Dorry could not contain her excitement as she looked through the window at the scene unfolding.

Just a moment ago, Darkseal taught Trace to infuse mana to make his kick stronger. The plan was simple, knock on the gate and attract attention of everyone inside. But unexpectedly Trace's kick went through the thick gate. Darkseal felt waves of helplessness pass over him. If only I was a Level 3 Sorcerer of his age. After meeting Trace, he started to think of many unrealistic possibilities in his head.

Degenre ordered the gate to be opened. Everyone bent down at one knee because they genuinely believed that their leader, Faro Yuushine, was here to beat some sense into Degenre. Most of the Sorcerers knew about the enmity between Faro and Degenre. Last time, when they fought Faro was a new Level 3 Magician but could fight Degenre evenly. The reason was, of course, annoyance, pure annoyance.

How could someone bear when a middle-aged man tried to woo your young sisters. Forget about them being biological sisters! Everyone present would have beaten some sense into Degenre if he was not a powerful Level 3 Magician. Honestly, everyone present wanted to see Faro beat Degenre into a pulp. How dare this middle-aged man even dream of our beautiful jade princesses.

The gate opened but they did not see Faro. Everyone waited but the two guests did not turn into four. Lorry as per Darkseal's instruction was watching for far. Everyone's mood shifted a full three sixty degrees. They brimmed with anger and embarrassment. Only one group could walk out of this place alive, either them or these nobodies.

"Trace! Watch carefully".

Darskeal wanted to set an example here. A group of Yuushine Sorcerers walked out to face Darkseal. Sometimes you must fight in order to protect yourself. If you do not have confidence on your abilities, you do not possess them. Darskeal launched himself at the weakest looking Sorcerer.

'If I can control the flow of the battle, I can beat them. The right one is skilled in communication magic, this one is an expert healer, I remember all of them except.... the big guy. This might be easier than I thought.'

The big man was in charge of this squad. Seeing Darskeal charging towards the weakest looking man, he smiled. Things were going according to the plan. The weak looking Magician was expert in poison magic and by the looks of it Darskeal would soon enter his poison spell range.

The battle had to finished quick because Yuushine Sorcerers would face a power drop during the night. Darskeal was waiting for this moment, he activated his sudden boost moment magic, changing directions he went for the next closest Sorcerer who had his guards down. The Sorcerer screamed but he saw Darskeal's punch going through his face. The target did not include the first two Sorcerers.

"Darn, illusio..!", were the last words the big squad leader thought before he was knocked out by Darskeal.

Watching the leader, defeated with one move, the squad's moral fell. Before they could react and form a new strategy, a new a squad took over. Darskeal went on a rampage. His every move, smoothly executed, was for a purpose. Sometimes he would back off baiting the Sorcerers that would have retreated otherwise.

Trace saw Darskeal, surrounded by ten fainted Sorcerers, looking towards him. He sensed two rings from everyone present. It was unreal, it was so cool, he thought. Perhaps, I can do it too since I have three rings!