Chapter 164 - Bandit Knights

—Midnight—

Sitting atop the Greyrat Manor, I surveyed the streets around us for signs of movement. Noticing that the area around the manor had turned into a ghost town just after dinner, Ghislaine and I knew that an attack was imminent. Having Ciri and Ghislaine post up inside the home after sunset, I positioned myself higher up to warn them of any approaching enemies.

"Maybe we were overthinking things.", Ghislaine said, over the telepathic link I had set up for the three of us, "If the Crown was going to dispatch their private knights to capture us, they would have made a move already. We can rotate night watch every two hours for the rest of the night."

"That works for me…", Ciri yawned, "I can barely keep my eyes open at this point."

Sending out another Radar Pulse before I gave my answer, dozens of hostile enemies began appearing a few blocks from us. Split into two groups, the first group of sixty slow-moving entities came toward the front while the second group of ten moved to the back of the home. Watching the way both groups moved for a moment, it was clear the small group was a more specialized unit of men. Informing Ciri and Ghislaine of the impending attack, I proceeded to hand out orders to the two women.

"Look alive ladies, we have seventy attackers moving on the manor. Have Sauros and Hilda barricade their doors then make your way to the backyard. A group of ten assassins are making their way toward the back of the home. They probably intend to abduct the two of them while we are preoccupied with the sixty knights heading for the front gate.", I told them, "I will handle the knights, if anyone gets past you let me know so I can deploy countermeasures."

"Got it!", Ghislaine replied, raring to fight.

Just as the sound of metal clanking against cobblestone started to become audible, Sauros and Hilda began frantically blocking their doors with heavy furniture pieces. Running to her window after she was done, Hilda poked her head out to see how many people were coming for them. Using their torchlight to get a rough estimate, the higher the count got the paler she became.

"Cole, are you sure you can handle this many knights alone?", Hilda inquired, with a worried expression, "I do not want you to die protecting us, you have a family to return home to…please do not forget about them."

"I always think about my family before doing something genuinely risky, this is not one of those moments.", I laughed, with a reassuring smile, "You just sit back and let me handle this, it would be a crime if you hurt that beautiful face of yours."

Blushing as she heard my compliment, she quickly withdrew her head from the window and slammed it shut. Watching the knights march right up to the front gate, they stopped the moment the first row of knights fell in line with it. The knight closest to the gate turned on his heels and faced us with a calm, emotionless gaze. Producing a scroll from the pouch on his hip, the man unwrapped and opened it to read its contents aloud.

"Former Lord Sauros Boreas Greyrat and Lady Hilda Boreas Greyrat, both of you have been charged with committing an act of treason against the Crown. By order of the King, the two of you will be arrested and thrown into the castle's dungeon to await execution.", the Knight proclaimed, as if what he was saying were the words of god.

"Oh piss off, that decree is from the Prime Minister, not the King!", I corrected the knight, "A Royal Decree is sealed by a wax seal and ribbon, that decree has neither. I suggest you turn your asses around and go home, a few pieces of gold is not worth losing your lives over. The moment you set foot on this estate your lives are forfeit."

Arcing lightning between my palms, the knight audibly gulped before reaching into his bag for another scroll. Fumbling around as he hurriedly tried to open it, he tossed it to the ground after it refused to open.

"Please wait a moment!", he said, almost begging me to do so, "The Prime Minister will pay you double what the Boreas Greyrats are, triple if you help subdue Ghislaine Dedoldia. Not only that, he promises to see that you are not charged with any crimes for aiding the Boreas Greyrats."

"Oh wow, that is a good chunk of change.", I admitted, "I am sure most people would happily accept such a generous offer, and turn on their employer."

"Cole, please wait a moment!", Hilda pleaded, throwing her window open again.

"Unfortunately for you, I have no intentions of abandoning the family or handing them over to you.", I told the knights, "A man's word is sacred, once it is given it must be honored in its entirety. I told them I would reunite them with their missing relatives, and I intend to do just that. Besides which, I am not handing the beautiful Hilda Boreas Greyrat over to a group of bandits pretending to be knights."

Freezing up, the men looked up at me with confusion. Knowing that Darius had used his influence to erase their crimes, none of them understood how I came by this knowledge.

"I have skills and spells that I can use to peer into the status of everyone and everything around me.", I chuckled, "For example, I know that all of you have bounties on your heads that exceed two hundred gold, and all of you have the title Child Abductor. I bet all of you go around collecting girls for the Prime Minister's sick fetish, do you not?"

"If only you had kept your mouth shut, you could have kept on breathing!", the knight said, dropping his other scroll and flinging a dagger at me.

Catching the blade in a magnetic field, I spun it around and shot it back at him. Before he could react to what was happening, his head violently exploded as the knife blew through it and exploded upon hitting the cobblestone. Peppering the front row of men with metal shrapnel, all of them collapsed as blood began leaking through the holes in their chestplates. With diplomacy out the window, the bandits began trying to break down the gate.

"Hilda, do you have such little faith in me?", I teased the former noblewoman, as I stood and waited for the men to enter the premises, "I thought after everything you have seen, I would have earned a bit of trust from you. Just go back to bed, by the time you wake up this will all be a distant memory."

Watching the men throw themselves at the gate, it took them nearly ten attempts to finally break the lock. Pouring through the entrance like a flood of ants, I lept off the rooftop and dropped down in the middle of their ranks with Thunder Drop. Sending men flying in all directions, those that were not knocked off their feet quickly began to encircle me with their weapons drawn.

"Do not say I did not warn you.", I cackled, "Za Worldo!"

Using my Time Stop ability, everything around me came to a standstill. Ripping the weapons out of their hands, I flung them at the men who were frozen in midair then proceeded to encase the men around me in ice. Tossing Shock Grenades onto each of the men for good measure, I unfroze time wearing a smirk on my face.

"What in the hell!?", one of the bandits shouted, in surprise, "Where did this ice come from and what are these things!?"

"Where did my fucking dagger go?!", another one shrieked, "That was my grandfather's dagger, give it back!!"

"I do not have them, ask your friends on the ground over there.", I said, motioning to the bandits turned pincushions, "They seem to have all your weapons."

Turning to look at what I was talking about, they all turned ghost white seeing what had become of their comrades.

"Oh by the way, I hope you made peace with whatever god you worship because in a moment you will be-", I began to say, before the Shock Grenades detonated.

Vaporizing the men in an instant, the few remaining men out on the roadway screamed in horror as I walked out of the dust cloud the explosions caused. Dusting my jacket off, I looked at the men and asked them what their plan was now. Dropping their weapons and fleeing the scene, they abandoned their unconscious comrades on the road leaving them to me to deal with.

"Cole, is everything alright!?", Ciri shouted, as Ghislaine and her came barreling out the front door, "We took care of the assassins, where are the rest of…oh."

Seeing the craters and bodies dotting the front lawn, Ghislaine smirked as she saw how ruthless I had been with them. Noticing that there were still some men breathing out on the roadway, she asked what we were going to do with them.

"All of the knights were just bandits in disguise so no one will be looking for them.", I informed her, as I levitated the men off the ground and pulled them toward us, "How about we bring them inside, and have a nice chat? I am sure Sauros will want to hear everything they have to say."

"I doubt they will have any information we want.", Ghislaine remarked, "After all, they are just stronger than average bandits."

"Oh, you sure he will not want to hear about the plot to give Eris to Prime Minister Darius?", I inquired, using the information I already knew to entice her.

"What was that you say!?", Sauros roared, nearly ripping his bedroom window out of its frame, "You are saying these men have information on Eris' failed abduction!?"

"All of them had the title Child Abductor on them.", I said, "Given that they worked for the Prime Minister directly, they have likely ferried countless young women to him over the years. One of them has to know about her attempted kidnapping, especially as you already assumed he had a hand in it."

Asking me to bring the men inside for interrogation, Sauros said he would grab some tools from the workshop and then meet us there. Cleaning up the front yard before heading inside, Ciri and Ghislaine said they would fix the gate before joining us downstairs.