the arrival of the crimson army

few days later

When the sun reached the halfway point in the sky, a huge metal sound rang outside the city walls of Oakenburn, scarring many birds and animals in the forest nearby.

soldiers on the city wall moved quikly as they looked in the direction where the sound came.

to the south-east of the city, one can see a massive mountain range in the distance.

As the soldiers waited to see what would appear from there, they suddenly felt the earth beneath their feet shake slightly in a continuous manner.

This shaking did not stop for several moments, ,while that happened a massive dust storm appeared in that direction as well.

with all that happening they thought that a horde of monster is coming or some grand beast.

that made some of the newbies soldiers that were looking panicked a lot while the old ones just hardened their expression.

moment later they sighed in relief as they saw a massive army fully equipped with armours, swords, spears, and several other types of weapons marching towards them at a steady pace.

"Thank God, it's not a monster horde; we weren't even prepared for it if it apprear."

"Is that General Scarlet's army?"

"Looking at the flag in front of that army, it appears to be it."

"If they were coming today, they should have told us, instead of coming all of a sudden, my heart nearly fell off fright"

"that's a huge army, I've never seen such a large number of soldiers"

"how did we not realise when this army appeared beside us when its this big"

"the air around them is filled withseriousness and dread"

"they all look very strong, I wonder how many battles they've gone through to become like this"

"as expected of the crimson army, as strong as the rumours"

"Yeah, it appears that we have nothing to fear of the approaching horde that is coming soon ."

"Yes, with this kind of army, such a horde will never be able to breach the city walls."

As the army approached the city walls,.

a path was suddenly made through them, allowing a royal carriage to travel to the city gate.

A soldier in a black military uniform shouted at the top of his lungs at the soldiers that are above the city wall in an impatient tone, "What are you waiting for over there, open the gate and ask the mayor keith to come here, General Scarlet is waiting so hurry up!!"

"yy-es i a moment, please,"

a soldier on the city wall said as he ran to notify the gatekeepers to open the gate.

While they waited, they heard a feminine voice from the carriage.

"Harold, find a good terrain and set up camp there, but don't go too far away from here."

"Yes, General Scarlet," he said.

"also send scouts to surrender this area as a whole, leave no gaps, and I want you to personally go with a thousands of your men to the closest gate and report to me the details later."

"Don't worry general , everything will be done as you requested, then please excuse me as I will depart now."

"Okay, take care, and if you come across any danger, retreat without hesitation ."

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inside oakenburn city In one of the mayor's visitor rooms ,stood a beautiful red hair woman wearing a white robe with a veil that covered both her hair and the lower half of her face.

Next to her was a young beautiful looking maid who looked at the red hair with concern

"what's the matter master scarlet ,why don't you sit down." as she didn't heard a replay from her master liliana said again" you were like this for more than half an hour after you went to meet the mayor keith ,what the hell happened to you , did he say something that made you angry ?"

"ah sorry i was deep in my thoughts i didn't hear you well liliana, what did you say," she said to liliana in front of her as she regaining her focus.

"I said, master, what is the matter with you?,are you sick?"

"Liliana, did you see Keith today when I was talking to him?"

"Yes, I saw him, is there anything wrong with that?"

"No, I just wanted to know what you thought of him after meeting."

Liliana frowned slightly, not knowing why her master would ask such a question, but she quickly replied n hurry.

"as the rumours say slightly tall and fat man his personality as i only met him today i can't say for sure but from his look of fear when he met you i think he wouldn't be really different from the rumours, if he wasn't guilty he wouldn't fear you with your reputation that's what i though of him master"

as lilliana said that she helped her master take a seat in the table ,then brought her a cup of tea to drink.

"here please this cup of tea i made for you"

"oh, thank you"

She said this while sipping her tea.

"i also thought the same but when i met him this impression changed after the conversation the happened between us "

"What?! was he not a scumbag like the rumours said?"

" I'm fairly certain he is as the rumours said."

"If so, then what has changed in your impression of him?"

scarlet took a deep breath as she said

"When he saw me for the first time, I could feel his fear towards me, he was very tense at that time, but something changed in him moments later"

Liliana brought some cakes for Scarlet, and as she listened to her.

"changed? What has changed?"

Scarlet took a piece of cake and placed it in her mouth.

"his fear towards me vanished moments after we met, I was confused because his fear didn't simply change to another kind of emotion ,as people can't suddenly lose their felling in an instant but changing it is possible , like perhaps if he gained courage or felt arrogant after feeling fear, when he re-realised after panicing that I can't kill him because of the contract, I would understand that, but his feelings didn't change but they completely vanished, I felt that at that time if I attempted to kill him he wouldn't really resist me not only because of the difference in our strength but also because he didn't seems to care at all about his life

"

"How is that possible? He is the type who will fight for his life even if it means selling his parents; how could he not fear death at all , master are you sure you had used your mystic eyes at that time?"

"Liliana,relax. I was astounded by that as you are now or maybe more than you are since i can feel his emotionless state it was as if i looked at a black hole instead of a human, so I tried to use my mystic eyes while supplying it with more mana so it can do a full scan at his state ,also to see if the man in front of me had any kind of illusion magic casted on him to confuse me. When I scanned him, I didn't find anything magical in his body, Nonetheless, I had seen that something was interfering with my eyes's scaning .So I did it several times, until I was about to give up, only then did the veil that was covering my sight gone ,then i saw something stuck to his spinal cord."

"Don't tell me that 'thing' is a monster."

"Yes, I am fairly certain that it is the one that the Assassin clan uses in their assassination, but this is strange?"

"what?"

"That clan uses tactics like this to kill their targets in such a long time as to not arouse suspicion, so thier targets always had some kind of natural looking death, but even the longest period wouldn't go beyond 2 years, but when I scanned Keith, that monster was in his body for more than 10 years.and another thinks this monster in his body is a little different from the ones they usually use in their assassinations; what do you think they're up to?"

"yes this is not how that clan is doing their jobs."

"then please help me investigate Keith's past preferred since birth and also the rumours that are spreading in this city if you can in a hurry, please."

"as you ordered, they will be ready for you in a few hours"

"thank you lilian, you are always helpful"

"it pleasure master, it is my duty "

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pov doom

Years of thinking and regrets made me softer and calmer than I used to be.

even though I wanted to kill Keith and his parents with my hand the sooner i could.

instead of just doing so and fleeing somewhere, I gave up such a thought because the people of this city would become more miserable than they are already is .

so I gave up such a thought.

then i start to considering a lot of pros and cons of everything I planned.

Making plan after another, but none of them would yielded the desired result.

the aftermath was always the biggest issue, so in the end, I made one last plan; if it didn't work, I'd use others, even if it meant endangering the lives of the people in the city,since i found myself couldn't hold the fire that is burning in my heart anymore.

This plan can only work if we have the assistance of one person, who is—

"please follow me mr.doom"

"yes please lead the way"

as I followed the maid in front of me ,I thought of my destination

the room where Duke Scarlet is staying right now .

if Duke Scarlet can help us we can get rid of Keith without killing him directly.

with that i wouldn't need to endanger the life of anyone from my comrades, the city citizen and that idiot leo as well, even though i wanted to do it by my hand by i can't do it for the several reasons above.

"please wait a moment "

the maid said to me ,as she knocked the door that leads to Duke Scarlet's room.

then we heard a feminine voice from the other side of the door

"come in"

the door then opened.

then i went through it ,as she invited me inside.