Chapter 9: Night Thief

At the dead of night, with the moon coldy hung in the clouded sky, two figures were perched on a tree branch.

The figures wore an all-black outfit that hid their faces and body, only the eyes were visible. At the distance, a brightly lit manor stood peacefully. The figures gazed at the manor with scrutinizing eyes.

"Why is there too few knights here?" One of the figures voiced in doubt. The voice belonged to a man.

"I've noticed it as well, but it's probably because of the attack this morning. Almost everyone in the manor was killed." The other figure responded in a woman's voice while taking out a pocket watch.

"But the knights aren't in the manor, they reside in the barracks. They should be fine, and with the attack, they should have guarded the manor tightly tonight." The man responded.

Gazing at the watch, it was already midnight. The presumed woman stuffed the watch back and muttered: "We been observing for a while now, but everything seems a bit strange. I also did not see the 'Blue Knight'."

"Are you suggesting that we should withhold?" Asked the man.

The woman shook her covered head. "No. The corpses would deteriorate by the third day, we have to retrieve it tonight."

Hearing that, the man nodded and muttered: "I'll get closer."

"Alright, be careful, dad."

The man's figure descended from the large tree—a few hundred of meters from the manor— and swiftly ran under the shadows of trees.

***

"They aren't from Chimera... as expected." Ace muttered in disappointment as he looked through the binoculars. He was currently looking at the tree garden at the manor's backyard.

Since he waited and got no response for the deal, an idea crossed his mind: Mayter, and Ellesse, aren't from Chimera. And they were commoners.

The Chimera Association is not run by commoners but by high ranking people such scholars, researchers, and teachers. And due to this, their demeanour and use of words were also suspicious. Sometimes, Ace would notice them forcefully changing their tone to sound formal. For scholars with high education, talking formally was supposed to be natural.

Knowing that, he decided to stay up tonight and watch over the corpses.

Now, he was in one of the rooms in the manor, overlooking the tree filled backyard and the guarded tent where the corpses were stored.

He knew the trees would be the most ideal location for a secret operation, because he would also choose that if it was him.

Gazing at the black figure hiding among the shadows of trees, he grinned and left the room.

***

Sneakily moving amongst the shadows, Mayter eyed the tent in the distance that was surrounded by atleast ten armoured men.

He wanted to know why there was too few knights in the manor tonight. Although he could take advantage of this situation to get the corpses, he felt something off and thought that it could be a trap. So, he decided to observe the situation longer.

'We're taking too much time...' He worriedly thought. He wanted to finish this operation quickly; at first he thought it would be easy and that the noble would accept the money, but instead the noble sternly stated a condition which he couldn't fullfil.

The thought of the noble blatantly rejecting the money without even batting an eyelid, he felt a seething rage erupt from inside him. Luckily, he managed to calm himself at that time.

'Master raised that money with so much effort!' He clenched his teeth hard while staring daggers at the grand blue manor.

'One day...One day, you nobles will be crawling under master's feet!' He grinned at the thought. Just imagining those proud and arrogant nobles get what they deserve send shivers to his spine.

Just he was grinning from from from ear to ear, he heard the sound of twigs being stepped on. He quickly ducked and hid himself behind a tree. Listening intensely at the sound, Mayter deduced that it came from a person. A single person.

Craning his neck, he took a peek at the person. Under the shadow and the silver hue of the moon, he saw the figure of a woman. The woman was covered in cloth from head to toe, but the curves on her body was a give away of her gender.

'A maid?' He thought. He didn't recklessly approach the woman. Although he needed information, and a defenseless woman would be an ideal target, he was wary. 'This could be bait...'

He shook his head. He didn't know why, but he has been feeling very wary lately. This wasn't his usual self, his usual self would have approached this woman and obtain information. He frowned at the thought.

'The maid probably can't sleep...' He reassured himself. He wanted to ease up the wariness he was feeling. He was unsure, but it could be the result of an experiment by his master.

'Hmm...' Mayter thought for a moment. He was stuck in a dilemma: He was cautious, he understood that it could be because of the strangeness of the Manor. The other feeling was desire, he wanted to obtain information now.

After a second, Mayter nodded his head and looked at the figure. The woman wearing blue hood, and long blue robe was still there, walking relaxedly in the trail. Mayter looked at the tent in the distance and waited for a couple of seconds.

After a minute, the woman went deeper into the tree garden. This was the moment Mayter was waiting for. If he attacked the woman in that area, the woman won't be able to call for help due to the distance.

Mayter quietly moved from tree to tree. He hid in bushes and noiselessly observed the woman. The woman arrive at a clearing, just distance away from the tree garden's center where the gazebo was located.

Mayter had already confirmed before that no one was guarding the gazebo and the center of the garden, so he grinned as he saw the opportunity.

Grabbing his blood-red dagger, he sprinted towards the woman. His steps were barely audible as he closed to woman. The woman was pitifully unaware and simply stood in the clearing while gazing at the moon.

'Gotcha!' Mayter took a final step and was now behind the unaware woman. With a swift motion, he wrapped his arm around the woman's clothed neck. His other arm aimed a dagger at the woman's face.

"Don't move." He whispered. He saw the woman motionless before the woman responded with nod. 'Luckily, she didn't scream.' He thought.

Inching the dagger closer to the maid's face, Mayter asked in a hushed tone: "Tell me, do not ever think of lying, why are there too few knights in the Manor? Where is the Blue Knight?"

However, in contrast to his expectations, the woman remained silent. She stood unmoving and motionless. Mayter obviously noticed the woman's weirdness. Even if the said person was petrified out of fear, they would still make actions such as a trembling and breathing. But, Mayter didn't notice those in this woman.

'Its a trap!' He voiced in his head with alarm. He hurriedly jumped away from the woman and grabbed three 12 inched needles and threw it towards the figure.

Puk! Puk! Puk!

The needle impaled on the woman's back. But despite being pierced by three sharp needles, the woman didn't even out a cry. With squinted eyes, Mayter took out another set of three needles and placed them in his hand. He aimed at the woman and launched them.

'Is it an undead?' He asked himself. From what the woman showed, she had the characteristics close to that of an undead he heard before. And again, the woman didn't squirm in pain which made him more certain.

Clenching his dagger, he sprinted towards the woman. Like a cheetah, he was extremely fast for a human. With one swift motion, his dagger sliced the woman's arm cleanly. Like dancing, he gracefully stepped to the side became three steps away from the woman.

SPLASH!

"Water...?" Mayter was bewildered for a second before crying out in alarm. His legs took all the strength in his body and sprinted towards the direction he left Ellesse. His speed doubled than before, he also clenched his dagger tightly while warily looking at the trees.

"SH*T!"

BOOM!

Mayter was thrown to sides by an unexpected explosion just a step away from him. Luckily, even with his speed, he managed to stop in time and avoided hit by a mysterious attack. Looking behind himself, his eyes widened in surprise as he stared at the night sky.

Glistening under the silver light, myriad of bladed weapons—10 meters long—floated in the air. These weapons coldy hung in the sky and was aimed directly at him.

'A Water Mage!' He confirmed. He thought about the presence of a Water Mage after seeing the woman was actually made out of water. That was why he wanted to inform Ellesse and escape.

Mayter's gaze drifted down to the young man standing in the clearing. The young man wore a black suit and had a neatly combed blue hair, and was currently gazing coldly at him. Behind that young man was a woman wrapped in thick chains of water.

"Ellesse!" Mayter cried in worry. Ellesse was unconscious and had several violet bruises on her body. Mayter saw this and became enraged. He stared at the young man with open killing intent.

"Good evening, Mr Mayter. Such a lovely night, no?" The young man muttered with a smile. Although the smile might seem warm and friendly, Mayter saw the young man's eyes were ice cold.

"Noble B*stard! Let her GO!" Mayter yelled in fury. He clenched his dagger tightly and readied himself lunged at the young man.

The young man—who was obviously Ace—raised an eyebrow. He was surprised that someone had the nerve to actually slander a noble face to face.

"Oh... That mouth of yours brings back memories." Ace stated. He briefly thought of someone.

But at that moment, with blazing furious eyes, Mayter lunged towards Ace with frightening speed. Now, Mayter had a second dagger on his other hand. He was currently dual wielding.

Ace's face hardened at the sight of the man. Despite looking old, the speed was frighteningly fast. Without hesitation, Ace stepped to side. He avoided a needle by hairsbreadth. Luckily he saw it on time.

Without wasting a second, he raised his hand and motioned downwards. The blades floating in the sky descended toward the speeding man.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

With his fast reaction and agility, Mayter managed to avoid the blades by an inch. But, he was still blown away by the force of impact. With a swift hand, despite having fallen to the ground, launched a needle towards Ace.

Ace noticed the needle that was slightly different from the rest. It had a green tip unlike the typical silver ones. It didn't take a genius for him to think it was poisoned. He motioned his hand circularly and a sphere of water appeared.

The sphere and the needle met. The needle was swallowed by the sphere of water and was unable to continue its intended trajectory. Unexpectedly, the green tip glowed and exploded.

"F*ck!" Ace shielded himself with a miniature dome and closed his eyes.

BOOM!

A loud explosion sounded from outside the barrier. Ace opened his eyes and realized he fell to a trap! The explosion was not lethal but extremely blinding and loud. He was fooled.

'Where is he?' He scanned the area warily. He pulled the woman wrapped in chains closer to him. He was certain that Ellesse and Mayter had a special relationship. Mayter would certainly come for her.

Just as he thought, a dagger suddenly positioned itself at his neck.