Plots

Since it would take me around twenty minutes to walk to her restaurant, I let Anise alone to her reading and walked out. I reached the restaurant Iris worked in just as she was walking out. Seeing me, a smile blossomed on her face as she walked towards me and grabbed my hand. I felt a bit uncomfortable and wanted to take my hand back, but she strengthened her hold and started dragging me away form the restaurant.

"Come on, holding hands is not a big deal."

I sighed and resigned to my fate as I followed after her while asking: "So, why did you want to meet alone?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? Let's enjoy a date for a while longer before getting on to serious stuff."

"But this is… you know what, never mind. We'll do whatever you want."

"Great. Let's go grab some snacks. We'll head towards the central garden as soon as it starts to darken outside."

I kept getting dragged around form store to store and she made me buy her all kind of sweets before we reached what she called the central garden. It was no different from a park back on Earth. She dragged me to a bench and we both sat down.

A bit irritated, I said: "You already dragged me through all the city, are you going to finally tell me what you wanted to speak to me about?"

She placed her head on my shoulder, apparently not bothered by my irritation, her hair tickling the back of my neck as she looked into the distance and said in a sad tone: "Did my brother ever tell you about our family?"

Hearing her ask me about her dead family, I reigned in my irritation and nodded quietly which prompter her to continue: "After we grew up and learned the whole story, my brother and I promised each other that we'll eventually find out who was responsible and take revenge, but it was not as easy as it seemed then."

Seeing me not saying anything, she continued with her story: "As time went by, and we kept trying to find out any clues but ended up with nothing, my brother eventually gave up trying to find the truth. He kept saying that, with after so many years having gone by, we're not going to find anything out anymore.". Her voice started breaking slightly and she started tearing as she continued.

"I agreed with him so he wouldn't worry, but I couldn't really give up on it. I kept searching for years, with nothing to show for my effort, but yesterday I received this letter." She said as she removed a piece of paper from her sleeves and handed it to me.

Curious, I picked up the piece of letter and looked at it. It read: "We know who planned the assassination of your family. If you want to know the truth, find us in the forest just outside the Capital at night. Come alone or we won't show up."

I frowned and said: "It doesn't seem that trustworthy to me."

Iris nodded weekly and said: "I know, but at least I now have a lead. I initially planned to ask my brother what to do when he came back from the north, but as soon as he did, he started telling my about everything you did in the war. He looked so happy and excited that I didn't want to break his mood. Then, an idea came to me.."

As the conversation reached this point, she turned her head towards me and said: "I know it's much to ask, but I hoped you would accompany me when I'm going to meet with the ones that sent me the letter. My brother told me you can turn yourself invisible."

I frowned and started thinking about it. It wasn't really my problem, but Oliver was indeed a friend and he helped me quite a lot. Seeing me in deep thought, she said: "I know it's really a lot to ask since you just met me, but I really don't have any other person I can ask except you and my brother and I don't know if he'll agree to me meeting up with the ones who sent the letter."

I really couldn't resist a girl in tears which prompted me to let out a sigh and say: "Fine. I'll follow you to the meeting, but we're going to leave at first sign of trouble."

"Thank youuuu." She immediately hugged me before sitting up. It looked like she planned on going there tonight. Looking at her excited expression, I said: "But we don't know where they are exactly. How are you going to find them inside the whole forest? By searching blindly?"

"The forest is quite small. You will see when we get there."

Nodding, I said: "All right, lead the way. I'll turn invisible and follow after you." As my words ended, I cast the invisibility spell.

"Amazing." Iris exclaimed before she started running in the direction of the city gates. As she reached the gates, the guards were about to stop her, but she showed them a badge that looked the same to the one her brother had and they let her go straight through.

It took ten minutes of walking before she reached the small forest she told me about. It was indeed very small, taking no longer than five minutes to go from one end to the other. Once inside the forest, she started walking carefully through the trees as I followed after her. There was a nervous expression on her face, but under it a trace of excitement could also be seen.

We waited for over an hour until I spotted a couple of shadows moving softly around us, probably checking if there was anyone else here. Apparently Iris didn't notice as she still kept walking while looking around. After not making a move for another ten minutes, a cloaked figure walked out of the shadows and stepped in front of Iris.

She visually tensed up as soon as the figure appeared. I patted her slightly on the shoulder to remind her I was there if she needed me and waited for the cloaked figure to speak.

Iris, probably emboldened by my presence there, looked at the cloaked figure and said: "Are you the one who sent me that letter?"

The cloaked figure replied in a hoarse voice: "Miss Aranna, a pleasure to meet you. We are indeed the ones who wrote you that letter. I'm glad you agreed to meet us alone."

"So, what do you know about who murdered my family?" asked Iris right away.

"Haha.. Patience there little miss. You know that everything has a price. If you want to know who organized the assassination of your family you will have to do something for us first."

Iris immediately asked, her guard raising: "What do you want?"

"We need you to help some of our people get inside the Emperor's courtyard. If you help us with this small favor, we'll give you the information you want."

Iris looked obviously conflicted as soon as the cloaked figure stated his demands. I was also confused about how Iris was supposed to help them get inside the Emperor's courtyard, but I couldn't really ask her at this moment.

Iris looked like she was about to decline before the cloaked figure said again: "Don't be so quick to decline. What if I tell you that the Imperial Family was involved in your parents' death?"

The information shocked Iris as she took a step back and asked: "What do you mean by that? How is the imperial family involved?"

"Hehe.. Help us get inside the Emperor's courtyard and we'll tell you."

Iris looked even more troubled now. After thinking for a while, she asked: "Do you have proof of any of that?"

The cloaked figure snapped his fingers and from the shadows a masked man walked out dragging a tied and beaten guy behind. The masked men threw the tied up guy on the floor in front of Iris and the cloaked figure said: "Tell miss Aranna who you are."

The tied man grunted and said with his head lowered: "One of the assassins that participated in wiping out the Aranna family."

"See? We have one of the men who did it right here. He already told us who paid him and the other assassins to take care of your family. Once you take care of your part of the deal you can even have this assassin to do with as you see fit."

The assassin was startled and tried to speak but the cloaked figure kicked him hard on the stomach which made him pass out in an instant. After doing that, he asked Iris:

"So, miss Aranna, what is your decision?"

Iris looked at the clocked figure before looking at the tied guy laying unconscious on the ground before focusing her eyes on the cloaked figure again. Clenching her fists, she asked: "How many people do you want me to get inside?"

The cloaked figure snapped his finger again and a group of ten people wearing servant clothes appeared from the shadows. Pointing towards them, he said: "These ten. It shouldn't be that difficult for you. I will go with you to make sure everything works out."

Iris nodded and said: "When do you want me to do it?"

"Now."

Iris frowned before saying: "I can do it, but I need you to remove your cloak. I can't get you inside while you're hiding your face."

The situation was already getting out of control. I really didn't expect Iris to so quickly agree to the man's demands. She was obviously desperate to find out anything about what happened to her family.

'It looks like I still ended up getting involved with this rebellion.' I let out a silent sigh and started thinking about the best way I could deal with this situation.

The cloaked figure agreed and removed his cloak, revealing the figure of a handsome looking man. He seemed to be around his thirties and had a small eye patch on his left eye. After removing his cloak, he turned towards the man who brought the assassin and said: "Tie him up to that tree there and keep watch over him. Once our people get inside safely, the young miss Aranna and I will return here."

The masked man picked up the still unconscious assassin and tied him up to one of the trees nearby. Once that was done, the man with the eye patch turned towards Iris and said: "Lead the way, miss Aranna."

Iris nodded, took a deep breath and started heading back towards the Capital together with the eleven men. After pondering for a moment, I decided not to follow after them and waited there patiently. The situation already changed and I also had to start making my move.

After Iris and the group were out of sight, I knew I didn't have that much time and decided to start with capturing the assassin and the masked man. As I channeled my mana, I used spatial magic and appeared behind the masked man. Before he had any chance to react, I grabbed his neck and used my mana to stop the blood flow to his brain. He passed out before he could figure out what was going on.

With that done, I grabbed both the masked man and the assassin and teleported together with them inside the inn room where Anise was reading.

Seeing me appear together with two unconscious men, she immediately put down her book and walked up to me: "What happened?"

I explained the situation in as little words as possible before saying: "I want you to find out all that you can from these man. Try not to kill them if possible. I have to go and make sure Iris doesn't do anything stupid."

Anise nodded and I teleported back inside the forest, leaving the two men in Anise's hands. Back inside the forest, I recast my invisibility spell and started walking in the same direction Iris and the others went. Thankfully, I managed to find them just as they reached the city gate.

At the gate, the guards stopped them right away, but Iris took out the same badge as before and they were let inside right away. I followed after them as they made their way undisturbed towards the castle in the distance. Thinking that I should consult with Oliver before I do anything else, I opened the map and looked for his location only to find out that Oliver, Lysa and Velor were all located straight in the direction we were walking. To be more exact, they were all inside the Emperor's courtyard.

'I knew that their family must be quite important but this…' I already had an idea about everyone's identities by now. I was just about to teleport to them when Ai said:

[Don't. The Imperial Wizard must have the space inside the courtyard locked. As soon as you try to teleport there you will get spotted and might even get in trouble.]

He words rang true and made me rethink my plan. Since I could not ask for Oliver's opinion, I had to deal with this on my own. I for sure couldn't let these men inside the Emperor's courtyard, because even if they fail or succeed Iris will end up in deep trouble.

Since I couldn't feel any mana from any of them, I knew I was safe from any kind of space locking and decided to take care of them first. Once we reached a street that was a little less crowded, I sent a wind blade towards the entire group before teleporting in the middle of them, grabbing Iris's hand and teleporting together with her away.

They all reacted surprisingly quick and I only managed to kill two of them. The ones furthest back were too close to dodge and were sliced in two, but the others crouched under the attack before charging at me right away with some daggers that they were hiding inside their clothes.

The people all around were startled by the attack and started running around like headless chickens. Figuring that the guard will probable be here shortly, I channeled my mana and teleported together with Iris on the roof of a building a bit further away, but not for enough that I couldn't keep an eye on the situation anymore.

As soon as we appeared, Iris looked at me and angrily said: "Why did you do that? Now I'm not going….".

I blocked her mouth so she would stop yelling and continued observing the situation. As soon as both Iris and I disappeared, the men didn't waste any time in spreading out and running in different directions. I didn't care about the other men, but I kept following the one with the eye patch with my sight.

Once he was far away enough from the others, I let go of Iris and teleported behind him. After knocking him out as well, I picked up his unconscious body and teleported back to the rooftop. Grabbing Iris's hand, before she could protest, I teleported once more and arrived inside the inn room.

Iris looked like she was about to start complaining again, but noticing that the assassin, the masked man and the man with the eye patch were all here she didn't say anything and just looked at me.

I immediately said: "Go home and tell your brother to come here as soon as possible. I'll make sure to get all the information out of these guys by the time you come back."

Iris bit her lower lip and nodded before turning around and walking towards the exit. Once she was gone, I let out a sigh of relief and turned towards Anise: "How was it?"

She was just sitting in front of the assassin with a grave expression on her face. As she heard my question, she beckoned for me to come closer and undid the assassin's gag before saying: "Tell him what you told me."

The assassin nodded with a fearful look before saying: "We were a total of twenty four assassins, all belonging to a not that big but very effective assassination group. One day, as we were just starting to build up our reputation, we got a big enough job that if successful we would have been set for life. We had to kill the entire Aranna family in a single night. Excited by the huge reward, we accepted the job and took care of it in a single night just as we were supposed to. As we returned to our lair after the job, we fell into an ambush and almost all of our group was killed. I was the only one who survived since I had something to do and didn't return with the others. Pissed off, I decided to investigate and avenge my brothers, but after finding out who the employer really was, I had no choice but to give up."

"Who was it?" I asked.

"Grand Duke Orwell. The Emperor's brother."