kidnapping

(a few minutes ago)

While the massive battle was taking place, Luke was helping the hostages who were still suffering from mana rampage. He wanted to help in the fight but knew he would just be a hindrance since the guards and his parents were levels above him.

'Plus, that king class fight is no joke!'

  It was his first time witnessing such power from a fight, even if that wasn't the full extent of their powers.

He went back to focusing on helping the others since that was the best way he could help right now.

However, an interesting event caught his attention. He saw the 4th princess on her knees, being protected by her escort against three knights. the escort was at the early stage of the bishop rank, but she still hasn't recovered from the gas earlier and the three knights were all late rook class, so they were able to have an upper hand on her.

While she was distracted two mages went behind her back, knocking the princess out with a spell, she tried to resist but was unable to fight back.

As they were taking her away, the guard tried to pursuit them but the knights proved to be more stubborn. Organized in a tight formation which allowed them to keep her trapped and slowly devour her ground.

As he watched the situation Luke decided to pursue the kidnappers instead of helping the princess's escort. Although she was having trouble, Luke's intuition told him that she would emerge victorious.

He casted warp, a 1st rank light spell that distorted the light around him, making him invisible. He also meticulously controlled his mana as to not be detected by the mages which by his estimates where at least 3rd rank.

Keeping his distance while walking through the palace corridors, the mages eventually stopped at a portrait.

As observed from behind a pillar, one of the mages pressed a loosed block on the wall, opening a secret passage behind the portrait.

'Seeing as how they know about this passage, they must have a spy amongst the workers here'.

He waited a bit before entering. Luke wasn't worried about losing them since he could keep track of them by looking at the footprints they were leaving.

After crossing the tunnel Luke found himself at one of the palace's gates nears the southern part of the wall, in front of him was a carriage surrounded by armored armed thugs dressed similarly to the terrorist who indicated the attack.

Among them he felt a strong presence, hiding in the shadows of the tunnel, he deactivated the warp and focused the mana to his eyes.

All of them aside from the two mages weren't mana users, but inside the carriage, a man was sited in a relaxed manner, he was suppressing his energy, but Luke saw trough his eyes that the man as at least as strong as the princess's guard.

Either he was at the bishop rank or close to advancing.

He casted warp again, moving towards one of the trees near the carriage. Once he got close enough to hear their conversation.

- Finally, you guys are back.

- Shut up! This girl's guard was sharp it took three knights to keep her in place.

One of the thugs in the carriage asked.

What about the rest of the nobles?

The mage carrying the princess responded.

- The mercenary's boss is keeping the dukes occupied but the mage, unleashed a nasty spell that made things troublesome. Still investing all that money on the mercenaries was worth it.

- It's all thanks to our generous donor! Now we can finally put those nobles in their places.

Hearing their conversation Luke, couldn't help but be astonished at their confidence.

'Well thanks to this they are letting their guard down'.

- Hey.

The man inside the carriage snapped that them with an autoreactive voice.

- The mission isn't over. Get the princess inside the carriage and let's get out of here.

The terrorists gulped in unison. They all knew better than to get on that person's bad side.

As they started to move Luke began to act. A ball of light was launched at the carriage, exploding on contact, blinding all assailants present.

1st rank light magic flash bomb.

It was the spell that Luke was preparing while they were talking. It took a long time because he decided to cast without the assistance of a magic circle as to not drawn attention.

Descending form the tree he followed up with a smoke bomb, completely obstructing their vision.

Taking advantage of the panic he drew the revolver, shotting both mages in the head. He rushed at the smoke, quickly grabbing the princess, feeling before they could regain their senses.

Despite taking care of the mages, he wasn't strong enough to fight the man that was in the carriage, so he decided on a hit and run.

'The mages were dead, so it wasn't a complete loss'.

With the princess in his hands, he ran towards the small forest behind the palace, hoping to cover his tracks.

**

A gust of wind dispelled the smoke in half. A man in his 20s held a sword filled with a mysterious green energy.

He was wearing the same attire as those terrorists, complemented by a black coat. A mask covered his mouth, exposing his dull brown eyes and fiery red hair.

He glanced at his surroundings, two mages dead and his three companions were trying to make sense of what happened.

He pointed to one of them and yelled out the orders.

- You call for reinforcements, the rest will follow me, they haven't gone far!

The men snapped out of their confusion and executed the commands.

Although it couldn't be seen because of the mask, the red-haired man had a sadistic smile on his face.

'Whoever you are thank you for resisting, now I have a proper reason to inflict some pain!'

**

The city underwent various changes since its foundation, but the royal palace remained the same. That is also true for its forest located in the backyard.

Roughly the size of a football stadium, it was mainly used for hunting competitions hosted by the royal family. Even though they don't host these events due to the decline of magic beasts, the forest is still maintained due to its abundance of rare plants and herbs.

After erasing his tracks, Luke settled the princess down in a nearby tree. He went quite deep into the forest to I should buy him enough time to set some traps and prepare for the enemy.

But first he needed to do something about the princess.

'Its going to be troublesome no matter the option'.

Right now, he had two choices: leave her here and deal with everyone alone or wake her up and ask her to cooperate with him.

The former had a downside of her being out of his vision as he would be worried about the enemies, and it could lead to her getting kidnapped again.

'The one in charge isn't one I could afford to face with my divided attention'.

The latter's downside was the uncertainty if she would listen to him, considering her actions at the party and her past incident.

If Luke woke her up, she would most likely attack him thinking that her was responsible for kidnapping her.

But if somehow he got her to listen, Luke would gain a powerful ally since he felt a great amount of mana from her.

'She must be at least a middle horse rank knight'.

Considering all possibilities, Luke decided that it was better to gamble on her help.

'It will also help me conserve mana'.

He approached her and began casting a heling spell on her.