“You should know what trajectory they were on, right?” Linley asked.
Zassler nodded his head. “The path they took should be identical to the path that I had been taken on, unless this squad has already received word of the deaths of Lampson and his men. Only then might they suddenly change their direction.”
“Then let’s go.” Linley immediately rose.
“Groooowl.” Bebe and Haeru, who had been lying on the nearby grass, both stood up. These two magical beasts were very excited. By their nature, magical beasts were violent and barbaric, loving to do battle.
“Right now?” Zassler was a bit startled. “We’ve destroyed all trace of Lampson and his men. Even if the Radiant Church’s people discovered that the manor was empty, they probably would only think that Lampson and his men had left. They wouldn’t discover that Lampson is dead this fast. Even if they found out that Lampson and his men were dead, they wouldn’t be able to send the message to the other squad so quickly.”
“Leave nothing to chance at all. We will immediately set out on the same path that you were taken on and trace our way back,” Linley said immediately.
Zassler, helpless against Linley, could only shake his head, let out a sigh, then rise to his feet as well.
117
Flower-Like Sisters
Dawn. The air was clear and fresh.
Ruskin was leading his two subordinates as they moved at high speed in the direction of the manor where Lampson and the others had settled into last night.
“I must make sure that we take excellent care of Lord Lampson and the others. A single word from Lampson could most likely get us all promoted.” Ruskin was feeling rather frustrated though. “Unfortunately, it seemed as though Lord Lampson is being extremely cautious. They didn’t allow a single attendant to enter the manor.”
As he was thinking these things, Ruskin walked to the gate.
“What’s going on? The gate isn’t shut?” Ruskin frowned. He knew that Lampson and the other lords were on a very important matter. They definitely wouldn’t leave the door open.
He entered the courtyard. As he did, he felt that the courtyard was a bit too quiet.
“Milords,” Ruskin called out.
But his voice echoed out in the courtyard without any response.
“The two of you, look around for me. I’ll go upstairs and see what I can find.” Ruskin had a very bad feeling about this. He immediately headed to the second floor, where Lampson and the others’ rooms had been located.
Every single door on the second floor was open. None were closed.
Entering Lampson’s room, Ruskin immediately frowned. The bed was in a used state, clearly not made. At the same time, at the head of the bed, there was a backpack.
“This isn’t right.”
Ruskin immediately entered another room. Indeed, the bed there was also in a messy state, and a backpack was on a table. As of yet, Ruskin hadn’t seen any problems… but he felt this wasn’t quite right.
“Lord Lampson didn’t even have the time to put on the backpack, and the same was true for the other lords as well. Could it be that something important occurred, forcing Lord Lampson and the others to immediately depart?” Ruskin frowned.
“Milord!” A frantic call from downstairs.
Ruskin’s face changed, and he immediately rushed down the hallway, then jumped down directly from the balcony to the courtyard.
“What is it?” Ruskin looked at his two subordinates.
“Milord, there are bloodstains here.” The two of them pointed at the wall.
Originally, Zassler had ordered his undead minions to destroy all traces of the deceased. Virtually all traces, including bloodstains, had indeed been removed. But when the Blackcloud Panther, Haeru, had smashed open that Special Executor’s skull with one paw, blood had splattered everywhere. Although those undead minions were very industrious and careful, there were still a few tiny traces remaining.
“Bloodstains. And the lords have all disappeared?”
Staring at the quiet courtyard, Ruskin felt as though an enormous boulder was pressing against his chest. “A battle occurred here. As for the lords, could it be that they are in pursuit?”
Ruskin knew how astonishingly powerful the six of these lords were. He didn’t believe that someone could kill these six lords.
Ruskin instructed his two subordinates, “The two of you, head out immediately towards the provincial capital of Basil. Report this news back.”
“Yes!”
But before the two subordinates had even reached the provincial capital of Basil, Linley’s group had already encountered the second squad mid-way.
“It’s them?” Linley, Bebe, Zassler, and Haeru were hiding in some tall, wild grass by the roadside.
Zassler looked at the four knights surrounding a carriage. Nodding, he said, “Right. It’s them. The two girls should be inside the carriage.”
“Inside the carriage?”
Linley frowned, then looked at Bebe. “Bebe, I expect that the carriage will have more than just those two girls. There should be people guarding the girls as well. Bebe, you are physically small. Your assignment will be to enter the carriage at high speed and kill those guards.”
Zassler nodded. “This squad should also have six people, all men. There should be two more men inside this carriage.”
“Did you hear that, Bebe? Kill the two men inside the carriage.” Linley laughed as he rubbed Bebe’s head.
Bebe hopped onto Linley’s shoulders, lifting his little head up confidently as he squeaked at Linley. “Boss. Have I, Bebe, ever let you down?”
Linley chortled lovingly.
“Let’s do this,” Linley said to him mentally.
Bebe immediately grew solemn as he stared at the carriage with his little eyes. And then, he quietly snuck through the tall grass, drawing closer to the carriage…
Within the carriage, there were two beautiful, jade-haired identical twin sisters. Their eyes were slightly red and swollen, and they were staring hatefully at the two men opposite of them.
“You bastards,” one of the two, the one whose eyes were slightly larger, cursed in a low voice.
The two men only smiled at them, not minding in the slightest.
“Rebecca, don’t curse anymore. Cursing these pieces of garbage is a waste of energy. And to think, we believed in the Radiant Church all these years and prayed to the Lord to bring us happiness. Who would’ve thought that they would be this vile.” The other girl’s eyes were also filled with hatred.
“Big sis.” Rebecca miserably clutched at her older sister’s hand.
Rebecca and Leena hailed from the 48 Anarchic Duchies. They had followed their father in believing in the Radiant Sovereign, but who would’ve thought that the Radiant Church would kill their parents, then abduct them.
With their parents dead, Rebecca and Leena were now without family.
And now, their future had turned to ashes. They couldn’t see any hope.
“Father. Mother.” Rebecca and Leena began to tremble as they thought of their parents. All these years, their parents had protected them, no matter how much chaos and war there had been in the Anarchic Lands.
But this time…
“Leena. Take your little sister and run.” Their father had tightly held onto a combatant of the seventh rank at the last moment of his life. Despite only being a warrior of the fifth rank, their father had managed to drag it out for a few seconds longer.
But unfortunately, the Radiant Church’s forces were too strong.
“God, please rescue us,” Leena was shouting in her heart. “So long as you can rescue us and give us a chance to seek revenge, I am willing to sacrifice everything, including my very soul.”
She had watched as her parents died. She wanted revenge.
Unfortunately. God was too far away from them. How would he be able to sense the desires of these two ordinary souls?
“Slash.” Suddenly, a very strange sound rang out.
Leena and Rebecca both turned in surprise. They only saw a black blur flash by. “Slash!” The sound rang out a second time, and blood spurted everywhere.
Rebecca and Leena stared in shock.
The heads of the two men who had been guarding them suddenly slumped down. Half of their neck had been cut off. They were unquestionably dead.
“Who was it?” The twin sisters stared in shock, then suddenly were overjoyed. They knew that someone had rescued them. They looked in all directions, but they couldn’t see their savior.
“Squeak, squeak.” A sound rang out from beneath them.
Rebecca and Leena both lowered their heads, only to see an adorable little black mouse standing there, holding his head up in a very arrogant fashion. In a very human-like manner, it used its sharp claws to stroke its whiskers.
“A rat?” Both Rebecca and Leena were confused.
Bebe immediately grew angry, and he quickly jumped up while waving his little paws around wildly. He suddenly transformed into a black blur, flashing past them.
“It was the rat?” Rebecca and Leena began to understand.
Bebe had made no noise at all when he had killed those two. What’s more, the carriage wheels continuously rumbled as the carriage rolled along the road. The four knights outside hadn’t noticed a thing.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, a miserable scream from outside.
“Roaaaar!” A furious roar from a beast.
Rebecca and Leena looked at each other, then immediately pushed open the carriage door. The carriage driver had already collapsed, his fresh blood staining the carriage.
Rebecca and Leena quickly turned to look at the four knights.
But all they saw…
Was four devilish flashes of violet light. The three knights didn’t have a chance to react before their heads went flying, while the warrior wearing black armor, Linley, landed gracefully in front of the carriage, the adamantine heavy sword on his back.
“Hello. You’ve just been freed,” Linley said with a smile.
Seeing the powerful youngster in front of them, Rebecca and Leena were both somewhat stunned. In their eyes, those knights were extremely powerful. But it seemed as though to this youngster, those knights weren’t even capable of resisting for a moment.
“Rebecca and Leena. Hello there,” an ancient voice rang out. Only now did Zassler stand up from amidst the grassy field.
Seeing Zassler’s bony, decrepit body, as well as his extremely long, white eyebrows, Rebecca and Leena both called out in excitement, “Grandpa Zassler!”
They had travelled with Zassler for a time under common guard, so they knew each other.
“Grandpa Zassler, who is this lord?” Rebecca and Leena both looked curiously towards Linley. Suddenly, the two sisters noticed an enormous black panther was drawing near them. The panther’s cold, eerie eyes made both Rebecca and Leena feel frightened.
“Don’t be afraid. Haeru, stop scaring them,” Linley barked.
“Arooo.” Haeru made a placating voice towards Linley, then lowered his head and moved to the side, no longer daring to go frighten these twin sisters.
“Rebecca, Leena, this is Lord Linley. He isn’t any weaker than me.” Zassler chortled.
“Truly?” Rebecca and Leena stared at Linley in shock.
It wasn’t that they didn’t believe Linley was powerful; it was that they had seen how, when Zassler was being escorted, how much the Radiant Church had valued him. His jailors even had a Cardinal in their midst. Zassler had bragged to these sisters before about how he was capable of destroying a million-man army. It was only because he was surrounded and attacked by over ten combatants of the ninth rank that he was finally captured.
“Grandpa Zassler. It was this adorable mouse who saved us.” Rebecca and Leena immediately turned their heads to look at Bebe.
Bebe was currently standing on top of the carriage. He smirked at her, and then in the blink of an eye, he scurried onto Linley’s shoulders.
“You’re talking about Bebe? This is a magical beast which Linley tamed.” Zassler laughed as he introduced Bebe. Then he looked at Linley. “Linley. Let me introduce you. The younger sister, Rebecca, has slightly larger eyes. This one is the older sister, Leena.”
Linley smiled and nodded.
“Zassler, should we send these two girls back, or…?”
In Linley’s opinion, these two girls were of no use to them. After all, no matter how pure their souls were, that didn’t mean they were very powerful.
“Grandpa Zassler, we have no place to go.” The older sister, Leena, immediately grew frantic. Begging, she said, “Grandpa Zassler, let us come with you. We know that you’ve killed the Radiant Church’s people. We also want to seek revenge for our parents.”
“Grandpa Zassler, we’re begging you.” Rebecca also beseeched him.
Zassler was planning to take these girls with him all along, with the intention of possibly inducting the twins into the dark art of Necromantic Magic. But he had to get Linley’s concurrence as well.
“Linley, let’s just take them along with us. Leena and Rebecca can both cook. We can’t always just eat roast meat in the valley, can we?” Zassler laughed.
Hearing his words, Rebecca and Leena hurriedly said, “We can do anything. We can fry, cook, clean.”
The two of them knew that without anyone to rely on, two beautiful girls such as them would have a disastrous fate. Seeing how highly Zassler seemed to value Linley’s opinion, they knew that Linley was undoubtedly an expert as well. This would give them an even greater chance of getting revenge.
Linley glanced at the two siblings. Facing their beseeching gaze, he nodded. “Fine.”
Rebecca and Leena’s eyes were instantly filled with a radiant, joyful light.
“Let’s go. We’re going back,” Linley instructed.
Linley’s group once more returned to the mountain valley, but this time with the addition of these two siblings. The four of them shared one point in common: They were filled with hatred towards the Radiant Church!
118
Investigation
The Northwest Administrative Province, one of the seven major provinces of the O’Brien Empire, was a vast place, with tens of millions of citizens living in it. The Northwest Administrative Province’s provincial capital, Basil, was the most developed of the province’s cities. Within the walls of Basil alone were over a million people.
Within Basil, there were many ancient clans as well.
Count Perry was a relatively unassuming noble within Basil City. But amongst the ancient clans, he had quite a bit of influence. In addition, he was an extremely amiable person who never fought with others or struggled for influence. Virtually all of the nobles of the city were on good terms with him.
“Milord Count, you’ve returned.” The guard outside the gate to his mansion smiled and bowed.
Count Perry was two hundred years old, and all his hair had turned silvery-white. But his long beard was as resplendent as it had been when he was young. Count Perry nodded slightly towards the guard, laughing warmly, “Oh, you’ve gotten a haircut. This haircut suits you. Did you get it done at old Locke’s place?”
Hearing the words of praise, the guard was immediately all smiles. “Right. Mr. Locke is really quite skilled.”
Beaming, Count Perry entered his mansion.
“Count Perry really is a nice man.” The guard sighed to himself.
Count Perry really was a very kind person. This was the opinion of virtually everyone in the City of Basil. Count Perry didn’t like to kill people and didn’t like foul language. His every action demonstrated the ethics and nobility of a noble gentleman.
He entered the inner courtyard.
Count Perry’s face suddenly sank.
“What is going on? How could something like this happen multiple times?” Count Perry was very frustrated. Just a few days ago, he had received the news that Cardinal Lampson and his Ascetics and Special Execu
tors had disappeared within the prefectural city of Cerre. And now, he had received the news that the squad that had been escorting those two girls had been killed, and the girls had vanished.
Count Perry, after becoming the person responsible for the affairs of the Radiant Church in the Northwest Administrative Province of the O’Brien Empire, hadn’t encountered such a thorny problem in a long time.
“I hope Lord Lampson hasn’t met with any trouble.”
Perry prayed silently.
If those two girls had been saved, then they had been saved. It wasn’t of major concern. But Lampson and the other five were all experts of the ninth rank, and the person they were escorting was an Arch Magus necromancer of the ninth rank. This affair was the most important affair he had ever encountered after taking on the responsibilities for the Northwest Administrative Province.
“Milord Count.” A hawk-nosed, tall and skinny man with curly hair walked in. Bowing respectfully, he said, “We’ve already completed our investigations regarding the missing lords.”
Perry immediately looked at him. “Speak, fast.”
“Based on our sympathizers’ reports in the province, the lords still have yet to appear in any other cities. In addition, we’ve activated our entire network of sympathizers within the prefectural city of Cerre, yet we still haven’t found anyone who saw the lords leaving the city,” The hawk-nosed man replied respectfully.
Perry stared.
“What?” Perry’s heart, previously tense, genuinely began to quiver. “Lampson and the other lords couldn’t possibly have remained in the prefectural city of Cerre this entire time. And if they did stay in Cerre, there would be some trace of them. Lampson and the others must have been attacked. It is also possible that Lampson and the others could have exited the prefectural city of Cerre late at night by leaping past the city walls.”
“But even if that was the case, Lord Lampson should still have reappeared in a different city.”
Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 92
