"Finally, you are here!" said Magra when we entered his office.

The Captain was with a cloak and underneath it, I noticed that he was wearing armor.

"You plan to participate as well?" I asked surprised.

"Yes, there is too much at risk." he answered me and then looked back at the elf guard sitting in his usual place. "If someone comes with problems you can't handle, ask them to come tomorrow." he finished instructing her.

"You don't need to worry, Captain." she answered.

"You just want to run away from your paperwork!" shouted pixie sitting on her head. I recognized her as Rin, the last time we meet with her was right after night attack, when she checked us if we are not lying.

"Yeah, yeah.." Magra paid her no mind and looked at another guard. "Any new developments at Riverwind?"

"No, Captain." answered the guard.

"Problems?" asked Phoenix.

"Yes. Reports from our spies say that Kalh'dor Household is gathering troops at Riverwind. While officially it's just a military exercise, I don't buy it. It's one thing If they did that at Aredia, but Riverwind... it's a region closest to our city..."

"Captain. everything is ready." another guard stepped into the office.

"Ok guys, Melody is in charge, so no funny business while I am away." he said to a group of guards staying behind, and then gestured for the rest to follow him.

"Wait, we have our party members waiting outside, can they join the operation?" quickly asked Phoenix.

"I thought I said to keep it a secret?" he looked at us with a frown.

"We did. They don't know the details, but we are sure they would like to join." continued Phoenix.

To be honest I wasn't so sure it's a good idea. Our opponents weren't monsters, and not all in our group have high reflexes. Shadowstep can be very deadly. There was also a fact that they were still newbies when it comes to handling firearms. Perhaps only Turion could be considered as an expert.

I looked at his status again. We already had a permission to check the status of one another, it was so we can plan accordingly.

> Name: Turion Deo Lartilua Health: 320/320 Level: 26 Mana: 735/735 Race: Elf Stamina: 318/318 Gender: Male Strength: 65 Age: 34 Agility: 63 Class: Spellbow Endurance: 85 Subclass: Skinner Mind Power: 105 State: Healthy, Enslaved (Darson) Unallocated attribute points 0 > ACTIVE Blast Arrow (Special) LVL 4 Sprint LVL 5 Reinforce Weapon (Special) LVL 3 Mana Manipulation LVL 4 Trajectory Correction (Special) LVL 2 Analyze LVL 2 PASSIVE Eternal LVL 1 Nightvision LVL 4 Poison Resistance LVL 2 Enhanced Hearing LVL 4 Bow Mastery LVL 8 Enhanced Sight LVL 5 Handguns Mastery LVL 7 Acrobatics LVL 5 Accuracy LVL 9 Mana Perception LVL 7 Dismantling LVL 5 Enhanced Mana Pool LVL 1 Martial Arts Mata Coun LVL 2

As this time I used his full name, I could see his status without any problems. His accuracy was superb even before we made them guns, and once he got the hand of using firearms, it raised even more.

Unlike his master, I could see that Turion was actually working to earn his levels. I mean, even with the highest level among us, Darson had no mastery with any weapon or martial arts. It was obvious that for a long time Darson gained experience only thanks to simply being in a party.

"Fine. But they will have to answer some questions in a presence of Rin. I need to be sure there is no enemy in our midst."

"Just great. A headache is all I needed." grimaced pixie as she heard that.

*

"Greetings Captain, as promised, I gathered some men to help you eradicate the evil from our world."

As we entered the Temple of Silver Sword Order, we were greeted by an elf, and judging from his attire, just a bit similar to those of priests, he was someone with a high rank. Behind him was a group of templars and priests.

"Thank you, Elder Aradan. We appreciate your help in this matter..." slightly bowed Magra.

Elder? This was a rank in the Order and not the age. It was even higher than a High Priest, and only a Sage, who was considered as the right hand of Goddess herself, was above them.

From what I remember about elders, his influence shouldn't end with this temple. A single elder has a command over all priests and templars in their dominions, which usually are from six to ten temples, scattered in towns and cities around.

"It's alright, our Order has a very good reason to help you." smiled Aradan, and then looked at our group.

The moment he caught a sight of our friends he frowned, but after a moment his smile returned back on his face.

"You must be Reveon and Melissa. " he looked at me with Phoenix.

"Yes, Elder." slightly bowed Phoenix.

"No need for formalities. I just wanted to thank you for your help earlier. If you ever find yourselves in the need our help, don't hesitate to ask." he said and then looked back at our friends. "I have to ask .. those slaves .. they are not yours I hope?"

"No, but their masters are our friends." answered Phoenix.

"I know we are short on time but I would like to have a few words with them." said elder while looking at Darson with Jack. Seems he didn't suspect Tia was a master as well.

"It's wrong to treat another person like a merchandise." he started speaking while leading them a bit further. "But the Goddess is merciful and it's not too late..."

Ah, yes. I forgot that the Order was against slavery.

After a half hour of 'brainwashing', they returned. Darson looked a bit pissed and the gaze of Jack and Tia was directed at the floor.

"Let's proceed, your people are waiting at the Portal." said elder to Magra and then started heading deeper into the Temple.

"We meet again." Phoenix placed a hand on the shoulder of a templar.

"Yes, we did." answered the templar with a smile. His name was Brandon and was the same templar, whose group was escorting Adam, the Champion of Goddess. Now he was a part of a group that joined the assault.

"When I heard what happened, I was sure it was you guys. I am sorry if this was because you helped us." he said. I am sure he meant that night attack when assassins were aiming to kill us.

"Don't worry, they needed a portal stone we found on the body of that assassin. It's thanks to it we will be able to reach their base. And like I said before we were hunting for that assassin, so we would be in that mess regardless." answered Phoenix with a smile.

"I see."

"Don't mind him, Master. I am perfectly fine as your slave." I overheard Elmor comforting Tia. She was still a bit downhearted after a chat with the elder.

*

"I have no obligation to go there personally. As promised, I will send you there, but you will return back with portal stones I gave you." as we got closer to the portal, I saw Enchanter Arnis arguing with soldiers.

"But what if something goes wrong? We need you to ensure the success of our mission." argued back dryad.

There were nearly forty soldiers, and with a group of Magra that makes fifty. Nearly twenty templars, three priests, and our party make that number into nearly eighty. It was quite a force.

"Don't worry, you won't have to. Our friends here know Space Time Magic as well, and can make teleportation circles if needed." interrupted them Magra.

"Captain!" she saluted and then looked at us.

"Oh, I remember you!" she shouted when noticed us. "Still calling him a Master?" asked dryad while looking at me.

What a small world. Her name was Amara and the last time we meet her, she was a leader of a patrol unit. With a suspicion of me being enslaved illegally, she brought us to Magra. All because someone overheard me calling Phoenix Master .. even though I was no longer a slave.

"Why would she call him as Master?" Tia asked with interest, there was no sign of that gloomy mood from just a moment ago.

"Hmm, I think it was a habit. Not long ago she was his slave." with just a few words, the dryad easily revealed most of my secrets.

"Really?! Hey, Melissa, why haven't you told us anything about this?!" shouted Tia.

Darson with his slaves and Jack looked at me with a shock, only Elmor paid it no mind.

I sighed in defeat. Will have so much explaining to do...

"I knew I was right about you." smiled Elder Aradan while looking at Phoenix. He probably thought Phoenix bought me, with the intention to free me from the start...

"I would like to remind we have a very important mission ahead of us. Would you be so kind and leave all the drama for later?" interrupted Magra while heading to the portal.

The portal was a wide round platform diameter of ten meters with six pillars at the edges. I am sure there are more portals in the city, but I doubt any of them could teleport many people at once like this one.

*

The moment we teleported to the base of assassins, magic circle started forming under our feet. Without any delay, I summoned my phantom claws and after stabbing them into the ground activated devour mana at maximum speed.

With a large part of mana missing, the spell faded away before inducing what it was intended for.

"Be careful, this place is full of traps." I said while looking around.

The base of assassins was ruins of a castle. It was leaning a bit to the side, and it was evident they didn't build it themselves. I could feel that we were underground. There wasn't a single window there, or rather not anymore. Only confines in the wall of stone indicated their previous location, and without any source of light, it was quite dark there .. even with my nightvision.

Nightvision reached level 3. Nightvision reached level 4.

While I was looking around, some soldiers ignited their torches, and when Brandon activated his skill, his shield started radiating with light.

This was a skill common among templars 'Illuminate', it's rarely used like this. Its main purpose is to blind your opponent.

"This is..." someone said from a group.

"Yes .. we are too late... Dammit. All those preparations and secrecy was a wasted effort." said Magra while looking around.

The place was abandoned, and judging from the scent, it was so for a few days. Aperantly, assassins took everything they could and destroyed or burned the rest. A large pile of ash could be seen in the center of the hall.

To be honest, I expected this, it's been nearly a week. They would be idiots if just waited.

"Stop!" I shouted when noticed one of the soldiers entering a corridor.

"You sense someone?" tensed up Magra.

"No. But I already said this place is full of traps. If they really abandoned this place, they can go all out with the traps, there is no telling what they left for us. For all we know, that previous trap might have been capable to bury us alive." I said while inspecting our surroundings. "We need to tread carefully."

There was a lot of traps, some were here for years, probably part of their primary defense, but most were fresh. If not for my mana perception and high level in enchantment magic, it would be very easy to miss.

"That's not all." joined Phoenix. "Something is interfering with magic. If we don't find the source, we can forget about leaving this place via teleportation."

"Fuck! .. Wait a second! If that was the case, how we managed to get there? Does it mean someone is still there to hinder us?" asked Magra.

"Not necessarily, it has no effect on the spell that was activated already, but now that we are here, this 'enchantment' prevents from casting it in the first place. In short, we are stuck."