Hey everyone, since I made you wait a while for the next chapter, I decided to make this one extra long. Enjoy.

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Chapter 8: Plans for the Future

Mordrid POV

It was supposed to be a simple mission. Get the princess to the fortress, bribed the guards and

then kidnap her. Everything was set and all of it went a courting to plan. I would sell the princess

and be given the title of Duke along with some ransom from the other guards from wealthy. Until

they came, at first I couldn’t believe what I heard. Some scaled demi-human saved the princess.

I dismissed it at a joke, but now with it in front of me, I believed it.

The one called Drakus appeared out of nowhere, not only that it apparently brought along

some allies. A mage, a female warrior and a lizard woman. At first I thought they wouldn’t make

a difference but within seconds they killed my men’s with ease.

XXX: “Hmm, casting spells on living being is just the same as dummies. What about you guys?”

XXX: “Yeah, all though I didn’t expect those assassins to die so easily. That was one of my

weakest attack too.”

“Who…who the hell are you people?!”

I couldn’t help but scream as the individual were just having a casual conversation. As if we

weren’t there. The mage casually looked over and let out a sigh.

XXX: “Seeing as you’re dying to know, I’ll tell you. My name is Nu-Ru and that’s all you need to know.”

“Nu-Ru? What kind of name is that?”

The mage or Nu-Ru casually shrugged his shoulders.

Nu-Ru: “That’s my name whether you like it or not. Now then onto the matter at hand. I don’t

know who ordered you to capture the princess but I do know this. You will fail, so I want you and

your extra assassin out in the woods to surrender peacefully?”

*How did he know about our reinforcement?! Does he have some detection spell?*

“Hahaha! That’s a funny joke boy! We out number you, so how about you surrender quietly and

we might spare you?”

I put on my confident look again as to try and get the mage to think otherwise. We still had the

advantage, not to mention if they were there to save them then they would need to protect the

guards as well.

The mage simply looked back to his friends and started conversing with them once more. I felt

sweat dripping down my throat as they still proved to be quite powerful.

Nu-Ru: “Where are the resident of this city?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Nu-Ru: “Where are the people? What did you do to them? Surely you didn’t kill them all did

you.”

“Why would I answer you?”

Nu-Ru: “Because I want to know. If you answer my question, then I’ll answer yours.”

I stared at him, trying to wrap my head around why this mage would care so much. I weighed

my odds before answering.

“They’re outside the city, the guards forced them out.”

Nu-Ru: “Ahh, I see now. You used the guards to evacuate the civilians. With no witness then

you’re free to do whatever you want. Very clever.”

The mage spoke in a condescending tone.

“Enough of this! I answered your question, now you answer mine!”

Nu-Ru: “Fair enough. No.”

I gritted my teeth in annoyance. I readied myself and ordered the guards and assassins to group

up. Soon we surrounded them.

“Fine then we’ll just kill you. But I’m am curious why you were so concerned about the people of

this city.”

Nu-Ru: “Well it wasn’t completely out of concern. I just wanted to know something else, their

safety was secondary.”

“And what might that be?”

Nu-Ru: “Whether or not we can go all out or not. Without civilians, we can actually fight without

worrying about hurting them.”

I was about to laugh his statement off as a mere bluff but there was still a lingering doubt.

There’s forty five of us against four of them. I rationalized the odds and all of it was in our favor

even if we were to lose a lot of men.

“Ha! Bluff all you want, we still outnumber you.”

Once more the mage simply ignored me and went to his comrades.

Nu-Ru: “So here’s the plan, Reptilia, you’ll get rid of the extra assassins. We don’t need prying

eyes. Altina, you’ll protect the princess along with the guards.”

Nu-Ru: “|Life Cocoon| |Tri-barrier|”

Light bended around the princess along with the royal guards. The next second what seemed

like a barrier formed around them. The woman that he was talking to stepped into it and simply

stood there.

Nu-Ru: “Finally Drakus and I will take care of them.”

The two of them causally walked up while the lizard woman disappeared with a trace. I focused

my attention to them.

“You arrogant fools, die! Attack!”

Nu-Ru: “|Enchant- Greater strength| |Enchant- Warrior’s Dance|”

Two mirage of light shined down upon him before quickly rushing towards my men. In a single sword swing, he decapitated the heads of five guards.

Drakus: “|Flash Fire.|”

He extended out his arm and suddenly small bright lights popped in the air. Within a second

they grew to be powerful explosions. Around half of the guards were caught up in the flames. I

could feel the flame from where I was and couldn’t help but shake at its terrifying power.

“You…you fools! Don’t attack the demi-human head on! Assassins kill the mage, we can’t have

him prove aid to the demi-human.”

The assassins that were waiting on the side lines finally made their move. Streaking through the

flames they charged at the mage and demi-human from behind and above.

Nu-Ru: |Electric Cage|

Drakus: |Flare burst|

The air started to shake and spark. Soon bolts of electricity formed and moved all over the air

near the assassins. They moved and connected with one another until they formed a

rectangular box. Those caught up in it were electrocuted instantly. The assassins who were after the demi-human were almost incinerated when streaks of flame burst from his body, hitting everyone closed to him.

Around half of our forces were already gone. The men were shaking in their boots, whimpering like children's. Even the assassins that I was lended had fear in their eyes. I turned my attention back to them as they walked towards us. But it wasn’t over appearing next to them was the lizard women from before.

Nu-Ru: “You’re back, how was the hunt?”

XXX: “Pretty boring most didn’t even realized they I was there. For assassins they suck at their job.”

From the way that they were speaking with one another I concluded that they had dealt with our reinforcement.

Nu-Ru: “It would seems that this little farce has come to an end. Let’s wrap this up shall we.”

“Wait! Please wait a moment!”

To my surprise the mage stopped and simply looked at me.

“You two are strong, there no denying that. How about you join us instead?!”

The other guards looked at me with a mixture of confusion and hopefulness. I tried to ponder on my next words as they could be my last.

“I’ll make sure that you are handsomely rewarded if you help us. Women, gold, power, prestige, anything that you want. You have my word.”

Nu-Ru: “I have another question to ask you.”

“Of course! Ask away and I’ll answer as best as I can.”

Nu-Ru: “What else can you offer.”

I couldn’t help but do a sudden intake as I wasn’t expecting him to ask for more.

“How much do you want? I’ll get you all that you ever want!”

Nu-Ru put his hand on his chin and did a pondering motion. I watched him with caution as I tried to come up with more for the bargain.

Nu-Ru: “Come forth my assailant.”

He snapped his finger and within seconds a pool of shadow formed in front of him. The men were jumpy as the shadow rose from the ground and took shape. It was a person that had a similar outfit the lizard woman. It kneeled in front of him.

XXX: “Yes master.”

Nu-Ru: “Please stand up and show your face.”

The figure did as told, facing our direction she took off her cover to reveal her face. I could hear and see the guards gasping at the sudden beauty. It was a dark elf and the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.

Nu-Ru: “So tell me Mordrid, can you offer someone more exquisite than my servant here?”

He suddenly spoke, bring my attention back to him and the elf besides him. I started to sweat almost uncontrollably as I realized I couldn’t do anything.

“Well….No. But.. I can offer you mountains upon gold, you’ll live like a king!”

Nu-Ru: “I see.”

His casual response gave me a little hope that he could have been persuaded. He opened his bag pouring the contents out of it. At first I couldn’t believe my eye, gold coins was falling endlessly from the bag and they showed no sign of stopping. But it wasn’t just gold coins there were diamonds, jade, beautiful crystal object. All of it poured out into a pile that was about half his height.

Nu-Ru: “Can you offer me equal or more than what I have here.”

“I...I..uhhh.”

Once more I was speechless. At every turn he would one up me.

Nu-Ru: “Regarding power and prestige, well you can probably guess my answer to them. So then, here’s my final question. Will you surrender or do we have to do it the hard way, again.

“We...We surrender.”

…………..

Nu-Ru POV

*Finally, well that’s one thing taken care of. Now onto our second issue.*

I turned my attention away from the knight and the guards to the assassins that were scattered about. I forgot to remind Reptilia to spare one of them to collect some info. Now I have to be careful.

“Now then please surrender quietly.”

Assassin: “Never!”

Within the next second the unexpected happen. They all started to commit suicide. Each one of them pulled out their blades and stabbed themselves in the stomach . One by one they fell.

*Shit! I need to save one of them.*

Out of one of my eye I noticed one who had just gotten his blade out. I intervened as to save him.

“|Gravity down X2|”

I warped the gravity around him, forcing him to the ground and preventing him from killing himself. I let out a small sigh before turning my attention back to the guards.

“All of you drop your weapon and gather around there.”

I gave them an order and pointed to an empty area in the plaza. Reluctantly they followed as they were told and sat down all together. I assigned Altina and Sirva to guard them while I converse with the princess.

When Drakus, Reptilia and I walked over, her guards were a bit defensive, carefully watching us. But that was dispelled when she walked to us.

Lucia: “Thank you...Thank you so much. There are no words that can truly express how grateful I am to you.”

Nu-Ru: “Well your welcome but you should be directing it towards Drakus. He was the one that wanted to come, I just tagged along.”

The princess soon turned her attention away from me and towards Drakus. While they were talking, I walked over to the lone assassin that I tied up with a spell. He was wrapped around a tree, immobile.

“Comfortable? Don’t worry you’ll find that I’m a kind man. So long as you don’t annoy me that is. Now then, who do you work for?”

Assassin: “.....”

I tightened up my fist which activated the spell again. The magical chains started to tightened making him grunt in pain.

“I have no doubt that you know that there are worse things than death.”

Assassin: “......The Black Order.”

“What is your objective?”

Assassin: “Our contract was to capture the Regios princess and then deliver her to our client.”

“Was it just you who was issued the contract?”

Assassin: “...Yes… but when they find out that we failed they’ll finish it. We never leave a contract undone.”

“Who is your client?”

Assassin: “I don’t know.”

“....You think I’ll believe that?”

Assassin: “That’s the truth. We only met some kind of middleman of our client. I’ve never heard or seen him before.”

*It has to be someone who was in a high position of power. By the sound of the organization, it would seem that it is big as well. …*

“You’re telling us the whole story. I’ll be taking you with me.”

Assassin: “I’m afraid that is all you’re getting out of me.”

In the next moment my eye caught the assassin moving his hands to his belt. Through the gaps I saw small black balls. He threw it to the ground which exploded, causing smoke to rise. I put up a small barrier to protect myself. When the smoke cleared the assassin’s body was limp.

*No..no...NO!*

I went to check the body just as Drakus along with the others came over as well.

“Damn it..Damn it..Damn it”

I started curse at the my carelessness. I grinded my teeth while clenching my fist. I looked to the others to see them rather scared of me so I finally decided to calm down. Taking in deep breaths, I calmed myself down.

I deactivated the chains and his body fell to the ground.

Drakus: "What should we do now?"

“I...I don’t know. But first thing's first we need to prioritize the safety of the princess.”

Drakus and I whispered to one another as so the princess won’t hear us. Hundreds of scenarios played in my head as now we were intertwined with the princess now. I had planned to learn more about the world and explore after saving her, but now things are complicated. On a whim I took a chance.

“Princess, would you like to hire us?”

Princess: “What?”

That was the collective reaction from everyone, Drakus and the others included. The princess knows too much about us and we know too little of the world. A collaboration was in order.

“I said would you like to hire us. We may not look like it, but we’re part of a guild. You’re being hunted by powerful people. We can help you.”

The princess looked hopeful but her eyes quickly changed to being cautious.

Lucia: “What exactly do you have to gain from this?”

“Information and secrecy. We’re from a far off continent, your culture is very different from ours. We wish to get accustom to it, what better way than to have a princess as a guide.”

Lucia: “And the secrecy?”

“You’ve seen our power. Our existence is abnormal, especially after revealing it to you. In return for protecting you we expect that our existence to be kept hidden.”

The princess brought her hand to her chin and pondered the deal. The way she conducted herself told me that she wasn’t just an ordinary princess, but an intelligent one was well.

Lucia: “You have yourself a deal.”

In my mind I swiped away imaginary sweat while making a pheww noise. I then reach into my inventory and pull out an egg shaped magic item.

“For now let’s head back to the Grand Sanctuary and plan our next move.”.

*This should protect her for now.*

“Princess take this item. It is an enchanted class magic item known as Hestia’s Blessing. It will put up a magical barrier around the place you intend to stay tonight. It will keep out all of those who have hostile intent towards you and will warn you of their approach. If the warning goes off use the beacon that you acquired from Dracus to alert us and we will come to help.”

Princess Lucia: “I understand. Thank you for your aid and for saving the lives of myself and my guards.”

Drakus: “Don’t think anything of it. We’ll come back tomorrow and let you know about our decision about how we will proceed from now on. Nu-Ru, lets go.”

“|Portal|”

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Assassin Leader POV

I am the leader of an elite assassins guild that does business with both the Regios Kingdom and

the Holy Empire. We receive requests for assassinations and other kinds of dirty work from those that are willing to pay our price. Naturally this includes the rich merchants and the nobility from both countries.

I am currently in our main base on the border between the two human countries and am going over some documents regarding new requests when one of my subordinates burst through the door to my office.

Assassin subordinate: Leader, terrible news. We have lost contact with the 3 squads of assassins that were sent to kidnap the Regios Princess.

“Impossible. Although most of the members that we sent are not considered our elite, they should have been more than enough to deal with the few royal guards she had with her, especially since the one in charge was one of my direct subordinates. In addition they also had the assistance of the city guards and our collaborator within her royal guard.

*It can’t be possible that they were all defeated.*

Assassin subordinate: “Leader what should we do?”

“The first thing we should do is confirm that they failed their mission and are dead. Send several reconnaissance units to do a thorough investigation. Also contact our spies within the city. If it is confirmed that they have failed I will personally head out with our most elite units to finish the job.”

Assassin subordinate: “Yes sir”

After my subordinate heads out I start to think to myself.

*It shouldn’t have been possible for them to have failed. We had overwhelming force on our side. The only way for the mission to have failed would be if an outside force got involved. Unfortunately there is no way to know what happened until the investigation is completed*

After mulling the situation over a little more, I return to my work.

Drakus POV

After we returned to the Grand Sanctuary we decided to hold a meeting to discuss our plans for the future. Everyone was called to the Conference Room, even the guardians accompanied everyone. As soon as everyone was present, we started our discussion.

Nu-Ru: “Okay everyone listen up. Due to recent events, I as the strategist of Crimson Strife have determined that it is necessary for us to leave the Grand Sanctuary in order to go out into the world and learn more about it.

“So we are finally heading out of this place huh.”

Nu-Ru: “Yes, also I have determined that it is necessary for us to split into teams in order to maximize the amount of information that we can obtain.”

Kaetzchen: “So we have to split up nyaa.”

Trion Jazz: “Dude, I don’t like the sound of that!”

Nu-Ru: “Truthfully, I don’t like it either but it is the strategy that guarantees the largest success in gathering a large amount of information about this world. Also I have decided that in order for each group to have enough power, most of the sanctum guardians will also participate in this expedition.”

Shae Alpha: “Won’t that leave the Grand Sanctuary exposed to enemy attack?”

Nu-Ru: “As long as several Guardians are present to coordinate our forces within the Grand Sanctuary, then we should have no reason to fear of enemy invasion. After all, we have confirmed today that the beings of this world are much weaker than ourselves. According to my estimates, most of them should be below level forty. Isn’t that right Reptillia?”

Reptilia: “He’s right. while hunting down the assassins, I was hurt by one. My blood appeared with my health and mana. Numbers flashed telling me the damage just like in the game. I even used my identification skill on a whim. Turns out they have levels as well. The highest one there was around thirty."

I was a bit surprised by the new information but was also greatly confused as well. Was the world we are in real or fake? I quickly shook my head and focused on the task on hand.

“So how are we splitting up.”

Nu-Ru: “There will be six groups in total with five leaving to gather information, while the last will stay to guard the Grand sanctuary.”

Nu-Ru: “The first group will consist of Drakus and Altina who will offer themselves as mercenary guards to Princess Lucia, since it seems like someone powerful is after her. In the process they will also be tasked with learning about the Regios Kingdom.”

When I heard my name along with Altina, I looked at her for confirmation. Oddly enough Altina’s face suddenly grew red

Altina: “Drakus and I alone together”

Nu-Ru: “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ll do great together.”

Altina: “Yes, I will do my best to live up to the title of Grand Guardian of Crimson Strife.”

Nu-Ru: "Anyway the second group will consist of Sirva, Shae Alpha, and I who will go to the Holy Empire to learn about their system of magic as well as to learn about their politics. This is also because we three are the only other ones who can pass off as human."

Nu-Ru: "The third group will consist of Manom, Arsenal, and Orthodox who will go to the demon continent to research the different types of monsters and demons as well as to learn about their current political situation. From what I hear there is some form of civil conflict going on there.""

Arsenal: "You’re kidding! Why am I always stuck with him?"

Manom: "Quit complaining. Since we are the only ones who can go without arousing hostility from the native population, we have to do it."

Arsenal: “I guess you’re right but I still don’t like it. Well at least I might be able to achieve the dream of every man to create a harem since there are a lot of demon women who would be interested in a strong and handsome guy like me.”

Shae Alpha: “Gross!”

Reptilia: “Disgusting!”

Manom: “Such an idiot.”

Arsenal: “Hey, don’t insult the dream of all men!”

Nu-Ru: “If we can please get back on topic.”

Arsenal: “Sorry about that.”

Nu-Ru: “Back to the plan; The fourth group will consist of Kaetzchen, Leona, and Trion Jazz who will head to the Northern Continent in order to find out information about the group that rules there.”

Nuru: “The fifth group will consist of Reptilia, Lissina, and Meral who will go to the Western Continent to learn about the Beastmen and Demi-humans that live there.”

Shae Alpha: “What about the Dragon Continent to the South”

Nu-Ru: “Currently it would be unwise to try to infiltrate the Southern Continent since we have no idea about the level of the strength of the dragons and other monsters that live there.”

“So the others will guard the Grand Sanctuary”

Nu-Ru: “Yes, Dragos, Nabuu and Polygon will head up the defense and maintenance of the Grand Sanctuary while we are away.”

Dragos: “You have nothing to worry about our masters. We will guard the Grand Sanctuary with our lives.”

Polygon: “Beep Beep Boop Beep Beep.”

Naboo: “Yes, I agree Polygon, the masters will have nothing to fear with us standing watch.”

Nu-Ru: “That is all for now, are there any objection?”

I looked around to see everyone with resolve in their eyes. Even a couple of them, including myself were smiling at the prospect of learning more about the world.

Nu-Ru: “Good, I’ve already informed the princess about you Drakus. The rest of us will leave in two day time. Pack up everything and anything that you need and we’ll meet here to go our separate ways. Echo message still work so be sure to keep in touch.

Everyone: “Yes!”