Chapter 45:

“You seem new. Why don’t we show you around~”

Amelia grit her teeth facing the three eyesores before her. From the moment they stepped foot into the patrol’s section of the fortress, three adventurers had set their eyes on her.

They were in the patrol’s gathering hall and around them were all the soldiers and adventurers who’d be handling the defense of Sirocco. Most of the adventurers gathered at the moment were male, but there surely weren't any shortages of females, so why did they have to bother her? Was it because she was the prettiest?

‘Of course not…’ She thought as she peeked to her side where a blue-haired beauty stood undisturbed. Her cold face and aloof body language only accentuated her charm yet no other adventurer dared to approach. That was mainly due to the daunting amounts of Origin she was casually releasing.

‘Third grade, nearing fourth...Core formation!’ She thought to herself as she further studied the woman who looked to be the same age as her.

“Hey sugar, are you listening?” One of the three asked with a grating voice.

With this she finally understood. Amelia wasn’t being singled out due to her beauty or bearing but rather her strength, or lack thereof.

‘They think I’m weak,’ She thought. Clenching her fists.

“Cort, let’s leave,” She said as she pushed aside the three nuisances with Cort at tow.

“Hey wait!” The one who previously spoke ordered as he grabbed her arm. His grip was hard and tight.

“Let go of me!” Amelia shrieked as she released the spell she’d been chanting just in case.

“{Wind Claw}!” She chanted as her hand swiped against the man’s face. Little tufts of razor-sharp winds gathered at the tips of her fingers threatening to slice anything in their way.

“How cute. {Wind Claw}!” The man grabbing her arm said with a smirk as he copied her.

The two hands collided mid-air and Amelia’s was blown back fiercely.

‘Third Grade!’ She thought worriedly, but soon her attention was brought to her back where a sword was heavily moving toward her.

She reflexively closed her eyes and her body froze in fear. She had no time to chant another spell and had no confidence in evading the attack physically.

Waiting for the sword's arrival, various faces flashed through her mind; those of her parents, her brother, and oddly enough, that of Rine.

It was as she thought of him that the sound of metal clashing against metal rang in her ear.

Opening her eyes, she saw a back in front of her.

“Cort?” She muttered.

“I’ll take these two, you take the magician,” He said with a calm smile.

However, Amelia knew better than to believe that smile. She looked toward the sword Cort used to parry the blow; it was shaking ever so subtly.

From the moment they first met, Cort had never really left much of an impression on her. His average looks and stature made him forgettable and his strength seemed to be on par with Calvin’s so that was also unremarkable. Indeed, to Amelia, he was simply known as Rine’s friend.

But that did not seem to be the case now. His cool smile calmed her. She knew they had virtually no chance of winning, but so long as Cort was willing to risk his life for her, then why should she hesitate?

‘I will also try my best!’ She thought as she gave Cort a nod before turning toward the third-grade wind magician.

‘Let’s do this!’

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‘About two hundred adventures with magicians making up one-third of them are currently present. All of the magicians are Wind magicians with the strongest being the blue-haired woman standing calmly by herself in the distance. The number of soldiers is oddly low, only around twenty so far as I can tell. The strongest soldier is the man guarding the door. That’s odd. As for warriors, most are around late low-rank. There are some that are as strong as me, but only one is stronger,’ Cort glanced to a certain woman resting against a wall. Like the blue-haired magician, she was standing alone; aloof to her surroundings.

Cort did not know how, but he knew that she was stronger than him. He also knew that she had tapped into the strength of Aura.

‘Speaking of warriors,’ He returned his attention to the two in front of him. When he first decided to interfere in the fight, he inadvertently focused his eyes, making time slow down from his perspective. Seconds later, however, he found out that the action was unnecessary in many ways. First of all, these men were weak. Pitifully so. Second, it seemed like the soldier who guarded the door had already sent someone to their location, so this conflict would end soon.

That was why instead of following through with his attack, Cort decided to continue feigning weakness, going as far as to visibly shake his hand in front of Amelia. Doing so, he hoped to minimize the attention he would receive from both the guard and the crowd. He did not want to expose his strength too early.

With sharp eyes, he continued to watch the two in front of him. Their movements were so slow, Cort doubted whether they were moving in the first place. The warrior with whom he crossed blows had a scowl on his face and eyes that radiated annoyance.

“Cort?” He heard Amelia ask, only her voice was also slowed, making it annoying.

Nevertheless, Cort did his best to fake a smile as he threw in a couple of words of encouragement. The effect was wondrous and Amelia was now fired up for a fight.

Unfortunately said fight would never happen.

‘It’s about time,’ He thought as he saw a man appear before his group. He was the soldier sent by the guard.

…………………………………………

“I’m sorry, Cort,” Amelia whispered to the man sitting beside her.

They were currently sitting in a room with chains wrapped around their hands; these chains tied them to a table standing in the center of the room. Thankfully, two chairs were provided allowing Amelia and Cort to sit with some comfort.

Before the fight could take place, a soldier stopped them and immediately began questioning the group. A few minutes of bickering passed as Amelia and the other magician slung accusation after accusation at each other. In the end, it was decided that the other party was at fault, but Amelia and Cort would also be punished for dealing the first strike.

“It’s fine Amelia, you did what you thought was right,” Cort replied with a polite smile.

…………………………………………

“You stupid idiot!” Lucy screamed into Rain’s ears.

They were currently on top of the carriage with fierce winds blowing through their hair. The night’s breeze was refreshing and the moon shone beautifully onto the carriage’s top, illuminating it with an enchanting pale silver light.

“You look pretty under the moonlight, Lucy~,” Rain said with a flushed face. Lucy knew that this would happen from the moment she saw her down the first bottle of wine.

“Wake up you drunkard, now’s not the time! Look!” Lucy said urgently as she pointed to the front road where, a distance away, a group of warriors stood with solemn attention. These were merchant Todd’s personal guards. Elites with the ability to wield Aura. Thankfully, no magicians seemed to be present, but the sheer number of warriors was more than enough to make up for that.

The beautiful moonlight shone menacingly against their sturdy-looking armors and, even from this distance, Lucy could see their inscribed swords each more frightening than the last.

“You worry too much love~” Rain kept spouting nonsense while continuously scribbling symbols on pieces of paper.

Lucy hoped to every god known to man that these were the symbols for the teleportation rune, but somehow she doubted it.

“W-what’s the plan?” Lucy asked hesitantly.

“It’s a beautiful night for fireworks, right Lulu?” Rain said with an innocent smile as she began sticking the pieces of paper, now talismans, all over the carriage’s exterior.

Finally realizing what the talismans were, Lucy’s face paled.

…………………………………………

‘What is this shit,’ Franklin thought to himself as he watched the carriage wildly charging toward his troop with no signs of stopping. A few minutes prior, he watched as the coachman was kicked out by their main target. A woman going by the monicker: Fox.

In truth, Franklin wasn’t too thrilled about accepting this assignment from Todd, but he had no choice as he owed the man a debt. It was Todd who provided the funding needed to elevate his gang to the heights it was in today. Going from a run of the mill local gang to a notorious mercenary group known throughout the lands of fire. Their name was feared.

But now they had to spend their precious time running a damn errand. In Franklin’s view, this assignment could have been completed by sending just a single member of his troop, but no. It had to be the entire main force.

‘This is a fucking joke,’ He thought as he watched Fox clumsily steer the carriage toward them. From her flushed face, he could tell that she was inebriated.

“Your orders sir!” A troop member of his asked as she saw the incoming carriage.

She was Jen, his right hand and the second strongest member of his troop. She was diligent and hard-working, if not a bit too tightly-wound.

“Nothing, let them approach,” Franklin said.

“But sir…”

“Ease off Jen. Even if the carriage rammed into us, all that is needed is a single swing from my sword to reduce it to smithereens.”

“Understood. What of Fox and young master?”

“Young master must be kept alive, as for Fox… do with her as you plea-”

His words were interrupted by a peculiar sight.

As the carriage continued its trajectory toward them, he saw one of its doors suddenly open. Seconds later, an unidentified young woman leaped out of the carriage carrying a bundle of cloth.

In the background, Franklin could hear members of his troop snickering to themselves.

“What are they doing?”

“Do they really think that will work?”

“Hey isn’t that bundle of cloth the young master?”

“Haha so even Fox has the good sense to seal the young master’s mouth.”

“Attention!” Franklin roared and almost immediately the noise died down.

Franklin sighed. In truth, he couldn’t blame them as even he found the situation humorous. He could see Fox’s plan from a mile away. She was probably hoping to steer the beast-drawn carriage toward his troop while ditching the carriage mid-charge.

Briefly, he recalled Todd telling him to be wary of Fox as, apparently, she was a skilled Rune Magician.

Franklin scoffed at the idea while he watched Fox jump off the carriage after her accomplice only to pitifully land on her face.

With a wry smile, he ordered. “Jen, go get them. Leave the carriage to me.”

“Yes sir!” She replied as she dashed toward the two young women at break-neck speeds.

Franklin on the other hand remained stationary as he drew his sword. With practiced expertise, he collected the Origin from his surroundings and forcefully adhered it to his blade. The weapon screamed for a moment, but soon enough the inscriptions carved into it kicked into gear. Soon enough the blade’s entire body shone with harsh light and it began to hum.

Just as he was about to unleash his attack, his eyes caught sight of an oddity. On the carriage’s body and even on that of the beast’s tugging it, he saw countless pieces of paper stuck.

“Talismans….” He muttered, thinking back to Todd’s warning.

“Jen! Wait!” But he was too late as his voice was drowned out by the sound of a fierce explosion.

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