At the western edge of the Ravtell city, near the entrance of the Atelier Forest.

Many people dressed in silver armor, could be seen surrounding a certain area in a perimeter. They were armed to the teeth, complete with a sword at their waist and a spear in their hand, which pointed up to the sky.

Whenever any person tried to peek into the area, a guard will come forward and warned them.

The more patient one would say, "Please step back for your own safety."

While the strict one would yell, "Nothing to see here, move along!"

Initially, some people with untoward intentions planned to take advantage of the commotion. But after seeing the Royal Insignias on the knights' armour, they immediately gave up their death wish.

Suddenly, a loud voice resounded from the back of the crowds. "Make way! Make way!"

A man dressed in rich garments appeared to be accompanied by two men wearing leather armor and a sword strapped on their waist. He was not old, probably only in his early teens. Even so, he always kept his head up, together with a haughty smile that never left his face.

Obviously, such a large commotion did not fail to pique this young noble's curiosity.

"Stop!" A guard slammed his spear to the ground in a threatening manner. "You shall not pass!"

This time, the haughty young man stepped forward and said, "Good afternoon, sir knight. I am Carlsen from the Mark family. Can you be so kind as to let me in?"

There was no trace of haughtiness on the young noble anymore as he greeted the Imperial Knight politely. After all, everyone knew that the Imperial Knights served directly under the royal family.

They were all elites of at least 5th grade of Mana Affinity and carried the pride of the royal family. As such, not many nobles were willing to offend them.

"This…" The knight hesitated.

The political situations in the kingdom were complicated to begin with. Even if the military might of the royal family was greater than that of the nobles, they were not willing to offend the nobles for no reasons either.

What if it will incite rebellion? By then, what of the life of the people? How about the economic situation during the aftermath? What if other kingdoms started their advance?

Without any surety on answering these questions, both sides thought that it was to maintain peace.

"Please wait here." The knight bowed his head slightly. "I will report to-"

"There is no need." A hoarse voice suddenly resounded, accompanied by the metallic sounds of clanking armor.

An old man approached from inside the perimeter. He dressed similarly as the knights around. Though, no helmet covered his head, which let his white hair fell freely on his shoulder.

Wrinkles filled every corner of his thin face; even his french-cut beard had turned white. Although he looked old in every way, his right eye showed a powerful determination saying that he still had many years left to live. His left eye? There was no left eye, only a patch of old scar that would scare away children.

"Good day, young master Carlsen." The old man put his right hand on his chest, then slightly bent his waist forward.

"S- s- sir Nicholas." The young noble returned the greeting in a clumsy manner.

"Can you do this old bones a favor and turn back for now?" Nicholas said. "The royal family will inform you when the time is right."

"Of course, of course!" Carlsen then turned around and yelled at his two retainers, "Let's return!"

Once again, the crowd parted, making a path for the young noble to pass through. Though, this time, he was rather in a sorry state of mind.

When they were finally far enough, one of the retainers could not help but ask, "Who was that sire, young master?"

Carlsen took a deep breath and exhaled a mouthful of air. After puffing his chest once again, he spoke to the man, "Nicholas Aubur. Surely you have heard that name, yes?"

This time, both of the retainers' faces went pale.

"One of the two Grand Commanders of the Imperial Army? What is he doing here…"

Carlsen shook his head. "I don't know. But it must be something big for him to make a move."

"For now, I will report this to father," he said, taking off toward the northern district once more.

…

As Nicholas saw the young noble went away, he patted the previous Imperial Knight's shoulder before saying, "Keep up the good work!"

The knight instantly felt elated after hearing his idol's remarks, but he did not let it show.

"Yes sir!" the knight exclaimed, swearing inside that he would brag to his colleagues later.

Satisfied with his subordinate's discipline, Nicholas gave a "Hm" and retreated back into the area.

He walked forward for twelve steps, then stopped. Lifting up his right hand into the air, he drew three Runes in a quick succession by which an invisible barrier parted open and revealed the true reality behind it.

Bloody red.

Dried blood covered the forest ground, like a painting of hell. Pieces of human flesh and brain matters scattered around, while dismembered corpses of varying degree were clearly visible. Some stuck on the tree branches, some smashed deep into the ground, some had their face and torso completely ripped apart.

Such a sight was not a new occurrence to the war veteran Nicholas. Nonetheless, for a massacre happening near the city, the kingdom's capital on top of that, was simply unforgivable!

After walking deeper for awhile, he finally saw the back of a man in a trench coat who sat on a broken log while smoking a cigar.

Arriving right next to the man, Nicholas asked, "How is it, sir Robert?"

The man puffed out a mouthful of smoke, then slowly turned his head to Nicholas.

One noticeable feature of his face was his spiked black hair which sides connected to his facial hair --forming a full beard. Another was his thick and slanting eyebrows on top of his tiger-like eyes.

Though Robert was only about half of Nicholas's age, his calm countenance on such massacre showed that he was a man of countless experience too.

"Sir Nicholas…" Robert sighed. "Luna is still going at it… but it doesn't seem she will give us a good result."

Robert pointed his finger at a teen girl in a distance, which seemed to be in full concentration on operating a translucent dome of magic formation.

Her eyes had turned red from overworking and her teeth were chattering. Still, her hands never stopped drawing complex Runes, trying hard to maintain the magic dome as stable as she could. But before long, the formation shattered like glass.

Luna succumbed onto the ground as she breath heavily with a tint of blood leaking out of her nose.

Robert sighed once again, stepped on the cigar butts, and approached the sulking girl.

"Satisfied now?"

"I'm sorry I-"

"Enough!" Robert picked the girl up in a princess carry. "I told you to stop minutes ago and now you can't even stand on your own!"

Hearing his rebuke, Luna smiled wryly and relaxed between his arms. "Sorry… and thank you."

"So, the thing is even stronger than you both, huh?" Nicholas asked.

"That seems to be the case…" Robert replied. "This is getting dangerous, sir Nicholas, tell your men to increase the security. The thing is still hiding somewhere nearby."

"...I will tell Reymond to help us," said Nicholas, turning around to leave the barrier.

"Yea, that would be better..." Robert took another glance at the deep claw marks on the trees and the corpses. "This is anything but good."