Chapter 52 – A Despicable Plan

PRINCE RAFFLESIA AND THREE OTHER PEOPLE were inside a certain room, looking at a monitor where a map of the kingdom and Shiromori was being displayed. Somewhere inside the forest, a yellow dot was pinging.

“That must be it!!” Edmund jumped out of his seat. “That dot hasn’t been moving for hours! We finally found that Shiropolis!”

“Great work on the tracker, Garanin,” Rafflesia praised.

Garanin scoffed. “You really got to love that U.A. ingenuity. It's their tech and magic that made those trackers possible.”

“Ronin, you may now go where Rourke is and commence the plan.”

“As you command, Prince Rafflesia.”

Edmund poured wine into glasses and gave it to the prince and the knights. “Let's drink first!”

Everyone took a glass and drank their wine to celebrate.

* * * * *

A few hours later, the delegates that visited Shiropolis finally returned to the camp where Rourke and more than a hundred soldiers were waiting for them. The delegates were escorted by some Rogue Archers.

“Sir Rourke, has anything happened while we're gone?” asked Cattleya.

Rourke shook his head. “Nothing, in particular, princess. As a matter of fact, it has been quite boring.”

“That's...great to hear. I guess.”

“Your carriage is waiting, princess. At this rate, we could still make it to the auction. His Majesty would very much appreciate it if you could join him.”

Princess Cattleya and Kiana rode the carriage that will take them back to the kingdom. But instead of leaving with all the soldiers and knights, the carriage immediately left together with the cavalry and some of the infantry soldiers.

“Hey! Don't leave yet!” Thoras yelled at the driver, but he was ignored.

When the carriage was far enough, it stopped and the soldiers forcefully opened the door.

“Why did we stop?” asked Kiana.

Ronan showed up. He grabbed both Kiana and Cattleya and dragged them outside.

Kiana let out a scream. “Let me go!”

“Sir Ronan?! What are you doing?! Let us go!” the princess commanded.

Ronan let go of the two. The soldiers then surrounded them.

“Soldiers! Confiscate his weapon and bring him to the castle throne room! He will answer to the king!” Cattleya angrily ordered, but no soldier moved an inch.

One soldier placed a torch inside the carriage and let it burn. Archers then shoot the burning carriage, making it look like Rogue Archers attacked the carriage.

“My apologies, princess. I was ordered to take you in alive, but make no mistake. I can take a limb or two.” Ronan unsheathed his sacred weapon, a long sword called the Supernova, as he threatened Cattleya. “However, your aide is of no use to us.”

Out of fear, Kiana clung to Cattleya.

The soldiers grab her away as she screamed for mercy. The archers then aimed at her.

“Sir Ronan! Please! Spare her life! It is me that you want!” begged Cattleya.

Ronan looked at Kiana who was crying and pleading for her life.

“Very well. I'm sure that you will not survive inside this forest anyway,” Ronan gestured to the soldiers to let her go.

“Go!” shouted Cattleya.

Kiana nodded and ran away.

“Why are you doing this, Sir Ronan?”

“All in good times, princess.”

The soldiers tied the princess and covered her mouth and face. She was then taken to a certain wagon that will enter the kingdom.

* * * * *

“Hey! Don't leave yet!” Thoras yelled at the driver, but he was ignored.

Lancea and Drancei were alarmed and tried to go after the carriage, but the soldiers unsheathed their swords and pointed at them.

Thoras tried to unsheathe his sacred weapon but Rourke was quicker. Rourke managed to unsheathe his sword and struck Thoras, cutting off his right arm.

“Thoras!” shouted Lancea.

“Sir Thoras!” shouted Drancei.

The Rogue Archers were all surrounded as well, unable to do anything. The soldiers proceed to confiscate their weapons.

Though clueless about what was happening to the kingdom's soldiers, the Rogue Archers knew that they were in trouble as well. One of the Rogue Archers took something from his pocket before raising his hands. And as soon as he does, a particular scent was released, making the nearby fireflies react accordingly and signaling other fireflies.

“It seems age is not on your side, Sir Thoras,” claimed Rourke. “You've gone sluggish.”

Several soldiers went towards Thoras and took his weapon. The sacred weapons of Lancea and Drancei, the Dragonspear and the Twinstar, were also taken from them as well.

“Here's what happened. The Rogue Archers ambushed us and killed the three knights and the princess's aide. Then, they took the princess as a hostage and demanded more gold and money in exchange for the princess. So, we will have the mission order for a full-scale invasion on Shiropolis.”

Archers surrounded the knights and the Rogue Archers, aiming their bows and arrow at them.

“Why are you doing this, Rourke?” asked the bleeding Thoras.

“Why for money, of course! That's the only reason I became a knight—land, riches, food, liquor, women, things that make living worthwhile!”

“You and your greedy ass...You're gonna pay for this!!” Drancei shouted.

Rourke laughed. “Sure, I will. But you won't be there to witness it,” he gestured to the archers and the archers release their arrows.

Drancei and Lancea shut their eyes. But before the arrows hit them, separate arrows came in flying and broke the arrows released by the Emergent archers before those reached them.

More arrows from all directions came flying and hit the Emergent archers. The soldiers scrambled, unaware of what was happening. Lancea and Drancei knocked out one soldier each and took their swords and shield.

As they fought their way towards Thoras, more arrows rained down, as if assisting them, making a way for them to move forward. The Rogue Archers on the ground retrieved their bows and arrows and started shooting the soldiers as well. Rourke backs away while blocking the arrows coming from the trees.

A Rogue Archer landed where Thoras was.

“R-Robin?”

“Shut it!” Robin stopped the bleeding of Thoras’s wound. He already lost too much blood though and already lost consciousness.

Lancea and Drancei reached them, covering Robin and Thoras with their shield.

Robin glared at Lancea. “What the hell happened here?!”

Lancea was already sobbing.

Drancei looked at her. “They took the princess! They're even trying to frame us and the Rogue Archers!”

Robin whistled at the Rogue Archers. More arrows rained down, not giving the Emergent soldiers a chance to retaliate and close in.

As soon as Thoras's right arm was wrapped in cloth, the knights carried him.

“We're going back to Shiropolis first. We can't deal with this many soldiers,” said Robin.

True to her words, the Emergent soldiers were just waiting for the Rogue Archers to run out of arrows. Robin also saw Rourke. She was dead staring at him, and when Rourke looked at her, she took off her mask, revealing her face to him, much to Rourke's astonishment as if he saw a ghost.

“I-Impossible...” Rourke muttered

The Rogue Archers accompanied the three royal knights back to the top of the trees. And when they were out of sight, the rain of arrows halted.

* * * * *

While the Rogue Archers went back to Shiropolis, Robin went in the opposite direction. Giant beasts were already roaming the forest, not only because it was nighttime, but because of the noise as well. She maneuvered through the forest, not wasting any more arrows.

As she got far enough, she saw the burning carriage of the princess. She looked around and spotted Kiana, hiding inside a bush. With the dress Kiana was wearing, she easily stood out.

Robin landed near her. Kiana panicked and tried to smash her with a piece of log, but Robin easily caught the log.

“Hey, hey, hey, easy. Calm down, Kiana.”

When Kiana opened her eyes, she saw Robin and immediately hugged her and let out a loud sobbing.

Robin asked her to calm down as she tried to comfort her. They immediately went to the top of the forest where they were safe from soldiers that might come, as well as beasts roaming around.

“Where's the princess, Kiana?”

“S-Sir Ronan...H-He took her!”

“Where?”

“B-Back to the k-kingdom.”

Robin wanted to go to the kingdom, but she knew better than to not use her head. As much as she worried about the princess, there was only so much that she could do alone.

“Let's go. I'm taking you back to Shiropolis first.”

Kiana didn't protest and let Robin carry her back to the village inside Shiromori.

* * * * *

A few moments earlier, Riku and the rest returned to Shiropolis. Jack was carrying the unconscious Daisuke while Brunnhilde was escorted by Siegfried.

Brunnhilde has already woken up and has already eaten her first meal of the day. However, she was still weak and was unable to stand up on her own, much less walk on her own.

The group was assisted by a Rogue Archer who escorted them to the treehouse where Daisuke rested. Jack laid Daisuke down on the bed while Brunnhilde sat down.

“Where's everybody?” asked Riku.

“Robin, Raghnall, and the archers that will patrol the southern area went to the camp where the princess returned. I heard something about asking for forgiveness when the fireflies lit up,” said a Rogue Archer.

“What do you mean?”

“We use the fireflies to signal each other. We trained some fireflies to lit up in certain patterns, like when there’s a threat when we’re asking for assistance, things like that. Earlier, the fireflies signaled that our men were in danger.”

Outside, people started to get loud and clamorous.

The archer went outside and saw the Rogue Archers together with the three knights. Riku and the others went outside as well.

Raghnall was assisting Thoras. They went inside the treehouse where Daisuke's group was, followed by the others.

“What happened?” asked the archer.

“They were ambushed when we got there. Look for a medic. We need to close Thoras’s wound.”

“No need for that,” Brunnhilde, who has already regained some of her strength a while back, went towards them and inspects the wound of Thoras.

“Excuse me. Who are you?” asked Lancea.

Brunnhilde ignored her.

“She's a friend of ours,” said Riku. “I'm Riku, and that's Brunnhilde.”

“What is she doing with Sir Thoras?”

Brunnhilde looked at Raghnall. “Where's his severed arm?”

Fergal walked towards them and handed over the arm wrapped in a cloth.

“Princess, you're not well yet. Please, don't force yourself too much,” Siegfried protested.

“Mirana, you still have some mana to spare?”

Mirana went to her and gave her enough mana.

Using the blood of Thoras, Brunnhilde wrote a runic symbol on the floor. She then placed Thoras's wound and severed arm on it and activated her healing magic. Due to her fatigue, the healing magic worked a bit slowly, but she still managed to put Thoras's arm back together.

“He lost a lot of blood. It'll take time for him to recover and to actually use his arm,” Brunnhilde tried to stand up but her knees failed her. Siegfried assisted her.

Parrin and Fergal prepared a mattress made of leaves where Brunnhilde and Thoras may lay down to rest.

Raghnall introduced Riku's group to Lancea and Drancei. Everyone exchanged stories and caught up with the latest happenings.

Robin then arrived with Kiana.

“Kiana!” shouted Lancea.

“Lady Kiana!” yelled Drancei.

Kiana ran toward the knights, sobbing even more. She told the group what happened to the princess.

* * * * *

“Where are they even taking the princess? What do they want from her?” asked Drancei as he paced around the room, back and forth.

“They’re probably working with Rafflesia. They probably think that Cattleya is a hindrance to their plan, so they decided to take her,” Robin concluded.

“We should just go back to the kingdom and tell everyone what happened,” suggested Drancei. “We are innocent!”

“No. Going back is suicide. They’ll probably tell everyone that we are traitors since they failed to kill us,” said Lancea. “Our only option now is to save the princess.”

“How do we even find her? We don’t even know where she was taken,” Drancei argued.

“Not the castle. That’s too risky,” said Robin. “There are too many guards and too many personnel. Not in Emergania Arc as well. Too many eyes. Nobles love to gossip. They’ll know if something’s up and doesn’t belong in their neighborhood. Not in Sandersonia Arc. I know it like the back of my hand. There’s no place there to hide her. She’ll be taken somewhere in Cannoppia Arc.”

“Great. Where exactly in Cannoppia then?”

Robin racked her brains. She tried to remember the faces of the people from the mines when she discovered them. No luck. She tried to remember any people that could be living in Cannoppia with ties to Rafflesia, but there could be anyone.

She tried to think harder and harder until she finally had a light bulb moment.

“Mining requires digging. And digging requires equipment. Someone from the Office of Public Service and Infrastructure must corroborating with Rafflesia. The House of Onageria, the noble family that has been appointed for three generations to that office lives in Cannoppia,” Robin concluded.

“So, we go to his heavily fortified mansion and hope that the princess is there?” asked Drancei.

“All of this is assuming that the person behind the kidnapping is Rafflesia, Robin, which we still not know if it is true,” reminded Lancea. “Prince Dionaea could be behind this as well. The princes could be taken to any noble or upper class’s mansion to be hidden away.”

“Kiana said that Ronan took Cattleya. Rourke attacked Thoras. Both of them are lords in Cannoppia where the Onagerias live. Tell me I’m crazy for concluding that everything leads back to Rafflesia.”

“You are crazy!” Drancei and Lancea shouted in unison.

“What if…what if Robin’s right?” asked Kiana.

“What do you mean, Kiana? Do you know something?” asked Lancea.

“I-It was dark, but the princess’s burning carriage provided enough light for me to notice something,” Kiana revealed. “She was tied up, her mouth gagged, and forcefully put inside a wagon. I may be wrong, but the wagon had a crest that looked like the one from the Office of Public Service and Infrastructure.”

“That could lead to either the minister’s mansion or to the office,” said Drancei.

“This is all farfetched,” Lancea complained.

“Yet it’s the only lead you guys have…” said Thoras weakly.

“Thoras!” yelled Lancea. “You’re not supposed to get up yet!”

“We don’t know who exactly to trust,” Thoras struggled to speak. “So, turn the mansion of the Onagerias or their office upside down, and don’t stop until you find the princess.”

Lancea and Drancei didn’t argue. After all, doing something was better than doing nothing.

“Then I’ll need a team. Who’s with me?” asked Robin.