Free Web NovelChapter 35: The planned purge
The thing that makes the golden mark of a <Bluefeather Smallhound> so fearful is their relentless stability.
Despite being only a Unique rank creature, their skill makes them extremely valuable in all of the continent.
They are such rare magical beasts that there are only a few families that still guard them in their cradles.
Furthermore, they are one of the pickiest creatures on the planet, making the taming process more difficult than what one might expect.
If they do not choose the tamer, the only way to take them comes down to a very, very long, tedious courting process.
But even that fails most of the time, so having one makes the Lady of Sungrade a valuable asset of the state.
Still, as effective as it may be in tracking the target, the skill takes a great toll to activate.
Most of the tamers who use it, can only do so once in a day. But even that turns out to be extremely effective in situations such as this...
"Haaa... Haaa..."
The Faceless manipulator was marked and every beast that was sensitive to Mana could feel the distinct presence produced by this mark.
"No no no no no!"
The faceless manipulator was a high level tamer that was hiding away at a location that he had secured only a fortnight ago.
He had been changing his abode ever since he came to this city a few years ago and after the assassination attempt at the cradle, he didn’t make any rash move.
The thing that he was going to do using the youngest Lady of the Sungrade was also not going to work anymore so, he was in the middle of making a new plan when the incident beyond the wall took place.
He had his chances to kill the youngest bastard son of the patriarch, but seeing his powers firsthand had made him reconsider his decision.
As it happened, the Faceless Manipulator was also a Mystique tamer.
He had been an excellent assassin and mercenary, but he was no fool.
The skills that the young boy had were too precious. And he saw it firsthand during the battle inside the forest.
Yet, his decision to keep him alive led to the chain of events that now had him running for his life.
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiish!
Shadows were after him as he crossed the streets and headed towards the city wall on the opposite side of the forest.
He was running away while using all the powers he had saved, but he was mistaken if he believed an escape was possible.
"No no, mister." Chasing after him was a Kingsguard, a knight of the Empire that had slayed several criminals worse than him in the imperial capital.
The second young master of the Sungrade and the elder brother of the little girl he was going to kidnap, the shadow that chased after him was no ordinary knight.
-Swish!
-Bang...!
-Thud.
"You’re not as good a fighter as you are a schemer, huh." He moved faster than the criminal’s perception, attacked right behind his head, and stunned the criminal with just one smack to the head.
When the criminal fell down, he immediately secured his body and moved it to a place away from the common eyes before sighing.
"Phew~."
Blaze Von Knightheart Sungrade.
He was the elder son of the knight commander Markeet, the Oathbound, the Red Knight, a (Level-6) tamer Knight that has mastered the bond factor [Dive] at the young age of Thirty.
He was the Slayer of Dark Hounds, the Executioner of Condemned Lich, Beheader of Mad Duke, the knight of the crown and the sword that protects the imperial throne.
"Now that wasn’t so difficult."
He was in the neighborhood when he received the news of the war.
He rode off on his own to get here as soon as he could, but by the time he reached here, the war had already come to a close.
The royal knights’ order that he was commanding was already going back to the capital, but he stayed behind for something important.
Though... he did not know the thing would be as important as this.
"You’ve done quite a bit, you sonnovabitch." Wearing darkness itself, his face that appeared behind the hood had a delighted expression on his face.
He had inherited the redness of his father’s hair while his eyes were the same as his mother’s. His armor was a physical beast, one that could change form at its master’s will.
His strength surpassed that of common sense, so, even though the Faceless Manipulator moved between the shadows of the various objects, he could not overcome the speed of this imperial knight.
{ "I got him, Mother Emi." }
{ "Good work, Blaze." }
Aside from Blaze, there were fifteen of the best people the Sungrade family could trust stationed around the city.
Blaze was the nearest to the target so he moved there first to apprehend him, but taking him back to the center castle was a more difficult task.
-Swiiiiiiiiiiiish!
"Move!"
"Don’t you dare, you bastards!"
The moment the presence of the Faceless Manipulator was found out, he issued a command to all the people working for him inside the city.
These people, to save the one that practically meant everything to them, started a slaughter that involved even the common people of the city.
Subduing them wasn’t easy, but the people that were doing this job had already been prepared for this.
Ever since their war with the demonic creatures had ended, they knew the actual ’war’ had not come to a close yet.
They had been preparing for the lackeys of the Manipulator from the start, so, while many injuries were reported at the end of this day, not one of the perpetrators connected to the criminal were left behind in the city.
On that day, the dungeon below the city was filled with people that had lived right amongst them, hiding to strike until the time was right.
From the base of the Faceless manipulator that the Sungrade mages did not allow to burn down, they found evidence that connected him to various incidents that had taken place in the Sungrade over the years.
As an operation involving a criminal with a vast record and notorious fame, today was one that’d go down in Sungrade history.
And most of the fame regarding the success of it should go to the one who planned it before anyone even knew of the existence of the perpetrator.
But, that would not happen.
Flora had commanded the people involved in this operation and her mother had found the villain.
The red knight caught him while the others suppressed the followers.
With the help of certain pre-determined strategies, the whole company under the Manipulator was defeated, and nowhere in this whole operation the name that started it all had appeared.
He, weakened by the battle against the demonic lord, was still bedridden.
He did not know what was happening out there but he had made sure Lexie knew what she needed to do in case anything goes wrong.
His plan was fluid. It needed to change in the right direction according to the development of the situation.
And thankfully, it followed the course that he had desired for their future.
"Haaaa, god..." Lexie did have to kill a bunch of the bad guys in secret, but they can deal with them later.
For now, she just cleaned the blood off her fists and walked out of the back alley while some carnivorous plants coming out of the back of her skirt ate the dead bodies while licking the spilled flesh off the ground...
The evergreen smirk was still present on their bloody faces.
