Free Web NovelChapter 207 - Street Brawl but Bigger
Staying in the manor twenty-four-seven would be ideal for some, but such actions were quickly grating on Anlesa. The lockdown on their activities had only been for three days, but it already seemed fishy. The order came from Lord Hall, but Anlesa wondered if he was pressured by other members of the parliament.
They had been in the city for a few weeks now, and Anlesa mentally apologised to Lord Hall, but there was certainly an information leak from someone in the building. It could be a proper spy, or simply someone who can acquire the information willingly from the staff's mouths. Sometimes, tricking someone into giving away the information was far easier than forcing it out of them.
The fact that Alba was watching the house, a child of someone in parliament, was proof enough that information had spread. It still was locked away behind a certain group of people, but within that group, the spread was happening.
The reason for the pressure could be due to various factors. Malicious and concerned parties could be joined together in requesting Lord Hall not to risk the safety of the royals and their guests.
Now the question was why the malicious side wanted them locked away. Anlesa could think of a few reasons. Keeping the targets trapped meant there was no mystery about where the targets were. Preventing combinations could stop allies from being made. Investigation work would be halted.
Within all that mess, they still needed to follow up on the Abe lead. His name being in those letters after Mary’s reveal was damning. Of course, nothing clearly listed his involvement, but the facts remained that he was the only one mentioned in the suspicious letter. In Luna’s mind, his guilt was only reinforced by the fact that he was Alba’s father. Any earlier assumptions that he was being manipulated by others were locked away. There were too many repeated horrible events around him in Luna’s mind. The same held true for Eva, who, while trying to play devil’s advocate, thought of long-term manipulation and that Abe was a puppet for someone else. That line of thought was something hard for even her to believe. It had simply been too long. The only question was now, how much influence did he have in all these matters?
Was he just a greedy bastard who took advantage of opportunities, or someone who had a more malicious hand in starting them?
Outside of the Abe debate.
There was also the possibility that whoever wanted the Anlesa’s group trapped in the house wanted it to stress people out, so certain people could escape without permission. If they did, then their wish would be granted because Anlesa wasn’t staying in the building when there was so much outside it she needed to do.
[Time to see what is waiting for us.] (Syrus)
[You are way too excited for this.] (Luna)
[Of course I am, I would be disappointed if our mysterious enemies did nothing.] (Syrus)
[Sometimes, a lack of violence would be good.] (Luna)
[I do agree. If it is just gangs again, I would be severely disappointed.] (Syrus)
After a successful escape through the top floor’s windows, Syrus was ready for the walk of a lifetime. Strolling through the city without a care in the world. Going through alleys and main streets, her presence was certainly known to anyone who was looking for her. Syrus felt her plan of making an entrance was going swimmingly.
Luna, on the opposite side, was concerned about whatever trap they could fall into. She was all for leaving the building part of the plan, but a stealthy version was more of what she had in mind. It was Eva’s vote that allowed Syrus to get her way. Eva felt being sneaky would just give the assassins the opportunity to deal with this in the shadows.
[The incident with the royal manor has really tossed the pot.] (Syrus)
[That was likely the final push they needed to keep us contained. The fact that we got into contact with that figure would raise alarm bells.] (Luna)
They had purposely left people alive last time to fear the existence of Rose. Even the last masked individual could’ve lived if he had stayed away, but he made an example of himself. Despite the consequences of that day being this exit ban, Anlesa was happy with how everything progressed.
On their walk.
“You!” Anlesa heard a familiar voice calling out to her.
Geoffrey, the guard they had such a fun encounter with before, was back again.
“Oh, hi again,” Syrus frowned, then smiled.
“Why did you not immediately send a response?” His words were harsh, while he held back from swearing publicly.
“I am sure a letter was sent to your office.” Anlesa had completed everything they said they were going to do. Havier was informed first, since he was around, and then, with Lord Hall’s signature, the letter of explanation was sent to the guard’s headquarters.
Geoffrey countered, “It didn’t come for days.”
“It probably came, but no one noticed it. Don’t blame your slow processes on me.” It might’ve been until the day after when the letter was sent directly to them, but it had been sent in all things considered, a timely matter.
“Do you have any proof?”
“Right back at you. I did my due diligence.”
A staring contest between the two was quickly broken by the loser, Geoffrey. He turned around and sighed. After a moment, he recently readied himself.
He asked, “Did you actually know, Lilly?”
“Not really. Can you call someone you only exchanged a few letters with, a friend? At best, an acquaintance, but my curiosity for that topic has died out.” Syrus replied, and Eva felt weird about the situation.
In the past, Eva was the most curious about what was left behind, but now, she still cares about her old home, but for the reasons that were originally hidden from her. The people she knew... the separation from them felt better. Everything would be better if she didn’t speak with them. Despite how recent events had seemingly been pushing her.
“Then, do you have any of those letters?”
“No.”
“That is a shame.” He seemed genuinely upset about that. Which meant he did believe their bullshit story at least somewhat.
“Why would that be a shame? They were only letters.”
“It would be a nice way for her family to remember her by.”
Anlesa frowned. “As said before, I wasn’t even interested in her family, I just used a familiar name to benefit myself.”
[?] (Eva)
Geoffrey was startled by the sudden shift. “What are you---”
“Stop. We got company.”
“Red bitch located.” A large gang of people rolled into the area.
Syrus asked Geoffrey, “Friends of yours?”
“‘Course not.”
[Wow, Eva, this city really has a gang problem.] (Syrus) freёwebnovel.com
[I promise it wasn’t this bad...] (Eva)
One of the youths called out, “Ritch, do you think you can take out the gangs in this city and get away with it!”
“...I don’t think that was me.”
“Don’t think you can escape our wrath by weaselling your way out of this.”
“No, seriously, don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with pelting your stupid arses right into the stone pavement right now. But take out gangs? Please.” Syrus had a feeling they were talking about the prior two incidents. “If you are mentioning those two times you silly little boys attacked me. Then you can’t call that a takeout. That was merely an adult discipline by some naughty thieves.”
Geoffrey quietly snapped back, “Provoking them is not a good idea. There are over thirty of them.”
“Thirty-one, forty, fifty, what differences does it make?”
“A lot!” Geoffrey held his blunt polearm. A standard-issue weapon for guards to patrol the city with. Great to push people back or use as a walking stick. He watched as Syrus scarily smiled as she strolled forward. “Murder is banned!”
“Please, I’m not that weak.” The warning was almost an insult.
Diving into the fray of disorderly combat made for an exciting session of violence despite the lack of real experience the gang members had.
No one really used their Attribute, a combination of too many people way too snuggled together, risking friendly fire, and people not being good in combat uses of their Attribute. It was something Syrus found common even in small-time gangs. If a place lacked the need for violence, most people didn’t develop any useful combat abilities with their Attributes. Gangs like this would often resort to physical means before even trying to make sure of an Attribute. The expectation existed, but that usually happened because they were extremely talented with their Attribute, or it was an Attribute that was easy to use. frёewebnoѵēl.com
Geoffrey did his best to push back against the people who decided to attack him. He had proper training, but he wasn’t used to fighting groups of people. A wave of water appeared around him as he summoned a stream to push against the pipe-wielding attackers.
In the middle of the fight, Syrus noticed someone staring down from the nearby window as they pulled a weapon out. Wires unlocked from their bracelets as they shot out towards the window, shattering the glass, catching the person off guard. Syrus jumped off one of the men, and Eva controlled her wires to spin around the arms of the person in the window. Her feet touched the wall, and she jumped back, pulling the wires in the process, throwing the person out of the window.
