Kapitel 34: Chapter 33

After the battle last night and The carriage Was back on track. The Party was beyond tired but the Men were still alert with glittery eyes.

The adventurers had quickly buried their dead and but most of all, they were extremely happy about the new set of Armor they had looted off the men which made the soldiers a bit envious.

Elena on the other hand could be seen pouting on her Horse as she glared at the moving carriage.

When Haru had initiated the genjutsu on the enemy leader, it immediately cancelled the ultimate skill they had employed and immediately weakened them so the Soldiers took the opportunity to gain the upper hand, thoroughly decimating them as the enemy began acting like suicidal idiots.

Early the next day Before they set out, Xavier finally gave in to his curiousity and invited Haru to join them in the carriage. the latter did not see any particular issues with the offer, after all his butt hurts from the long distance horse riding so He gladly joined them.

The carriage which had been jolting joyfully over the firm July track suddenly ground to a slow walk and not long after the hypnotic beat of the horses hooves slowed down entirely to a Halt.

Xavier stuck his head out of the window to see what the reason for slowing down was, and promptly stuck it back in again. There was a check point just about 30 minutes away from the City gates of Grotica.

A bunch of heavily armored Guards with Cross Bows and swords standing on the miniature tower about 20 meters away from the Check point while the other 5 stood below inspecting the carriage of those coming and leaving, Their Silver Brown Uniforms and insignia matching the Guards surrounding the carriage clearly shows they belonged to the Van family. This got Xavier wondering if something happened while they were away.

Haru who had his eyes closed to avoid any form discussion with The Old man and Maya suddenly opened his eyes, only to find Maya staring at him intently while in thought.

Xavier also noticed that Haru was awake and tossed his suspicions to the back of his Mind so he could quickly speak to the Youth,

[You are finally awake...I hope you rested well Mr.Itachi].

There was now a frown on the Maya's face as the thought of being almost home played into her mind, She could practically imagine what would happen to her.

[You're far too kind for allowing me rest within the carriage but...]Haru replied calmly as his voice pulled Maya from her self induced nightmare.

Xavier's eyes flashed as though he had understood something and spoke quickly, [Please feel free to speak your thoughts!...]

[Kuhum...right, I believe you have an Idea of who sent those men.] He cleared his throat before continuing when he heard Xavier's statement.

Maya on the other hand couldn't understand so she couldn't help but ask, [Were they not just bandits?].

[They were too organised for that, in fact their armor was the first give away...]Haru gave out another point for the clueless girl to catch up.

[Mr Itachi, i must say that I am beyond impressed by your abilities...in fact I feel uncomfortable allowing you go with just this rewards.] Xavier spoke with a bitter smile as he thought about the situation.

Luckily the Carriage began moving slowly once again as the rhythmic sound of hooves continued once again. The Queue began moving, Maya decided to bite the bullet and said[Pain!].

Haru subconsciously turned towards her direction but managed to keep an apathetic expression on his face. But Xavier on the other reacted differently[Young Miss!? are you hurt?? where??] while thinking "don't tell me she's injured...why now when we are so close to the city. Ah! the lord wouldn't like this one bit!!"

[uh! Uncle Xavier, I...I'm fine!] Maya stated as her hands waved in the air exasperatedly, [I just thought of something...].

[Hmm? Why is your face red?]Xavier asked with narrowed eyes as he stretched out his palm to touch Maya's forehead, only to have her push it away.

[ugh!]

Although Haru looked indifferent, he had cold sweat running down his back as he thought that he had been seen through.

[Halt!!] Border Guard 1

[Oi!Oi!...Jurx look at the Crest and uniform!!!]Border Guard 2

[Ah!] Border Guard 1, at this time Xavier stepped out of the carriage and approached the border guards.

[Good day Master Xavier!!] they saluted as they immediately recognized his approaching figure, after all, despite being an old Butler, Xavier appears at the training ground from time to time to train them. So they knew how powerful he was.

Upon seeing this, Xavier smile while giving them a curt Nod before asking[At ease, who's in charge today??]

[Aye Sir!!] Jurx responded energetically but Xavier only nodded while signaling for him to follow him into the carriage.

When they both entered, Jurx quickly bowed upon noticing Maya's presence but couldn't help but look at Haru weirdly for a second. and this did not escape the latter's eyes.

Noticing Haru's gaze, he quickly averted his eyes, afraid of offending the young Noble.

"haaa...heavens are blind look at that skin" Jurx sighed in his mind.

[What happened in the city, Why the tight border security??is someone invading?]Xavier's voice quickly pulled Jurx from his thoughts.

[Although I don't know how but about three assassins attempted to kill Lord Van last night ,and based on the evidence, it is suspected that it was the church. But...]

[My Father?!!!!!] Maya screamed hysterically.

[The Count is fine Young Miss!]Jurx calmed everyone quickly.

And it seemed to have worked as Maya let out a sigh of relief [phew...!].

[But what?...] Xavier finally spoke again.

Jurx looked like he wasn't sure if he should speak his mind.

[I feel like it's too abnormal, apparently the culprits blatantly wore the church's symbol on their clothes and even left behind a standard knights of light dagger in the process of escaping. I feel it is not so simple.] They first looked at Xavier, then all of them nodded their heads in contemplation.

[Sir Perkins said They were also skilled in a strange martial skill. they were able to control this power that had no attributes as they wished...so it would be hard to find out who they were with their mana signatures]

After hearing those words, Xavier frowned even more and after hitting his fist to his palm, he said, [It is certainly strange...With all this, there are now far too many suspects!]

[Mm? Old Man, from your tone, you seem to know something.] Seeing that, Haru asked while the rest of them suspiciously looked at him.

As he looked at the several expressions, Haru raised his brows high, rubbed his chin, then said while sitting upright, [To be completely honest, I thought you had an idea but from your expression, it seems I was wrong]

[what do you mean? ] Xavier enquired

Not to mention the others, even Xavier was clueless.

[Look, The people who attacked us last night might be connected to all this. and from what I found out from the leader during the Tor...Kuhum! battle. it's definitely connected to the Lopic household!] But just at that time, suddenly, someone pointed nearby and yelled in surprise.

[Is that SMOKE?? ], to this everyone stepped out of the carriage and followed everyone's line of sight.

After looking over, indeed, there was a massive smoke cloud formed by a huge fire from the Tall Church Tower. At that instant, even Haru revealed a sombre expression.

[Old Man, you might want to rush back to the city] Haru spoke slowly. Xavier gathered his wits and went into the carriage with Maya before Haru followed behind.

After that, The Party stormed off to the city

The most important thing now was to get to the lord's castle first.

When they crossed the gate, They found out that the size of the fire wasn't small. this made Maya and Xavier extremely worried . Especially Xavier because this is probably a hidden enemy trying to incite a feud between the Van family and the church.

As they Hurried towards the castle, Haru began thinking of the night before.

________________________________

Haru's POV

AAAAAARGH!!!

AARGH!

Screams after Screams followed until silence filled the air with nothing other than the continuous sound of raggedy breaths.

[Well, Now that I have Finished testing my theories. would you be so kind as to tell Who sent you?] I spoke with subtle intimidation even though I was beyond disgusted at this point, but I wanted him to feel true fear!.

[Bleugh!] *vomits Blood*

[Haa... Hahaha, you expect me to say anything...pui! ]The Fool said as he vomited blood once more making me Roll my eyes.

But then I walked closer to him while looking down at him before saying nonchalantly [Well not that it matters to me, I was just curious and I was looking for an excuse to let you out but since you want to stay so much. ]

[I don't Mind hanging out with you a bit...after all, only 2 minutes have passed in the world world. ] I said a out loud like I was deep in thought, and that was the last straw that broke the camels back, It's been two days here after all.

[!!!!!] His eyes seems to have grown two times wider, [T... chwoo...Two minutes?!]

Noticing his shock, I continued talking in a nonchalant attitude [What?! I didn't tell you? Time here is separate from the outside, well not that it matters anyways]

Cracking my fingers, I continued [Where were we?! ]

[WA.... wai... wait!! I'll Talk]He struggled to say as I began to whistle the opening theme song of "Guilty Crown" while materializing a table covered with different torture tools.

[Oh?? Go on]I said sounding as uninterested as I could, with a huge gulp he began to speak cautiously.

[It's ....