Exploring the town hall, Ritzy only saw corpses littered left and right. None saved, human and beastkin alike dead with faces of agony. Not a single sign of someone surviving or still hanging on.
Seeing no sign of anybody, Ritzy became frustrated because he needed to find out who casted this weird spell and put a stop to it.
Continuing his search in the town hall, he found nothing, but he did notice something about this strange barrier. The barrier didn't surround the town hall, it seems that the town hall was only in the crosshairs of the barrier. That the barrier, also has other buildings and such things in its grasp.
Not getting anywhere, Ritzy decided to leave the town hall to try and find the center of this barrier. Most likely, he would find the root of this spell at its core.
Going to one of the town hall walls, he examined the glass to see if he could open the window to leave. Seeing there was no way to open it, Ritzy simply put his hand on the wall next to the window and used mineral magic to tear it down
With an exit, Ritzy went through and then climbed the town hall to examine the area.
Looking around, Ritzy noticed the barrier created a circle around the town hall and three other buildings but no sign of who caused this.
Ritzy's mind,
'My mana is being consumed at an intense rate. I need to fix this quick or I'll be in trouble. I say I have 20 to 25 minutes before my barrier falls'.
Getting desperate, Ritzy decided to examine the other buildings from the inside. Since nothing on the surface showed a clue of where the source was, maybe the source could be found inside, hidden.
Jumping down the building and using wind magic to cushion his fall, Ritzy walked to the next building. As he was about to go up the stairway entrance to go through the building's grand doors, Ritzy heard a strong smashing sound from the building next to where he was at.
Hearing the first sign of possibly another person, Ritzy used his silent movement technique and changed his mana barrier into a wind magic barrier. Wind magic was invisible when used, unlike pure mana which was a cyan color.
Ritzy wanted to remain hidden and see what to do. This whole situation was unfamiliar to him so his instincts told him to learn and adapt. To not run into possible danger when one could remain hidden and stay safe.
Using his silent movement technique, he traveled back up the building and then traversed to the next building over which had caused the sound.
On the building, he noticed that a piece of the roof had a whole. But unlike a destroyed hole, it was a clean circle.
Ritzy's mind,
'It's impossible that it was done on purpose since having a hole in one's roof is idiotic, so why is this here? Could a person have done this? No, I never have seen anything that could destroy something cleanly in this magnitude'.
Getting closer to the whole, he looked down and saw many storage racks. It seemed to be a storage building for the town hall.
Looking down the whole and examining inside the building, Ritzy saw four people on guard. Waiting and watching what the other person would do.
Ritzy recognized two of these four people. The first one was Benedire with his hands holding two different shades of red light. Most likely wind and mineral magic ready to be used at a moment notice.
The second person Ritzy recognized, even more, was the second person. She was the woman he met at the lake on the night of the banquet. The one who used him for pleasure but even though it was straight forward vanilla pleasure with her being a dom. Her strength was so much stronger than Ritzy's. Making him feel as if he was gonna die at any moment.
Right now, she had one hand with a short sword and the other with a wand. Seeing her caused Ritzy's spine to shiver, but quickly stopped when he saw the third person.
The third person was a bull beastkin with a giant two-handed ax with a flaming blade, showing that it had magical properties.
The fourth one was a lizard beastkin with what seemed a knife stained with poison and a wand. But his aura was what grabbed Ritzy's attention. He felt dangerous.
Looking at the beastkin caused the hair on his arms to straighten, his nerves and muscles to become tense, and his mind telling him to stay hidden. The beastkin in front of him is a threat he can't face head-on right now.
But that wasn't the only reason Ritzy felt he should stay hidden, Ritzy also noticed something odd but similar in everyone here. It seemed they had their own barrier surrounding themselves except for the lizard beastkin.
Ritzy guessed they were most likely using some territorial magic or skill. But since the Lizard beastkin didn't have a small one surrounding him, the fire barrier surrounding Ritzy and buildings was most likely the lizards. It would be odd that someone who felt the most dangerous out of the group does not have a skill the rest have.
Staying hidden, Ritzy continued to observe the group.
Benedire said coldly,
"Senshi, I never thought I would see you on the enemy side".
Senshi (Bull beastkin),
"This isn't the enemy side and you know it. No one deserves to be a slave because of their race".
Amora,
"They aren't slaves because of their race, they just lost a territory war, so the victor enslaved them. Just standard protocol. Don't tell me you find it wrong for humans to enslave beastkin but not the other way around. Don't you think that's hypocritical!".
Benedire,
"We used to be a team with the same goal, please realize what you're doing my friend".
Senshi,
"I'm not being hypocritical and I'm still the same as before. The reason I'm going against the kingdom is becuase this city is corrupted. They enslave because of race, unlike the rest who do it because they were criminals or defeated enemies".
Amora,
"Aren't they all criminals or defeated foes?".
Senshi,
"No! Any beastkin that are seen around this city, are forced to become slaves. When I visited here to rest before I continued my journey to go back to my home town, they tried to force me to become a slave numerous times. Eventually, a noble tried and it ended ugly. Causing me to kill him and an uprising to occur".
"I'm here to defend the innocent and correct what's wrong".
Benedire,
"I didn't know, we thought you were turning against us. If this true, then I'll stop everything. Don't worry my friend, I'll make sure that everyone here is freed".
Senshi,
"Really?".
Amora,
"Of course Senshi. The only reason we came here was for you Senshi. It's just that we were mal informed, thinking you were against us. But in reality, your the same old Senshi and we were in the wrong".
Tears dropped from Senshi's face but then changed to shook.
Senshi looking behind him, he saw a blade stabbed into his back by his beastkin comrade.
Senshi,
"Why Arufa?".
Arufa (Lizard Beastkin),
"Humans are evil and you siding with them means your a traitor. A beastkin as horrible as our slavers!".