The day after, Lavin City was thrown in chaos once news of what had happened the night before has spread.
Zelan, who was the head of the guards of Lavin, had just come to consciousness and found that most of his men were still out of it. The last thing he remembered last night was a woman who infiltrated their garrison, she attacked his men but did not kill any of them. He had her surrounded by his men and it looked like that was his mistake, since the woman released an object that exploded into some sort of mist, and the next thing he knew, he fell to the ground unconscious.
"Captain" his deputy called out to him.
"What's the status?" Zelan kneaded his forehead.
"It's bad, captain." the deputy gulped, "most of the noble heads and some of their family members died, execution-style. It looked like they were especially targeted"
"What about the dotas?"
"They were all freed captain, even the human slaves…" the deputy hesitated before speaking again, ���Captain, I think that this attack was especially targeted towards freeing the slaves. Do you think?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so, a rebellion is underway, and they've started with Lavin."
"What should we do captain? Currently, the slave shops were all set ablaze and the slaves freed. The guards total to six hundred, but if we count the number of slaves, plus the strength of those who pulled this off, then…then I font think we stand a chance"
Zelan felt another headache. He thought for a while before asking again, "what about the Zacharias house? What did lady Elaila say?"
"We weren't able to approach the mansion sir. The ones we've sent said that as soon as they approach, they feel that the mansion is farther away on the horizon. Maybe they're still under the spell the woman cast on us yesterday?"
"No. I'm afraid that the Zacharias house was also hit. Lady Elaila is now either dead or captive"
"T-then…"
"Lavin is no longer safe, if my guess is right, the perpetrators are currently inside the Zacharias mansion. The vice mayor is not dead right? Let's go talk to him and have him issue an evacuation order towards the capital, also-"
Zelan didn't finish his words before his subordinate opened the door while looking agitated.
"Captain! The-The city square…"
Zelan frowned, his headache getting worse, "what about the city square"
"You should go there now captain"
Zelan had no choice but to inspect it himself. Currently, he is one of the few in power who managed to survive the attack.
The city square was vast and paved with grey marble. Shops and entertainment facilities littered its buildings. There was also a huge bronze statue of a saint holding a book in one hand and a scepter in the other right in the middle. This statue was sacred for it represented the spirit of the Grandor kingdom. Each day, a handful of carefully selected individuals would clean the statue and anyone who dared to disrespect it by littering next to it was sentenced to death.
Now, however, the worshiped statue had the book cut off of her hand, and her head separated from the body and placed on that empty hand. While the flag of Grandor was hanging upside down from the scepter.
Zelan stared at the statue in horror. This has just confirmed his doubts. The upside-down flag means an active rebellion and the cut off head means that they will cut everything that the Grandorians believe in.
He took a deep breath before making a decision.
Meanwhile, Sen and his group, Shieda, and the slaves who were freed were all in the Zacharias mansion. Shieda had cast an illusion spell of the vallas around the mansion to prevent someone from approaching.
Sen and Shieda held further conversation till after they managed the current situation in Lavin and the two made their way towards the dungeon where Elaila's brother acted on his fetishes.
They freed the slaves and Sen wanted to set the Zacharias mansion on fire, but Shieda told him that it will act as his base of operations for now till he figured out his next move. Although he was one of the strongest world rank mages in Thesa, the years of captivity by the Mana absorbing chains made of eternum had significantly reduced his cultivation. Now he is just a world rank and needs some time to recuperate his body and cultivation.
"Big brother Sen," Nivel and Romeo came into the room where he, Shieda, Nivera, Risa, and Leonas were having a meeting.
"We finished counting the big brothers and big sisters and uncles and aunties and little brothers and little sisters outside together with Uncle Sama'l"
Sen chuckled at the childish response and nodded while receiving the paper with the childish handwriting which he still did not understand. He handed the paper to Nivera.
"456 stonefolk, 123 elves, 25 drows, 356 humans, and a straight 100 beast-people. A total of 1060 people we've freed."
"That's quite a lot"
"What should we do Sen? You said that Elaila escaped with the Sistema, we can't take this many people to chase after her"
Sen nodded at Nivera before turning his attention to Shieda who was pulling Nivel and Romeo's cheeks.
"Shieda has agreed to stay here. He has his own plans for those people"
"This…" Leonas hesitated. He sees the people they've freed as their responsibility. And this foolish-looking man in front of him does not exactly scream 'powerful' or at least 'reliable'.
"He's…strong enough, don't worry. And he has a purpose" Sen stood up for him.
Sen naturally wouldn't place his trust in a man he just met. But so far, he believed in his instincts about people he's met so far and had confidence in his judgment of their characters. Leonas, Risa, Nivera, they are people with different mindsets but characters that align pretty closely with his.
And Shieda, although silly looking and has a weird temperament, but Sen could feel that this man was trustworthy.
Nivera spoke after nodding at Shieda, "what of Elaila and the Sistema? Where can we find her?"
"The congress of magic" Shieda answered and released the two cute children's faces only after they became tomato-red from his pulling. They ran away like they've been given amnesty.
"The what?"
"Hmm…I've done a lot of explaining to my buddy here, why don't you take this one?" Shieda smiled at Sen and turned to play with the children again but they had already run away…
Shieda had explained to Sen about it yesterday, so Sen repeated what he's been told.
"You know how K'rasia is said to be the strongest country?"
The rest nodded
"Well apparently, that's all they are, the strongest country, not the strongest organization, sect, school, and whatnot"
He pulled Mathrim's daggers and showed them. "Remember these? Well the ones who used it against me were from those hidden powers. According to Fatima, they were the Myrel sect, Bone Coffin sect, and Boulder sect. they were sect elders"
Shieda interjected, "then you're lucky. I know the DuBois house and it is a force to be feared. They have a few world rank experts, even more than the royal family of K'rasia. But their strength lies in treasure hunting and commerce. Meanwhile, those hidden sects you've mentioned specialize in killing and increasing their battle strength."
"How do you know all this?"
"He's been to a lot of places," Sen interjected before Shieda starts a long story of his adventuring days again.
"Even stronger than the DuBois house?" Leonas opened his eyes wide. He couldn't believe that the DuBois house which he saw as a haven for the nonhumans could be in second place"
"Yes, my blue friend, even the DuBois house. But as I said, you're lucky since Sen sad that the old woman arrived. Few can rival her strength. But currently, there are some elders and leaders of those hidden powers that can rival her, but are currently in seclusion"
Risa found something odd and asked, "Weren't you in imprisoned? How do you know that they are?"
Shieda turned his face to the elf, he smirked as he leaned toward her, almost touching her face with his nose. He answered in a deep voice that everyone can hear, "because, pretty elf, I have my own ways, like reading parts of others' thoughts…hmm, per example, just now you were thinking of how chiseled my belly muscles are and how cute the mole on my collar bone is, also-"
"You! Stop!" Risa's face turned different shades of red as Shieda smirked. Nivera and Leonas looked outside the window, admiring the blue sky, while Sen held back a laugh. In the end, he retrieved a shirt item from his space and threw it at Shieda who was still smirking at Risa.
"I do appreciate your sympathy for my scars though, but I did them myself, so don't be too sad for me"
"Just who is sad for you?!" Risa half yelled – half growled. She didn't dare to antagonize this person any further lest he says what else she thought of.
She was allowed to admire alright? Who told him to put on a show for a young, innocent soul like hers who has never even had her first kiss?