Alex Point of View
Theodore sighed, knowing that Alex was ready to fight, and he was not wrong.
"Young man, my name is Theodore Xu, and the woman next to me is Ms. Brittney Sapphire. We are royal mages of the kings' court. I think I understand the situation; we do not want to interfere. However, it is part of our jobs to protect nobles. You can fight your case in court. Please understand it is our job to interfere, not our preference." Theodore tried to make his statement as straightforward as possible.
If Alex is as the bodyguard described and as they saw; was there even a point in fighting him? Theodore wanted nothing to do with Alex unless it was discussing the Space element.
Alex looked at Theodore.
"So you are saying that I should go to court so that her father could have enough time to try assassinate me or give the marquess time to plead to the king for a pardon and still assassinate me?"
When Theodore heard Alex's words, he sighed again.
What Alex said was true. Those were the two options the Marquess would implore to save his daughter. They were now at an impasse. Theodore did not want to fight Alex, there was no point, but he wasn't afraid of Alex either. Just by looking at the way the mana was acting around Alex he could tell that Alex mana-core was only at level one.
Theodore hated wasting energy; he was sure that Alex had the ability to escape if he was ever to come into a disadvantageous position, and Alex wouldn't be able to hurt him or Brittney or laurel while he was here. Everything would be a waste of energy, and they would likely gain a new enemy. Even though the girl deserved to be killed.
Theodore couldn't help but think, 'Why would you try to kill a space elementalist? For what money, aren't you foolish for even hearing kill and space elementalist in the same sentence?'
The books in the mage academy library, depicting Space elementalist as elusive devils devils, being able to hide in plain sight, lock space at will and freeze time. Although Alex was not there. Theodore still thought Alex was still hiding some cards for emergencies, just like any intelligent person.
Alex wasn't eager to fight two mages who stats he could not see, and a third rat still hadn't revealed themselves; it didn't really matter to him if the girl lived or die, although he would prefer her dead. But killing everyone would ruin the surprise that was waiting for the Markson family in the morning.
"You can take her," Alex said, shocking Theodore, who was expecting to fight. Alex was about to leave when he heard the rat that was hiding shout.
"wait, please wait," the woman yelled as she was rushing to the scene with wings attached to her back; she fired a flare into the air before approaching Alex and the Mages. Alex knew she was here a long time.
"my name is Amelia Reid, I am the Duchess of Cloverport," Amelia said proudly.
She looked like a mature princess, mid-thirties, with her golden hair, smooth skin, green eyes, and a slender figure. She wore leather armor, a light brown dress and thigh-high boots, a dark brown leather cape, and a sword that looked too big for her attached to her belt. The wings on her back were some sort of equipment that used mana stone. They made her look even more like a princess.
Amelia expected Alex to bow because of her title. Still, Alex looked at her like he was looking at a moron. Alex figured Amelia sent the flare for backup, he did not plan on fighting, but if they act stupid, he will not mind giving them his full attention. Theodore and Brittany nodded to the Duchess. Royal Mages only bowed to the current king and Queen. On cue, a teleportation circle appeared in the sky above Alex, the mages, and the Duchess. Four men wearing armor appeared in the ring; no doubt they were the backup. The four men were all old with grey hair; they immediately descended and stood behind the Duchess.
"At your service Duchess Reid," the four men said in unison.
Amelia nodded her head then looked at Alex, who had the same nonchalant pose with his blade casually hanging on his shoulder.
"I want you to work for me!" Amelia said as if Alex was supposed to be impressed.
She was also drawn towards the commotion (Alex and Luke fight); she left her husband and rushed here, hoping to find something more entertaining. She had only been able to catch the ending part of the fight where the mages saved laurel, and Alex blinked to kill his last two victims.
"I decline," Alex answered flatly, sheath his blade, and turned around to ask Luke for the mercenaries' hideout. Then he had to find another barn for his plans. Saving Christopher, healing him, the stable master rendezvous, and this little debacle cost him nearly four hours. There were still six hours before the birds started chirping.
Seeing Alex leaving, laurel immediately got on her knees in front of the Duchess.
"Duchess Reid, I am lady laurel Thorn; my father is Marquess Fred Thorn. That man there is responsible for my little sister's death. I ask, I plead, I beg for your help to catch him." laurel said with tears streaming down her face.
">>kill this bitch," Vigerřamous voice echoed in Alex's ear.
*Ding*
[new quest] Kill the bitch for dreaming too hard. The time limit is two hours.
[reward: The rest of your debt will be forgiven. No evil deed goes unrewarded]
Alex stopped for a moment, he, Star, and the system were thinking the same thing, but he did not have to kill her now. He should first deal with Alice and Wallace. He also had to make sure that the ogres kept their promise and hunted the wolfs if not, he would have to go into the forest and search again.
Once Theodore heard what laurel said, he wished he could kill himself for saving her.
Brittney opened her eyes wide and thought, 'what a poisonous fruit. Either laurel was too stupid, or she wanted everyone here to die.'
Both mages knew laurel was playing on the history of the Duchess.
laurel's bodyguard's body trembled after hearing Loral.
'the space freak was letting us go; why did you have to do that? You do not recognize your own strength and weakness but do you not comprehend the meaning of 'humility? If you intend to die, just kill yourself; why the heck do you want to drag us all with you? How damaged are you?'
Alex continued walking to Luke; their decision had nothing to do with him until he felt the surrounding space was locked. Alex was cursing internally.
'does everyone have a space lock talisman? Are there a lot of space elementalist creating havoc? Is that why I could not find any during my loot fiasco?'
Alex's need to stay on time clouded his train of thought, but he was right that everyone carried a space-locking Talisman.
A space-locking talisman could stop messages from going out and other mages from teleporting into a battle to help their ally. Using a communication talisman, a message is passed with details such as the number of enemies, the number of mages, and the location. Then, poof, you have more enemies than you need.
Amelia looked at laurel's trembling body as tears streamed down her face. She then embraces the trembling girl, then looked at Alex, and asks while grinding her teeth furiously, "why did you do such a thing?"
Alex thought the Duchess was either an idiot, or she held a grudge to his rejection.
'Why didn't she ask the mages that were there?'
Alex did not reply to her. He looked at Theodore and asked,
"Is also part of your job? I have limits like everyone else. I wonder if you could kill what you cannot touch?"
"Duchess Rei-…." Theodore was about to explain when he was interrupted by the Duchess yelling.
"Guards take him into custody, be careful he is an elemental space user. If he resists breaking his arms and legs," Amelia said in a righteous tone. Laurel smiled while in the bosom of Amelia.
Alex's eyes changed from blue to orange. He unsheathed both of his ghost blades.
While laughing, he said, "there is a door to heaven, but you won't take it. There is no door to the underworld, so you come to me."