In total, there are 10 squadrons of 30 in the Silver Lions Division. Each is led by a squad leader which means there are 10 squad leaders. Then there are 3 mages assigned to each squadron for long-range combat and healing purposes. Then there is Division Commander, the 11th Imperial Princess, Yuna Asmodeus.
We then have Vice commander Derrick Lithon and Assistant Vice commander Moby Cokrin. That makes the Silver Lions division consist of 343 individuals, all of which were either body cultivators or mages.
This number of 343 could never change unless there were dire circumstances. That is due t a royal decree for 1500 years ago. It's not like they ever fill up all the seats though.
The minimum requirement of even being considered for this limited seat squad is to be at least at the level of Peak Core Refining. You also had to be skilled in fighting at a class above the rest.
The current squad was missing 3 mages and was at 340 members. They were still on the lookout for talents to fill that position.
Yuna talks long strides towards metal gates and right as she is about to walk straight into it, she raises her right and does a gesture of flicking the gate with her fingers.
Crunch!! Boooom!
The gate unhinges itself from the brick walls and explodes in towards the estate. None of the other Silver Lions were surprised. They were sure that there was no door within this empire that their commander could n0t toss aside.
168 soldiers and combat/healer mages enter the estate and find a Pigman standing in front of the main manor. The main manor is a 3-floor manor without over 100 rooms and was fully made from reinforced stones and magic wood.
The construction of this one manor would take over 45,000 gold coins. Daren would go slightly insane if he heard this price was just this one manor. There were 4 more similar manors across this estate.
The cost of building these manors cost almost 200,000 gold and the Manupus Family spent over 100,000 buying the land for this estate. They built the manors after.
The old Pigman had a tall frame that was about 2.3 meters tall. He had skinny arms and legs and the actual head of a Pig. All beastmen basically had human-like bodies with varying skin color depending on the animal and an actual animal head.
"What brings the proud Silver Lions to my family's doorstep." asked the old man.
"Patriarch Evan Manupus. Your family is suspected of collaborating with the demonic cult and leaking information to them. We are here to search your manor for evidence.
Bring over all your family and servants from inside and have them all gather here. While we search, no one is to disturb us. Do not be surprised if we are to slaughter without warning. " Yuna ended her orders there. She then sent closed her eyes and sensed her surroundings.
She could feel the pulses of each and every human and Pigman within the estate.
"Your highness, the 11th blesses our home with your arrival. Your noble presence will bring even more wealth to my family. Please wait here while bringing some snacks and something for your highness to sit on. It will also take some time to bring over all the people in the mansion." said Patriarch Evan.
Patriarch Evan is a simple man. He only cares about making the family richer, protecting its honor, and protecting his life. He would do whatever was necessary to keep these three goals afloat. Patriarch Evan says everything with a smile when he talks to people outside his family.
"No need for pleasantries. I will give you only 10 minutes to gather everyone. Anyone still within the buildings will be obstructing justice and will be executed." said Yuna.
"As you wish you highness. Thank you for your magnanimity." Patriarch Evan bows and gestures over for a servant of his. He then whispers something to the servant and the servant runs off.
There was no point in whispering anything because all the soldiers here could hear it with their incredible senses. "Go and spread the news to all the other houses. Tell them to get here within 10 minutes." That is what Evan had whispered.
The Silver Lions were all confused as to why he had to whisper that. Evan just stood there, smiling at the confused men and women as he knew that they heard him.
10 minutes later, the 700 plus inhabitants had gathered right outside the main manor of the estate.
"We shall start now!" said Yuna. She and the rest of the Silver Lions went towards the different manors. They split up to get the search done as fast they could.
The men and women wrecked every single room. Some punched entire walls down to see if anything was hidden inside. Others ripped apart the wooden floorboards. Most of them just took whatever papers they could find. Any letter, books, ledgers, and practically all forms of writing were taken from the manors.
After about an hour of searching through the estate, all the silver lions converged into the main manor to pile through all the possible evidence together.
Next to Yuna was a short man who seemed to measure only 1.4 meters tall. He had small eyes and many gray hairs mixed into his brown hair. The man had many wrinkles and seemed to be around 60 or 70 years old.
"Mr. Faris, we hope you can find something useful in here," said Yuna as she guided the old man to the pile of paper on a grand dining table.
Mr. Faris sits down in a chair in front of the mountain of paper that was presented to him.
"I was expecting there to be this much to go through but that's why I asked for my assistants to be sent over. Why are they not here yet?" demanded Mr. Faris.
"Imperial Investigator Faris, I apologize for the inconvenience. The carriage they were supposed to take broke down before departure. They were delayed by that and have arrived at the gates." said Derrick.
"I will be going to bring them here myself in the next 5 minutes. We would appreciate it if you got a head start while I do so." state Moby swiftly exiting the room. His speed could not be seen from the naked eye.
He was much faster than the wind itself.
"I shall get started then. Even when my assistants come, it might take us about 3 or 4 hours to investigate this entire pile," said Faris.
"That is absolutely fine with me. No one can enter or exit the estate without our permission so you can have all the time you need," said Yuna in order to reassure the investigator.
She knows that this investigator is very thorough with his work and the same goes for his hand-picked subordinates. The investigator did not want to rush his work so he sought approval from the commander.
With the reassurance of the commander that he could do his work diligently, Faris picks up the first piece of paper, namely a letter to read through.
......
(6 Hours Later)
The investigator and his 7 assistants were hard at work They were almost done with the pile of papers and had very sour moods. So far, they had found nothing that even had the slightest mention of the demonic sect.
That is until one of the assistants found something suspicious.
In his hand was a letter with no indication of whom it came from. The paper was yellow and folded into four parts. It read the following:
"You have failed the experiment in Igrit city and made such a spectacle out of it. This has brought the attention of the royal family to both you and us. To repay you for your help, we will be taking the lives of your subordinates.
We may be severing all ties but since the organization owes you one, we have hidden a special item in the 4th villa's storage room. Light them up if you are ever in trouble and we will come to you.
Remember this. It will be our final meeting ever."
"Sir, take a look at this." the assistant passed the letter to Mr. Faris and he read it too. His eyes opened wide in happiness. He could finally talk after an hour of silent reading.
To make sure that he didn't see wrong, Mr. Faris showed the letter to all of his assistants and they reassured him that they had found the right thing.
"Commander, my assistant has found something that might prove them guilty," said Mr.Faris. He would never take credit for others' work and give it to those who deserved it.
Yuna took the letter into her own hands and read it. She then gestured over Moby and gave him the order to dig up the back of manor 4.
Moby and 5 others ran out of the room in the blink of an eye. They returned 2 minutes later with can only be called 3 oversized fireworks. These fireworks were twice as large as the conventional fireworks most people used.
The fireworks had their signature cone-shaped tip and cylindrical body but the fuse was immensely short at only 1 inch.
"What should we do with these, commander?" asked Moby. Yuna stared at the fireworks and looked back at the note.
"It says to light them up so let's light them up. Let's go outside." All the Silver Lions and Yuna went to the front of the manor and placed the fireworks on the ground.
Moby made a snap with his fingers and a small fire appeared under all the fireworks. Within 2 seconds, the fire had already burned through the fuse and the fireworks took off.
The fireworks escaped the barrier that Yuna made as it did not stop nonliving things from escaping and entering. If it did, they wouldn't have a constant flow of oxygen.
It didn't take long for the fireworks to reach the sky and then they went 'BOOOOOM'!! The cloudy skies were lit up with the image of a white skull with long, demon horns and curved knife carving through it. The skull then transitioned into light blue color and ended up being red before the dissipated.
"GOOOOOOOOOOO!!" yelled Yuna. Even before she had spoken, her comrades had already prepared themselves and took off running towards the group.
The group of servants and Manupus family members looked up towards the sky when the fireworks went off. Their originally confident face that was due to thinking that the Silver Lions would find nothing was shattered.
Dispair did not take too long to plaster itself all over their faces. Some of the Pigmen and servant's legs shook and they fell to the floor. They remembered the warning that the Silver Lions Commander gave them.
They could see streaks of light approaching them, arriving at fast speeds from the direction of the main manor.
Crack!! Crack!! Crack!!
The thin barrier above the estate shattered like glass.
"Stop!" Yuna ordered and everyone around her complied. They still had their weapons drawn and had their senses heightened to max.
Boom!
The brick walls surrounding the front of the estate got blown away and the 150 Silver Lions that were guarding the outside perimeter were lifted off their feet and send flying. They flew towards the silver lions within the compound.
"Formation K13. Catch as many of our comrades as you can," ordered Yuna.
The soldiers went into a formation that had them form a square. The square was evenly formed with the commander being in the center. The commander spread her arms outwards while the rest put their hand forward to be prepared for the catch.
Yuna instantaneously formed a misty barrier that acted as a cushion and would absorb some of the force of the impact and put it behind the soldiers.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The impact of metal armor on metal armor was loud and reverberated everywhere. The men who caught the flying bodies slightly felt the impact as most of it was absorbed by the mist.
The people who were thrown regained their footing while also readying their weapons for combat. These are all men and women who have forged their instincts and have experienced countless battles. They had no issues in adapting to quick changes in their environment.
"HOW DARE THIS EMPIRE THREATEN THE LIVES OF MY FAMILY!!!"
A thunderous voice that's as filled with passion and anger could be heard for a radius of 30 miles. The Silver Lions looked up into the sky in response to the voice and saw a man floating in the sky.
With their hawk-like vision, the soldiers could see what this man looked like.
A man with a blue wizard hat, blue robes, and a scepter made out of wood. The scepter had a gold orb on top. His face was thin, his body frail but there was vibrant energy coming from his black eyes.
The black eyes of the pig that is. This was another pig-headed man. A pigman mage that stood right under the clouds This pig also had a beard that was similar to that of a fantasy wizard back on planet earth.