At the gates of the mansion a black carriage capable of carrying up to four people which had its windows boarded up and was pulled by several horses.
As it exited through the inner gate it travelled through the village to the open gate of the outer wall to leave the village.
Ki sat on the front of the carriage as she held the reigns directing the horses to walk forwards at a steady pace.
Just as she was on the outside of the village the carriage stopped and Isaac ran to the side of the carriage with a map in his hands.
He handed it over to Ki and spoke hurriedly. "I have marked possible locations on where they will pass by according to my deductions and the direction where I detected where they are travelling from. I hope this helps you locate them.. are you sure you wish to go alone?"
Ki nodded calmly and turned to face the direction where Isaac had pointed and then spoke. "Do not worry I can handle it. Even if it gets rough for me I have several cards to help me avoid death."
She flicked her wrist with the reigns in her hands and directed the horses to move forward once more.
As Isaac saw the carriage leave his eyes flickered while his mind tried to work out a puzzle that had presented itself before him. 'There is nobody inside the carriage according to my eyes. There is no aura so my guess is that she has carried a weapon with her that cannot be shown to the public eye… not even I can know of this weapon so it must be dangerous or banned according to public knowledge and laws or have some effect on my thoughts towards her that would cause me to lose trust in her.'
Isaac looked towards the retreating carriage and sighed. 'The main point is that she has gone on this mission alone so she wishes to use this as a chance to improve herself under the pressure and test several things. In the end it's just one small girl who is taking on the whole burden yet again so I can't help turn my eyes the other way and ignore my suspicions no matter how horrific the means she employs are. She has made every effort to spare many invaders lives through various means but there are also times when we have no choice but to be ruthless. When the tide comes that cannot be stopped you either have to resist it by standing your ground or you can push through with everything you have. This group… according to my calculations cannot be stopped and will continue their attack no matter what. We do not have time to think of any other strategies.'
Isaac sighed and then turned towards the people on the gates. "Close the gates! Remain on high alert and look out for any strange movements within the village during this time. I want no one slacking during this time! The village is on high alert and in a state of lockdown. Anyone that disrupts the peace and order immediately warn them to stop their actions and if they don't then subdue them and write down their actions to be sent to the law department."
During times of invasion the village could not allow any mistakes to happen that would put the village at risk so order needed to be maintained.
Ki was once again taking on the burden alone according to Isaacs thoughts so while she went out to protect everyone they needed to prove that her efforts weren't being wasted.
The Bombyx family needed to be protected but also the many villagers who believed in them.
As the head strategist all he could do was put his trust in Ki's abilities and resourcefulness and then use his mind to cover her from behind.
A little out of the sight of Isaac and the others, further down the road the horses and carriage stopped moving.
Ki stepped down from her seat on the front of the carriage and turned her head towards the carriage.
She stepped forward and opened the door, the light entered the dark and gloomy looking insides of the carriage and a creepy figure was seen within.
Black bandages wrapped around the arms, legs, neck and some parts of the face and the back of the head which covered up any signs whether the head was bald or had a head of hair, underneath the bandages was a pair of lifeless eyes that contained no signs of emotion or soul within them.
The rest of the body had a pair of dark leather boots, tight fitting black pants and top along with a black cloak over them with a hood.
By its side lay a ghostly mask that looked like an evil spirit that came from someones nightmares and the hands of the figure calmly completed the same motion several times as if it had been doing it for a long period of time during its stay within the carriage.
It was wiping the flat parts of the blades on its hand on the palm of the opposite hand several times and then moved onto the next blade on each finger and then switched hands.
As Ki opened the door the figure had almost finished their task and wiped the final parts of the blade against its palm as if to complete its ritual.
On the palm of the glove that is part of the knife blades, the only part of the body that was exposed and not completed covered up by bandages or clothing and if it came into contact with something it would become poisoned.
As the blades came into contact with and had been wiped along the poisoned skin on the palms of the figures hands, they began to carry the same poison so became even deadlier weapons.
After it finished its task it placed its hands on its knees and let the blades down facing the ground.
Ki stepped inside the carriage, picked up the mask and fastened it onto the head of the figure securely.
She then exited the carriage and entered the forest with a map in her hands as the taller figure exited the carriage and followed behind her.
At Ki's waist was a sword and a bow and quiver on her back but also several pouches attached to her waist and legs and other small and unnoticeable bumps that appeared beneath her clothing.
Within the forest the sunlight barely passed through the tops of the trees which did not provide the best vision but a large group of over thirty people travelled with weapons in their hands as if ready to slaughter any of those they met.
Some of them looked a little hungry and others had a bloodthirsty aura as if they had just suffered a defeat and had been repelled from somewhere else and lost some of their people.
They began to speak among themselves as they travelled forward without stopping. "This is why I said we should of just targeted a smaller place to get ourselves settled and have enough supplies… that was really reckless."
"Shut up.. it's too late now anyways. What we need to do now is gather food and supplies to recover, I heard there is a village within this forest so it would be a good target to take over and help us regain our strength. We can also try again if we can find the enemies weakness."
"I wonder if the place we are travelling to has any delicate ladies hehe."
"Keep it in your pants.. first we attack anyone on lookout and climb over the walls. Then we can begin our attack."
"Hahaha like I would care. We have already lost some of our men, I am grieving over here. I need someone to make me feel better and release my built up rage on."
"Sigh… whatever. I cannot be bothered to argue with you. Just make sure you do what you want after we have completed the mission. Do not disrupt the plan."
The group behaved as if they were part of an army who were fighting their enemies, they were coordinated and worked well in a group but due to their hunger their nerves were tense and they were determined to live on no matter the cost.
When a war is fought there are often many civilian casualties that suffer just because they get caught up in the battle for various reasons but the main point was that they just happened to live in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Starving soldiers without supplies are unable to continue their duties and their war of attrition so they retreat to gather supplies.
It's often the vulnerable places like small undefended villages that become the target of their looting in the name of completing their mission.
The innocent casualties of war in their eyes are just the enemies supply points so they do not need to show mercy and take everything for themselves in order to hurt their enemy and survive at the same time.
As a group that just lost some of their own people and were hungry they all had resentment in their hearts so once they arrived at the village they would not hold back themselves.
They would release their built up resentment towards the village and cruelly end their lives while taking what is so dear to them.
After all in the northerners eyes they are in a foreign land with people who think differently than them and view them as nothing than savage beasts so why should they treat them in a friendly manner.