Rock Village, a few hours later.
It was still the middle of the night, but the mage slayer was running as fast as he could towards the meeting point with the members of his unit, wanting to reach his leader and the direct communication device that only she had. He pretended he was helping the idiot mages, just because he desperately needed their help.
He had lied to them. In fact, if it was discovered that the apprentice had a mana body and had died in front of him, he would be the one to take responsibility for it. Running away to save one's own skin wasn't an option either.
He could run for his life and avoid execution, but his family would have to suffer the sentence instead.
As he ran towards the village, he racked his brains trying to figure out a way to steal the communication device, but there was only one way to do it. Your field leader was two tiers above him, and she always carried the device with her. She never let her guard down in front of the unit, but he would have a chance if they were alone.
'I have no choice. There's only one way to achieve this.' The mage slayer thought, hardening his resolve. He arrived on the outskirts of the village and jumped over the wooden wall, expecting to see the village partially destroyed by the battle between mages and their unit, but saw no sign of a struggle after entering the village.
The village was small, with several dozen simple wooden houses and corrals, with a few shops close to the center. The village had approximately 300 to 400 people, a medium-sized village.
The mage slayer pressed one of the buttons on the collar of his cloak, revealing his location to his companions, and waited for them to make contact. Approximately 30 seconds later, he received an answer from his teammates. The button on the collar of the cloak acted as a compass, indicating the direction of your allies and their approximate distance.
'Approximately 500 meters south.' The mage slayer thought, before climbing up a tree to get a better view of the village. 'By the distance, it should be roughly in the barn.'
The mage slayer jumped out of the tree and ran toward the barn, being careful not to reveal his presence, just in case. He climbed onto the roofs, being careful not to make any noise, and tried to peer inside.
"Do not move." A female voice was heard from behind, before a blade was aimed at her throat. Before he knew it, his left arm was immobilized behind his back.
"...The darkness that swallows the light." The mage slayer was not surprised or panicked despite the situation and calmly said the security code.
"You took longer than expected, Finn. Is there a problem?" The female voice spoke in a sweeter tone, but it still held him arrested. The mage slayer, or Finn, felt the woman move even closer until their bodies touched. She leaned her body on his back, while resting her face on his shoulder.
"Captain, if you've already confirmed my identity, I'd like you to release me. I have to report on my mission." Finn spoke hastily but didn't move a muscle. He knew the captain's temper better than anyone and knew that things would only get complicated if he resisted.
"Call me Emilia, not captain. If you do, I might consider letting you go." To captain spoke, applying a little more force to his arm.
"Emilia, can you let me go, please? If we take longer than that, the others might get suspicious and find us in this situation. Besides, some villagers might see us out here." Finn spoke in exasperation.
"Okay. You should have talked like that from the start. And you don't have to worry about the villagers. We spread sleeping drugs all over the village and all the villagers are sleeping now. It was really a pain to break into a house by house to drug them." She complained as she released him, before jumping through the barn window.
"Haah...this is exhausting." Finn sighed before following her. He was already used to the captain Emilia's eccentricity, so he don't paid attention.
After entering the barn, he looked around and saw all the members of the unit, as well as a few people tied up with chains in one of the corners. The captured word keepers, or at least the ones left over.
"How was the mission, #1?" A unit member approached him, codename #3 while asking in high spirits. Unit members didn't know each other's names and recognized each other by numbers, except for at captain, who insisted on breaking the rules and calling each other by name whenever they were alone.
"A disaster, but I managed to complete it somehow. And how was it with you guys? I expected the village to be a pile of rubble now, but it's intact." Finn replied, giving a vague answer..
"Everything went as expected. We ambushed them before they reached the village and they didn't last long. There were 12 guardians and we captured half of them alive. I say it was a great success." The 3rd grinned, but Finn didn't notice because of the white mask.
"Enough of the small talk, we're still on a mission! Everyone, gather here. #1, report the mission." Captain Emilia caught everyone's attention, putting her frivolous attitude aside and speaking in a serious tone. Unit members stopped what they were doing and gathered around her.
"Yes, captain!" Finn nodded and explained the entire disaster that had taken place in the city, from the chaos of the crazed, the death of the power figures in the city, to the group of order mages, except for the presence of Athos. He successfully eliminated the guardians' undercover mage and his apprentice, but the situation in the city was tragic.
"...Is this all true?" Captain Emilia asked, frowning. A case of mass hysteria and genocide would attract the attention of the entire nation. It is likely that their presence in the village will be discovered as well, putting the entire operation at risk.
Officially, the order was supposed to support the guardians. If it were discovered that the White Fangs, an organization under the order's control, had attacked the guardians, there would be major repercussions. If the guardians used this to their advantage, they could even blame the incident on the order, causing great damage to the order's image and destroying the relationship between the country and the order.
Emilia realized the numerous repercussions that this incident could cause and concluded that it was beyond what she could handle. "I understand. Thanks for the report #1. I'll inform headquarters and they'll decide what to do. Rest for now." She dismissed the team as she walked away from the team.
Finn tried to follow her, but the team quickly surrounded him, before peppering him with questions.
"#1, you really are a lucky guy. The order will investigate the situation personally and you will likely receive a generous bonus for reporting this." #2 spoke with envy as Finn paled.
"Is it true that the whole town was killing itself?" #4 asked, brimming with curiosity.
"More importantly, was the guy you killed strong? I had been excited to kill the guardians, but they were disappointing." #5 spoke, a little annoyed.
One by one, every member of his unit asked questions about him, preventing Finn from following him. Finn clicked his tongue in frustration, but looking out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Emilia reaching for a bracelet with a purple crystal hidden under her left glove as she walked away. He tried to follow her with his eyes, but she was gone and out of sight before he could confirm that it was the communication item.
The captains of White fang units were instructed to report any serious matters directly to the elder, before reporting the order. They were originally his private assassins before they joined the order when Louis became an elder, but their loyalty belonged to him alone.
'This bracelet is probably the item I need.' thought Finn.
*****
30 minutes later.
After answering all of his companions' questions, Finn spent the rest of the time lying on top of a makeshift bed of hay, going over the plan in his mind. He would be a despicable man if the plan worked, but a dead man if it failed.
There was no room for failure or second chances. If he failed now, he would be accused not only of losing a body of mana, but also of withholding crucial information and getting in the way of the investigation. He had removed the mask and was holding it in front of his face, wondering if this would be the last time he would wear it.
"Guys, listen here, I spoke to the barracks and they gave us new instructions." Emilia spoke, after finishing talking to the elder.