While Alex was being sent off, the surviving Mantrigeld members, Kailey and her Aunt Evelyn were already back at their home in the capital.
After reaching the first major city, they exchanged their horse-drawn carriage for a monster-drawn one to speed up the journey. They were able to make it back a little under 3 months after the tragedy and were met by the young girl's grandpa, and Master of the Household, Winslow Mantrigeld.
They spent the next few days mourning and preparing a funeral for the fallen but Master Winslow was forced to keep working. The capital had gotten chaotic after his outburst, many accusing him of trying to rise up against the king or housing some dangerous monsters in his basement.
The rumors were crazy like all rumors were but the actual contents didn't matter.
What mattered was that their reputation was falling.
The common folk was easily swayed by money and power so rumors could easily reach every inch of the capital city in a few days. Winslow wasn't even given proper time to mourn, having to defend against the sneaky attacks by the other noble houses.
Spies would be caught wandering the halls at night, and a few of his maids or workers on the estate were kidnapped or bribed into spilling any secrets they may know or going to the side of his enemies for better rewards.
The Mantrigeld house was falling apart and that was just the nobles doing their normal noble bullshit. They weren't even aware yet that the head of the Mantrigeld house no longer had any eligible heirs.
He was blessed with two sons and a daughter, the daughter being Evelyn, and even the extended family of all of his children were close to each other. He was a happy grandpa but it all fell apart in one night.
He narrowed his eyes and scratched his unkempt hair that he hadn't taken care of in weeks. He lost sleep over the issues with the bandit attack and it was the guard hiring that was the most suspicious.
That was because none of the guards he actually hired for the job ever went to protect his family!
Instead, unknown, weaker guards were sent to protect them. He wasn't sure if his late family was knowledgeable about this, but probably not otherwise they would have said something and not gone on their trip.
There was some sort of foul play involved and he needed to get to the bottom of it. The issue was the guard regiment under another enemy household kept avoiding him, preventing him from getting answers on why the guards he hired never did their job, and ultimately killing his family.
He sighed in frustration and leaned back in his chair. His only other option was to wait for the next royal court assembly that all Dukes were a part of, however, the next one was still a month away. That was basically enough time for the other houses to get some lead way on what happened to his family.
He felt set up and it irked him to no end, but he could only swallow his anger and keep going. Nobles were nasty creatures, even worse than demons in his eyes. His household was one of the few actually good households that cared about the kingdom they served. He instilled this thinking into his children and he was in good standing with the king.
However, the greedy noble houses didn't like that.
They saw him as a threat who, down the line, would soon reveal their nasty nature and make them lose their heads, or worse, their fortunes. Some had big business deals with outside kingdoms, and it was the same in those kingdoms too.
The underground network was too large to make sense of so nobles always had to stay on their toes and watch out for enemies lurking in the most unusual places. Their own families weren't even safe.
He threw away the horrid thoughts on the inner workings of the Sorketh Kingdom and focused on the other horrid thoughts about his dead family and employees. It made his heart tighten when he thought about their mangled and tortured bodies.
He let a bit of his aura escape but quickly calmed down after a deep breath. It wasn't the time to get emotional, he had all the time in the world for that later. The world wouldn't wait for him to finish mourning so he continued reading the report made by Pride.
Pride was able to help get his daughter and granddaughter home safely, but it seemed that the attack had long been cleared out by the time he got there. What confused Winslow the most was that his family's bodies and the bodies of the guards and maids were put into graves in the area.
The bodies were taken care of properly and they weren't even shoved into a mass grave.
'Who would do this and why? What do bandits have to gain from this?' Winslow narrowed his eyes and reread a few times to make sure he read it right.
There were also mentions of a third party but it was very vague, almost like the report avoided talking about him. He knew how detailed Pride was in his work, so for the masked man to do something like this, he knew something was going on.
"Call Pride here." He spoke out loud.
A cloaked figure instant trasmissioned into the room, said "yes Master," then disappeared again. Less than a minute later, Pride entered in the same manner and went down on a knee with his fist across his chest.
"Master Winslow, you called?"
"What is the meaning of this?" Winslow narrowed his eyes and directed his aura onto Pride.
He held up the stack of papers in his hand with anger written on his face before slamming it down on the desk again. Pride shrunk down to the floor a bit from the pressure but his mask prevented any emotions from showing.
"I was ordered by Lady Evelyn, Master, I would bring it up with my Lady if you want a more detailed report." He struggled to say.
Pride may have been in the same Ring as Master Winslow, but their difference in strength was too great. Pride was closer to the beginning of the 7th Ring while his Master was toward the end of it. He may be close to the 8th Ring, but it was almost impossible for him to do it.
He was already a few thousand years old and he wasn't getting younger. His age was starting to show and there was only so far many people could go on their journey of strength before they had to call it quits.
It was already quite surprising that he could reach this level but he had no plans to get stronger.
Winslow was surprised by his subordinate's words. His own daughter was hiding things from him? He was getting furious with her. His family had been decimated yet his surviving family was hindering his progress to get to the bottom of this.
"Call my Daughter in here now," He said in a deep voice and thought for a bit, "Also call for my Granddaughter, I'd like to talk to her too."
His tone was much softer when he spoke of Kailey. The little girl had probably been affected the most by these recent events. He stood up from his chair and walked to a large window in his office. He looked out to the courtyard below and caught sight of a person moving around almost like they were dancing.
Down in the courtyard, the Granddaughter he spoke of was sweating as she held a wooden sword made for her current body. Her brow was knitted together as she focused wholeheartedly on her training.
Ever since leaving her Prince behind, she vowed to grow stronger. She wanted to be just like him and be able to fight against people way stronger than her. Her goal may have been farfetched, but for a young kid like her, it wasn't a far-away dream.
The first thing she asked her Grandpa when they came home was to find her a tutor for both magic and swordplay. Both her aunt and Grandpa, as well as any maids or butlers who were there to meet them, were shocked!
This was the same little girl who always played around and teased the servants, constantly giggling down the halls and causing trouble. Kailey had never shown interest in anything before and for her to show such a determined face when speaking of training, their hearts ached at just how much the incident affected her.
Aunt Eva had tried her best to talk some sense into the little girl since she was worried for her safety, but wasn't able to get anywhere. The little girl was stubborn, just like her father, Eva's brother.
Winslow caught sight of a maid coming to speak to his Granddaughter when there was a knock on the door.
"Father it's me." Eva spoke from the other side.
"Come in." He turned back and went to see his daughter.
The door was opened by a maid and in came Evelyn... except she wasn't walking.
Instead, she was in a futuristic wheelchair, similar to a certain bald professor from Earth fiction, and liked the letter 'X'. The wheelchair was powered by E-stones and was something that was created by the Mantrigeld's family artisans.
He poured a lot of money into this chair to give his daughter the ability to move around just fine. She was still given a maid to help her with her everyday needs even if she didn't want it. He had the final say in matters, in the end, so even if his daughter came to hate him for something like this, he would swallow the hurtful words and keep going.
Things like that were the curses of being the Head of a Household.
Not only did he have to think like a father, but also a businessman, CEO, politician, and plenty of others to make sure those around him were doing their jobs properly.
Winslow smiled and sat on the edge of one of the couches where his daughter moved her wheelchair to. He looked her over once before asking,
"How are you feeling? Any progress?"
*Sigh* "No father, but it's alright. I've already come to terms with my condition."
Eva looked down with a smile but her eyes were full of sorrow. Her emotions made her father also feel teary-eyed.
"I'm sure you'll be able to get more mobility as long as you stick to the physical therapy."
He tried to sound happy again and cheer up his daughter but it had the opposite effect. Eva pinched the bridge of her nose with a frustrated sigh. She then looked up as she tossed her hair behind her and her gaze was a bit colder now.
She and her father had this conversation many times before but it was always the same conclusion in the end. Her legs were gone. She couldn't walk anymore.
"We both know that this PT is useless. I just feel pain and frustration for it so why am I still forced to do it? Unless I can break into the 4th Ring, it's pretty much impossible for me to gain my mobility."
There was in fact, a way to save her legs, however, her 2nd Ring strength wouldn't be enough to survive the surgery and healing. They had a healer and doctor who could work on her legs, but her vitality was so low right now that she would definitely die during the surgery.
Neither of them were willing to take that chance and it was impossible for her to break into the 4th Ring in a few months. It would take several years at the earliest. Probably more than a decade or beyond.
Even if the family did have plenty of treasures to gain stats fast, their bodies wouldn't be able to handle the mass influx of essence and it would leave lasting destruction in their bodies. Eva didn't want this either so she had already cried all her tears for her condition and moved on.
She was a strong woman and knew when it was okay to let the tears fall, and now was not the time. Her father was extremely busy with all the issues with just the nobles and she wanted to help out as much as she could.
Of course, as her doting father, he refused and it started straining their relationship. They both wanted to patch things up but they were also both stubborn, something that clearly ran in the family.
"Let's get this over with," Eva continued and struggled to get comfortable in her seat before continuing, "Why did you ask for me?"
Winslow sighed, knowing this conversation would get nowhere so he took off his fatherly mask and switched it for his Patriarch mask.
"I will be direct: Why did you order Pride to submit a false report?" His voice was a bit colder now but Eva didn't react.
She was used to it after all so she snorted a bit and answered.
"What do you mean? There's nothing false in that report."
Her father narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not playing games here Evelyn! Why are you avoiding talking about this 'town', and this 'man' you mentioned a few times?" He said slapping the paper that was in his hands.
"What do you even hope to gain by hiding the truth? I'm trying to find out who set up and killed my family, your family!" His voice rose a bit.
Eva didn't back down and rose her voice a bit as well.
"I put it like that because they weren't important, they weren't involved. I've explicitly said many times that it was just an unfortunate situation! We were in the wrong place at the wrong time. That's all!"
Winslow gritted his teeth.
"Stop lying to me Evelyn Starna Colvieris Mantrigeld! As the Head of the Mantrigeld household, I order you to tell me what really happened to my children and their families!"
Eva felt a bit sluggish after being hit by a bit of his aura but didn't back down.
"I'm telling you that is what really happened! It isn't necessary to talk about the town or the people there because they weren't involved! If anything, they helped us! You can pressure me all you want but I won't say anything more, for their sake and yours. You'll just be wasting your efforts and your precious time on a wild goose chase!"
Eva rolled her eyes and moved her wheelchair over to one of the shelves in her father's office. She pressed one of the e-stone buttons on her device so that it lifted up to become more of a high chair so she could open up a cabinet and pull out a bottle of alcohol.
She was sick and tired of all her father's whining and even though she was caught by him for hiding things, she wouldn't back down. She promised the monstrous young man that she was in her debt. She felt it was her job to protect him from her overprotective father.
She also felt awful for how Alan interacted with her. She knew something happened to her childhood hero and she wanted to find out, however, the entire estate was too busy dealing with her family's deaths.
She took a hard swig and coughed as her father stood up to follow her.
"Why are you protecting them?! They killed your brothers, your nieces, and nephews, everyone you and I cared for!" Winslow's aura burst out making Eva cough up blood.
He quickly paled himself and started crying as he picked up his daughter and carefully examined her internal body. He didn't mean to hurt her but their argument escalated this time. He gritted his teeth and cursed himself.
Eva was weak as blood trickled down the corners of her lips. Her eyes however were even colder now and she was furious with her father.
"Do you not trust me? To think my own father *cough!* *cough!* wouldn't believe his daughter who witness her family murdered in cold blood and r*ped by dirty mongrels and left to die in the fires of the carriages."
She turned her head away from him even though she was still in his arms as he went back to the couch. He felt guilty and that was Eva's plan. She wanted to wake him up from his rage and get him back on the right path.
"I'm sorry, daughter," Winslow hung his head low, "I do trust you, I just want to know what happened. How would you feel if someone killed Kailey and I just hid the facts from you? Would you let it go like it was no big deal?"
Winslow played her same game and played his guilty card and Eva softened her gaze and thought as well. Of course, she would be furious with her father. For him to hide the details of what happened, in that scenario, she would probably disown herself from the family.
With a sigh, she turned back to her father and hugged him.
"I'm sorry father, I was just trying to protect them... There's someone you know there in that small town and although they truly weren't involved, there are other issues that I wanted to look into.
"Also the man I mentioned in my report was a completely different person. Do you want to hear about both?"
Eva really didn't want to talk about it since she knew her father would definitely investigate it, but she couldn't do anything about that now. She didn't want it to ruin their relationship and she hoped to convince him not to stick his nose in their business.
"Yes please," Winslow smiled, "Let's start with the man who was involved in the incident first."
Eva sighed and nodded as she began retelling what happened.