It has been a week since the raid at the mansion of Ennis Elwin Damos. The army of the Kingdom, led by captain Cadoc Leivre, raided the mansion of the noble in search of evidence of several crimes, including: slavery and abuse; possession of illegal drugs; possession of illegal animals; and conspiracy against the King.
The results of the operation were the capture of several nobles and some mercenaries that worked for Ennis. In addition, several people and animals that were being kept in captivity were rescued by the army. According to the civilians, there were also numerous demi humans kept as prisoners who were also released but taken by some third party.
The exitance of this third party was also supported by the findings of the army. Several mercenaries and animals were killed before the soldiers reached those places. In addition, the office of Ennis was in total disorder, and it looked like someone had already gone through his documents by the time the soldiers arrived. Unfortunately, Ennis managed to escape by using one of the underground tunnels below the mansion.
According to the testimony of the sergeant, Silver Alexander Kendall, he encountered one of the servants of Ennis and fought her. He also met with a citizen of the Republic named Thanatos, who was badly wounded, but after defeating the servant of Ennis, the man vanished without a trace.
"Mmm, you said you met him in the Republic?" Asked the man sitting down at the table. He was one of the generals of the Kingdom and the teacher of Silver, Gen Keld Asis.
"Yes General, he seemed to know Lady Lia Comtes Hildir. I believed she said he was a merchant friend of hers. When I met him at the mansion, he was about to be killed by the servant I fought. After that, I lost consciousness, so I don't know where he went." Silver responded with honesty, although Lia asked him in the letter to not tell anyone she was the source of information. The circumstances surrounding the raid made it impossible to keep Thanatos' presence hidden.
"There's also the creature you discovered in the tunnels; you said it was undead, right Captain Cadoc?"
"Yes, general." He responded. Thankfully, with healing magic, he was back to health already. "I found a creature similar to a knight. It was dead and could use necrotic magic in its attacks, although it seemed to not have a master since he was also attacking the leader of the mercenaries."
"Silver, do you think there is a chance that the undead was summoned by this Thanatos person?"
"I can't deny it, general, but he was very wounded from the attacks of the woman. He didn't use any magic either. The possibility is very small."
"We can't discard that it was Ennis trying to learn about necromancy by his own accord. The other nobles we arrested all say the same thing: Ennis is the one that organized those sick torture games." Cadoc interjected.
"You're correct, captain. We must not be blind and jump to conclusions without evidence. If we had managed to arrest Ennis, this situation would be much clearer."
"My apologies general, it was my responsibility and I failed." Silver bowed his head as a means to express his deep shame. It was the first time the promise boy failed a mission.
"What is done is done; there is no point in worrying about the past. We must focus on the future and plan accordingly. Besides, no one is perfect Silver." Gen stood up and walked toward Silver. Putting a hand on his shoulder, he spoke. "I was hoping you would learn this lesson sooner rather than later. We strive to be examples to civilians and our companions, but that pursuit is never completed because, like all humans, we're fallible, we suffer wounds when we get stabbed, and our minds have a limit to what we can plan ahead. Even the supreme general Thane, is not an exception to those things. Take this failure and hold it in your heart, so you can become a stronger Knight in the future."
"Yes, general!" Silver responded with a newfound spirit. The expectations of others, he would correspond them all. The promise boy didn't mean he couldn't make mistakes, but instead he strived to correct them, to always work to be better.
"For now, the situation is mostly concluded. There are only two things left: find and capture Ennis; and discover who is this third party and what Thanatos' connection is to them. Understood?"
"YES, GENERAL!"
In the city of Raind, Thanatos and his companions were sorting the benefits of their incursion. They managed to complete all their objectives.
The demi human slaves were freed and, thanks to Neo and her tribe, they could return to live in the forest. Although some of them had too few members to reform their previous tribes, they were integrated into others. There wasn't any problem since all of them shared the trauma of being enslaved. They were so thankful to Thanatos and Neo that they volunteered to form an alliance with Underworld, just like Neo's tribe previously did. Underworld now had about ten different tribes working with them.
Suddenly, Underworld information and collection network expanded tenfold. In only a few days, the number of ingredients and animals they could reunite was too great for the main building in the city to store. They could produce even more potions and drugs.
Another benefit was the documents that Adel stole from Ennis's office. After only two days of interrogation, Ennis spilled all the information he had. It was kind of pathetic, Ennis was tortured for only two days and his will broke down completely. Thanatos knew Ennis was a spoiled rich boy, but he became a shell of his former self.
As Ennis cried and begged to not be hurt anymore, his hair began to turn gray and fall. Even after having his wounds healed, he would stare at the floor with an absent stare and cover his head when someone got close to him. It became so pathetic that even Neo, the person who hated him the most, gave up on the torture after he confessed everything. She put him out of his misery.
Thanatos was reading the documents that Adel had brought. Ennis confessed that there were letters from his companions in the Kingdom. Ennis was part of a secret faction that wanted to dispose of King Gabriel Lothar the III. The faction consisted of three people, including Ennis. Their objective was to manipulate the prince, Gabriel Lothar the IV, to control the Kingdom as they saw fit.
Ennis didn't know what the extent of their plans was since he was limited to supplying some gold and mercenaries when the other members asked him. The only thing he knew was that they were planning some kind of incident or attack against the King, but he didn't know when it was going to happen.
Thanatos didn't give it too much importance and was more interested in the other documents. A certificate that proved the ownership of some land in the nation of Los. Ennis had it as an escape house. He was planning to hide there until his allies called him with letters when the time for putting the plan into action came. Not only that, but also a list of contacts for illegal activities in the country and a bit of blackmail on some people.
This could be very useful. I might consider going to this nation of Los, to expand Underworld network. Ennis told me they are a bunch of zealots devoted to angels and the faith of Los. They hate demi humans so much they kill them on sight, but there is scum just like Ennis that wants to have them as slaves in secret.
The mission had been a success in almost everything except one detail. The Death Knight: Someone had killed it. It was probably a member of the army of the Kingdom. That left two problems for the future. Number one, the army has people strong enough to deal with a creature like that. Two, if Silver were to talk with his superiors about Thanatos' presence, they may deduce that he was the one controlling the Death Knight.
I hope it was the boss of the mercenaries that killed the Death Knight. That would have saved me a lot of worry. Well, it's not that important. I don't intend to return to the Kingdom in a while.
He got up from his chair and walked out toward a room. The sounds of metal hitting metal and people fighting was heard in the hallway. When he opened the door, he found his companions training the rest of the members of Underworld.
"Raise your sword higher! Bend your knees more! Don't let the other have the initiative!" Adel was screaming as he passed through a bunch of people sparring with each other. They were using real swords to get used to the weight of swinging them around.
On the other hand, Eric and Neo were beating the rest of the members that preferred to fight with their hands. Unlike Adel's class, they were just punching, kicking, and throwing them around without any explanation."
"Come on, bastards, you haven't even touched me yet! We need to prepare ourselves if one of the big three syndicates tries to mess with us!"
"You guys are too weak. Are you sure you even want to fight? You might as well go practice your gathering skills. I don't see too much future for you guys when it comes to fighting." Neo said with a smug expression.
Weirdly enough, the encouragement from Eric and the annoying remarks from Neo kept them motivated.
Thanatos looked at his companions. They had all become stronger after those battles with the enslavers. He himself had also grown, not only in physical ability but also in mental capacity.
[Level obtained: Lord of darkness 4]
He went back toward the entrance of the base and climbed the stairs to Lia's personal room.
He knocked on the door a couple of times, but since there wasn't any answer, he opened it and walked inside. Lia was at her desk concentrating on her sewing. She was stitching together a shining blue cloth with a jacket. Thanatos thought it would be rude to interrupt her when she was so fixated on her work that he just stood there in the back watching her.
After a few minutes, Lia finished her work and turned back. "AHH! Since when were you there?" She got scared after seeing him on the back.
"Like five minutes. I didn't want to disturb you. Are you making some kind of magical jacket?"
"Yes, a jacket with a cloth that can adjust itself to the person's body but..."
"What is it? You look disappointed?"
"I want to make something that would be useful to you and everyone else."
"What do you mean? You have already helped my wardrove for an entire decade." He laughed at his own joke.
"Is not that. I can do regular clothes, but I don't know how to make enchanted cloth. My family only taught me to sew or weave them into regular clothes. My mom said that if I needed them, I could just buy it."
"Is that not an option?"
"No, they only sell you enchanted cloth that can change size. That's it. If you want a different spell, then you need to submit a request at the tailoring shop, and then the council gets a copy of the order. If my dad sees those orders about me buying cloth with defensive spells, he's going to ask me questions and probably deny my request."
"Right, you said your dad is in the Council. Lia, you don't need to do any of that. We're happy with the regular clothes you make for us."
"I want to help you. I'm not a fighter, but this is the least I can do. I almost fainted after seeing you come back in Adel's arms. You were in terrible shape. The armor I gave you was useless."
"No, it wasn't." Thanatos grabbed Lia's hands. "Nothing you did is useless. I told you, I'm here because of you… Lia I like you..."
Their faces blushed as they got closer, looking into each other's eyes until…
"Master, we have a problem. Two of our members were found dead." Adel came into the room with a terrified expression. "They also had the symbol of the Red Dragon carved into their flesh."