"I never understood at first why Quintus let that incident go."
"No report was ever filed."
"In fact, as far as the world was concerned, nothing had happened."
"No patrols found any corpses, and in a single night, 51 men disappeared like dust in the wind, never to be seen or heard from again."
"It was as if the victim was content never to let this matter ever see the light of the day, which was perfectly alright with me."
"It was then that I realised it."
"It was not me they were protecting, nor did this young merchant not retaliate at the request of my overly righteous brother.
"No, that young merchant did it for himself."
"So the world would not understand the terrifying power at his disposal.
Amos Hostod, leader of the Golden Goods Merchant Group.
….
Like a bolt of lightning, the cloaked assassin appeared behind Declan, his sharp dagger ready to pierce the old merchant's heart, who was so busy defending his family from the mercenaries that he overlooked this new danger that had appeared behind him.
The assassin was small, using his size to his advantage to navigate brutal battlefields successfully without standing out to anyone who was not actively looking for him or his kind.
The tiny assassin smiled as his dagger got closer and closer to piercing the heart of his target, imagining all the things he could do with the gold gained from this kill. But just before the blade could find its target, a large warhorse appeared before him, forcing the small assassin to dodge the rider's sharp blade and preventing him from carrying out his mission.
"Declan, your brother must really have it in for you for him to send assassins after you."
"Never knew he feared you so much."
Railius commented calmly, but underneath the young player's exterior was a bit of fear, for the young noble knew that this assassin was likely to be far more skilled than him, but no one else could stop this small, hooded figure. Hence, with no other choices, Railius had to save the old merchant, who was essential in his plan to expand quickly. Because he had not been that busy fighting off the mercenaries, he managed to see things from a much broader view than most, with only experienced commanders like those within House Aurellions four pillars being able to observe a battlefield while actively fighting in it.
While it was not a skill that Railius had developed yet, thanks to his quick killing of the men who came after him, Railius saw the battlefield from a much wider perspective than the average soldier, allowing him to see this assassin come out of the forest and into the open and moved to intercept.
He left most of the bandit fighting to his subordinates because he knew that the target for this ambush was not the carts or the goods they contained but a person.
Well, more precisely, a family integral to House Aurellion's swift rise to power.
Railius put himself and his horse between the assassin and Declan, who was too busy fighting off the mercenaries disguised as bandits to watch his back from blades in the dark as he cut down another. His one shining steel sword had turned crimson, bathed in the blood of his enemies who dared to threaten his family's safety.
Declan did not have it easy during this attack. When the mercenaries initially attacked, half of their men attacked the caravan guards, and the other headed straight for the old man. Obviously, it was he, not the goods, who was the target of this attack.
Even the arrows that shot out from the nearby trees seemed to come his way more often than not, as he spent a lot of effort trying to keep his family safe. He had received a shield from the benevolent noble accompanying him, who knew it was not the carts or goods that were most in danger but the old merchant and strove to protect his precious investment.
By now, this shield was filled with arrows so much that every inch seemed to have an arrow shaft protruding from it. Delcan skillfully moved it around to protect himself and his daughters from harm, having been focused on by the archers.
Declan was not like other merchants and was not a man to go down easily when at the business end of a broadsword. Whether it was his persuasive or combat abilities, each was out of the norm. For years, he had fought off those who wished to steal and pilfer his goods and had become quite a capable fighter in his own right; even if the master level remained a dream for him, he had made it to the expert level as the sword he threatened Railius with when they met was not just for show.
These skills honed over the years now showed as these mercenaries found that they struggled to fight against him. The old man was able to fight five off effortlessly, but even with this skill and the mail hidden under his clothes to protect him, he was still covered in blood, both his own and that of his enemies.
Ironically, because Declan did not wear his armour outwardly and was not required to keep up appearances like Railius and the rest of the caravan guards, his armour was of better quality than the ones now worn by Railius and the other Pelican Guards, and it was able to protect him better than the cheaper light mail that Railius was stuck with.
His eldest daughter was given similar treatment, though the armour given to her was slightly lighter, with only the little child Alicia not wearing any armour as it was too heavy for the small girl, but she was currently safe underneath a cart, unlike Kaila and Declan, who were too big not to be noticed by their assailants who had marked them for death as a child was much easier to miss on a chaotic battlefield than an adult.
This armour has saved their lives more than once, even if it could not completely protect them from the steel weapons of the mercenaries, but it would help stop at least some of the damage and was a big reason for their survival.
The small assassin dodged another of Railius' beginner-like strikes, slipping under his warhorse. The small figure's dagger slashed the underbelly of the horse as the war mount cried out in pain and attempted to use its hooves to crush its assailant, only to fail as the dagger left a vicious blood-red gash in the horse's chestnut hide, causing it to buck and for Railius to fall off, who was not yet used to such brash behaviour from his usually well-behaved horse.
To maintain their appearances as a newly formed mercenary group and hide their background, Railius and the rest of his men did not wear horse armour to protect their mounts. This made them much more susceptible to attacks because if they were plated and mail-clad, as they would be on the battlefield, then the dagger would struggle to do any damage at all, getting caught in the mail or deflecting off the steel plates.
The strong warhorse bolted, and Railius crashed to the ground after being thrown from the saddle landing on the ground with a crash and a grunt of pain, cursing at his low riding skill and his unfamiliarity with having an animal for a mount and his now store ass. However, the assassin cared not for the man who got in his way, who was now lying on the ground groaning in pain on the cobbled road and rushed straight towards his target as Railius received a notification that would appear hundreds of times over his long DO career.
[You have received 5 damage]
The assassin's heart jumped with joy as he got closer and closer to his target. His dagger was mere inches away from Declan's heart when a spear shot through the air like a shooting star, piercing him through the chest. The small man let out a surprised gasp as he fell to his knees, shock written clearly on his face under his hood at the presence of such a power amongst this group.
No expert fighter had the ability to hit him so accurately without him being able to do anything, which meant only one thing.
Amongst this ragtag-looking group, a powerhouse was present—a man who, under no circumstances, should an expert fighter or any of the others attacking the caravan ever fight.
An experienced master fighter. Just this man alone was enough to kill everyone participating in this ambush.
The bloodied steel tip protruded from his chest as he spat out blood, and his body slumped lifeless to the ground, realising only in his final moments that the background of this unknown merchant was not to be underestimated.
The second the body sank to its knees, being pulled by an outside magical force, the spear shot out his back; the spear tip shooting back from whence it came just as quickly as it had entered, flying into the outstretched hands of Aldorus, who was standing over the bloodied twitching body of the mercenary leader who had quickly fallen to the Pelican Commanders spear only a few seconds after he tried to kill Railius.
Around Aldorus were the corpses of many a mercenary, each felled by a precise strike from the war veteran.
In their arrogance, both the mercenaries and the assassin failed to realise that they were not facing some ordinary mercenaries but the veterans and trainees of one of the best custom units currently available in Dynasties Online.
The battlefield was quickly cleared up, and Railius groaned in pain as he got up, breathing heavily and massaging the new bruise that had appeared because of his fall from his mount, which was now back near him, nuzzling him affectionately.
Unlike other nobles, and much to the young nobles' own displeasure for having one more tedious task to do, Railius insisted on looking after his horse himself so he could forge a strong bond with it, managing to overcome his laziness when he felt that the rewards were worth it. Luckily, he had recently rented a stable and lodgings for his horse while he was travelling, so he did not have to clean up after it and focused purely on taking care of the rather personable animal who would become one of his closest companions, following him through battle after battle.
This effort over the last two or so weeks in the game had finally begun to pay off. Even though the new war horse was unfamiliar with the battlefield and ran amok once, it got injured heavily as the trust was not strong enough between them yet for it to ignore its wounds. However, it was still strong enough for the horse to return shortly after and later, even life-threatening injuries would not faze the steadfast steed, making sure to order Aldorus to heal its wound.
On the mighty mount's way out of the battlefield, the ill-tempered horse even kicked one of the mercenaries attacking the caravan, sending the poor man flying and rolling to the cobbled floor. He was captured later by a Pelican Guard, groaning on the floor with a broken rib from the horse's energetic and rage-filled kick.
"And he said he only hired them because they were useful pawns yet is even willing to sacrifice his own well-being to keep them safe."
"That little lying shit trying to act ruthless when he is a wee little angel at heart."
Norfaelor said in jest to Jordis as he rode towards Railius, his large Morningstar resting on his right shoulder with a wide grin on his face that made him seem like a madman when you saw the thin red line-like cuts that ran across the side of his cheeks and the many other cuts that litter his muscled and now scarred body.
Norfaelor was one of the few who had a blast during this deadly confrontation. Crushing skulls this way and that, wielding his giant Morningstar as easily as a human would a longsword. Every swing incapacitated someone, and the large half-elf did not hold back his strength one bit.
He seemed to be born for battle, shrugging off cut after cut that a few of his now chest-caved opponents had left on him before their grisly demise. Each cut, however, was small, drawing only a trickle of blood and was unable to stop the large teenager's rampage.
One of the main reasons that the cavalry of the assailing mercenary group could not support their infantry properly was his and Jordis's interference. For while, Vegrif and the other guards dismounted and slowly began to make their way towards Declan; once they found out that the goods were not in any actual danger, the two had been gallivanting around happily taking heads until Aldorus arrived on foot with, the other Pelican Guards even making a competition out of it.
None of the mercenaries had the skill to deal with Jordis, who is far more skilled and talented than a teenager his age should be, or the experience to properly deal with Norfaelor's overwhelming strength, allowing the two to rack up quite the kill count. If Jordis' skill level was well known, who knew how many people would fight over this young genius?
Not that they would be able to get him, being just as frantically loyal to House Aurellion as his father was.
The main difference between the two was that while Norfaelor was littered with scars and bleeding cuts from the short skirmish, Jordis was not. The usually cold man only had a small wound on his halberd arm as he cut down man after man, using his advanced training, hard work and natural talent to defeat those even on his level within a few seconds.
Darius also seemed to have appeared, leading some of the men from Sigismond Security Solutions to help cut off the fleeing mercenaries' escape route. He and his veteran cavalry made sure none escaped to tell the story of this battle, which should more aptly be named a massacre. When Railius questioned the good commander why he was here, the busy mercenary captain secretly loyal to House Aurellion had a very simple answer.
"Oh, why am I here? Well…. My men and I just happened to be joyriding nearby, taking a well-deserved break from our work. Who knew that we happened to come across you, my lord, when you were attacked?"
It was a coincidence, a coincidence.
"Surely you should celebrate such a happy coincidence, my lord."
Darius said with a smile. Throughout the battle, he had kept an eye on the battle and Railius' safety, staying close enough to his lord to ensure that he could intervene at any time he deemed necessary.
'Coincidence my ass! You, old folks, are always finding ways to protect me! At least I should thank Malwin for giving a good justification for Darius' presence here; otherwise, who knows how much trouble this would cause if it got out.'
Railius thought, swearing that he could smell the bullshit from 20 meters away as Leon and Malwin had long been told about the potential for an attack on their lord, and not knowing what would be sent to kill them had Darius come over to ensure that they had plenty of room to manoeuvre and the power around in case for some strange reason a master assassin appeared as none of the loyal retainers of House Aurellion would allow their lord to risk himself on their watch.
Leon himself would have gone if he were not so busy with his dojo and compared to Darius, who moves around the kingdom more and can come and go from places as he pleases without arousing suspicion. Leon was different, as people would question where he suddenly disappeared in such a hurry after staying in the same place for so long.
Railius did not even want to think about how Malwin had managed to convince the overprotective Grandmaster of Loyalty to stand down, but the young player imagined that it could not have been easy feeling grateful towards this loyal retainer that helped to prevent his more emotional subordinates from going rough.
Jordis led over two men. One had a cracked rib where Railius' angry horse kicked him, and the other was one that Jordis had captured.
"Two prisoners, one more than you requested, my lord."
Jordis said proudly as a wounded mercenary cried out in pain as a Pelican Guard finished him off in the distance. It would seem that two prisoners were all that he would be able to get as it seemed that the exceptionally loyal Pelican Guards had decided that these men deserved no mercy for trying to kill their beloved lord.
"I would ask who sent you, but I already know it was Amos Hostod, so what should I do with the two of you?"
Railius asked them a rhetorical question while clicking his tongue, not wanting an answer. The two captured mercenaries began to sweat while the young lord of Aurellion considered his options. Railius was in a peculiar situation right now as while he had the evidence to move against the Golden Goods Merchant Group, taking them down would attract attention that he did not want under any circumstances, as one of the main reasons he could move so freely was because he was staying low key right now making sure to ruffle as few feathers as possible.
By the end, he had come to two options.
One was to recruit them as guards for his company, and the other was to kill them to keep the power he actually held a secret. For as far as the outside world would know, this skirmish had never happened, and neither was Railius nor his caravan or any of its members ever attacked.
After all, dead men tell no tales and a corpse buried where no one would find them was far more comforting than a man who could potentially betray them at any moment, so Railius asked them one simple question.
"Will you serve me, yes or no? No matter what you say, my men will not harm you."