"Faster!", Wilmot shouted.
The twenty-five knight is moving through the darkness of night. They are chasing the runaway son of a count. Their destination is Weymewesto City. Wilmot is confident in bringing Carl back as he sends seventy-five knights for this area alone. One group searched the city and another two searched the routes.
The chance of escaping from the group of knights is absolutely zero. After all, their group only consists of a love-struck young man, a naive young lady, a footman and a maid.
Soon, the city wall emerges into their sight.
"Sir, let's ask the guards," suggests one of Wilmot's subordinates.
Wilmot nods as he steps forward and approaches the guards. "Sorry to bother you but have you seen the lavish carriage with this symbol on it entering the city?" Wilmot asked while showing Caushilbo's coat of arms.
The guard looks up to see the coat of arms as Wilmot didn't get down from his horse. After taking a careful look at it, "Yes, I have seen such a carriage enter the city."
"Did they leave the city?"
The guard shook his head several times. The guards stood there watching Wilmot move away. He couldn't help but wonder, 'Did something happen tonight?' This is the second time unusual things have occurred.
"Thank you for the information." Wilmot returns to his group. He said, "They are still in the city, probably sleeping. There is no way the horses can keep running forever. Good grief, they should make a good plan if they want to run away."
The other knights just laugh. It is rare to see the nobles make fun of themselves. Moreover, they are kinda pissed off that their quality sleep hours were disturbed by Carl's shenanigans.
"Alright, stop laughing. Hurry up and find which inn has the carriage. I believe it will be easy to find, not everybody has that kind of luxury."
The knights spread out and began their search. They go from the inn to the inn. To their despair, the supposed easy job is much harder. It is not until long before one of them finds it in the middle of the city square under a large black cloth.
Wilmot was flabbergasted. He didn't expect them to change the carriage but who lent it to them? To his knowledge, Carl makes a decision about the runaway on the spur of the moment. There is no noble in the city and Carl himself doesn't associate with commoners.
'Is it the footman that helps him find a carriage?' Wilmot knows nothing about the new footman but he finds it plausible. He rushes toward the city gate and meets the guards again.
"Hey, you!!", Wilmot calls in a rude way.
The guard turns around. He doesn't mind it, Wilmot is a noble knight after all. "What is it, sir knight?"
"Is there any caravan leaving the city?"
"There are some carriages leaving the city."
"What? How can there be so many? Which direction did they go?", Wilmot grabbed the guards by his shoulder.
"There are only two carriages that pass here, sir"
"S*hit." Wilmot orders all of his knights to chase the carriage that leaves the city. "Make sure you check every carriage you find. Young master is hiding in one of them."
The knight moves through all the available routes. Wilmot moves toward Haugdak and meets with the knights there. The same goes for the knights in the north, they meet with the knights there and begin to search.
As they searched along the Harlington route, they saw a light in the middle of the forest.
"Hey, there is a light in the forest," said the knight.
The captain replied, "Probably a travelling merchant camping there."
The knight asked, "Should we check it? There is a chance young master Carl is hiding there."
"Don't mind them, there is no way young master Carl is here. This is an opposite direction to Bideford." said the Captain.
Another knight said, "Yeah, I think we should check just to be sure. Don't you think it's weird, Captain?"
"About what?"
"Why do they make camps in the forest? It is more dangerous there than making camp near the road."
The words uttered by him sound reasonable. The knights decided to enter the forest. They slowly approach the camp, checking if Carl is hiding among the merchants.
But what they found is something else.
The horrible scene displayed in front of them made them unable to say anything. The rays of light which illuminated the darkness of the night came not from burning wood but from a burning corpse.
"Wha-What is this?", the knight asked.
The captain ordered, "Go...Go check it now!"
Some check the corpse's identity through its belongings but seventy percent of it has been burned to an unrecognisable state.
"Sir, I think you should see this." said the knight while handing the sword he found to the captain.
The captain takes a look at the sword. It was a beautiful sword with its hilt decorated with gold. The black sheath was decorated with diamonds and gems. Most importantly, there is a Caushilbo coat of arms on it which causes the captain's face to turn pale.
"Quick! Go to the south and call Sir Wilmot." The captain panicked.
Immediately, one of the knights heeds the command and rides the horse to the south, probably realising the seriousness of the situation.
....
Wilmot comes in rush as the knight from the north urges for his presence. From the sound of his voice, it's not a piece of good news.
As he guesses it, the captain shows Wilmot the corpse that their group found.
Wilmot scans the corpse; the height, body structure and remaining unburned clothing match the description young master Chester told him before he departs from the mansion. He was unable to say anything, what had initially been just a runaway incident had turned into a murder case. He asked the captain, "Did you find another three people?"
The captain replied, "No. We only found the young master's corpse and his belongings."
"We still don't know if it is a young master. It can be someone else." Wilmot shook his head, trying to deny it. Nonetheless, all the clues have pointed out that the body was Carl's. It is impossible to find a replacement in a short time.
"Are you saying that young master Carl killed random people just to fake his death? The captain shook his head, "I am sorry sir, I don't think he is brave enough to do that."
He sighs, "Let's bring the corpse back first. I don't know how the count will react. This is the only lead we have. I haven't found anything in the south."
The knights there took the stuff there back to the mansion.
Afterwards, the knights arrive at the mansion. Count Caushilbo rushed to Wilmot, "How is it? Did you find them?"
"Sir, I think you should see this first." Wilmot shows the Count a corpse that supposedly belongs to Carl.
"Wh-What is this, Wilmot?"
Wilmot reports the situation. "We believe this is young master Carl's body. Looking at the wound, he is most likely stabbed from behind. Whoever did this is a very skilful person that can accurately aim at his heart from behind. As for the other three, we didn't find them."
After he finished, the looked at the count who stared blankly at the corpse. He can't believe his eyes. His son comes back as a cold corpse. He began to sob and wail. "Why? Why does this happen? Didn't you just run away? How could you die?"
Chester who was far behind shivered in fear. He didn't think it would turn out like this. According to the original plan, the knights will bring Carl and his fiancee home. He then will dispose of Jack because he knows too much.
Despite Carl's death working in his favour, people might suspect him of plotting the murder. He is the first to report Carl's departure to the Count. It was kind of suspicious as he didn't fall asleep yet during that time.
He took a glance at his father and let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully his father is busy crying. He might question him afterwards though. "Let's blame everything on Jack."
Wilmot couldn't wait any longer. "Milord, I understand that you are sad but more importantly, we need to find his murderer."
The Count stops crying, "Hic-Hic. Yes, that would be the best. Investigate the two servants that follow Carl."
"Err...milord. How should we handle the missing Ryntum's daughter?" If Ryntum knows, they will stop at nothing until they get their revenge.
"For now... Let's keep it a secret." Once Ryntum was defeated, even if they bark, nobody would care. Now he has no choice but to join the Noble Coalition to ensure his family's safety.