Lady Sophia stood around a raised podium in Castle Square. The beautiful look of the podium with its many flowers dancing in the wind with the nobles that occupied it completely betrayed the way she had rushed to create this place.
Even though many came to her, praising her looks or her pedigree, or even her achievements, she couldn't pay any attention to her duties.
Moving away from the crowd, lady Sophia leaned on the railings of the podium and talked to the knight standing guard.
"How much time left?"
"Yes? Yes... 10 minutes..."
Nervousness flashed on Sophia's face. Usually, her knight Alec would already be asking her to not worry, but even he couldn't hold in his frown.
"My lady, you should at least move away from this place," Alec said.
Sophia shook her head with a wry smile.
"I want to. Seeing those clueless nobles walk around with the bombs is scary, but I can't abandon my duty."
As she said that, both she and Alec turned to the group of nobles gathering about the ones with the black orb in their hands.
The nobles with the orbs glowed with a yellow halo around them, All of them shared silly conversations looking forward to the kind of prizes that would be offered.
A total of four bombs were in the hands of the nobles, with one of them in the hands of the youngest of the Hall family.
And it was Sophia's duty to keep the bombs in check. She did so by wrapping the nobles and the bombs in her shields. The bombs were to be informed to the knights when they were found, after which she and Eugene covered the people with their shields to double as a 'proof of identity' of the finders.
This was Eugene's plan.
A risky, brash, yet admittedly efficient plan.
She could still remember the stone-cold young lord smiling manically as he explained his idea.
It was impossible to reveal anything about the devil worshipper, but what was the issue with telling everyone about the bombs? He had set the entire city into motion and had them all look for what could have been their deaths with a smile on their faces.
It was a smart plan, but very rash.
They knew nothing about the bombs, they knew nothing about the control the demon's agent had on the bombs either. Since the demon's agent had already planted the bombs everywhere, his competency was elevated even higher. What if he had set off the bombs earlier in the day? If everyone else would hear about it, then the demon's agent would too.
'I have faith in that guy's faith in his competency,' those were the words Eugene had bombarded them with. 'I have faith that he will be greedy, so we'll lure him out with everything.'
A demon that liked to steal riches, burn cities and destroy dignities.
They had collected riches as rewards, the city for an event, and even the dignities on a pedestal.
The demon wouldn't be able to resist it.
They had nothing to go on for it other than Eugene's words, and behold, the demon truly couldn't hold its greed in.
The loud crowd suddenly came to a shush as a handsome redhead stepped on the top of the stage.
"Oh!? That's Sir Keith!" Alec announced, forcing Sophia to turn.
"Hah, even Lord Eugene can't get on stage while keeping his shields up on six people, huh?" Lady Sophia felt a sense of relief, it was the first time she had felt happy after knowing someone wasn't very strong.
He was already keeping his shields on standby around the nobles while packing the commoners up with his shields just in case.The strength she had seen that day was enough to scare her, a bit more and Eugene would already be at the level of the 12 Zodiacs amongst the youngsters.
The sound of the young knight spread through the square, attracting the attention of the people.
"Hello and Welcome! People of Dienin! We're here to celebrate the—"
The man's voice was cut off by a deep voice.
"—Mwahahaha!"
A high-pitched laugh echoed in the air. At the same time, another person stepped on stage. The badly made squirrel mask with the scar and eyepatch was the only thing that looked barely correct in that get-up. The brown-furred clothes were not able to hide the muscles of the one on stage.
"Sir Buhini fits the role..." Sophia muttered, her heart banging in her chest.
"I am, uh... Don. Don Chiik!!"
The squirrel costume screamed and the people broke into a cascade of boos. Light and smoke magic were used as special effects which made even the nobles stand in excitement and anticipation.
"I am here to steal all your nuts!"
At this point, Sophia's chest was being pressed out like a dam on the verge of breaking.
Anytime now.
The strength of her shields increased.
Anyone with a real bomb could tell.
There was no better moment than now.
"Now!!" Don Chiik screamed, he raised a button in his hands. "Go off! My bombs!!"
And he pressed the button.