"Huh?" Harrison stared at the empty carriage before looking at one of the three Tier I guards that had been together with the merchant. The guard had the same reaction as Harrison, only one much stronger.
He and the others were the ones in charge of protecting the caravan, especially the last carriage that held the important items inside.
He and the others never even checked the carriage as they were hurrying to Harrison and didn't want any delays. Nothing had happened during the trip and there was never a moment where the carriage was left alone as there was always at least one of them right next to it.
They had been attacked by small groups of monsters and bandits along the way, but a simple show of strength was usually enough to make them flee, as for those that didn't?
Their lifeless bodies were left to rot on the road.
The guards were all panicking now, they knew that the items they were transporting were incredibly valuable to their lord, and they were not here.
"WHERE?!"
"THE HELL?!
"ARE MY GOODS?!"
The guards shook in fear as Harrison's enraged face appeared before them. His eyes were bloodshot and he was red in the face as he stared at them with hostility.
"M-my lord, we don't know, everything went well, we really have no idea what happened!" One of the guards said as he bowed down to Harrison who was still furious.
Today was supposed to be the day when he would take the first step at creating his personal forces, the armor and weapons that he was supposed to receive were top-quality goods that one wouldn't be able to get just by using money.
The armor pieces and the weapons that Orsted had ordered to be made were made by a very respected blacksmith, even if Harrison had the money to order something like that, he would need to wait incredibly long as his status was below many that the blacksmith took orders from.
It was thanks to Orsted being a duke and the fresh memory of his father that made the blacksmith put his order a top priority.
Everyone believed that Orsted was having them done at that time to increase the strength of his troops in order to fight against the enemy that took his father away.
The weapons and armor that Harrison's men had stolen were very valuable and were supposed to be used to arm the strongest among his followers. He planned on making some slight changes to them so that people wouldn't recognize them before he would give it to them.
But now, all of that was gone.
Harrison didn't care that much for the jewelry and gems that were missing as those were only secondary, but the weapons and armor were things he needed right now.
He climbed inside the carriage and looked around, as did his 3 personal servants.
They did a quick inspection before coming to the same conclusion.
Somebody went below, hung from the carriage, and cut off a piece of it before sneaking in and stealing everything.
"You idiots!" Harrison bellowed as he struck one of the Tier I guards.
"How did somebody manage to sneak in and steal the goods right under your noses?!"
The guards were now terrified.
They messed up, they truly messed up.
They knew that Harrison would definitely not let them off the hook.
Suddenly the three all acted.
The one that Harrison had struck went to grab him as he was aware that the only way to survive today would be to take the young lord hostage and leave the city.
The other two all positioned themselves next to the guard in order to stop the three Tier II fighters, but before the main guard could even grab Harrison, a hand grabbed his wrist before applying pressure and almost breaking it.
One of Harrison's personal servants, Jonah appeared in front of Harrison and shielded him from harm.
The other two acted quickly as well, before the guards had been able to position themselves properly, they were already face-to-face with Elena and Ian, the other two personal servants of Harrison.
Ian and Elena struck the two heavy and in a matter of seconds, the battle was over as the two guards were lying on the ground, their arms broken.
Jonah didn't spare the guard in front of him, he snapped his wrist before using his finger to poke and destroy one of the guard's eyes.
He then quickly bent down and grabbed the guard's leg before sweeping him off the ground and breaking the leg.
He then proceeded to stomp and smash the other hand of the guard completely. The guard screamed in agony, as did the other two.
Harrison on the other hand looked unbothered as he neared the incapacitated guard.
"You have failed me, I know that you thought you could escape by capturing me, but now you will find out what happens to those that not only fail me but also threaten my life." Harrison glanced at the three who quickly nodded to him before grabbing the guards and throwing them out, allowing a couple of people to pick them up and bring them somewhere.
"You will soon be begging for death," Harrison said as he stared at the three guards who were soon gone from his sight.
"What shall we do, my lord?" Elena asked as Harrison sat on the carriage and sighed deeply.
"Nothing, whoever did this was good, they not only snuck past the three guards but were able to take everything quickly and disappear without causing an alarm, it was probably a Tier II or Tier III combatant, probably an Assassin or Thief," Harrison said with a heavy face as he looked back at the carriage.
The weapons and armor were supposed to be his trump card in the fight against his siblings, even though they commanded great respect amongst his father's troops and servants, even they would have great trouble getting such good items.
The armor and weapons that Orsted had ordered were good enough for Golden Knights to use, they were rare and hard to come by, even Orsted had only gotten about 50 of them after using an incredible amount of wealth.
Of course, compared to the equipment that Golden Knights used, such mass-produced items were barely enough, but for Harrison, they would be a godsend.
"Should we travel to Olswan and try to find the perpetrator?" Ian asked while Harrison simply shook his head.
"There's no way that the thief would continue staying here, not after Orsted has been assassinated, hell, it could even be the same person that assassinated him that stole the items, I highly doubt we would be able to do anything to someone like that."
"The crown had a hand with Orsted's death, older brother sent me a letter to tell me that, he probably did it just to spite me, even the one friend I had, no matter how strained our relationship might be, turned out to be a traitor in the end."
"A traitor?" Jonah asked in confusion before shutting his mouth.
"Apologies, my lord, I shouldn't meddle."
"It's alright, Jonah," Harrison said as he looked at him calmly.
"Orsted had a hand in his parent's death." The words struck the three like thunder as they stared at Harrison in shock.
"He had allied himself with the enemy, that idiot, to actually do something like that, I wonder if he broke our relationship on purpose so that I wouldn't get mixed up in all of that?" Harrison said as he thought of the times he and Orsted spent together.
It was true that the two were inseparable at one point and were like brothers.
Their relationship was great until the day the old duke died. After the argument, Harrison and Orsted never talked again, hell, Harrison put spies inside the castle in order to dig out dirt that he could use against Orsted.
But upon learning of the truth, Harrison had a different perspective now.
Perhaps all that happened was Orsted's plan, in order to not get Harrison to fall down with him in the case of his betrayal being found out, he may have broken their relationship on purpose.
"Whatever it may be, we are back to step 1, we don't have our weapons and armor so we can't arm ourselves, but not all is lost thankfully, we will continue with our plan in Orsvald, you three should depart in about a week, also, don't forget to train, you're power has fallen thanks to the appearance of this 'system' and you need to regain your strength," Harrison said before heading out.
'But now things are different, even the talentless I can now rise up and become more powerful, I won't need to hide behind my men in the future and need protection all the time.' Harrison told himself as his eyes held a dangerous light inside of them.
'I should go as well, killing monsters will help me get stronger, even killing that merchant has given me Soul Power.' Harrison had received a notification from the system after killing the merchant, he was merely at level 1, and killing the merchant had given him 10 Soul Power, but now he knew that he could finally rise up in power and contend against his siblings in other things as well.