Chapter 16
Tolaga town, Church
Somar entered the Church nave. Father was meditating as he always did on the altar beneath the statue of The God, Mahor, and his Three Angels. The statue carried a golden ball in his hand and The Three Angels sporting golden wings stood behind him as if protecting him. But did God, who had vanquished the progenitor, need protection?
"Father. " Somar softly said and bowed. The priest opened his eyes and glanced at Somar who was taking off the helmet of his armour.
" What is it? " He asked. He was direct as always and expected the same from others. Somar was used to it by now after working under him for years now.
"Father, Cassandra is coming to Tolaga. " Somar said trying not to waste Father's time. He was a Grandee, a new one. So, Meditating was very important to him at this stage to stabilize his Ether.
Father raised his eyebrows at Somar, with a look of surprise on his face. He turned towards Somar and asked" Why? "
Somar stood straight and replied, " From what I have heard, she is in pursuit of a rogue magus. He is said to be of great power, possibly a Grandee. And the Baron believes that the magus is in Tolaga. "
The priest's surprise went up a notch as he heard the word, Grandee. They were rare. So rare that he was the only one in the hundred kilometres radius of the Tolaga town. And even he was here because of the importance that Tolaga held to the church. Otherwise, a normal town only had an official magus as their head priest. So, it was strange for a rogue magus to visit Tolaga. Tolaga had nothing to offer to a grandee, not even to an official magus.
'It might be related to pits.' The priest thought. Magus were a curious bunch and Tolaga was the closest town to the mervielle, the place where pits first awakened. So that magus might be here to learn about the prehistoric Pits. Despite the bad reputation the Pits held among the common people, they were a fascinating subject to study for most magus.
"Who do you think is the magus to cause Cassandra to come here? " Father asked as he glanced at Somar. A prodigy like Cassandra from the Imperial Arcane Academy coming to a backwater town was a strange event. But if she was coming to find a rogue magus who could be a Grandee and was here for reasons unknown, it was even stranger.
Somar just shook his head and smiled wryly, " I don't know, Father. Even Baron doesn't seem to know much about him. "
Father nodded his head and stared ahead, deep in thought, " What about the Pit situation? " He asked.
"Not much change. The only affected town is ours as it is the closest to Mervielle. Moreover, Baron seems to be using the fear of beast wave that the townspeople have to recruit them en masse. A clever move from him. He is trying to fully control the town. I think. The church still scares him. "
"As it should, a mere knight has no business in meddling in the business of God. " Father said as he turned towards the statue and bowed.
Somar too followed as he bowed. What father had said left a bad taste in his mouth but he wasn't going to say something. He was just a servant of God working beneath the priests God had blessed himself.
Somar was blessed too but his blessing was a watered-down version of the one that the priests received. Paladins weren't important enough for the church to waste the time of the great Saint who acted as the vessel for God to bless every single one of the paladins as he did to the priests.
Somar and Father stood straight. Father turned to Somar. " A possible Necromancer, a rogue magus and even Cassandra. This town is getting the attention that it isn't supposed to be getting. " He said as he fixed the wrinkles on his golden robe, "We have to clean the town up a little bit. We don't want Cassandra talking about the church as a partner to the death dealers. Kill the necromancer and search for the rogue magus. "
Somar gawked at the priest. This was the first time he had heard him talk this much at once. A truly surprising turn of events. Even more than the visit from Cassandra. Somar wanted to smile but just bowed and said, " Yes Father. "
Somar walked out of the nave as he thought about what to do. He first had to put someone to clean the pest that was the Necromancer. The Necromancer was young and inside the town which meant that he wasn't that skilled and had no undead with him. It made the job easier. But he would still have to find a True Knight for the job. A squire would be just a warm-up for a magus, especially a Necromancer. But first, he had to locate him. And if he had time, he would just finish him off himself.
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"Boss, Emre is dead. " The three thugs who had escaped from Roan kneeled in front of a man who was sitting on a chair. One of them fearfully delivered the news and waited for their boss's reaction. They were in a dark room with only a small candle lit on a small table in front of the man sitting on a chair which only illuminated the surrounding of the small table.
The boss was a bearded man with piercing blue eyes and medium-length hair. His muscular body was draped in fur clothes which made him look like some tribe leader. He clenched his hands and pounded the table in front of him with such force that it slightly cracked in the middle.
"Who? " He uttered a single word as he gritted his teeth. He had lost two of his subordinates who had the most potential among all the others to become a true knight. And now another one of his subordinates had died. He was old and had nothing much left on him to offer but still was his man.
" He is named Roan..... A kid around nineteen years old..... He was one of George's team members when they last went out on a mission from the guild. " One of the thugs said as he lifted his head and glanced at their leader.
"Don't tell me you lost to a kid. Are you guys useless? I sent a squire and six of you useless bums to fight a kid and you come back scurrying after losing four of my men. " The leader stood up from his chair, his face red and shaking. He growled as he glared at his minions. His body seemed to glow red which slowly spread through the whole room. The glow exerted enormous pressure crushing the thugs as they struggled to even remain kneeling and not fall to the ground. The leader lifted his leg and kicked one of them sending him flying through the room and landing at least five metres away. The thug lay on the ground motionless, probably dead.
"Boss, The kid has some kind of skill. We were no match for it. " one of the thugs said trying to defend themselves and ease the boss's anger.
"What skill? Is he a knight too, huh?" the boss snapped at them as he glared at the one who just answered.
"I don't know, boss. But he just did something and Emre and others dropped dead. We didn't even see what he did. " The same thug explained as he hung his head low, afraid that the boss might just kick him to death.
The boss fell silent after hearing his minion's explanation and sat back down on the chair. His face which had been full of anger now was void of any expression as if someone had just flipped a switch.
"I'll give you last chance to redeem yourself. Find him and bring him back to me. " The boss ordered and turned towards a dark corner of the room from where a man wearing full black leather armour and pants with a black skull mask on his face walked out of the shadow, " Hades, go with these bums and make sure you bring me the kid by any means necessary. "
Hades bowed and acknowledged the order.
"You can rest assured, boss. " Hades said. His voice sounded young, probably around his twenties. He smiled under the mask and turned towards the thugs.
"Carry your friend and follow me." He said as he walked out of the room. The thugs scrambled across the floor and quickly carried their friend's corpse on their shoulders. They swiftly followed after Hades leaving the pondering boss alone in the dark room.