All the assassins, even those tending to their wounds on the side, suddenly stood up and knelt before Seleria.
"And why does this not surprise me?" Circumventing her recent assailant, I approached the red princess. "I know only one guild of assassins loyal to your family, but you?."
"Well, what can I say? I don't know any other fighters who could hide from our all-seeing Kurone, so that's why I asked to join you. And you? How did you lose to him in battle?" Seleria raised an eyebrow mockingly.
"My body hadn't fully recovered from the previous fight, that's why I stumbled. And you yourself are not in the best shape!" Losing to an enemy was shameful, but there was nothing I could do.
"I only lost my magic for a couple of days, while you turned into a clumsy potato sack. Such different consequences," the smug princess's sly smile crept higher on her face.
"Ahem, Princess, forgive me. I didn't know it was you," the girl-assassin bowed her head lower and lower. "I am prepared to accept any punishment."
"Oh, come on," Seleria amicably helped her recent rival to her feet and dusted her off. "I just wanted to test how strong the current assassins are. It's been a while since anyone fought me seriously. I even enjoyed it."
It seemed to me that the girl under the cloak blushed awkwardly.
"But what are you doing here?" The leader of the group stood up and approached his ruler. "We had a mission to neutralize as many rebels as possible in that fort during the attack, but if we had known you were there..."
"Well, I just stopped by on my way, but what's all this nonsense about rebels? Why did the assassin guild even agree to such an important assignment in another country?"
I didn't like this. Assassins were not just killers; they also monitored the political situation and essentially served King of Leran directly. They wouldn't have meddled in the affairs of a neighboring country without approval from above.
"The local feudal lord requested us to search for and capture a group of rebels. His men were unable to track them down, so he turned to us. Initially, the master didn't want to take the assignment, but the baron claimed that he had the king's permission to suppress the rebellion. That's why we came."
"It must have cost him dearly to hire your services. But approval from the king..." Seleria pondered. "If that's the case, why did he call us here? He could have simply wiped out the clan."
"What exactly was your mission?" I didn't like any of this; there were too many coincidences.
"After the attack started, we were supposed to guard the rear and, if the defense was breached, capture the rebels alive. And most importantly, if a girl with incredibly long golden hair was found in the fortress, we were to capture her alive."
I dashed off to the baron's tent. Timing was crucial now; everything was falling into place, but why did the baron call us specifically?
"Seleria, let them deal with the mercenary commanders. Without them, the offensive will stop," I gave my final command, gathered the remnants of lightning mana in my legs, and rushed to the princess.
"I see you don't know how to make the right friends, princess," the baron said nonchalantly, gesturing with his hands. "I never thought the last 'head' of the clan would come here."
The man looked at the two warriors with contempt, but there was something else in his gaze—a malevolent desire to crush his enemy.
"You! You destroyed my family! And now you want to finish off those who survived. How can you talk about it so coldly?" Asura clenched her teeth.
"Hmph, I didn't do anything special. Your father was to blame for it himself. A dragon razed your village, and then you came rushing to me. What was I supposed to think when an armed crowd of nearly a thousand people appeared at my borders? I couldn't have reacted differently to your aggression," the baron chuckled smugly.
"But you knew about the dragon; you could have helped the refugees!" Yuki's voice choked with hoarseness.
"Why bother?" Rion's question lacked emotion; he merely stated a fact. He genuinely didn't understand why it was necessary to help useless refugees.
"Because those people needed help!" Katrina yelled angrily at the baron, but he paid it no mind. "There were many wounded among them, and you could have sheltered them, but you ordered to kill anyone who tried to enter the city. They were your subjects, after all!"
The baron squinted his eyes and spoke in a low, dissatisfied voice.
"I don't consider THEM my subjects. For my people, loyalty to their ruler comes first, but THEY only obey themselves and live by their own laws! I don't consider such people my subordinates."
"You exploited our people with your taxes, your soldiers constantly harassed our traders, and when we asked for help, you started exterminating us! Who would want to be a subject under such a monster!" Yuki clenched her teeth so hard that blood appeared at the corners of her lips.
"That's right!" The baron smiled slightly. "You never considered me your ruler, so why should I treat you any differently? And all because of that stupid treaty. Who decided that one family lives on the territory of another state, pays taxes to them, and supports them with military force in case of war, but remains independent of the kingdom's laws and rules? I would never trust my back to such warriors."
His words carried logic, dry and cruel, but with quite understandable conclusions.
"We never betrayed Verania!"
"And just because of that, I should have believed you? I remember our first meeting with your father ended unsuccessfully."
"Shut up!" Yuki barked furiously at the baron. "I know why my father kicked you out!! He never told anyone, but I loved observing everything that happened in the house since I was a child."
Asura seemed to be as surprised as the baron.
"Father accepted you as an honored guest; he was ready to obey all your laws, but you demanded the impossible from him!"
"What are you talking about, girl? He could have easily fulfilled my demands, but he found them offensive."
"OF COURSE! You demanded that in return for taxes for the first year, he should give you me and my sister!" The girls were shocked; in essence, Rion wanted to make the heirs of the clan his slaves.
"That's true. I think such a method would have been the simplest way to ensure his loyalty," the baron continued to speak without much emotion, stating what was obvious to him. "If I had both heirs of the clan in my hands, the question of their obedience would never arise."
"But I believe your interest went beyond our loyalty!" Asura reached for the hilt of her katana but stopped in time.
"Yes, it's quite possible. Considering how you've grown, it would have been a good option," the baron inspected the girls from head to toe with a disgusting smirk. "After all, every man thinks about strong offspring, and for that, you need to find a suitable pair."
"Disgusting guy," Ragni clicked her tongue discontentedly.
"Besides, if we had children, there wouldn't have been any problems with inheriting these lands."
"Who would agree to such a thing?"
"You see, your loyalty was so easily limited. If your father wasn't willing to sacrifice his children, then his loyalty to me was quite doubtful."
"No one would have agreed to that. You just needed an excuse to oppress their clan!" Katrina stood up for her friends.
"Oh, princess, let me tell you a story about this matter, and perhaps you'll understand everything."
There was a great country with a long history, and its ruler was a descendant of ancient heroes. However, over the years, the king's family had weakened, and the vassals were no longer so certain of the ruler's power. They decided to overthrow the king and united their forces for that purpose. But there were also many nobles on the king's side, and as a result, the once great country split apart. Constant clashes at the borders of the lands between the king's supporters and his opponents further weakened a country that had already endured many disasters. But no one wanted to admit defeat. The king demanded that the rebels lay down their arms and swear allegiance to him, while the reformists wanted to overthrow the royal lineage and choose a new ruler.
The entire problem lay in the king's magic, which was incomparable to the power of his ancestors, and his only child didn't possess any magic at all. The reformists chose the strongest mage among them and wanted him to establish a new ruling dynasty. However, this man had a son who was also a strong mage but saw no sense in the ongoing war.
The young man understood that the king's power had weakened, but he didn't understand why a senseless war had to be started. He attended one of the gatherings of the reformists, and they boasted of their achievements—how many lands they had seized, how many of the king's followers they had killed, and how many of his loyal vassals they had publicly executed, promising a swift end to the war and the rise of a new reign. He found all this foolish power struggle burdensome; all these people swore allegiance to the king, and now they were willing to betray him for their own greed. What would this new rule be worth if it was built on such people?
That same night, the young man left his father's home and headed for the capital. He wanted to serve the king, not because he considered him worthy of the throne, but because he had once pledged loyalty to him together with his father and simply wanted to stop the bloodshed. He walked almost across the entire war-torn country, where famine and disease were rampant.
When he arrived in the capital, he enlisted in the royal army. He couldn't reveal his name, as his father was one of the leaders of the rebellion, so he concealed his skills and lineage and joined as a common soldier. He had learned to handle not only magic but also a blade since childhood, so he easily rose through the ranks, showing only his skills in hand-to-hand combat.
He continued to fight on the frontlines, seeing no end to the war. Every month, hundreds of new recruits were taken from villages and sent away with their belongings to their parents.
Everything changed when the rebels decided to strike at the weak point of the crown; they hired assassins to eliminate the royal family. The plan almost succeeded; fearing for the lives of his family, the king sent them far away from the capital, but it didn't help. They were attacked on the road, and everyone was killed, except for the king's daughter. It was then that the young man saw the power of this girl and decided to end the war so that no one would doubt her rights.
He was one of those who returned the king's daughter to him, and the king recognized the young man. He had met him and his father in the past, so he wanted to know why he was there.
"Because I swore allegiance to you, not to my father," this answer satisfied the ruler, and he entrusted him with negotiations with the rebels, which could finally put an end to the war.
The young man set off for the east, to the castle that he knew well, the place he called home for many years, which had now become a nest of vultures. When his father saw who had come for negotiations, he was furious but then thought it was a sign of the king's weakness. He wanted to take advantage of this.
Thinking that he could secure more favorable terms of peace through his son, he began to press, demanding lands, money, and privileges for the leaders of the rebellion.
The son replied that the king's daughter was the most powerful wizard in the country, and none of the rebels could match her. They had no reason to continue the struggle, and if they surrendered now, the king would spare their lives and lands if they completely disbanded their armies.
The nobles protested, questioning why they had fought all this time if they were just going to surrender so easily. They appealed to his conscience, pointing out that their people had suffered for so many years, all in vain. But in reality, they were concerned only about their personal prosperity. They didn't care about their people, and if necessary, they were ready to fight to the last soldier, using high ideals as a cover. It was pointless to reason with them.
Four days later, the young man returned to the capital.
"The negotiations were successful," he said, placing a bloodied sack in front of the king, and then he left the throne room. And thus ended the civil war that had lasted for more than five years.
"And why did you tell us this?" Katrina was in distress. "Did you want to grieve us with the story of how you gained your title and these lands?"
Of course, this story could only be about one person, about Rion himself.
"Well, my princess, I hoped that after hearing it, you would understand my motives, but apparently, I was mistaken."
"You killed your father for these privileges, what's not to understand?!" she replied.
"No! I was merely loyal to my king," the baron rose smoothly from his throne, leaning on the hilt of his sword. "Loyalty to one's country must always come before loyalty to one's family, parents, or children. Yes, I killed my father because he posed a threat to the country. When the king sent me to negotiate, I thought he trusted me and hoped that I could persuade my father to surrender. But the king knew him well; he couldn't help but understand that my father would never change. Henry wanted to test me, to see if I could kill my father for the greater good of the entire country… And I passed his test, for which he rewarded me. I have never been proud of my deed, but I have never regretted it either."
"And how does this relate to us?" Asura yelled at the baron in anger. "Or did you punish my clan because your father loved power more than he loved you?"
"Absolutely not! It was also a test. Your clan, while maintaining its independence, always supported the king when he faced danger. But in the last war, you didn't take anyone's side, not because you didn't believe in the king, but because you were surrounded by enemies. If you had recognized the king's authority, the rebels would have crushed you first. But still, I couldn't be sure that if put in a similar situation, you wouldn't betray His Majesty. Family loyalty comes first for you, and I can't rely on such warriors, so I wanted to subdue you not through negotiations, but through force."
"But killing everyone won't get you anything! Stop the battle!" Katrina took a step forward, ready to use her powers if needed.
"It doesn't matter, the battle will end soon anyway," the Baron drew a massive two-handed sword with three rubies adorning the hilt. "I don't intend to exterminate the entire clan; I'll leave someone alive. They possess too valuable abilities to waste them."
The baron waved his hand, but nothing happened.
"What a disaster," ignoring the girls, the baron hurried towards the exit of the tent. There, amidst a heap of knocked-out guards, sat a lonely young man dressed in black with two blades.
"It's frustrating when things don't go as planned, isn't it?" the young man smirked audaciously at the baron. "Don't worry; I think the battle will be over soon."
After the impudent words of the young man, a battle horn sounded in the distance.