'Guests'

Zephyrion disappeared after he gave the warning.

I started sweating as I had to hold the railing of the balcony to stand. I felt exhausted and afraid. The Duke wasn't able to do anything to that person. And that person was doing something in that mountain valley.

I didn't know what to do.

Since even Zephyrion warned me, I had half a mind to leave, but when I remembered what happened in the Anta Duchy, I shuddered.

If the same fate awaited the Kurma Duchy as well. If the same situation is going to occur, what should I do? Is there any way I could stop it? But how? All I am was a sixth circle mage who can increase the combat prowess using some spirit fusion.

That was all.

I walked in to talk with Dhana.

But at that moment, Duke Kurma came back along with a few more people. There are some elders, the leader of the Kurma Knight Order, Kurma Mage Order, Duke Kurma's Wife, his younger brother and finally his son.

I have more or less seen all of them before in the capital in various occasions and competitions. However, I was a bit more familiar with the young duke Kurma. The eldest son of the Duke Kurma.

He was a super senior in the Royal Academy and he had been quite famous there for his various conquests. Not the conquests of land or territory. Conquests of women. He was quite the Casanova and he had many affairs.

He was so full of it that he even tried to court a princess. Not the daughter of the current king, rather the sister of the current king, who was older than him by decade or so. Of course, that was just a small phase.

After a few years, he straightened out and even fell in love with the daughter of a maquis. But she not only rejected him, she also left the kingdom to go to foreign lands to study under her master. At least that was what I knew.

From that day onwards, he became an introvert and battle maniac. He served in the army for a short while just like his father. Accumulated some experience in the Royal Knight order, some teaching experience in the Academy, before he finally joined his own Duchy's knight order as the captain of the city guards.

And if you think I am rambling about him way too much, please don't hate me. That guy is a relevant part for this story and he kind of played more or less an important role. You will know more about this in the future.

I sat down along with Dhana.

"Our territory is about to fall under an attack from a formidable enemy. An enemy that you don't know about is going to come and his aim is to annihilate our clan. He was the same guy who did that Anta.

Believe it in your hearts that he is very much capable of doing it if he caught us off guard.

However, because of our two friends here, we managed to identify him and now can anticipate his possible arrival.

So, now we are going to use our mountain's defensive array.

I already contacted the king, Varah Duchy, Ugra Duchy as well. General Garud who was on the western frontier has also being informed. They are going to arrive here as fast as they can. We need to preserve ourselves with the defensive array."

Young master Ardra Kurma frowned at this and spoke.

"Father, can't we just call our vassals? I don't believe a single man can pose such a threat. I am sure we can resist him directly with our combined forces. All the marquis, counts and viscounts constitute a large force with many sixth circle and seventh circle knights and mages.

We can deal with him."

Duke Kurma frowned and said.

"I am going to call them. But not to fight, but to stay in the city. Because we are going to use the final stage of the array. We are going to use the combined mana and soul energy of all the people to strengthen the formation around the city.

So, I am going to call all our forces to increase our odds.

As for using them to fight head-on? It is not going to work. That one man might have seen more wars than all of us combined and his strength exceeded far beyond my imagination."

Ardra frowned at these words and so did the rest of the people.

"Father, who is he? How does he look and where did he come from?" He asked his father.

"Don't you read the Gazette? Even if the face wasn't clear, you must have seen the picture. The same culprit that destroyed Anta is coming for us. Please don't make me repeat myself again regarding that. As for who is he and where he comes from.

We don't know."

Everyone can feel that his last few words are a complete lie. 

Dhana raised her hand and spoke.

"Sir, what are we doing here? If you don't have anything to do with us, we would like to leave. We need to report the matter to the higher-ups in the bureau and I am sure Tej needs to send the details back to the Mage Association."

"No, you are not going anywhere. Both of you shall be my 'guests' until the whole ordeal is over. Once we face him and repel him, we will go to the capital together and discuss this further. Until then, the information shouldn't be revealed out of this room."

I frowned. 

The Duke has been acting suspiciously since the valley.

Maybe he didn't really have a hand in this whole thing, since his own duchy is in peril. It was apparent that he didn't know.

And the other Dukes and King also knew, otherwise they wouldn't just send their reinforcements like that. He even mentioned that the Dukes would be coming themselves, along with the General. Maybe King would send someone as well.

They were all definitely in on it.

And the reason both I and Dhana were 'guests' at this place is definitely that they wanted the information not to leak outside. This increased my curiosity and vigilance.

Because, both Dhana and I don't have any background except for our professions. Dhana was from a small noble family at least and only her raise supported and increased her family status. She was also a Viscount. A title that doesn't actually suit her strength.

But it was what it was.

As for me… I squandered the goodwill of several nobility because of my dreams and was just a mage with unrealized potential and in their opinion, I was even the one who was wasting my potential with working an unsuitable and insignificant job in the association.

So, there was a great chance that they might just silence us, based on how important the information is.

Dhana tried to protest a bit, but Duke didn't budge. After some time, he stopped acknowledging her and said.

"You can move around as much as you want with the building and the estate. You can even explore the mountain. However, we will stay closed and you are going to be our guests."

That is all he said before the meeting was dispersed.

At that moment, Ardra who was about to leave came to us. He was a seventh-circle knight and he failed to inherit the constitution of a magic knight like his father and grandfather. Instead, the constitution fell on his much younger brother, who was still studying in the Royal Academy while this incident was happening.

Once again, this guy does play a role in this story, so don't mind me rambling about it.

"Tej and Dhana, right?"

 He greeted me with a smile.

We nodded and he extended his hand for a shake.

"I am Ardras. Since you are from the capital, I am sure you must have heard about my exploits. I was quite famous."

He chuckled, maybe trying to ease the tension. He then changed the topic instantly.

"So, have you seen the guy? Can you describe him to me?"

Dhana and I exchanged a glance. This guy clearly came with this motive and tried to break the ice, but he couldn't keep the façade long and just jumped to the question.

I looked into his eyes and so did Dhana. I did notice some panic and anxiety. However, I accounted it to the nerves of being attacked.

But Dhana seemed to have thought otherwise as she started describing the man.

"Tall, lean, muscular, pale skin, silver hair. One side of the body is completely mangled with bite scars. Dark colored mana, but unsure if it was a dark element. A horse and a wolf by his side."

She was very slow, but straight to the point. All the while, she just looked at his eyes and face, keenly as if trying to not miss even the slightest fluctuations in the emotions.

"That is good to know. Thanks."

He mumbled out and left hastily.

"So?" I asked her. It's not our first rodeo and I understood that she was aiming to get something out of that man.

"He is also suspicious. He definitely has a secret or two and they might just be related to this man. If only we could get a chance to interrogate him."

"That's not going to happen, at least not any time soon. We can't even leave this place. But I think it would be better if we can get some eyes out there and I also want to send a message to the headquarters."

"So, do I. But if we use the normal messaging means, Duke may find out. As for the outside surveillance, I don't have anything on me right now. I cannot set up the array for it without my team."

I pursed my lips and said.

"I might have a way. Do you want to explore the mountain with me? I heard there are several streams and unique trees here along with some exotic animals. Do you want to take a look?"

As soon as I said, realization dawned on her. 

She nodded and immediately we went to ask permission to explore the mountain.

Duke looked at us and said.

"Don't get any ideas. If anyone leaves the vicinity of the mountain, then I will know."

"Don't worry Duke. We know better than to provoke you. After all, I don't know where would be safer than this place when a maniac like that was on the loose." Dhana replied.

Duke nodded and allowed us to roam free. I am sure that there were knights definitely following us around from afar, just to keep an eye on us. But I didn't worry about that.

Dhana and I walked out of the estate and entered the woods on the mountain. There was a waterfall close to us which had great scenery.

We walked there and sat down for a while.

"This place is beautiful isn't it?"

I asked while Dhana sat beside me.

She nodded. 

"I want to take a picture."

As I said, I took out my camera and maintained some distance between Dhana and me, she struck a pose near the waterfall playing along.

I placed the camera close to my eyes as I started creating a magical circle on its lens while whispering a spell.

"Whispered winds and leafy shade,

Creatures of the forest, come to my aid.

With silent steps and gentle flight,

Join me in the enchanted light."

*CLICK*

The picture was taken with a bright magical flash along with that flash, the spell was cast and the magical circle also disappeared.

I walked to Dhana and made her look through the camera lens.

"Can you see the picture? Look how beautiful it is."

I said and while she leaned on to see nothing but the zoomed-in rocks, I whispered.

"Spell cast successfully."

*CHIRP* *CHIRP*

As if to add credibility to my words, a few colorful birds chirped as they came near us.