“What?!” The mayor stood up in surprise.
The others who were in the office also stood up alongside the mayor.
“The garden on the right wing by young lord Smith’s room was destroyed. It was presumably caused by a fire attack.” The guard outside reported.
“And where is Smith?” The mayor asked angrily.
“He is nowhere to be found, neither is master Richard.” replied the guard.
“They still haven’t returned?” The mayor asked with a strange expression.
“They returned my lord, alongside four youngsters. But neither they nor the youngsters have been found.” answered the guard.
“Could they have left the villa?” The mayor asked a little confused.
“No, my lord. The guards at the gates didn’t see anyone leaving after they came in. This means they are still in the villa.” The guard replied.
The mayor looked at his guests with a little concerned face, “Please stay here, I assure you, this isn’t something to worry about. I’ll settle it soon”
After assuring them, he left the office, leaving his guests alone.
“Hmm, do we need to be worried?” One of the ladies asked the others with a thoughtful expression.
“No, they’re just kids. Let’s wait so we can finalize everything with the mayor. The longer we stay in this villa, the higher the chances of us getting found out.” An elderly man said.
The others nodded before taking their seats, this wasn’t something they should concern themselves over.
_____
Outside the building.
“Shit! Shit! Shit! They’re people from the Azure empire!” Klaus whispered with a shocked expression.
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing, nor seeing. What the hell are people from the Azure empire doing in the Qilin empire? And in a mayor’s villa for that matter?!
“Looks like the coming war is inevitable. We need to get to the Academy and report this to the principal, he’ll know what to do with such pieces of information.” Alice suggested.
The others nodded before they started to sneak off once again. They’ve not only stolen from the treasury, but they’ve also found out about a shocking secret, the Azure empire was deploying soldiers into the Qilin empire in preparation for the war. This was insane!
It was unknown how many city mayors have betrayed the empire and agreed to their deals, so getting this message to the higher-ups in the empire was a must if they have any plans of saving the empire, that is.
Grey was the one leading the group now, with Klaus at the end of the group.
Due to the shock they got from this unexpected discovery, none of them realized that Smith had already gained consciousness. He sensibly kept his eyes shut, and regulated his breathing so he wouldn’t be found out by the group.
Just as the group crossed the mayor’s office window, he decided to take the risk of alerting the guards of their location. He took a peek at where they were, and he quickly recognized the mayor’s window. He also realized that he could freely use his elemental essence once again which gave him a sense of relief.
‘The guards close to father’s office are always there. This is my chance to escape.’ Smith thought to himself.
Even though he knew if those guards came to his rescue, they would most likely die since they were not Grey or his friends’ match, but he hoped they would at least be able to distract them so he could escape.
Being an Earth Elementalist, it would be easier for him to cause a disturbance since all he needed to do was create a hole in the wall of the mayor’s office, that would definitely attract attention. It will not only attract attention, but it’s stealthier, giving him more time before Grey or his friends finds out he was awake.
The group was just about to completely leave the mayor’s office’s area when Smith secretly tried to create a hole on the wall, hoping to directly expose the group to the people in the mayor’s office.
“Huh!” Grey suddenly stopped when he sensed the sudden high activity of the earth particles around the area.
“What’s wrong?” Alice asked.
“Oh no.” Grey wore a serious expression when he saw the hole that was being created on the wall.
It was already over a meter wide, which had attracted the attention of the people in the office. Grey could see the people in the office standing, and looking at the hole with shocked expressions.
“Mayor! They’re here.” One of the ladies called on the mayor who was outside speaking to his guards.
“Crap! That bastard is awake.” Grey cursed out before blocking the hole on the wall, as well as the window with an ice wall.
“What? But he’s still…oh crap!” Klaus was about to say Smith was still asleep, but he quickly threw him off his shoulder before freezing his arms and legs to the wall.
“Who we wanted to use as leverage actually turned out to be bad luck. Shit! How unlucky can we get?” Reynolds said with a little remorse.
Grey instantly sent a lightning blade straight for Smith’s heart. He wasn’t useful anymore, so he wanted to get rid of him since he was the only one left who had a good look at their faces.
While Grey and the others were about to kill Smith. The mayor and his guards were already inside the office. Without any delays, they quickly attacked the ice wall.
But to their surprise, it didn’t break instantly like what they expected. Some cracks ran across it, but it didn’t fall apart, even after the second wave of attacks, it still didn’t fall apart.
The mayor and his guards were all still in the Arcane Plane, although it was the Peak of it, they wouldn’t be able to destroy Grey’s ice so easily. Had Klaus being the one who created this ice, then it would have been almost impossible for them to break through it within one hour.
“Attack with me, we can’t allow the news of you guys being here to spread out.” The mayor begged the guests who were still in their seats.