It took Marco a moment to process what his madam just told him, right now it was just a theory but if it turned out to be true and Milles was a peon from the Riga continent, there is no way someone as cautious as the Archduke didn’t know it.
Sarina sighed, she also thought the same as Marco, but there was a difference… she was furious instead of finding it hard to believe.
“Write a list of the places Milles frequents, maybe one of them is a gathering point for the spies of the Riga continent”, she said.
While Marco was doing the list, Aster saw with his spirit sense that the other guards left their rooms at the same time, they all reunited in the kitchen, normally it wouldn’t be suspicious since this was their house anyway, but calculating how much time has passed since he killed Lynn then the situation changed.
“It has been enough time for that woman to fulfill her mission and leave the mansion, it seems like the assassins from the Riga continent are too arrogant, to think nothing could go wrong in their plan”, he thought.
While Aster was in part right since Lynn was sure that he would die due to the poisoned knife and that’s why her tongue slipped, it was also true that her plan was so carefully designed that there weren’t any flaws, the strongest cultivators in the mansion were the two guards and she had control of one of them while the other died due to the surprise attack of her companion.
Unfortunately, how can someone predict that a monstrous youngster would suddenly come from another star cluster or maybe even another stellar system, he would casually meet the probably main target of their whole operation and that she would invite him to stay in her house.
Add the fact that Aster’s cultivation was blur for anyone who tried to inspect it, since his realm didn’t limit his battle prowess, so while he gave off the feeling of a stronger cultivator, he was only a star formation realm, how was Lynn supposed to know that stellar axys realm cultivators were a joke for him or that he would be able to cure Sarina from corruption.
The result, a completely unexpected ending where not only Lynn was dead but her possible partners were already identified, speaking of them Aster saw Miles and other guard coming to Marco’s room and he smiled.
“Marco, that guy is coming with another guard, follow their game and let’s see how far will this “play” go, don’t worry if you are in any danger I will interfere”, he said before activating his invisible talisman, Sarina had her doubts but she followed him and activated the talisman too.
Marco saw them disappearing along with the black wall, he immediately kept his sword in his spatial ring and occupied Aster’s previous position leaned against the door to keep it closed since the lock was cut.
After a moment he heard someone knocking at his door, Marco waited a couple of seconds before opening it just to see Miles with his usual smile along with one of his subordinates.
Miles pointed at the other guard and spoke.
“Ryan got some friends coming to the town, how about you come with us Marco, there will be good wine and good girls hahaha”.
Marco internally gritted his teeth, it wasn’t suspicious because Miles has always been akin to such events and he sometimes goes with him or the others, but right now the most possible end for him if he were to tag along without knowing what was happening was that his own team mates would kill him.
Still, he followed the plan and nodded.
“Yes, let’s go, that travel from the capital all the way here was quite tiring, I need a good drink”.
Miles smiled.
“Perfect, come we are more or less ready, just like always we leave you for the end because we know you are a boring old ass, hahaha”.
Marco went with them and they left the house, of course Marco was the one to close the door and he was careful enough to leave it open a couple of seconds for Aster and Sarina to pass it, while he feigned to look for his key.
The guard who was presented as Ryan guided them to what looked like a tavern, there were a lot of places like this in Oak Heart city and this one didn’t have anything that make it stand from the rest.
Inside of the tavern there were some of girls sitting in one table near the bar and other guys minding their own business both near the bar and in a table close to the entrance of the tavern.
Ryan greeted one of the girls and the guards sat next to them, quickly the drinks starting coming, one after one, time passed and soon it was past midnight, Aster and Sarina were standing near the entrance just waiting to see how things will develop.
At some point one of the guys drinking near the door stood up and blocked the entrance, since Marco was sitting backwards the door, he couldn’t see it.
“It’s about to start”, said Aster in a low voice.
And he was right suddenly Miles and the other guards along with the girls stood from the table while Marco had an unsightly expression on his face.
“Guys, if this is a joke it’s not funny, why can’t I move?”.
Miles smiled, he turned to see the tavern and since everything was “clear”, he laughed.
“I’m sorry Marco, it’s time for you to fulfill your purpose, Lynn should be already done with her mission in the mansion and we need a scapegoat”.
Marco felt his heart clenching, all the other guards were siding with Miles so his worse fears turned out to be true, he was surrounded by traitors, still he followed his role as the “victim”.
“What the hell are you talking about Miles? have you drunk too much, who is Lynn?”.
The rest of the guards and even the girls that were drinking with them a couple of minutes ago, laughed as if they were seeing the funniest thing in their lives.
Miles shook his head.
“What a shame there was no way you would have joined us, but since you have been such a loyal friend let me tell you a little secret, we all work for the Riga continent and this night is going to be added to the history books because we kidnapped the little jewel of the Millefiore family along with the daughter of a respected city lord, for our king’s entertainment”.
…
“Well more accurately you did it, we chased after you all they way to the border and lethally wounded you but you had companions waiting in the forest, so we weren’t able to get those two back, what do you think, it’s a good story right?”, he added.
Marco felt his lungs filled with anger, “these assholes were going to put all the blame on me”, he thought.
“So, you were all traitors!!! How dare you bite the hand that has been feeding you all this time, Kana thought of you guys like family and… you are planning to give her to that pig, where is your damn conscience?”.
That last phrase wasn’t an act, those were Marco’s genuine thoughts, they have been protecting Kana since she was a baby, and yet they didn’t hesitate to condemn her to such a horrible future.
Miles shook his head.
“That idiot noble you admire so much is for sure “giving” his attention to other kind of matters right now, hahaha”.
Marco felt nauseous.
“So that’s why you weren’t happy when we met those two siblings on the forest… they are probably from some important family, so if you affect them their backing will come to investigate”.
Miles’s smile widened even more.
“I have to thanks the heavens for that, our master ordered us to get Sarina and Kana for our king, so it was going to be a boring travel back to Riga since we couldn’t lay a finger on them, then those two appeared, and considering Lynn’s preferences, we are going to have something nice to pl…”.
Miles suddenly stopped speaking, a dark dome appeared around them and then all the presents including Marco and even Sarina felt as if they were suffocating, Aster dispelled the invisible talisman and everyone besides Sarina and Marco fell to the ground incapable of moving at all.
A frightening sensation filled the room, and everyone felt chills running down their spines, cultivation pressure only made your enemies lose their capacity to move but it didn’t mentally affect them, the reason as to why they felt as if oxygen wasn’t entering their lungs was… fear, an unmeasurable quantity of killing intent was filling the tavern.
With each step Aster took the ground below his feet cracked, if not for the barrier blocking most of the shock the whole building would have collapsed by now, he stopped next to Miles, since he was clearly the second in authority besides the maid he killed in the mansion, then… all the other presents weren’t worth anything.
A blue flame appeared in his right hand which he pressed in the back of the guard called Ryan, all the presents could see how blood along with other fluids started coming from Ryan’s mouth, nose, eyes and even his ears.
The poor guard couldn’t even find relief in screaming to let out some of the unthinkable pain he was feeling right now, because he couldn’t move nor make any noise.
While Aster made sure that Miles and the other guards along with the women that were with them saw the suffering miserable face Ryan, he explained.
“I’m glad you guys have recently started to cultivate your bodies, your vitality is high enough for you to fully “enjoy” the feeling of your organs being slowly refined, without me worrying about you dying too soon.
Sarina for a couple of seconds felt a bit afraid of the current Aster, which unlike the one he has seen so far didn’t have that mysteriously attracting kind smile on his face, instead his expression was so cold that the temperature of the room was dropping at a visible rate, but after contemplating things she suddenly smiled.
“That’s how a man should be, ruthless with his enemies but kind to those he cares about”.
Sarina’s father changed when her mother was killed by assassins sent by Riga, since that moment onwards he was so fierce in the battlefield that enemy armies started fleeing when they saw Oak Heart city flag appearing, even now he was for sure raining massacre over the Riga soldiers.
She only interrupted when she noticed that the women in the floor peed themselves due to fear, she deactivated the invisible talisman before walking until she was next to Aster.
“I know right now you are angry but… we need to interrogate them”, she said while placing her hand in his back.
Ryan’s body was suddenly swallowed by golden flames and a second later nothing was left, there wasn’t even burn marks in the ground as if he vanished from existence.
Aster turned to see Sarina and her comprehensive smile he calmed down.
“Don’t worry, I just needed to let out some steam, we have a lot of questions that need an answer so of course our honored guest can’t die on us so early”.
Sarina nodded.
“I know the perfect place for that”, she said before taking out the same medal she showed to Marco before.
She placed it on the ground and then the entrance to some underground stairs appeared in the floor of the tavern.
Sarina saw desperation appearing in Miles eyes and she smiled.
“In Oak Heart city we have a especial hotel just for you trashes from the Riga continent”.