Gabriel was thinking. 

Even before he had been summoned along with the other knights, he was suspicious of the situation. Why did this man who had left the knights to go to some backwater hamlet have the sway to call out four knights? True, they were some of the newer knights, but the point still stood.

So Gabriel decided to investigate.

Going through the records of all the missing or retired knights, he soon found something very interesting. There was no record of any ‘Milo’ anywhere. Which meant… something.

And then those two used magic, and it seemed like everything fell into place. If this Milo was a noble, then his sway over the knights would make sense; maybe those other two were related to him in some way. It’d also explain why that woman was the only female on the raid team, not to mention on a strike force without any knights.

Gabriel had taken notice of the villager’s reactions to the magic, too. They were just as surprised as he was, and worse at hiding it. Evidently, they hadn’t known about the magic either.

More information would be needed, he’d need to figure out the best person to probe. The one named Flanagan might be a good target, Gabriel had noticed a few shades of anger in addition to shock earlier.

“So, Flanagan.”

“Eh?” The man evidently hadn’t expected a direct address.

“How recently did those two arrive here?”

“Kass didn’t arrive. He was born here.”

Ah. Implying, of course, that the woman wasn’t. “And the woman? Did she arrive at the same time as Milo?”

“No, Milo’s been here almost five years. The priestess just arrived a little over a week ago.”

The plot thickens. Those two seemed to have their strategy against the hobgoblins figured out without even looking at each other, yet the ‘priestess’ was surprised enough that the goblins could transform like that. Two people don’t get that level of unspoken communication in a week.

However, they could be using some form of magic to communicate. If that was the case, it’d make later interrogation harder, considering they’d be able to get their story straight like that.

The most confusing part was that ‘Kass’ was, apparently, born in the village. Most noble children, or at least the ones that Gabriel had come in contact with on bodyguard work, produced so much ambient magic that it’d be almost impossible to hide. The logical conclusion from that was that Kass had somehow attained magic later in life. The priestess was the one who created the shield, so possibly she gave him magic in some fashion?

However, that theory presented its own problems. Magic had always intrigued Gabriel, and he’d done some study of the mechanics of it before joining the Knights. There were no recorded cases of anyone of non-noble birth gaining magic, and any nobles with magic demonstrated signs early in life; the latest recorded case of a noble awakening magic power was at the age of thirteen.

The priestess had promised to answer his questions, at the very least. And he had a lot of questions to ask.

- - -

As the strike group made their way through the camp, they soon made their way to the stocks. Listening around, the other groups had gotten into the camp too, the sounds of carnage around them plain to hear. Trying to not look at anything… private, Kass scanned the stocks, looking for his sister’s red hair, but not finding it. 

“Do you know where Amanda is?” he asked Lilith. “I looked around, but couldn’t find her.”

They take the impregnated ones to a separate part of the camp, I think. That’s how I escaped; I used some magic to fake a pregnancy and then killed the goblins who carried me away, Lilith responded telepathically.

So you don’t know where they take them?

No, sorry. We’ll find it, though.

“What are you two talking about?” Startled, Kass turned around to see one of the knights behind him.

“We weren’t-”

“Using telepathy? I don’t take too kindly to being out of the loop, so I’d suggest filling me in.”

I’m going to tell him, Kass thought to Lilith. “There are most likely a few other women kept in a separate area of the camp. We’re going to try and find that area to save the rest of the women.”

“Why would these women be in a separate section?”

“From what Lilith’s figured out, they’re the ones who’ve been impregnated.”

“Ah. That makes sense,” the knight said. “How did you figure this out?”

“My- my sister isn’t here.”

“Hm. Good to know. In that case, we’ll need to adjust our plan slightly. Based on the number of empty stocks, we should be able to send back two-thirds of group two right now and have the last group wait until we free these last captured women.”

The knight then slipped off a pack they had been wearing over the scabbard of their greatsword, opening it to pull out several thin cloaks. “Can you help me pass these out to the womenfolk?”

“You’re asking me?”

“Would you prefer I ask someone else?”

“No, I just thought you were suspicious of me.”

“Oh, I am.”

“Oh. Okay.”

- - -

After freeing the women and passing out the cloaks, Gabriel called out to the rest of the group.

“These two have figured out that there are a few other women held in a separate part of the camp,” he said, gesturing to Kass and the priestess. “I say we send a good portion of our forces back with these women, in order to get them escorted to safety as soon as possible. Any objections?”

As no objections were raised, Pender and most of the villagers began to make for the gate they came in from.

- - -

Kass, you go one way and see if you find your sister. I’ll keep [Telepathy] active, so you can notify me and I’ll get the rest of the group over there. I’ll stick with the main force for shields and healing.

Got it.

As Lilith turned to explain the plan to the knight, Kass leapt off, able to truly feel his magically enhanced strength and use it out in the open for the first time.

ArmamentCalligraphy

Sorry that the upload schedule's so sporadic, I just try to publish chapters whenever I can.