"Ride faster, Men! We cannot lose him!"
"Hyah!"
Knights adorned in blue and silver are galloping their horses, chasing the thunder on the horizon. They are the best of the best. The most exalted cavalry regiment of Rosmayne, known for their dazzling pace of march. Led by Pierre Juraine, one of the most renowned individuals in the queendom military ranks.
They ride through the violent storm unfazed. The muddy soil cannot stop the well-bred stallions from dazzling through the harsh forest terrain. It's a race against time, and little did they know that they were already far too late.
The cavalry regiment stopped as soon as they reached their destination. They never thought that a big camping ground would sit in the center of the storm.
"Captain Pierre!"
A knightess shouts from the front most of the rank. She pointed at burnt corpses that lay scattered around. Despite the heavy rain, the scorching smell lingers as if they were right under the nose.
"How terrible."
"Captain, these bodies ... It's as if they were trying to run away from something."
Pierre noticed that the corpses were running in the same direction. His eyes followed, and it didn't take long for him to notice a flicker of light in the distance. He spurred his horse in that direction and found himself a cave deep and large enough for a lot of people to take shelter.
"Josephine! Dorian! To me! The rest of you evacuate the bodies and check your surroundings! Take whatever lead you can find!"
"Yes, sir!"
The four knights dismounted from their horses and proceeded to enter the cave on foot. They can easily tell that the cave was used as a hideout of some sort. Also, judging from the weapons and dead bodies everywhere, it's most certainly a criminal activity at work.
"This is either the work of bandits or cultists. Ready your weapon."
They all unsheathed their short swords and walked in a triangle formation, watching each other's blind spots. They moved around the place and went deeper into the underground. Finally, at one point, they hear a faint murmuring voice that came from the corridor on their left.
They silently cast their spell as they approach the one particular room that is the source of the eerie voices. When they take a peek to see what is inside, they cannot believe their eyes.
"C-Captain ...!"
"What in the world ...."
They witness an enormous cage inside the room with more than a hundred people inside. Each and every single one inside the cage put their hands together as they kneel and bow their head down. They are chanting every prayer they can remember. Pleading for salvation from something that the knights have no idea about.
".... Slaves. So it was a bandit camp after all."
"Captain. The cage ... it's open," said Klaus, insisting on how weird it is to see the slaves remain in their place although the cage door is not locked.
Pierre sheathed his sword back and initiated a small discussion with his subordinates. He sent Klaus back to the surface to tell the others to take shelter from the rain after they finished their task, while Josephine kept an eye over the slaves. Then, he went to search the rest of the place by himself.
After finding nothing on the lower levels, Pierre goes back to the surface to instruct his men to distribute warm clothes and food among themselves and to the slaves below. He decided that they would spend the night at the cave while being fully aware that his mission had ended up a failure.
However, he hasn't given up yet. While his men are resting, he talks to the slaves one by one trying to find out what actually happened in this place. Most of them are too mentally broken to even hold a proper conversation with him until he finally gets to speak to someone who still retains her sanity.
"I-It was a god."
"God?"
"Y-Yes, a god! A-A-And he's angry!"
"... How does this 'god' look like?"
"H-He is bright ... So bright that we can't even see his face."
Pierre narrowed his eyes. Whether it is the truth or a mere hallucination of the depressed, he takes it all into account. He writes everything she says in his notes down to every single word with not a single mistake.
"What is this god do?"
"The god ... k-killed those evil men without even touching them. They just suddenly dropped lifeless as if they were just an empty husk."
Pierre suddenly noticed that the bodies inside the cave weren't like the ones outside. They weren't charred but instead died with their eyes open with terrified looks on their face. Even the woman slave is sometimes on the verge of screaming, but Pierre manages to handle her so that she won't put the others into panic.
"When did this 'god' leave?"
"... It left after he took a kid from the room over there."
"What? What room?"
"T-The room where that nasty mage lives."
What the woman said really caught Pierre by surprise. He already checked every corner of the cave and hadn't found anything of the sort. That means there's only one explanation; illusion magic.
"Okay. So, about the kid. What does she look like?"
"I ... I don't know. I don't remember. All that I can tell is that she has dark hair, and is pretty small."
"How small?"
The woman touched her elbow, telling the captain the approximation of the girl's height. Pierre can deduce that the little girl in question might be around nine to ten years old. This piece of information is invaluable, and he ought to show his gratitude.
"I believe we are done for now. Thank you for your cooperation ... Josephine!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Give the lady an extra bowl."
"Right away, sir!"
Afterward, Pierre set his eyes on finding the secret room the woman mentioned. He unsheathed his sword and roamed the cave while keeping the crystal in the sword's hilt close to the wall. Soon, the crystal reacted and glowed in a reddish color, and Pierre stopped right before a seemingly normal stone-carved wall.
"Reversi."
The illusion slowly fades like an oil painting washed in water. On the other side of the wall, Pierre can see a living quarter that also serves as a torture room on the double. Brain in a jar, bowls of nails, half-skinned scalp, and many other things lead to some conclusions; It's either he is a catalyst dealer, or practitioner of Yarna, or even both.
The room is rather darker than any other room. Pierre could hardly see his own feet when suddenly he stepped on something. It crumbles like a biscuit and gives off a strong smell of ashes. He looked down and found disfigured bones and a skull that had turned completely black. Thus, he called his men to inspect the room thoroughly all night long.
***
In the early morning, when the heavy rain finally let up, the squadron of knights returned to their base in Etherton after escorting the slave refugees to the nearest jurisdiction. Without a single delay, Pierre walks to the city hall without even bothering to change his attire to a more proper one. Good for him that his feeling of nervousness is shared amongst the city councilors, thus the breach of etiquette is overlooked.
"You may speak, Second Son of Edmund Juraine."
After kneeling in front of the council, Pierre stands up to share everything he found during his emergency dispatch. The board of councilors gasped and turned into a jostling, clamorous mob when Pierre presented them with reliable witnesses and evidence. Even the chairman has a hard time regaining control of the atmosphere.
"Pierre Juraine. You have our gratitude for your magnificence service."
"Please, Your Highness. I don't deserve such praise. After all, we lost track of our target."
"Don't be too strict on yourself, young man. This much is more than enough. Now, we will send you to the capital as this calls for the attention of a higher authority. Oh, and also, we will put a recommendation letter along with it. "
"I cannot thank you enough."
"It's too soon to relax, Captain Pierre. You will depart as soon as possible."
"... Yes, Your Highness!"
On the very same day, Pierre set out to the capital city of the Queendom of Rosmayne, the famed City of Flowers, Fleurein.
