Chapter 52- Gathering of Leaders

"We'll be off uncle Diego" Kazuki said as he shook hands with the Marquis.

Though Diego is worried about his daughter, he put his trust in Kazuki that he will protect her at all costs.

Coppelia who saw all of these whispered to Maggie, "Was he trying to gain the father's approval?" but Maggie responded with a slight giggle. Their conversation was interrupted when Sakura called them so that they can depart. Tristram didn't join them because he has to report the events to the king. He also promised to keep Kazuki's identity a secret but Rhyle didn't trust him and asked Yozuko to fuse with Tristram's shadow in order to follow him.

They went deeper into the forest and fought monsters ranked from D to A class. Their trip only took half a day because there were no S-class threats. Finally, they reached Heartfield mansion at night. They set up camp outside because they plan to explore it next morning.

The next day, they finally opened the door of the mansion and entered. Inside, there was another door with the same size as the first one. There were two big knight statues beside it and a lever in the middle. Kazuki was about to step forward but Rhyle stopped him and commanded two paladins to destroy the statues. As the two paladins came closer, they were sliced by the statues. The statues turned black and their eyes started to burn. The two high paladins stepped forward and clashed swords with them. Rhyle looked at Kazuki and saw a confused face so he explained, "The statues are death knights who are the main cause of Order's downfall in the past. They are considered our ancient enemies."

(Note: Paladins are considered S-A class monsters while high paladins are SS+SSS class. The white dragon is an immortal class and death knights are S-class. Death knights and Paladins are equal in strength but a black knight is stronger. Black knights are SS-class monsters. SS-SSS class monsters existed in the past and they can only be found in S-class dungeons in the present days.)

Kazuki didn't expect to meet monsters that can kill a paladin so he took out his scythe and raised his guard. Four paladins surrounded the girls and guards. The guards are sent by the Amulet house in case something happens. Their main priority is to let Sakura escape first it something happens.

As they went farther into the mansion, Kazuki noticed the monsters that appear are of the same elements which is nature type. They killed all the monsters and arrived in front of a large door which was supposed to be the boss room. The paladins opened the door and a large Ent was sitting on a throne. The guards started to run but was caged by roots. Judging from it's fast magic manipulation, Kazuki concluded that it is a SSS-class monster.

Kazuki was about to fight when Rhyle stepped forward and knelt. "The gathering of leaders will be held here tonight" he said.