Clashing with the Empress 5

Madelein was gazing at the men below from the rooftop of a building in the alley. The streetlights and the brightly shining moon illuminated the surroundings, making it easy for her to spot everyone within the vicinity.

Using her shadows, Madelein felt the presence of seven warriors within an abandoned house in the alley.

Six of them were on the first floor of the house, while the seventh was below them, in the basement.

'So they are holding the slave driver in the basement. Six guards inside and twenty patrolling outside.' Madelein concluded.

After thinking for a while, Madelein decided on a simple approach. First, kill the men outside and then the remaining ones in the house. Then free the bastard who got kidnapped.

She felt extremely satisfied with this simple and foolproof plan. She couldn't understand how some people had trouble coming up with viable plans. Just kill everyone on the other side and the problem is solved. Oh, and save the hostage if there is one.

With a self-satisfied smile on her lips, Madelein sprung into action. Using the shadows to move unnoticed, she snuck upon the men guarding outside and disposed of them one by one, without making a sound or leaving any traces of a struggle, not even the bodies, which she absorbed within her shadows.

After killing fifteen of the men, the others finally realized that something was off.

Their patrol routes and schedules were designed so that each round, they would see five of the other guards, and if everything was okay, they would simply give each other a nod while passing by. But during the latest round, they hadn't seen anyone.

The five remaining guards started to grow anxious and each of them went back to the alley to regroup, hoping that others were still alive and had similar thoughts.

Four of them met at thy alley's entrance, looking at each other with fear visible in their eyes.

"Are... are there really only four of us left?", stammered one of them.

"I don't want to admit it but I didn't see anyone during my last round so it's likely.", commented another guard.

Just as they were discussing what to do and that they should notify the people inside, someone dressed in tattered and blood-soaked clothes limped towards them. Hearing the footsteps, all of them turned around.

They recognized the clothes since all of them were wearing almost identical clothes. Brown boots, black pants, and a white cotton shirt. They were all common colors that easily blended with the crowd and were popular with the commoners. Of course, the group had hand signs to identify each other since otherwise they risked mistaking a regular person as one of them.

But as they were already on the edge and nervous, they completely forgot about this as they saw their blood-soaked comrade.

"Are you alright? Where were you hit? Did you see the assailant?", the men bombarded the injured man.

"Y-ye-yes. I-it was a-a b-black-clad f-figure. I-it suddenly a-appeared out of nowhere a-and...", stammered the bloody person.

"And what?", demanded the other four with anxious expressions.

"And did this.", the blood-soaked person said, while shadows erupted from her, piercing the four men.

The four of them did not have a chance to even be shocked, as shadows pierced through their heads.

Ripping off the clothes she had taken from one of the guards, Madelein revealed her slender figure. She had wrapped herself with a layer of shadows, making herself look taller and have a larger frame, in order to fool the remaining men. Within the dimly lit alley, it was hard for them to notice any features such as her small hands or face, especially since Madelein's back was facing the only source of light that shone into the alley, casting a shadow over her face.

Madelein could have most likely killed them all without the need for her showmanship, but that would be too boring in her opinion.

Besides, there was also the 0.01% chance that one of them actually did manage to escape. Madelein was not one who took unnecessary risks. At least that was what she told herself, in order to justify her need for the theatrical performance.

'And now it's time to dispose of the remaining six.' she happily thought while scurrying towards the abandoned house.

Within the abandoned house, Enki was feeling depressed. The fact that he had no track of time made him a bit deluded. While he had only been there for slightly over two hours, it had started to strain him mentally. He couldn't see nor move and there were no sounds in the quiet basement and it quickly became taxing.

Suddenly, Enki could hear muffled footsteps coming from above, and loud thuds as bodies hit the floor.

'Did the Barcas find me?' Enki thought with a hopeful look.

The sounds coming from above soon died down, and Enki was waiting in fear and anticipation. He had no idea who was coming. He could only hope for the best.

Soon he could hear footsteps coming closer, and closer, and the door to the basement opened. Enki's heart was pounding in his chest. He expected to hear the person say something, but they didn't say a word.

This caused Enki to feel disheartened. Did the people above manage to kill the one who came? Or did this new person also wish to use or silence him?

Enki could hear something slash through the air and braced himself. But the next moment he relaxed. His chains had been cut through. He was free.

"Just walk across the street and you will be fine.", came a hoarse voice.

"Who are you?", Enki asked as he fumbled to take off the bag on his head, hoping to see his savior. Finally, he managed to tear it off and looked around. But he couldn't see anyone in the room. It was completely empty.

Baffled, Enki continued to look around him, hoping to catch a clue to his savior's identity, but came up empty-handed.

'Weird. Usually, people would scurry to have the favor of the crown prince.' Enki wondered. Shaking his head, Enki headed up the stairs.

'So I just need to go across the street? Wonder what's there.' Enki mulled.

"Well, thanks for saving me. Although I didn't catch your name. Or face. Or anything at all, for that matter.", he muttered to the empty room as he reached the top of the stairs.

What Enki didn't see was a pair of dark eyes, watching him from the shadows with an amused glint.

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Meanwhile, within the Supreme Commander's mansion, inside the great hall.

Elise von Imvidra was furious. She was tightly clutching an anonymous letter that had just arrived. The letter's contents were simple: "Release Darren von Imvidra, or your brother will suffer in our hands."

Gnashing her teeth, Elise looked at the surrounding people. All the Elders that the Barca family had within the capital were there, as well as a few of the family's trusted allies, like Mago's godfather Marquis Haden.

"How is the search going?", Elise asked, even though she knew the answer already. If there had been any results, she would have been among the first to know.

"No traces of the crown prince have been found. We did find a suspicious house with an underground passage that was recently used, but by the looks of it, it's simply used for human trafficking and there were no signs of your brother being held there.", replied one of the Elders.

Little did they know that it was indeed the place where Enki was first being held, but the kidnappers had cleaned up all traces of their visit and it was used by another organization for human trafficking. Slaves were illegal within the Empire, so nobles who wished to purchase them had to do so in secret.

Besides, the Empire's citizens were highly sought-after slaves. As the strongest nation within the Western continent, the other countries' nobility felt a perverse satisfaction when they could play with the Empire's citizens to their heart's content. That's why the organization also used that place to keep the kidnapped citizens, before moving them outside the Empire.

"Do we agree to the demands on the letter?", asked one of the Elders. They had no leads to follow, so the ball was entirely on the other side's court.

Everyone turned to look at Elise. It was her brother they were trying to save, so she had the final say in the matter. Besides, the Barca's couldn't really care less about Darren. His daily whining had started to grate the guards keeping a watch on him, and they were forced to switch them several times a day. It was starting to become a real hassle.

"Yes. Send the reply to the address stated on the letter. But make sure to have people follow those who retrieve the letter and keep track of their every movement. I want to have proof of who is behind this and make them pay.", Elise spat through gritted teeth.

Just as the Elders were starting to move out to carry out the orders, a guard came rushing in.

"Stop! Outside! Safe!", the guard said while panting heavily. He had rushed here from the main entrance as fast as he could.

"What is he trying to say?", Elise asked, turning towards the Grand Elder that was standing next to her.

"I have no idea. I seem to need to increase the training of the guards if such a small sprint leaves them completely exhausted.", the Grand Elder replied with a frown.

Hearing this, the panting guard's face fell. He just wanted to bring the news quickly and now he was being punished? How was this fair?

"Crown prince. Outside. Arrived safely. Just now.", the guard managed to utter.

Hearing this, Elise immediately bolted towards the front entrance of the mansion, not bothering to further question the man or wait for the others. But considering she was not a Warrior, the Elders almost immediately caught up to her and offered to take her there. Elise simply nodded and a few moments later they arrived.

Near the main entrance of the Supreme Commander's mansion, a figure dressed in dirty and ragged clothes was standing.

His golden hair fluttered slightly in the wind, and his sapphire blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight. Hearing the people approaching him, he turned his head to look and burst into a smile.

"Brother!", Elise squealed and jumped to hug Enki, but stopped right before she reached him.

"You stink.", she continued, earning a blank look from Enki.

'The hell? I was kidnapped and just arrived here safely and this is the first thing you say to me?' Enki thought as he looked at his sister with a piercing glare.

Noticing the glare, Elise cleared her throat, and mumbled with a small voice; "Oh, and glad you returned safely."

"Your Imperial highness, do you mind telling us how you escaped? We have searched through most of the city and haven't managed to find a trace of your whereabouts so I'm really curious to hear your story.", the Grand Elder spoke. He was truly baffled by this turn of events. Just as they were about to agree to the letter, the crown prince delivers himself to their doorstep. Did someone secretly help them? Did they have a spy and the other party decided to give them a hand so that Darren remains locked up? He didn't believe that the crown prince managed to escape by himself. if the other party was so sloppy or incompetent, they would have found Enki already.

Never would the Grand Elder have imagined that the reason why Enki was saved, was that Madelein didn't want to deal with the extra work his absence caused her.

"I don't know who it was that saved me, but there was a person who killed the guards in the house I was kept in and slashed through my chains. She also told me to simply walk across the street and I would be safe. So here I am.", Enki explained.

"I see, so someone did indeed rescue you. And then you walked across the street.", the Grand Elder mumbled.

"Wait a minute.", the Grand Elder cried out with widened eyes.

"Are you telling me you were kept in a house right across the street!?", the Grand Elder bellowed.

"Not at first. But they brought me there two hours ago or so. It was a bit of a shock to me as well. I never expected them to be this brazen.", Enki confirmed.

"Haa... Truly, the best place to hide is right under your enemy's nose.", the Grand Elder sighed.

"Who saved you?", Elise inquired. This was the bit she was curious about. The fact that Enki had been kidnapped was kept heavily under wraps.

"I don't know. They just cut through my chains in a few seconds and spoke in a hoarse voice. I was blindfolded at the time and when I managed to take the blindfold off, that person was gone.", Enki replied.

"Let me see the chains.", the Grand Elder requested, and Enki lifted his wrist for him to take a look. While the chains binding him to the wall had been cut, the cuffs on his wrists and ankles were still on him. He had tried to find a key from the guards upstairs but to no avail.

Upon seeing the cuffs and remaining parts of the chains that hung from them, the Grand Elder's brows shot up.

"I see. It wasn't just some nobody who saved you. They need to be a Sage rank mage to cut through magically reinforced steel so quickly and easily as you described.", he noted.

"Couldn't a Warrior do that as well?", Elise asked, feeling puzzled.

"No. Enchanted and reinforced cuffs and chains like these are hard for Warriors to deal with. They have high resistance to physical attacks, so it takes time to whittle down the chains. If they were cut in a few seconds, as your brother said, then it has to be a mage.", the Grand Elder retorted.

"I see.", Elise mused. She was curious as to who this mystery mage was. Not that many people knew of Enki's kidnapping so the list wasn't very long. She would figure it out, sooner or later.