Blood hounds

Lance made his way from the field of grass to the outskirts of the forest, then he moved deeper and deeper into the forest. Not long after, he came upon a familiar cave in the depths of the forest.

This cave was connected to a bunch of mountainous formation that sort of changed the general terrain of that part of the forest. However, it only stopped there.

"Hmmm"

Lance took in a deep breath before heading further into the rocky area, and as he approached the cave, the figures of several individuals training with swords and bows became visible.

"Nice"

Lance stood in front of the cave and said nothing, he only observed the rigorous training going on down there. These individuals were the children of the maid, guards that had been fired from the naldir family years ago. Because of lances 'activities', of course, he didn't know about them until they came pouring back into the Naldir household.

And the only reason for this was because of the campaign of the octagon Church against the nadir family, they as former workers for the family had been ostracized for having worked for demons. The church made their lives living hells so they had no choice but to come back to seek protection from the naldir family.

Not surprisingly, they brought their children along, and these children were, just like Ember and Asher. They were loyal to a fault. They immediately decided to follow Lance.

"Blood hounds, Attention!!!!"

From behind the cave, a stern voice resounded, causing the young men to tighten up and form at line facing lance.

"Big boss!!"

They all bowed at Lance, this caused him to smile. There were about 20 of them here, it was like he had his own little troop of fighters.

"At ease"

Lance said casually, meanwhile, Asher walked forward towards Lance and saluted.

"Hehe, how's the training going?"

Lance asked Asher, Asher was responsible for training the 'new recruits' since their little troop here wasn't anything official, Lance couldn't ask the guards to do it.

"I believe they are ready for anything."

Asher has been training them for a while now, he knew their tendencies, and how far they were willing to go, to achieve certain objectives. Of course, the reason for their tenacity was something he couldn't quite place his hand on, but Lance knew, he knew that the children born from his designs were very special.

"Good"

Lance said, before turning to look at the group, their eyes all shone with a particular glow of excitement and impatience. Seeing Lance stand before them, they couldn't help but admire.

They all saw what Lance went through for power. Forget the innate loyalty they had towards him, Lance had gone through hellish training before their very eyes, day in and day out they would see him sweat, they will see him train. in Their Eyes , he was their true leader and in Their Hearts he was their inspiration, his tenacity and pure will power was something they all admired.

" Not more than a year ago, the Octagon church declared War on the Naldir family. They sent out their agents to torment, not only us, but our loved ones as well. They made us run, they made us hide, but most of all, they humiliated us. They humiliated our loved ones, they made us feel like we were the lowliest of scum, but today? What can they do to us today? We have used the humiliation to temper ourselves, and we will use that humiliation to tear them down!!!!"

Every word that escaped lance's mouth sent a rush of adrenaline coursing through the veins of the young men. Everything Lance was saying was true. They had been through so much prosecution for no reason at all but the selfishness of the Octagon church. They wanted revenge, and they had used their humiliation to fuel their training.

" My noble father Escanor Naldir has made his way out of the household, so this is the best opportunity for them to strike, it is also our first chance to show the Octagon church that we are not to be trifled with. I want every man to scour the forests and the other entrances, be at high alert. If you hear so much as a frog croak unusually, let me know. My blood hounds will be the first to set our sights on the enemy, and my blood hounds wil be responsible for wiping them out!!"

"Woooooo!!!!"

"Yhhhh!!!"

The fire in their heart was set ablaze by lance's words, their training had been long and hard, but finally, it was time to put that training to good use. The men of the Octagon church had humiliated their families, but now it was time for payback.

For Lance, there was another reason for him to be excited. He believed that Arian will find her way back to the Naldir household, whether it was for revenge or whatever. She would come and Lance would be here waiting for her.

After that, Lance gave a few instructions to them before leaving the cave.

.....

In the Main house, several guards could be seen running their Guard routes around the household

After the incident with Arian and the Octagon church, Escanor hired a host of guards to constantly monitor their family household for fear of them being attacked. Even though he was powerful, he knew that he had limits.

"Click"

After making his way from the forest to the main household, Lance opened the door to the main house, and headed inside.

"Hey birthday boy!!! Come have a beer"

As soon as his feet landed on the floor, a loud voice sounded, drawing his attention over. At the dinning table, a man with long red hair could be seen seated with a bottle of booze in hand.

"Uncle Wilder"

This was the first person Escanor contacted when he realized that the Octagon church was scheming against them, and not even a few hours later this man appeared in front of their gate with a host of guards armed to the teeth.

Apparently, he was one of escanor's old friends from his youth. According to his father, Wilder was as much of a threat to the octagon church as he was. Him being presents what's an additional deterrent to the Octagon church.

"Dont be a p*ssy like your dad, it's only a few more hours until you get to 18 anyway"

Wilder stood up from the dinning table and went to lance with his half empty bottle of booze in hand. "Here, take it. burp"

Standing in front of lance, wilder was like a giant, he was huge and had massive muscles. Compared to even escanor, wilder was bigger.

"Cough cough"

A lady from the side coughed, drawing Lance's attention. It was his mother Laura, on her face was a look of disapproval. She did not want lance to drink booze, even though it was only a few hours until he turned 18.

"No thanks, maybe later"

Fearing the wrath of Laura, Lance shook his head indicating that he would not have any beer.

"Uhh, fine more for me...."