Uninvited Guests

In one swift motion Jane pulled out a pure black dagger seemingly out of nowhere and took a defensive stance around the twins. But before she could even properly assess the situation Luck and Chari were already halfway to Sarah.

"Are you okay!?"

Luck was examining Sarah while facing the door, ready to attack whatever or whoever was inside. Chari was next to the door as well taking a cautious glance into the room.

It was a single room apartment so they didn't even need to go inside to see some parts of the interior.

The door had been forcefully opened, the door handle was twisted and there were splinters of wood all over the place with blood dripping down the side of the door.

The room was a mess, it was as if whoever was here last was either looking for something, no doubt the gold the merchant traded or just had a proclivity towards destruction.

There were blood stains all around the room, on the sides of the walls, on the couch and even on the innocent table that was split in half as though something or someone was slammed through it.

Sarah's eyes were unfocused, her mind deep in thought. Her breaths were unsteady and she placed a hand to her chest in a vain attempt to calm her rapidly beating heart while her other hand searched for purchase, grabbing onto the building to stop herself from falling.

"I-it's n-n-ot my blood," she managed to blurt out, still disoriented. "Oh my God what happened to him?"

Still keeping his guard up, Luck tried to calm Sarah down as much as he could, Jane on the other hand rushed past them and into the building, her dagger taking the lead.

From the way she held the blade Luck had no doubt that she knew perfectly well how to use it and was rather skilled.

Chari followed after her despite her protests.

Moments later she came out of the room with a bloody note in hand.

It had two simple words written on it.

"Flower field."

Luck raised a brow.

Sarah's eyes widened when she saw this, it appeared to be that those 2 words held more meaning to her than to the rest of them.

She stared at the paper for a short time before looking away, tears welling up in her eyes. She looked left towards a path that seemingly led farther away from the city and back at the twins.

She was conflicted.

She had to make a choice, stick with her duty and escort the twins home, of course if she did there would be no telling what would befall her friend… or she could leave them with Jane and go to where the flower field was.

It was an impossible decision.

Thankfully she didn't have to make that decision herself. Because soon after Chari's voice cut in.

"We are going to the field."

They had to look at the two of them to figure out who had spoken simply because apart from their identical features even their voice was the same.

Chari simply walked towards the side of the building and picked up a well shaped stick.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go."

Neither Jane nor Sarah moved. There was visible tension in the air as their minds ran through the implications of what Chari had just suggested.

But they didn't have to think much, Luck knew they would never allow them to do something so dangerous, at least not willingly.

"No! I can't let you risk your lives, it is my duty to get you back to the clan safely." Jane retorted.

"The only reason I permitted this detour in the first place was because it was very close to the route we would be taking."

"She's right, you can't risk your life because of me, we will go to the palace first then get reinforcements. I have already activated the alarm system of the estate," Sarah said, showing them her bracelet.

Apparently the bracelet had other uses apart from being aesthetically pleasing. Luck had no idea if it was purely technological or psyia infused though.

Chari seemed to be unbothered by what the two caretakers were saying. He simply took a step forward as though he had all the time in the world and said in a cold voice:

"And who asked for your opinion? You seem to be forgetting who you are talking to."

Jane took a step back without realizing it, the aura that Chari was giving off was very familiar.

Right now it was as though they were in the presence of none other than the clan patriarch himself.

Chari was one of the clan heirs and had received little to no training plus she also doubted that he possessed any of the clan artifacts.

She could definitely take him by force if she wanted to… but even knowing this, why was she reluctant to fight him?

It didn't matter anyway, her early statement was a bluff, she had no real authority over him. All she could do now was ensure that they safely retrieved Sarah's boyfriend or confirmed his death.

Kidnapping top tier merchants was considerably difficult, it didn't take much skill to kidnap a basic merchant. Hopefully it would just be a couple of bandits.

She could easily handle many of them, but if it was the worse case scenario…

She shrugged off her thoughts when she realized she was wasting time.

"We will go, but you have to follow my every order."

"Sounds fine to me."

***

Luck on the other hand observed the exchange from the side.

'So we actually have this much authority?!'

Jane who seemed adamant about taking them home was easily ordered by Chari, she didn't even put up an argument. His mind was running through the different possibilities, how far could his influence stretch and how long had Chari been using it?

He didn't have much time to think though because they were about to move.

"Jane, do you have a spare dagger by any chance?"