People were of course surprised to realize that the nun lady who’d been fighting beside was my summon all along. It was only a matter of ti before word spread about being a Sovereign, which was why leaving quickly was important.
Colonel Atlas insisted on transporting us to wherever we were going, but we refused. We simply allowed ourselves to be brought back to the place where we had been taken, and instead of being blindfolded, they employed another thod of transportation more befitting a Sovereign’s dignity.
We rode in a carriage with windows we couldn’t see out of. Everything beyond the glass was simply dark.
On our way back, Cressida and I exchanged information.
I told her everything that had happened to , including how I was suddenly classified as a Sovereign. She wasn’t alien to my villainesses, so the explanation went smoothly, and with grace, of course, I did well to exclude the parts about how much I’d earned.
I did tell her about earning through the auction, and the amount of money I had withdrawn as cash was what I showed her as my total inco, which was one million gold crowns. She nearly lost her mind at that, not knowing I had over fifty more where that one ca from.
As for Cressida, apparently the Blood Mage had been following her for quite a while. There was no other explanation for why B-rank Summoners ambushed them on the way.
Her escorts were slain and she was kidnapped, in the middle of it, she managed to remove her blindfold, a battle broke out and she sohow managed to escape, finding her way through the strange land herself.
By the ti she reached us, dawn had broken. It was at that mont she saved from Maggie’s attack, which was her fatal mistake because I didn’t know if Maggie would be willing to let that go.
I sighed thinking about it. Now I could understand her fear.
If the Blood Mage had trailed her, then he was most likely tracing every other person in the company. He could strike at any ti. He could even strike and kill them separately if he couldn’t get them together.
It wasn’t until that part of the conversation that the fear actually hit .
Right now, everyone was still at ho. After all, it was just the conclusion of our day off. But after today, so of them would have missions, and Kassie wouldn’t be there to protect them.
I reached out to Kassie amidst the conversation and asked how everything was. She sounded calm. Said all was perfectly fine.
So the Blood Mage had not attacked the base, which ant two things. One, he was biding his ti, waiting to figure out whatever it was that defeated the underling he’d sent. I was sure that one would have had a mouthful to tell him.
The other was that the man was waiting to divide and conquer.
Returning ho was priority. We didn’t wait for another carriage to take us to Los Arcos. We summoned Cindy and lunged forward into the early morning.
The massive horse with flaming hooves tore through the streets of the rich city, cracking and splitting the tile with every step. In a matter of seconds we were already on the forest path, barreling down toward Los Arcos at terrifying speed.
Cressida wouldn’t stop vomiting even while on the horse. anwhile, I was surprisingly fine and was even pushing Cindy forward with more speed.
’She eats too damn much.’
By late morning, we arrived back at the Black Snow Company. I dismissed the horse and ran inside while Cressida collapsed outside and kept retching.
I burst into the reception with enough urgency that everyone doing one thing or the other stopped and looked at .
"Cade?" Ophelia called lightly.
"You’re back."
I looked at them one after the other.
Ophelia was present. Odelia was present. Kassie was here too, sitting like royalty as usual. The elf lady was also here, holding a tray and looking at with that arrogant expression I was going to smack the hell out of one day.
My stomach sank before I even finished counting.
"Hey, what about Milo?"
Odelia looked at with a strange concern and shrugged.
"Of course, he went to work."
I turned sharply to Kassie.
"I asked you to make everyone stay!"
Kassie uncrossed her legs and replied evenly.
"I tried. He insisted ti was of the essence and he had to go since it was a ti-limited job." She tilted her head. "And also instructed that you should pick a job and go for one since there’s no ti to be fooling around."
I slapped my palm over my face.
’God, it’s always the weak ones.’
I moved quickly to Ophelia behind the counter.
"Can you give a copy of Milo’s job? I have to find him."
Ophelia squinted at .
"If this is about the Blood Mage, you can always trust Milo."
I chuckled.
"Yeah, no thanks. The last ti you guys said that, I know how badly you all got beaten and I had to carry every single one of you back here."
Ophelia hid her eyes with embarrassnt.
Odelia intercepted.
"That was simply because of the situation at the ti."
I turned to her.
"Whatever it is, I’m not leaving it to the chance that you’re strong. I have a bad feeling about this Blood Mage."
I turned back to Ophelia.
"I’m going myself. The job papers, please."
She hesitated, then slipped the papers across the table. I snatched them up and read through.
A rescue mission. The master had lost his slave, who’d allegedly run away over ten tis. The master wished to find the slave again.
The locations left as clues were the Dark Alley of Arcos and Waterwind Street, a ruined drainage system that ran behind the city. Only the worst of people could even manage to live in such a place.
The slum of the slums.
The bad feeling I’d been carrying all morning doubled.
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