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Chapter 67

“What are you two doing here?” Erika demanded as she tied off her towel and used her body to hide Mara. “Return to camp immediately and inform my brother of your mistake.”

The knight chuckled. “You don’t need to worry about your brother. He won’t be bothering us for some time.”

Her face whitened a bit, but she managed to keep her expression unaffected. “What have you done?”

“You don’t need to worry about that.” The knight stepped up to the shoreline. “All you need to know is that there is no one here to disturb us now.”

Erika’s expression darkened. “What are your intentions with us?”

“Us?” He laughed. “It’s just you. It’s not too complicated. I was paid handsomely to make sure you never make it back from this little journey.”

“And what of you?” She asked the servant. “He was hired for this journey. I suppose he could have been a plant from a rival family, but you’re from the Blanche family. You’re betraying us.”

“Are you so certain it wasn’t the Blanche family asking me to do this?” He asked, sneering.

I could tell he was lying to throw her off. It was probably something the pair had rehearsed before approaching. However, Erika wasn’t so skilled at reading such lies, and she gave an uncertain expression.

“It doesn’t matter who sent us.” He shrugged. “What matters is that you die. I’ll give you two choices. Either you and your little friend service us properly for the night and we’ll let you die swiftly, or you resist and we can… make it hurt.”

If I had to guess, this probably wasn’t part of the original plan. The people who bribed this knight and servant to betray her probably only wanted her dead. They didn’t seem to care about her brother at all. They didn’t feel he was worth their time. I had already used the clump of sensory cells I left behind and gained a basic understanding of what had happened while I wasn’t paying attention.

Tyler and the other knight were merely unconscious. The servant had offered them a tea with some particularly powerful sedative and the pair were rendered unconscious. The two poor maids were easily subdued and tied up. After their trauma earlier that day, they didn’t even try to put out an alarm to their lady.  After they were all restrained, the pair headed here to finish the job. They hadn’t thought anything of me in the first place.

As for the knight’s proposition, men were always greedy and wanted more. Since she was going to die anyway, why wouldn’t he try to enjoy her first? Perhaps, he had used that as a means of tempting the servant into betrayal, as the servant was leering at her in a particularly disgusting way. Likely, there had been more men as part of this inside job, but after their encounter with Blackbolt, their numbers were thrown in disarray, and the remaining knight sought to take all the awards for himself by striking while the iron was still hot.

Although Erika was angry, I could tell she wasn’t frightened. The knight was only an evolved like Erika. He was a 9^th rank evolved, so he was higher ranked than her, but Erika had a mutation in magic, so she could likely deal with them both herself. That was exactly why I was on guard. These two men should have known Erika’s ability with magic. Even if they were previously ignorant, they would have seen it firsthand earlier today when they battled Blackbolt. For them to act so cocky, either they were morons, or they had something up their sleeve which left them confident they could handle her magic.

“You are repulsive.” She made a face, looking particular at the servant. “To think you were ever part of the Blanche house.”

“Don’t act so high and mighty! The Blanche clan isn’t even one of the great families!” He snapped. “You’re little more than jewel merchants!”

The knight held up his hand, calming the servant. “You don’t need to engage with her. You’ll be able to do whatever you want with her soon enough.”

“You’re too overconfident.” Erika seemed to come to the end of her patience, lifting her hand. “Mara, watch closely. This is how you truly use elemental fire. Fier!”

A red ball of flame formed in her palm, and she immediately chucked it at the servant. Her action surprised both of them. One would expect her to attack the biggest threat, but Erika had taken advantage of that assumption. She used her first strike to knock out the weakest one, as well as the traitor. Even if she somehow failed later, it would have sent a message to future traitors of the Blanche family that things didn’t work out for them.

She had every expectation of killing the traitor in one blow, but just before striking them, a pendant around the knight’s neck glowed and a shield sprung up, blocking the blow. The explosion was enough that Erika was thrown back. Mara only just managed to keep him from falling under the water and losing her towel. When the dust cleared though, both men, and even the forest beyond the shield that had sprung up, were left unharmed.

The knight seemed shocked for only a moment before laughing. “You see? I told you we had this handled!”

The servant also let out a laugh of relief.

“How could a knight like you afford a protective talisman?” She asked in disbelief. “It doesn’t just require a jeweler, but a rune caster. Even I can barely draw a protective rune.”

“Haha, that’s none of your business. You can already feel blessed knowing how much your enemies are willing to put into your demise.”

“Don’t think you’ve won so easily.” She frowned. “Even the best protective talisman can only block so many hits. By my guess, you can only handle two more shots before it breaks.”

“As if I would let you cast another spell!” He pulled out another item, which I quickly realized was a scroll.

He began to open the scroll. I could feel a great deal of mana leaking from it, and by the sudden expression on Erika’s face, I could tell that this was bad. He started to read words in a foreign language I didn’t recognize. I could tell that the words held some kind of magic to them, and each time he spoke one, a piece of magic flowed from the scroll and formed a complicated spell in the air.

“How did you manage to find a magic scroll? Fier!” She cried out, sending another fireball at him, but the protective spell glowed again.

Her spell was weaker this time. She hadn’t recovered her strength completely from this morning and was using all of her mana to try to destroy them quickly, compared to the well-timed strategic attacks she was able to use earlier. Brute force didn’t suit her style of magic. He declared the last word, and the final piece of a complicated spell flowed into the air.

“Mara, run!” Erika cried out.

“Spirit.” Mara gasped as I grabbed her and pulled her under the water.

The spell was released, and a strange black geometric cube flew out. Erika cried out as her body was sucked into the cube. It closed itself and then landed on the short. She disappeared just like that. A moment later, Mara’s head rose from the surface and she let out a gasp. I grabbed her suddenly so she didn’t have a chance to breathe. I realized I couldn’t keep her under very long.

“Hmm?” The knight cocked his head. “It missed one of you. Well, the important one was caught.”

“Where did she go?” The servant demanded. “What did you do with her?”

“Relax.” The knight chuckled walking over to the black box and kneeling. “It’s a spell called Schrodinger’s box. Anyone can enter, but the only way to leave is to give your life.”

“You’ve trapped her? Give her to me then!” The servant demanded. “You promised!”

“My employer gave this to me as a last resort.” He lifted the strange black box. “I can’t remove her. If I open the box and let her out, the spell collapses and she comes out dead. In a way, she already is dead, she just doesn’t know it yet.”

Mara gasped when she overheard them.

“I was promised her body.”

“And you can have it… once I confirm her death with my employer.”

The man grabbed the knight angrily. “I’m not a necrophiliac, this wasn’t part of the deal.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. What’s done is done. You can still enjoy this wench, can’t you?”

The servant glanced at Mara and then angrily turned back to the knight. “A commoner? A commoner? I didn’t betray my family for a commoner. It is Erika, that wench who thinks she’s too good for any man, she’s the one I want!”

“You’re pushing your luck. I also hoped to have some fun. She proved too stubburn. However, if you won’t take the commoner, then I’ll help myself.”

“No, that’s not, grkkk!” He tried to grab the knight again, but the knight moved quickly and slashed his throat.

The servant could only stare in disbelief as he collapsed to the ground, holding his throat. A few moments later, he was dead. The knight shook his head in annoyance and then turned to Mara and smiled. “Now, where were we?”