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Volume 3 Chapter 3 Part 8

「Thank you so much… 」

Alexis smiled brightly and shook hands with Theo.

「You and I are close in age. Outside of public scene, please consider me a friend, and I will think the same about you. 」

Theo quietly nodded at Alexis’ words.

(Did… did Lord Theo just casually became friends with Lord Alexis? 」

Siluca suddenly found herself in utter disbelief.

「It is a pity that we cannot talk some more, but I really have to go back to the castle now. 」

Alexis said goodbye to Theo and Siluca and then left the room, and they followed suit. Since they did not welcome him in, the least they could to is to send him off.

In the hallway were the twin Werewolf sisters and a shadow figure that seemed to be Alexis’ bodyguard. Siluca looked around to see if Irvin was with them as well, but she could not see him. Maybe he is having a look around the mansion?

Alexis left through the front door and walked towards the carriage parked off to the side of the road… and that is when everyone heard Irvin’s voice issuing them a warning.

「We are under attack! Everyone, please be careful! 」

The moment he heard the word 「attack」, Siluca took out her magic wand from the bosom of her robe. She then beckoned Theo and Alexis to stay close to her as she started casting spells.

「Wall, oh wall! Let nothing get past you! 」

The spell that Siluca used just now is a barrier magic that makes moving objects stand still. That particular spell was taught to her by the Elder Witch Zelma, the leader of the White Witches from Artuk, and she was trained in using it by Laura, who was a specialist when it comes to the Still-Moving Magic.

It was one of the spells that she practiced repeatedly every day in order to use it as an immediate reaction spell. Needless to say, she had not forgotten the bitter experience of not being able to block the magic of the 「Burning Star」that the Black Witch Yana cast at the castle of the Vampire King in The Forest of Eternal Darkness in order to kill her, as a result of which Theo got seriously hurt because he moved in to protect her. If it was not for him shoving her aside and absorbing the impact of the spell with his shield, Siluca would have died back then for sure.

Then, just as Siluca expected, something went flying towards them at high speed and ended up hitting the barrier that she made. It was stopped in midaifor a moment before it fell to the ground.

Upon closer inspection, that something turned out to be a crossbow bolt.

「Most likely shot by a Sniper. 」

Siluca muttered to herself. Snipers are the kind of Artists who specialize in shooting their targets from across long distances, be it from a bow or a crossbow.

「Everyone, please try to keep yourselves closer to the ground. 」

Siluca called out to Theo and Alexis, and the two of them silently followed her instructions.

「Shine, light! 」
Siluca then wielded her magic wand once more and shot a few balls of Will-o-Wisps from it. That was also a spell that was taught to her by the Elder Witch Zelma. Right now Siluca is still incapable of producing as many as Zelma can create at once, but the few that she can made should be more than enough to create a distraction as she made them sparkle as much as possible and send them out in random directions around them.

The bluish-white balls of light then drifted forward, illuminating the darkness around them. And in the light the they produced, the three escapees could see as many as twenty people running towards the Will-o-Wisps with daggers in their hands.

「「*HOOOOOWL!!!*」」

The Werewolf twins ran forward while mimicking the howling of their Werewolf forms, and as they were about to reach the enemies, they promptly transformed themselves into their Werewolf selves. They grew fur which turned into a glowing shade of white, and they jumped high into the air where they kicked off each other’s bodies to propel themselves in two different directions at an astounding speed. They pounced on the armed assilants in front of them, knocked them to the ground instantly and then proceeded to rip their throats open.

「Lord Alexis! 」
Soon, the Shadows that serve the Ducet family also arrived on the scene and moved on to protect Alexis, their master. Theo also activated the power of his Crest and stood in front of Alexis with his hands outstretched towards the direction where the bolts were coming from.

「There is so many of them…. 」

Siluca bit her lip in frustration, because no matter how many of the assilants have been taken care of, the remaining ones did not even flinch. Apparently reaching their goal of killing Alexis was their top priority here, and they were prepared to lay down their lives in order to see it fulfilled.

「Are they Shadows as well? 」

Siluca pondered out loud. If they were not Shadows, then the remaining ones should have started fleeing for their lives given how many of their comrades have already been defeated.

「Omerta… 」

Theo muttered that word under his breath.

「Omerta? What are you talking about? 」

「It is a Crest Banner. Whoever finds themselves under its influence will never be able to disobey the orders issued by the Banner’s creator, which means that those under its spell will carry out any cruelty, no matter how inhumane it might be, without as much as batting their eyes. 」

「Is that so? I have never heard about such Banner. 」

Siluca has never heard about it, but now that she did, she had to admit that it was a terrible power to possess. With a power like that on your side, even ordinary people could be turned into monstrous killers. In that sense, it could probably be said that this Banner is the exact opposite of the 「Patriot」Banner that Theo possessed.

「…!!! Could it be…? 」

An idea suddenly popped into Siluca’s head.

(Could it be that these assailants are the servants of the Viscount of Sistina, and their true aim is to kill Lord Theo, not Lord Alexis?)

Right now Siluca could not make any accusations, because she had no proof that would serve to support it, but that was a conviction that she decided to hold onto for the time being.

「Most likely. 」

Theo answered as if he had guessed what Siluca was thinking about, but judging from what was happening right now, it could be speculated that the attackers do not know how Theo’s face looks like. Theo and Alexis are roughly of the same age, and right now Alexis was wearing a hood that was hiding his golden hair in their entirety. And if they had no idea which one was Theo, then of course they would try to kill both of them.

The number of the attackers kept on decreasing, but they were still getting closer and closer, but apparently, Theo was still insistent on protecting Alexis even if it meant placing his own body in harm’s way. Even if he could tell that the enemy was aiming solely for him, he was still adamant about not letting Alexis sustain even a single injury.

Off to the side, Siluca was als using her shockwave magic in order to defeat several of the assassins at once. The Shadows sent by the Ducet family were also desperately trying stave off the attackers, which made Siluca regret that that magic she was using did not have more of an effective range.

In the end, they managed to defeat most of the assailants, but three of them managed to actually slip past the wall that Siluca deployed.

The first assassin aimed the dagger he was solding in his left hand at Theo’s throat, but Theo managed to block that incoming strike with his own left arm, but since he had no shield to cover himself with right now, the blade ended up digging deep into his arm.

Theo’s face got distorted from the pain, but without even flinching, he used the chance that presented itself to him to hold the assassin in place and kick them in their abdomen with his knee. While choking, the assassin fell forward face-down.

「Not a step closer! 」

Another dagger was aimed at Alexis, but Siluca repelled it by deploying another wall that stopped the dagger’s wielder in his tracks.

However, the last of the three assassins was not going neither for Theo or Alexis: he was aiming for the now defenseless Siluca. Since she could not re-cast the magic in time, she tried to use her magic wand to ward off the dagger, but the opponent’s blade slipped right through it.