'Then who the hell have we been conversing with? And what the hell do they want with us?'
A chill permeated through the street, despite the sun burning high in the sky.
'If they aren't real knights, then what could be here for.' I racked my brain trying to find an answer to these questions.
"Won't it be better if we go to the guildhall? Then we'll be able to resolve both issues quite easily." Henry seemed to be keeping them busy with a steady tone. But I could feel the tensions increasing slowly.
'Think Kaelith, think. Who could possible have any malicious intentions toward me or Henry.' I pushed the conversation between Henry and the suspicious knight aside, while trying to understand, the knights—these peoples' motive.
'I haven't antagonized anyone during my career as a rift hunter. Everyone was stronger than me so I made sure not to make enemies. And Henry seems to be a nice, stand up guy so I doubt he's made a lot of enemies either.'
I suddenly thought back to the reason for their investigation. 'They think we killed our teammates. That would mean they are aware of their deaths despite us just reaching the city.'
They were waiting for us....
And for some reason they knew that the rest of the team was dead.
Including Adam Ghis, Leo Velo and...
...Aiden Cross, a member of Umbra.
While walking back to city, me and Henry discussed the mystery surrounding Aiden. Why would he betray us? And why was he so strong?
The first question can be answered pretty easily.
'The pendant.'
It looked valuable, even to someone like me, who has no experience in something jewelry and treasures.
He probably thought he could take the pendant, kill all of us and run before the knights or guild even had a clue.
Well, he didn't expect Henry and Adam's coordination to be that strong, much less my lucky awakening.
As for the second question...
He was a member of Umbra.
According to Henry, Umbra is a hidden organization that's been getting active in recent years dealing in multiple crimes, like assassinations, theft, terrorism, manipulation and even human experimentation. What their goals are, nobody knows. What is known about them is the fact that their members usually have a marking of an eclipsing moon hidden on their bodies somewhere.
That power he had was likely gained through experimentation, because he wasn't that much stronger than Henry and Adam. Only Tier 2 probably, just like them.
I don't know much about mana devices but I've heard there are devices that allow you to see whether someone's alive or not.
If Aiden's allies saw that he suddenly died, they would probably look into how he died. They would discover that he went on a hunt with us. And if they did a little bit of digging, they could easily find out our names. All Rift Hunters are required to list their full name and information to the guild.
'That's why they knew my name...'
Throughout my time as a mercenary, I tried to use my name as little as possible. That's how I slowly got the nickname "Crow", due to my black hair and rugged appearance.
The only one who knew my name was Henry, because he happened to sign up at the same time I did.
Slowly everything that happened since our arrival started falling into place.
These false knights...
'Are from Umbra...' The realization sent a shiver down my spine.
"I'm afraid that won't be possible." I was pulled back to reality due to the deepened voice of the leading knight. "You two have to come with us. If need be, with a little force." The two knights behind him clenched their sheathes, as if to signal that we they would indeed use force to convince us.
'It seems Henry's attempt at getting us out of this peacefully didn't work.' His face grew dire as he saw the movements of the knights.
"Henry" I shoved the young man to get his attention. "We have to make a run for it. We can't beat them."
Henry nodded, agreeing with my sentiment.
"I have a plan." I whispered to Henry as he leaned in closer.
Seeing our whispering the false knights grew impatient and started unsheathing their swords.
"Okay, we'll come with you. No need for things to get forceful, haha." I put my hands in the air and as I chuckled nervously.
The two knights, relaxed a little bit knowing they didn't have to fight.
"We going over to that pub, rig—Huh?" I exclaimed while looking confused at the pub in the distance.
The three knights tilted their heads and looked in that direction of the pub only to see...
Nothing.
"Hilton Art—" They all turned back in surprise as the felt a lot of mana converging at one place.
'Old tricks work for a reason.'
Henry stood there, his sword raised high in the air ready to unleash a powerful strike. One even they would have to worry about.
Wind splitter
The two knights quickly scrambled to get their swords out.
But it was too late.
A green slash made of wind traveled through the air aimed straight at the hidden Umbra members.
Boom!
A big dust explosion erupted in the middle of the street where the knights were.
But we didn't wait for the dust to settle. Because we already knew.
It would only slow them down.
"Henry, Let's go!" I yelled toward Henry as we both started running full speed in the direction of the guildhall. I'm not sure what method they used to get everyone away, but there have to be people near the guildhall. People even stronger than them.
We started crossing the stone inlaid street at stunning speeds, our adrenaline carrying us further. I was trailing slightly behind Henry, since he was faster and stronger than me.
But it didn't matter much. Due to his mana burnout and the fact that he used all his mana to slow down the false knights, he was struggling.
Pants came out of mouth while sweat poured down his face. I wished him better but we didn't have that luxury.
We were almost there. We almost reached the square where hunters often gathered. I could the relief almost setting in as I turned around to see no knights in sight.
'We can make it! We can definitely make!' I encouraged myself as we almost reached the square.
But I seemed to have forgotten.
That hope is poison.
Just as we we're about to turn the corner, the sky suddenly turned dark. The temperature went down and a transparent dark blue dome covered me and Henry, ending right in front of us.
'A barrier'
The wall of mana stopped us from going further.
Step step
The familiar sound of heavy metal armor sounded again.
A chill ran down my spine as I turned to see the three knights appear behind us, having their noble appearance replaced by a sinister aura. In the leading knight's hand was an ethereal looking cube, that kept fluctuating.
That cube had caused the barrier
And would be the reason for our doom.
Vash, the knight holding the ethereal cube pointed his chin towards us. The two knights accompanying him stepped in our direction, looking a little rough due to Henry's earlier attack but not severely injured.
'Two Tier 2 knights'
The situation was quite horrible. Henry was a Tier 2 Knight as well, but he didn't have any mana left. And I just awakened so I'm at Tier 1. And even then, I haven't really trained with any weapons or mana whatsoever.
And even in the best case scenario, where we miraculously beat these two. We can't ever beat a Tier 3 knight, even if we're both in top condition.
'Is there truly nothing we can do? Am I really going to get this far just to die again?'
No
I pulled out my worn out dagger and got into an awkward fighting stance. Henry, not giving up either, despite our horrible situation, also raised his weapon, preparing for a fight.
'Even if it looks hopeless, even if we're likely not going to make it. I'm still gonna fight to survive.
Fight to live.
"Are you ready Kaelith," Henry asked in a hopeless tone.
"Nope."
"Good, me neither." He both found solace in our shared hopelessness.
"They're coming." I called out, seeing the knights closing in.
Their weapons heading straight for us before....
"Well, I suppose that's enough observing."
A soft, almost bell like voice reached my ears
Krrshh!
...The sound of glass shattering reached our ears.
Light peaked through the broken spots of he barrier. All eyes, whether it was me, Henry or the false knights, looked toward the person standing in the middle of the barrier.
The golden light from outside shone down on her like the world was her stage. It was a woman—no, a girl standing there. Here pale blond hair glistened in the light of the of the afternoon sun. Her red eyes, carrying a hint of arrogance, along with elegance. They were wearing a red dress with gold and white accents.
Judging from the twisted expression of the leader, this girl was not an ordinary person. Not at all.
This person was...
"Lady Dawn!" Henry exclaimed while looking toward the noble lady.
Sigh
"I've told you haven't I," the sweet bell voice came out again. "You should call me Lady Vera. Being referred to by my family name is quiet burdening.
"Sorry, Lady Vera." Henry immediately fell on one knee knee and apologized.
"It's fine. You're forgiven." She waved of his prostration with disinterest.
Her tone was so calm, you would have never thought she'd be in a barrier with 3 deadly awakened.
"But you people, " she said, her light voice turning colder. She turned towards the Umbra men as her face grew serious. "An apology won't do for impersonating the Knights of Dawn...."
Within a flash of light, a brilliant silver longsword with a golden handle appeared in the noble lady's white hand.
"You'll have to pay with your life."
The false knights would have to face the brilliance of the of Vera Dawn, "The Radiant Star of Felora."