Chapter 11

  After Mori had spoken to the people who were still embroidering, one of them, a woman, said, “Mori, stop. You have spoken about escaping since you got here, but this plan doesn’t seem feasible. So much could go wrong. Why should we trust two people who came here dressed as guards?”

  “How long have we all been here?” Mori replied.

  The room was silent as the expressions of everyone in the room fell, their moving hands coming to a halt.

  “Don’t you all want to go back to your families? You won’t be able to do that if you resign yourselves to your fate.”

  Another woman spoke, “But we’re weak, poor, and many of us are refugees. No one has sent us any help all this time. Will they listen to us once we return?”

  Drakkel stepped forward. “I’ll make sure they do.”

  The embroiderers were still deep in thought, when one of them, a child who seemed around 11 or 12 years old, walked over and stood next to Mori.

  “We should listen!” She said. “My mom and dad aren’t around anymore, but I would still prefer to make a living for myself rather than staying here and being a slave!”

  Another embroiderer dropped her fabric and stood up. “The kids haven’t given up yet! As elders, should we sit back in cowardice as we let them take the lead to save us? Does that make sense?”

  Many of the embroiders lowered their heads to think for a moment.

  Suddenly another stood up. “I’m willing to take the chance!”

  Her voice was followed by a chorus of others.

  “So am I!”

  “Me too!”

  Soon all the embroiderers joined in.

  Because they were making a commotion, Drakkel knew it was only a matter of time before the guards outside would take notice.

  He hurried to say, “Your bravery will lead you to new heights! We will break you out of your chains and bring your oppressors to justice together! And I will show my sincerity right now!”

  Like the blowing out of a candle light, Drakkel’s bright expression darkened. His wide and welcoming eyes hardened and the corners of his lips turned down.

  Crossing his arms, he said emotionlessly, “I placed a tracer on a certain person outside. Give him a painful death. As for the rest, kill them swiftly.”

  Drion and Shia bowed their heads and left.

  Not long after, several thuds could be heard from the outside along with screams of pain. Then it was only after a few minutes that an eerie silence followed.

  The door to the large cabin opened and Drion and Shia calmly walked back in.

  Drion turned to Drakkel and bowed. “It’s been taken care of, Young Master.”

  Drakkel’s cold expression warmed again as he spoke to the crowd. “Let’s go see what they’re talking about, shall we?”

  Shia and Drion stepped aside as he left the building.

  Soon, many shaky footsteps followed in his wake.

  Drakkel turned his head to the side.

  The guard that he had requested to be killed painfully seemed to have had all his organs ruptured individually, starting with the least vital ones.

  Meanwhile, the rest of the guards in the area had been killed with their bodies mostly clean.

  The two had done well.

  The crowd of people looked around fearfully at the dead bodies. The air stunk of fresh blood.

  The man who promised to help them indeed did what he said, but he killed people to achieve it!

  Some were terrified of the man that now stood in front of them, secretly admonishing his actions, while others couldn't help but agree that it served the guards right.

  These very people had no qualms about beating, abusing, and taking advantage of them so why should they care when they were dead? At least one thing could be agreed upon by all who now stood there, the man in front of them was not someone to be trifled with!

  Drakkel turned to them with a wide smile on his face. “See? As I said, I’ve taken care of the first obstacle. Now, we need to get out of here before they’re found.”

  After he made sure that everyone was present, Drakkel used his sword energy to call Fargos over. Not too much time had passed when he finally showed up.

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  It was clear he had no problem eliminating the guards either as his demeanor was calm and unbothered. He didn't even seem to be out of breath.

  “Fargos,” He said. “Find us a mode of transportation.”

  Fargos bowed his head. “Right away, Young Master.”

  It wasn’t even five minutes when he returned.

  “I found a few large covered horse carts and some horses in the stables, Young Master.” He said.

  Drakkel wasn't surprised. The owner of the place likely had them prepared in case they needed to quickly move the embroiders.

  Drakkel nodded and addressed the crowd. “We’ll head out now. Remember, once we get to the capital, discreetly find your families. If you can’t, Just head straight to my Inn! It is called New Beginnings.”

  The group nodded in response.

  Drakkel had the embroiderers follow Fargos to the carts.

  Once the embroiderers were all seated in a horse cart, Fargos, Drion and Shia each led one and headed out, moving together in a line. The carts were not carriages and so didn't have a place for multiple people to sit properly. So they had to sit cross-legged on the floor.

  As for the overhead, they were only covered by a tarp held up by weak foundations.

  Drakkel found a place in the cart at the center next to the embroiders. In this cart, only Mori dared to sit next to him. Although the place was tight, the rest of the embroiderers somehow found enough space to keep a good distance between them and Drakkel.

  Because of the heavy atmosphere, there was only silence accompanying them on their long trek back to the Capital.

  When they were around a mile away from Dragon’s Dwelling, Drakkel ordered them to abandon the carts.

  From there, they walked to the city where Drakkel and Fargos discreetly knocked out the guards at the gates.

  Because he knew they were needed, however, Drakkel and Fargos did so in a way in which they would only be out for five minutes. They would think they were simply sleepy and laid down to rest for a short while.

  Using this time, Fargos, Drion and Shia each took their individual groups through the city gates and began to help them locate their families.

  Meanwhile, Drakkel himself had some things to investigate, so he first headed to the Security Office, then the Investigation Bureau.

  Drakkel wasn't well versed in court issues, but he was at least a bit knowledgeable. After all, while learning about demon matters with Re’ila, he inquired about these additional things as well.

  Such knowledge wasn't necessary for Sword Fighters to know so most clans didn't bother with them. The only clans which may have involved their clanmates in such things were the Sweeping Trees Swords Clan and the Hidden Desires Swords Clan.

  The Hidden Desires Swords Clan did so for obvious reasons; being paid to sabotage nobles, poison competitors, and the like, of course they had to know what they were doing.

  But the Sweeping Trees Swords Clan was just known to value knowledge and so had their clanmates split into two: those whose sword levels weren't up to par but were very studious and those whose sword levels were great but didn't study as much. Depending on the levels, the course of study would be determined and some scholars were known to actually come from that clan.

  It's just that when they passed the examination to join the court, they would have to leave. This was one of the few exceptions where leaving a clan would not give one the status of Sword Outcast.

  Those who were studious and had good sword skills within the clan existed, but only two were currently made public. Well, really one was made public and the other was rumored to be the same. The known one could only be Immortal Beauty Jade Blossom Sonalita Pir. The other, though, was said to be her junior brother and another direct disciple of Clan Leader Pieres Reluva who kept such a low profile that his name was not widely known.

  The Investigation Bureau reviewed investigations submitted by the Security Office and tried criminals in its court. The Security Office captured criminals in the local area and completed investigations. The capital was one of the places that neither had a Sword's Clan within it nor one close by, so the Security Office took up the work of a Sword's Clan.

  One might think this wouldn't work out in case a demon or rogue Swordfighter was in the area, but, the Security Office wasn't lacking in Sword Fighters either. Two of the most famous Sword Fighters worked within the Security Office.

  They had a basis in sword energy training through an unknown master and created their own fighting styles.

  Having nowhere to go, they both decided to work for the Security Office. They were Lior Gaunlet and Xilto Jervis, respectively known as “the iron wall” and “a narrow death.” They were Sword Masters but they didn’t take place in any of the summits held by the top seven clans nor any minor events that occurred in the Sword Fighting World.

  Despite this, their position within the list of Swords Masters if they had participated was thought to have been high as Xilto Jervis was said to have met the leader of the Hidden Desires Swords Clan while investigating a case and forced her to escape and Lior Gaunlet had a draw with the High Mountain Glaive Clan Leader after they had a disagreement.

  In addition to this, they each had a long list of feats that included catching criminals, demons, and rogue sword fighters. One such Sword Fighter was the famous ex head disciple of the Strong Gale clan which practiced with nunchucks, Destructive Force, Sword Master, Tonel.

  Drakkel had heard from Fargos that the two were close confidants of the Emperor, also being incorruptible. But the same could not be said for the Investigation Bureau. That was why he wasn't surprised to find a group of people covered in black from head to toe, exiting the place with swords in the middle of the night.

  He had thought that there may have been a spy amongst the people he had been in contact with considering the state of the capital. After all, one who desired to make waves in a sea of corruption could not go unnoticed.

  Drakkel smiled and jumped down from the rooftops, intercepting the group.

  They quickly stopped in their tracks and went on the defensive.

  “Who’s there?” One of them asked.

  Drakkel didn't answer.

  The one who seemed to be the leader among them said, “Forget it! If he’s here in the middle of the night, he might be an enemy! Even if he isn't, he has already seen us! Hurry and take care of him!

  Drakkel almost laughed. Take care of him? As if.

  He dashed forward and hit the one who said this on the back of the neck.

  With a crack, the man's head snapped back and he fell to the floor, his body limp.

  After this, the rest attacked him all at once, but it was far too easy to avoid them.

  Drakkel dodged all of their strikes, knocking them down one by one with minimal effort.

  They were all sword fighters, but their levels weren't high, being only Sword Spirit or below.

  It wasn't difficult to eliminate them and before long, 12 was reduced to 0.

  Drakkel killed them cleanly, not drawing any blood. But he still wiped his hands on his robes when he finished, looking down at them coldly afterwards.

  With all this commotion, he knew that there was no way the other two hadn't noticed. Yet, they were nowhere to be found.

  After thinking about the reason for a moment, he couldn't stop a smile from spreading on his face.

  In high spirits, he headed to the inn under the cover of the dark sky.