Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Thirty minutes later, Evin appeared in Jiha town with Bella and Daishan. He flew much faster than he usually did, but knowing that everyone was alright, he could fly with a peace of mind.

He made a beeline for the manor and a servant directed him towards a guest room. Inside, he found a shaken Lora, a sleeping Sasha, an anxious Theor, and an unconscious, bandaged Ssatsko, being tended to by Elune. After Evin came, a lot of hugs and 'Are you alright?'-s occurred, before Evin could finally learn what happened.

Lora and Theor's recollections were practically the same, both of them were sleeping in their own room, when they suddenly heard a loud scream, sounds of struggle, and then finally, Ssatsko's voice warning them to get Sasha and run to the guards. The reached the guards; who after hearing that they were dealing with mages, sent a runner to the Viscount's manor; who in turn, returned with Daishan.

They made their way to the house, where they found Ssatsko, lying on a rock-filled ground, with one sticking to his forearm. Thankfully, he was still breathing, but they also found the body of another young man lying next to him. Daishan deduced that the man was a mage and that there was another mage who was now missing from the scene. She then brought the family to the manor, and after making sure everything was okay, went to fetch Evin and Bella.

"Thank you again, for doing so much for my family," Evin said to Daishan.

"Ha-ha-hah. It's only natural, to do this much for family."

Unlike Parsh, who was still in denial about Evin and Bella's relationship, Daishan was quick to support them after their mock fight. Evin found her a genuinely kind and caring person, and always found it really hard to not like her. 

"Ah, the old man's waking up," Elune said.

"Urgh, damn you guys, at least let me sleep in peace…" Ssatsko grumbled from behind her.

"Dad! Are you alright?"

"Ssatsko!"

"Grandpa!"

Another messy situation occurred before Elune shooed everyone away. "Calm yourselves and give him some space. He's not dead nor dying, so no reason to act like he is."

Elune was usually the one to play around, but today, she was very professional.

"Yeah, just an unlucky stab to my arm. I should've bound the wound immediately, but felt like I was fine, so dilly-dallied too much before passing out like an idiot from too much blood loss. Or maybe fatigue."

"But you could've died from that, couldn't you?!" Lora said. "Why didn't you just run to the guards after us?"

"Yes, yes. I should've done that, ugh," Ssatsko replied. "I'm not really proud of it, either."

"But what happened?" Evin asked. "Do you know anything about the attackers?"

"Ah, nothing much…" the old man replied, rubbing his head. "Do you know anything about them?"

"Not yet. But the Bureau's working on identifying the mage you killed," Elune replied. "I hate to ask this after you just woke up, but we'd appreciate if you give us some clues on the second mage that ran away."

"Is that so, in that case, it was a male… both had masks on so I can't be sure, but escaped one was burgundy-haired, looked young, was about as tall as I am, should be wounded on his palm. As for some other stuff, he Imagination Casted Tenarak spells… but the spells seemed lacking, so I'm guessing he was trying to hide his main World?"

Elune nodded to a nearby servant, who quickly run off somewhere.

"Thank you for your information. We'll be sure to send someone to

There were two mages, with how they were almost bursting with mana… they didn't look very dangerous, but they were definitely planning something nefarious, so I managed to…" Ssatsko said, before his eyes fell on Sasha. He then chinned at Lora.

Lora grabbed the little girl and made her way out of the room despite Sasha's protests. 

"As I was saying, I ambushed one of them and stabbed him to the side of his head. You know, soldier's training. Don't spare your enemies if you're not sure and whatnot. The other was flustered at first, but he did block my attack when I tried to take advantage of his shock."

"How did you get wounded on your hand?"

"Ah, he used a Talisman at the end of it, and I couldn't block every one of the little rocks he created. Before that, I was trying to buy some time till my family made their way to the guards. I could tell he was trying to kill me at first, but at some point, he just started trying to run away."

Hearing Ssatsko so casually mention the event, Elune chuckled: "Well, I realize we shouldn't have worried so much."

"One Horn-bearer is enough against your two lowlander mages," Daishan said.

"Of course," Elune said. 

At this point, a manor guard came into the room.

"Elune, they identified the dead mage. It's the eldest son of baron Kasna, Ilhan Kasna."

"That's the old man who owns that cotton plantation, right?"

"Yes."

"Anyone who seems suspicious by his connections?"

"Uh, yes. Ilhan's close friend, Lyudvik Armbron, who's also a mage. They're sending someone to the Armbron house to check on him."

"Hmm, sounds kinda troublesome, so I guess I'll have to get there myself, huh?" Elune sighed.

"Lord Mage," Theor intervened. "Surely, we can't have you do so much for us. You've done enough already."

"No, no," Elune replied. "I'll do this much for Evin's family. Don't think you're imposing on me."

"But, my lady, I'm happy for your help, but I just feel like we should be doing this ourselves."

"Listen," Elune's friendly tone turned commanding. "A matter that involves mages can only be solved by other mages. Even if you try to do things yourself, they'll simply push the matter to a mage from the Bureau. What would you do if that mage turns out corrupt? The two baron families will surely do everything in their power to wipe the shame of having their sons invade the house of a 3rd grade house, their motives be damned. Can you confidently say you can prevent your whole family from being executed to clean some baron's name?"

"I… You're right, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Elune smiled. "My job's quite boring, so something like this happening is rather fun. As for you all, just enjoy your time here. Boss Komarokh's defenses are nigh impregnable. We'll let you go home when we capture the other mage and then find the reason why they attacked you."

Then she stood up, and left with a guard.

Lora came back with Sasha shortly afterwards, both looking worried.

"Don't look so shocked, you two. I'm a Horn-bearer. I won't croak from getting stabbed in the hand."

"But-"

"Especially you, Lora," Ssatsko said. "Don't always be so timid. Even if you have to fake it, act like you have answers and that you know what you're doing."

Lora nodded, but not before stealing a glance at Theor. Evin felt like he'd learn something about her mother's state of family from the exchange, so he quickly focused his attention on what was happening.

Bella pulled at Evin's sleeves and whispered. "I'll go follow Elune."

"Are you sure? You can take some time off if you want?" Evin offered.

"If those two barons try to play dodgy, I'll have to be there. Elune's just a guard in our manor, after all."

"Then I'll go with you," Evin whispered. "They'll need someone from Lora's family."

"I guess, but shouldn't you stay here?"

Evin looked at his family, who all looked quite lost, except for Ssatsko.

"Ah, Evin can go there if you think he needs to," the old man said. "He won't be of much use here, and like Mage Elune said, I wouldn't want us to be bullied by those barons if we can help it, right?" 

"I mean, he doesn't have to do it," Theor said. "He still has his classes back in Ankelite city, right?"

"Theor, don't act like that now," Ssatsko said.

"But are you sure you're fine?" Evin asked.

"Don't worry. Just leave," Daishan shooed them away. "We'll protect them."

With that settled, Evin and Bella decided to make their way to the Citizen's Bureau. Before going, Bella went to her father and asked if she could act in his name. He said that she couldn't officially, but implied that she could throw her weight around.

Then they reached the Bureau, where they found Elune among a bunch of people. There was an investigator, baron Armbron's secretary, and baron Kasna himself, who was a mage. 

The investigator was asking Armbron's secretary about Lyudvik, who turned out to be missing from his house. He also couldn't be found in any of the places he frequented. 

Baron Kasna, on the other hand, was demanding that Theor's family be arrested for killing a mage; and Elune was preventing him from going off on his own. The man looked genuinely confused why he was having so much trouble putting a few 3rd grades to 'justice'. Evin immediately didn't like the man.

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