Chapter 46 - Second Move

After Wesley left the bratty first-year repeater, he immediately headed back to the library to return the books he had taken, then went to his Swordsmanship class.

After almost four hours, Wesley finished his lessons for the day and immediately headed back to the Manor, feeling tired and sore. However, today, Wesley didn’t take his usual route. Instead, he took the main road toward the seventh district.

Usually, Wesley took the smaller roads because they were less crowded, but today was a special day. Wesley wanted to see how Neal's rumor was spreading among the general public.

According to Wesley's prediction, the rumors should have spread quite a bit. However, predictions are simply conjecture. They cannot replace actually observing the public and their reactions because predictions are based on best-case scenarios, and reality is a little more complicated.

As Wesley walked through the crowded main road, he overheard numerous conversations here and there about the assassination. Some people even claimed to have been at the Manor.

Based on the fact that many people seemed to know about the rumors, and that they were still spreading steadily, Wesley was already satisfied. He felt that it was enough for him to move on to the second phase without worry.

Having been satisfied by the results, Wesley left the main road and entered the sixth district as he headed toward the seventh district. As he walked through the sixth district, Wesley suddenly had a thought and took a slightly divergent path.

After a few minutes of walking, Wesley reached an inn. This inn belonged to Michael, who was the first person Wesley got to know in this city, as well as a really good source of rumors and gossip.

Wesley wanted to know exactly what the rumors were saying, but he couldn’t just ask random people, so he chose to ask Michael. Wesley immediately walked into the inn.

As soon as Wesley entered, he noticed that the inn was almost entirely filled. It was near the end of the day, so many people had come here to relax or catch a quick meal before heading in for the night.

Wesley walked toward the counter, where a middle-aged man was currently leaning toward another man while speaking in hushed tones. Seeing this, Wesley nonchalantly took a seat next to the man who was talking to the bartender and spoke with a laugh:

"Michael, are you planning on feeding me, or should I starve today?"

The bartender, who was engrossed in his conversation, furrowed his brow slightly, and a small frown appeared at the words. He turned toward the source, and as soon as he saw who was speaking, the frown immediately disappeared and was replaced by a sincere smile.

"Wesley, you finally decided to come visit me."

"Haha. Sorry, you know how busy things can make people."

"Busy? You brat? You don’t even work. Could it be you have little girlfriend?"

"Haha. I don't know what you're talking about, I might just be the busiest person in this city."

"Enough of your excuses. What do you want to eat, you look somewhat tired."

Wesley just left his swordsmanship lesson, and although the breathing exercises lesson fatigue, they do not completely get rid of them causing Wesley look somewhat haggard.

"Haha. Get me the house special. If you want to treat me, I won't stop you."

"Haha. I still have a business to run. You should be the one treating me."

Wesley and Michael continued talking and laughing together for an hour while Wesley slowly at his food. Wesley didn’t directly approach the subject of his interest, rather, he spent the hour casually conversing with Michael about how his life was in the last few months.

After talking for awhile, Michael noticed that it was getting dark outside, so he looked at Wesley deeply and spoke:

"Wesley, you should start heading home. The City is not a good place to be walking around at night, especially for a kid."

Wesley was secretly delighted that Michael said this as he felt it was related to what he wanted to know, so he spoke inquisitively:

"Why. Is something the matter."

Michael looked at Wesley deeply with a furrowed brow as if he was debating whether he should say what he meant. After a moment of silence, he slightly shook his head and spoke:

"Last night the head of one of the ruling families was assassinated in his home. The assassin has not been caught, so there is a killer on the loose."

Wesley widened his eyes in shock as he heard the news. He spoke with a slightly shaky voice:

"Why would do such a horrible thing."

"I don't know either. Everyone In the city knows it was the Wayle family that were behind the assassination, but no one can do anything without proof and the assassin was very through."

"Wait. How do you know it was the Wayle family."

"There were rumors going on even before the assassination that an assassin was hired by the Wayle family. Now that the head of Ranes family has been assassinated, even a child can see the connection."

"This is terrible. I always thought that the four families were tightly knit. To do such a thing.."

Wesley shook his head with a convincingly sincere look of sadness on his face. Hearing Wesley's words, Michael immediately snorted and spoke:

"Tightly knit? It might seem so for people like you who only moved here recently, but everyone knows that the four families are anything but tightly knit. Especially the Ranes and Wayle families. Rather, am surprised something like this didn’t happen sooner."

Wesley listened to Michael speak about the situation of the four families. He learned that his initial prediction was indeed true and that there were numerous conflicts between the four families regarding control of the city.

Aside from the strong and mysterious Kader family and the relatively weak Blume family, the Wayle and Ranes families always competed against each other to gain greater control and authority in the city.

"Wesley, it’s getting darker. Go home and be safe on your way."

"Haha. I will, stop worrying."

"Good. And come visit me often."

"I will."

Wesley immediately left Michael's inn and headed home.

- - - - - - - - -

Later that night, at the top floor of the Office of Management which served as an unofficial meeting place for the heads of the four families was currently occupied by three figures, two men and a woman, dressed in varying clothes.

The women stared at a gray haired old man who currently had his hand to his chin and spoke:

"Silus. Have you heard of the rumors going around the city."

Silus looked at the woman with stern eyes as if telling her to watch her words causing the women to slightly avert her eyes. He simply shook his head and spoke:

"Neya. I know what you mean. I heard the rumors, and before you ask, no I didn’t send assassins to kill Napar."

The woman hesitated at Silus' words. She was not planning on asking him directly about the assassination, but she did indeed intend to see his reaction if the topic was brought up. Based on his reaction, Silus could be speaking the truth, but there is still the chance that he is pretending.

Seeing Neya's hesitation, Silus felt like he knew what she intended and continued speaking:

"It is not a secret that I never liked that Napar. But I hardly have any reason to assassinate him."

"Calm down Silus, Neya is not accusing you of anything. We are trying to make sense of what happened."

The third man spoke with a firm voice causing both Neya and Silus to stop their bickering. He then looked deeply at Silus with a calm yet penetrating gaze and continued speaking:

"Silus. Did you tell that youngster Mater to come see us today."

"I sent him a message earlier. He replied that he had some things to take care of."

Neya looked at the third man and spoke:

"He might be busy with his father's....."

Neay paused her sentence midway as she seemed to think of something. Most likely the reason Mater didn’t attend the meeting is because he was busy with his father's funeral, or maybe he just didn’t want to see his father's killer.

As this thought surfaced in her mind, she turned her gaze to Silus. Silus immediately noticed her gaze causing him to frown and immediately speak:

"Neya. I am growing tired of your nonsense. I had nothing to do with Napar's death, and I would appreciate it if you would stop."

"Silus, I..."

"Enough. I am leaving Arthur."

Silus immediately stood up and left the office in a hurry leaving only Arthur and Neya in the office. Neya looked at Arthur with a small frown and spoke inquisitively:

"Arthur?"

"It is fine Neya, Silus is under a lot of pressure and is slightly on edge."

"Do you think he really is behind the assassination?"

Arthur was quiet for a moment as if in deep thought, and then he spoke while shaking his head:

"It is possible he was behind it, but the chances are slim. Silus wouldn’t gain much from killing Napar, as far as we know."

"Then the rumors."

"Hmm. That is what surprises me. I can't help but feel there is something missing."

"What do you mean?"

"These rumors. They are too conveniently timed and are spreading too fast. I don't know what it is, but something is bothering me....."

Arthur stopped speaking almost immediately. He looked at Neya, but seemed to look past her as his eyes were covered by a thoughtful glaze. After a moment of silence, his eyes focused on Neya again and he spoke:

"Neya. I don't know why, but I feel something is not right In this whole matter. I want you to come to my Manor and stay there for a short while."

Neya was startled by Arthur's words. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread as she seemed to understand the meaning behind his words and she spoke meekly:

"Do you mean someone might come after me."

"I don't know. Either Silus has gone crazy and wants to weaken the other families, or another third party is moving behind the scenes. Either way, I feel like you will most likely be in danger."

"I understand. I will make the preparations immediately."

"Good. I'll also take some extra precautions."

"Do you mean..."

"Yes. I didn’t want to do it unless I had to, but it is better to be safe than sorry."

- - - - - - - - -

Currently, Wesley was sitting on top of a building overlooking a magnificent-looking manor. This manor was the Wayle family manor, and it was no less huge or extravagant than the Ranes manor.

The only difference between this manor and the Ranes manor was that this one was only one story tall. Unlike the Ranes manor, which had five stories, this manor only had one exceedingly huge ground floor.

According to Neal's reports, the manor has upwards of thirty rooms. This caused Wesley and Neal no small amount of headache. Without even considering other factors, such as going in and out, the simple construction of the manor made it nearly impossible to complete their objective.

In manors like the Ranes manor, which has five floors, it is easy to guess where the lord sleeps because it is most likely on the top floor. However, in a manor such as this, with all the rooms on one floor, there is no way to guess which room belongs to the lord.

Second, the main building of the manor is so large that it covers the majority of the area inside the walls of the manor, meaning there are far more patrols inside than outside. This posed another problem to Wesley since he can't simply warp in without knowing where the patrols are.

Neal came up with three solutions to their problem. First, observe the manor and look for patterns or clues to where the lord's chambers are. Second, kidnap a guard and have him tell you what you need. And third, wait for the family head to leave and assassinate him then.

Wesley knew that these were the only options he had; however, he was not a fan of the last two. Kidnapping a guard is not only difficult, but the information might also be unreliable. Wesley immediately discarded this option.

The last option of killing the head while he's outside is a good plan, but Wesley was also unwilling. He wanted to have a chance to talk to the lord and ask him some questions about the map he found, as well as gain some information about the Kader family that might prove useful.

Wesley favored the first method of observing the manor and trying to deduce where the lord's room is. Unfortunately, after almost an hour of observing, he had not made a single worthy discovery.

Not only was he unable to make out the patrolling pattern of the guards, since the majority of it was obstructed by the building, but he also had no idea what the internal structure of the manor was or where the lord's chambers were.

Wesley was at a loss. He had no way of dealing with this problem, leaving him with the third option which was an out in the open assassination. He didn’t like this option because it not only took the chance to interrogate the Lord from him, it also meant that Wesley had to figure out the lord's schedule, find a suitable place for an ambush, and then fight the lord's guards. This was a messy option, but there was no other option left.

Wesley was frowning at how much trouble this entire matter suddenly became when he heard voices coming from the road the ran between the building he was sitting on and the Wayle Family Manor.

There were six armored men and two white robed men walking along the road. The armored men were surrounding the two white robed men on all sides as they walked. Wesley focused on the two white robed men and noticed a gray haired old man with a frowning face full of wrinkles.

Wesley looked at the old man even closer as he felt that his luck couldn’t possibly be this good. He watched the group closely as they got closer and closer to his location. As soon as they were walking directly under the building he was sitting at, Wesley was able to hear what the two white robed men were saying.

"...I don't care how you do it, find out where these rumors are coming from."

"I understand Lord Silus."

Hearing this brief exchange, Wesley couldn’t believe how magnificent his luck seemed today. He was just worrying about how troubling an open assassination was going to be plan and execute, yet, his target actually walked up to him, conveniently solving all his problems.

Wesley looked at the six guards with some hesitation, but seeing all six of them carried swords on their hips, he was relieved somewhat. If one of the guards was of the second elder's level and able to keep his sword within his body, Wesley would wait hundred years before he attempted to do anything.

Wesley looked around for a moment to see if there were any other people around. Seeing that there were no people around, Wesley started muttering something while immediately putting his left hand on his dark sword imbuing it with some mana, causing his body to be covered in dark elements as he disappeared from the top of the building.

Immediately, as soon as his body was covered in darkness he disappeared from his spot and reappeared behind the two white robed men instantaneously.

Wesley immediately unsheathed his sword and swung at the same time, chopping the head of the white robed Silus, and then immediately turned the grip on his sword causing the blade to face the opposite direction and swung towards the neck of the second white robed man. This was Wesley's Silent Draw followed by a simple fast swing.

Almost a second have passed from when Wesley put his hand on his sword to when the heads have been chopped off the two white robed men. Wesley immediately turned around to look at the two guards who were standing behind the Lord and his follower.

These two guards clearly saw how Wesley's dark figure appeared out of nowhere and killed the two men in almost a second, but their minds have yet to comprehend what happened so they were just staring at Wesley blankly.

Wesley was not going to let them gain their composure, so he immediately lunged towards one of the guards with his sword pointing in front of him. This was a lunge similar to Eltier's Fencing, only it was more crude as it was performed on a spur.

Wesley's lunge was not as natural or fluid as Eltier's, but his opponent had his guard down and was in daze, causing Wesley's sword to easily go through his neck unobstructed.

Wesley immediately swung his sword, that was still embedded in the guards neck, left causing it to rib out of the guard's neck and towards the other guard who was still similarly in a daze.

Wesley's slice directly went through the second guards neck leaving a gaping wound on his neck and severing his jugular vein.

At this point, the two headless bodies of the white robed men along with the bodiless heads reached the ground. This, coupled with the grogging of the two guards caused the other guards to turn their heads.

These four guards reacted faster than the first two as they immediately reached for their swords. However, at this exact moment, a dark sphere, with Wesley at its center, covered the four guards inside. This was Wesley's Dark Domain which he was preparing even before he first moved.

The four guards were robbed of their vision as they were covered in deathly cold darkness. The guards couldn’t even see an inch in front of them causing extreme dread to spread In their hearts. At this point, none of them were thinking about their lord anymore, rather, they wanted to escape.

"WHA.....Grrr"

One of the guards tried screaming but before he could even finish the first sentence, something cold slashed his neck causing him to gurgle in his own blood.

As soon as the other guards heard this, they knew that one of them has already been killed. Each of them abandoned any ideas of fighting and decided to get the hell out of this place.

Wesley, however, had no intention of letting any of them leave. The sword that was just used to slash the neck of one of the guards buzzed towards another guard, while Wesley himself used his Silent Flicker to dash next to another guard with his dagger in his hand.

"Uggg"

"Ahhhh"

Two different screams that were equally as shrill resounded from the darkness. The first sound was from the guard who got his neck slashed by Wesley dagger while the second scream was from a guard whose heart was pierced by Wesley's sword.

Wesley then tossed the dagger in his hand towards the last guard piercing him through in the back. As soon as Wesley tossed his dagger, his dark sword returned to his side which he immediately grabbed.

Wesley took a deep breath and then proceeded to cancel his Dark Domain. As soon as the darkness disappeared, Wesley noticed that the last guard who he threw the dagger against was slowly crawling away.

Wesley slowly walked towards the guard. Wesley was soon enough standing on top of the guard who was trying to crawl. His eyes showed extreme fear and dread as he saw his death approaching, but he still held on to some hope.

Wesley felt a hint of sadness in his heart, but it immediately disappeared. He plunged his sword onto the guard's heart causing him to stop his crawling and twitch slightly while letting a pained cry out.

Wesley immediately took out his sword and dagger and sheathed them. Wesley, once again looked around to see if there was anyone around who might have seen what happened.

Seeing that there was no one around, Wesley invoked a Dark Warp and disappeared from the area leaving behind eight bodies.

The whole thing, from the first time Wesley put his hand on his dark sword to now, less than ten seconds have passed.