Chapter 398: Infiltrating New Grenton

After running for two days straight with only short breaks, Lara was finally able to arrive at New Grenton. From afar, Lara could see the gates of New Grenton. When Lara saw the gates she noticed that it was not the same gates as before, it was obvious that it was a brand new gate. There was also some damage to the wall here and there.

'Did someone attack?... Damn it, was it a Primordial Demon?' Lara clicked her tongue. Even though she saw that there were guards at the gate and nothing else seems out of place, she still, didn't let her guard down. Since based on what she saw in the Serbek Kingdom, she knew that the Primordial Demons needed humans so they won't kill them all. So it was safe to assume that they would try to rule over any human settlement that they capture. It's possible that New Grenton had already fallen, and these guards were under the influence of a Primordial Demon.

'Though, I can't imagine Silika ever losing. She should be near the same level as Ren.' Even though she didn't want to admit it, Lara clearly remembered Silika's strength from the time she practices with them. She was always holding back as they fought, even if Lara got serious Silika would always have some room to spare.

It was said that Silika's current power was still less than what she had before. The reason for that was because her power depends on how much mana Ren has. So now that Ren's mana had increased by so much, that would mean that Silika's power should've also increased.

"Still, it's not certain if Silika can receive mana from Ren as he's so far away. Better investigate first, and determine the current state of New Grenton. If they truly are under the influence of a Primordial Demon, I'll quickly head back and inform Ren.'

After deciding her course of action, Lara quickly headed to a part of the wall of New Grenton that had the least amount of soldiers. She quickly jumped over the wall and without anyone noticing she knocked out the nearby soldiers. Lara hid their bodies to the side. She then hypnotized them, so that when they wake up they would think that they collapsed due to exhaustion.

Once she was done doing that, Lara quickly blended into the shadows. Among those that Ren taught, she was the one who excelled the most in concealment, depending on the situation she was even better than Ren himself. Still, that was because Ren detested sneaking around as he found it boring. He would rather enter at the front with a loud boom.

'Well, I can't do things like Ren, since I'm not as strong as him. Like Ren always says, I should do what only I can do.'

...

Lara went around the city and noticed a few houses being repaired, it was obvious that a huge fight took place, but who was the winner? The only way to find the answer is to see what those at the top were doing. This meant sneaking around Silika and the others. She was sure she could easily sneak around, Iselv and Kithra, it was uncertain if she could successfully sneak around Ashley and Hilda, but those two weren't as hard to deal with as Silika. It was entirely possible that the moment she entered the city Silika was already aware of her presence.

The chances of that happening as she was suppressing her presence were minuscule but it wasn't a hundred percent certain. Still, since there had been no reaction up to now, maybe she was being too wary.

The first person Lara tried to find was Iselv, but after listening to some gossip here and there, Lara found out that there was indeed a battle and Iselv was injured. Also, Kithra had gone out and was not in New Grenton at the moment.

After listening to some more rumors, Lara was still unable to determine who had won the fight. No one was talking about the outcome of the fight and were actually showing signs of fear. She even tried to hypnotize some of the citizens, but despite doing that not one of them could answer the question of who won the battle. Even hypnotized they were too scared to even think about the Primordial Demon that had invaded a few days ago.

'Even though they didn't say much, I now know that a Primordial Demon really did attack. Still, no one among these guys knows who had won that battle, or even if they did they refused to talk about it. I have no choice I can try my luck with either Hilda or Ashley, but if all else fails I'll just confront Silika. Even if she's stronger than me, I'm still confident with my ability to escape.' Lara strengthened her resolve as she headed to the newly created castle in the middle of the city.

...

Ashley was at the training grounds and was training harder than before. The last fight with the Primordial Demon proved that she was still sorely lacking. As she was swinging her sword, Ashley sensed someone hiding. It was vague but she was sure that someone was here spying on her.

Despite trying her hardest she couldn't determine the exact location of the person. 'This person is a highly trained assassin, is he here to take my head? Why though, Iselv is the one who's king, and Silika is the person who controls the military. I'm nothing that important... Is the assassin trying to get to Ren, or is something else entirely?'

"Hey, I already know that you're there, so how about showing yourself?"

The moment Ashley said those words, the presence became clearer but the person in question didn't appear, instead, the person started moving. Ashley quickly followed, it was obvious that this assassin was trying to lead her somewhere.

After running around, the assassin had led her outside of New Grenton. It was obviously a trap, but Ashley wasn't afraid.

"Alright, I followed you here so how about showing yourself?" From within the shadows, a familiar figure appeared. It was the ever stoic Lara. As Ashley was about to ask her what she was doing, she quickly raised her sword to defend herself. A powerful fist hit her sword and made her move a step back.

"What the heck are you doing, LARA?!" Ashley was confused as to what was happening and started defending from Lara's ever-flowing attacks. After a few more rounds Lara suddenly stopped attacking. She looked at Ashely and nodded her head.

"It would seem that you haven't succumbed to a Primordial Demon."

"What the heck are you talking about?!" Ashley didn't lower her guard as she shouted at Lara.

"I needed to make sure that you were still you. The only way I knew how is through combat."

"You could've just asked, you know!"

"I wouldn't be able to determine the truth in your words. The only way Ren taught me how to understand others is through combat."

"You... You really don't have any sense of self, everything is Ren for you."

"I do, but I just don't bother showing it in front of you."

Hearing Lara's response with that stoic expression of hers made Ashley sigh. Even though Ashley felt like it was alright to sheath her sword, she didn't do so. Lara was too hard to read, and she wasn't sure if all this talk was just to make her lower her guard.

In the exchange they had, Ashley could sense that Lara was holding back. It would seem that she had powered up considerably during her absence. Just one mistake from Ashley could mean death, so even though she believed that Lara wouldn't attack anymore she held her sword tightly in her hand.

"Now that I'm certain you're still you, how about telling me what happened during the time I was away."

"How about we head back to the meeting room, and I can explain everything with Silika and the others."

"No need, just give me a brief explanation now." Seeing how adamant Lara was, Ashley sighed and shrugged her shoulders. Ashley then told Lara about the important events that transpired in her absence.

...

"I see, so you really were attacked by a Primordial Demon as well."

"As well, so you too?"

"Yes, I was in the Serbek Kingdom's capital for a job the adventurers guild gave me. There I met Valdel and some others that I know. During the incident like you guys, we were helpless against the Primordial Demon. It was a good thing that Ren appeared."

"Wait?! Ren was there as well?! Why was he there, what happened to him?"

"I will explain it to you later. Just call Silika and the others over here. I will explain once everyone is present."

'Didn't I already suggest that a while ago?'

"You're pretty talkative today... Well fine, I'll call them." Ashley was about to head back to New Grenton before, Lara stopped her.

"Can you call, Aunty Milly as well... Also bring Kurt over."

"Alright."