Chapter 88 Ambush

After paying his respects to the ancestors, Ethan and Alier turned back to return to the mansion.

They were both filled with awe and reverence as they walked out of the shrine's building and headed toward the bamboo entrance at the compound of the shrine premises where the knights were waiting.

Both did not speak while strolling but Alier's face showed a hint of resolve while Ethan was completely carefree. He even had a slight smile on his face.

Ethan could see the silhouette of the bamboo entrance in the distance. He sneaked a glance at Alier's placid and resolved face and understood that his hopes would not be met today.

Ethan also felt a bit nervous and exhilarated at the same time as he didn't want to live with a sword hanging over his head forever.

"Uncle, can I ask you a question?" Ethan spoke.

Alier turned his head sideways, his face wasn't fully visible due to the darkness but the faint light of torches and the mellowed glimmer of the moon brightened his features just slightly.

"Ask away," Said Alier placidly.

"Where is Luceryc's mother?" Ethan asked in hesitation with childish curiosity.

Alier halted abruptly as his entire body shook momentarily, his face becoming grim. He looked at Ethan staring into his eyes but seeing his innocent and childish expression, Alier shook his head bitterly.

"She is with God." He said, averting his gaze from Ethan looking ahead with reminiscent, sorrowful eyes.

Ethan's eyes flashed with a cunning glint as he sensed the change in atmosphere. With a hesitant tone, he asked, "What was she like?"

A moment of silence ensued as Alier's vision grew hazy from the moist.

"When I was in the borderlands, I was not traveling as the son of the White Family. Although my hair made it difficult to hide my identity, I had colored it just for wandering covertly. It seemed that Rose had the same idea. She too had snuck out of the mansion to enjoy the town's bustle. It was then that I met her," Alier muttered.

"And then?" Ethan asked in surprise. He hadn't expected to get a serious answer and it seemed like Alier was just using the opportunity to vent.

"I didn't know who she was and she didn't know who I was. We met each other as commoners but how could we not realize eventually? She was going by the name Rose and I was going by the name Gilbert. She was a lively woman as pure as the snow and as cheerful as the morning sunflower. I fell in love with her at first sight."

"Although we had begun suspecting each other's origins, we still continued the pleasant facade, wandering around the town together, galloping through the grasslands, and enjoying the joys of life. Rose was kind to the poor almost as if she did not belong to the nobility in the first place. However, her graceful bearing was unlike any other noblewoman I had ever seen. In the end, I proposed to her and revealed my identity. But she was hesitant and gave me the cold shoulder. So close yet so distant she was." Alier reminisced blankly as the bamboo torii gate grew closer.

"So then how did you convince her?" Ethan asked sincerely as if a perfectly normal conversation was taking place between a nephew and an uncle.

"As the region was in the borderlands, a war with the neighboring kingdom had broken out and her family and their territory were in peril. Rose had to return to the mansion as her father began preparing for war. I followed her and assisted. Eventually, we managed to hold off the enemies until the reinforcements arrived. Luce's mother was touched by my sincerity and tenacity and thus agreed to marry me." Alier said with a faint smile.

Ethan thought that Alier was truly a heroic character much like some kind of prince from a fairy tale.

'He's definitely depressed!' Ethan thought inwardly with a sigh. He had intentionally asked the probing question to verify some of his doubts and the results were paramount.

Ethan didn't know what Alier was like in his younger days but he knew that he had changed greatly after his dear wife's death. Which is frankly not an unusual thing in itself but Ethan could sense that Alier was completely broken inside. His smiling face and amiable demeanor were nothing but a facade. A defensive psychological mechanism if you will.

Alier's mind became muddled by the memories of his sweetheart flooding in. With a bittersweet smile, he was going to continue speaking absentmindedly, but seeing the bamboo torii gate and the fifty knights in front of them, he jolted awake from his reverie.

His murky and unfocused eyes once again gained firm determination and resolve as they narrowed sharply letting out a very faint murderous intent.

Ethan who was very perceptive to killing intent immediately sensed the oddity around him. The final string of hope in his heart severed as his ruthless and unyielding spirit ignited with blazing fury.

Once decided on something, Ethan would never back down no matter what. Once something crosses his final limits, he would show no mercy.

"We're here," Alier muttered.

The knights who were waiting for Alier and Ethan to return perked up, turning their heads towards the shrine and bowing all at once. This created a momentary lapse of vigilance making the knights blindsided for just a second.

Taking this opportunity, suddenly dark figures swept through the forest unnoticed by the knights, rapidly encroaching on the shrine grounds as they darted ahead.

The fifty elite knights immediately sensed that something was off as they ran hastily toward the shrine, inches away from the torii gate.

At this moment, Alier exclaimed with fury as he narrowed his eyes dangerously. He swiftly grabbed onto Ethan's arm forcefully jerking him back to his rear as he shouted, "Careful!"

As the knights were rushing to enter the shrine premises to protect their masters, the dark shadowy figures had already entered the shrine premises beating the knights to it. Now the only distinction between the intruders and the knights was the torii gate which was the border of the mortal world and the sacred place.

Just as the knights were about to enter the shrine premises, some from the sides while some from crossing the torii gate, Ethan noticed Alier's subtle movements as Alier flickered his sleeves releasing a faint unnoticeable glow.

*Thump*

The sound of slamming into a hard wall abruptly rang as most of the knights rushing to enter the shrine bumped into an invisible wall mere inches from the torii gate, the wall seemed to be surrounding the entire shrine premises as the knights who were at the sides also banged into the invisible wall. However some of the knights successfully entered the shrine's boundary before the wall suddenly popped into existence, but their numbers were few and negligible.

The intruders who were roughly around thirty in number landed on the ground inside the shrine just as the so-called wall had mysteriously appeared at the boundary of the shrine separating the knights and Alier and Ethan.

Ethan was startled momentarily as he hid himself behind Alier. He knew that he was safe, at least for now.

Just as everyone was getting to terms with the situation and grasping exactly what had just happened, The forest suddenly began glowing with a bright grayish-white light. When observing closely, one could see that the glow was coming from the floor where the invisible wall had emerged.

Shortly after, runic inscriptions flashed all over the floor inside the shrine grounds as mysterious glowing patterns took shape.

The intricate, ancient runic designs of bizarre shapes and the inscriptions of unknown languages rapidly moved about converging towards the age of the wall at the boundary of the shrine.

The knights stepped back from the wall startled as suddenly the eye-piercing flow intensified by several folds. Everyone squint their eyes and shortly after opening them, different people had different reactions.

The intruders smirked cheekily and the knights wore terrified expressions at the sight of the shrine being isolated at the boundary by a large mystical barrier.

All of the knights beyond the barrier could not see anything inside the barrier. They only knew that some intruders were already inside and Alier along with a few other knights were left alone to fend for themselves.

This was extremely bad.

"Shit! If anything happens there we're all dead! Break this damn barrier now! Someone head back to the City and make haste! Inform his grace quickly!" The middle-aged commander of the fifty knights yelled out as approached the barrier with his sword raised in his hand.

A knight immediately broke off from the pack and mounted his horse. With an abrupt jolt of the horse reins, his steed jumped and left galloping, raising a lot of dust behind as it gradually disappeared from sight.

All the knights outside the barrier felt humiliated as their blood boiled from fury. Brandishing their raging naked swords, the knights pounded on the standing barrier with all their might.