Chapter 240 Pursuers

Chapter 240 Pursuers

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have some slightly unfavorable news for you all. Read the author's note for more.

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The sun rose, shining light on the eerie sight of the breakpoint that the group was previously staying in. Mangled corpses covered the place and it reeked of blood.

There wasn't any movement anymore, but the place had been desecrated by the fight that happened the previous night. Soon after the Eldridge Academy group left, the caravan also departed from the location.

This time, they weren't as weak compared to before. With the addition of Leo, they would be able to defend against incoming attacks a lot easier, but they would face a problem if anyone stronger than a 3rd Circle Aura Knight appeared.

The caravan was moving slowly since it was a few carriages with a lot of people. The fastest speed they could travel in would exhaust the horses too much. Leo was in the front along with Damian, trying to understand how difficult the job he took was going to be.

"Will I ever be told the target that I am protecting?" He asked Damian.

"I apologize, but I cannot tell you. That information would do you more harm than good."

"Fine. What about the range of enemies that we will encounter in the future? How strong can we expect the enemies to be?"

Damian sighed. "We cannot be sure. I am unable to understand whether the goal of the attackers the previous night was to kill or kidnap our target. The latter would mean the price they can spend would balloon. I wouldn't be surprised if we encounter a lot more 3rd Circle Aura Knights," he said.

Leo frowned at this statement. Damian's words seemed a little off-setting to him. Nefrati interjected.

"I know who the target is," she said.

Leo was surprised. "Who?" He asked her.

"The person behind you, the young girl. She is the target."

Even though he was told who the target was, he didn't turn his head. If he did, Damian would know that he caught on to the identity of the person he was supposed to protect.

Instead, he just looked at her using his perception. It did the job just as well. Behind him was a young girl who seemed to be his age. She didn't have any traces of magic or aura which made him curious. Why was she on this mission?

"How do you know?" He asked her.

"Her bloodline. You don't know how to identify them yet, but I can. She has an Emperor's Bloodline, but not as strong as mine. She won't have a peak-level affinity to any element, but a high-level affinity is guaranteed. She has to be the target if she has that high of a bloodline."

What she said made sense, but he didn't know for sure. What if she was coincidentally an inheritor of the bloodline? As if she sensed the question, Nefrati answered it.

"The odds of inheriting an Emperor Bloodline as a commoner is almost impossible. If your ancestors have the bloodline, they are guaranteed to at least be an 8th Circle Aura Knight. In an empire like yours, it is enough to be on the same level as a king," she said.

"So she has very powerful ancestors?" He asked.

"Not just any powerful ancestors. Her's were the strongest at one point, which means there is a chance she is royalty."

Her words made everything make sense to him. That was why Damian was acting so weird - he was afraid that something would happen to the girl and he wouldn't be able to survive the repercussions.

It also meant something even more grave. The implications of kidnapping a royal were a lot higher than just another noble. It gave the person power over a member of the strongest family in the empire. It wasn't worth just a few million Starcoins.

Leo guessed that it would be worth hundreds of millions of Starcoins. And if a person knew where the girl was and could spend that much money, they wouldn't spend just a few million on a team of 3rd Circle Aura Knights.

They would spend more and hire a 4th Circle Mage or Aura Knight. This put him in a very dangerous position, because the only way he would be able to escape if there was a person that strong would be if he revealed his power as a mage.

His mouth curved as he realized the grave danger of the mission. Instead of worrying, he started smiling. With grave danger comes opportunity. If he successfully guarded the girl, he wouldn't care about the money that the merchant group gave him.

Instead, he would be more interested in the favor he would receive from the royal family. As he thought that, he noticed a change in the environment around him.

They were no longer alone and were instead joined by a few people riding toward them from afar. They were only a group of ten and were all 3rd Circle Aura Knights. His face turned sour as he rode his horse toward the person at the front to tell them his observations.

"Damian, we have company. Ten 3rd Circle Aura Knights coming our way," he said.

"Are you sure?"

Yes, I am sure. They are about 2 minutes away from us," Leo responded.

When he said that, Damian's face immediately darkened. A bead of sweat started forming on his forehead as he thought about what to do. They only had two 3rd Circle Aura Knights which wouldn't be nearly enough to face against the people Leo said were coming.

"Then we don't have another option. We can only leave behind the caravan and start running in the direction where there is safety." He said to Leo.

Then he turned his horse around while taking out a horn from his dimensional ring. He blew it loudly, creating a slight shockwave from it. Leo could handle the sound, but the girl behind him had to cover her years.

As soon as the horses heard the sound, they started to get racy. Leo felt the horses feel more energetic. He also saw the expressions on the faces of the other guards.

"What does the horn mean?" He asked Damian.

"It means we run. Leaving everything behind. No more cover, only running away from now till the capital."

"What does this mean? We just hope they don't catch up to us?" He asked with curiosity.

"No. Everyone will split up at various intersections on the way, leaving multiple tracks. This will throw off the pursuers. The strongest will remain with the target." n((o./v))E-(l-.b)(I/(n

Leo smiled when he heard that. Even though they were in such a dire state, Damian refused to tell him the identity of the target. He was going to be finding out anyway since he expected to stay with the target till the end.

Since the strongest would have to stay with the person being protected, it would only make sense if Leo was with the girl. Along with that, Damian would have to explain what happened to him if he got out alive but Leo didn't. So he would need to give Leo the most important and safest job instead of making him bait.