Chapter 216 - Ankhs' Plot

The news about Cecil's massacre from last night quickly spread throughout the border territories of the Kingdom and the Empire.

The disappearances of the people and the bloody scenes from within the forests were all speculated to be caused by a rampage of monsters.

What was strange about all this was that it had happened in all the forest areas throughout the border and wasn't concentrated on only one place.

The border guards were still patrolling the areas and investigating just what might have caused monsters' sudden rampage. The places where the signs of a massacre had happened were closer to the periphery or areas that were marked safer than the core areas where the monsters inhabiting the forest took as their homes.

This was all strange and no one could come up with a proper explanation. They could only attribute it all to the monsters' having a sudden rampage and it was just bad luck for the people in the forests.

*****

In the Orca Empire's territory, inside a wooden cabin near the borders, a dragonewt was cursing and smashing the things inside the cabin apart.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE SLIPPED AWAY?!"

"..."

"Dammit! We've been waiting for over a week already! I thought the First Fang was supposed to be the strongest hidden card of the Emperor!"

"..."

"Answer me, goddamn you!"

"..."

"Tsk...Hurry up and bring that boy to me...NOW!"

"...The boy...has caught onto us...hard to move now..."

"I. Don't. CARE!! Get this done, you incompetent bastards!"

"Massacre...not investigate?"

"Hah, massacre? More like incident! Those monsters are all unpredictable! You can only blame those idiots for their misfortune!"

"...but...you hired...them."

"Tsk, I don't need you to tell me that. Just hurry up and bring that boy to me! He actually came to the border, how lucky can we get! The gods are on our side and they've served the child to us on a silver platter...you fools better not mess this up! Remember...the Emperor tasked you with this! Not me!"

"..."

In the next instant, the black clothed beastman disappeared from within the cabin. The dragonewt, Ankhs, was the only one left inside. He found a chair and slumped down into it.

All the trouble being caused on the borders by the bandits, thieves, loyalists, and unhappy beastkin were all supported by this man. When he received a report that the target had actually arrived at the border territories, he was immediately elated.

The boy was actually here to patrol and back up the border territory's guards. It was the perfect chance to nab him. He needed to create more chaos on the border and what better to do it than with money.

Ankhs pulled out the funds that the Emperor had provided him with and immediately began hiring mercenaries, bribing thieves and bandit groups, sponsoring disconcerted and unsatisfied beastkin to cause trouble at the border territories.

He moved a massive amount of funds to cause trouble in not only the Darkfang Territory, but to every territory bordering the empire. This way he wouldn't arouse suspicions when only the Darkfang Territory was the only one experiencing more problems than the other territories.

The Nocturne Division's First Fang tracked down their target's whereabouts and carefully observed his daily routine for almost a week, but even after a week, the First Fang still couldn't capture their target. The opportunity should have come the previous night, but for some reason, the boy was able to evade the trap laid down by the Nocturne Lions that was placed inside his room.

They wanted to knock out both Lucia and Cecil with the sleeping incense that they had spread throughout the room beforehand. They would then only take Cecil away and leave Lucia alone.

They'd extract the information from the boy as quickly as possible before the night ended and swiftly return him back to the Darkfang Estate so that no one will know that he was suddenly captured.

Of course they'd drug him first so that he'd be more complaint during the interrogation and when he woke up he'd only think that the previous interrogation was only an illusion or dream, should he remember of it.

It was a good thing that Cecil's unsettling feeling had acted up when it did, otherwise who knows what could have happened to him if he had entered into that room.

However, there was more bad news that came to Ankhs earlier this morning. All the mercenaries, thieves and bandits he had sponsored using the Empire's money, had all suddenly vanished the previous night.

Reports showed that they had all been wiped out thoroughly by what appeared to be a monster rampage during the night.

The cause of the rampage wasn't known, but the missing bodies and still intact, blood-filled scenes were a testament to the way monsters would attack when going on a hunt. There were even large claw marks and gashes in the earth that further supported all this.

These marks were obviously caused by Silver using his claws, fangs, tails, and wind magic to attack all the people Cecil was killing.

No one could have guessed that the killing that happened throughout all the forests at the border was caused by a singular, mad, bloodthirsty foxkin.

"Tsk...Nothing changes...we still have to capture that kid...but, it seems that the new magi-tech that our Empire has created in anticipation for when we'd make a move on that kid is turning out to be of great help," Ankhs smirked derisively.

The Empire had early on investigated the background and abilities of their target, Cecil Silvaria. His every known ability was thoroughly investigated and despite being only a young teenager, the boy was given a SS ranked threat level, formally issued by the Empire's investigators.

His strength and versatility, alongside his arsenal of unique magic spells and combat skills were dangerous even towards the powerful Orca Empire. A platoon of soldiers would easily be wiped out by the child if he so wished it.

Approaching the Anglaria Kingdom by means of warfare just might turn back to bite the Empire in the ass since they could employ such a destructive child into the battlefield.

Of course, the Empire didn't know this, but Cecil would have chosen to abandon the Kingdom if they had tried to force him into participating in a war between the Empire and the Kingdom. He didn't advocate for peace, but why would Cecil try and go out of his way to solve the Kingdom's problems?

Sure, he could help for small problems like border troubles, monster extermination and stuff like that, but a war? He wouldn't dirty his hands for the Kingdom even if they begged and paid him to do it.

"The Empire's Mana Detector sure has come in handy against that kid...but who would have thought that he'd be able to manipulate his mana to act like a sensor...talented indeed...too bad he's just some lowly beastkin."

The Mana Detector was the magi-tech that the Empire had created in order to counteract Cecil's detecting abilities. It would also help them quickly locate the boy, since it was speculated that he had a body constitution that was highly compatible with mana.

It was because of this tool that the First Fangs were able to elude Cecil's Mana Sense and quickly track down his whereabouts.

All they had to do was follow after the people who were radiating a high amount of mana. They had miscalculated this part as well because ever since Cecil had cultivated his Ki, the boy was able to balance the mana inside his body and let very little of it leak out.

The only reasons why the Empire's people were able to locate him were because of his party members. Everyone beside Cecil had broken through to the Mana Core stage and this sharply increased their mana.

Cecil's stage was currently the lowest in his party, but he was still the strongest of the bunch. Mana Stage is great and all, but he had Ki and a full set of Mana Circuits. Just his Mana Circuits alone put him above anyone else in his generation and the previous generation.

With his Mana Circuits, Cecil was able to utilize his mana to a more efficient degree. Not to mention that he also had Ki now. His body quality and physical capabilities was much higher than everyone else's, if he added his unique strengthening skills, then he'd pull farther away from them.

Ankhs could only sigh in defeat at how the beastkin were able to acquire such a talented and promising young seed, but too bad he was with the enemy. If he was with the Empire, there was no doubt that the boy would bring forth a new age for the beastmen.

"Don't blame me kid...blame your parent's for giving you the wrong race...and the fact that you killed my nephew..."

******

Cecil was currently resting for today so only his friends were out patrolling the area. The boy kept his partner, Silver, close to his side. After finding out about the people who were spying on him last night, Cecil was even more cautious than before.

Silver was currently watching over him and the surroundings, constantly manipulating the wind elemental mana in the air to scope out the entire estate and its surroundings. Silver couldn't sense any of the suspicious individuals that his master had described to him, but he kept his guard up and continued sensing the surroundings.

His master had fallen into some sort of delirium last night, and Silver attributed all of this to those suspicious people that were after his master. If those people were after his master's life, the wolf wouldn't spare them.

Just like what Cecil had done the previous night, Silver resolved himself to massacre anyone that was after his master's life. He'd never let his master fall into his previous bloodthirsty trance ever again.

If his mistress ever saw such a master...Silver didn't want to even think about the outcome.

'Master has finally found a good mate...Ah! There's also that other bunny girl. I won't let anyone get in the way of Master's happiness!'

Without Silver knowing, he was gradually growing more and more intelligent as the days passed. Coming to Alterna seemed to have triggered something within his blood. The wolf was growing more powerful and intellectual as he spent his days traveling with his master.

After a couple of hours of monitoring, Silver suddenly picked up something from his wind element sensing.

'Grrr...Who are they?'