Chapter 193 - Desire

Zaos approached the people who were sleeping and checked their breathing, they were only sleeping, but even that was suspicious. He looked for Ameria and Drannor, and then he saw them moving weirdly as they looked around for something to use as support.

After dashing toward them, Zaos noticed that pretty much everyone was having a hard time fighting a sudden wave of dizziness and sleep. In the end, Ameria and Drannor fell to the ground, but before both of them could hit their heads, Zaos caught them. It wasn't much, but he could smell some wine coming from their mouth.

"These guys relax too easily…" Zaos said and then used Cleanse. "Are you two all right?"

"Man, I suddenly got so sleepy," Drannor said after he blinked several times.

"We were poisoned or something?" Ameria suddenly got up after the effects were canceled by Zaos magic.

"You tell me," Zaos said. "Didn't you notice anything in the food or the wine?"

"Well… no," Ameria said. "But in the end, there are some poisons and medicines that doesn't taste like anything."

Before he could do anything else, Zaos fired a Fire Sword. They destroyed the window that he had shown to Erean earlier. Still, then his focus suddenly changed again when America and Drannor suddenly dashed to the side. When he looked in that direction, he saw the Ojala family completely unconscious on the floor.

"I guess they aren't the ones who plotted all this… it was those guys," Zaos muttered. "Shit… it is too late to look for them. They probably left in their carriages and since it is completely dark… wait, why did they just put everyone to sleep?"

"Zaos! Give us a hand here," Ameria said.

"Don't move their heads too much," Zaos said. "If they had hit their heads when they fell, you would only make things worse. Let me check it. By the way, mention if you feel something weird with your bodies. I believe that Purification nullifies the effects of whatever you guys ingested, but we can never be sure."

Since Zaos studied healing magic and he also saw Tyra working for a while, he had some basic knowledge of medicine. Fortunately, it didn't seem like a powerful drug was used to knock everyone down. So, they had time to react when they felt the wave of drowsiness.

Zaos began to use Cleanse on them, and it seemed the spell was highly effective, but he didn't have enough mana to wake up everyone in the entire mansion. Soon, he came to learn that he didn't have enough time either, the guards of the mansion suddenly kicked the door, and they were covered in blood. Erean was also with them, and he was bleeding from head to toe. Despite that, he brought Zaos's sword and Drannor's spear.

"… Thank goodness, Your Majesty is alive and well," Erean broke into a cold sweat when he noticed that the entire mansion was filled with unconscious people. "We have to get out of here. Hundreds of mercenaries suddenly showed up, some of the guards were trying to buy time, but it won't be enough."

"Wait! We can't leave all those people here!" Noemi said. "They are important allies of the family and they also are important people for the whole country!"

"Erean, we can't… Zaos, where are you going?" Ameria suddenly asked when he saw Zaos getting his sword and moving toward the entrance door.

"My things are in the order building and I can't leave without them," Zaos said.

"Oh, man…" Drannor bit his lips in exasperation.

"Did he leave something important in there?" Noemi asked.

"Remember when we said that Zaos discovered some spells? He is trying to find one that will help his mother who has poor health," Drannor explained. "His entire research is in the other building and if he leaves that behind, he will have to start everything from scratch."

"Zaos! You can't!" Ameria said. "This is suicide! We need to help everyone here first, those mercenaries won't do anything to the other building for the time being. Let's focus on strengthening the defenses of the house while we wake up everyone."

"I don't really care, and I can't take that risk," Zaos said. "If I can't help my mother, then I won't help anyone."

"I guess it can't be helped," Drannor said. "Just give us a minute, Zaos, and then we will help you."

"… You have exactly a minute," Zaos said while looking at the door, and his eyes were completely devoid of life.

"Sir Orleand, is there any place you can take shelter with all these people?" Drannor asked. "I am betting that Zaos will make these guys run away, but just to be sure."

"… What? How?" Orleand asked. "We have some carriages behind the mansion, but… we also have a wine house below that is pretty safe and it was built after I remodeled a shelter that was used for the volcanic eruptions."

"That should be good enough," Drannor said. "Captain, please take everyone to the wine house, use all the soldiers here to transport them. Ameria and I are going to help Zaos."

"No, it will be better if we help as well, if the goal is to make the enemies retreat for a while…" Erean said.

"That won't work, Zaos won't hold back this time, and only someone who has seen fighting seriously can offer some support without risking their lives," Drannor explained. "I am that someone, but America can also help since she can use long-ranged offensive magic."

"That is unacceptable, we can't let the princess in danger, much less hope her to kill some mercenaries," Erean said. "They aren't weak, my bet is that they are some war veterans of other countries."

"Please, Erean," Ameria said. "I will be fine, just help the people here. I promise that I won't do anything dangerous."

Truth to be told, Erean was more worried about what Drannor said earlier than the mercenaries. He noted that Zaos could be dangerous for his own allies when he goes all out, and considering that the research that might help his mother was on the line, it was evident that things would be more than dangerous. Despite that, he agreed to the plan.