After Marcus and his companions finished looting Zorot's hidden workshop, they returned to the surface of the ruined castle to find a group of mounted scouts heading in their direction.
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"Houten's forces must have finally finished wiping out the bulk of the undead army." Eirwen surmised.
"It's about time. We crushed all of the strongest ones, so it should have been an easy matter to mop up the dredges. The fact that it took them this long shows a lack of competency." Roxene commented.
"Truthfully, we should be grateful it took them so long. If they had arrived earlier, we would not have been able to help ourselves to the castle's treasures with impunity." Inten said, his eyes locked on a large jewel that they had uncovered.
For another couple of minutes, the eleven members of Marcus' party continued to chat leisurely as they waited for Houten's scouts to reach them.
When the scouting unit was finally in range, Marcus quickly appraised the soldiers and their mounts.
'Oh, they sent in someone pretty impressive.'
Marcus found that the leader of the mounted scouts was level sixty-seven.
While this was lower than every member of his party, it was still a high level compared to most. Undoubtedly, she would be considered one of Houten's greatest fighters.
"Who are you people? State your affiliation." The unit's leader said while staying mounted atop her rare grade winged tiger.
Alys picked up on Marcus' insinuation that their presence in this area was not only to clear out the city of undead but held back from questioning him. She knew that doing so would do her no good, and only cause friction between them. The last thing she wanted was individuals strong enough to lay waste to such a vast area to turn their powers on her.
Around an hour later, Marcus's party returned to the main encampment within the old capital along with Alys and her unit. Once there they were brought to a large building that used to be a government office and asked to wait for those in charge to gather.
It took nearly another three hours before only Marcus, Mrazivý, and Miguel were told that the top officers leading the operation to take back the old capital wished to speak with them.
"Well, this is a warm welcome." Mrazivý whispered sarcastically to Marcus.
As they approached the room Houten's army's top officers were waiting in, they found it surrounded by high level personnel. Many of whom were glaring at them. It was obvious that they were not being received fondly.
"Why do you think they wanted just the three of us?" Miguel asked.
"This is only a guess, but I expect it's because were the only members of our party that are mithril rank. Our statuses are the highest and most suitable for dealing with high-ranking officials. Also, judging by how agitated everyone seems, it might be to keep us separated. They could be thinking of using our lower ranking and 'weaker' members as leverage." Marcus replied, giving his speculation.
And while Marcus, Mrazivý and Miguel had been whispering, none of them had taken any other measures to hide their conversation. All of the people that Houten had guarding the area heard them. This only caused more unrest, and some of the individuals looked ready to fight at a moment's notice.
After finishing the walk down the hallway lined with high levels guards, the officer guiding Marcus, Mrazivý, and Miguel knocked on a set of large double doors.
"Send them in." A voice said from on the other side of the doors.
A moment later, the entrance to the room opened to reveal a dozen men and women sitting at a large ornate table, and four times as many guards lining the walls of the room.