Lydia heard what had happened and quickly rushed to window. Luckily, no one was stationed outside. She left the room through the window and quickly rushed out of the mansion. On her way out, she heard screams coming from the mansion. Hardening her mind, she continued running. Right now she couldn’t afford to intervene as she knew she wasn’t strong enough to be of any help to them. She could only go forward and hope for the best. In reality, she knew hoping was pointless as they would unfailingly be killed.

Within the mansion, Oaklif was quietly sitting while he waited for the warriors and guards to finish searching the house. After a couple of minutes of waiting, the warriors that searched the house came to report back to Oakliff.

“Did you find her?”

“No sir, I think she might have escaped through the window.” One of the warriors responded.

“Interesting. Given her intelligence, she should have figured out what’s going on. She should also know nowhere would be safe for her within this city. Her only option now is to ask those experts for help.”

“Send people to cover every exit from the city. Pay whatever it takes to hire those experts. Moore, lead everyone to the Rosemary Inn. This time around, we must kill that girl and all her associates.”

Over at the Rosemary Inn,  Willard was currently sitting on a bed, checking some of the items Sebastian had given him. Ahmed and Baya were having some drinks at the bar within the inn. Due to some strange situation, they were both seating on the same table. Although Ahmed hated Baya and his current situation, he couldn’t do anything while Willard was in the area. He did not know the exact extent of Willard’s power, but from he already knew, he wasn’t willing to test him.

As Ahmed thought about his situation he frowned even more. He was angry and without an avenue to vent his anger. Baya stared at Ahmed for a little bit and guessed what he was thinking. He knew Ahmed hated him to the bones, but couldn’t act on that anger. Baya moved his gaze to a server that walked by. “Another drink” he softly said. The server looked over at Ahmed. “And you sir?” he asked. 

*************

Lydia was currently running towards the Rosemary Inn, she was secretly hoping that Baya and Willard decided to stay at that inn. She knew there was a possibility that they would have decided to not stay at that particular inn or decided to just continue their journey altogether. If they left the city, she knew that was it for her. There was no way she would survive, given her current predicament.

Lydia rushed into the Rosemary Inn and stared around the place. She was scanning to see if she could recognize anyone in the group of diners that were scattered around the place. A server walked up to the currently disheveled looking Lydia. “Hi Miss, would you like me to arrange a seat for you?” She asked with an expectant smile on her face. The server could instantly tell that Lydia was of noble standings, because of her outfit and demeanor. The server knew that people like Lydia could easily fork out a couple of silver coins as a tip. An amount that could feed her entire family for a month. Her biggest hope at the moment was to get Lydia a seat and serve her.

Lydia turned to face the server with an urgent look on her face. “Did you see a group 3 men walk in here about two hours ago?” The look on the servers face immediately changed. She wasn’t particularly happy hearing Lydia’s question. If Lydia wasn’t trying to get a meal here, that meant she wouldn’t be making any money from her.

“No miss.” The server quickly responded and immediately turned to leave.

Over at the table were Baya and Ahmed were seated, Ahmed caught a glimpse of Lydia with the server and immediately increased his focus on that area. His actions surprised Baya, who turned to stare at what Ahmed was looking at. To his complete surprise, Lydia was standing there looking anxious. Baya immediately got up and walked towards her.

“Are you okay Miss Lydia?” Baya asked as he approached her.

Lydia was startled when she first heard her name but later became elated. The server that was attending to her took that opportunity to leave. “No, I am in trouble. And I have nowhere else to go,” she responded staring deeply at Baya. “Can we talk somewhere in private?”

Baya looked around before finally leading Lydia to his room. As Ahmed saw Baya leave with Lydia, a disdainful look appeared on his face. He felt both envy and anger but really couldn’t do a thing about it. As they both got into Baya’s room, Lydia began narrating everything that had happened while they were separated. She told him about her suspicions with the behaviors of the guards down to what Oaklif had done.

“Why are they trying to kill you?” Baya asked the one question that had curiously plagued his mind while he was listening to Lydia’s story. Lydia hesitated for a couple of seconds before showing a serious look on her face.

“I think this is all due to my elder brother.” She said with a scornful look to her.

“My father is currently ill and could pass away at any moment. My brother fears that father could leave the household in my hands.”

Baya had a surprised look on his face. Hearing what Lydia had said, completely surprised him. Why would her father be thinking of leaving the household in Lydia’s hands? This was something that was virtually unheard of. Most house leaders would leave the affairs of the house to a male heir, as they would mostly favor the lineage of the males. Baya composed himself and quickly shed the doubt in his mind.

“You are certain that they would be coming here for you?” Baya asked

“Yes, undoubtedly. They will also be coming with some powerful experts.”

Baya sighed and got up. “Wait here. I need to inform my master about this.” He said as he walked out of the room.

When Baya left, Lydia’s expression changed. “This is my only choice. I would never have thought brother would act so soon. Something serious must have happened while I was away. I currently do not have any backers here. I need their help to safely get back to Oriente city.”

As Baya was about to knock on Willard’s doors, he heard a loud ruckus coming from outside of the Inn. He immediately assumed it was the people from the Bastich household. Baya knocked and patiently waited for Willard. It did not take long before Willard opened the door. Baya hastily explained everything that had happened to Lydia.

“Do as you wish.” Willard softly said as he paused. “I’ll accompany you.”

Baya nodded in acknowledgment of Willard’s words. He was inwardly jubilating at the fact that Willard decided to accompany him. He did not have much faith in dealing with the situation by himself and as such hoped Willard would help out.

************

A group of warriors barged into the Rosemary Inn. The leader amongst them made a hand gesture instructing the warriors behind him to check the area. The manager of the inn quickly ran out to meet the warriors. From the insignia on their clothing, the manager could tell these were warriors of the Bastich household. “Greetings sir, how can this manager be of help to you?”

The leader stared at the manager in an imposing manner. “I am looking for some criminals and their associate. We are going to search every corner of this inn until we find them.” He said in a very loud tone. His aim was to let everyone know why they were there.

“Sir, can you describe them? We could help you find them faster.” The manager said as he tried to be on the good side of the warriors. These were the warriors of the Bastich household, although their words were not final within this city. They still had enough sway here. Whatever the case might be, he had to make sure everything happened to the liking of these warriors.

“A young lady of noble standings should have come to this inn not too long ago. Tell me where she and everyone she has interacted with are?”

The manager turned to the servers, with an inquisitive look. The server that had interacted with Lydia earlier came forward. “A woman fitting that description came in earlier. She spoke to a man before heading to the living area.” The server said before moving her gaze to a table. A thought instantly filled the mind of the server as she quickly pointed to a table.

“There sir, that man was seen together with the friend of the woman you mentioned earlier.” The server said with a bright look on her face. The table the server had just pointed to was the one currently occupied by Ahmed. As the server finished her comment, a sense of profound anger seemed to infiltrate every cell of Ahmed’s body.  First he was forced to follow that unknown youth all around, and next, he was forced to stay beside the man that had killed his beloved younger brother. To top it all off, he was being considered a friend of that same man.

“Hey, you!” The leader of the group yelled as he faced Ahmed. He gestured to the rest of the warriors who immediately started to surround Ahmed.

The entire situation vexed Ahmed to his bones. “Where are your associates and that….” The leader of the group was asking before he was interrupted by Ahmed. “Shut the hell up.” Ahmed angrily yelled as he got up. Little veins appeared on Ahmed’s forehead as he stared at the warriors.

“You low life dare talk to sir Moore like that.” One of the guards that had surrounded Ahmed said as he drew out his sword and lunged in to attack Ahmed. The people that occupied the table close to Ahmed’s rushed out of the way. Not just that table, everyone within the restaurant rushed out, so as not to be casualties of the fight.

Within a split second of attacking Ahmed, a strange purple object had spontaneously appeared in front of the guard that rushed in to attack Ahmed. The guard did not have time to see or react as the object wrapped around his face, effectively blinding him and sweeping him effortlessly to the floor.  The whole thing happened way too fast.

The rest of the guards surrounding Ahmed couldn’t help but stare in disbelief as their companion was being electrocuted by Ahmed. To the guard that was slammed to the floor, he had no idea what had happened to him. To the rest, all they saw was Ahmed’s right suddenly appear over their companion’s face. Ahmed’s hand movement was way too fast for anyone below the elemental energy level to see. None of them could react in time to help.

“Elemental energy level,” One of the guards said as a new sense of danger swelled up in him. The rest of the guards took a couple of steps back as they realized the kind of person they were up against.

The leader of the guards frowned as he walked towards Ahmed. “You dare kill a warrior of the Kahn household. Today you shall die.” He inwardly sighed as he stared at Ahmed. “This would be tough facing an Elemental energy expert. Hopefully, Oaklif would get them here shortly.”

Slow but melodic footsteps could be heard as three people walked down the stairs, breaking up the tense atmosphere within the restaurant. The leader of the guards stopped in his movement to stare at the newcomers, before showing a strange frown. He could instantly recognize Lydia amongst these people and immediately got a sense of who they were. What puzzled him the most was the fact that they all seemed relaxed. Usually, most people in their shoes would use this kind of opportunity to escape leaving behind their comrade. But this time around, they were casually walking towards him.

“What are you waiting for? Go get them immediately.” The leader of the guards yelled.

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