"Let's go," Kian commanded.
Lexi flicked the reins, and the horses trotted out of the estate gates, merging into the busy afternoon traffic of the Imperial Capital.
Kian leaned his head against the wooden wall of the carriage, letting out a long, heavy exhale.
I have to get as far away from here as possible, Kian thought while watching the noble mansions roll past the window. If I stayed, they would definitely force me to the frontlines to die for an Earl. I have my freedom back. I will fight to defend it.
He laughed internally forgetting his sanity.
---
Meanwhile, at the Imperial Capital branch of the Adventurer's Association, absolute chaos was unfolding in the administrative wing.
Bang!
The heavy wooden door to the Branch Manager's office was violently pushed open.
A newbie receptionist ran inside, her face completely pale and her breathing ragged. She scrambled up to the big wooden desk belonging to Vargas, the heavily scarred veteran who ran the Imperial Capital Branch.
"Manager Vargas!" the newbie receptionist panicked, waving a piece of parchment in the air. "We have a huge problem! A staff member from the Hidden Origin clan just arrived. They delivered a message from Thousand Strings. He refused the Earl's Nomination Request! He packed a bag and left the capital for a 'vacation'!"
Vargas paused his paperwork. He looked at the trembling receptionist for a second. Then, a booming, echoing laugh erupted from his chest.
Hahahahaha!
He laughed so hard the thick wooden desk shook. Then he suddenly stopped laughing, wiping a tear of amusement from his scarred face. The newbie receptionist just stood there frozen, her mouth hanging wide open.
She had expected him to roar in anger, flip his desk, or call for an urgent emergency meeting. The sheer, utter confusion on her pale face was indescribable.
"Do not panic, kid," Vargas chuckled, leaning back in his heavy leather chair. "There is absolutely no problem here. He said it was a vacation? That was hilarious."
The newbie receptionist stared at him, completely baffled. "What? Why are you laughing, Manager?! This is a terrible problem! It was a direct request from an Earl! The territory is being threatened by an army of a hundred illegal dark Mages!"
She slammed her hands on the desk, desperate to fix the disaster. "If we lose that territory, we will completely lose face with the nobles! We need to do damage control immediately. Since he declined, we need to mobilize an elite raid squad right now as a replacement! To equal the combat value of a Level 8, we have to gather at least twenty-five Level 5 to 6 experts who specialize in anti-magic subjugation! Maybe the Earl will understand if we explain the proxy situation!"
Vargas held up a thick, scarred hand, signaling her to stop. He gestured to his secretary standing in the corner. "Bring her a cup of chamomile tea. She's going to hyperventilate."
Vargas looked at the panicked girl and sighed softly.
This newbie receptionist is truly dedicated to her work, Vargas thought internally, feeling a bit of pity for her. But she has absolutely no idea how problematic handling Thousand Strings actually is.I bet she is going to have a lot of headaches in the future because of that man's completely unpredictable actions.
"Drink your tea," Vargas instructed calmly. "We will not form an elite squad as his replacement. We won't send anyone."
"But—!"
"Listen to me, and take this as your first real lesson working at the Imperial Capital Branch," Vargas said, his voice dropping into a serious, veteran tone. "Never take that man's words literally. He is completely unfathomable. He is not actually going on a vacation, and he didn't refuse the quest."
The newbie receptionist blinked. "He did not?"
"Of course not," Vargas smirked while looking out his window toward the city gates. "He just hates the spotlight. He is going to neutralize the dark Mages from the shadows. That man is always like this."
---
While the Imperial Branch Manager was busy praising a cowardly runaway as a tactical mastermind, a very real, terrifying crisis was unfolding in another part of the empire.
A few kilometers away, on a quiet forest road...
The diplomatic journey to the west was supposed to be completely safe.
Twelve-year-old Princess Mirelle (Mih-rell) sat inside the extravagant, gold-trimmed imperial carriage while listening to the rhythmic marching of her one thousand heavily armored imperial escorts. She wore a pristine, multi-layered silk dress, her bright blue hair perfectly brushed and pinned.
Then, the calm afternoon was violently shattered.
"Ambush!" the Knight Captain roared from outside, drawing his broadsword. "Protect the carriage at all costs!"
Mirelle gasped, clutching the velvet cushions. She heard the sharp whistling of arrows and the heavy thuds of men hitting the dirt. But there was no clashing of swords. There were no screams of pain. Just the terrifying sound of heavy armor collapsing into the dust.
The carriage door was violently yanked open. It wasn't an attacker, but her personal maid, looking absolutely frantic.
"Your Highness, we are completely surrounded!" the maid yelled, shoving a small, wooden mask directly onto Mirelle's face. "The kidnappers are using a mass-scale slumber array! It is a wide-range sleeping spell. The knights are already falling unconscious!"
"What?" Mirelle panicked, her voice muffled by the wooden mask. "But what about you?"
"This Filter Relic will block the spell from entering your lungs," the maid said, her eyelids already drooping heavily. She swayed on her feet, the magical drowsiness overwhelming her nervous system. "Run to the woods. Do not look back!"
The maid collapsed forward, hitting the floorboards with a soft thud, completely asleep.
Terrified, Mirelle scrambled over her sleeping maid and jumped out of the carriage. The dirt road was covered in a thick, unnatural white fog. All one thousand of her elite imperial escorts were lying face-down in the dirt, snoring loudly.
"There she is! Grab the Princess!" a rough voice shouted through the fog.
Mirelle didn't think. She just ran. She plunged directly into the thick, dark woods bordering the road, her expensive silk dress catching on thorns and branches. Her lungs burned. She could hear the heavy boots of the syndicate kidnappers crashing through the underbrush right behind her.
She was not a warrior. Just a sheltered twelve-year-old girl. Her legs gave out, and she tripped over a big tree root.
Mirelle tumbled forward, rolling violently down a steep embankment before splashing face-first into a deep, foul-smelling muddy ditch. The cold, brown sludge completely soaked her clothes and ruined her bright blue hair.
She pushed herself up on her hands and shivered uncontrollably. She could hear the bad people sliding down the embankment. She closed her eyes, entirely losing hope. She was going to be captured.
Clop. Clop. Clop.
The heavy, rhythmic sound of horse hooves echoed through the quiet forest.
Mirelle opened her eyes. The kidnappers stopped moving and looked back toward the main road in confusion.
A mile down the road, Lexi sat on the driver's bench of a black carriage. As a top-tier Thief, her eyesight easily pierced the lingering white fog.
She saw the four luxurious carriages with shattered wheels blocking the path. She also saw the sleeping knights in silver armor. And she saw the armed men standing near a muddy ditch.
Lexi's sharp eyes instantly recognized the golden eagle insignia painted on the broken carriages. It was the absolute, undeniable crest of the Imperial Family.
The Imperial Princess is being kidnapped, Lexi thought.
Any normal person would turn the carriage around and run for their lives. Interfering with an underground syndicate hitting the imperial family was a guaranteed death sentence.
But Lexi didn't pull the reins. She just looked back at the wooden wall of her own carriage, where Kian was currently napping.
Kian suddenly decided to go on a random 'vacation' today, Lexi's mind raced, connecting the dots with flawless, terrifying logic. He ordered me to drive down this exact, specific route. He knew. He calculated this kidnapping would happen. He didn't want the imperial army involved, so he came here personally to hijack the syndicate's operation.
Trusting her Party Leader's absolute genius, Lexi did not attempt to hide. She let the hooves strike the dirt as loudly as possible, announcing their arrival exactly as Kian must have planned.
The syndicate boss heard the approaching hooves. He spun around, drawing a poisoned dagger. "Who is foolish enough to interrupt us?"
The boss squinted through the fog at the approaching black carriage. His eyes locked onto the silver crest etched into the wood.
The boss's face was drained of all blood. The poisoned dagger slipped from his trembling fingers and hit the dirt.
Every single criminal in the Imperial Capital knew that crest. It belonged to the Thousand Strings, the monster who paralyzed twelve elite assassins without even waking up from his sleep.
"Run," the boss choked out, his eyes wide with absolute terror. "Thousand Strings predicted our ambush! It's a trap! Run!"