The Path of Ruin

After his first mission, Kael had a thought.

And that thought was... the barons had too much power.

If every baron had their own private knights like Amar, how much power did counts, dukes, kings, or the emperor himself possess?

The nobles were frightening, even if most of them were not individually powerful.

But then Kael realized something else.

And that was that not all barons had a knight like Amar who was a Seeker.

Amar was probably an exception. Because all the baronies he stepped into after that day were quite poor in Bearers, let alone Followers.

And the Barony of Dolcan was among that majority.

Therefore...

'There are only two Follower in the whole mansion, the Bearers are getting close to ten... but as long as I'm fast, there's no way they can catch me.'

And he was fast.

Really fast.

Normal people could only see him as a mere blur. Knights and guards could more or less make out his figure, but only Bearers and Followers could actually 'see' him.

The large amount of eon in his body was quite useful in these situations. And he didn't hesitate to use it, this time. He used his speed to the limit.

He was past the dogs before they could bark, leaped up the thick, tall walls of the mansion in a single bound, and found himself instantly running across the rooftops of the town.

He could see his chasers coming after him, the guards on the rooftops trying to block his way.

The news that someone was on the run had spread too fast, although he didn't know why.

But it didn't matter.

Because he dodged them all with his speed. He ran through them, even stepped on some of them to gain more momentum...

Arrows rained down behind him at some time and he had to get off the roof, forcing him to enter the streets of the town.

Countless guards were gathering on the great wall he was running towards, but he did not change his direction.

Finally, he came into the alley he had entered a few days before. The body of the old man whose neck he had broken was still there. He had begun to stink, his skin was so pale that it was impossible not to know he was dead.

But for some reason... no one noticed that he was there, as if to announce to the world how lonely and insignificant the old man was.

He took a deep breath, tensed his leg muscles, and jumped as high as he could.

There were so many soldiers on the wall he was trying to get on that he couldn't see behind them...

But as long as they did not see him, they were not a threat.

He used his ability, used all the eon left in his body to erase himself from the sight of the countless guards on the wall.

His eon reserves were drained so quickly by his ability that he was almost stumbling for a moment... but he kept himself together. As he stepped onto the wall, among the guards waiting for him with various weapons at the ready... he heard a voice behind him.

"Attack him!"

Because of the range of his ability and where he was aiming, those behind him could see him as he was.

But therein lay the problem.

Those in front of him couldn't see him at all.

That is why their faces were filled with confusion at the order that came to them.

What were they going to attack? There was nothing to attack!

"Look behind you, idiots! What are you waiting for?!"

The faces of some of the guards became even more confused. But some of them listened to the order and turned around.

The last thing they saw was a figure climbing the hill on the edge of town at full speed, seeming to disappear into the darkness of the night...

*******

Kael was lucky. His horse was still near the tree he had tied it to, grazing as he reached it.

But, unfortunately, it couldn't eat anything now. There was no time. After all, they had to escape quickly.

Kael quickly untied the horse, jumped on, and tapped the reins.

The horse neighed loudly, then broke into a gallop. Kael sped through the trees at great speed. For minutes, he made his horse run as fast as he could. Not forgetting to check behind him from time to time.

He couldn't see anything. But he didn't stop, he kept going.

For almost an hour, he only rode his horse through the forest as far away from the town as he could.

And at the end of that hour... his horse was so tired that he had to stop.

Knowing that the animal needed to rest, he tied it to a tree and went back, hiding in the direction he had come from. He immersed himself in the silence of the forest, in the darkness of the night, and listened.

Seconds slowly turned into minutes. For a long time, Kael checked to see if anyone was coming after him.

After about ten or ten minutes...

'There is no one...'

He took a deep breath, opened his eyes.

No, he would not relax completely. He was not going to let his guard down. Even if he could not see or hear anyone coming after him, he was going to act as if such a person existed.

He was not going to risk anything.

And yet... he would be lying if he claimed he wasn't a little relieved.

For almost an hour and a half, he had been running away, literally giving it his all. He was tired, even a little exhausted. He needed rest as much as his horse needed it.

So, he looked for a spot where he could hide himself among the leaves and bushes. Then he closed his eyes and slowed his breathing.

Slowly, his body surrendered itself to sleep... Yet it was not exactly 'sleep'. He was always alert, his senses sharp enough to pick up the slightest abnormal sound.

*******

Shortly after sunrise, his eyes widened slightly.

He yawned, unable to stop his face from twitching a little.

Stretching his body, he came out of hiding and checked his surroundings.

He seemed... safe. He had not experienced or perceived anything that disturbed him while he slept.

In fact, he felt quite well-rested.

'I actually did it, huh...'

His plan, at least in his own opinion, was totally foolish. Not knowing what the abilities of the Bearers and Followers in the town were, he was likely to find himself in an unexpected situation.

Nevertheless, he managed to leave the town successfully. And no one was after him...

He reached into his clothes and confirmed that the letters were still there. Only then he could breathe a real sigh of relief.

He stood up and made his way to where he had tied his horse. The chirping of birds and the rustling of tree leaves in the gentle breeze were the only things that filled his ears. Strangely enough... despite being in the middle of the forest, he had not encountered a single wild animal or creature.

'I am lucky...'

Although... it would have been better if he had been unlucky, to feed his curse.

But it was all right. It would be a long time before his curse was hungry enough to kill him, so it wasn't that important.

So, he got to his horse and found it standing where it was.

'I am really lucky, huh... How strange.'

Even his horse was alive, it hadn't been eaten by anything in the night.

When he got to his horse, he saw that it was looking at him with... a rather stern expression.

Horses couldn't have expressions, of course. Yet, somehow, as he looked at the horse, he could almost feel what it was thinking.

A smile formed on his face. He put his hand in the horse's mane, stroked it gently and petted it.

"Thank you for not failing me."

The horse neighed as if in reply. It moved its head and rubbed lightly against Kael.

After giving the horse the care it deserved, Kael stepped back slightly.

"Now... I know you're tired and you haven't eaten well the last few days, but we need to keep going if we don't want to die."

The horse neighed again. But this time Kael felt something different from what he had just felt from it and couldn't help his smile widening.

He jumped on the horse, took the reins, and looked up at the sky. Checking where the sun was, he calculated where he needed to go.

His mission was not yet over.

After the mess in the town, the baron would know something was wrong. So he had to get back to the capital as fast as possible.

"Let's go!"

He tapped the reins gently... But, despite that, the horse reared up slightly before starting to run even more energetically than yesterday.

Their destination was clear, and this time, with no one chasing them, they could move at a more brisk pace...

~crack!

But even though they had just started moving, Kael brought the horse to a sudden halt.

~thud! ~thud! ~thud!

His eyes widened at the sounds in his ears.

There wasn't just one sound, there were many. It was as if a tiny army was moving... rhythmic footsteps echoing throughout the forest.

Kael left his horse behind and moved in the direction of the sound, then... he could finally see the moving group.

'What... is that?'

Before his eyes were dozens of horsemen and perhaps more than a hundred soldiers on foot. They were following a wide path through the forest. At the same time... the direction they were heading... was the direction Kael had escaped.

'Are they going to Barony of Dolcan?'

He focused on the soldiers' clothing. And yes, they were Imperial soldiers. Moreover, there were a lot of Bearers and six Follower among them.

One of them was even...

'Pursuer? Her presence seems to be more overwhelming than the others...'

He squinted, focusing on who he suspected was a Pursuer. She was standing on the carriage at the front. She wore no helmet, her brown hair was short and she had gray eyes. She looked to be in her thirties, her features were sharp.

He was having trouble feeling what her eon felt like, and he didn't want to be noticed by her by focusing on his sense of eon. So he didn't try too hard.

He was just... confused.

'Has Hakon made a move? Or has the Empire realized something is happening?'

Should he go out, identify himself, and tell them what he had learned... or should he ignore the soldiers and return to the capital, as had been his intention all along?

He narrowed his eyes, unable to stop his lips from twitching.

He could not see any family crests or flags on the soldiers. So this group of soldiers was entirely loyal to the Empire, not to a noble.

And yet...

'Well... I won't do it.'

He would not risk it. He had as little trust in the Empire as he had in the nobility.

'My mission is clear, and so is what I must do.'

And so, without anyone noticing, he returned to his horse, mounted again and stretched. Then, he continued on through the forest.

He was just... continuing his ride, but something had occurred to him that gave him a guess as to the identity of the group.

It was one of the letters he had in his clothes.

'Could it be... the Second Princess that Feria Lockhend mentioned?'