Chương 66: The Point of No Return - Part 1

Nicholas watched as the dining room door closed behind Adolin. The boy... the mage. It was hard to look at him as anything other than a boy. He didn't look much older than Nicholas's nephew, who had recently turned fifteen. Yet everything he knew suggested otherwise. There was also the way he behaved. One moment, he acted like a boy his age was supposed to, and the next, he became someone else entirely. Like in the Count's room. Adolin hadn't hesitated.

If Eduard had pushed him any further, Nicholas was certain the boy would have spilled blood. That was the side of him that had frightened Nicholas. The boy was a killer. An experienced one who had taken many lives. It was also difficult to get a read on the boy. His instincts kept telling him that Adolin wasn't an enemy, yet they also warned him never to get on his bad side. There weren't many times in his life when his gift had given such a warning.

The second aspect of his gift allowed him to sense danger before it arrived. Right now, it was screaming at him to leave the estate and never look back. The gift wasn't that direct, of course. That was simply how he interpreted it. He had learned to trust those feelings over the years. He looked at Eduard. The warning grew stronger. Tomorrow, he thought. Everything the gift had warned him about for the past month, ever since the Count had fallen into a coma, would come to an end tomorrow.

Would he be alive to see the result? He wasn't certain. At the very least, the Count's last command would be fulfilled. It wouldn't be as the Count had wanted it done, but the organization would be revealed to the world.

"Nicholas," Eduard said.

"Prepare everything for tomorrow." It was just as his gift had warned. Would the young lord listen to reason if he tried? He knew it would be in vain, but he had to try. If there was something he could do to remedy the situation, the warnings from his gift wouldn't be as severe.

"Is that wise?" he asked.

"Wise?" Eduard chuckled.

"It's far from it, yet I see no other way." Eduard took another sip from his glass. It was the seventh since Nicholas had entered the room, and there had been a few more before he'd arrived.

"I don't see any other way. Even if the mage heals my father, they would try to assassinate him again, and we won't be able to stop it."

"You are hoping he would intervene?" Eduard stood up and paced around the room. After circling the table and finishing his glass, he answered.

"Yes." Nicholas wasn't sure what to say. He was the one who had warned the young lord about the boy. To get on his good side and never cross him. And yet, the young lord was creating a situation in which he would be forced to intervene.

"What if he decides to retaliate? Or even leave before it starts?" Eduard chuckled as he poured himself another glass of wine.

"He won't retaliate. I already told him to leave before it starts. So if he decides to stay, all of that will be his decision."

"How can you be so sure? That he will stay?"

"I'm not." It was getting hard for Nicholas to remain calm. The only Archmage serving the Count had been killed a week before the Count had been cursed. The same week the Count had started talking about the organization. Afterward, their five strongest fighters had been killed. Two on the front lines while serving as commanders, and the rest back in their own territory. That was the biggest reason they needed the mage's strength and the Emperor to act.

The Count was left with only two fighters capable of fighting at the Archmage level, and only one of them was currently in the estate. The whole situation was one big gamble. Two gambles, really. If both paid out, the future of the County would be secured. But if both failed, or if they were wrong about Adolin, they would be wiped out. The first gamble was the boy and his strength, or at least his perceived strength. It could all turn out to be a delusion of their own making.

The second was the Emperor and his army. If the organization was exposed this close to Mith, he would have to act and come to their rescue, which would lead to an Empire-wide manhunt for the organization. The Count would have enough time to reorganize his County and army and prepare for the eventual retaliation. But for any of it to matter, he would have to be alive at the end of the gamble. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"What about Blanzin?"

"The investigator? He already tried, but he couldn't find anything other than a list of over fifty people. And he wasn't sure if the culprit was among them." Nicholas nodded. It was the first time he had heard it, but he wasn't surprised. Nor did he think it changed anything.

"What are my orders?"

"Start the investigation a few hours before dawn. It would give the culprit enough time to act and limit the time the mage has to act." Nicholas nodded again and left the room. He didn't agree with it, but the young lord had commanded him, and he never disobeyed orders. He didn't like how much the young lord was drinking either, but he had already voiced his concerns and been dismissed. If the Count were well, something like this would never have happened.

The thing that kept bothering him was why he felt glad about it.... Nicholas left the estate through the tunnel meant for evacuation in the event of an invasion. The tunnel was long and stretched nearly three hundred meters into the forest. It had taken the estate's mages two weeks to construct. At the end of the tunnel were four underground facilities meant to store supplies and house a small garrison that remained there at all times. The garrison was made up of the Count's most loyal soldiers.

He had personally questioned every one of them. Nicholas opened the door leading into the facilities and stepped inside. The facilities, which were meant to house a small garrison and store supplies, were instead filled with three hundred men and a dozen mages. With the soldiers already stationed inside the estate, half of the Count's army was now present. The other half remained in the County to defend it. After a few words with the commanders, he returned to the estate.

The men were ordered to move in two hours and remain in the tunnel until they were called for. If everything went according to plan, they wouldn't even need the boy. They had enough men to defend against any threat below the Archmage level. Their only concern was if the organization brought multiple Archmage-level fighters, or fighters close to that level. Yet despite all the preparations and planning, his gift kept screaming of danger. That was why he was worried about the plan....

Nicholas watched as Adolin walked away. Everything was prepared, and the only thing left was for the culprit to make a move. He was already regretting it. There was too much at stake, and too many things that could go wrong. The next suspect was brought before him for questioning. He kept up the act while keeping a close eye on Adolin, who had moved farther away from them. Just as he finished with the next suspect, he saw the boy head toward the Count's mansion. His walk turned into a jog.

The boy had sensed something. There was no turning back now. The only thing Nicholas could do was hope everything went according to plan. There were enough men positioned to bring the news to the palace as soon as the attack happened. It would all depend on how quickly the Emperor decided to act. He followed behind Adolin and stopped in front of the mansion. Not long afterward, chaos erupted inside. People began rushing out of the building, and the warning from his gift intensified.

Everything was going according to plan. However reckless the gamble was. The knight who had accompanied Adolin stepped out some time later and strode toward him.

"Sir," the knight said with a salute.

"The Count's condition is worsening, and the mage ordered everyone to leave the mansion." Nicholas nodded.

"Did he say anything else?"

"He found the culprit," the knight relayed the approximate location.

"He also said that Lord Eduard now owed him twenty mana potions, and he looked pissed off, sir."

"Bring the potions and do as the mage said," Nicholas replied before dismissing the knight. He turned to the two knights beside him.

"Call your squads and the mages." He felt a barrier of dense mana activate inside the mansion. He glanced toward it for a few moments before continuing toward the location Adolin had given him. If he wanted the plan to work, he needed to delay capturing the culprit for a time. But he couldn't delay it for too long and risk the Count's life. He was regretting the whole situation more with each passing moment. Would everything go according to plan? Would Adolin react the way they wanted him to?

Would the situation be enough to make the Emperor act? More and more questions circled through his mind. He took a deep breath and cleared his thoughts. It was already too late to question things. All he needed to do was follow the plan and hope for the best. Maybe they were wrong. Maybe the organization was weaker than they thought. Maybe whatever came for them was something they could handle on their own, and they wouldn't need the Emperor or the mage. He didn't believe that.

The warning from his gift only grew stronger with each passing moment. Knights and soldiers started gathering behind him, then the mages. Soon, a force over a hundred strong was moving toward the culprit. The other guards and knights were left to defend the estate, while dozens of scouts were deployed to warn them of any attack from the organization. Every piece was falling into place. In front of him were the stables that were located behind the mansion.

The horses inside were restless, stomping their hooves and snorting nervously. Inside the stables, he felt mana fluctuations at the level of an Archmage. Nicholas took out his halberd from his inventory and moved toward the stables, praying to the Goddess inwardly. Only the Goddess could help them in their desperate gamble.