Chương 75: Evacuating with the Civilians

Adolin stood in one of the gardens with Sir Tristan by his side. The smell of burning torches flooded the whole estate, along with a hint of ozone from the spells that lit the forest outside the estate. The estate looked just like it did during the day, only with an orange hue from the torches. The whole place was on lockdown, preparing for a siege. The estate staff were moving toward a location behind the main building, and Adolin planned on joining them shortly.

His other men were spread throughout the estate, waiting for reports so they could bring them back to him, while four soldiers, the knight, and the mage were sent with the civilians to help with anything that was needed. He was surprised that Eduard still let him keep his men, even while they were expecting an attack at any moment. Since he was still allowed to command them, he would make sure they helped with the evacuation. The other traitor Luna had mentioned was still not found.

Which meant he had already left the estate, or Luna was just bait to make them waste time and provide some protection for the real culprit. Adolin suspected that it was the latter. The spell they used on Luna was filled with loopholes to throw them off, and the real spell was much better at creating traitors. Well, they weren't really traitors, just brainwashed people forced to do things they didn't want to. The first one they found, Visen, didn't look like he was brainwashed, at least not as much as Luna was.

That man had some kind of issues with the Count even before being brainwashed. He had wanted to cause damage to the Count. Did that mean he was part of the organization? No, but it could at least give them a clue to follow. Not that Adolin planned on doing something like that. That would be their problem to deal with, and he planned on being far, far away from the estate. He could also be wrong about the whole situation, mostly because everything he speculated was based on a written report he had gotten.

Usually, he was right most of the time. Just like he felt he was now. There was also the chance that the other traitors—or, if he was right, the spies—worked for the organization and weren't put under the same restrictions as Luna. That would be the worst possible case. Spies could improvise and adapt to the situation at hand, and cause far more damage than brainwashed people could. Well, that wasn't always the case; it all depended on the Mind Spell that was used.

There were some spells that made the brainwashed a lot more efficient agents. But he never learned anything like that, and his master hated the mind arts. The ones he knew were for healing, or fixing issues. They weren't meant to cause damage or control people. Though they still could. Mind arts could be as bad as Dark arts; it all depended on the user. He exhaled slowly. It was time for him to get moving, as most of the civilians were already at the location they were supposed to meet at for the evacuation.

The kitten was already there, staying with the kid whose name he'd kind of forgotten, and one of his men.

"Let's go," he said to Sir Tristan. They moved through the main path as Adolin watched the estate at work. Some of the mages were casting trap spells at key points along the walls. Others were placing torches in the few spots that were still dark. Four-man patrols were everywhere throughout the estate. The walls had dozens of men watching over them, while pairs of soldiers carried barrels filled with arrows to the top. Nicholas was still gone. Even after asking Eduard about it, the man hadn't said anything useful.

Just that the butler had been busy. Well, it was already late, and he was about to leave the estate. If they survived, maybe he would meet Nicholas in the future.

"What happened to Luna?" Adolin asked.

"She is to be evacuated with the civilians," Tristan said. Adolin nodded and continued on his way. He would need to see Luna and make sure she was okay, and that there weren't any issues with the mind spell she was under. She seemed like a nice lady to him, if he ignored the brainwashing. But ignoring that wasn't a problem for Adolin. They arrived behind the buildings of the estate, just past the first row of gardens, where a lone tree stood.

It was tall, and its massive branches stretched outward like a canopy, casting a wide shadow over the ground below. In this case, the shadow was cast by the spells the lit the estate. Around the tree were all the civilians staying on the estate, along with more than twenty soldiers keeping them under control and preparing them for a smoother evacuation. Everywhere around him, people spoke in hushed voices.

"…what is happening?"

"Why did they gather us here?" The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"I heard one of the soldiers mention an attack on the estate."

"An attack?"

"Does this have something to do with the Count's condition?" He ignored them and started searching for Luna. It didn't take him too long to find Luna, along with some of his men. They were just outside the gathered crowd, and two guards stood around Luna. He strode toward them and stopped in front of Luna. She was somewhat pale, and there were dark spots under her eyes. He inspected her eyes, and the spark was fine. It didn't show any abnormalities.

But that didn't mean nothing was wrong, only that she wasn't in any mortal danger. She could still be in pain or suffering from some other side effect.

"How are you feeling?" he finally asked.

"F... fine," Luna said, avoiding his gaze. He didn't have time to play games, so he used Sense to see what she was feeling. The spell's feedback was complicated. She was feeling uncomfortable, and quite a bit. There was also a lot of guilt and other complicated emotions. And just a slight bit of pain. The mind spell's effect had started waning, and she was realizing what had happened, and what she had done. At least that was his best guess.

Since she was physically okay, he didn't intend to keep making her uncomfortable. It was best if she could get through her emotions alone or with someone she cared about. Adolin was certainly not the right person for the job. He nodded slightly.

"If you feel any pain or anything wrong, call for me." Luna didn't say anything and kept avoiding his eyes. He stepped away and moved toward the crowd, looking for the girl... Was it Maya? Well, he didn't need to call her by name, so if he was wrong, he wouldn't mess it up. He found her in the middle of the crowd, her kitten nestled in her arms. She was standing with her mother and a few of the maids whom he recognized. One of his guards was standing with them as well.

The kitten noticed him and turned its tiny head toward him before trying to escape from Maya's hands, but the girl held it tight. What followed were meows and hisses.

"Hey," Adolin said. Maya turned around and saw him. She panicked and bowed her head awkwardly.

"Lord," she said. She was quiet for a moment before saying, "The kitten?" She took the hissing kitten and held it toward him. The kitten struggled in her hands, then managed to break free and jumped, using Maya's hand as leverage, toward his shoulder. It missed the landing, and its claws dug into the skin on his chest.

"Ouch," Adolin muttered with a grimace. It took the kitten a few moments to make itself comfortable on his shoulder. Then it meowed loudly into his ear, again and again. It didn't stop, and its claws were already digging into his shoulder. Adolin chuckled. He patted its head a couple of times, and the kitten started purring. Maya looked at them with a soft smile, her eyes sparkling.

"She's so cute," she said. Adolin tilted his head.

"She?"

"Yes! It's a she!" Maya said excitedly.

"Mom told me!" Adolin stared at the girl, then at the kitten.

"Did you give her a name?" The girl just shook her head.

"Mom said that Lord Adolin should be the one to name her, so I couldn't." The girl had a sad look as she told her tale.

"Why not?" Adolin asked. She just shrugged. Before Adolin could say anything, he heard a loud voice.

"Calm down," Sir Victor said, looking over the crowd gathered in front of him.

"I know all of this was sudden, but it's for your own safety." His voice boomed over the crowd. He was using an artifact or a skill to enhance his voice.

"I can't tell you why, but you must understand that you need to evacuate the estate." He let his words settle over the crowd. The crowd erupted with questions, and after a few seconds, he raised his arm. Everyone who saw it went quiet. The ones in the back took another second or two before they stopped talking as well. Sir Victor nodded at that.

"Now, there is an underground tunnel that leads out of the estate, deep into the forest. Everyone will calmly go through it. There will be people on the other side who will bring you to the Capital once you leave the tunnel." The crowd erupted again, but the knight let it happen as his posture didn't change. This time, it took them a whole minute to calm down, and everyone looked worried or scared.

"Now, for us to leave through the tunnel, our soldiers need to leave first. Don't worry about it, they are the Count's men." That got everyone in the crowd confused. Adolin was confused as well. He used Mana Sense. Mana flooded the area, uncovering every insect, rock, and everything else. About a hundred meters from where he stood, his mana started flowing underground. A tunnel, filled with hundreds of men.

That tunnel stretched as far as the spell could reach, which wasn't much because he was already far from it in the first place. Victor glanced at a group of soldiers, and they moved toward the tunnel without another word. Then the man calmed the crowd again. Adolin didn't listen to him and instead tried to focus on his Mana Sense, while ignoring the kitten's claws digging deeper into his shoulder. The little one didn't want to let go of him.

The group of soldiers arrived at the tunnel entrance, and one of the men took out some kind of artifact. He didn't focus too much on the artifact. Instead, his attention was on something farther ahead. Mana was gathering at that location. He started moving through the crowd, as that was the quickest way to the location. As he got closer, he felt more mana moving toward the point from every direction. Something was charging with mana. He had a bad feeling and started running toward the point.

It was around two hundred meters from where he was. He used spells that increased his speed and rushed through the crowd. Once he was clear of them, he used a higher-tier wind spell on his back and cast Levitate, floating into the air while the wind spell propelled him toward the point. He was less than a hundred meters from the edge of his Mana Sense. He didn't have more than a second or two, of that he was certain. Something bad was going to happen. He cast two more wind spells.

Moments later, the point entered his Mana Sense. It was an artifact or something else, draining all of the mana from its surroundings. It was already close to the point of mana overload. It was going to explode, and it already had a lot of mana inside it. The tunnel was going to be blown apart, along with the men inside it. His heart raced.

"OPEN IT!" he shouted toward the group standing above the tunnel. The artifact reached its limit. The mana started overloading and was going to blow up at any moment. Fuck, he cursed inwardly.