Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Chapter 828- General of the Second Army

One of the women with exceptional grace and wearing spectacles on her eyes, spoke. She was none other than Annette. Beside her, the always gloomy and finicky Emma stood. Her fingers were at this moment extended as they pulled and tugged into the air.

If one had special discerning eyes, one would be able to notice that Emma was not simply pulling and tugging the empty air but instead numerous thin threads the likes of which are impossible to see with naked eyes, extended from her fingertips and interwinded around the room.

The threads, covertly sealed off the body of the assassin thus locking him in his place. That was not all, these threads were no ordinary threads, they channelled skind of energy that prevented the target that got caught in it from using their skills.

The assassin although had decent skills, did not have the discerning eyes to recognise the threads binding him.

"Who are you?" he questioned. The fact that they were aware of his intrusion and were even able to lock him in his place, meant that they were fairly high levelled or at least possessed powerful skills.

"You don't need to know about that. Just know that exiting this place won't be as easy as entering. Besides, you seem to be fairly knowledgeable about the internal workings of Blackthorn. It would be a good thing to keep you here" Annette did not mix any words and directly told the assassin his fate.

"Haha, you plan to interrogate me?" Hearing Annette's words the assassin started laughing loudly.

"It's useless. Assassins likeare trained since birth, there is a special imprint in my brain that manages the information. Every piece of information and knowledge in my brain has been erased once the mission is completed. You won't find anything useful even if you interrogate me. So go ahead and do it… ahaha".

Annette and Cynthia narrowed their eyes. It seems that the way Blackthorn did things was quite decisive and brutal. They did not even hesitate to plant such a vicious imprint in the brains of their fighters.

Looking at things from another way, it also showed how tricky and powerful of an opponent the kingdom of Blackthorn was. Putting special imprints on one's brain wasn't easy. The fact that they could put this kind of imprint on every soldier and fighter they bred, meant that they possessed skind of artefact that could do that or had the aid of someone who did that for them.

If it was the latter, things could beca little serious. Recognising that the man was telling the truth, Cynthia sighed and asked Annette to release him. The latter looked somewhat hesitant; nevertheless, she followed the instruction and glanced at Emma who immediately released her strings.

Now freed, the assassin smirked and was just about to exit with his skills when…

"Before you leave, tell this your Marshall and General. In the upcoming war for the capital, I won't show them any mercy" Cynthia declared, the aura of a ruler faintly emitted from her.

Hmph… the assassin snorted and quickly disappeared into faint black particles.

"Was it wise to let him go, your highness?" Annette questioned. The man was a level 500 assassin, taking him out here would lessen the burden on their soldiers later.

"There is no point in killing him. Based on what I have heard and seen about the kingdom of Blackthorn in the past few weeks, I have cto understand their Modus Operandi quite clearly. if they dared to send that man here, it means that he is just a pawn whose life and death did not matter to them at all"

"Killing that assassin would serve no purpose. On the contrary, if I let him go, he would bring the news back to their army and our fearless attitude would deter them somewhat" Cynthia answered.

Sometimes just having a fearless attitude in front of a predicament, was enough to break the composure of your enemies. She wanted the kingdom of Balckthron who beccomplacent after their continuous wins to get enraged by her reply. That way, during the battle there would be skind of opening or the other to exploit.

"If you say so"

Annette nodded. Since the person she needed to support said that, there was no reason for her to say anything else. That said, as someone who was tasked to see this mission to accomplishment, she would stop at nothing to make this a flawless work and earn praise from her master.

As such, she secretly placed a spirit mark of her own on the assassin without him realising anything. After stime, this spirit mark would start affecting him, placing thoughts and wills of her own that would make the assassin do her bidding. This way, she had paced a spy of her own on the side of the enemy.

 "By the way, how goes the infiltration of Sir Theodore and Miss Maybell and the others who follow them"

Cynthia brought out two more glasses from the cupboard and placed them in front of Annette and Emma. With the assassin gone, the three women who had becfriends from the many trials they faced over the time, sat down and drank together.

 "Hehe, Thedore and Maybell are the Guardians of Laplace. Their power and abilities are without equal. The sgoes for the kindred that follows them. Since they have taken the task, Your Highness just need to sit back and relax and enjoy the show" Annette answered with a smile.

Faintly, Cynthia could detect the tone of pride in her words. This was one of the rarest moments when the maid who was dressed as an adventurer right now, showed any sorts of emotions.

Usually, she would display this kind of emotion when talking about her master, the dungeon or her comrades. The other times, she would always stay astute and calm without showing any change in her behaviour.

 Cynthia was already aware that the people who stuck with that demon were special as such, she stopped worrying about it and enjoyed the beautiful moonlit night.

.

.

 Capital city, Ellesmere Royal Palace…

At this moment inside the audience room, seated on top of the throne placed on a high dais, was a man. He was a wearing military uniform that was decorated with numerous symbols and stars.

He was tall, had short grey hair and his well developed face gave him a seasoned and knowledgeable aura. As he lazed on the throne while looking down, he gave off a palpable aura that could even make people above level 500 shudder.

He was the general and commander in chief of the second army of his majesty, the king of Blackthorn.

 "It appears that our enemy has assembled quite an army to resist us. Didn't you say that we will be able to conquer the north in around another month, Marshall?" As he lazed on top of the thrown, he threw a casual question to the fat man standing at the base of the dais.

"The general need not worry, I stand by my word. We will conquer the north the only remaining bastion for the remnants of the old kingdom in about a month. I have sent one of my subordinates to give that lass who is on the rise recently in the north a message. If she is somewhat intelligent she would no doubt jump at this amnesty that I am willing to give them"

The man below spoke, a sneer hung on his lips. Similar to the person seated on top of the throne, he too was dressed in military clothes and was decorated with numerous stars and symbols.

However, if one looked carefully they would be able to see that the stars on his clothes and even his garb itself looked a little less impressive than the general. That said, the intimidating aura he gave off couldn't be underestimated.

The man addressed as marshal by the general was none other than Marshall Cavalier whom the assassin spoke of to Cynthia. At this current moment, the two were having a discussion about the affairs of the kingdom.

"I hope it is the case. However, you shouldn't underestimate these people Cavalier. They have doggedly held on for half a year even after our kingdom invaded them. In terms of persistence, the people of this kingdom could be said to be at the top" the general warned.

However, Cavalier took caution to the wind and laughed "I think the general is overestimating them. It's true that it took us longer than we estimated and we have yet to conquer the kingdom. However, how could a small third tier nation be compared to us?"

"The only reason they were able to hold on for this long is because they are timid and are turtling, just like that first prince of theirs. Even if it's that lass in charge now, the result would still be the sno matter how big of an army she manages to raise".

Marshall Cavalier's words were laced with thick confidence that bordered into blind faith. That said, it was not without any reason that Marshall Cavalier spoke those words after all, there really wasn't any comparison between their two nations.

The strongest person that the royal family of Ellesmere had was the Knight Captain named Cyrus who was only around the late level 500. Whereas, their kingdom of Blackthorn had plenty of such individuals.

What's more, their king was at the late stages of level 600 and was preparing to rise to level 700.