Chapter 145 - Movements in the dark

Ursus declared to the whole city that he cut all of his ties with Lumilia. It means that from now on, Lumilia doesn't have anything to do with Asvares Family. She also lost her qualification to inherit the family.

It's not surprising for Souta that Ursus did this. Ursus called Lumilia to come back to the mansion because some of his compet.i.tors might target her.

"If he really is concern for her daughter then why would he let her marry a man that she didn't even like," Souta muttered as he couldn't understand Ursus's reason.

'Ufufu, that's just how n.o.bles are from the present and the past. They aren't really concern about liking or not, all they thought is that feeling can be cultivated in time. Pretty annoying, right?' Saya's voice sounded in Souta's head.

"Yeah, it's annoying. I really couldn't understand what's coming in the head of those n.o.bles." Souta nodded at her words.

Then, Souta heard a familiar sound in his mind.

*Ding!*

[Quest 3 completed!]

[You've received 25,000 exp, 10 free attribute points, and 7 skill points!]

*Ding!*

[Lumilia's Chain Quest completed!]

[You've received Grade A- score!]

[Calculating the bonus rewards...]

*Ding!*

[Calculating completed!]

[You've received 20,000 exp, 6 free attribute points, and 4 skill points!]

'd.a.m.n, it's all worth it. All my efforts in helping cla.s.s rep didn't go in vain.' Souta breath a sighed of relief when he saw the notification in his mind.

Completing the quest 3 means that Lumilia managed to leave the city on time.

The rewards for this chain quest were enormous that he could level up one of his skills to a high level. The cla.s.s promotion was just in Souta's sight.

'Someone is following us.' Souta heard Saya's voice in his mind.

Souta immediately stopped thinking about points as he was surprised by what he heard from Saya.

"Really?" Souta asked to make sure of it because he hasn't noticed anything wrong around him.

'Ufufu, if you want to believe me then believe it, if not then it's not a problem for me.' Saya chuckled while saying those words.

'What is it? Was what she's saying a true or not?' Souta thought as he closed his eyes. He tried to guess if Saya was saying the truth or not.

'Okay, I'll believe her. But if someone is following me who would follow me. Is it someone from Gregory's knights, Asvares knights, or maybe the city guards are finally making a move?' Souta closed his eyes and tried to think of an answer to his question.

Vidrato's knights were annihilated by the clashed of the two tier 3 spells before. But what if there's someone that was still alive and right now that knight was following him.

Hmm...? That's impossible because if it's really from Vidrato Family then it's going to attack him right now in his most vulnerable time. Souta was exhausted and couldn't move his body, the knights of the Vidrato Family wouldn't let him go if they found him like this.

Souta eliminated the knights of the Vidrato Family in the choices.

The answer was one of the two, the knights of the Asvares Family or the city guards.

But Souta didn't know that three people were following him, two humans and one spirit.

...

Somewhere inside the Gripin city.

Gregory was walking in a dark alley with unsteady steps. His blood was dripping on the ground nonstop.

He was only supporting himself as he could barely walk with his current condition. His battle with Souta took a toll on his body and the [Bestrou] that Souta used gravely injured him. If he didn't escape in time, he would be lying on the ground now.

"Huff... Huff... d.a.m.n!" Gregory was gasping and he held the wound on his chest. He doesn't have any mana left in his energy pool to cast a spell. After all, he casted several tier 3 spells in the battle against Souta.

After walking for a few steps, Gregory fell on his knees and he coughed a mouthful of blood.

Cough! Cough!

His blood splattered on the ground dyeing it in crimson color.

"Why? Why didn't Ursus help me? I didn't sense his presence after he casted the tier 3 [Ice Dome Spell]." Gregory muttered as he found this strange.

Why Ursus disappeared after casting a single tier 3 spell?

It was the question in Gregory's mind. He felt something was off now that he realized it. Something... That something prevented Ursus from making a move personally.

'Is it the city lord?' Gregory immediately put this thought out of his mind.

He knew that Ursus was a powerful man that could go against a monster that undergo fourth evolution. The city lord of the Gripin city wasn't Ursus match in one on one battle.

In the circle of n.o.bles, Ursus was a powerful one among them. If Gregory's power was at the middle tier, then Ursus was at the top tier.

Then, he remembered Souta's ident.i.ty.

"The Ladro Inst.i.tute?!" Gregory exclaimed. He recalled that Souta was the top 1 first year of the Ladro Inst.i.tute.

"They secretly send someone to protect him. T-They knew that Souta could handle me alone so they didn't bother stopping him, but they knew that it was too early for him to fight someone at Ursus level so they prevented Ursus from interfering in his fight." Gregory muttered as he understood what was happening.

"d.a.m.n! That Ladro Inst.i.tute! They used me to sharpen their top student! I will remember this! Souta Ies.h.i.+! I will take my revenge soon and no one will be able to stop me!" Gregory cursed under his breath.

He lost a lot this time. A lot of his knights died including his direct subordinates, also his face. He would become a laughing stock in the circle of n.o.bles of they knew that a first-year student beat him in a battle.

Suddenly, he felt extreme pain burst on his chest.

"Argh! W-What?!" He looked down and saw a blade pa.s.sed through his chest from his behind.

"Ugh!"

He spat a mouthful of blood and he tried to turned his head to look at the culprit behind him.

The culprit pulled back the blade and he fell on the ground with a loud "thud" sound.

"Argh!" Gregory groaned in pain and he turned over. He saw the appearance of the one who stabbed him.

He saw a beautiful girl with long lilac-colored hair that was tied in a ponytail. She's heterochromia, a person with different eye colors. Her left eye was blue while her right eye was color red.

"You!!" Gregory was surprised when he saw the appearance of the girl in front of him.

"Ufufu, I was about to let you go but I heard you mention my dearest Souta's name." The girl chuckled as she lifted her hand and covered her mouth. She then waved the blade in her hand and the blood on the blade splattered on the ground.

"Y-You're-" Gregory looked at the girl with wide-open eyes.

He knew the girl in front of him. Who didn't know her in this kingdom? She was the only person who dared to beat the prince of this kingdom. The most famous student of the Ladro Inst.i.tute, Yanagi s.h.i.+na.

"Shh! Please be quiet..." Yanagi placed her finger in front of her lips and gesture him to keep quiet.

"No! I will not..." Gregory shouted and was backing down but Yanagi stopped her.

Yanagi moved her body forward and swiftly stabbed her blade on Gregory's throat.

"Argh!" Gregory felt intense pain as Yanagi twisted the blade. His vision was blurring and his consciousness was seeping out of his body.

If he wasn't gravely injured then he would be able to fight Yanagi s.h.i.+na. Unfortunately for him, he experienced a fierce battle before.

He was full of regret as he didn't expect that this would happen. Dying like wasn't in his plan. He only came to this city to strengthen the engagement of his son and Lumilia.

"I... don't want... to die like... this..." Gregory forced out these words out of his mouth. He lifted up both of his hands and grabbed the blade.

"You deserve to die like this after doing that to my Souta~ Ah, I'll kill you, no, I'll torture you first~," Yanagi said as she breathed frantically. Her chest heaved up and down.

Suddenly, her expression turned serious. She was looking at Gregory as if she was looking at trash. She slowly opened her mouth and said, "Well, I'll kill you now."

Followed by those words, she swung the blade in her hand.

Putchi!

Gregory's head flew in the mid-air before it landed on the ground while splas.h.i.+ng blood on it.

"Ah~ I wanted to torture you but I need to move now, so count yourself lucky," Yanagi said to him before she placed her palm on Gregory's body.

Her magic power slight rose and flames appeared on Gregory's body.

"Goodbye to you~" Yanagi leave these words as she vanished into thin air.