Oktofinitum

Chapter 38

As Lady Riezl quietly follows the crate and the men delivering them, the day turns into dusk. Her borrows furrowed upon realizing that they have been circling around the imperial market for a few hours now, "Still can't shake that stupid lad in the coat?"

"Does that guy really think he's inconspicuously following us with that outfit?" The man who serves as their leader said to his comrades as they turned into a dead end corner, "You go get the products to the warehouse, we'll deal with that stubborn leech," he added as they hid on the corner waiting to ambush the suspicious follower, "Then come back here with more men," he added for the leader of the gang knew that the one following them is strong enough to follow four big men alone, that cloaked fellow is either really strong or really stupid, but either way he won't take chances, "Aye, Goran." The man now holding their delivery who seems to be the youngest of them all nodded and went in haste.

Lady Riezl sensed something a miss because as the daughter of the Imperial capital's Minister of War, she knows tactics like ambush the best, but still she walked onto the street gleefully, because after all, ambush are only for people who are not aware of possible attack, "Come on out stupid assholes," she whispered tauntingly.

"You missing, lad?!" ani ng isang lalaki mula sa gilid at unti-unti silang lumabas sa madilim na parte ng kanto na iyon. Lady Riezl quietly counted, someone's missing, she thought to herself as she quickly scanned her eyes through the whole place, and the crates were gone, too. Great.

"Are you deaf, you prick?!" One huge guy from the left screamed as he swayed his mallet towards her, she expertly dodged the attack and the poor floor cracked upon impact, they're earth wielders? The other guy held out his palm and a pointed piece of earth towards her and she used her earth lash to break it. Damn, this is going to be a long night.

On the other hand, Goran smirked upon realizing that the one following them is a fire wielder, "You know, I was debating myself earlier if you're just strong for following four men alone or stupid, turns out you're both!" He laughed hysterically in his gruff low voice, fire after all can be suppressed by earth.

Nainsulto naman si Lady Riezl sa sinabi niya at sa inis nito at pinakawalan muli ang latigo niya, the guy who was about to attack her from the right immediately screamed in pain as the lash deepen onto his skin and burn it black, Lady Riezl waved her arms again and the lash shortened. Dahil sa sinapit ng kasama ay nanlaki ang mata ng lalaking tila pinuno nila at agad na sumugod. He fisted his hand and a ball of earth flew towards her, which Lady Riezl again dodged quite easily causing it collided with the walls behind her, immediately destroying everything. She knew that those were dangerous, if that were her skull, it would've cracked open like that poor wood but before she could even think how to counter, the earth ball simply flew back at her like a cannonball with a specified locked target, damn it. She was only dodging them again and again defensively because the space is too tight for her to fight a guy who can make earth balls so she decided to run.

But before she could, several other men came from behind her, there's now a total of fifteen men, in front of her are dangling earth balls, while behind her are men holding several weapons, "We're gonna teach you a lesson, lad. You don't follow big bad men to scary little corners," he said tauntingly but Lady Riezl only rolled her eyes and jumped towards the wall of the building before lunging herself to the roof of the establishment over the other side and started running.

"Don't let him get away!" Ani ni Goran at agad na hinabol siya ng mga kalalakihan. Lady Riezl jumped over the various bricked roofs of taverns and houses, trying to find the shortest route to the port, a few more runs here and there, and she found Lady Wendell who's unknowing of what's about to come at her.

"Wen! Heads up!" Lady Riezl jumped from the roof towards her, and landed right beside Lady Wendell who's busy checking her nails earlier, "For the Goddess of All Creations' sake?!" Lady Riezl only signaled her head towards what's coming at them and the men who were following them immediately attacked, "You troublesome redheaded monkey!" Iritang reklamo nito sa kaibigan pero agad na prinotektahan siya sa paparating na earth balls. Lady Wendell created a ball herself, made of water which surrounded the earth  ball. The water seeped right inside the it, weakening the earth and turning it into mud.

"You're the best!" ani ni Lady Riezl dahil alam niyang kaya itong ma-counter ni Lady Wendell pero inirapan lang siya ng huli, "This is supposed to be a covert operation!" But before both of them could argue more, Goran shouted to his men, "Tss! Attack them!" and fighting ensued between them. The people who witnessed the commotion immediately ran to call for help as their products and stalls got destroyed due to the fighting, "Sorry! Here!" Everytime a stall gets destroyed, Lady Riezl drops a bag of gold coins to them from underneath her pocket and the seller smiles and quietly backs away from the fighting.

"What about me!?"

"We're not the ones who destroyed your shop, they did!" Turo niya sa mga tauhan ni Goran na muli na namang paatake sa kanila kaya agad siyang umiwas.

Lady Riezl took out her sword to defend from the upcoming leviathan hatchet about to ax her head. She then enflamed her sword which caused the metal hatchet to warm and the guy holding it got burned and dropped the weapon, using his own weapon, Lady Riezl rendered him unconscious.

While fighting more men attacking her, she ripped a cloth out of another guy and it stuck to her sword, she immediately saved the cloth before the fire totally consumed it. She immediately hid the cloth with the familiar flower crest and slashed the guy who was about to attack her. He lost his arms and screamed in pain as the now severed hand released smoke of burnt flesh.

Lady Wendell on the other hand is just simply annoyed at the overall situation as she boredly just turns all the earth-attacks against her into mud. The men fighting her eventually lost stamina and then she immediately switched from defensive mode to attack mode by using her water balls, however, "Stop this fighting this instance!" Natigilan silang lahat nang nakitang may mga Imperial knights na dumating, the men who were pursuing Lady Riezl immediately retreated and ran while Lady Riezl and Wendell were surrounded by the knights, "You are under arrest for disrupting the City's peace and order!" Akmang hahabulin pa sana nilang dalawa ang mga lalaking patakas pero dahil napalibutan na sila ay walang nagawa ang dalawa kung hindi ang itaas ang kanilang dalawang palad, "Bind them!" The knight immediately placed a metal bind to their wrists which prevents anyone from using their ability to wield.

"My L–lady?" Tila nanlaki naman ang mata ng Knight na umaresto kay Lady Riezl nang napagtanto niya kung sino ito pero umiling lamang ang huli, "Don't."

It was the knight earlier whom she showed her badge, and she could easily do the same to avoid getting caught but since Lady Riezl cannot expose herself here so she let them arrest her as a disorderly citizen causing a riot instead.

After the shenanigans near the port, Lady Riezl and Lady Wendell were brought to the Eastern Guard Tower located in the middle of the Eastern volcano which is the command post of the eastern Imperial unit. Its entrance was guarded by a gate made of the sun, similar to the barrier that Prince Aidan could create. The towers are made of red bricks and there are men posted for every meter. It was hard to ascertain how many men are surrounding the whole area, and more difficult is the fact that they are on the steep part of the volcano, in which the only way to and fro is a guarded stair from the foot of the mountain to the fortress entrance.

Both ladies quietly observed the surroundings for escape plans, but they were stopped in the middle of the hallway, "Who are these?"

Natigilan ang mga sundalo at agad na sumaludo. They placed their fist to their left chest and bowed their head, "Lieutenant General Horan!" Lady Wendell's eyes widened a fracture upon hearing a familiar name, so she immediately bent her head down to hide her already hidden face, "Just some new arrest sir, drunkards causing riots in the port." The man who recognized Lady Riezl answered.

The said lieutenant knitted his brows for a moment but allowed them to pass, "Where will you hold them?"

"Lower ground dungeon, sir." His brows lifted as he looked to the person whose head is so bowed it could hit the floor. He simply cleared his throat and nodded. After passing him by, Lady Wendell was able to get a sigh of relief.