Tok, tok.
Someone knocked on the door.
"Young master, it is I," came a female voice at the same time. Mordred recognized the voice as belonging to Vanessa, one of his loyal followers in the game.
"Come in."
"All of the civilians' records are here, my lord, including their family members and where they live," she handed Mordred a list of names. This time, she wasn't dressed in her usual maid attire; instead, she wore a hooded jacket with slim, soft pants—clothing suited for someone moving silently through the night.
"You did well."
Even though the handwriting wasn't very clear, Mordred managed to scan through the list. As he did, one familiar name caught his eye.
"Are you certain the Ashburn family is in this place?"
"...Up until last night when I checked, they were still in their home. They don't yet know about the loss of their parents," Vanessa answered carefully, remembering who the Ashburn family was.
"Desire Ashburn should be here. I want you two to fetch him for me."
He was one of the heroes in the game who drew his sword at Mordred before any other hero did, and he was a character with great potential to reach the Champion Realm quickly. To me, in order to rest comfortably, either he needed to be on my side or on the other side of life.
After Vanessa left with Mordred's order, the shadows in the room wriggled as two shadow assassins hidden in the dark appeared before him.
"Is what she said the truth?" Mordred asked in a cold voice while still gazing at the scenery outside.
"They did tell the truth. At midnight, Vanessa and Negun divided the task among themselves to verify their location, and Vanessa herself was the one who confirmed the whereabouts of these two children."
"...Continue to keep an eye on them. Make sure they do their job perfectly. If something goes wrong, inform me before taking any action."
"Yes, my lord." With those words, the two shadow assassins blended into the darkness once more.
There were so many red flags on a villain's path that I couldn't trust anyone, not even the ones Mordred had known since childhood. And when dealing with a destined hero, a villain needed to be extra careful.
In the silent room, Mordred rang a bell that was placed on a nearby table. Soon, a maid arrived in response to the call.
"Prepare my carriage; I need to go somewhere."
. . . . . . .
By order of the Saintess of the Holy Sanctuary, the holy knight Ardentist and a group of knights began gathering all the holy knight candidates they had been eyeing. This included children who had no clue about war or swords. But once the parents heard that their children would be trained to become holy knights which is an honorable title in itself, they happily agreed to entrust their children to them.
But that was a fact the children didn't understand...
"Mother, I can't. Please don't let them take me away..." a young boy cried in his mother's lap before she gave him to a holy knight.
"Shh! Shh! Shhh! Your mother isn't going anywhere. When you want, you can see her anytime. But right now, you need to come with me if you want to protect your mother and loved ones in the future," the holy knight whispered kind, soothing words, comforting the crying child.
Similar events took place elsewhere in the village, and the knight who received another child was Ardentist.
"You're a brave child, a good kid," Ardentist said, guiding the boy holding onto his hand toward the carriage. Unlike the other children who were crying, this one didn't shed a tear despite being separated from his family. Instead, he showed excitement upon hearing that they were going to the Holy Sanctuary.
"What's your name?" he asked before the boy got into the carriage.
"Giben," said the kid in his innocent voice.
"Well, Giben, I'm looking forward to seeing you as a holy knight one day."
The child smiled upon hearing that, waving his hand to Ardentist. He got onto the carriage and headed back to the sanctuary.
After the carriage disappeared, Ardentist got back on his horse.
"Where else?"
"In a nearby slum, just one kid," answered the knight beside him.
"Let's go." Ardentist, urging his horse, began to move with another two knights following behind him.
. . . . . .
In one of the poor houses in the slums, a kid around the age of fifteen or sixteen sat on the floor, leaning against the wall, wearing a long, old blanket from head to toe to warm himself from the cold. The whole house was like an abandoned building; except for the child, there was no living presence in it.
Thud!
Suddenly, the closed door of the house swung open, and a young girl, appearing to be a few years older than the boy, came in. In her hands were a few buns. After closing the door tightly, she walked over to the young boy. The young boy, who had been starving for a long while, took a bun from the girl's hand and began to eat his fill. But despite already eating one, he was still hungry. However, he didn't take the second bun from the girl's hand.
"it's ok, you can eat it. I had my fill" Seeing her younger brother still seemed hungry, Olivia gave the last bun to him.
"I can see through your like clear water sister. Don't worry, when mom and dad come back, they gonna bring us a whole lot to eat", the little kid said like an adult with his sweet smile. Seeing that smile made Olivia's worries disappear for a moment.
Bang!
But suddenly, disturbing the quietness and the sibling's chatter, something hit on the door.
"Olivia you bitch I know you in here, you stole from my shop for the last time"
Bang! Bang!
The loud sound on the door kept going on, and the two siblings hugged each other in fear, looking at the door. Even though Olivia is older than her brother, she's still a frail little girl who's waiting for her mom and dad to come back. But as days went by, she realised something was wrong and she had to take responsibility for her younger brother as the older sister, even if it meant stealing from someone else.
Bang!
With another loud sound, the door broke open, and a few men barged into the house.
Among them, one man walks up to Olivia.
"You stole enough from me. You hear me, you stole enough. It's not only parent ditching their debts; now, Even their little offspring began to steal from me." he screamed.
"Look around, take everything valuable,"
The few men who came along with him began to search through the house, destroying everything.
Oliver held her brother's hand as she stood in front of him.
After a few moments, the men found nothing valuable in the house except for the old furniture.
"If there is not anything valuable, we have to go with something else." the man looked at Olivia.
"Come here", he forcefully grabbed her hand and pulled her away.
"No... Let me go"
"Shut up, you brat, nobody would give a damn"
"Let her go", her brother rushed out and hit the man with his hand, but to the mature man, his kid-like punches were nothing to feel. So the kid bit his hand instead.
"Ugh, damn brat" With a kick, the man pushed the boy and then dragged Olivia forcefully through the door and through the street.
The young boy stood up again with his shaking hand, holding his stomach, which gave him great pain.
"No, sister", the boy tried to walk, but the other men left behind kicked him again, making him fall to the ground again.
"She's still young, but that slave market should have some place for her", the man dragging Olivia away thought to himself as he walked into an alley, holidng Olivia in one hand.
"Please let me go. Mom and Dad will come back soon", Olivia continued to plead, but the man's tight hand never let her go.
"When your mom and dad come back they can save you then"
"For how much are you thinking of selling her?" When The man took a turn, he suddenly met with two strangly dressed duo blocking his path.
"And who the hell are you two"
"Someone interest in buying that thing"
The man turned silent upon hearing them. The fact that these two strangers suddenly appeared in front of him bothered him, and the way they dressed, hiding their faces, was very suspicious, so he didn't want to get much involved in whatever was going on there. On the other hand, Olivia became anxious looking at the duo in the street.
They both seem like women, and she even feels that they are trying to help her because of that fact.
"Fifty gold coins" After a silence, the man spoke, and almost at the same time, one among the duo Responded.
"Agreed"
One of them threw a pouch of coins that fell on the road; the man pushed Olivia to them and grabbed the coin pouch before running away.
"Who are you two, please I have a little brother who needs me, let me go"
"Is you're brother 'Desire' still in the house."
"Huh... Yas" Olivia realised that these two strangers knew about her more than she thought.
"You take her away, I take the other one." the duo, who is actually Vennesa and Negun, talked to each other, and one of them knocked Olivia unconscious before grabbing her like a travelling bag.
Then they separated on the street, one headed for Olivia's house while the other headed back to a carriage.
When Vennesa who headed to Olivia's house arrive, she first saw the broken door in the house, then barged in.
"kid, are you OK?" she found Olivia's brother, who was lying on the floor. He was bleeding, and all over his body was a sign of Brutally being hit. But despite the harm, he still shows some signs of life.
"He's still breathing" Taking out a medicine pill, she carefully put it in his mouth.
"Let's get you somewhere safe" Holding Olivia's brother from her hand, vennsea turned to leave.
But what she faced was a few knights standing at the doorstep.
"Who are you"
. . . . . . .
Clank! Clank!
The holy knight armour erupted a sound as the three knights got off from their horses' tops. Then, the sound continued with every step they took.
"Are you sure this is the place?"
Looking at the house that was poorly taken care of and had its door broken, Ardentist asked.
"I'm certain, sir."
"Proceed with caution then" Taking the lead, Ardentist walked to the house, and when he prepared to enter, he met Vennesa who was also stepping out to leave.
"Who are you"
Examining the way the figure dressed, Ardentist realised she dressed to be more agile.
In the same way, Vennesa also examined the Knights, and realising they were Holy Knights, she took a step back.
"The boy, he's the candidate"
Hearing the nearby Knights' warning, Ardentist got more sucpicioius; in fact, from the moment Saintess suddenly said she needed to gather the holy candidates soon, he had his doubts; something was wrong, and he had been prepared for everything.
"What is your purpose with that boy."
"I need answers to my questions"
The holy knights slowly encircled Vennesa, preventing her from escaping.
Vennese is truly being surrounded and she didn't know what to do except clash with them and run out.
While Vennesa is thinking, under her feet, her shadow wiggles and blends into the other shadows in the room.
In a carriage, Mordred is sitting in a corner while looking out from the window, the token of gratitude in his hand suddenly glowed.
"Hmm.."