809 Chapter 809- Night of the Raid
While the adventurers discussed among themselves, sometimes saying stupid things that incited a laugh, Blake turned towards Cynthia and asked the question that everybody was missing.
"Your Highness, do you recognise the crest inscribed on the Air Eninge?"…
"It's the symbol of Duke Montford's" The latter nodded her head. "If it's their ship, it must mean that they are here".
It was not a good sign that the Duke's Air Engine was found here. After all, if his transport was here, it meant that the person himself was also…
"Duke Montford and the first prince are still inside Castledor. I have received a report this morning that the duke's exclusive Air Engine was stolen in the darkness of the night this morning" as if reading everyone's thoughts, Annette stated.
The report that she gave everyone was not false, in fact, it was entirely true just that she omitted a few important points from the report.
So that was the case, everyone nodded their head. At least one mystery was solved, that said even though the duke himself or the prince was not on board, it still remained unknown who stole the Air Engine and why did they bring it here.
"I leave the others in charge of finding any clues as to who were the people on board. Blake, you and your group will make sure the Air Engine is ready to sail again. Since they abandoned it, I shall very well put it to work again"
Cynthia handed out orders. As someone who knew the truth of the matter and still acted oblivious, she didn't want to waste much time searching after ghosts. As such, she gave the job to the other people and tasked Blake and the others with things that were more important right now.
Although Blake had some questions and wanted to still investigate the people who arrived with this Air Engine, he nevertheless carried the orders that were given to him.
The other adventurers also did the same and carefully carried out their tasks. Soon the entire place was thoroughly scanned and not even a single trace of the people who arrived here with the Air Engine could be found, leading the adventurers to believe that they either perished fighting each other or were far away from here.
The latter being the case was unlikely which meant the former had to be the case, given the scene of devastation that they had all witnessed just a few moments ago.
"Hmm, did those people really perish fighting among themselves? In that case, why did they even come here?"
Blake mused, sitting inside the cabin of the Air Engine. Since according to Wyot the airship was perfectly fine to take flight again, he had been going around searching the place for any clues that could give him information about the people on board.
"Give up Blake, stop trying to do something that Her Highness barred you from" While he was deep in thought, Woyt approached him and tapped his shoulder.
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"What do you mean barred me from?" Her Highness gave him the task to get the Air Engine ready not barred him from doing anything.
"Do you really think that? If so then let me ask, why did Her Highness give you the task to examine the Air Engine when I have already inspected it?" Wyot questioned.
"Isn't it because she wants to use the Air Engine? Sieging Castledor city would become much easier if we used the Air Engine to drop some of our elite adventurers inside the city continuously" Blake answered after thinking for a while.
"You are right, however, do you think she would put some of her best men into manning the Air Engine when there might be far greater danger like for example our plan leaking to the enemy, or the people who fought here were perhaps after her life? Do you really think the princess we know would take such risks?" Wyot continued to explain what he thought.
"Do you want to know what I think? My guess is that the reason why she is so composed about all of this is because she already knows what happened here"…
"What?!! That can't be…" At those words, Blake reacted with surprise. There is no way the princess would hide such a crucial information from them.
"It's not impossible if you think about it. From the moment we met Her Highness to till now, all the greatest obstacles in our path seem to magically disappear. It was the same case back in the tower town when we went inside the hideout of the criminal organisation and even now. I believe that the reason why Her Highness is not talking about it and instead giving us some other tasks to occupy us is because it involves those people".
It was clear to Blake who Wyot meant by those people. That's right it made sense now that he highlighted it. If it were those people, he wouldn't put it beyond them to instantly take care of any people or pursuers who might be after Her Highness.
Perhaps, it was really as Wyot said, the people who were on board this ship were after her highness and the devastation around the area was the result of a fierce battle between her highness' force and the enemies.
If so, it was understandable why she couldn't talk about it and instead was diverting their attention into doing something that might look less important than searching for the clues around.
It was because the other adventurers were searching for ghosts, people who no longer existed. The ones who came down with this air engine were already taken care of and no matter how much the adventurers searched the place, they won't be able to find anything.
"I see" Blake nodded his head in understanding. Sometimes he forgets because Wyot always acts goofy; however, the latter had a pretty good head on his shoulders.
Not far away from them, standing behind a wall was a pretty woman with long black hair and pale skin. She had a gloomy atmosphere surrounding her and always acted apprehensive and anxious.
Who could the woman be other than Emma? At this moment, her eyes which were covered by her long bangs looked at the conversing Blake and Woyt before she left silently. The two who did not even sense her presence were unaware that they narrowly dodged a bullet.
A while later, Cynthia and her forces gathered near the air engine. She stood in front, while a black haired beauty with a spectacle sitting on her nose, followed a step behind her.
"How goes the investigation? Were you able to find anything relevant?" She addressed the adventurers.
The ones who were tasked with investigating the place shook their heads. They had been at it for over a couple of hours now. Yet no matter how much they searched or tracked any trails they found, they couldn't find the people who were the cause of the disturbance nor any trace. It was almost as if they all perished in the battle.
"I see, if we can't find any clues, then it cannot be helped. We will proceed as per plan. The group will march straight through the forest. Blake you and your team will be responsible for manning the air engine. Take a few mages and tie a few wagons to the Air engine to carry them ahead"
"We will use this strategy to increase our speed. As some of you mentioned before this is a raid, and speed is of essence. If we can use the Air engine to increase our speed, we will do so. All the others will march like usual".
With Cynthia's instructions, the group started trudging forward. With the aid of the Air Engine carrying the wagons back and forth, the journey which should have taken one month was cut short into just one week.
And thus, one week later, standing between the borders of the Northern Outlaw Forest and the Castledor city, the raid team laid their eyes on their objective. Fortified by tall and sturdy looking walls and ramparts, the city in the distance was worthy of its name, Castledor City.
Its walls that stood since the time of its founding had repelled swarms of monsters coming off from the northern outlaw forest numerous times and looked the very definition of impenetrable.
On top of the walls, one could even see the ancient magic cannons whose technology had long since become outdated. These magic cannons which needed more than five people to operate it, can even penetrate through the toughest defence of monsters around level 200.
Other than that there was also numerous barracks and embrasures that could be seen around the wall. No matter who it was or how many times they looked at the city, they would no doubt be impressed every time by its sheer grandeur and imposing look.
A long stretching highway that spanned across the ground like the roots of a tree, connected the city to various parts of the dukedom. One such road connected the city to the Northern Outlaw Forest.
Though since this road that connected the dukedom to the rest of the northwestern region of the kingdom such as the city of Mountend, Morgress and all, it had been blocked on orders of his royal highness, the first prince, Alstin Ellesmere.
The road which hadn't had any visitors for months now, was covered with moss and wild grass. If a merchant who was used to travelling regularly from the north westen part of the kingdom to the city saw this, they would never be able to guess that it was the highway that connected the two regions.
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