With our mansion looking as if it's just been through a forest fire, we quickly entered the estate, opening the gate ourselves, noting the lack of guards. Once we stepped inside, we came face-to-face with the true sight of our damaged mansion, our vision no longer hindered by stone walls.
Roughly a third of the mansion was badly scorched, and if the outside looked like this, I couldn't even imagine the inside; to make things worse, the outside was soaked in dried blood. "Tch, Yuki, Vanye, secure the perimeter, Talis take the skies." Pointing left, right, and up, Vanye, Yuki, and Talis took to their respective paths, securing the perimeter of our mansion, while I headed to the entrance.
Grabbing Zartha from my body, I was about to kick the door down, though, before I could, it was opened as Mavis stepped outside. "The estate is secure, Alex." Briefly glancing at me, Mavis looked at her nails, causing me to frown as I gestured to Vanye, Yuki, and Talis to return.
"What happened? What's with all the blood?" "Assassins attacked…" When she spoke, my heart dropped as I widened my eyes, looking at the bloody front yard. "... As for the blood, it is my own." "Oh, thank goodness." "Oh, I wouldn't act so relieved yet… Follow." At Mavis's words, which caused me to deeply frown, she turned and walked off, causing me to absorb Zartha into my body while we followed her.
"It smells strongly of blood and burnt wood." Talis scrunched her face as she sniffed the air while I, and everyone else, nodded in agreement, our expressions worsening. We followed Mavis down into the burnt section of the mansion, which was still holding firm as dwarven craft was incredibly durable.
Though while the mansion itself was still holding strong, as we headed further, we came across blood splattered over the floors, walls, and even the ceiling, before eventually bodies came into sight, sprawled over the floors.
"Fucker, who dared to do this?" Growling, Yuki glared at the bodies of the guards I'd employed to protect this estate; seeing them sprawled across the ground, still in their armor, their eyes wide, I gritted my teeth but remained calm. While their deaths angered me, they were guards; they had knowingly signed up for this job, so as we stepped over and walked past their bodies, I kept a level head, though with each body we saw, it only made me angrier.
"We've passed 15 bodies on the first floor." Lazuli spoke as we reached the staircase, having counted the guards still lying on the ground. "Just the first floor, huh?" Heaving a sigh, I brushed my hair back as we silently followed Mavis up the stairs, our footsteps creaking against the scorched steps.
"Ugh." "You okay, Yuki?" As Jasmine tried to help Yuki, who had fallen through one of the steps, she stopped her before grabbing the stairs, prying the whole first flight of stairs from the wall, before throwing it out the window, sending it crashing into the stone wall. "I-I'm fine, Jasmine." Using an earth pillar to lift her up, Yuki joined us on the second floor, which was far worse than the first floor.
The bodies were more closely piled together; it was evident they wanted this to be the final stand. Unfortunately, it was their last stand. However, once we passed the corpses of guards, I stopped as we were met with the corpses of our servants, a sight that thoroughly enraged me.
The guards were basically paid for their lives; they knew what they were doing when I employed them, and they knew what the consequences could be… However, the servants didn't.
"Mavis. You said it was assassins?" Clenching my fists, I looked at Mavis, furious, while she nodded. "Then why… Why did they kill civilians?" Mavis gave me a look before shrugging her shoulders. "How am I supposed to know? I didn't interrogate them; that is your job." "I see. So you captured them? Good. Good."
Walking past the corpses of servants, glancing at each one, remembering their faces, I then came to a stop as I saw Jackal, on his knees with a sword through his chest. Seeing the sight of Jackal, one of my longest friends, someone who I'd even go so far as to say mentored me about what it meant to be an adventurer, dead on his knees, nearly made me lash out, but, somehow, in a way that shocked even myself, I remained calm.
"Assassins aiming for my life when I'm not present… Were they after Michelle and Chloe?" I stared at Jackal for a long time before glancing up at Mavis, who raised an eyebrow before nodding, causing me to just stand there while the others lashed out.
"What!? After Michelle and Chloe!?" "Who the fuck were they!?" "Fucking bastards!" "They dare try to harm my kin!? Unacceptable!" "May I torture these Assassins?" "I'll kill them! I'll fucking kill them all!"
As my wives and Talis furiously lashed out at one of their own being targeted, I approached Mavis, gently grabbing her shoulders while looking at her. "We will discuss this once everything is settled." "Sure. Though I demand an extra vacation day, mine was interrupted." Nodding, I glanced at Lazuli. "How many have died, Lazuli?" "First floor had 15 corpses, second floor had 30, separated into 20 guards and 10 servants. Amounting to a total of 45 corpses."
Listening to her, I nodded; in total, I've hired about forty guards, so among them, only five were alive, no, I shouldn't say that, they could still be dead. As for servants, we had about one hundred in total, but only fifty worked at once, so we'd lost about a tenth of them.
"Where are Michelle and Chloe?" "In your room." Sharply turning, I headed to my room; when I arrived, Michelle and Chloe were unconscious and tied up, with multiple bruises, though they were alive. Relieved, I used Zartha to cut the rope before cutting my wrist, feeding them some of my blood, causing their bruises to heal and vanish.
Lying them properly on my bed, I stood up and removed my armor, letting it drop to the ground while I closed my eyes, just taking a moment to try and keep my cool. I felt like I was about to lash out; I just needed the slightest thing to happen: a hair getting into my eye, misspeaking a word, the wind blowing a bit too much. Any of those would've pushed me over the edge.
When I finally felt like I had the smallest grasp on my composure, I opened my eyes and exited my room, where the others were still furious. "Vanye, go check on your brother and Jackal's family. Lazuli and Yuki, please go explain the situation to the remaining servants. Jasmine, visit the infirmary; anyone wounded should be there."
As they went off to do their assignment, Talis stayed with me; I would carry the bodies outside, while she would carry them to the back. With the two of us working together, we moved through the bodies relatively swiftly; though when I went to grab the last two corpses on the second floor, Kurina, Jackal's wife, came running past me, heading to Jackal's body with her sons quickly following.
Listening to their sobbing didn't help my mind whatsoever; it only made me feel worse as I set down the last two bodies outside, letting Talis take them before I headed back, where the three were surrounding Jackal.
"Kurina, Canzer, Rancor… I need to take him." "NO! HE STAYS WITH ME! HE'S MY HUSBAND!" Kurina shouted at me while hugging Jackal, causing me to sigh as I proceeded to gently pry her from Jackal's body before lifting him up, leaving her to sob into her own hands.
"I know what it's like to lose someone close, Canzer, but with Jackal gone, you're the man of the house… Comfort your mother." Glancing at Canzer, hatred, fury, and sadness masked his face as he looked at me before wiping his tears and hugging Kurina.
Leaving them to grieve, I walked off, heading to the first floor, setting Jackal down outside while Talis took him. "Who do you think attacked, Alex?" "Don't know. Don't care. They'll be dead soon enough." Rubbing my bloody hands onto my shirt, I glanced at Talis before shifting my focus to the bodies on the first floor, needing only a few minutes for them to be taken care of.
The house was clear of bodies; I glanced over at Yuki, who was walking in circles, her fist constantly opening and closing. "Yuki, be a dear and destroy the burned part." "Yeah." Usually, asking Yuki to destroy something would get her all excited, but I could tell she just needed to let off some steam.
As Yuki proceeded to destroy the burnt sections of the mansion with just her fists, I looked at Mavis, who was sitting down, entirely indifferent to the whole situation. "Mavis. Where are the assassins?" "In the cells in the basement." With a nod, I used [Teleport] to teleport into the basement jail.