"How are you feeling, Fang…" Laura's eyes stared at the man who, until now, had spent much of the time resting.
"Fine, considering that our entire band got imprisoned." He frowned as his eyes wandered around the prison.
Laura nodded, "It was unfortunate… but at least some of us are alive!"
"I suppose you are right; however, I have lost many good men, and we lost the reward." His fists clenched.
The final job was supposed to let him retire at long last, yet he woke up as a prisoner of the elves.
Yet according to Laura, they were not captured by any elves, but by entities so terrifying that even seeing them would make him shudder.
Most likely an exaggeration.
However, despite his current situation, he would not allow himself to wallow in despair; it did not mean that anger did not threaten to boil over. He was betrayed by his own client; it was unacceptable.
Yet Laura had told him that the so-called observer had been killed by the same elf that seemed to scare her so much; if someone is capable of scaring Laura, that means.
A grin formed on his face; it seemed that this disaster was not as disastrous as he thought.
"Laura, I am going out to scout. This is an unknown land, and I will be damned if I am left blind." With those words, the shadows around him twisted.
Before Laura could even react, the Golden Fang had disappeared.
"Please be safe…"
The shadows pooled and twisted as Golden Fang materialized just outside the cell. It was a feeble attempt to imprison someone like him; however, they were fortunate that he had decided to play nice.
He had lost too much to make new enemies by breaking their building.
The prison where his men were situated was rather flawed, the guards were scarce, and the cells were made of mere iron. No wonder Red Dawn considers them lesser.
Fang had understood that he was in the city of Onost, an Elven capital. It was supposed to be the center of their power, yet their prison was made of paper.
They were located at the deepest floor, and on both sides were the same flimsy cells, and on each side were normal non-magical torches.
Tragic, they don't even have escape warning systems.
[Shadowmeld], his presence disappeared as he weaved through the final guards and toward the heavy iron door.
The elven duo was oblivious, yet he wished to avoid hurting them if possible. There was no benefit in hurting them, especially now. While concealed, he approached the door, and his body dissolved.
Even if a small crack existed, someone who was a master of shadows would be able to slip through.
In the blink of an eye, he appeared on the other side of secure doors.
In front of him was another hallway, similar to what he had seen before, but it did not matter to him. He rushed ahead and climbed to the surface. Pathetic.
He scoffed as he made his way out of the building and into the stone streets of Onost.
The moon hung above his head, and many citizens retired for the night. Wonderful. He slowly walked down the street. The first goal of business was to learn the layout of the city in case he and his men needed to fight their way toward Red Dawn.
However, he was clueless when it came to the geography of the elven kingdom; the most he knew was that it was situated south of the ebon forest. It was woefully little compared to what he wanted.
Can we even return to Red Dawn? That traitor was surely affiliated with the upper echelons. He would never lose against anyone but someone who had vastly more power and skill.
He was not stupid enough to believe that Red Dawn was ever friendly to his mercenary band.
However, he did believe the business could be conducted. Anyone who had money could hire his band, and yet his most valuable client had betrayed and almost cost him everything. If it weren't for Laura, they all would have been slaves of the so-called 'Observer'.
She did well; I was right to trust her.
Initially, he had thought that making her a Petal was not the wisest move, yet now she had solidified as someone loyal and willing to do anything for the Golden Rose.
His gait slowed down to a crawl, and his eyes scanned his surroundings. The buildings seemed to be decorated, and the city itself lacked guards. "So lax, my expectations were low and they still disappoint…" He sighed.
If he wished, then even what remained of Golden Rose could raze the city of Onost to the ground, yet he knew better than to think they were defenseless. They had at least one elven hero who was capable of crushing the observer and, in extension, him.
Yet, one man or woman was not enough to protect their home; they needed a powerful army, people willing to work and fight in the same fervor they did.
His fist clenched as he stared down, alone, even I am weak.
A small chuckle escaped his lips. He had spent decades building Golden Rose, and now it was in shambles because he was naive enough to trust the Observer.
He wanted to meet the person who had defeated the traitor. His thoughts flashed to the events when he was under the control of the Observer; he remembered pushing a dagger into the throat of Laura and fighting a white haired elf.
Yet not much else came to him; he was blind until Laura had told him about Aqua, who was the reason the traitor had been dealt with.
Perhaps one of them would be worthy to be the inheritor of the techniques of the shadows.
Never in my life would I have thought that I would be saved by an elf. He shook his head as he stared at the moon.
"Perhaps Lady Len will bless me once more. Maybe I can be Shadow Fang once again." It had been so long since he had trained at the Temple of 1st Moon; his strength was leaving him with each passing moment, and the lack of a worthy successor pained him.
Let's see what our 'captors' had in mind. Fang did not intend to escape. Once his scouting was over, he would return to his men and wait for the person who saved his band to appear.
It does feel like they have forgotten us; it's been over a week now. His tongue clicked; if they had been forgotten, it would have been rather unfortunate, after all, he had started to look forward to meeting someone who would be worthy to be bestowed the techniques taught to him by Lady Ilya.
The shadows coalesced beneath him, and suddenly he jumped on top of a building. The city's layout was simple and not strategically built; however, it did not mean it was hopeless. The walls were decent, and if the capital was situated in a strategic point, they would have been safe.
"This is enough. Now, elven lady, do not keep me waiting for too long, I want to get something for losing so many men." He cracked his knuckles as he dispersed in a pool of shadows.
The scenery around him changed as he found himself in front of Laura, who stared at him with teary eyes. "Did you think I would abandon you?"
She nodded.
"Perish the thought, I have goals, and I always want to maximize the good for the Golden Rose even when a disaster like recent events happens." He crossed his arms and turned toward the cell's door. "Though I suspect the elves are in a great deal of trouble, and that is excluding Red Dawn's treatment of their people."
"How so, Lord Fang?"
"Their city is unguarded, and even the prison's security is lax. If we wanted, even with the small remains of Golden Rose's attack force, we could do unimaginable damage."
"But…" Her eyes widened as the comment took her aback.
He raised his hand, "I understand that people like Aqua you spoke about exist, but one or two powerful entities are not enough to protect vast territories. What if that entity was distracted by a large attack and, in her absence, this city was invaded?"
Laura went silent.
He tapped his foot on the floor. "They lack manpower, which means they are either stupid or are fighting a war somewhere, a war that they are losing badly as they left their capital so woefully weakened."
"And that means…" Laura rubbed her chin.
"I know what you are thinking, and from what I saw from the elven guard we attacked. Their soldiers are ill-equipped to fight at all. Even the weakest of our thorns put them to shame. If the Argus did not appear, then we would have suffered no losses despite those troops being elite by the elven standard."
He let his arms fall to his side as he approached a wall and slowly slid down. "No use thinking about it, let's wait and see. If they do not tell us anything until tomorrow, we are leaving."