It's been eleven hours since Marcus rescued the captives from the grasp of the cult.
He faced scrutiny and reproach from the forces invited to join the expedition against the cult.
The meeting was long and annoying.
Many of them continued to demand an explanation even after Marcus had given them a doctored version of how he had his men investigate further and they came upon the underground structure.
Quite a few nobles from powerful factions scolded him for acting alone. If they had gone together, they would have been able to save more captives.
But Marcus wasn't fooled by their act. He was quite certain that what they wanted was the merit.
And if it was that, then they were just men sent to control the outcome for the kingdom.
Since he understood that the Kingdom had forfeited Agard, Marcus also considered the possibility of other nobles being in support of the decision.
This was another reason why he began believing that he had made the wrong choice when picking from the options given to him by the Edge of Death.
Baron Tribel, scion of a Marquis from the North-Central region of Ulha.
He slapped the table, rattling the contents of the table.
"Viscount Marcus, you fail to see the misdeed in your actions. Don't you realize that you have alerted the cultists? Last night would have been the perfect time for all of us to act. Perhaps we would have eliminated all of them already and be done with this!"
Marcus barely spared the man as much as a glance.
Tridel was one of the first nobles to die in his previous life. Unlike his bravado, he was an opportunist who tried to claim other people's victories.
"It wouldn't have been that easy. Not everybody here is as brave as we believe." Marcus replied. Only for him to start wondering why he had entertained a response to Tridel.
"How do you know that?"
"You acted alone and now you're trying to hide from the consequences of your actions with such an excuse?" Knight Gall said.
"If this had been coordinated, the outcome might have been more favorable."
"Some of us prefer efficiency over impulsiveness."
Two nobles spoke after another, earning themselves a glare from Marcus.
His gaze brought a heavy pressure on their minds, causing them to frown and clench their fists.
"I understand your complaints and annoyance, but I am not to be insulted. Don't let it happen again." Marcus shifted his gaze and the pressure vanished as though it had never been there.
The nobles felt as if cold water had been splashed on them. They held their tongues while pretending as though nothing had happened.
"Now, now. Let's all try to calm down." Zach interjected, wearing a slight smile on his face. "We can't keep on talking about what has passed. We need to plan for the future, especially now that we know a bit more about what we will have to do."
"We made plans before. He chose not to follow the plan." Tribel pointed at Marcus.
"This is his territory, after all," Zach added as he tried to calm the Baron down.
Marcus ignored all of this and turned his gaze to the silent Eddy.
This young man looked like he hadn't slept in a while, and had his guard up. His eyes were a bit red and his fingers trembled occasionally.
Eddy had hardly been attentive since coming here.
Being caught off guard got you in trouble, huh? No one seemed to have noticed that Marcus was glaring at the young man.
Time passed and they discussed future plans and specifically told Marcus not to act on his own again.
At the end, they decided to attack several locations where the stronger Devilish Intents were sensed and agreed to move that night.
Marcus refused to join them, claiming that he was too tired.
Without much complaint, he was left to take care of his worries.
…
Two days later.
The evening was a bit lively, contrary to what Marcus expected.
The moon was nowhere to be seen, leaving the stars to dot the sky as they pleased.
Voices of people laughing could be heard. They were playing around as though everything Marcus said two days ago didn't reach their ears.
It was as if they had forgotten to be afraid.
Though he had to give the people of Agard credit. Perhaps because they suffered a lot, they were able to smile past the fear and pain.
Bradley was expected to return tonight with the things he was sent to purchase. Almost half of Marcus's knights had escorted the man on his journey.
As for Marcus, he had another mission in mind for tonight.
Cassir Mayores.
To the best of Marcus's knowledge, this was a man who rose from the bottom by himself.
The man got rich by running gambling dens in Agard. Then he slowly expanded, investing his wealth into diverse businesses.
Many would even say that he was amongst the richest in Agard. Hoping to follow in his footsteps.
But Marcus knew that the man wasn't as innocent. According to Baron Savani, the man was into illegal slave trade.
He would kidnap normal commoners, torture them, and then sell them as slaves in another city.
It was also rumored that the torture grounds were in his mansion.
…
When the voices of the people began to settle, Marcus and his knights were already on the move.
This time, he only selected four others to go with him. Brown, Logail, Mercidin, and Caleb.
His gauntlet prototypes were tightly fitted on his hands. They glistened slightly as they moved rapidly with his hands.
By the time it was midnight, they had silently entered the Eastern District and were hiding in an alley close enough to spy on the gate of Cassir's residence.
"Remember what I taught you. Stay low, be as quiet as you can when you kill. Those students and their entourage are busy fighting the cultists tonight too, so many people will have their attention there tonight."
His knights nodded. Even without Marcus saying this, they understood this much.
"Cassir Mayores might also be a cultist, a higher-ranked cultist. So be ready to face the unexpected. If we can, we need to capture him, if we can't, we kill!"
Marcus's last statement spewed so much killing intent that the words engraved themselves into the knights' minds.
With that being said, they moved, climbing onto the rooftop closest to them.
They waited until the patrolling guards turned around before they soared into the sky and over the tall brick fence of Cassir's residence.
Thud!
Their feet landed lightly on the ground.
Immediately, Caleb and Mercidin charged forward. One moved like a ghost, unsheathing his sword.
He struck with aim, slicing two heads off their shoulders.
And on the side, Mercidin was too fast for the patrolling guards to react.
By the time the sound of unsheathing his sword reached their ears, segments of their bodies were already dismembered.
Marcus stared at the lifeless bodies with an icy gaze.
He felt a bit of pity for these guards. They were only doing their jobs and getting paid to do it.
But that was the problem, their job was to alert the residents to intruders and to keep intruders like him away.
"Let's continue." He moved his legs, silently leaving the area.