When the carriage returned to Lord Fujioka's building, he was already waiting there.
"Where to?"
Asked the coachman
"Take a break, all I need is one horse."
Said Lord Fujioka.
The coachman detached one of the horses from the carriage and Lord Fujioka saddled it up.
He got on it and rode to the closet gate, that being the east gate.
He rode his horse for a while, crossing mountainous terrain until he reached a small cabin in the woods.
He stepped off of his horse and tied its rope around a tree.
He then walked up to the door and knocked.
There was not even a sound before it eventually opened, revealing a woman in her 40s.
She had a dark and elegant aesthetic with medium-length, layered hair that's mainly black with purple highlights, styled in a slightly messy, windswept way.
Her eyes were a striking violet colour.
The outfit she wore was a long, fitted white dress under which was a black layer that covered her entire body neck down.
"Why hello, Mister Fujioka. You've aged like fine wine."
She said.
"I am not in the mood for your flirting. Can I step inside?"
The woman stepped aside, signalling for him to do so.
Once Lord Fujioka was inside, he had a look around.
"I love what you have done with the place."
"Quiet, you. It's the same old cabin."
The woman responded to Lord Fujioka's sarcastic remark.
"You stand out like a sore thumb in that dress."
"Courtesy of a mage. Not that you common folk would understand. Why are you here?"
The woman asked.
"There has been an assassination attempt to kill the king. Do you know anything about it?"
"Why should I be concerned with your stupid conflicts?"
Asked the mage.
"Could it be some kind of group?"
Asked Lord Fujioka.
"I don't know about any groups."
Silence filled the cabin as Lord Fujioka thought for a moment.
Since I'm already here…
"And could it be a mage?"
He asked.
"I also don't know that. The number of mages living in secret has only been on the rise. It's as if mages seek out each other to have kids. This has led to me knowing less and less mages in the area."
"Is that a problem? If there are too many, living in secret won't be possible."
Asked Lord Fujioka.
"Some mages could rally people and might even be treated as gods by them, causing all sorts of trouble."
"And when could that happen? Truth be told, I don't even know if the king is alive."
Said Lord Fujioka, sitting down in a nearby chair.
"I do not have a crystal ball telling me the future. This isn't some fairy tale. And didn't you say there was an assassination attempt? You made it sound like the king survived."
"If I had any means of confirming it, I would. I can't just walk into the king's castle and ask where he was at the time of the attempt."
"Is that all you came here for?"
Asked the woman.
"What's the future of mages in your eyes? All around the world."
Asked Lord Fujioka
"I cannot say. Mages have a lot of uses. Construction, farming, war, technological advancements and so on. But that all depends on the philosophy of magic when it becomes accepted into society. Also, it's probable that mages seek out other mages to have children with, so they don't have to hide their powers as often and can teach their kids magic."
"Yes, you said that already."
"You seem to have a lot of stress pent up."
Said the mage.
"With everything that is going on I can't say I sleep well at night…Do you happen to know about the…monsters of legend coming to life?"
"Yes, but sadly I know nothing about the situation, where they come from or when the next species will be seen."
Said the mage.
"Mages, monsters and now assassins. All at once. Thanks for worsening my worries."
Said Lord Fujioka as he stood up and walked over to the door.
"No goodbye?"
Asked the mage.
"Goodbye, Kageyama."
Before he could leave, the mage called out.
"Wait, spend a little more time with me. I don't get a lot of people here, you know?"
Said the mage in a softer tone.
"...Do you have some booze?"
He asked.
"All you can dream of."
Said the mage with a smirk.
The sun had already set as Lord Fujioka and Yoruha Kageyama were in the same bed, naked and ready to sleep.
"Just like the old times when we used to date. Can't believe I fell for a man who was 20 years older than me."
Said the mage.
"Really? We broke up over 15 years ago."
Said Lord Fujioka.
"I'm just remembering the old times. You still got that fire in you, same as over a decade ago."
Even though he had his back turned towards her, he knew she had a smirk on her face.
"Goodnight."
He said.
"Goodnight to you too."
At the same time Reiji made it into the village.
He took his sweet time getting there, since he should've arrived just before sundown.
It was a small village consisting of one road and on each side a row of houses.
Reiji walked up to the first house and knocked…nothing.
He went down one row of houses until halfway down he encountered an open door.
When he walked up the stairs his boot stepped on something soft.
He looked down and saw it was the upper half of a person that was either cut or torn in half.
Reiji looked at the door, goosebumps covering his body.
His senses went into laser focus as walked through the door, hearing a weird wheezing sound coupled with something else to his right.
There was also a faint glow from beyond the corner.
He took a few, quiet steps and turned the corner to his right.
He saw a figure eating someone. That someone was still alive, barely.
It was holding a candle in one hand and an infant in the other.
When the infant started crying as loud as it could, the figure put down the candle and grabbed the infant's head, giving it a few good twists before it popped off.
Reiji stepped out of the shadows. He was far beyond angry.
He should've stepped in but what if he would die? Now an innocent life was taken because of his hesitation.
"Hey, dumbass, you're dead."
Said Reiji.
The figure got up, picking up its candle and dropping the baby's body.
It then turned to Reiji.
The figure appeared humanoid, wearing an old-fashioned, loose nightgown and what looked like a bag with a hole acting like a hoodie. Both were drenched in blood.
The most disturbing feature was the face.
The face was an unnatural, pitch-black void with rough, almost smeared texture.
It had two wide, glowing eyes and an exaggerated, stretched grin full of glowing teeth.
Its entire mouth was glowing and from the looks of it, its mouth was lined with glowing teeth that went all the way down to its throat.
"Which…noble…sent…you?"
The thing asked with a very unpleasant voice, still having that grin.