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Generally, the city lord wouldn’t bother extending an invitation, even if they knew important people were visiting or passing through their city.

There were many nobles in the kingdom, not to mention the families and extended families of nobles. Simply said, there were a lot of people in the upper class.

Those that like to travel wouldn’t be small in number either.

If the lord had to meet every person of status every time they visited the city, the lord would be greatly inconvenienced.

As such, Linetta and Lillias were baffled to learn of Lord Helia’s invitation.

They would have understood if it was someone like their mother, a Marquis-rank noble, unlike them who have yet to contribute to the kingdom and receive peerage from the ruler.

“May I ask who you are? And why does Lord Helia want to see us?” Linetta asked politely before adding, “I believe someone like Lord Helia would be quite busy to extend an invitation to others visiting her city normally…”

“Oh my, I am deeply sorry, Lady Linette. Where were my manners? I am Yasmin, the head of the combat witches serving under Lord Helia,” the leading witch introduced herself.

Despite being a witch, she wore armor over her red dress like a knight and had a sword equipped at her waist.

Just by looking at Yasmin’s appearance, anyone can guess that she was a combat witch—one who fights with both magic and martial prowess.

“As for a reason behind Lord Helia’s invitation, I am not exactly sure what my Lady’s intentions are, but I do have a pretty good guess. We’ve recently received a request from the Delarosa Household to provide Lady Linette and Lillias with protection if you made it to our city.”

“Lord Helia must have something to talk to Lady Linette and Lady Lillias related to that,” Yasmin assumed.

“I see…” Linetta muttered before glancing at Vaan for a moment. Afterward, she asked Yasmin, “There won’t be any problem if I bring another person along, right?”

“By person, are you referring to this man, Lady Linette?” Yasmin sought Linetta’s confirmation after she briefly stared at Vaan.

“That’s right,” Linetta nodded.

“I am unable to confirm. Please allow me to check with Lord Helia,” Yasmin requested.

Shortly after, Yasmin summoned a flaming bird familiar and sent it to deliver a message to Lord Helia in her castle.

The flaming bird flew very quickly, disappearing into the distant castle in a short moment. A few breaths later, the flaming bird returned with Lord Helia’s message.

After Yasmin received Lord Helia’s permission through her flaming bird familiar, she nodded to Linetta.

“Lord Helia had permitted the man to tag along. Please follow me, Lady Linette and Lady Lillias. Lord Helia awaits you at her castle.”

“Alright.”

Before heading to Lord Helia’s castle, Linetta made arrangements for Captain Rhys and his escort group, giving them a time and location.

Afterward, she followed Yasmin with Vaan and Lillias.

…

…

…

Meanwhile, a group of five dark-cloaked figures hid in the ground on Hobgoblin’s Road at the midway point between Sunpeak Town and Redpine City.

The pathway was full of hills with steep downward and upward slopes.

To the east of Hobgoblin’s Road was the steep rocky wall of Red Goblin Mountain and to the west of Hobgoblin’s Road was a steep cliff leading to a dense forest below.

Unless one could fly or scale the mountain wall, there was only one way forward and one way backward.

Nevertheless, the dark-cloaked figures in hiding were all trained assassins from the Assembly of Silent Night.

Despite waiting until nighttime to ambush Linetta and the escort group, the assassins in hiding did not discover a single soul beside themselves.

Hobgoblin’s Road was a deserted road that not many people used.

“Black Crow, are you sure the information is correct?” one of the assassins inquired quietly.

“Absolutely! I interrogated the people myself. Do you think I would make a stupid mistake like misremembering the information?” Black Crow replied with a frown.

That being said, none of his facial features could be seen.

The assassins had their bodies completely wrapped up in black cloths from top to bottom under their dark cloaks. Only their unnatural yellow eyes weren’t covered, which would have obstructed their sight.

“Well, how do you explain the current situation? The target should have arrived some time ago, yet they are still not here. If your information isn’t false, then I don’t know what is,” the assassin criticized.

“The target’s party must have experienced delays on the road. The young idiots in the escort group have no sense of danger and responsibility. They drank a lot last night despite still being on the job,” Black Crow speculated.

“You are too impatient, Silver Horn. Just wait a little longer. The targets will definitely show up soon. I can’t be wrong.”

“Hmm, you spoke some sense. I suppose we can afford to wait a little longer,” Silver Horn thought before suddenly adding, “However, you will be held responsible for the mission’s failure if the target still doesn’t show up in the next two hours.”

Nevertheless, two hours quickly passed before Silver Horn snapped.

“Fuck! I knew your information was wrong, Black Crow. Not only did you get tricked by a brat, you even gave him all the money we made!”

“If none of them lied, then where the fuck are our targets? They are definitely aware of us going after them. There’s no way that they are taking their sweet time sightseeing on Hobgoblin’s Road despite being aware of that!”

“We’ve failed the mission. Our targets have most likely taken Goblin’s Road to Redpine City. We’ve been hoodwinked by a clever tactician,” a third assassin spoke.

“We haven’t failed the mission yet!” said a fourth assassin.

Unwillingness could be sensed in his tone as the fourth assassin continued, “If we hurry, we can still catch up to the targets at Redpine City or the next.”

“Fool! Redpine City’s security measures will immediately detect the abnormalities within our bodies the moment we step through their gates!” Black Crow barked angrily.

As much as Black Crow hated the current situation, entering Redpine City was too risky.