Haru sat in silence in his throne room. The silence tortured him. It was the same silence that taunted him years ago. Though he may have recovered from the losses he had suffered, the memory would always be there. That unholy night will forever stick in his mind. His breathing became more frequent and panicked. He began to sweat profusely as his panicked state began to grow. But a slam of the door interrupts his moment of anxiety.
"Sire! I have come with a message from the Hospitaliers!" the messenger announced with a scroll.
"Well, what is the message?" Haru asked, quickly calming down.
"The Hospitaliers have successfully taken the first few villages outside of the city. And they have found one of the shield-princesses!"
"Is that so?" Haru asked, clearly surprised. "Where is she?"
"Hospitalier escorts will have her over shortly." the messenger said before bringing out another scroll. "I also bring information that the scouts have returned."
"I trust that the collaboration with the Beastpeople has been successful?"
Meanwhile…
The spy was clearly tired as he trekked through the forest. He seemed to be carrying something heavy as sweat poured down his brow. He then feels uncomfortable and shouts behind him.
"Quit fidgeting! You're making it hard for me to carry you!" he chided to a girl on his back.
The spy was actually carrying a rabbit girl on his back, it seemed that she was chosen to be his partner for the scouting missions. He thought that their advanced senses would be of much help, but now he was having second thoughts.
"B-But there might be spiders and creepy crawlies around!" the rabbit girl quivered.
"Isn't that why I'm carrying you?" the spy asked exasperatedly.
"B-But they might come from above!"
"If you don't stop squirming, I'll be tempted to leave you here alone!" the spy threatened.
"No! No!" the rabbit girl panicked as she then held tightly onto the spy. "Please! I'll stop fidgeting!"
The spy was being choked by the rabbit girl's panicked embrace.
"… How about… you stop hugging… me so… tightly…"
"Sorry!" The rabbit girl said while letting go abruptly, causing her to lose balance and fall over.
The spy sighed as he looked down on the poor timid girl.
"What am I supposed to do with you?"
Celestine suddenly got a headache as she massaged her forehead. Alicia and Rias clearly saw her distress and became concerned. Celestine tries to stand up but collapses nearby, causing Alicia to stand up from her chair.
"Goddess! Are you okay?" Alicia asked while rushing to Celestine's aid.
"I-I'm fine… I'm just having a vision…"
"A vision?" Rias asked.
"Celestine has the power of seeing into the future. But the gods seemed to have an urgent message if it's one of this magnitude."
"What is it?"
"I see… I see Maia, being escorted by the knights into the kingdom."
"Maia!? They found her!?" Alicia expressed in shock.
"Maia?"
"One of the shield-princesses. We never heard from her after her kingdom fell." Alicia said before turning to Celestine. "Is it true?"
"Yes, the visions never lie. But it seems her mind has been broken, and they are taking her to the castle infirmary for healing."
"Then what are we waiting for, let's go!" Alicia hurried as she tried to help up Celestine.
"No… There's something else…" Celestine said while closing her eyes and concentrating, before she reopened them, wearing a face of horror as she turned to Rias. "Lady Rias, we must get to the Duke at once."
"Why?" Rias asked, confused at all the commotion.
"Because your knights are in grave danger."
Rene ran through the dark forest, with the monsters hot on his trail. They were waiting for him, he should have known. He had to escape, but these monsters wouldn't let him. His helmet and body were stained with blood and there was a sound of heavy breathing from his helmet. The situation was getting dire and Rene was getting even more desperate. A stray ogre wanders onto his path and tries to whack him.
Rene blocks with his shield, but the ogre kicks his shield, sending Rene back. Rene quickly recovers and charges back in. He slices the ogre's stomach and kicks him to stun him. While the ogre was stunned, Rene threw his sword in the air and caught it by the blade, holding it through mordhau. He uses the crossguard of his blade to pull the ogre's head closer to him, before going ahead and bashed the ogre. The ogre falls dead, while Rene turns to see himself surrounded by smaller goblins, clumping up together as they ganged up on him.
One goblin lunges at Rene who stabs it midair, before raising his shield to block another attack by another monster, before bashing that monster away. He shakes off a goblin biting his leg and stomps down on it. He proceeds to elbow a monster sneaking up behind him and then uppercuts his sword to stab another wolf-like monster attempting to scratch him.
Rene took a moment to breathe while the monsters hesitated to attack. The smaller monsters couldn't hurt him with their claws and teeth, it was only the ogres he had to worry about. But he had to make sure that none of them could get his armor off or else it would be over.
Rene glances around to see that he was surrounded. Black Dogs and monsters everywhere. The mercs were hanging back to let the monsters do their job, and they seemed rather smug that Rene was running out of options, but spotted an abandoned mine in the distance.
"Maybe if I run in there, I'll be safe from them. There may be a risk of a dead end, but it's all I have."
Rene then looked through the crowd, seeing that he would have to fight too many monsters to break through.
"But how will I break through… Wait, I still have something that can help."
Rene then took out a blue glass bottle with a cloth stuffed over it. The mercenaries laughed at this and taunted.
"Looks like he wants a drink before he dies!"
"Eh, let him have it! It's useless anyway!"
Rene then recalled what this strange item was. He recalled the time an industrious, young priest wanted to ask a favor from him.
"Monsieur Rene!"
Rene turned around to see a young man with a tonsure run up to him. He had to entertain the main, because of course, he was a priest and he needed to give his respect to the men of God. And he took a particular liking to this young man.
"Yes, Mon Père? What is it this time?"
"I wish for you to try this new improved incendiarius I have made!" the young priest said while handing Rene a blue bottle stuffed with a cloth.
"How will this incendiarius work? It looks too simple to operate!"
"Just light it with your torch and throw it at the enemy! That liquid inside is the same liquid used for Greek fire, so do not let it break!"
Rene felt inclined not to use such a dangerous item, but he felt like it would save his life someday. He carefully places it in a secure area on his belt.
"I'll make sure to give you back the results Monsieur l ' Abb é ."
"I have a good feeling about this one, trust me and God on this."
Rene wasn't one to indulge in one's requests, but the young priest showed promise in creating something game-changing. Rene had always seen a promising future in the new field of science that has been becoming prominent. Each innovation was a step closer to being truly like God.
Rene takes off his torch and gets ready to light it. He turns once again to his desired path of escape. He lights the bottle and throws the improvised explosive at the crowd of monsters. As soon as the bottle broke, all Hell broke loose. The bottle exploded in to a huge blaze that immediately scorched any poor soul within its vicinity, leaving wails and cries of agony. All of Rene's opponents immediately took a step back in fear as Rene saw his chance to make a break for it. Rene immediately ran for the mine. The monsters and mercenaries made motion to pursue but one mercenary shouted.
"Wait! Don't bother! Look at the sign!"
Everyone looked at the sign saying, "Emmet & Murmek Mining Co." The mine was surrounded by mountains and mountains of gold right outside the mine entrance. Though it looked easy to grab, the mercenaries and monsters elected for some reason to not even stay close to the collection of gold.
"Hahaha! Looks like the lad's walkin' into a death trap!"
"Yeah! Let the murmeks eat him!" another one jeered.
The monsters and mercenaries quickly dispersed as they laughed at the misfortune of the knight as they then disappeared into the foliage.
Rene, on the other hand, simply crawled into a space and tucked himself. His body slowly bleeding as he decided to shrug off his wounds for good night's sleep.