Three days later.
Christina was closing her eyes, waiting for the report. She couldn't help but smile as if she had known the result.
A few minutes later, a butler entered her office and reported. "Ma'am. The package has been sent."
"I understand." Christina waved her hand, dismissing him. She thought, 'What a crazy boy the Ardagan Family has. It seems that their revival is nothing but assured. It seems that I have to prepare something…'
Christina smiled, recalling what had happened a few hours earlier.
She was standing in front of her mansion, looking at ten elites that escorted a carriage. The carriage contained some good merchandise, but as expected, the most important item was a chest that contained the book.
The elites bowed to Christina before going out of the mansion to deliver the book.
She had told the Third Prince that the book had to be delivered to her teacher. However, the case would be different if someone stole it. Her teacher couldn't blame her since he didn't know the importance of the book and Christina still fulfilled her words to both Noel and the Third Prince. There was nothing wrong with this development.
Of course, these ten elites had been specifically instructed to defend the goods and run if the enemies were too strong. They didn't know that the goods they carried had such importance, so there wouldn't be any loss to Count Christina. After all, this much money in exchange for a good relationship with the Third Prince and Noel was already a steal.
The group entered a plain not far from her territory. And this was when the enemies appeared.
"Hmm?" One of the guards frowned as if he felt some presence coming from the sides. He turned around and saw a few heads taking a peek at their carts. "Bandits? Draw your weapons!"
The others hurriedly pulled out their weapons, trying to protect the carts.
In that instant, seventeen people came out of the trees and charged forward.
"Not good. They have several Spirit Wielders!" One of the guards shouted. He seemed to be the most important person because he was the one commanding the guards. "We can't afford to lose. Fight!"
"Ooh!" The guards shouted, boosting their morale. Even though they were outnumbered, running away was only the last option. They had to fight them first since they might be able to repel them.
*Cling!*
*Cling!*
*Cling!*
The clicking sound coming from the blades filled the plain. Even though they were outnumbered, the people Count Christina sent were elites.
They might only have two Spirit Wielders who acted as the captain and vice captain. But they were strong enough to stop five Spirit Wielders for a while. Meanwhile, their subordinates handled the rest of the enemies.
It was a fierce clash and might last for a while since both sides were equal.
They hadn't realized that someone was observing them.
It was Anna.
She narrowed her eyes when she saw this lineup.
"Hmm?" Anna muttered inwardly, "Judging from their number, I don't think they are from Count Leinberd and Marquis Walford. Then, they must be from the Third Prince.
"I see. For a Count, having multiple Spirit Wielders under her command is already impressive. But for the Third Prince, it's kind of weird. He should have a lot of Spirit Masters under his command. This feels weird…"
Anna felt something was amiss.
"Is it hard for the Third Prince to move a Spirit Master?" Anna felt this Third Prince wasn't simple. After all, the fact that he still retained this much power to influence the royal family showed how formidable he was.
So, sending these people shouldn't be his only plan.
"In that case, is he planning something else? Since he almost killed Noel in the past, he should be pretty strong himself. And fooling both of us showed how scheming he was." Anna fell silent for a moment.
She suspected that the Third Prince was planning a second ambush. In order to avoid the unexpected ambush, Anna decided to look around, trying to find them.
Meanwhile, the clash between Countess Christina and the Third Prince's forces still continued.
The captain from Countess Christina's elite squad thought, 'It seems that the Countess knows we would be ambushed. But because she told us to run away if the enemies were too strong, then she should have expected this kind of ambush.
'I see. It seems that we have become either bait or a test. Normally, the Countess would have told us about this matter. But the fact that she didn't…' The captain widened his eyes. 'I see. It seems that the other party is quite powerful in terms of influence. She is trying to hide everything so that we don't have to shoulder the responsibility.
'If we don't fight too hard, the enemies will realize we are just bait. If we fight too hard, the Countess will lose some manpower. In other words, we only have to do one thing. We have to resist as hard as possible. If possible, sustain some injuries but not enough to kill us or force us to retire. At the same time, deal some damage to the enemies to show our seriousness.'
With that realization, the captain shouted, "Don't be afraid. We have to protect the goods! All guards, release all your strength and defeat our enemies!"
"Ooh!" The guards responded with a shout as they began using all their strength.
Looking at this, the masked man, who once visited Countess Christina, thought, 'It seems that they haven't been told about the book. I see. It seems that the Countess is trying to make it look real. That's why we have to push them back, not kill them to avoid angering the Countess.
'In that case, I'll hide my true power for a bit longer. After some time, I'm going to show my Spirit Master's strength to scare them, forcing them to retreat. This is probably the best scenario.'
The masked man smirked.
Both the masked man and the guard captain didn't realize that they had misunderstood each other and Countess Christina's arrangement.
And they thought they were the smartest to realize the hidden plan.
