469 One Month
In the blink of an eye, a whole month has passed since the escape from Long Bay Correctional Facility!
This month, Vicente focused most of his time on improving his smithing skills, having studied the 3rd-grade theory of his profession on his own and improving the robotic armor he and Benson had developed earlier.
With a much higher level of not only mana but also understanding, he easily fixed many of the flaws in his armor, reaching the 3.0 version a few days ago, something that perfectly met Benson's goals.
Vicente used the last fraction of the mineral that Benson and he had won in the bet weeks ago and made the final and most advanced version of the robotic armor.
He now had three pieces of armor, one of each version. However, due to a lack of materials, he would need more time to replicate the 3.0 version.
He had also produced more Mage-killing firearms over the weeks, adding to his family's ever-growing supply.
With nearly 120 men now, not only doing the group's old jobs but also protecting nobles, Vicente needed plenty of weapons and ammunition.
In addition to the Mazzanti family, there was the Scarlet Syndicate, a group that was getting better and better at pleasing their don.
But many other things happened in Millfall or in the lives of people connected to Vicente in those weeks.
Nina had finally had her last day of the academy for the year a few days ago and was now on vacation. On the other hand, Jasmine had finished her seclusion and advanced to the 3rd stage. She was at the same level as Rory, who had taken advantage of his friend's presence in town to spend the entire period in seclusion.
After advancing, he went hunting for pentagrams with Jasmine, Layla, and Sarah; the two women joined them to protect the two.
During this time, Vicente received a letter from Nova and the results of her promotion exam.
As expected, she had placed first out of the three surviving candidates from the pentagram hunt and had been assigned to one of the Saltstar City battalions, which had previously belonged to Arthur Hogan.
As for Millfall's post, it had been assigned to the woman who had competed with her, Eric, and the other soldier, an old acquaintance of Nova's from her days at the military academy.
This new Commander had not yet arrived in town to take over the local post. That special event would take place in conjunction with the ascension of a new local Viscount and Baron, something that would happen in the next few days.
That was why the soldiers from the capital were still in Millfall.
But they had already finished their investigations and were only waiting for the arrival of the king's representatives and the nobles who would take part in the ceremony that would conclude their journey in this town.
Millfall continued its defenses and barriers to make it difficult for people to get in and out of the area, as the most dangerous fugitives from Wolfrior Forest were still on the loose.
The army would not cease its efforts to recapture these individuals, so the situation regarding this escape remained more or less similar.
But that was about to change!
...
In a town to the west of the neighboring province to the east of Scott Province, there was an army post similar in size to the one in the town of Millfall.
Here, the soldiers were excited when a man with a hood over his head was led down a long corridor, having just entered the post while being escorted by 3rd-stage soldiers.
"Traitor!"
"Death to the traitor!"
"You treacherous bastard! You spit on our uniform!"
Several angry voices sounded as many soldiers talked among themselves.
"Is this the person who facilitated the escape from Long Bay Correctional Facility?"
"Yes, he was caught this morning while moving near our town. Fortunately, a group of soldiers were searching for pentagrams in the area when they spotted someone suspicious... Who would have thought that one of the biggest traitors in the kingdom would fall like this?" A woman said as she worried about the traitor's punishment.
Meanwhile, a Sovereign that Vicente already knew rushed into the place and quickly went to the room where the man would be held.
"I've finally caught up with you, you bastard!" Adams said as he saw the hood being removed from Evan's face, revealing the frightened face of this former soldier of the kingdom.
Evan had been on the run for weeks, heading toward the border of the Seidel Kingdom and its western neighbor. Unfortunately for him, his journey had ended when he was only a month away from reaching his destination.
He remained silent as he watched the angry expression on Adams' face. This Colonel is in search of clues that would at least lead him to those responsible for the escape of Snow Claw and the other two High-level Mges.
Sky Sovereigns were currently pursuing Snow Claw and the other two. Still, given their abilities, it wouldn't be easy to recapture them. That was not the case for the other fugitives, so Adams was happy for the person in front of him.
"Evan, you have betrayed the kingdom in many ways. If you don't want to suffer and bring misfortune to your loved ones, tell everything you know about the bandits who acted against you, Oscar, and Sophia. This is your last chance to redeem yourself," Adams said and began his work to convince this man to give up crucial information about Vicente and Sarah.
Evan really knew more than the soldiers of the kingdom since he had lived with these people long enough to hear strange things, clues from the army's point of view.
"I know how to find them. But it won't be enough for you to guarantee the future of my loved ones. I want a lighter sentence. Otherwise, I'd rather die with the information in my head."
...
Meanwhile, in Millfall...
Vicente left Benson's estate at dawn, having spent the last few hours there honing his skills.
He had spent the last few weeks searching for information about his master and what might have happened to cause him to leave town. But this student of Benson's hadn't found out much except for the name of his master's other student, whom the old blacksmith had left to help in Saltstar City.
But Vicente would search the association again for information because the last time he did, most of the essential men from the local post were out of town for the annual forging competition.
That competition should have ended the day before, so in the next few days, people who might know more would be back in town, and he would try again to find an answer.
Something else worried Vicente more at the moment. "Casey... What happened to you? Where are you, man?" He muttered on his way back to his residence with a worried look on his face.
