Golden Fang could see it, the City of Razul, a jewel of trade and the target where he would deliver the captive and reap the rewards of a lifetime.

He ran out of wind stones a while back, but he was thankful he had enough on his person to last him until the end of the mission.

Fang chuckled to himself as he thought 'At least Observer fulfilled his promise of allowing us safe passage through the border'

The moment the carriage exited the Ebon Forest everyone noticed a large shift in elevation, while the forest was unnaturally flat anything outside it was surrounded by hills and uneven natural terrain which made the forest seem even more unnatural.

When viewed by flyers the forest would be described only as a shallow crater.

He recalled how weird the guards acted around him, it was like they weren't themselves once he spoke, the man was incredibly suspicious and yet they were here, just mere minutes before they entered the city and delivered the captive to the client.

'I know he plans on something, but I must not judge this early' Fang nodded in his mind.

At the moment they entered the city they were surrounded by marvelous large intricate buildings opposing both sides of the path, with carriages and various beasts of burden going their way, with pedestrian citizens walking on the sides.

All his Golden Rose had to do now was to deliver the captive to the underground lab that the observer would lead them to.

The City of Razul was never large, but even despite its relatively small size it was the center of trade of the Duchy of Razul, it was the only established trade route connecting Ebon Forest with the Red Dawn, the city was lit up by magical lamps as far as the eye could see and everything surrounding the city itself knew no night.

But the trade was not what would be expected of a border city, this city trade was made mostly of slaves captured from other countries in large consisting of Elven and Dwarven kind with occasional Lizardman.

The City of Razul is where all captured nonhumans were taken to be broken and trained for nobility and residents of blessed cities.

The captives were all processed in a special facility located in the western quarter of the city, a new slave would be sent to the imposing metallic gray building surrounded by a fence akin to the prisons where they would be trained, educated, and neutered unless they were selected as breeding stock.

It is said that the training was so effective that the slave would be under a similar effect as mind control, and unlike the spell, it could never be dispelled.

It wasn't known how it was done but all of their minds would only be repurposed as tools for their new masters, in a way they were similar to golems and automatons.

It was speculated that Inquisitor of Mind had something to do with the special training and processing of new slaves but it was far too absurd for most that one of the inquisitors would bother with such menial tasks.

Each month a new batch would be processed and driven off to auction houses in other duchies, while defective goods would be discarded and turned into fertilizer so that they may serve God King in death.

The city itself was surrounded by a thick stone wall, with layers of magical enchantments placed upon them which gave them a bluish glow, enchants which could deflect even ancient dragon's breath were placed by Inquisitor of Water long ago while it was sustained by the amazing sentient artifact held by the lord of Razul.

As a city blessed by one of the Inquisitors themselves people living here were awarded many benefits, it was a utopia as defined by the god-king.

Each resident was granted a free elven slave of their preferred gender for less physically intense work and one dwarven slave to use for heavy manual labor while they could earn additional slaves by serving god-king.

All that while being provided necessary living items by the kingdom treasury, it was truly a heaven for all humans.

The city was divided into 4 Wide crossways heading out in 4 cardinal directions with a large Bronze statue depicting God King with a spear in his hand and donning heavy armor decorating the center of the city, the statue's face showing the splendor of their king and savior.

A large number of guards and automatons guarding every dark corner of the city made sure that no crime or runaway slave outbreak would be possible.

Most of the houses were quite large with yards stretching in front of them with nonhuman slaves working on them all day.

Due to the edicts of the god-king, all humans were given as good of life as possible, and yet it was only limited to the blessed cities of each duchy.

After all even Red Dawn did not have the resources necessary to provide for its entire population.

Due to that all humans yearned to one day live in one of these cities, and yet only small amounts were given the right, it was unknown how the citizens were selected, but one thing was known, one needed to prove useful to the Red Dawn.

Only after years of service would the family be allowed to move into a blessed city, and even then they would need to provide their services to the kingdom.

After all entire kingdom was a meritocracy foremost, not even nobles held their positions if their performance was not up to the standards of the Red Dawn.

Not even inquisitors, the most loyal servants of the god-king were irreplaceable, In the history of Red Dawn there was an inquisitor who was replaced after all.

The Eastern quarter of the city was dedicated to the Clergy and Priests in service of God King, Multiple smaller shrines with a large cathedral and its surrounding yard took a large part of the quarter.

Each building was constructed out of marble with a gold-plated roof decorating them, giving a sense of opulence over the entire quarter.

Each 15th Day of the month at noon most of the city population would move to the clerical quarter to do their service to the god-king.

Every citizen of any blessed city was obligated to offer prayer and sacrifice to the god-king, sacrifice could be anything from minor artifacts, and nonhuman souls to gold in accordance to the ability of the devotee, all that mattered was that the offering was made to their God.

While the Last Two Quarters were commercial sectors where all citizens lived in spacious stone manors, everything from basic shopping to slave purchases would happen there.

Streets were spacious with various well-dressed humans walking about while some had their slaves carrying bags full of food, blacksmithing tools, and various miscellaneous items.

Seeing these scenes did not fill Golden Fang with pride after all, these people did not need to work for anything in their lives, just being a citizen in the blessed city would make sure you would never need to work again.

'These people don't train their slaves and they don't earn gold for themselves, their lives are empty' He put his thoughts about the city aside as his carriage turned into a more sparse residential district.

They slowed down to a comfortable speed as they relaxed, not many people were around them and they were only moments away from the drop-off point.

In mere moments the captive will be in the hands of the client and Fang would be able to enjoy the hard-earned reward.

'I lost so much for this...' he thought to himself before dismissing the thought.

His Golden Rose was hurt by the attack of the blessed child, and it hurt his soul deeply no matter how much he tried to hide it, he tried to push it aside as he prayed for the rest of his Golden Rose to arrive safely.

It was mere moments of riding on a quiet road before a strange old man appeared in the distance, he wore a simple gray shirt and brown pants with thick glasses on his eyes, this was the man who hired him and his Rose to deliver the princess.

'Mission is done' Fang smiled in his mind as he celebrated his largest mission ever.

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They approached the man as Fang stopped the carriage, Observer was the first person to hop off as he knelt before the man.

"Master, The mercenaries have delivered the princess" Observer spoke with reverence in his voice as the old man approached him.

"Excellent work, I knew I could put my trust in you" Man smiled as he praised his subordinate before turning to Golden Fang.

"You... you did what others could not" He slowly approached Fang as he coughed a small bit of blood onto his hand.

Before Fang could react the old man continued "Do not worry about this, it is just a condition I have to live with, until now that is" The man smiled as he grabbed Fang's hand before shaking it.

Golden Fang could certainly feel the gratitude from this man, but he learned to not trust it fully, he kept up his strict poker face as he spoke with his hands down the sides of his body.

"It's an honor to complete this mission, sir!"

The man cackled before answering "Relax, the mission is done and with your results, you can afford to talk casually with me, after all, you have done me massive Favor"

Man slowly walked to the carriage, masked thorns letting the man pass as he pushed aside the cloth covering the cage.

He looked at the tear-stained and chained unconscious elf princess, it was everything he wanted. 'A sample of holy blood, live sample!' he thought to himself with the fervor of a child.

He wanted to take her to the lab as soon as he could and yet he couldn't, he had to appear dignified in front of the heroes that brought him what he wished for.

'Yes, This man and his men are heroes of mankind, there are no other ways to put it' he was barely containing his excitement as he put back the cloth over the cage before returning to the Fang "Ah yes, a matter of compensation, It was already sent to your headquarters!" he said with a happy tone as he coughed up more blood.

Man-made a step before almost falling over before Observer appeared next to him and helped him stand up.

Observer whispered something to the old man before speaking "Thank you for your service, please follow me to the place where we want the cage to be placed"

The observer was quiet for a moment before helping his master up and leading him toward an unassuming marble building.

Fang did not question the man as he ordered his thorns to slowly remove the cage from the carriage before carrying it closely to the pair of old men.

***

Laura was afraid, no it could not even be said she was merely afraid, she was horrified.

The red-haired elven girl that just grabbed her looked not like the beauty most people would expect but instead to Laura she looked like a monster.

What else could she look like when she was likely the blessed child who slaughtered most of the strike team?

She felt herself being strangled before the blessed child dropped her on the ground, making her almost collapse on her knees due to her relative physical weakness.

She took a moment to take a breath before reaching into her pocket, attempting to find a specific item that would allow her to escape.

Her fingers searched every part of her pocket but she could not see the pale white gem she carried with her.

Instead, she saw the red-haired girl twirling the gem between her fingers as she looked at her with a confused look on her face.

"Looking for this?" she said in a mocking tone as she crushed the gem leaving nothing but dust.

This was a gem of teleportation, allowing users one-time use of [Teleport] magical art, it was Laura's last-ditch trump card that would ensure her survival, and yet before she realized she lost it.

Laura looked at the gem with a horrified expression as the dust of her lifeline was spread to the wind.

"You shouldn't be trying to run away now, teleportation wouldn't work with me anyway," she said with a slight chuckle as the other girl took out her sword, ready to slash her in two if she made any moves.

"I will never betray my boss you arrogant bitch!" Laura shouted as she collected her strength and lunged at the girl in front of her with the hopes of at least inconveniencing her.

And yet it was the same, she felt like she hit an enchanted stone wall with full force while shattering her fist in the process.

She grasped her arm for a moment trying to gather her bearing as the blessed child grabbed her by the neck, she felt her consciousness slip as the elf whispered something.

The Elven girl turned her head towards the other woman "I will read her mind, please watch my back, Azure!"

The other woman nodded as she took a defensive stance leaving Laura and Red haired elf alone.

She tried to flail and free herself but she felt an intrusion inside her mental space.

Laura tried to resist as much as she could, playing tug of war for control of her mind.

She was proud of her mental fortitude and she knew she could resist most forms of mind control, and yet it felt like she couldn't even begin to resist this intrusion.

And so she let the woman enter her mind, after all, she knew this woman would easily overpower her resistance, even with her fortitude she knew her limits as the elf entered her mind and so she would be left with more damage if she tried to resist.

She relaxed as she let the elven girl have near-free reign in her mind, which would make the elf drop her guard and let Laura construct fake memories for the girl to find.

Almost in the same instant, her entire life flashed before her, all her memories laid bare before her as she fell into a trance not allowing her to construct a suitable false memory.

Laura desperately tried to keep her consciousness as she was read like an open book.

All her joy and sadness, all her embarrassing memories, her love for Fang it was all laid bare, even her orders and information about Golden Rose were being revealed as if it was nothing but text upon parchment.

Just as she felt as if she was about to reveal everything the sensation stopped, the intruder in her mind retreating as if nothing happened, her blurry vision focusing once again.

But it did not matter, the invasion of her mind sapped her strength more than any fight ever could, but she noticed remaining Golden Rose Thorns gathering around the trio, their blades at ready.

'Why didn't you run you morons!' She screamed inside her mind as her comrades approached the two elven girls, caution visible on their now unmasked faces.

She was not sure how these two snuck into the camp and caught her alone so easily, and she knew better than to cause unnecessary deaths of her comrades.

Not many would be able to get past all of the members of Golden Rose. And those who could were to not be underestimated.

'A smart thing to do would be to run, I know they understand that they probably stand no chance, but they were here to save one of their officers even if it costs them their life.'' She couldn't help but smile with their display of loyalty.

Two elven women spoke something that she could not overhear before the red-haired girl took three steps forward toward the mob, leaving the other girl to guard Laura and observe her partner's fight.

The red-haired girl's form shimmered, Laura did not know what kind of trick she just used, but it required no incantation or the rune circle.

'How is that even possible, there are only 4 possible ways to use the magic known to humanity, and even blessed children should be bound by them!' She tried to understand how the elf cast the spell and yet it did not fit in any of the known methods of casting.

In all of the human knowledge, Laura was able to gather, there were 4 methods used by all of humanity including primitive casting of lesser species.

In verbal and Somatic Casting, using their body movement and words a caster would be able to shape the mana in their environment to their whim, be it to take the shape of ice, fire, or anything else depending on the skill of the caster.

Second was casting by use of Catalysts, which would include Staves, Wands, and various jewelry, Catalysts were used by casters that usually lacked the skill to shape mana and thus needed a crutch to help them learn the control which would limit them to a set number of spells.

The third method is a runic circle, by drawing runes in such a pattern that the flow of mana can be directed in a specific way a caster would be able to create permanent magical effects but a drawback of this method was that it required constant source of mana otherwise the circle would fail and so for this end, many kinds of Gems or living batteries were used, for example, enslaved elven mages would generate mana for millennia when used as a battery for a divination circle in various facilities in the Red Dawn.

The fourth method was divine prayer, Prayer to god would allow the caster to become a living catalyst for divine power, and a drawback was that it required a long time to invoke the spell and it had a high possibility of god not hearing your prayer.

'I couldn't hear anything or see any movement from her' She analyzed the scene to try and find an explanation, if she could figure out which method of casting this elf used she could find a way to counter it and run away.

Laura calmed herself as she kept eliminating possible methods used 'I can safely discount prayer as the shimmer was instant without an act of piety shown, and same can be said about verbal and runic'

She stood up slowly to not look like a threat to the woman that was standing next to her 'The only thing I can think of is the catalyst, but I couldn't see anything of that sort on her, if we can find it and destroy it she will be powerless and we would be able to escape'

She tried to analyze the woman from the back, her hands had no wand, no jewelry, and certainly no staff, perhaps she had a ring, or...

She gazed at her back as she noticed a glint of the ruby gemstone on her forehead.

Laura dramatically fell to the ground as she pretended to not have any strength left.

'Unconventional but possible that she uses that gemstone in her circlet' She smiled as she covertly drew a [Message] Runic circle under her body.

She could draw this circle with her eyes closed with how many times she had to do it.

Her fingers glided through the dirt where she "Fell" The outer circle was very simple, as it was meant to only transfer the sound, but the inner circle needed to convert her thought into a voice that would be sent to everyone she designed as her allies.

The standoff between the thorns and the blessed child was intense, Laura felt like she could cut through tension with a knife at this point, at any second fighting would break out, and if she couldn't send the information about the weakness of the enemy they would be killed after all most of their own casters were already either dead or gone with Fang himself.

Her hands shook as she finally finished her runic circle, she channeled a small amount of mana, just enough for a message to be sent to the entire Golden Rose.

"The Ruby on her circlet seems to be her catalyst, destroy it and we might have a chance to run to Razul, elves won't dare follow us there no matter how powerful!" She sighed with relief as she sent the message to her comrades.

Their faces showed that they understood the message.