CHAPTER 21

THE INTERCEPTION

As the carriage rattled to a halt, Hans and Delimira peered eagerly through the clear windows. Beyond the swaying trees and rustling path, the tall Watchtower of Edenberg’s border loomed into view, its towering silhouette commanding the horizon. “Woah! Winters, did you know it was this big?”

Delimira remained quiet, the words weren’t coming out of her mouth. She didn’t expect the watchtower of a mere county to be this magnificent. The illuminating top that almost touched clouds while the girth of almost an entire field.

With a sense of awe and reverence, they stepped out of the carriage, their footsteps muffled by the moist ground. If it was something this big, it would have been seen from far away, but it just popped up when they came near.

She turned to the carriage driver, “Are you sure we aren’t in a mage tower?”

The driver smiled, almost proud, “You catch on quickly, Ms. Winters.” He glanced at the tower, “This used to be a mage tower in the past.”

“That explains the magic here!” Hans mumbled.

As they approached the base of the tower, the fine carvings of the old runes shimmered in the pale glow. Hand in hand, they gazed upwards, craning their necks to take in the view.

“Lets enter, Deli.” Hans called as he reached the entrance in no time.

The personnel there were already informed. So their entry was just like a breeze. As soon as they settled, they were invited by the commander for dinner. Hans knocked on the door and entered the dining hall.

A brute, the first thought which came to Hans’s mind as he saw the commander. “I almost thought he was a knight,” Hans almost said aloud. The bulky muscles, heavy and long moustache which had turned white quite contrasted with his black, dark hair. His every feature screamed of him being a warrior, but Hans knew this man was the sole Warlock of Edenberg County.

“Its nice to meet you, Warlock Khitan.”

“The feeling is mutual prince Parv,” Khitan mused, “Or should I stick to young lord?”

“The later, please.”Hans replied.

“Fine, young lord.” He wiped his mouth with a handkerchief and turned serious, “ Lets get down to business. I received the Countess’s words, but I want to hear from you. Why are you here? Do I have to prepare some measures…you see, your reputation of being the trouble magnet—”

“Did Grandma say something?” Hans furrowed his brows.

“No.No.” Khitan rolled his eyes at the Delimira beside him, “Its a pleasure to meet you too, the heiress of the Winter Company.”

“Pft.. heiress.” Hans covered his mouth and after correcting his posture as a dignified person, he said, “Pay no mind to her. You can’t know what happens in rich families.”

“Ha!” Khitan laughed hard, “I’d have raised you a glass if you were the age, young lord.”

As the both men chuckled, Delimira silently ran her knife on the piece of meat and savoured its flavour as her stupid companions continued their idiotic talk.

After downing his wine, the burly knight looking mage, slammed the glass onto the table, surprising the guests with his strength, yet miraculously the thin glass survived. He then turned to Hans, his voice gruff, and demanded, “But, seriously. Why are you here?”

“The city is quite noisy since king Samwell graced us with his presence.” Hans said chugging down his juice.

“Thats not the reason to come here. Its dreary here…”

"You know," Hans scoffed, his eyes rolling in exasperation, "if things go south, its a good chance that somehow will take the fall. So, I figured it's best to steer clear of the chaos. Pretty smart move, don't you think?”

“Why?” Khitan tensed his brows.

“Its safer than sorry.” Hans reiterated how Xandor framed him and how the Clandorians wanted to take advantage of the situation. “There is no telling what these bastards would do. Its better if I’m away. So, Warlock Khitan, bear with me until the matter with Sylvetor settles.”

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“I’ve no problems with you. Until you cross the border and do some shit in Reinhardt duchy.” He sighed, almost frustrated, “Our dear count already caused a lot of trouble last year in the neighbourhood, so alert level is quite high.”

“I understand.” Hans nodded and they finished their dinner with peace. He even asked to go to the battlement, the top.

Soon both Hans and Delimira found themselves in a lift, slowly going up. The door opened and after a quick staircase, they reached the battlement. “You’ve become quite the cautious, Hans.” Delimira nudged him giggling.

“I don't want another Xandor blunder Deli. Just precautions.” He replied in a sage like manner.

“Yeah, Yeah, Prince Parv.” Delimira said focussing at the direction where Hans had pointed her before when he was carrying her on back. She pointed, “Are you certain, the thieves are hiding there.”

“Yes, Winters, my senses are similar to a warlock. The very thing that neither party has brought to the city.” Hans grinned as he lowered her hand to avoid any unnecessary eyes to pry. He once again scanned his environment but Khitan was a laid back person. He was only concerned that no one breached the border from any side. Whatever Hans was doing was none of his business.

Wearing a wicked grin Hans commented, “We’ll rob them all, just you wait.”

Delimira and Hans begin their stakeout. Her vision was even more precise than Hans. If she enhanced it with mana, her unique lineage added a super magnification to her eyes. However, she soon gave up and went downstairs. While Hans, maintained the tension of his twisted mana path for his long shot.

“I should’ve listened to my guts. I doubt they would use the broad day light to avoid any fights..Yawn!” He gasped air as there was still no movement and change in the SCAN result.

“Thats some determination.” A sweet yet sarcastic voice came from the back and he turned.

“You are here. yawn!” Hans said, his blacks hanging beneath his eyes. “Can you check if there is movement” Hans pinched his eyes in weariness.

She focussed, but there was no change around the warehouse which Hans was stalking. Another thought hit her, “Hey, why did you drag me into this. You could’ve just did this deed by yourself—”

“You are my alibi as always, Deli.” Hans said and quickly added after seeing her frowning face, “I thought you wanted to know what kind of document can drag two powerhouses—”

“Can’t argue with that? But how are you gonna pull this off?” She glanced at distance, “In your words, its too frickin far.”

“You let me worry about it.” Hans showed off.

“Getting smug, aren’t you.” Delimira focussed her gaze to the ware house, and as she expected it was several kilometres away. With everything she knew about Hans, it was not something he could pull off without getting any notice from Kansas. Him being confident meant only one thing, he had new tricks.

Few hours has passed since then. Hans satiated himself from what he stored in his space belt. He gestured Delimira to take one too, but she suddenly spoke.

“Hey someone is coming out of the warehouse—”

“Not someone but some people, Deli.” Hans interrupted counting four people, leisurely walking like it was another Sunday morning, all leaving for different directions.

“They have something on them,” Delimira focussed further, a small cylindrical container that is used to carry documents caught her attention. “Why is this stupid advertising it… Wait! I can’t see a single strand of mana in them. Just like you—”

“That is the artefact, my friend.” Hans grinned and tightened his twisted mana path. The advantage of long shot was that it was easy to reposition his aim. With a slightest move, he covered a significant distance and quickly grasped where to put his aim. His new aim was going hit the thief leaving for east.

“Swoosh!” A fast paced projectile whistled through the air and drilled though the thief’s head. “Bullseye.” Hans rejoiced adding a comment, “using a negating artefact means you can’t use anything else you fool. Your defence was jackshit. Or was you that confident you won’t get caught?” Hans was also surprised to meet no resistance.

The range, power everything was praiseworthy but he didn’t let it get in his head and quickly shifted to take a new aim. The cylindrical container that fell from beheaded thief was the new target.

But instead of push, the mana path twirl in reverse, pulling the container Delimira mentioned before and with the same speed as his longshot, the container returned to Hans. Or at least that was Hans aimed at, but the object couldn’t bear the ridiculous speed and got burnt halfway.

“It was fake. If they are rich enough to bought four negating artefacts. They sure had invested in the container no one can peek.” Hans mumbled and with a tremendous effort he moved his twisted mana path to the south. “Ha!” He gasped, “This is becoming hard..come on lady luck. Help me here.”

He did same as before, predicted an isolate path that the south moving thief would take and Swoosh. But same thing happened as the eastern thief. “He is also carrying fake.” Hans mumbled and moved to the western thief. He was about to sentence him to death, but Delimira stopped him.

“Hey what if you are wrong and these idiots forgot to use something protective against that document—”

"Deli, that document? It's meaningless to us unless we know what it is. Even if we burn it down, what will we lose?” Hans chuckled, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I'm just doing what I do best—creating chaos for others. They should've left Edenberg be, quiet and undisturbed. I've only had three months, and these jackasses have already spoiled it all.”

“I thought you also wanted that document. Wasn’t that your selling pitch to made me include in this blunder?” She asked as Hans directed his focus.

“It was just bonus.” Hans pinpointed the western thief and didn’t hesitate to put him down in the crowded place. As his body fell the container flew towards Hans with an astonishing speed. And like others it caught flame due to the drag, but the inside delivered to Hans safely.

“Jackpot. Now show me what the kinky things Sylvetor does, my treasure!”

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