Several minutes earlier...

With the sound of the broken window, ringing throughout the building, all those present came to see what happened. It was an empty room, with no one on nor under the bed. The glass shards at the window showed the obvious cause of the noise but the person who caused it was nowhere in sight.

"What the hell's Tibaut thinking?" Tina commented.

"You don't think those cultist guys came here?" Grace worryingly asked.

"Or maybe it was that big guy we fought the other day!?" Jake wondered.

Elizabeth had to calm herself down when she looked into the room.

("Considering what happened and the position the window is currently in, I'd say either he or whoever caused him to leave, slammed open the window. Dammit, it better not be that foe he fought with Jake.")

She turned to the other three.

"For the time being stay here. I'll go check with the lord of the manor to see if he knows anything or can help us out."

As she tried to leave the room Tina grabbed her shoulder.

"Liz, what the hell do you think I am?" She looked at her with a defiant gaze. "If you think I'm just gonna stay here and do nothin-"

Elizabeth placed a hand on her shoulder and sighed. "Tina, why must you be so bullheaded sometimes?" Tina looked annoyed by this statement but Elizabeth paid her no mind. "Think about the people here."

Tina looked around to Jake and Grace. "What are you implying here? Are you saying you're better than us!?"

"Tina, what do Jake and that maid there have in common?" Elizabeth asked.

"Why the hell are you being such a pain? Just let me come with you already and stop stalling!" Tina shouted.

"They're injured."

This paused Tina's annoyance for a moment.

"I mean, yeah they are but what does that have to do with anything?"

"If the enemy that Tibaut is engaged with comes back, and for instance, it is that giant they fought, do you think they'd be able to fight back without your help?"

She looked at Grace and Jake and couldn't help feeling annoyed. Grace still had bruises all over her and a limp while walking and Jake's leg didn't fully heal which severely limited his mobility.

"Stay here and protect them," Elizabeth asked.

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Tina looked like she wanted to disagree but the other two there didn't seem to mind either way. "It's fine Tina, I can take care of myself," Grace told her.

Jake did his best to look stoic but... ("Please, for the love of Uriel, please, stay with us!!!") he thought to himself.

She gritted her teeth before walking over to sit on Tibaut's bed. "Fine, I'll stay here."

Elizabeth gently smiled before quickly making her way towards the Lord's Manor.

As she made her way there she heard a ruckus going on in the upstairs of the building. She quickly made her way inside and instead of seeing chaos, the few maids in the building were conducting business as usual. It was frankly odd hearing the destruction going on upstairs with the sight before her. She had to wonder if the women there were deaf or something.

She quickly pulled one aside.

"Do you not hear what's going on upstairs?" she calmly asked.

The woman she pulled aside looked somewhat anxious and stumbled to answer.

"ah, it's, uh, um, I'm sure it isn't anythin-"

She was cut off when another maid saw her making a fool of herself and walked over.

"If you want an answer for what's going on please ask Ms. Latrodectus. We frankly have no idea either but she assured us it was nothing to worry about."

She quickly pulled the other maid away and by the time she looked around, all the other maids had made themselves sparse.

She knew this was suspicious but supposed whatever was happening upstairs was a more place to give her attention. Considering she heard explosions there was a high likelihood Tibaut was up there. As she ascended the stairs she noticed Avis at the end of the hallway speaking to another maid. As soon as Avis noticed she finished up what she had to say and the maid went on her way and walked past Elizabeth, though with how quickly she walked it drew Elizabeth's attention.

In the short time frame Elizabeth had her eyes on the maid walking past her, Avis closed the gap between them and stood before her.

"Can I help you Ms. Adventurer?" She asked in an emotionless tone.

"Yes, I'd have to have a look in the room down the hallway. I have a feeling one of my subordinates is there."

"I don't know-" The sound of an explosion rocked the hallway and the floor beneath them shook. Avis looked annoyed at this occurrence but kept her tone the same. "I don't know what my master decided to do in that room but I can guarantee it has nothing to do with any of your subordinates."

"Is that so? Then I'd at least want to discuss something with your master since one of my men did leave in a hurry and I can't seem to find him. Maybe we ca-"

Avis decided not to continue with this farce any longer and launched a kick at Elizabeth. She blocked it but the force sent her tumbling down the stairs behind. She managed to land on one set of steps but had to back away to the first floor when the maid came stomping down at her.

She looked up at the maid.

"I assume that wasn't by accident?" Elizabeth asked as she drew her sword.

As she landed she realised the lights of the first floor had been put out and only a faint glow of outside moonlight and the lights from upstairs were still lit.

The maid had no words for her and slowly approached.

Elizabeth decided fighting in such an enclosed area would be to her detriment and quickly backed away while keeping her eyes on Avis. As she made her way back, something stopped her. She had leather armour on her back but could feel something cut her there. She quickly turned to see what it was. It was a string or wire barely thick enough to be seen if focused on.

She tried to cut but it was like trying to cut a fishing line with a stick. ("What is!? Well, Tina and Tibaut did mention she used string but something of this quality for a maid is ridiculous.")

Avis was already making her way towards her with both hands held out. Elizabeth held her sword up to the darkness but as if hit by an epiphany ducked down, when Avis brought her hands together and pulled them back. After doing so, she sprang up over Avis slashing at her head but being blocked by her string.

("Hoh, she realised I threw it over her head and tried to decapitate her. It looks like this batch of adventurers wasn't like the usual rabble that flood this manor.")