Entering into the barrier is a pretty weird feeling. It is like a dizzying sense, where I feel like my mana sense is being pulled when it is not. Entering the barrier though, I can tell that the mayfire's control the place. There is tangible difference in the mana of the place from the outside. There is more fire mana here.

“Can you sense any of the mayfires in the place?“, asks trevor.

“Well, I can't really use my mana sense in this place. I could try but there is a pretty significant chance that I might be wrong. My mana sense feels like there is a mist in front of my senses. Better not sense than sense wrongly “, I reply.

And thus we walk on for a couple of minutes, waiting for whoever is supposed to be picking us up as I study the region through which we are walking. I am so engrossed in my thoughts that I almost miss the lady that had come to pick us up.

I pick her up a few seconds before she appears. If she wanted to strike us, I would only be able to protect myself barely. The troop would have been at her mercy. Thankfully, she does not seem to be in the mood of attacking us. Looking at her I guess her identity almost instantly. She is another mayfire about whom I have information on.

She is called Lizbeth Mayfire if I remember, a more neutral figure among the mayfire's. She practices a pretty obscure branch of their magics, more related to stealth than direct combat like they normally do. She seems to be partially hidden in mana sense and completely hidden to my sight. I can fight her off if I can focus all of my mana sense in her. Time to poke the bear.

“Lady Lizebeth mayfire, there is no need to hide like that. I certainly carry no Ill intent.“, I speak. “It would be a pain to talk to you if you were hidden like this.“

While speaking, I channel my mana into my arms. There is more resistance than usual but it certainly won't hurt my combat capability by much. Granted this absolute barrier is meant more to boost the power of the mayfires than inhibit my power. So a fight would be pretty deadly still.

Lady mayfire appears a bit farther from us, appearing like the disappearance of a mirage. She looks very ordinary, at least compared to Alfred Mayfire but she is way more scary if you want my opinion.

“Captain, there is no need to call me lady. We are equals here. You can call me Lizbeth.“, speaks the lady.

“Well, then you have to call me Antonio.“ I reply. “I have to assume that you are here to escort us. Your young master implied that at least.“

“Certainly, Antonio. We cannot have outsiders walking in the very core of our defences unescorted.“, speaks Lizbeth. “We cannot have you being blown to pieces while walking here.“

“Then you certainly have my thanks.“, I reply, as we begin to follow the lady that had begun to lead us. “I would like to know what exactly is going on here. Your young master seemed to be very unwilling to tell us anything.“

“Well, that can be better explained by the head. I can certainly explain the nature of the threat that we are facing.“, replies Lizbeth Mayfire. “We are certain that there are two major threats that we are facing. First would be the vampires. I am certain that you must have faced them while entering into the inner keep. They attacked us suddenly one day completely catching us by surprise.“

“How could they do that? They must have left very clear marks. Magic related to the spirit and possession is very hard to hide.“ I ask.

“On that I have no idea. That is something that those with the expertise will have to explain. They attacked us suddenly one day and we barely managed to activate our defences. Not that it helped much. They shattered the outer keep barrier in a couple of days and breached the inner keep barrier the very next day.“ she answers. “we have been fighting them in here since then. It was a pretty even fight, with neither side really winning until the necromancers appeared.“

“how did they appear here though? I don't think there exist a necromancer in our surroundings until the bone pits.“, I ask her again.

“Well, that is the question that is plaguing us. Regardless, their appearance screwed us up completely. We lost most of our soldiers and servants to the zombies and the zombies certainly have managed to screw up all of our defences.“, replies the lady, a bit too nervously in my opinions. She is hiding something. “That is about the limit of my knowledge. Anything else, you will have to ask the family head, whom we are going to meet.“

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Saying that Lizbeth shuts up completely. I don't try to pry anything from her. It would be quite easy for her to kill me without my sword. I walk in silence studying the area that we are in. The place we are in could be considered to be the very core of the mayfires fortress. This is the place where the leaders of the mayfires make their decisions and give duties to their underlings.

This place is meant to be the mayfire center of power and their head office all roled into one.

You can see it in the way that the place has been designed to impress people. Torches that I assume must shine in impressive colours, weapons and heads adorning each wall (spoils of wars.) and the entire place is constructed of a rock that I have to assume is quite costly.

More importantly, I notice the things that all of this splendour is supposed to be hiding. The formation built into each wall and floor of the room, to increase the durability of the materials. The piles of heads and weapons acting like mana reserves for what I have to assume are traps. I certainly am not going to to be triggering those. You can call the entirety of the area to be the trap here, though such an open trap should not be called a trap.

The only reason that I notice all of this is because the place is being operated with a soldiers efficiency with all of the useless stuff removed. All the useable weapons have been removed from their perches and all the offices here have become temporary barracks.

The mayfire's are soldiers that are masquerading as nobles. My master would say that is the absolute worst type of noble to haves as an enemy.

I can finally see the other mayfires, who are all hurrying about trying to get their work completed as quickly as possible. Most of them are injured and the few that are not have a glazed look I recognise from when I had to forgo sleep for a very long while. Still, everybody is doing something or the other without letting their injuries affect them. This is a result of fear or discipline. Somehow I think it is both. I get so lost in my thoughts that I do not notice Lizbeth had stopped until I had almost ran into her. We have stepped outside a room that looks quite ordinary compared to the other rooms that we have been going across.

“captain, we have reached the office of the head of our family. Let him speak first, unless you want to insult him. If you do though the results will be quite terrible.“, speaks Lizbeth Mayfire. “Address him as the family head and nothing else. Not doing so will also be considered to be an insult.“

Saying that she disappears as quickly as she appears, which I am beginning to realise is a pretty annoying trait of the mayfires. Still, there is little I can do when I am literally in their home. Steeling myself, I open the door to feel a shiver in my spine.

The man in front of me looks young for a family head, almost as if he has just entered his third decade. I don't doubt the strength of the man though as it seems to be exuding from him. The nearest feeling I have felt to this would be the commander, though it was way more intense with him. I don't speak as I wait for the man to speak.

He looks so plainly handsome that whatever would imagine as a handsome man would match the man in front of me. The only thing that mars this is a single scar on his forehead, almost splitting it in two. It must have been a pretty heavy injury as the process of cultivation can heal most injuries.

“Captain of the guard corps. You have certainly picked the worst time to visit us. Let's hope you come bearing good news.“, speaks the man, his voice sounding like the ringing of a bell. I can't think of any other method of describing this.

“I regret to inform you that the head office has no idea what is going on here. They have sent me here only for dealing with the blood heart gang. They have no idea what Is going on here.“, I speak.

“Well, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that, lad. Regardless, can you get through to them?“, asks the head. “Well, since I don't see any reinforcements here I would assume that to be no.“

“Family head, there is a formation that they are using to block the communication with the head office. It cannot be any weak formation at that. I would assume that it is a formation of the eighth class or above at the very least.“, I speak.

“If such a formation were to be breached, would it be possible to communicate with the black mountain?“, he asks.

“It might be possible, family head.“, replies trevor behind me. “We might be able to get it through to the head office that something is wrong at the very least.“

“I am certain the captain has a mouth, soldier.“, the family head speaks, the pressure of his presence intensifying. The man has an ego. “Heads will roll if you speak out of turn.“

“I apologise for my soldier, but what he speaks is the truth. We might be able to get an emergency flair if the formation blocking this might be found.“, I reply, taking what I think is my most service tone.

“Well, we do know of such a formation, young captain.“, replies the family head. “I can't be certain of the purpose of such a formation. It could be used for warming the blood of the vampires before drinking for all I know.“

“That is something that I can handle, all I need to do is sense the mana signatures of the formation and I will be able to identify it's purpose to a certain degree.“, I reply.

“Well, that can be arranged, captain. We shall meet again later, young captain. You have given me things to think about.“, the family head speaks, shooing us away.

Before leaving though, I had to ask him something that has been plaguing me since the very beginning of this mission.

“Family head, before leaving can I enquire as to how a group of vampires and necromancers are suddenly attacking you.“, I ask, preparing for some kind of a retaliation. What I did is considered to be pretty rude.

Instead of an attack though, the family head laughs.

“The black mountain is famous for much, but nothing is beyond your curiosity. I could sate your curiosity but it is the only thing that I can securely use to negotiate with your betters. You will have to ask your masters in the future, young captain.“, he replies, while waving us away again.

This time I do not push my luck as I leave the room.