The next morning, Elwin was dressed in full battle gear while facing Drake and Hazezel.

“Brothers,” said Elwin. “I will be back!”

“You better be!” said Drake.

It was finally time for the expedition to set out and Elwin was going to leave. He was dressed in the finest armour and carried a long sword strapped to his back, another sword strapped to his waist as a spare, and carried several smaller daggers, knives, etc.

That spare sword which Elwin carried was none other than the sword that Drake made. He had shown his family the result of his summons and Elwin had really liked the sword. Drake didn’t hesitate and gifted it to him on the spot. Elwin was overjoyed and thanked him from the bottom of his heart.

Similarly, Hazezel really liked the iron knife, so Drake gifted that to him as well.

“You’re learning so fast, Drake!” Hazezel said excitedly as he took the knife.

Holt was also extremely proud of Drake as he remembered how long it took him to summon his first artifact. Drake was clearly more talented than him by a mile.

The remaining artifacts he summoned were kept in the weapon store for the time being since he didn’t have much use for them.

Despite Drake appearing confident, he was extremely concerned for the safety of his brother. He knew how dangerous the woods could be.

Hazezel didn’t say anything but just gave Elwin a deep hug.

“Please be safe,” he whispered.

Just before he let go, Drake also joined in.

“Don’t worry about him,” said Holt reassuringly. “I have instructed Zhao Gaumond to protect him with his life, and the other person on the trip is no pushover either. They are a strong group. Coupled with the groups from the other villages, they make a strong team and won’t easily be taken down.”

They let go and the two brothers nodded in acknowledgement.

Elwin started walking away with Holt.

Taking necessary precautions, even if nothing major went wrong, a one-way trip may still take more than a month. So, they wouldn’t hear from Elwin for a few months at least.

Drake sighed.

He knew that if they failed now, then it would be very difficult to motivate the villages to send another expedition. This group was already made of the best the villages could find, if even they failed then how could any other group fare better?

Hazezel stared in Elwin’s direction for a few seconds and walked away as well, leaving Drake all on his own.

Drake could only return to his master and begin cultivating.

It was still extremely hard for him to get into focus, and since he was worried about Elwin today, it took almost three hours for him to begin his cultivation. However, over the previous week, he learnt to maintain his concentration, and wouldn’t easily get distracted. Even if he did get distracted, he was learning to stop the cultivation technique properly so that he didn’t suffer a backlash.

He could do this about twenty per cent of the time.

Unbeknownst to Drake, Ray was also worried.

One of the people sent out from the elven village was his close friend. Ray was stronger than this friend of his, so if Ray wasn’t occupied with Drake, then the village would have probably sent him out instead.

As a result, Ray knew that if anything were to happen to his friend, he would blame himself as it should have been him going out on the expedition now.

…

Meanwhile in Leon Village.

Astoria was in despair from last night’s failure as she watched Henry standing behind his father, sending off their village’s people to the expedition.

It was only now that Astoria had found out what was going on in the Beast Woods and the village’s decision. This wasn’t yet common knowledge as the higher-ups wanted to keep this a secret to prevent panic from spreading across the masses.

As a servant, Astoria wouldn’t have been told this information, however, she was Henry’s personal servant and Astoria had been working very hard. As a result, he trusted her and revealed this information.

Astoria couldn’t help but ask Henry, “I wonder who the other villages are sending out?” then immediately added, “It is just that our village even sent out Jin Tong who is a rising star and could be an important person of our village in the future. So, if the other villages don’t send out people equal to him…” she didn’t finish her sentence, but Henry knew what she meant.

If they didn’t send out equal people, not only would they hold Jin Tong and the others from his village back, but that also meant that their village would have to bear most of the burden. If anything went wrong, their village would suffer the most, but since this was just information gathering, if the mission was successful, all the villages would still get all the information.

However, Henry just chucked, “Only father knows the specific details, however, I heard that Holt in Jain’s village is sending out his own son Elwin as part of the expedition. I’ve heard Elwin is a prodigy in Jain village as well, so it is only appropriate for our village to send Jin Tong, otherwise, father wouldn’t have done so.”

Hearing this, Astoria froze, her face cast with horror.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

However, she quickly returned to her normal expression, and replied, “Ah, then I have nothing to worry about, young master. Thank you for enlightening me.”

Henry waved his hand casually and started walking back to the mansion while talking to his father. Astoria quietly followed behind him, but her mind and heart were in turmoil.

Elwin was going!

‘If something happened to him…’ she didn’t want to finish that thought.

Unlike her brothers, she didn’t even get to say goodbye!

She was scared. Astoria loved her family deeply and would do anything for them. She was taking such a big risk now precisely for Drake. She couldn’t fathom the thought of anything to happen to them.

Astoria couldn’t help but curse herself again, ‘If only I wasn’t so weak, I could protect them.’

She kept walking mindlessly, worrying about a billion things.

“Astoria!” Henry yelled.

“Yes, master!” she gasped, startled.

“Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” Henry asked.

“No, I’m fine master. Thank you for your concern. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“No. But we are going to interrogate a prisoner now so if you don’t have the stomach for it, you are free to go do something else.”

Prisoner!

There was only one person that it could be.

Astoria’s heart was racing, wondering what they were going to do to Sam.

This was all her fault!

“Uh… no master Henry… As your servant, my place is by your side. I will accompany you wherever you go,” she replied, trying to sound confident.

Henry smiled contently, and his father Byron was also happy.

“You are lucky to get such a loyal servant, Henry,” he commented.

Henry beamed more proudly, however seeing his father’s unamused expression, he immediately quietened down.

“So, father. Who is this new prisoner?”

Byron had only told him to accompany him to an interrogation but didn’t give any details. As the future village head, Byron wanted him to learn how to handle these matters.

“Humph. You won’t believe what happened last night. Some fool actually dared to break into our treasury!”

“WHAT!?” Henry gasped.

Astoria was dead silent and kept her face down.

“Yes. If I wasn’t busy preparing for the expedition last night, I would have dealt with him immediately.”

“But how could anyone be so brave father? Was the treasury not being guarded by the twin blades? Working together, they could even fight a grand mage, or a martial artist with an undying body. Could the attacker actually be at that level, or greater?”

Byron frowned. “He is… a tempered body martial artist.”

“What!?” Henry gasped.

This is what Byron was confused about too.

“Where in the world does a tempered body martial artist get the courage to face off against two perfect steel body martial artists?” Henry gasped. It didn’t make sense!

“It wasn’t just the two, Henry,” Byron replied. “He was also stopped by the defensive puppet.”

“WHAT!” Henry was astonished once again. “But that puppet is only activated if the intruder enters the treasury first. Don’t tell me that a tempered body martial artist actually forcefully entered the treasury despite it being guarded by two steel body martial artists working together to defend it! Did he have some extremely powerful artifact or something?”

Byron frowned again. This is what he was very confused about too. The twin blades did not explain this part very clearly.

“They just said that the intruder was strong for a tempered body martial artist, plus they were taken completely by surprise, so he managed to get in, but they quickly stopped him afterwards with the help of the puppet.”

Astoria listened to their conversation and was confused at this explanation, but then she had a lightbulb moment.

The twin blades did not know that they were drugged. So, they must have assumed that they had just fallen asleep from tiredness but did not dare to admit that to Byron. Hence, they just kept making excuses.

This was good for her. Otherwise, if they suspected and investigated the drugging, then she would be caught.

By this point, they had already arrived in front of a prison cell. Locked inside was a man. He was tied to a cross with spiked iron chains that dug into his wrists and ankles. He was stripped of all his clothes except his underwear and his whole body was covered with cuts and wounds.

Byron, Henry, and Astoria entered the cell and a guard awoke the unconscious Sam by pouring a bucket of cold water over his face.

Sam woke up in a panic and started to move around, but the spiked chains immediately cut into his flesh.

“AAAHHH!” he screamed.

In response, the guard punched him in the stomach. Sam stopped screaming as the wind was knocked out of his lungs and he was left gasping for air.

Taking a few deep breaths, he finally calmed down. His body was in huge pain but he was a martial artist so he could handle it to some extent.

“Seems I have visitors,” Sam chuckled, glancing at Byron, Henry and Astoria.

Astoria couldn’t bear to look at him anymore. She wished she could just beat up everyone here and free Sam, however she knew she didn’t have the strength.

I don’t have the strength to help Drake or Elwin, and now… I don’t have the strength to help Sam either.

Astoria felt extremely helpless.

The interrogation began.

They asked him numerous questions, ‘who are you’, ‘who sent you’, ‘why are you here’, etc. But Sam didn’t respond to any questions. Whenever he spoke, it was only to make a snarky remark.

Every time Sam refused to answer a question or made some snarky remark, the guard would whip him. The guard was also a martial artist, so each whip left a deep scar on Sam’s body which started bleeding profusely.

Every time Sam got whipped, Astoria flinched.

‘Why? Why did I come here? Why did I sign up for this? If I had just stayed in my village, this wouldn’t have happened!’

The whip tore open Sam’s flesh and Astoria felt as if her own flesh was tearing.

When Sam responded with another mocking comment, the guard lost his patience.

“He needs to be taught a lesson, my lord,” the guard said before walking next to Sam’s left hand. Then he took Sam’s thumb and bent it backwards.

Snap!

The sound of cracking bones echoed across the cell.

Astoria felt sick to her stomach and threw up in the corner.

“Are you okay?” Henry asked worried.

“Yes master, I’m fine,” Astoria replied weakly. “I will clean this up right away.”

“No need, I’ll get someone else to do it. You should go back and rest if this is too much for you.”

“I’m sorry for being useless, master,” Astoria replied, before excusing herself.

Then she left. And she ran.

She kept running and didn’t stop till she reached her room. She locked the door behind her and then she fell to her knees, as if she was no longer able to bear the weight of suffering that she was carrying.

Why, why, why!? Why can’t I do anything!?

She kept crying, thinking about all the ways in which she was a failure.

Elwin was going into danger and she couldn’t help him. Drake was working very hard, and she couldn’t support him. The only friend she made got captured following her stupid plan and was now suffering and she couldn’t help him either. Soon if the demon tides start attacking the village, she won’t be able to help them either.

All she could do was run and cry.

Running and crying. Is this all I’m good for?

She kept cursing herself while crying. Soon her throat became dry and her cries became weak sobs, however, her sorrow only grew larger.

Outside, the skies darkened, and rain started pouring as if the heavens themselves were weeping with her plight.

Then, another cry started echoing through the mansion.

It was Sam who was being brutally tortured for information. His cries became louder and louder and soon, they reached Astoria too.

She couldn’t escape. No matter where she ran to, she couldn’t escape the cries of the people who she failed.

Lightning struck outside her window and illuminated her room, revealing Astoria collapsed on the floor.

However, her face was twisted into a creepy smile.

‘That’s right. Why am I making this so complicated?’ she thought to herself.

If being weak was the issue, I just need to stop being weak!

Thinking so, she started chuckling, then giggling, then laughing like a lunatic looking at the ceiling, which was soon drowned out by the sound of heavy thunder and rain.