Chapter 90: The Crossroads
In the dead of night, the heavy galloping of horses echoed loudly through the dark territory of the Thorne Barony.
"We are almost at the intersection where we need to split up. Sarah is coming with me to my estate, while Isaac and Zena, you two are heading directly to the Main House," Ian instructed from the front.
"Hey... wait a minute. Out of everyone here, why do I have to go with him?" Zena complained, pointing an accusing finger at Isaac. "And who made you the leader here anyway? Isn’t the eldest person here supposed to be the leader?!"
When Isaac heard that, he just looked at Zena with a complicated expression full of pure pity.
"Why are you looking at me like that?!" Zena demanded, with an embarrassed look.
"It’s just that... during this trip, I am really starting to see the real you," Isaac said, shaking his head slowly.
"What the hell does that mean?"
"It’s nothing," Isaac sighed, looking away. ’I honestly thought Ian was the dumb one in our group, but this guy...’
"Sigh... Sarah, can you please explain to your older brother why we are splitting up like this?" Ian asked, sounding completely exhausted.
"Really? You had to pick me to do it?" she argued, while scratching the back of her head.
"Well, he is your brother afterall. Take some responsibility."
"Well... you see... I... d-don’t actually know either?" she suddenly stammered, looking away awkwardly and scratching her cheek.
"You see!! See what I was saying?!" Zena yelled victoriously at Isaac. "I’m not the only one who didn’t understand your stupid lineup! She is just at clueless as I am."
’Her too?!’ Isaac thought in sheer disbelief.
’Aren’t you a Mage, for God’s sake?! Aren’t Mages supposed to be highly intelligent scholars who use their brains to research complex things?!’ Isaac stared blankly at Sarah.
"Don’t stare at me like that! Do you think I can’t tell what you thinking." She argued looking at Isaac.
"I didn’t say anything."
"Yeah, you didn’t but your eyes did. For your information Magic smarts and Leadership smarts are 2 different things." She said at Isaac.
Isaac just ignored her, lost in his thoughts. ’Yeah...yeah.. what she said does make a bit sense but Ian’s plan doesn’t even need that critical thinking at all.’
Isaac then suddenly thought to himself in the dark. ’With intelligence levels like this, no wonder the Wilson family came up with that incredibly wacky plan that involved acting out a play with the whole damn town! If they really wanted to test Ian, they could have just staged a simple bandit ambush or asked for a formal spar that went wrong. But renting out an entire town?! That must have cost a ridiculous amount of money.’
"Sigh... you guys are really something else," Ian muttered, looking at Sarah. "You guys mentioned earlier that your father and your uncle weren’t at home and they came here to officially finalize the alliance, right...so we can safely assume they are currently at the Thorne Main Estate. And seeing the number of weak assassins they just sent after us on the road, it means your family’s presence is a massive variable that the Eden Guild didn’t account for. So I am honestly not that worried about the safety of the Main Estate."
Ian pulled his horse to a stop at the dark intersection. "What I am absolutely terrified about is the safety of my mother and my sisters. Since they are completely alone, the Guild will definitely send the appropriate assassins to kill them, and there are no variables out there to help them. So.. I desperately need Sarah to come with me to heal anyone who might be injured, since there is no mage there. And Zena, you need to go with Isaac to the Main Estate to help safely evacuate Adam, my aunt, and my uncle."
"Wow... I’m actually surprised you thought of all this," Zena admitted, blinking in surprise.
"I’m just shocked you didn’t think of it yourselves. It was incredibly obvious why I needed a her to come with me," Ian deadpanned.
"Yeah... okay, for healing, I get it now. Now I see why you made yourself the leader," Zena grumbled.
"Really? You are still on about the leader thing? Even after all the explaining he just did?" Isaac sighed, pulling his horse’s reins to head down the path toward the Main House.
"Do you have any idea how difficult it is for a twenty-nine-year-old man to take orders from a seventeen-year-old kid?!" Zena argued, riding closely behind Isaac.
"I really wouldn’t know... since I have never been bossed around by someone younger than me," Isaac mocked without looking back.
"You little—!!"
...
"They seem to be getting along quite well, even after what happened back then," Sarah noted warmly, watching Isaac and Zena bicker as they rode away. She spurred her horse to follow Ian down the other path.
"It just shows that Zena is—"
BOOOOOOMMMM!!!
Before Ian could even finish his sentence, a massive, earth-shaking explosion erupted in the distance, violently lighting up the night sky!
Ian and Sarah violently pulled their horses to a halt, staring at the rising column of fire and smoke in pure shock.
"That’s... that’s the exact direction of your Main House!" Sarah gasped, her eyes glowing faintly as she sensed the lingering ripples of mana in the air. "Whose magic is that?! To create a explosive blast like that... is this even an assassination mission anymore or just pure annihilation!"
"We have to keep moving," Ian suddenly said, his voice terrifyingly cold as he spurred his horse forward, leaving Sarah behind in the dust.
"Is he not even worried? What if somebody he cares about just died in that blast...?" Sarah whispered to herself, quickly kicking her horse to catch up to him.
Riding at the front, Ian’s eyes were completely glued to the translucent blue notification tab hovering in the air directly in front of him. He was desperately waiting to see if any red text would appear.
’At least there are no penalty notifications. That means everyone is still alive for now,’ Ian thought, closing the System interface with a shaky, relieved breath. ’ I just hope Tracy is safe...I have to pick up the pace so I can come back fast.’