"Oh, good. You’re finally here. Head up to the balcony, the lights are off so if you stand back a bit, you’ll be hard to spot," Rosary greeted me as I entered the Guild.

"Yeah, okay. Hm? Who are they?" I asked her, as I spotted some people I didn’t recognize.

They don’t look like Adventurers at all, more like regular civilians...

"The families of the two who were killed by the Knights," She whispered with a grimace.

Ah, so that’s it. There was a youngish woman with a baby in her arms seated with a devastated look on her face, and two young teenage children, a boy and a girl who looked around my age, with stunned, shocked looks on their faces.

They have my sympathies, I can relate to the feeling of losing family to the Knights. But to be frank, I don’t really care that much in this instance, I don’t feel any particular anger or rage on their behalf.

I hate the Knights and Nobility plenty already, so I’m kinda maxed out in that department, ain’t got room to shoulder the hatred of others as well. Anyway, I should go hide quickly, the Knights will probably be here any minute now.

I’m guessing the victims’ families are here in order to identify the Knights who took away their loved ones...but whether they’ll actually talk or not will entirely depend on which one of their prevailing emotions, fear or hatred, is stronger.

As I headed up the stairs and up onto the wooden floor of the viewing platform balcony built above the ground floor of the Guild, I slipped into the shadows after glancing down from the wooden railing.

The lights up here have been switched off, hiding should actually be pretty easy, so long as none of the Knights make a deliberate effort to see if someone’s up here. Usually, there’s quite a few people up here, but they’re all staying down right now.

They must have been instructed to do as much. I just hope the Knights don’t notice that and find it suspicious. Now, then...how exactly should I attack? My whip is absolutely out of the question, using it would mean that every single one of the Knights will have to die.

And while I’m anything but opposed to that idea, well...that might be a bit of a difficult undertaking at my current level, to put it lightly. Hm, let me think here...what can I do? What are my other options?

None of my Skills are suited for this, and using Spells without chanting could also blow my cover. In that case, let’s try something new, and see if it works...I formed a small rock in my hand, before shaping it like a small drill, spinning it as I floated it around me.

Yeah, this should make for a pretty effective projectile, though I should make something else as well, something that would look like the projectile was fired out of it, in order to hide that I created this projectile using Magic.

Hm, in that case, I’ll go for something nice and simple. Let’s combine Elemental Metal with Elemental Earth, shape it like so, and...there we go, perfect! That totally looks like a gun!

It doesn’t work, of course, I don’t know enough about guns to literally make one from scratch. This may look like a gun on the outside, but yeah, it’s basically a glorified toy model.

But I don’t need it to work. I can use Spellcasting to spin and fire these rock projectiles, and if anyone asks afterwards, I can just pretend like I was firing them out of this gun. I can say that I carved these bullets out of regular old rocks.

I should make a few of them a little bit misshapen so that my explanation is more convincing, it might be suspicious if every one of them looks exactly the same, as if they were manufactured by machines in a factory or something.

Alright, I’m done. I’ve made ten rock bullets...they’re not as strong as real bullets, but they don’t need to be. Since I’ve shaped them like the tips of drills, I just have to spin them and then fire them at full speed, they should cut right through flesh and bone without a problem.

Ah, here we go...the Knights have arrived. The vibe in the Guild had already been pretty tense, but the moment they walked in, it became so much more palpable and heavy.

Hm? The family members of the victims are wearing masks, weird. Oh, I get it, they must have agreed to speak up, but only if they get to hide their faces. Makes sense, the last thing they’d want is to get the attention of the Knights, that’s basically a death sentence...at best.

"I...I would like to apologize to all of you, though I understand that my apologies mean nothing to you in light of what just happened. I have gathered all five of the remaining Knights who I came here with, and I assure you that those responsible for this will face severe consequences for what they have done," Declared Aries firmly.

"I do sincerely hope that you keep your word and do what you said you would when you requested our help with your search," Responded Rosary icily.

Oh, wow, she’s not even trying to act civil anymore, she’s freaking pissed.

"Y-yes, that’s what I-...," Aries began to reply.

"Huh? You would dare speak to Nobility in such a manner, you Commoner bitch!?" Snapped one of the other Knights, stepping forward and starting to draw out his sword as he approached her. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Ooh, now’s my chance! I floated one of my earth bullets up, took aim as I began spinning it rapidly, enhancing the speed with a subtle touch of swirling wind...and then fired.

The Knight let out a cry of pain as my bullet struck his left wrist through a gap in his armor and drilled into his hand, cutting through his skin, flesh and bone as blood poured down his arm.

He stumbled back as he dropped his sword with a clang, letting out stifled cries of pain as he clutched his wrist, while I quietly moved away to a different section of the upper platform, slinking through the shadows to stay out of sight.

"What the hell was that!?" Snapped another Knight.

"Someone dared to attack one of us!?"

"Let’s slaughter them all!"

Wow, they’re not even trying to be subtle, are they? A couple of them have stayed quiet, with mostly neutral looks on their faces. They’re the same Knights who’d looked at Aries with respect and adoration yesterday.

And I definitely see two of the others with somewhat nervous expressions...they’re most likely the culprits. They’re almost definitely gonna be outed, that’s when things are gonna get interesting...let’s see how it goes.

"Stand down!" Snapped Aries, as she pulled back the Knight, "I thought I told you to leave this to me, do not interfere again!"

"Well? Do you even know which of them killed our people?" Inquired Rosary with a raised eyebrow.

Ooh, that slightly condescending tone of voice, talk about sexy.

"No, I don’t. I do apologize, but I need your help in identifying the culprits," Responded Aries with a frustrated look on her face, clenching her fists.

"That should be quite easy. Allow me to introduce you...these people are the family members of the two who were killed. These two children had to watch as their mother was raped and murdered by one of your Knights. And this woman saw her husband tortured and killed while she was molested mercilessly. I can assure you...they won’t make any mistakes in recognizing the faces of those who took away their loved ones," Remarked Rosary coldly.

"Very well, then. I shall trust in that," Nodded Aries without hesitation, before stepping away after initially looking horrified as she heard about what the victims had to go through.

For a moment, there was dead silence, no one saying a word. And then, one of the two kids, the girl, raised her hand, trembling like a leaf in the wind as she pointed at one of the two Knights I’d noticed trying to mask their anxiety.

"Th-that man, he...h-he killed our mommy. He...he first tore off h-her clothes, he covered her mouth s-so that she couldn’t scream, a-and told us to stay back or he’ll kill her. A-and then...and then, he killed her anyway, laughing while we cried," She stuttered, her voice cracking and shaking as a sob escaped her lips.

I glanced at Aries to see her reaction...hm, her face is downcast, I can’t see what kind of look she’s got right now.

"And...the one who killed my husband...it’s her over there, that woman...!" Spoke up the woman who’d been holding a baby.

Looks like she must have hidden the baby somewhere else in the Guild to keep it safe. Probably a good call, considering.

"Well, there you have it. It was clear who the culprits were just based on their expressions though," Remarked Rosary, as she stepped out in front of the victims’ family members.

Ah, so she noticed too, did she? Well, I suppose it’s only natural...they weren’t doing a very good job of concealing their nerves.

"Understood. Very well, then...by the authority granted to me as Knight Commander of the nation of Obsidian, for the crime of slaying the very people they have sworn to protect for their own selfish, depraved desires, I hereby sentence Major Dayve Deppo and Colonel Arabella Friss...to death. Do not resist," Stated Aries with a dark look in her eyes, as she drew out her sword and pointed it at the two of them...

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