Operation Begin

Hours have gone by, but the star still conquers the sky. The breeze becomes cold, and dew starts to form on the edge of the grass.

The night guard can’t hold back his yawn, infecting one other besides him. Two of them sit by the fire drinking hot beverages. There are a couple of fire points that can be seen in the dark across the city wall.

Not far from the fire, inside the official's room, Burdox writes the document report of the “requisition” of Ruheist children. He is one of the few veteran knights who came home from the war 16 years ago over the Girru Hill– now officially named Hersa Hill by the neighboring country Alure Kingdom.

Thellos’s defeat was a fatal blow to the kingdom, and no so less so for Burdox. Even though his rank has risen rapidly over the 16 years, he doesn’t feel any sense of pride. He was told they were winning, Girru was about to be Thellos’s by de facto. If not for the confusion caused by the sudden appearance of thousands of strangers in bright blue beacons, if they were not caught off guard that night, his friend might still be here. Burdox would come home with victory, he would bring the story of glory to his wife and kids.

But now, he has to lead these young knights to do night guard duty, and for what? Because the viscount suspected some of those Ruheist leeches would try to get their kids back.

Despite not being a fort city, Korland has a decent defence to protect their crystal assets if anything ever happens. So those Ruheists that think they can infiltrate have to have their hope too high, and that would also mean they underestimated the knight guard.

Just thinking about it made his blood boil. He also remembers how one Ruheist kid stood in his way just the other day. Those eyes of his that showed no fear at all. He had thought of hitting that kid harder if he could go back in time.

Even if Viscount’s prediction is wrong, the fact is, they had already dispatched knights to guard against possible infiltration. Deep inside him, he just cannot accept that.

*Knock Knock Knock*

Burdox stops his line of thought and puts the quill in his hand back to its place. “Come in,” he says calmly.

The knight who opens the door has a visible look of distress in his face. “Sir! I came to report something!”

“If it's urgent, just say it! Quit the formality!”

“Sorry, sir! It’s fire! We saw fire around the edge of Alasha Forest.”

“And? That is far away, right? Our job tonight is to guard the city.” Burdox is quite annoyed by the incomplete report. He knows they must have a reason to tell him this, but it looks like they leave out the important part: why should they care?

The young knight becomes even more nervous, and Burdox's face is already red from anger. Seeing the young knight struggling, he lets out a big exhale.

“Derreck, tell me.” He said calmly.

“Ye-yes sir! From what we can see, the fire is moving. One tree lighting at a time, and it's getting closer to the mines.”

Burdox rushes out of the room the second Derreck says “mines”.

Korland viscounty relies on crystal mining as the number one source of income. The reason they accept Ruheist refugees is to make them work at the mine, that is why the viscount never allows any excessive action towards Ruheists by officials.

Burdox goes to the highest point on the wall and looks out at the reported fire. He can see a line of fires already burning away part of the forest. And then he sees it. One tree suddenly bursts into flames. He understands what Derreck means by “the fire is moving”, clearly, someone is burning the tree one by one, and it is moving closer to the mine's area.

“Gather all those that have water blast crystal training, take the horses and go to the depository. There are four people there right now. Help them kill the fire. But I should remind you, your priority will be to save the depository!” Burdox commands the guy who was supposed to be Derreck's guard partner tonight.

At night, the depository would only have mining equipment since the crystals will be transferred to a warehouse inside the city, which already has designated guards. Of course, there are exceptions such as heavy rain or overcapacity, but it is not the case right now. That is why adding only four knights as guard in the night is deemed to be enough.

“And Derreck, gather the rest here. You guys will go with me to the church where the Ruheist children are. We will let them in and intercept them right there.”

These cunning Ruheist seem to understand the guards' situation quite well. And Burdox is not gullible enough to not understand that this is just a diversion.

“Could it be them? I might need to report this to the viscount.” Burdox whispers to himself.

As he waits for everyone to gather, he writes a quick note to the viscount and tells a squire to deliver it.

***

Near the wall, Ark's group was ready to sneak into the city. There are five people in the group, including Ark, Dan, Felicia, and two other guys.

The horses’ neighs break the silence of the night around the gate.

The plan has been smooth sailing so far. Ark is still amazed by how well prepared Dan and Nero are.

They have given the five in this group a weapon each. They know where the children are being held. And they have a rough map of the city.

It's too suspicious. No way they prepared all of this in just one day. But Ark doesn't really mind it as long as he can take Mala back.

He agrees with Dan when he said not to believe what the viscount said. If he can't be sure of Mala's safety, he'd rather take her with him to go away from Thellos.

Rumors about the fall of a kingdom in the north because a liberation of Ruheist slaves have been going around lately. This might be what others in the group were thinking as well, to take their kids and go on a run to that kingdom.

“Here they go.” Dan alerts the group that has been waiting for the moment.

They can see the gate open, and dozens of cavalry rush out in Alasha Forrest's direction.

“Now. Let's go this way.”

They sneak in following Dan's command, approaching the wall. As soon as they get close to the wall, Dan is already reaching out for something on the wall, moving his hand around trying to find a spot.

“Got it! We will climb from here.”

Dan scoops out a patch of mud from a carved spot on the wall, climbing on while scooping a new spot, and then followed by the rest of the group.

This carving must have been done far in advance, confirming that whatever organization or group Dan and Nero are in has sneaked into the viscounty before the children were taken. That will explain the rough map they have of the city.

Now the group has entered the city, moving in a rush, shadow to shadow while trying their best to not make any sound. And their objective is the wall near the church where the children are held captive.

Ten minutes feels like eternity to Ark. While he is focusing on the rescue mission, he is constantly thinking about what Dan and Nero are really up to.

Would it really be okay to trust them? But we have gone this far, and I feel everyone is thinking about it too.

Dan glances around, and everyone looks uneasy. He quickly brushes it off, taking it as everyone is just nervous.

“Stop. I think this is close enough.” Dan stops the group and approaches the wall. He continues, “Stick the crystals I gave you on the wall using mud and create a door-like shape. Then connect them with this crystal powder. I will be going to get all the children, you all will prepare a good door for us when we come back, okay?”

“I am going with you,” Felicia said as soon as Dan stopped talking.

“Me too.”

“I want to go.”

“Me too.”

“I am going too.”

Everyone wants to take part in getting the children. This can be the result of growing suspicious, or it's their ego talking, or even both.

“Man… I understand what you guys want, but two people still need to activate the crystal so we have a way to escape. We talked about this.” Dan waits, but no one seems willing to stay.

“Okay, we will do a quick palm or backhand. Anyone who puts out a different hand will join me. Two will go with me, and two will activate the crystal, understand?”

And the result is that Dan, Ark, and Felicia will save the children, and the other two will activate the crystal. After Dan handed the two activation wands to each of them, the three of them took off.