"Um?! What is going on here?!" Eden was stunned by the sudden development, unsure why or how they had been instantly surrounded in this way. After all, this was far from being the first kidnapping case in this city, and none of them were able to attract any big shot's attention to take action against this kind of crime. So, it was pretty rare for a group of knights to involve themselves in this kind of messy thing.
However, as the sunlight shone through the dark, narrow alley, Eden could finally identify from which group a bunch of knights in front of him came. Well, with their bright red armor and the clover emblem of the Silvaris Family, it was clear that they came here for the victim of this incident, Fiona. After all, the City Lord of this town also had the surname of Silvaris, and the girl next to him also carried the Silvaris name on her back. So, it was easy to guess why a bunch of knights would make a fuss about this kidnapping accident.
Unfortunately, while Eden was always a person who thought first before taking action, Ilya was the complete opposite of him. The elder sister was always the type of person who sent her fist first before saying sorry later. True enough, facing this kind of subjugation, the girl didn't show any hesitation in her eyes, charging instantly to the biggest crowd in front of her.
BAM!
"AAARGH!" All the knights on one of the sides of the alley fell comically like a bunch of bowling pins at Ilya's sudden attack.
The attack itself wasn't aimed straight at them. No, if anything, Ilya took it easy by striking her wooden sword at the huge trash can where Eden hid earlier, flipping it toward the entrance of the alley where most of the knights who surrounded them were standing. As a result, none of them were able to avoid the attack, making them fall with their butt first in embarrassment.
"YOU BUNCH OF DESPICABLE VILLAINS!" Ilya roared angrily, pointing her swords in the direction where most of the knights were standing. Her glare was enough to freeze their blood, stopping them from even breathing so loudly. If the situation was better, Eden would've laughed his ass off due to this comical situation. "You bunch of spineless idiots! You arrive so late and dare to point your sword at your princess's savior?! If not for me and my brother, she would've been kidnapped by those two idiot thugs, and you dare to blame your incompetence on us?!"
Yeah, even though Ilya had been living in seclusion with most of her time, spent in training, the girl still heard the latest news once or twice from the neighborhood, and she knew that this city was in a crisis due to the continuous kidnapping incident here. At that time, her sense of justice wanted to go berserk, to go straight toward the city castle and strangle the City Lord straight to his death for allowing this kind of crime to happen on his territory. However, she knew that this would embarrass the City Lord, and the consequence would be bad not only for her, but also for her brother. Still, that didn't mean the girl was willing to let this matter slide easily, especially when she was directly involved, as in this case.
Seeing his sister starting to beat the knights from the City Lord's castle, Eden facepalmed, somehow cursing his sister once again for her reckless action. 'What the hell?! Why can she just sit and talk about it peacefully?!'
To make it worse, though, right before he could take action, someone suddenly burst from the entrance of the alley, swinging his sword powerfully at Ilya.
CLANK!
'This man…' The girl turned solemn instantly. 'This man is strong!' She gritted her teeth, trying to push back the man in front of her. The girl also had to be quick as she saw her wooden sword cracked, couldn't withstand the impact it received from the collision with the iron sword that the man used.
"Hoo… Not bad…" The man whistled, impressed. "Still, young lady, you need to be more careful with your words, or you will find yourself offending someone who you cannot afford…" Then, without waiting for Ilya to react, he moved swiftly, using his left foot to kick the hand that Ilya used to grab the sword, dismantling the wooden sword from her possession.
"Ouch!" The girl winced, feeling a dull pain on her wrist.
"Now, without your weapon, I wonder how would you play next…" The man smiled casually, as if mocking Ilya for this. "Let's see if you can be tougher than your loose mouth…"
However, right before he could take action again, Eden finally spoke, joining the fun. "if I were you, I wouldn't attack her so rashly like that, you know?"
"Um?!" The man was taken aback. However, when he turned around, the man could see that the alley was surrounded by countless Moon Wolves, the kind of vicious predator who lived in the deep Agashi Forest in the northern part of the town. All of them growled hungrily, staring at all of the knights who watched the fun on the outside of the alley with fierce gazes.
"A summoner? I didn't expect that someone with this talent would appear in this small city." The man exclaimed in surprise.
Of course, Eden didn't have any intention to correct the man's words. After all, it was good to be misunderstood as a summoner, one of the strongest types of magicians in the world, rather than being stared nakedly as an illusionist, the weakest type of magician that worked in a different spectrum.
Fiona herself was stunned when she saw this. After all, she had already seen Eden summoning a dragon earlier, and this time, with the group of vicious Moon Wolves here, it was clear that Eden's strength had already excelled any magician of his age. She wanted to speak something, but one of the wolves suddenly turned at her while also showing off its sharp teeth, forcing all the words on her throat to be swallowed back instantly.
Seeing this, even the man who Eden assumed as the leader here had to act carefully. After all, while the knights here were expendable, once the princess's life was in danger, it didn't matter whether he could bring her alive or not, but the City Lord would definitely hang his head tomorrow. Knowing this, he stared at Eden, who just leaned his body against the dirty wall cooly, and sighed in a complicated mood.
"Fine, you win here. What do you want?"