The morning in the Golden Griffin smelled of roasted bacon. I yawned, wiping my sleepy eye with the back of my hand. Luthia placed steaming plates on the oak counter. Elena wiped wet mugs, maintaining routine order. The base pulsed with lazy peace. I rested my elbows on the table, preparing for the first bite.
The peace broke with a deafening bang. The massive doors were kicked open from the outside. The wood hit the wall with such force that plaster fell from the ceiling. An official of the City Council stood in the doorway. He wore an ornate coat. Two armored guards accompanied him. They stank of cheap power.
"Dave!" the official growled, stepping inside. His muddy boots left dirty marks on the clean boards. "You are accused of slaughter at the Marquis's estate. You will hand over these runaway slaves, and you will go to the pillory!".
I scratched my neck slowly. A fly buzzed near my ear, so I waved it away. "You are dirtying Elena's floor," I muttered coldly.
I didn't even stand up from my chair. I focused raw intent. Invisible telekinesis hit the three of them like a concrete ram. I grabbed their torsos and jerked backward with brutal force. The official and the guards were literally sucked out of the building. They flew through the open doors and hit the hard cobblestones with a heavy thud. I heard the sound of bending metal.
I stood up slowly and adjusted the collar of my black coat. "Stay inside," I threw to the shocked girls.
I stepped outside, squinting against the morning sun. The three intruders writhed in the mud. The guards tried to stand, grabbing their sword hilts. The official choked on his own saliva. I walked toward them at a relaxed pace, keeping my hands deep in my pockets.
The first guard swung his blade. I ignored the steel completely. I released a wave of kinetic pressure directly into his knee. The joint snapped backward with a disgusting crack. The man howled and fell on his face. I stepped firmly on his nape, driving his helmet into the pavement. His neck snapped, and the guard stopped moving.
The second guard turned pale, dropped his weapon, and tried to flee. I caught his ankle with telekinesis and jerked upward, throwing him onto his back. I stepped closer. A ruthless heel strike bent his breastplate inward, crushing his lungs. He died in a fraction of a second.
The official crawled through the mud. He tried to scream, but only a pathetic squeak came from his mouth. "Bad risk assessment," I stated indifferently. I used kinetic pressure from a distance, crushing his chest with an invisible vise. His ribs broke and pierced his heart. The corpse collapsed lifelessly into a puddle.
I looked at the scattered bodies. With an indifferent kick, I pushed the official's body straight into the deep gutter. I did the same with the guards. The trash went to its proper place.
I returned to the tavern and closed the surviving doors. Ria cowered in the corner, her tail trembling with fear. She was terrified that someone came to drag her back to a cage. I approached her and stroked her hair with brotherly affection.
"It is just cleaning, little one," I said with a soothing tone. "No one will touch you here. You are safe". Her breath slowly leveled out, and the base regained its stability. I turned to Shnee, who stood in full gear. "We are going to the forest," I ordered. "The Crimson Trail will not utilize itself".
I bypassed the camp, standing on the escape route behind the palisade. I opened the pores in my fingers, letting the Sapphire Slime flow out. I forced the raw mana into extreme compression, changing the slime into monomolecular threads. I stretched the sapphire garrote between the oak trunks, blocking the entire width of the forest.
Inside the camp, two massive mercenaries cornered a terrified girl near the dying fire. Shnee stepped out of the shadows, and her rapier covered itself with hard frost. "What are you looking for here, bitch?!" the larger thug growled, pulling out an axe. Shnee vanished, moving with a speed their brains could not register. Instead of aiming for the heart, she performed one horizontal swing at the height of their hips. With surgical precision, she cut off their manhood at the very base.
Before the blood could spurt, the extreme frost from her weapon penetrated the damaged tissues. The ice froze the blood vessels instantly, halting the bleeding and preventing them from losing consciousness. The cold in the exposed nerves multiplied the agony beyond human endurance. Both mercenaries fell to their knees, howling in absolute despair.
Shnee looked down at them, tilting her head. "Frost burns much worse than fire," she stated with a dead voice, slitting their throats with two quick movements. The screams woke the rest of the camp, and five crossbowmen took positions on the wooden towers, aiming at the lonely elf. I stepped out of the shadows onto the square, yawning shortly.
The bowstrings snapped, sending five heavy bolts straight at Shnee. I focused my raw will in space, using hard telekinesis. The bolts stopped in mid-air with a dull thud. "Reception failed," I murmured with Brazen chill. I jerked my mind, returning the projectiles with doubled momentum directly into their skulls. The crushed bodies fell from the towers into the mud.
The remaining bandits broke mentally, dropping their weapons in animal panic. They ran blindly towards the forest, trying to disappear in the dark. They ran straight into my sapphire garrote. The invisible threads cut into the fleeing crowd, dicing their armor and bones with a wet slap. The escapees turned into bloody puzzles that fell heavily onto the moss.
Only the gang leader remained on the square, dropping his sword and begging for his life. I released a wave of spatial force, crushing his chest with telekinesis from a distance. His lungs imploded, and he died spitting blood onto his own boots.
Shnee sheathed her rapier, and her diamond eyes regained their shine. The icy mask evaporated, and she quickly approached me, hugging my coat to find physical warmth and a sense of absolute security. "Good job, darling," I said softly, stroking her back.
We approached the wooden cages, snapping the rusted padlocks with point telekinesis. "You are safe," I threw in a soft tone to the kidnapped girls. The slave market was brutally erased from the map, giving our base absolute peace.
The march back to Oakhaven took less than an hour. The rescued girls walked closely behind us. Their initial terror was replaced by silent awe. They looked at my black coat and Shnee’s rapier as if we were dark deities of destruction. We reached the southern gates of the city. The guards on the walls saw our silhouettes emerging from the fog. They did not shout orders. They did not ask for tolls. On pure logic, they understood that stopping a predator returning from a slaughter was a suicidal idea. The iron grates rose with a loud grind, letting us inside without a single word.
Instead of going straight to the Golden Griffin, I turned towards the Lower City. "We have a short business stop," I threw over my shoulder.
I kicked the rotten door of Silas's office. The wood hit the wall with a dull thud. The merchant was sitting behind his desk, nervously smoking his pipe. He looked up, and his eyes widened at the sight of the crowd standing behind me. I did not explain anything. I pulled a silver ring from my pocket. It belonged to the leader of the Crimson Trail. I threw it onto the oak desk. The metal clinked against the wood.
"The Crimson Trail camp is burned to the ground," I stated with Brazen chill, keeping my hands in my pockets. "Their leader is dead. The slave market in the forest no longer exists. Take their ledgers, Silas. Take over their smuggling routes. Our monopoly grows".
Silas dropped his pipe. Hot ash spilled onto his lap, but he did not notice. His merchant mind processed the raw facts. He swallowed hard, wiping sweat from his bald head with a dirty sleeve. "You just wiped out an entire army... just like that?" he wheezed, staring at the ring. "It was a basic cleanup," I replied coldly. "Prepare the new routes. I want profits by the end of the week".
We finally reached the Golden Griffin. The interior smelled of roasted meat and wood. Elena and Luthia were waiting in the hall. They immediately saw the exhausted girls behind us. Without asking questions, Elena brought warm water, and Luthia led the newcomers upstairs to safe rooms. The base gained loyal hands for work.
I sat heavily in my chair. I stretched my legs, feeling a satisfying tension in my shoulders. Shnee sat right next to me. The icy mask of the assassin melted away completely. She leaned against my arm, resting her head on my shoulder. Her diamond eyes were calm and full of absolute trust. "Good job today," I murmured, taking a sip of cold water. The city was quiet, but the elite of Oakhaven would surely react to this night's massacre. We were ready for it.