Most of the soldiers outside were still sleeping. With only small groups here and there gathered around the fires, there was no need to act stealthily. Most of them didn"t know his face, giving Mike a lot of opportunities to get rid of them.

Checking his robes for the last time, the merchant opened the doors and entered the open area. As the sudden bout of cold, night air surrounded him, he shrugged and covered his face with the coat. While he was noticed in an instant, no one paid him any attention.

The first thing that Mike did was to ascertain the position of Xyenna"s cage. As he was told previously, it was placed in the very middle of the courtyard. There was no way he could access it without attracting the ire of everyone gathered here. If he wanted to help her, he had to thin out enemy numbers first!

Crossing the short distance separating him from the closest group of conscious soldiers, he joined their circle.

"Come to the tower. Officers have some orders for you."

Dressing his face with an annoyed expression, he pointed his hand at the building he just left.

"What the h.e.l.l do they want from us? Go bother someone else!"

Unwilling to stop their fun, one of the soldiers rebuked. His reasoning was easy to understand. Work was already over, their targets got caught and almost everyone else was sleeping. The fact that they were still awake stemmed only from their thirst for alcohol, not some guard duty that the newcomer could a.s.sume they were serving.

"Are you going to disobey the orders?"

Mike asked while placing his hand on the hilt of his sword in an obvious threat. No matter how undisciplined those people were, ignoring the officer"s order was a grave crime.

"Yes, we are. And what can you do about it? Report us? Judging from the looks on your face, it will be you who will face punishment by failing your task, not us for disobeying some random messenger!"

Even if the spokesperson for this group managed to hold back his laugh, the rest of his companions didn"t bother in doing so. Some just smirked while others outright erupted in laughter.

"You are right about two things yet wrong about a single matter. I"m a simple messenger and I"m responsible for bringing you in. But you misjudged how I will react for your act of deserting the army!"

Pulling out his sword, Mike pressed it against the closest soldier"s neck.

"You have two choices. Either follow me like obedient trash you are or die here by my sword and force me to ask someone else."

The young man spoke those words without a hint of annoyance in his voice. He acted as if he was doing the most mundane task in the world, comparable to preparing the dishes or washing his clothes.

"Do you really think you can scare us? You are all by yourself and there is five of us here. Raise a commotion and you will have to take everyone sleeping into the account as well. Do you think you can face all of us? Aren"t you a little overconfident here?"

With the blade touching his neck, the soldier turned serious. Even if there was no way that this messenger would follow up with his threats, his actions still forced him to abandon his joyful mood.

"Oh, are you threatening some of higher rank now? Do you know what are the consequences of doing so? Let me spare you the trouble of going into the military court!"

Thanks to the barrier that still shrouded Mike"s perception, he was able to surface any kind of emotions that he wanted. Every second that he wasted on those people put his mission at risk. Unable to stall for the time anymore, he pressed on the sword and sliced the side of the soldier"s neck open.

"For the act of disobeying a higher rank and mutiny in the form of threatening your superior, I hereby sentence you to death."

Seeing as the soldier raised his hands to hold his throat in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding, Mike just stood there and watch the vitality flow out of him.

Stunned by the unexpected action of the messenger, other people around the firepit took a while to accommodate the fact that one of them just died. Eerie silence lasted for a short while before they stood up, took out their weapons and threw themselves at the Mike while shouting names like "Murderer!" or "Treason".

"Everyone wake up!"

Busy fending off the simultaneous attacks of four people, Mike intentionally slowed down. Despite being able to cut them down with ease, he allowed them to push him back.

"Kill those traitors!"

As people around were slowly but steadily waking up, they were greeted with the sight of the corpse lying in the pool of his own blood and four men a.s.saulting a single companion of theirs. Realising the seriousness of the situation, those drunken b.a.s.t.a.r.ds quickly reached for the weapon and prompted themselves up to join the fray.

Everywhere around the courtyard, a similar situation was taking place. Those who were awake previously were trying to stop everyone else from joining the fight. As they saw who initiated the fight, they could have some doubts about the authenticity of the messenger actions, especially when he started provoking everyone to enter the fray.

Allowing his enemies to push him back, Mike caught the arm of one of the soldiers around and supported himself on it.

"Kill all of them, I saw them killing our officers in the tower so they tried to silence me! Kill those traitors!"

Uttering the blasphemous lies into the random soldier ears, Mike could watch with satisfaction as the rage showed up on his face. Without a need to move even a finger, a large portion of the soldiers who heard the accusation jumped at those four a.s.sailants.

These soldiers just woke up, saw the attempt at Mike"s life and got a quick explanation of the events. There was no need to think much about the matter at hand. After all, there was no way that this poor guy would attack four other men all by himself for no reason!

With the fighting spirit overwhelming everyone on the scene, the situation couldn"t be stopped by normal means anymore. With all officers holding any authority amongst those people lying dead in the tower, Mike"s lies were the only thing that they now accepted as the truth.

Everywhere the architect of this madness would look, he could see limbs and corpses falling to the ground. In just a few moments, this chaotic situation already turned into utter madness. Everyone was clashing with everyone, not leaving any room for negotiations. With a great majority of those people belonging to the lowest tier of the military, the discipline was nonexistent. Once fired up, they would kill everyone in sight for as long as they had the energy to do so or someone calmed them up!

With the lights from the fires blocked by the frantic movement of the crowd, Mike could at last merge into the chaos. While still holding to his sword for the self-protection only, he tried to avoid most of the fights. Even if his aim lied in the very centre of this chaotic place, surprisingly it could be said to be the eye of the storm right now. With the steel cage blocking both the movements and the swings of the swords, everyone radiated more to the sides of the area, where they would be unhindered in their fights.

When Mike finally reached the cage, he had to dodge the blade of the pike thrown from the cage. During the ongoing battle, Xyenna somehow managed to obtain this weapon, and noticing someone moving towards her, she could only do so much in self-defence. Only when the man got close enough did she recognise him.

"What are you doing here! They will kill you!"

With clashes everywhere, it was just a matter of time before her employer would be struck by some random attack. While she respected his abilities to both stir and calm the troubles down, she couldn"t believe that he would appear in front of her in the middle of the battle!
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"Just shut up now and prepare to run."

Busying himself with the cage lock, Mike was unable to pay any attention to what she was saying. He created this opportunity with great effort so he wasn"t keen on letting it go just for the sake of chatting.

Breaking the lock wasn"t a hard task by any means. The cage was in the middle of the sea of soldiers, so those who put it in here would never imagine that someone would try to pry it open! Just when the pins inside the mechanism finally gave up to Mike"s pick, he saw a swift movement to his left side.

Jumping away, he raised a sword. The hit aimed for his head bounced out of his weapon, knocking it out from his hand.

"You better leave her alone."

An unfamiliar voice. While it was obvious that Mike didn"t know the sound of soldier"s speech, the man that just attacked him didn"t look like one. Dressed in practical and expensive armour, he was holding to a long sword. In just a moment, a few other people jumped from behind his back and surrounded the cage.

"This is Xantia business, don"t even try to meddle and be grateful that I"m leaving you alive!"

Before any other actions could be taken by either the soldier or the Mike, another harsh voice resounded.

"That"s not him! What should we do now!?"

The shout this time came from a middle-aged lady, wearing a light set of armour and carrying a short blade in her hand. With her face full of anxiety, she was looking around the battlefield as if trying to locate something or someone.

"Don"t try to pose as Xantia. Either leave or help me free her before I kill you all."

Raising back up on his feet, Mike pulled his dagger from under the guard"s robe and prepared to fight. While his opponents obviously didn"t belong to the local army, they were still an armed group separating him from his companion!

"It"s him!"

Hearing a sudden shout, Mike turned his head around only to see a familiar guy pointing at him. Somehow, the officer that he left alive managed to regain his consciousness and gather a group of soldiers while trying to stop his soldiers from fighting. Spotting the runaway, he didn"t hesitate for the slightest bit before unleashing those who he already gathered to catch and kill him!

"f.u.c.k!"

The time was running out. There was no way Mike could fight those people off by himself. Freeing Xyenna with another group blocking his way was out of the question too. Crouching for a second, Mike picked a bloodied, small axe lying on the ground and threw it at the crowd. With only four people on the front, all of them tried to avoid the projectile, stopping in place for a moment.

Not wasting this minimal chance, Mike turned around yet again and jumped forward. For some reason, the imposter just looked at him with a dumbfounded look on his face. Unhindered by the group, the merchant managed to at last pry the cage door open and pull Xyenna off.

"I don"t know who you are, but if I were in your shoes I would run as fast as I could now."

Turning around to run, Mike stopped in his track in an instant. Somehow, this officer actions were more effective that he hoped they would be. While he freed Xyenna from the cage, all of the fightings around them already stopped. Around half of the initial number of the soldiers were surrounding him, all ready to fight with insane hate in their eyes.

Because of his actions, they were killing their own friends, comrades and companions. Now that they managed to calm down and notice the lapses in his provocations from before, even those stupid soldiers were able to understand the situation!

"What"s your name?"

In this desperate situation, the girl from the different group that he noticed before asked him a question.

"It"s too late. Now you can either fight with me or die by their hands. After what I did, they will kill everyone who is not wearing their insignia."

"That"s not the answer to my question. What"s your name!"

Looking at this crazy woman, Mike couldn"t help but wonder. Who could"ve guessed that there were such strange people in this world? Asking for someone"s name seconds before the desperate onslaught?

"Mike. My name is Mike."