The military immediately responded and even the mages came to help. They took the job of putting out the fire using magic which immediately put out the fire. The soldiers immediately ran and barged inside the manor only to find that all of the people were already dead.
From the position and location of the corpses, it was clear that the bandits all tied them up and placed them all in the lobby before they burned the entire manor. It was a scene that even veterans from the military would find disturbing. They tried to look for any survivors but they found none.
One by one, they carried the bodies out and lined them on the ground. A total of thirty people were burned to death, including the servants, guards and the entire family of the noble who lived there. Orpheus was outraged at the news. Now that an aristocrat was involved, those people would surely come to him like a swarm of bees.
"No one even noticed that the manor was being attacked? What are the patrols and the heroes doing?" He shouted in anger because of the incident.
General Ishmael was gritting his teeth in shame and anger because they did not even notice that the bandits were on the move. When they noticed it, they rushed towards the area but what met them was something out of their hands already. The fire had gobbled up the manor and they couldn't even get near it because of how strong the fire was.
"I firmly believe that they have a mage working for them," General Ishmael answered, "we'll really need the help of mages to at least track them down."
The king gritted his teeth, "Go and call Rigel. Tell him to bring the mages he said are willing to help us to capture those mages as well as Hero Arcaine and the president."
The general wanted to protest but the king's threatening glare shut him up. He gave the king a salute and left the room. Once he was out of the door, he ordered one of his soldiers to relay the message. He couldn't believe that the king actually considered the help of a Ginehart.
Before the soldier could even leave the palace, he could already see the Ginehart carriage rushing towards them. He stood to the side to give way to the carriage that stopped in front of the palace entrance. Cygnus came down and without looking at any of them entered the palace. He and his companions were ushered to the king's study.
At the entrance they saw General Ishmael, he was standing like a guard and when they approached him, he only gave them a glare. He was especially averse to Cygnus who was wearing a small smile on his face. His frown deepened because of this as he stopped them from entering the king's study.
"Are you really going to do that in general?" Cygnus asked with a grin. He knew that the general wouldn't be able to hold them off.
"You are very lucky because we are in an emergency but after this, I will make sure that you won't be able to step inside this place once again," the general whispered to the master's ears.
Cygnus only chuckled and sighed. "General Ishmael watch your words because you might regret saying them." Cygnus stepped past him and opened the door to the king's study.
He greeted the man and immediately introduced to him the three mages that would help in the investigation. Lieutenant Leif and Astrophos saluted and bowed towards the man while Nina on the other hand only gave him a small nod. The king did not care though because they were in an emergency.
The king's secretary ushered them to their seats and General Ishmael also entered the room and stood behind the king. He silently listened to their conversation and the dissatisfaction on his face continued to become more obvious. He did not like the tone of the young man while talking to the king.
"Can't you be more respectful?" He couldn't help but comment after the conversation died down a bit. "You are in the presence of the king and yet you look like you are talking to someone equal to you, how disrespectful."
Before any of them could answer though, Nina was already on her feet. "Why don't you shut up?" The force behind her words offended the man. "You've been glaring at my master ever since we came in and even threatened him. Aren't you the one being disrespectful first?" She was not happy because of the general's attitude.
"Don't test me woman because even if you are one, I won't hesitate to hurt you." The general was ready to fight as he too glared at the woman.
"Then come and I'll let the entire kingdom know that the general is a brute and only knows how to hurt women." Nina issued a challenge with a smirk on her face.
"You!" The general was left speechless. He was about to step towards the woman but the king stopped both of them.
"Enough!" The king made his voice a bit louder to make the both of them stop before he looked behind him at the general. "I've already told Rigel to treat me casually because I quite like him and there's nothing wrong with him speaking to me casually."
"I apologize as well for my subordinate's behavior," he looked at Nina ang gestured for her to return to her seat.
"It's okay. Now that we've talked about what must be done, you can go back and rest for now. I will explain everything to Hero Arcaine and the president about the matter that we've discussed," the king smiled.
Since the atmosphere was tense and he did not want to waste more time in that place, Cygnus bid the man goodbye. They left and Cygnus ordered the three to go and standby at the Hero Association. After that he left and returned to the manor. All he would need to do now was to wait for results.
At the break of dawn, the mages finally met the hero that they will be working with. Acasia eyed the three because they did not even give an impact on him. They looked plain and weak that he couldn't believe that they would be the mages that the Ginehart young master would send.
"It is a pleasure to work with you," as always Hero Arcaine was flashing his fake smile as he offered his hand for a shake.
"It is our pleasure too. I am Astrophos and these are my companions, Nina and Lieutenant Leif Ainglar." He took the hand and shook it as he introduced the other two with him. "I presume that you are the president of the association," he looked at the other man who had been staring at him.
Acasia nodded, "Yes, I am. Thank you for coming and lending us your help." Since they greeted him, it would be rude if he did not return their greeting.
"Young Master Rigel send us here to help you and besides we will also be earning money from it so it would be a win-win situation." Astrophos was nodding his head and was smiling at them.
The president nodded again, "Since the team is already complete, I'll leave the four of you to discuss things." He then took a step back and waved at them before he left. He did not even wait for them to answer.
They decided to ignore him instead and started to talk about what they should do. After their planning, they immediately left for the site of the incident. Astrophos looked at the damage and he couldn't deny that it was beyond his imagination. He did not think that those bandits were this brutal.
"I'll be using tracking magic then," Astrophos walked a bit nearer the burnt manor. The place was still swarming with soldiers and some onlookers who came to see what was going on.
