NABC Chapter 62 Rescue
Chapter 62 Rescue
After bidding farewell to Cecilia, Vanilla originally intended to work in his study for a while longer. After all, he had spent too much time dining with Cecilia these past few days, and the servants dared not approach because of her orders. As a result, he needed to set aside some time to deal with the official business that had been put on hold.
The attendant knew that she seemed to have more important matters to attend to recently, and had thoughtfully arranged these things according to the importance and urgency of the official duties. The one on top at the moment was a report on the empty treasury of the Lawrence family.
Vanilla did not open it.
Even without looking, she knew exactly what was written inside; it was nothing more than the result of her stubbornness, and no matter how much she looked, there was no way to improve it.
Vanillai tapped his fingertips lightly on the table, lost in thought.
This was a rare moment of tranquility, and no one would disturb her. Vanilla could let herself indulge in exhaustion without caring about anything else. But the more you don't want something, the more likely it is to happen. Just as she relaxed a little, an explosion suddenly rang in her ears.
Vanilla's expression hardened, and she tore off her coat and walked out.
Outside, a servant was also rushing over anxiously. As soon as he saw her, he immediately reported the source of the explosion: "It seems to be an empty warehouse in the west. I don't know why it suddenly caught fire. The source of the explosion is unknown. Logically speaking, there is nothing there, so there shouldn't be anything that could cause an explosion."
Vanilla Rui paused in his steps.
Another explosion rang out, and the flames shot towards the horizon, obscuring her face in shadow.
The servant thought he saw a slight smile on her lips, but how could that be? Although only an empty warehouse had been burned, the subsequent handling would still cost a considerable amount of money. With the Lawrence family's coffers empty, how could the matriarch, Vanilla, possibly be happy?
*
The moment the explosion rang out, the boy had already found Cecilia's location by following the route map drawn by the wind spirit.
Upon seeing the person in the painting who looked almost exactly like Cecilia, the boy immediately realized why Cecilia was locked up. But didn't she say she came from outside? Why would the Lawrence family have someone who looked so much like her?
Fortunately, now was not the time to dwell on that. The boy didn't continue thinking about it and decided to rescue the person first before asking about anything else.
With the key given to them by the wind spirits, everything else was simple. The boy quickly met up with Cecilia, rescued the person, and all that was left was to bypass the Lawrence family's defenses.
However, due to the chaos in the western warehouse, the original defenses had changed, and they had to rely on themselves to evade the constantly patrolling and checking guards. During this time, Cecilia's expression clearly looked off.
"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" The boy slowed his pace, thinking that she was having been locked up for too long and couldn't adapt to the high-intensity exercise of escaping.
Cecilia was indeed feeling unwell because of this, but her physical condition wasn't bad, so she shouldn't be in such a bad state.
She shook her head, remained silent for a moment, and then couldn't help but ask, "Didn't we agree that we'd just burn down an empty warehouse? Why is there such a big commotion now?"
"Oh, this—" the boy explained, "Legence thought the location was too remote, and pure flames might not be enough to attract the Lawrence family's attention in time, so they added some things to the warehouse. But don't worry, we remember what you said before, these explosions are just a bit scary, they won't hurt anyone."
Cecilia breathed a sigh of relief, but still felt somewhat uneasy.
The sudden fire in an empty warehouse could be explained, but without a ignition source, an explosion shouldn't have been possible. I wonder if Vanillari will become suspicious...
Seeing that the guards had already hurried past, the boy was about to rush over with her, but Cecilia did not move forward. Instead, she grabbed his hand and her face, hidden in the shadows, was so serious that it was almost cold: "No, let's take another route."
These words came so suddenly that the boy almost thought he had misheard.
But how is that possible?
Although the fire disrupted their previously established defenses, the initial investigation was still somewhat useful. At least the external security situation of the Lawrence family would not change easily, and the breakthrough point they had originally chosen was still the most suitable. The boy really couldn't understand why Cecilia would suddenly ask to change the route.
"How-"
Before he could even ask his question, the sound of a woman's laughter carried on the wind reached the ears of the three of them.
The boy's expression changed slightly, and he looked up at the sound.
Vanilla jumped off the roof and landed between the two.
She ignored the boy who looked like he was facing a formidable enemy and walked directly to Cecilia: "I told you long ago, you're very smart, and it turns out I wasn't wrong."
Cecilia's gaze was wary, but she did not back down: "That is truly flattering, my lady."
"Heh." Vanilla didn't mind her indifferent attitude. Or rather, compared to her submissive demeanor when she was locked in the room, she preferred Cecilia's current expression, which was full of the indomitable spirit and resilience that the Lawrence family should have.
Unfortunately, she has to tear down this facade herself.
Vanilla clapped his hands, and a squad of guards emerged from the darkness behind him. The leader was carrying two people on his arms. Although their faces were obscured by their lowered heads, their attire made it easy to identify them as Legnfender and Gunnhildr.
The boy's breath hitched.
Vanilla glanced at him: "Don't worry, they're not dead yet. But knocking them out really wasted a lot of my time. How are you going to compensate me?"
The boy pursed his lips and remained silent.
Vanilla could guess what he was thinking. He felt that he could never take action because of their status. After all, nobles checked each other, and she would not be willing to take the risk of harming two people who were also nobles.
Thinking of this, she sighed and remarked, "What an innocent child!"
The group had sneaked into Lawrence's house anyway, so even if he killed them now, who could prove that he was the one who did it? It would just be a little more troublesome to deal with the bodies afterwards.
Cecilia clearly realized this as well, because Vanilla noticed that her face turned pale.
Since the person she most wanted to explain to had already grasped the point, Vanila Rui was too lazy to explain to the boy anymore. Although, in her observation, this guy was a leader of the resistance forces, it didn't matter. If one died, another would come.
The greatsword was wielded, each strike deadly.
During the war, the Lawrence family's swordsmanship was sharp and decisive, unlike the more aesthetically pleasing style of later generations. However, Cecilia had no time to observe carefully and swiftly snatched the sword from the attendant beside her to defend the boy.
—This guy is good at archery, but his close combat skills are absolutely terrible.
Seeing her draw her sword, Vanilla was quite surprised. For some reason, the sword's momentum subsided, allowing Cecilia to breathe a sigh of relief from the dense attacks and even counterattack.
However, she forgot that as someone who grew up entirely under the control of Lord Lawrence, every move she learned was the Lawrence family's swordsmanship passed down from ancient times, just like Vanilla, which almost made her identity public.
At least, those who know him well have already recognized him.
With the rule established by Vanila Rui that "family members should cherish their siblings," the guards clearly became hesitant, unsure whether they should lay a hand on her.
Fortunately, Vanilla waved his hand, signaling them to step back.
She sighed at Cecilia, her tone meaningful: "You should be glad that the people here are all my personal guards, otherwise your actions today would have caused countless more deaths."
Just as Cecilia was trying to figure out what she meant, Vanilla had already given up on continuing things with her and turned her attention to Gunnhildr.
"Clang!"
The sword clashed with the arrow, producing a piercing sound. Vanirari's greatsword was deflected by the sudden arrow, narrowly missing Gunnhildr's cheek without harming her in the slightest.
Thanks to Cecilia's help, the boy who was able to create distance and control his bow and arrow breathed a sigh of relief, and his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down a little.
"Not bad." Vanilla offered praise without hesitation, but the next second the greatsword was already at Legend's neck. "But will you be able to fire a second arrow?"
She held the hostage in her hands, and no matter how hard the boy and Cecilia tried, they could only be controlled by her.
Looking at the guys in front of him who were only able to keep panting, Vanilla looked relaxed for once, full of confidence that victory was in his grasp, and was about to start negotiating terms.
Unexpectedly, a sudden change occurred. A burst of azure light erupted from beneath her sword, deflecting the blades and drawing both Gunnhildr and Legnfender under the azure shield.
Vanilla's expression changed drastically. Following the source of the light, he saw the transparent feather that suddenly shone beside Cecilia's ear, and the unknown creature behind her absorbing the light.
"This is--"
Cecilia's expression was equally incredulous.
Her earlobes were burning hot, and she could clearly feel the power emanating from the earrings Wendy had given her. However, to her surprise, the overflowing power was completely absorbed by the wind spirit.
The little guy used this power to create a shield that protected Gunnhildr and Legnfindr.
Cecilia could even vaguely see a shadow emerging behind the little guy, looking exactly like a boy—no, judging from his expression, he looked more like Wendy.
Like Wendy's expression when she first heard about Buck's evil deeds at the foot of the tower.
Cecilia was stunned.
On the other side, this was the first time Vanila had encountered such a creature. The strong wind element aura emanating from it even reminded her of Lord Dekalabian, whom she served, the "Tornado Demon God".
The aftereffects of being ruled for so long caused the greatsword to fall from his hand, and Vanirari uncontrollably knelt down.
Behind her, countless guards knelt down obediently, as if worshipping their master, their god.
Apart from Cecilia, who was simply stunned by Wendy's shadow, only the boy remained unaffected, and he clearly seized the opportunity to rush to the guards and snatch Gunnhildr and Legnfind away.
"Cecilia, let's go!"
Unfortunately, the borrowed power was ultimately too much for the wind sprite's fragile body to bear. With a crisp sound in Cecilia's ears, the wind sprite finally succumbed to the pressure and collapsed.
Vanillare snapped out of the oppressive aura and instantly raised his sword to stab the boy again. However, the boy lost his agility due to the weight of the two people on his back and could only stare at the sword tip getting closer and closer to him.
(End of this chapter)
The author says: I hate action scenes! I hate them! I had to skip the update deadline due to writer's block, but anyway, I made it in time, didn't I? (spits out)