After convincing Zwei, Valdel had finished packing for his trip. Noel and the others tried to persuade him not to go but Valdel had already made up his mind. He needed to do what he can and this was the best option. Wether the nobles are dead or not, he would find out. If they were alive he would bring them back to their families. If they were dead, he would bury their bodies and tell the others the truth.
He understood that if he really did the latter things would get troublesome, but he still believed that's what needs to be done. He would just act accordingly.
...
When Valdel who was about to leave the school grounds, he saw Noel and the others standing near the exit. The group approached Valdel and tried to convince him for one last time. Of course Valdel didn't budge from his decision.
Noel and the other two who weren't able to convince Valdel to stop, gave up and instead gave him a few silver coins just in case. Of course Valdel rejected the money, since he still had some money that Ren shared with him, and the money he got from the Principal. Still Noel and the others insisted that he take the money, since this was the only thing they could do at the moment.
They couldn't join him in this quest of his, since it involved other noble factions and it was possible something deeper was happening. They did like Valdel but their priority was still with what's best for their families.
Valdlel accepted the money in the end, seeing as they wouldn't give up until he took the money. After receiving the money, Valdel quickly left and headed to the path the nobles used on their way back home.
...
While on the path Valdel encountered low level monster every now and then. Still he knew based on the quality of bodyguards the nobles had with them, this level of monsters wouldn't really pose a problem to the nobles and their bodyguards. Valdel continued walking down the path, once he was quite far from the Grenton and the next town, that's when they appeared.
Valdel already noticed them following him a few minutes before, but decided not to bother with them. If they simply came to observe him, then let them do so, as long as they weren't showing any hostility. Yet now it would seem that they were about to bear their fangs at him.
A group of five strong looking individuals appeared before Valdel. At a glance it would seem that each one of them was slightly beneath Valdel in mana capacity, but that could be changed. Yet the overall feel they were exuding was something that couldn't be faked. These people were experts, and quite strong ones.
"What do you guys want?" Valdel asked, but the men in front of him didn't respond and simply started attacking. Valdel was about to pull out Zwei but was stopped by a chain that wrapped around his arm.
'Zwei turn into your human form, and help me.' Zwei did as she was told and turned into her human form. The five attackers who saw this sudden transformation were surprised, but only for a moment. They already knew that Valdel's sword was magical, so they decided to think that turning into a human wasn't a big thing. What's more important at the moment was to kill Valdel.
Zwei cut the chains that were restricting Valdel and decided to handle three of the attackers, while Valdel will handle two of the attackers.
"Hear me spirits of fire, hear my voice and follow my mana-" One of the attackers suddenly started chanting a spell. Valdel who heard the spell words, knew that the incoming spell was a fire based spell. So Valdel started chanting as well and was going to use an water based spell.
Ren had already mention long ago, that if they were to encounter enemies that had the same level of mana as them, he and Lara should fight smartly. Fighting someone using spells was like playing a rock, paper, scissors game. Each element has another element that it's weaker and stronger against. In this situation water beats fire.
"Explosion!" The enemy mage finished his spell, while Valdel was dealing with another fighter. The one fighting Valdel in close quarters backed away. Seeing the incoming spell, Valdel was also finished with his incantation, and just needed to use the trigger word.
"Water Wall!" A dense wall of water appeared before Valdel defending him from the explosion spell and negated it. This didn't really surprised the enemy mage, as he started to speak new spell words. A fighter that was equal in skill as Valdel in a melee, and a mage that was as proficient as Valdel or even better than him in using spells.
There was also the problem of the three others with them. Right now Zwei is able to fight them in equal footing, but once Valdel's mana diminishes Zwei won't be able to last long.
'Zwei I want you to create an opening, so that we can retreat.' Valdel communicated to Zwei using their mental link.