Chapter 23: Leaving (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
If Saladin Empire really sent an army here, Angele would try to grab whatever he could before escaping. Anyways, he needed to check the situation in the castle. Angele chose the route he came from and found a horse on the way. The horse was probably from the criminals he saw earlier and it helped him save some stamina.
It still took him a while to get back to the castle, and it was already afternoon. Angele went across the training grounds outside the castle and he saw the door of the entrance was already lowered. There were bodies and blood everywhere and he could still hear people fighting inside.
"The situation isn’t so bad." Angele got off the horse and said. He was still applying pressure on his wound to prevent it from bleeding. His face was pale, but he had no problem walking. Angele drew his sword and walked inside the castle quickly. Some of the bodies were the guards and some were the post knights. Dark blood stains were everywhere and Angele even saw two post knights trading their lives by stabbing each other in the neck.
It looked like not everyone was trying to betray the baron. Angele walked towards the training ground beside the living area, and there were people fighting. Over the main tower, one blonde man and some of his followers were carrying out tons of coins and jewelry. They were yelling and laughing. In the living quarters, several students were trying to guard the entrance while the guards were trying to break in.
Angele looked around and rushed to the training grounds with his sword on hand. One of the student heard his footsteps and tried to attack him. Angele dodged the attack easily and slashed the student’s neck open. The student fell down to the ground and died. Those post knights were just too weak and very slow. Angele felt like they were moving in slow motion, and he just killed everyone who tried to point their swords at him.
People around finally realized who he was.
"It’s Angele!" They yelled. Many people watched him dancing around the traitors and cutting their necks open. The guards and students that were trying to protect the castle started cheering for him. The people in the living quarters were watching the situation through the windows and they saw how strong Angele had become.
"Wo...Woah..." Celia and Maggie were surprised. The others around were speechless, too. The ones who were looking down on Angele felt ashamed.
The battle did not last too long and many traitors started to run for their lives after knowing that Angele was at a knight’s level. They threw away the valuables and just tried to escape. They needed some heavy weapon to actually deal with Angele. The blonde man ran away first and without him, the rest all escaped quickly.
Some guards went out to chase and were able to kill about ten of them. They returned to the castle while cheering. Angele asked the doctors who were still alive to help the injured ones. The baron had just returned to the castle as well and asked the workers to start packing up all the valuables. He also awarded the ones who defended the castle a huge amount of coins. After dismissing some of them, the baron gathered the main members of the family and about twenty loyal guards.
Angele sat down on a chair and took a break. He watched the baron organizing the things in the castle. Maggie and Celia stood with their parents, deciding to leave the castle with the baron. Several other children of the baron decided to leave, too. Everyone else were either killed or have already escaped the castle.
Cecilia survived as well. She hid in a large water tank this whole time. Her clothes were soaked with water and she was standing beside Angele. The baron glanced on the group he just gathered and looked at his son for several seconds.
"Tonight, the army from Saladin Empire will be invading my territory. We have to leave this place forever. We might not be able to come back in the future. If anyone of you wants to leave with me, then you only have this one chance. If not, you may leave the castle now." The baron solemnly spoke with a deep voice.
The survivors started chattering and some of them decided to leave right away. The twenty guards decided to leave with the baron and only about 12 people from the family decided to depart with him. The castle once had hundreds of people living in it, but now, only 32 people decided to stay with the baron. Angele and his father had mixed feelings about it.
Maggie’s father pushed her on the shoulder and she understood what her father was trying to tell her what to do right away. She saw Angele sitting on a chair with a cold expression on his face. His sword was lying beside the chair and he could grab it quickly if he wanted to. Maggie felt her heart beating very fast as the current Angele did not seem like a playboy at all. He looked like a totally different person.
Celia ran towards Angele and gave him a hug. The girl looked like a bird that just got scared and started crying.
"Angele, are you alright?" Maggie walked towards them quickly and asked. Her face was blushing. Angele looked at the two girls and the people around him. They all lowered their heads and looked at him with a tinge of fear on their faces.
"Maggie and Celia, are you leaving the place with me and my father?" Angele asked calmly.
"Yes!" Maggie replied without hesitation. She knew that this would be what her parents wished. Angele had already shown his power and he had huge potential. Maggie’s parents saw his performance and were very happy that they asked Maggie to become close with him.
"Me too." Celia said in a light tone.
The baron was conversing with the guards on the other side, planning their escape route and resources. He recovered fast thanks to his high stamina. Though he lost an eye, it was not a very big deal. The baron felt much better after taking some special medicine. The doctors cleaned his wound on the eye and covered it with cloth.
He was yelling at the workers for the preparations and sent some of the guards out as scouts. He wanted to make sure that the Saladin army haven’t arrived yet. Angele was just talking to some of his brothers and sisters on the side. Angele also understood his father’s plan after listening to his orders.
The baron decided to leave the Rudin Empire together with whoever wanted to follow him and go east to the Andes Alliance’s dock called Marua. His young sister, Maria Rio, lived there. She got married with a noble there a long time ago, and they had a close relationship with the Rio Territory. They communicated with letters from time to time. The baron wanted to take some good rest there and also wanted to plan for the future. He lost almost everything today and it was impossible for him to stay in the Rudin Empire. Andes Alliance was a better choice for him at present.