A Reincarnator's Tale In A New World: Volume 2 (End)
Chapter 18
"Just what's going on here?" The female dark elf, Number Four exclaimed, flabbergasted by the scene before her.
The sudden appearance and the surprise exclamation from the female dark elf, startled Raine little---leaving him momentarily stunned.
But even though Raine was stunned for less than a second, it was enough time for the masked man to distance himself from the boy's endless barrage of attacks.
"Damn!"
Seeing the masked man escaping from his grasp, Raine could not help but curse and throw a resentful glance towards Number Four's direction.
"Sorry!"
Knowing that she made a mistake, Number Four quickly apologized to Raine. Even though she didn't do it on purpose, the fact remain that she blew away the chance of Raine defeating the masked man.
"Hahahaha! Who would think that I would be saved by you of all people?" The masked man exclaimed mockingly as he looked at Raine and Number Four warily.
"What are you talking about? You might have survived encounter with that boy but you won't escaping me!" Number Four declared.
"Heh! Don't think that just because I'm injured that I won't be able to anything to you! Besides, I could escape whenever I wanted!" Then masked man responded confidently despite while sweating badly due to intense muscle pain.
Raine observed the masked man and noticed that he was sweating profusely and his muscles were in spasm.
"Did he reach his limit?"
Due to doping, the masked man was able to match Raine in combat despite entering his awakened state. But Raine knew fully well that using drugs to increase one's power would surely have adverse side effects.
"Well, it's not like I'm in better position..." Raine said to himself mockingly.
Like the masked man, Raine's too, is about to reach his limit. Even though awakening gave him great advantage in combat, the side effects of forcefully increasing his strength are not light.
In a little while, Raine knew that he would exit his awakened state and when that happened, he would be greatly weakened.
The main reason for this weakening was not because Raine haven't fully mastered this technique yet but because he was too young! In other words, Raine's body is not fully matured yet and therefore could not handle the strain caused by the sudden increase in power.
"The after effect would sure be very painful...," Raine thought as he smile wryly.
"We should defeat him as quickly as possible. There's a possibility that he still have an escape talisman in his person," Number Four said to Raine as she ready her daggers.
Raine nodded in response to what Number Four said. He knew that after the masked man escaped from his grasp earlier, the only chance of subduing the masked man is with the help of the female dark elf.
Fortunately, it seemed that the masked man and the dark elf seemed to have a grudge with one another which reduced the risk of a sudden betrayal from said dark elf. Raine was also pretty confident that the dark elf was the rescuer that Raine was waiting for which eased his mind a bit.
"Hmph! So you wanted to ganged up on me, huh? You could try but don't expect me to just stand here like an idiot," the masked man mocked after noticing Raine and Number Four's plan.
Even though the masked man was in a pitiful state, no fear could be seen in those cold, slightly crazed eyes of his.
"Do you still plan on resisting in that condition you’re in?" Number Four said with a mocking smile.
Number Four is pretty certain that the masked man was on his last leg. Although her sudden appearance resulted in the masked man escaping Raine’s barrage, it doesn’t change the fact that the masked man was in a seriously weakened state right now.
Raine and Number Four signal their intent through their eyes. Even though the two of them never worked with each other before, they could still somehow instinctively understand what the other party was thinking.
The two of them slowly circled the masked man as they ready themselves to attack him the moment he makes a move.
Seeing the two slowly circling him, the masked man's expression grew fierce and grim. He knew that in order to survive tonight's encounter, he must find the right timing to use his last escape talisman.
Talismans are one time use items that would break after one use. Aside from the fact that it could only be used once, talismans also have other limitations. Nonetheless despite the limitations, talismans are still extremely useful in many situations.
But although talisman's are very useful, it still takes a bit of time to activate. Talismans have different tier. The higher the tier of the talisman, the longer its activation time and vice-versa. A teleportation talisman needed at least 3-5 seconds to activate while an escape talisman needed 1-2 seconds. It might not seem long but in a fight against experts, a second could mean life or death.
The reason he was able to pull off the kidnapping earlier was because he activated an escape talisman before being teleported to the ogre's camp by the teleportation talisman.
But in his current situation, the masked man knew that the female dark elf and that strange boy would not give him the chance to activate his talismans.
"I sure suffered a loss here without a single gain. Not only did I lose all of my men, I also failed to kidnap the target. Also, I never thought that I would need to use all of my high-tier talisman in just this mission alone!" The masked man complained inside his heart.
Number Four gave the order to attack after seeing a momentary lapse on the masked man's reaction. She charges towards the masked man at incredible speed as she brandished her daggers.
"Now!"
Raine quickly followed through and reacted as fast as the female dark elf but as he was halfway the mark, his legs suddenly buckled---forcing him to kneel in one knee!
"Damn it! Not now!" Raine cursed inside his heart as he realized that he has reached his limit.
Number Four and the masked man noticed what happened prompting the two to give out different reactions---Number Four was incensed while the masked man's eyes light out with delight.
The female dark elf's reaction slowed down a little after seeing what happened to Raine which the masked man took advantage of.
"This is my chance!" The masked man exclaimed inside his heart as he quickly activated his last escape talisman.
Number Four felt the sudden surge of mana and the disturbance in space.
"No!" She shouted as she forcefully increase her speed.
And yet, despite the sudden increase of speed, Number Four knew that she won't make it in time.
"Hahahaha! It seemed that I got the last laugh!" The masked man exclaimed gleefully.
"Oh? Is that so?" A calm voice of man interjected.
Before the masked man could react, he felt a powerful force slamming his body into the ground!
Gah!
The masked man let out a loud grunt of pain. Almost at the same time, the masked man's vision blackened and he lost consciousness.
Shatter!
The moment the masked man lost consciousness, the teleportation was forcefully stopped and a shattering sound akin to glass breaking could be heard.
""Who is it!?""
Raine and Number Four both exclaimed at the same as the sudden turn of event was registered by their brains.
The turn of even was so sudden that both Raine and Number Four's minds went momentarily blank.
"Sigh. Good thing I made it in time or we could have lost that masked bastard..." The mysterious man said with a smile.
"Anyway, that was careless of you, Number Four." The mysterious man added as he looked at Number Four and Raine.
"So it’s you My Lord!"
Number Four quickly kneel in one knee respectfully after seeing the mysterious man's appearance while all Raine could do was watch while sitting and looking confuse.
The mysterious man have is tall, well-built, and have good features. But the most noticeable about him was the single horn on his forehead and his platinum-colored hair and red eyes.
"Platinum hair and a horn..."
Raine observed the mysterious man intently and a realization came to him, "could he be, Silvia's older brother?"
According to the information he gathered, the daemon king have three children, one is a boy and two are girls.
If Cloudia's teammate, Platina, and his classmate, Silvia are the two princesses then by going through the process of elimination and judging by the female dark elf's Number Four's reaction, it could be deduced that the man before him was the kingdom's crown prince---Silvio Lester Noreen!
Epilogue
The sudden appearance of the daemon race's crown prince caused a sudden turn of event. the combination of a surprise attack coupled with the crown prince's maneuvering signals the defeat of the masked man and his subordinates.
After being rescued by the crown prince, Raine was safely reunited with his teachers, classmates and friend. Even though he was in a weakened state, everyone was still delighted that he managed to escape with his life.
And when the crown prince introduced himself, everyone was shocked at the sudden appearance of the next king of which the members of the ogre tribe were especially perturbed.
Thankfully, crown prince Silvio was a very understanding man, and after being informed of the negotiation did not make a move against the ogre. Not long after, morning arrived and everyone could finally exit the forest back to civilization.
Back at the academy, Raine was welcomed by his very worried older sister who almost crushed the poor, weakened boy by hugging him too strongly.
Aside from her sister, another unexpected person was also waiting for him---the nameless village's best magic user and one of the "old guards", Magic King Sharpton.
Magic King Sharpton or just Grandpa Sharpton to Raine and Cloudia, was once the kingdom's court mage. Like the other "old guards", Sharpton retired and established the nameless village after the war several decades ago.
The reason Sharpton was given the title "Magic King" was due to the fact that his magic spells caused so much devastation to the kingdom's enemies during the war. It was said that during his heyday, no one could match him in term of magic, hence his title. And yet despite his reputation and fame, Sharpton still choosen to retire to obscurity and established a village at the outskirt of the frontier after the war...
Let’s go back to the present. The reason why Magic King Sharpton was at the academy was because of Raine. Upon receiving the news that Raine and the princess Silvia were among the kidnapped students, he quickly teleported to the capital to lend his power in ensuring that all of the captives, especially Raine and Silvia would be safely rescued.
But as he was about to go to the nameless forest and rescue the captives, he was informed that the captives were already rescued and would return to the city by morning.
Anyway, several days had passed after the events inside the nameless forest. During that time, Raine was questioned non-stop by his sister, Sharpton, her sister's friends, his own friends, the academy teachers, and even some officials from the castle.
Honestly, Raine was more tired and weary after returning compared when he was captured and fighting inside the nameless forest.
Another thing to note that during the past days, many things had happened that rocked the capital. One, the news of the abduction incident shocked the entire city, and although most information remained confidential, some information were still to leaked to the public. Among the information that leaked were the identity of the abductors and the reason for the abduction.
When the citizens found out that the ogre tribe were the ones responsible for the abduction, many were outraged to the point that calls to punish the ogre tribe harshly was especially loud. But once the information which contains the reason for the abduction became known, the call for harsh punishment suddenly stopped.
In Raine's opinion, the ones who leaked the information of the abduction and the identity of the abductors were most likely the hidden force behind the group that launched the surprise attack in an attempt to abduct Silvia.
On the other hand, Raine believed that the people from the castle were the ones responsible for leaking the information of the reason behind the kidnapping.
He believed that it was most likely done to prevent the angry populace from rioting over the issue of abduction.
"I wonder how the negotiation with the king went. I hope everything went well for the ogres!"
During the negotiation with the ogres at the camp, Raine became aware of the reasoning behind the abduction.
From the ogre chief's own words---something of great value to the ogre tribe was stolen---their tribe's sacred artifact!
The stolen object or rather, the sacred artifact was so important that it involved the survival of their entire tribe as a whole. It was so important to them that the whole tribe was willing to do everything to get it back even it was something dishonorable as abduction.
The ogres did not mention the name of the sacred artifact but when Raine's teachers; Clark and Dylan heard that it was a sacred artifact tied to the ogre tribe's survival, the expression of the two became grim and solemn. From their expression alone, Raine deduced they knew what the sacred artifact was...
Even though Raine did not know the name of the sacred artifact, he could at least tell that the ogres were not lying when they said that it involved the survival of their whole tribe. And if they could resort to abduction to get said sacred artifact back then the ogres would be willing to do anything to get it back---even declaring war against the kingdom was not out of the question!
War!
Raine could not help but shudder just thinking of it. Even though the his previous world, Earth was relatively peaceful---its history was full of bloody and cruel wars with hundreds of millions of casualties!
As such, Raine knew what a war entails. Even though the ogres were few in numbers compared to other races and were scattered all over the land, their prowess in battle were known to all. And once their scattered tribes unite, the ogres were a force to be reckoned with...
Of course war was the last option. Even though the ogres look scary due to their size and appearance, they actually seldom go into conflict with the other races.
Most of the time, they would stay inside their territories without making much contact with the outside world. Of course this doesn't mean that the ogres never have contacts with outsiders but rather they like to keep to themselves most of the time.
Also, the abduction was also considered the one of their last options. That's because before they resorted in abduction, they also tried retrieving the stolen magic artifact through less extreme methods. Unfortunately, all of their efforts were wasted because the one who stole said magic artifact was someone of power within the kingdom of Noreen!
Yes, according to the ogres, the ones responsible for stealing their magic artifact was a powerful noble!
The ogres did not know how their sacred artifact was stolen. Since it was their tribe's most sacred and important artifact, the place where it was located was well-guarded by the most powerful ogres in the tribes 24/7. Not only was the place well-guarded but the location where the sacred artifact was located also has countless powerful magic formations and traps to stop intruders.
And yet... Someone still manages to steal the sacred artifact...
"It's not like the ogres were careless. It just proves how resourceful and powerful the noble or the power behind the noble was..."
Once the ogres realized that their precious sacred artifact was missing, they began their investigating using all methods in their disposals. And after weeks of investigation, they found out that a powerful Noreen Noble was responsible for the thievery.
At first, they wanted to report to the king about the thievery but the powerful noble full some strings that prevented them from meeting the king. They also reported the thievery to the kingdom officials but that too failed, as their case was swept under the rug...
After everything failed, the ogres became more desperate as they tried to retrieve the sacred artifact by "stealing" it back but that too failed.
When they realized that none of their earlier methods work, they actions became more extreme as they tried to attack and abduct an aristocratic merchant with ties to the powerful noble in order to get more information. But like the other methods, that too failed...
"According to big sis, the said aristocratic merchant was the same merchant that we saw arguing with Leonis' party at the Hunter's Guild that time. To think that it was connected..."
Remembering the even he saw during his first visit to the Hunter's Guild, Raine could not help but smile wryly.
"Sigh. I just wanted to live peacefully. And yet I was embroiled in a conspiracy the moment I arrived at the city." Raine complained inside his heart.
Raine was no fool, and so were the people in the castle. They probably figured out that there's a powerful hidden force manipulating and supporting the said noble from the shadows.
"The organization behind these strings of events must want to sow chaos inside the kingdom. I'm pretty certain that that was also the reason why they tried to abduct Silvia..."
Thinking what could have happened if the plot to abduct the little princess was not foiled; Raine could not help but shudder.
"If the princess was successfully abducted and harmed, then war could be the most likely result. Still, I don't understand why anyone would do want to sow chaos. Could it be related to the previous war?
Raine's thinking was starting to drift in the direction he liked the less, and forcefully shook his head to shake off the unpleasant thoughts.
"No, I shouldn't think too much about it. I'm just a kid after all and is powerless to do anything. Not to mention I'm an outsider who reincarnated into this world. I'll just let the king and adults deal with this issue. Anyway, the noble and his cohorts had already been arrested and the plan foiled. As for the organization behind all of this, the king would surely do something about them."
Sighing inside his heart, Raine decided to stop thinking about the issue since he's powerless to do anything about it anyway. For now, he should just study and learn everything he could about this world inside the academy.
Shaking away the unpleasant thoughts of conspiracy, deception, and wars, Raine started feeling much better as he walked towards his friends waiting for him at the gate of their school.
As for what the future holds, Raine decided to just let nature takes its natural course. At the very least, until he's powerful enough to change it...
End of Volume 2
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