Chapter 52
Arran's first instinct was to flee the castle immediately . Although he did not know how many enemies there were, he knew that once they realized Senecio was gone, they would return . When that happened, Arran would be forced to face them .
While Senecio had said he should be able to handle them, he had little interest in finding out if the old man was right .
Yet as he looked at the treasures that filled the room, he could not bring himself to leave them behind .
There were weapons and armor, paintings, jewelry, scrolls, herbs, metals, and numerous other things . Even if Senecio had probably taken the most valuable items, what was left was still a fortune the likes of which Arran had never seen before .
After a moment's hesitation, he began to grab random items from the room, stuffing them into the empty void bag that had once belonged to Stormleaf . He did not bother to inspect the items as he gathered them, instead simply taking as much as he could, all while keeping a close eye on the doorway .
It did not take him long to fill Stormleaf's void bag, and as he put it away, he saw that even now the room was only half empty . Thinking of all the treasure he would gain today, he could not help but grin in excitement .
He eagerly took out his own void bag, then began to fill that as well . If the castle's inhabitants could take a little longer before finding him, he thought, he would have enough treasure to last him a lifetime .
Arran had already taken most of the goods in the room when finally, a man appeared in the doorway . As soon as he saw Arran, a look of fear appeared in his eyes .
"He's here!" the man called out at once .
At the same time, Arran fired a blast of Air at him . It slammed into the man with a loud crash, sending his body flying back into the hall . Arran cursed under his breath when he realized he had been a moment too late .
He cast a last glance at the treasures that remained in the room, sighing wistfully at having to leave them behind . Then, he drew his sword and headed toward the doorway .
As soon as he moved into the large hall, a handful of armed men hurried toward him . Without hesitating he threw a large fireball at them, then rushed after it, sword ready to finish off the survivors . Yet the fireball left none of them standing, and he understood that they had not been mages .
Quickly, he headed toward the exit, but before he could leave another man emerged . This time, it was a mage — as the man approached he formed a head-sized fireball in his hand, which he launched toward Arran .
Arran responded with a powerful blast of Air that wiped out the fireball in mid-air . Before the mage could launch another attack Arran leaped forward, thrusting his sword through the man's chest .
The fight was over in seconds, and Arran was startled at how weak the mage had been . He did not pause to consider it, instead hurrying to the exit .
He finally emerged from the castle, stepping into the courtyard . As soon as he did so, he groaned in frustration . At least two dozen men were waiting for him, weapons drawn, with more approaching in the distance .
For a moment, they all stood there in silence, as if none of them had expected to suddenly stand face to face with the enemy . Then, one of the men thrust his hand toward Arran, and Arran could sense that he was using Wind Essence — although it seemed unusually weak .
Before whatever technique the mage had used could reach him, Arran countered with a strong blast of Wind . The two attacks collided, and the other man was sent sprawling to the ground almost instantly, his attack overwhelmed by Arran's .
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