Emperor's Reckoning

The lackeys were laughing before the man that Rayus met clapped his hands once. The lackeys quickly behaved and lined up. He looked at them carefully and ensured that all attention was on him. He put his hands behind his back as he raised his chin. He walked as if his eyes were inspecting everyone with a clear vision despite the starless night in the sky. His footsteps were clear and occasionally broke a twig as he walked back and forth while maintaining eye level. None of his lackeys dared to speak up as they lined up stiffened with their eyes avoiding contact.

The man smiled, "We have captured the rats inside Guh City, I must say, quite swiftly too. This is all because of our uncontested teamwork."

The man positioned himself at the center before he raised his hand to face level and clapped his hand once. Then once again, then once more. A total of three claps were made as none of the lackeys made a follow-up. The man nodded, "Alright, let's go back, to the glory of the Burgeon Swan!"

" The lackeys shout out "The glory of the Burgeon Swan!" before they all return to their positions.

The man nodded, "As usual, the ones stationed inside the city will still be stationed there— you all have been doing a great job! Keep at it."

The lackeys nodded with a big grin.

The man smiled in response before waving his hand as he turned, "The rest of you, let's go back to our hideout."

The man looked at the wagon where the three students were held. He smirked before approaching it. He opened the curtain with one hand before he receives three pairs of eyes glaring at him with scowls painted on their faces.

"Aren't you three a little bit too old for doing something stupid like that?" the man smirked before he placed his leg up and entered the wagon.

The three of them watched him pass them by before sitting right beside Rayus.

"Are you sure we're the stupid ones?" remarked Rayus as he noticed that the man's neck was within his arm's reach.

"Perhaps you have mistaken my confidence with arrogance," said the man as he shrugged his shoulders. The wagon started moving with the cantering of the horse within their earshot. The man smirked, "Now then, with all of you three here, I can ask all of you at the same time."

"As if we would tell you anything!" Reinhard shouted before his jaw was backhanded by the man. "Gah!"

"Reinhard!" the two others called out.

"How impolite," said the man as he rubbed off the back of his hand with a clean napkin.

"You son of a bitch!" Noah cursed.

"I will pretend that I didn't hear that," said the man as he crossed his legs on top of the other. "Now then, before we take a visit to your dear friend, I would like to ask you a few questions."

( Lenu is still alive! ) thought Rayus.

"I'm sure that you have some sort of connection with him, and his nose has been sniffing around in places he shouldn't," the man said before smirking, "Are you three trying to oppose us? Sorry, that was a stupid question, what I meant to ask is— Who is your master?"

The man caught their brows and glance shifting. "Hahahaha, I'll tell you what, tell me who it is, then perhaps I will let you go, best part is you can say a word or two toward the man we captured two nights ago before we let you go."

"Is the guy safe?" asked Rayus.

"Alive," said the man as he looked at Rayus's sharp eyes. "Ah youth, the desire to become a hero, am I right? Though, a hero can only become a hero when they are alive."

"Are you taking our wares?" asked Noah.

"Ah, you mean the caravan by the bar?" asked the man. "I thought it was weird, you left some pretty nifty things inside, but also, nobody is guarding it but the horse."

"You stole them?!" asked Reinhard.

"Hahaha, are you stupid or something?" asked the man. "We are the Burgeon Swan, we have class. Of course, we merely borrowed them— In case you're wondering, we brought them with us."

"You lowly scum," Noah muttered.

The man smirked, "Now then, who sends all you three to perform that idiotic acts? Must not be the guy we captured, because, that would be impossible."

The three students stayed silent.

"Hehe, I guess they trained you well, but not in the head it seems," said the man. "I'm sorry about the words that I will use, but your stunts are the dumbest thing I've ever seen or heard in the history of the Burgeon Swan, so in one way, be grateful, you are making history."

( Damn it, what would Teacher Lyon do in this situation ) thought Noah. ( I'm not as clever as Rayus nor am I as frontal as Reinhard... what should I do... ).

"That option that you gave us, that's a lie," said Rayus.

"Huh?" The man raised his brows.

"You said that perhaps you will let us go, as far as getting a word or two to the guy you guys captured, but that would mean that you are risking your locations once we returned," said Rayus.

"Heh, don't worry, I'm a man of my word, I will let you guys go," said the man.

Noah frowned, "But you will kill us on the way."

"Ah, I got a sharp one over here," the man smiled. "Noah, was it?"

Noah stayed silent before he asked, "How big is the Burgeon Swan."

"Oh?!" The man raised his brows as his eyes brightened, "Are you planning to join us?"

"Depends on the situation," said Noah.

"Noah!?" Reinhard exclaimed but his leg was kicked by Rayus.

The man took a deep breath before he muttered audibly, "How big is the Burgeon Swan, hmm...— Driver, how big is the Burgeon Swan?"

"Hahaha!" the driver laughed, "That would be like scaling the sea."

"Heh, well said," said the man, "Get your bonus later."

"Thank you boss!" said the driver.

"En," the man nodded before looking at Noah, "Are you surprised?"

"What kind of sea?" asked Noah.

"I will refrain from humoring you in that direction," the man snorted. "Aren't you surprised by how well our organization worked?"

"You're still bandits," said Reinhard. "You took from others."

"Your idealism is still shallow kid, live longer," said the man.

"Let's say that you want to kill a king," said Noah, "Can Burgeon Swan do that?"

"Killing a king? That's an assassin's job," said the man, "We are a bandit group, we take a more grand stage where everyone can see."

"Like uprising?" asked Rayus.

"Correct," said the man before smirking.

"You can summon forth an uprising?!" asked Noah.

"Depends on what we can gain or what we will lose, we're not going to blindly uprise a kingdom for no reason," said the man before all of them felt like they entered a warp.

"W-What was that?" asked Reinhard.

"We just entered an illusion barrier," said the man, "You think our hideout will be in a cave or something? That's for the low-class bandits, not us."

"No wonder you're group can grow exponentially," said Rayus. "You even go to such length."

"Hahaha, the first time I've heard someone opposing us praise us."

( Shit! Now what? I hope he can pull something off ) thought Rayus.

( Crap! We didn't calculate this! ) thought Noah.

The three students started hearing more people outside of the wagon they were sitting on. They all tightened their lips. They finally arrived at the hideout of the Burgeon Swan.

"Well welcome to our hideout," said the man as he was the first one to exit the wagon.

"Ah, Boss Riki is back!" said one of the lackeys.

"Ahoy, Boss Riki! What kind of haul did you bring this time?"

"Alright, alright, settle down," said Riki as he laughed, "Sadly not much, but three young men and a few strokes of nifty things inside the other wagon.

The three students heard a familiar clap before Riki said, "Alright get them out."

One of the lackeys came up and opened the sheet of the caravan, "Hahaha, out! Now!"

The three students were glaring but played as they were told. They got outside the wagon before noticing a wide area of plains. There were numerous camps and numerous people looking at them with grins on their faces.

"Hahaha, enjoying the view?" asked Riki.

"Could be better," muttered Noah.

One of the lackeys approached Riki before whispering some words. Rayus took an account of how Riki's face changed from cheerful to serious. The latter looked at the former with furrowed brows, before whispering back to the lackeys then, he left in the direction of the camps.

( Did he get in trouble? ) thought Rayus before the said lackey approached the three of them. "Alright you young blood idiots, follow me."