The innkeeper was sweating. "N-No, you can stay. I'll prepare a room for you all," he stammered, before turning and bolting up the stairs.
Felix smirked. "Go on. We'll be waiting."
The butler and the captain stepped closer. "What do we do next?" the captain asked.
Felix replied calmly, "Just follow my lead."
Moments later, the innkeeper returned, faking a smile. "The guests were just about to leave. You can take their room—it's cleaner than the others, and the rest are… occupied."
As he spoke, a group of four men emerged from upstairs, carrying a fifth man wrapped in a white sheet.
Felix's eyes narrowed. "He looks injured," he said, eyeing the figure closely.
One of the men answered quickly, "He's fine—just can't walk. We're leaving the capital anyway."
Felix tilted his head and turned to the innkeeper. "You sure you don't have any other available rooms?"
The innkeeper froze. "Ah… um… I thought… since they were leaving… maybe you'd prefer their room. It's well-maintained. The others are… not suitable."
Felix's attention shifted. Something about the injured man's hands—what little he could see—looked familiar. Just then, the sheet slipped slightly.
Felix muttered, "Those hands…"
Before he could finish, the butler lunged forward. "That's him!" he shouted.
The group of five reacted instantly—one of them tossed a smoke bomb. "Distraction—now!" he yelled.
Smoke exploded across the room. Chaos erupted. Patrons screamed and scrambled, making it impossible to see.
Felix yelled through the haze, "Catch the innkeeper! Sylra, with me!"
The captain charged toward the innkeeper, while Sylra followed Felix into the street.
Outside, the confusion was just as bad. Civilians were running, unaware of the true danger. Felix clenched his jaw. "We were so close…"
"There!" Sylra shouted, spotting one of them across the street.
They sprinted toward it. The crow above called out, circling tightly. It led them into a narrow alley, where they caught sight of the kidnappers climbing a wall to the rooftops.
Felix didn't hesitate. He pulled a knife from his belt and hurled it.
It struck true—burying deep in the back of the last man still climbing. The body toppled from above and crashed into the street, startling nearby onlookers.
The rest of the kidnappers had already made it to the rooftops. One of them carried Kaelan slung over his shoulder like a sack.
"Your turn, Sylra," Felix said.
Sylra raised his crossbow. Thunk! One arrow pierced through a man's chest. Thunk! Another hit the leg of the man carrying Kaelan.
A third bolt struck the waist of the final kidnapper—but they kept moving.
"Damn," Sylra muttered. "They're out of range now. But I've wounded two—they won't get far."
"We follow," Felix ordered. "Crow—guide us!"
The chase continued across rooftops, then back down into alleyways. They neared the edge of the capital, just by the outer gate.
There, one of the blood trails ended abruptly. At the base of a crumbling wall, they found one of the wounded kidnappers. He was slumped against the stone, blood soaking his waist. The arrow was still lodged deep, and he was gasping for air.
Felix glanced at him, but didn't stop—he followed the crow's lead deeper into the wild. "I'll catch up," Sylra called after him.
Alone with the wounded man, Sylra walked forward.
The kidnapper looked up, tears in his eyes. While struggling to breathe, huffing "End it. Please."
Sylra stood over him, silent. Then he spoke quietly, "As you wish."
One swift stroke. It was done.
Sylra stepped back into the alleyway, sheathing his blade. "Now it's your turn,Hold it I am coming" he muttered, eyes narrowing in the direction Felix had gone.
The trees thinned out near the edge of the woods, golden shafts of late sun cutting through the leaves.
Felix didn't slow.
He leapt from one thick branch to another, boots hammering bark, eyes locked on the clearing ahead — the final trail, the last of them.
And there he was.
The last kidnapper knelt beneath a crooked tree, breath ragged, sweat-slick and pale. Kaelan lay beside him — still, chest faintly rising, bandages wrapped messily around the forehead and shoulder.
Felix didn't hesitate.
He launched from the last branch like a hawk, blade drawn, ready to strike—
"Thwip. Pain exploded in the kidnapper's other leg—Sylra's arrow struck true." — He screamed, clutching the wound."
"Damn it, Sylra!" "Felix muttered with a smile, impressed by Sylra's shot."
The kidnapper looked up, exhausted, and defeated and in pain . "Didn't think... you'd be that fast."
Felix rose, walked forward, blade dragging in the dirt.
"Why stop now, huh?" the kidnapper wheezed, still grinning. "Go on... cut me down." *the kidnapper coughs out blood.*
Felix scowled. "I should."
But as he stepped closer, the man flicked his wrist — two hidden knives spun through the air, arcing straight at Kaelan.
Without thinking, Felix dove sideways — the blades sank into his thigh and side with a sickening crunch. He gasped but didn't scream, his body shielding Kaelan's.
He didn't have to retaliate.
A sudden wind arrow whipped near felix and it hit the kidnapper heart .
He didn't even get a word out before collapsing sideways, eyes still open.
Felix coughed, half-laughed through the pain. "I didn't even get to finish my threat."
The crow landed silently on a nearby branch, watching with eerie stillness.
Felix grunted and yanked the knives free, using a torn cloth from the dead man's cloak to stop the bleeding. It wasn't perfect, but it'd hold.
He turned to Kaelan.
Still unconscious.
Still breathing.
Felix gently leaned down and unwrapped the bloodied bandages to check the wound—
—and froze.
Not at the injury, but at what he saw beneath.
A lock of hair loosened, longer than it should be. A faint, barely visible tattoo at the collarbone — something royal, hidden.
More than that, Kaelan wasn't a he.
Felix sat back slowly. "...You're a girl."
He didn't say it with shock, just quiet realization. He reached into his bag, pulled out fresh wraps, and carefully fixed the bandages, more precise this time.
The crow called softly from above, wings outstretched, as if in silent approval.
A breeze passed, warm and heavy.
And in the hush, it whispered something only Felix could hear.
"That's why I chose you."
While sylra is still in the trees looking for other possible enemies.