Meanwhile, in front of the village, the main gate was opened. Kal Thor and Lot Har walked out, escorted by five Hunters. Above the wooden fence barricade of the village, the village archer guards lined the entire rampart, ready to shoot with their bows aimed at the approaching forces. The enemy troops shifted to make a path, and the mounted knight commander rode forward. Once he reached the front, several soldiers advanced to shield him with their bucklers.
"I won't waste pleasantries with devils. Quickly hand over the Saint from the Esvana Convent, and we will spare your village," the knight said arrogantly, looking down on the two men in front of him.
"As the village chief, I don't know what you are talking about. There is no Saint from the Esvana Convent here. Please leave," Kal Thor replied.
"Impossible. Our spies saw them fleeing here. If you refuse to cooperate, we will search your village," the knight stated loudly.
"There's no need to search. What you are looking for is not here. Please return to the Libelia continent immediately. Do not cause trouble here," Kal Thor insisted.
The knight stared at Kal Thor and Lot Har, who stood beside him, with narrowed eyes. There was no fear whatsoever on the faces of either man, who remained perfectly calm.
"Very well. If that's what you want, we will gladly search your village," the knight said.
The knight then turned to his soldiers and raised his hand, but suddenly, "CLANG!" an arrow was shot at the soldier holding the shield in front of the knight from the village rampart. The knight turned to see his soldier fall, as the arrow had pierced the shield and lodged directly in his chest. The knight returned his gaze to Kal Thor and Lot Har, who were now gripping the hilts of the swords at their waists, ready to draw them. The knight also looked around the rampart; he seemed to sense the archers hiding behind the pointed wooden fence above.
After that, he stared back at Kal Thor and Lot Har with a grim and angry expression, yet he knew that he was outnumbered by the villagers who were undoubtedly ready behind the gate.
"I give you 24 hours. Hand over the Saint and her guard, or I will destroy your village. Deliver that Saint to our camp by the beach. If no one shows up, 200 of our troops will come immediately to kill all of you," the knight said, pointing a finger at Kal Thor's face.
The knight turned his horse around, then ordered his soldiers to retreat. The army immediately turned and marched away, leaving a shielded soldier lying dead in front of Kal Thor and Lot Har.
"We don't need to engage them now. Tomorrow they will come with 200 soldiers. We must prepare," Kal Thor said.
"Understood. I will mobilize my mercenary forces as backup," Lot Har replied.
Both men immediately turned and walked back inside the village gate, which was opened from the inside, along with the five Hunters who had accompanied them. Meanwhile, up on the roof, Leon, Lucia, and Livia, who had hearing and eyesight far above normal human levels, watched the column of troops returning to the beach.
"If you look at how insistent they were, they're most likely just regrouping. There's no way they'll give up that easily, especially after taking a casualty," Leon said.
"Hmm… want to follow them?" Lucia asked.
"Yes, we have to," Livia replied.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go," Leon countered.
The three immediately jumped down, then ran into the forest in front of them, heading toward the coast. They ran quickly, leaping onto trees, then jumping from tree to tree. When they reached the beach, they were shocked to see two large Imperial ships offshore and a camp containing over 200 people right on the beach, bordering the forest. They saw the troops who had been to the village just entering the camp.
"Why would they bring this many troops just to find Mariana?" Livia asked.
"It seems they have another agenda besides taking Mariana and Isabel home," Lucia answered.
"Hmm… if you ask me, it looks like they don't want to take Mariana and Isabel home at all. They intend to kill all of us here, including Mariana and Isabel. That's seriously messed up," Leon said.
"So, what are we going to do?" Livia asked, turning to look at Leon.
"How about we ask them?" Leon replied.
"Huh?" Lucia and Livia said.
Leon immediately jumped down from the trees and walked casually toward the enemy camp. Lucia and Livia quickly leaped down from the trees and ran slightly to catch up with Leon.
"Hey Leon, what are you doing?" Lucia asked.
"Yeah, why are you charging in alone?" Livia asked.
"I want to ask them a question. Just watch," Leon replied.
Finally, the three of them walked toward the camp together. A soldier saw them and yelled out a warning to the others. Immediately, dozens of soldiers came out and circled them to surround them. Leon raised his hands, but his face looked completely relaxed. Seeing what Leon was doing, Lucia and Livia also raised their hands.
The fully armored knight, the commander, walked out of the camp. He looked shocked to see three young people in front of him whose faces looked identical and seemed to be from the central continent. He squinted his eyes at the three until he removed his helmet to be sure.
Then the commander turned to look at several of his soldiers. "Capture them," the commander ordered the soldiers behind him. Immediately, several soldiers advanced toward the three, while the commander smiled slightly, but suddenly, "BLAM!" Livia pulled out her twin axes and slammed them into the ground.
"GRREEK!" The ground collapsed, forming a deep circular crater that circled them and blocked the soldiers from capturing them, along with the surrounding earthquake that made the soldiers lose their balance. The commander, holding onto the soldier next to him, looked at the axes Livia was holding. His face immediately went pale, and his trembling hand pointed toward Livia.
"Th-the Twin Axes of Terranus... who are you?" the commander shouted.
"See? Now we're exposed. Besides, why did you have to make a crater? My only goal was to ask a question," Leon said, turning to look at Livia.
"I won't be captured by them. Don't forget, I'm a Queen," Livia replied.
"Haha… Same here. If it's come to this, what can you do? Livia's right, how can ordinary soldiers touch us?" Lucia said, drawing her greatsword.
"You two… oh well," Leon replied, also drawing his trident spear.
The entire body of soldiers immediately stood dumbfounded. Not a single person dared to move. The commander was so pale that all color completely vanished from his face.
"The Trident of Cronus... the Great Sword of Soranus... y-you... you are the triplets we're looking for?" the commander asked.
"Oh, so your purpose here wasn't just to capture Mariana and Isabel, was it? You wanted to capture us too, and looking for them was just an excuse. You followed them so you could find us, right?" Leon asked.
"Hey, why did you mention Mariana's name? Idiot," Lucia countered.
"You're sometimes careless; you haven't changed since way back when," Livia replied.
"Wrong… Our task here is to kill you and the Saint who showed us your location! Attack them, quickly!" the commander yelled.
"Oh, so that's it, huh? Alright, bye-bye," Leon said.
Leon lifted his trident upward, then twirled it and aimed it toward the commander standing in front of the camp. "BRRRSH!" Immediately, a tsunami materialized in front of Leon, completely sweeping away the entire camp and throwing everything back into the deep sea in an instant before the soldiers could even react.
What remained were the soldiers who had been circling behind Leon, Lucia, and Livia. After the tsunami finished and the camp was cleared, the three turned to look around them.
"So, what do you guys want to do? Jump into the sea yourselves, or should we toss you in?" Lucia asked.
"W-we'll jump in ourselves, excuse us," the soldiers replied.
Immediately, they threw down their spears and ran to the beach, then swam straight toward their ships further out at sea.
"Smart choice. Nice," Leon muttered, resting his trident on his shoulder.
The three watched as over 200 Vanadias Imperial troops were now in the middle of the ocean, struggling to swim toward their ships. Leon extended his hand forward. Lucia immediately stacked her hand on top of Leon's, and Livia placed hers on top of Lucia's.
"Time we take back our world," the three said together.