Koyuki, the Necromancing Foxkin

CHAPTER 333: City Guard

When the city guard arrived Cillian was with them, which answered the question if he was alive. That likely meant that Archibald was fine too, but it opened up the possibility that one, or both of them, had been working with the attackers.

"What happened?" Cillian asked, staring at the aftermath of the battle.

"I would like to know that as well. Good evening, I am Sergeant Henry and in charge of this squad." The lead city guard said.

"Good evening, sir. I am Koyuki." I replied.

"I have heard good things about you. You will make a fine officer one day ma'am." The man said.

My friends introduced themselves as well, then we quickly explained the situation and described the battle.

"You have captured two mages? We will need some collars to keep them contained." Henry stated.

"The people we sent to fetch you did not mention that we had mages as captives?" I inquired.

"No, they only said you had prisoners." Henry replied.

Maybe we should have sent an intelligent undead. I had assumed Cillian's people would have been more competent so we had only sent Frank with them.

"The wind mage is secured in a prison of ice, the earth mage is wounded and in no state to fight. He might even need some medical attention." Kaito added.

"Good." Henry said. "However I will still have to contact our mage on duty and get the collars. We have a protocol when it comes to arresting mages."

"We should have hired more guards." Cillian stated as he looked at the damaged fence and the remains of the golems.

"Sir, you said you were the lead guard in service of Lady Valeria Barkworth, correct?" Henry asked.

Cillian nodded. "Yes."

"And you were at the guard station when your men reported the incident because you escorted a drunk noble?" Henry inquired.

"Archibald Winston, the second son of Duke Francis Winston." Cillian responded.

"Koyuki, you were hired by Lady Valeria and your forces provided the main security, correct?" Henry asked.

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"Yes, sir!" I confirmed. "I brought seven tier three and a few tier two undead. Personally I was attending the party as a guest, as were my friends. They helped with the security as well and are a part of my team."

Officially I was the party leader and I had signed the contract but Skadi had negotiated the details and our group was a package deal anyway.

Henry looked around and studied my undead, his gaze lingered on Garm. "I can see how you deemed your undead sufficient. They must have been mad to attack like that."

"Considering their disguise the frontal attack was likely not the plan." Kaito stated.

Henry's face darkened and he nodded. "You said they smelled of death?"

"Yes." Garm confirmed. "Recent death. I am not sure if all of them smelled like it, there was not enough time to smell them individually."

"We don't have ten men patrols, usually." Henry said. "Two would be standard but it can go up to five in rare cases. Larger patrols are only used if we have reason to expect some danger. Any group larger than five is no patrol and would be a unit responding to something."

"Has there been any other incident tonight?" Helena wondered.

"Not that I am aware of, but there is more than one guard station." Henry replied.

"Sir, we have found something!" A guard shouted as he came running towards us.

"What is it, Josh?" Henry asked.

"The fighting here made some noise and led to a curious neighbour looking around. He found two dead guards in the bushes not too far from here. He came over to report it as he saw us arrive. Bill and Jack are retrieving the bodies." Josh reported.

"Are there any attackers who escaped? Did you chase them, or wound them?" Henry asked.

"Not that I know of." I replied, while looking at Kaito.

"No one escaped, at least no one visible." Kaito stated.

"Maybe they noticed the fake guards and questioned them?" Cassie wondered.

"You said two man patrols are normal, what would happen if a patrol met a group of ten guards?" I wondered.

"They would certainly ask questions and offer assistance, or ask for further orders." Henry confirmed my suspicion.

"But that would mean the Archibald incident was planned. They had the uniforms and were waiting for the right moment. Someone discovered them and they took care of the witnesses." Skadi stated.

"I doubt that Lord Archibald was part of any conspiracy." Cillian stated.

"He could have been manipulated, like he was in the past." Kaito pointed out.

"Sir, they managed to lure you away as well. It does seem like a strange coincidence. We shall interview Archibald as well as your captives and I will make a note that the incidents seem connected." Henry concluded.

"House Barkworth makes no such allegations against House Winston." Cillian said.

"I believe that would be Valeria's call to make." I said. "Also, since I was hired for security you will have my full cooperation."

"That is appreciated, ma'am." Henry said. "I will also have to take statements from the other guests."

I nodded. It did make sense, sadly it also ended the party. The guards asked all the guests and servants some questions and took statements. It was already late and the party would have been over soon anyway. At least we had made it to the cake and the dancing, all that would have been left was more drinking.

We stayed until the last guests had left and even offered Valeria a ride back to the academy in our carriage. My trust in Cillian was certainly gone and it was our job to provide security. At least Sergeant Henry seemed competent, hopefully he would get some information out of those captives.

"You should look into Cillian, his behaviour was questionable." Skadi said to Valeria on the ride back.

Valeria sighed. "He works for my mother. I can tell her about my concerns but that is all I can do myself." What followed was a bit of silence, then she looked at me. "Should I have fought as well?"

"Why? You hired us for security." I replied.

"I am a student at the academy, I am being trained as a soldier…" Valeria replied.

"You don't want to be a soldier in a dress, trust me." Skadi replied.

"High ranking officers have guards too." Cassie pointed out.

"You trusted us to keep you and your guests safe. There is nothing wrong with that." I assured her.

Valeria smiled. "I guess I did."

"And no guests were harmed, except Leo's pride." Helena stated.

"Meow!" Nyx agreed.