"My lady."

"I'm fine, let's go."

Having finally arrived at their first planned destination Xi had a determined look on her face, through this journey she had been on she had grown into something that more resembled a leader, although she didn't realize that herself. Arriving at the capital of Greendale Xi followed her childhood memories and arrived at a large mansion in the centre of town. 

"Xi?... Is that you?"

"It has been a long time, old man Jacob."

Greeting a very surprised knight she had known since she was just a little girl Xi and her knight was lead into the mansion where she left behind Chad before finding her own way to one of to an office which overlooked the entirety of the mansion's ma.s.sive garden.

(Here we go…)

Centring herself Xi knocked on the door to the head of the Aluzulite family, a cornerstone of the Empire's imperial guard.

"Please enter."

Opening the door Xi put her eyes on a very surprised white haired man in the prime of his life, then a large smile bloomed on her face.

"Little Xi, you sure have gotten large… Welcome to Greendale, what can I do for you?"

Realizing mid sentence that it wasn't just some surprise social visit, the lord stood up and led Xi to sit down on a sofa as he quietly invoked a spell which kept sound from escaping the room.

"It has been a while, Gram. I come in hopes you'll honour the long standing promise between our two families."

Handing over a letter written by her father which explained their circ.u.mstances, Xi waited patiently as Gram read it several times and referred to multiple books and doc.u.ments in his office and multiple times called for a butler who fetched doc.u.ments from the estate library. As the sun slowly started to set about 5 hours after Gram had started the initial investigation he once more sat down across from the dragonkin princess with a difficult to read expression on his face. 

"Have you come to a conclusion?"

"I have… I'm sorry."

Deeply lowering his head in shame while clenching his hands in frustration Gram braced himself for an emotional outburst, but his expectations betrayed him.

"I see. Could you please tell me why you're unable to render any a.s.sistance?"

(She sure has matured…)

Looking at the calm and collected expression on the Ta'ai princess, Gram formed a thin smile as he started explaining.

"In my family's records, there are countless accounts of unnatural and sudden calamities happening without warning in newly added or fringe territories of the Empire. While some of them were dealt with by the angels, the was majority was completely ignored or outright suppressed by one or more factions hidden in the imperial capital. Even If I were to render my full a.s.sistance it is extremely likely that would be allowed to deploy any forces that would be able to help."

"So there's someone in the imperial capital that's internally forsaking the Ta'ai clan and its people?"

"... It would appear that is the case, I'm afraid. But that matter being as it is I can still offer you aid on a personal level, why don't you stay here with us princess Xi? We will welcome you with open arms."

With his hands tied Gram offered to at least save a single person of the Ta'ai bloodline.

"I'm sorry, but there's no way I can accept such an offer, not while my people are suffering. Not to worry, I have made a deal with another party to save my people, which is consistently also why I visited this place today."

Getting back on her feet Xi bloomed a wide smile as she turned to face the head of the Aluzulite family.

"It seems that the enemy of the Ta'ai people is the Empire itself, or at least some part of it. Goodbye Gram, this will properly be the last time we see each other."

Leaving with those words, Xi returned to pick up Chad before leaving the Aluzilite mansion.

"Xi! It's good to see you're okay!"

Or at least she tried to, running into the first son of the Aluzulite family on the way out of the mansion she was stopped in place. Blocking her way out of the mansion with a wide smile on his face, Silas tried to hug his childhood friend but was blocked by her knight which wore a frown on his face as he kept a hand on his sword.

"Move away. The Aluzilite has severed all connections with the Ta'ai people."

"What are you talking about? Xi, what is going on?"

"I have nothing to say to a tool, goodbye."

Leaving a flabbergasted Silas behind Xi and her knight left the Aluzulite estate for the last time.

(So there's a large possibility that multiple elements within the Empire are targeting the dear princess…)

Having already infiltrated the capital of Greendale, Dax kept a tight watch over his live bait as he a.n.a.lysed the new information he had received from listening in on Gram and Xi's conversation.

(Time to take a step back and calm down… First, that's a faction which has an affinity for creating artificial life forms which at least played a part in attacking both the magic academy and the Ta'ai people, they most likely also played some part in the kidnapping of the dear princess as I ran into some homunculi when rescuing her and that thing at the mana hotspot was also artificially created but might not necessarily be actively connected with them…)

Being briefly distracted from his train of thought when he found out someone was tracking the princess and her knight, Dax left the abandoned building he had spent the past few days in and effortlessly blended into the evening crowd as he headed to their location while continuing to contemplate.

(Then there's the faction which sent that brat with the blue hair to retrieve the princess while observing me at the same time… Clearly it was a way less professional outfit as the observer was mediocre compared to those homunculi and then there's the fact that no other attack has come from either faction after their initial attempts… f.u.c.k, I need more intel.)

Realizing it didn't make any sense to continue going over stuff he already knew, Dax focused on Xi's follower which had separated away from her after finding out where she stayed for the night.

-

"So the dragonkin princess has arrived in town, but that demonkin is nowhere to be seen… Oh well, while it is regrettable to let such a promising ingredient go the dragonkin will have to do."

Reading a report in her office late at night, the head of the Rosewood family held bright ideas about her future now that a part of a fantastic quality had practically fallen into her lap, but she never got to act on those ideas as she died then and there without any clue as to how it happened.

(Prep memory extraction.)

(DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED.)

Having severed the link between his target's brainstem and spine using a thin blade made from golden crystal Dax caught the n.o.blewoman and kept her from falling over as he extracted all memories from her brain, dropping the corpse once he was done.

"f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, this b.i.t.c.h was a piece of s.h.i.+t to the very core…"

Looking over the memories he had extracted Dax learned that the woman he had just killed was a cold blooded psychopath who would collect demonkin and other races to experiment on them in order to learn how she could extend her own life, having learned that such a thing was possible in the imperial capital.

(So this one was a dud… s.h.i.+t.)

Still, Dax had learned that definitely were an underworld in the imperial capital who were extremely skilled in creating artificial life and extending their own.

"Next destination would be the imperial capital I guess? The real question is if I need to bring my live bait…)

Spreading out doc.u.ments all over the place while soaking it in lamp oil Dax decided on his next destination, but at the same time, his opponents had already made their move.

---

"So this is Greendale?... What a dump."

"Ahri!"

"Yeah, yeah sorry."

At the same time as Dax was busy torching the Rosewood estate, a group of imperial knights arrived at the Greendale capital. Immediately superseding the council which normally controlled the everyday operations of the city, the imperial knight captain activated the cities siege barrier which encashed it in its entirety.

"We are here to capture two people that are hiding in this city! One is a large dark skinned demonkin male with green eyes and short black hair and multiple white clan markings on his skin. The other one is a dragonkin woman with blond hair and horns, capture both even if you have to cut off some limbs, but make sure they are alive! Anyone found aiding those two can be executed without issue!"

""""SIR! YES, SIR!""""

Briefing his own subordinates as well as the capital's top officials, the imperial knight captain outlined their objectives and without question, the entirety Greendale became focused on that single task. Calling in all the off duty guards, as well as the Greendale knights, the imperial guards immediately started combing through the capital city in its entirety.