"Sensei!"

At Adrian and Melina's shouts of joy and relief, I glanced back at them and smiled rea.s.suringly. Now that I was here, I wasn't going to allow any of these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds to lay their filthy paws on my charges. Placing myself between them and the enemy, I brandished both of my swords.

"You…!"

Henry James gritted his teeth, and then threw out his hand, roaring out and order even as his whip uncurled to strike at me.

"Forget the kids! Kill that summoning mage!"

His subordinates responded, the hooded kidnappers charging forward with their swords while the Jack O'Lanterns pounced on me with gleaming claws. The other masked criminals fired off their muskets in my direction, hoping to overwhelm me with a concentrated volume of firepower.

Without any hesitation, I cut apart James's whip with Hei Yue. Bai Ri glowed before unleas.h.i.+ng a torrent of azure mana that engulfed the approaching kidnappers and Jack O'Lanterns, freezing them in their tracks. Before they could break free from the ice, Aries and Taurus smashed into them, shattering the poor Jack O'Lanterns and trampling the unfortunate kidnappers. As for the bullets from the muskets, they bounced off Scutum Sobiescianum.

The survivors retreated, along with James, who had recoiled when his whip was sliced apart by my black sword. I raised my head to glare at him.

"You really think you can kill me?"

"What are you waiting for?!" James roared. "Get him!"

More of the kidnappers and Jack O'Lanterns charged at me, but my Constellation spirits met them. I defended against the next volley of shots from the musket-armed kidnappers, and was about to turn to cleave apart the couple of Jack O'Lanterns who sought to eviscerate me from behind.

Neither they nor I had the opportunity to engage each other. Nan Gong Zhao Yan had appeared and slashed them with her sword. The monsters screeched as the fell apart – literally – and collapsed onto the ground in pieces.

"I'm here to help," she informed me coolly. She glanced at the kids apologetically. "Sorry. It was my sister who caused this mess, so I'm at least responsible for you getting into trouble."

"You say that, but where is Ji Yan?" I asked dryly. There was no sign of her at all. Zhao Yan had the temerity to look embarra.s.sed.

"Well, this situation is dangerous, so it's just as well that she isn't here. Even though she's my sister, quite frankly…her skills are lacking."

"Yeah, she'll only get in the way," I agreed wholeheartedly. Zhao Yan winced at that.

"I wouldn't go that far…"

The kidnappers with muskets fired at us again, and Zhao Yan dove forward to slice the bullets apart with her sword. While she was busily dispatching the bullets, I had Capricorn erupt from the ground behind the kidnappers and trample on them. The gunners shrieked and yelled before they were thrown about, their guns mangled and their bodies broken by horns and hooves. Taurus smashed through another few Jack O'Lanterns before bathing the broken line of gunners in flames. Ammunition cooked off and the muskets exploded in their arms, causing terrible injury.

"…doesn't seem like you would need any help either…" Zhao Yan shook her head when she saw the carnage that my Constellation spirits were wreaking in the enemies' ranks. However, she stepped forward to defend me from a few Jack O'Lanterns coming at me from my flank while I dispatched a few more masked kidnappers with my swords.

"Nah, I appreciate your presence. It definitely makes things a lot easier."

Zhao Yan was incredibly skilled, and I found that I could rely on her a lot. While she guarded my back, I focused on the front, the two of us fighting back-to-back and eliminating a huge number of our enemies. While they thinned out, Zhao Yan surged forward to finish the retreating enemies.

I sheathed my swords and summoned Orion. A few of the kidnappers had turned around to focus their musket fire upon Zhao Yan, but I shot them with my arrows, the azure projectiles embedding themselves deeply in their foreheads before they could fire a shot. Under my cover fire, Zhao Yan got into the thick of the retreating kidnappers and cut them apart. My three Constellation spirits accompanied her, coming from the sides to help her rout the rest of the forces.

And just like that, they were gone.

"Amazing…"

Adrian and Melina were watching us in admiration, their fists clenched.

"They are exactly what we aspire to be!"

"Are you guys all right?" I asked, crouching down next to them and checking their injuries. Given that there weren't many enemies left, I could leave the rest to Zhao Yan and my Constellation spirits. Besides, my priority was the safety and wellbeing of my students, not the extermination of the enemy. It would be counterproductive to pursue enemies, and then return to discover that my disciples had been slain or abducted by stragglers.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Adrian sighed in relief as he rose to his feet. Melina nodded as she scratched her head, but she remained on the ground, despite Adrian's attempts to help her up.

"I…I'm okay. I'm just so relieved that I can't stand…my legs refuse to listen to me."

"I'm glad you guys are fine." I heaved a breath of relief as well. "Sorry for being late."

"Not at all!" Melina shook her head frantically.

"Yeah! Better late than never I'm glad that you came at all, Brother Richie!" Then Adrian frowned. "Wait a minute…how did you know we are here? How did you find us?"

"I read a.s.sa.s.sin's Pride and watched the anime adaptation," I replied seriously. Both Adrian and Melina gaped at me.

"HUH?! You guessed that we were here because you read a light novel and watched its anime adaptation?!"

"Actually, I didn't read the light novel. I only read the manga adaptation after watching the anime version."

"Please tell me you're joking, Sensei…"

"Nope…knowing Brother Richie, it's entirely possible that he's telling the truth." Adrian was shaking his head, already used to my nonsense by now. "I hope we won't get sued for plagiarism or something."

"Don't worry, there's enough of a difference between the stories that they can't tell this arc was completely ripped off from a.s.sa.s.sin's Pride," I a.s.sured him. Adrian raised his hands and groaned.

"All right, stop breaking the fourth wall and tell us seriously what happened. I don't care if you need to resort to a flashback to do it."

"Okay, flashback time." I raised a hand, and suddenly we were back in the past. I was still wandering about in the place where I found the box of octopus b.a.l.l.s lying on the ground, right after both Adrian and Melina were kidnapped.

"d.a.m.n it," I muttered, staring around, but to no avail. Even when relying on the hi-tech sensors in my gla.s.ses, I couldn't pick out their silhouettes at all. This was not good. I couldn't believe that they were gone the moment they left my sight.

That meant the kidnappers had also been watching them this entire time, and were waiting for the right opportunity to swoop in and abduct them.

"Richard!"

I turned around at the sound of the voice. Zhao Yan was jogging toward my position, looking all apologetic.

"I'm sorry about this…my sister is really…"

"No, it's fine." speaking of which, I spotted Ji Yan and her friends approaching, looking defiant. Ji Yan in particular was folding her arms and sporting an annoyed expression.

"Why should I care about these middle school students?" she sneered. "They are none of my business."

I ignored the b.i.t.c.h. Right now, instead of squabbling with an idiot like her, I was more invested in tracking Adrian and Melina's location. Fortunately, I found Isabella and Edward some distance away, and I hurried over to their p.r.o.ne forms.

"You guys, you are…"

Edward stirred and blinked when he caught sight of me. At first, he didn't recognize me, and then he brightened up.

"You're Adrian's brother? Melina's Sensei?"

"Well, sort of." I pushed my gla.s.ses up my nose while continuing tending to Isabella, who was also slowly waking up. "What happened? Where are Adrian and Melina?"

"Eh? They should be…"

Edward glanced around, and then almost panicked.

"Where are they?! They are…gone!"

"Calm down. Take a deep breath. Do you remember what happened? Before you lost consciousness?"

The kid followed my advice and composed himself. Then he nodded. "We were attacked. I couldn't see very clearly, but a few people in hoods and masks dropped in on us, and the next thing I knew, I blacked out. Then you woke me up."

"Kidnappers." Zhao Yan had followed me. Fortunately, that b.i.t.c.h Ji Yan and her entourage were gone. They couldn���t even be bothered to be concerned and help with the unconscious kids. "But why would they kidnap your students?"

"There are a lot of possibilities, especially when you consider that they are children of the ten Great Families. Political reasons, for ransom, that sort of thing. The question is…where did they take them?"

Edward looked glum. "I'm sorry. I don't know. I was knocked out cold for most of the time, so I didn't see anything."

"It's not your fault. At least you've helped me confirm that they were abducted. And the most important thing is that you're all right."

"We should contact the police." Zhao Yan was already holding her smartphone up and dialing the emergency hotline. I nodded.

"I'll leave that to you." Then I proceeded to the boxes of food that Adrian was holding earlier, discarded after the kidnappers grabbed him. Again, I sensed his mana signature – he must have tried to fight back when they took Melina, and was taken with her.

"How do you plan to find them?" Isabella asked, finally awake. I paused and considered for a few moments.

"Well, I've read a.s.sa.s.sin's Pride before, and since this arc seems to be ripping off a.s.sa.s.sin's Pride, I can say for sure that they have been taken to a museum."

Zhao Yan glared at me. "Are you seriously basing your guess off a light novel you've read in the past?"

"The manga version," I corrected. "And its anime adaptation."

"I don't care which medium of the series you watched! Be serious! And there are a dozen museums in Flandor! Are you going to search each and every one of them?"

"Well, I have a way to narrow the museums down," I admitted. "Actually, even if they aren't in the museum, I still have a way of finding them somehow."

"How?" Isabella asked.

Instead of replying verbally, I decided to show her. Turning around, I raised a hand and summoned a single Canis Minor. Using our telepathic connection, I had him sniff the boxes of food and pick out one of the many scents that mingled with them. Dogs had amazing olfactory receptors, which allowed them to distinguish thousands of scents. It wasn't long before he picked out Adrian and Melina's, and then spun about and began bounding away.

"Thanks, Canis Minor. I'll be relying on you." I then turned to the kids. At this time, Iris and her group had finally arrived, having spotted Isabella and Edward. "Stay with your friends, and keep your head down. It seems that the kidnappers have no interest in you, but better safe than sorry."

"All right!" Edward gulped. "Good luck!"

"Thanks." I waved at the kids, and then ran off. Zhao Yan hurried after me.

"I'm coming with you!"

"You don't have to," I replied and sped up.

…well, as for the rest, you knew what happened. Returning to the present, I studied both Adrian and Melina to make sure they were all right, while the two kids digested what I had just told them.

"What happened?" Zhao Yan asked as she kicked the corpse of a Jack O'Lantern. "Why are there monsters here?"

"Um…apparently their leader has alpha monster genese inserted into him, and he's now able to control monsters." Melina sounded anxious. Adrian nodded.

"They said they were from a guild called Grimaldus."

At that moment, both Zhao Yan and I stiffened and exchanged a grim look. If Grimaldus was involved, then the situation had turned out to be worse than we antic.i.p.ated.

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