4. The Emperor's Intention

"It's better if we go back to the evacuation place," Ludriev said after the situation calmed down.

Rion hummed his consent and crouched down in front of the little girl who didn't dare to look at any of them the whole time. He used his most gentle voice to talk to her. "Hey, Little One. Let's go to the safe place, alright? Everything is fine now. We will protect you. Don't be scared anymore."

The little girl slowly raised her head. Her face was red and tears stained her cheeks. "Mama...." she whimpered. More tears were falling from her big doe eyes.

"We will find your mama," Rion promised, carefully holding her hands. "Would you like to come with us?"

The little girl nodded. Rion opened his arms, letting the girl hug him tight and bury her teary, snotty face in his shoulder. He held her so gently before slowly carrying her in his arms.

"Don't cry anymore. Look, the big sister is stopped crying. So, you stop crying too, okay?" Rion smiled teasingly at Ruby, who lowered her head in embarrassment. "What is your name, hmm?"

The little girl swallowed back her cry, and lift her head a little. "Chiara."

"Chiara, huh? That's a pretty name!"

"Mama gave it to me...."

"No wonder it's very pretty!" Rion cooed, trying to lift the girl's mood. "We will go find your mother as soon as we arrived there, okay?"

"Um!" the girl nodded and hugged his neck again. She seemed much calmer now.

"You are good with a kid," Ludriev commented. She walked slightly behind Rion, so she could see the little girl's half-lidded eyes. She was sleepy.

Rion chuckled. "I like kids."

When they arrived at the evacuation camp, Chiara was fast asleep. They found her mother in no time. She was crying and thanking them repeatedly and took over the sleeping Chiara from Rion's arms.

An apprentice stopped in front of them. He bowed to Rion and Ludriev and told them that all masters were needed to go to the main tent.

"Ruby, you go ahead and take a rest first." Rion said and added when he saw Ruby was about to refuse, "I don't want to hear anything else from you other than 'yes'. Go rest. There was a lot had happened today and I can see you are tired."

Ruby swallowed back her words and answered dejectedly, "Yes, Master."

Rion gave her a small smile and pat her head briefly. "Good."

"Let's go," Ludriev said.

The main tent was, of course, in the middle of the entire camp as the center of operation. It was big enough to accommodate all seven masters. All of them sat at the round table in the middle of the tent. When Rion and Ludriev arrived, the other five masters seemed to be in a heated argument.

"But wouldn't it be too dangerous? In this kind of time? Holding Immortal Apprentice Competition is just too risky!"

The one who spoke was Shiori, a feminine-looking woman who was both graceful and beautiful. She taught mostly embroidery and cooking in the Academy besides the main subject of swordsmanship.

This was the unique thing in Liebu Mountain Academy. All seven masters were teaching swordsmanship. The apprentices accepted in the Academy could choose to learn from whichever master they'd like to.

Besides swordsmanship, Liebu Mountain also had other classes for those who had a bad aptitude and wouldn't be able to pursue their dream becomes sword masters. They could take classes that were more specific for other careers they wanted to pursue. Those were called extra classes, which were equally important as swordsmanship.

For example, Rion Ren taught extra classes in arts, such as poetry, paintings, and music. These were for those who wanted to pursue a career to be a painter or musician.

Ludriev didn't teach any extra classes. She was only good at fighting. But, lately, more and more apprentices seek her out to teach them using other weapons than swords, like spears and bows. So, it might be possible for her to open extra classes of weaponry lessons.

Lin taught medical classes, including herbal medication and physical anatomy. Basically, everything that was related to being a physician.

The other master was Shiori, who taught embroidery and cooking. And then there was Tami, teaching logistics and administration. Hilla taught war strategy and military (because, while Ludriev might be a stronger fighter than her, she didn't use that much strategy in fighting. Ludriev's only strategy was to attack head-on.)

Hudo was the leader of Liebu Mountain Academy. He was the oldest of all seven, while Rion was the second. Hudo didn't teach any classes, not even swordsmanship. As a leader, he was much busier than anybody else in Liebu Mountain since he was the one who connected the Academy to the palace.

"But, if it's the emperor's order, what else could we do but obey?" Hilla said calmly. "It didn't worth against emperor in this matter."

Hudo looked like he was deep in thought, but upon Rion and Ludriev's arrival, he looked up at them and offered a tired smile. "You two are here."

Rion took a seat beside the eldest and asked, "What are brother and sisters talking about very seriously? I can feel the tension even from miles away!" he said lightly.

"I was thinking if our dear second brother is currently taking a nap somewhere. Why are you so late? I was just about to go and drag your a*ss to come here."

"Sigh, Shiori really couldn't see my misery. I just narrowly avoided death. How come you speak so harshly to me?" Rion answered with a mock-hurt face while clutching his heart.

Tami rolled her eyes, "What death? Aren't you just playing too much? The poor little lizard. I heard Fire Spitting Lizard is quite rare. I asked the apprentices to collect its teeth and claws."

Ludriev raised one of her perfect brows. "For what?"

"For nothing," Tami shrugged. "Those nobles are always willing to buy useless stuff like that as a collection."

"Let's get back to our main topic," Hilla put both of her hands on the table. It was the war strategist's serious posture. Everybody unconsciously straightened their back, ready to listen.

"We are currently in a quite difficult situation right now," she started. "Those demons had been making moves for the past few years, but lately they became bolder and bolder. We hadn't had any demons made trouble on Liebu Mountain for decades. But, today a demon managed to get inside the town. In the middle of a festival. What do you all think about that?"

Ludriev instantly answered, "They're trying to rile us up. Making trouble here and there, and trying to get a reaction from us."

"But why would they do that?" Lin asked. "If their aim is to start a war between the Human Realm and Demon Realm, what possibly they could gain from it?"

"You're right. They should've noticed by now that humans aren't an easy enemy for them to defeat. Why would they want to start a war?"

"If not war, then what is their aim?" Rion asked. "The attack had been so random in places and there wasn't any pattern to it. No matter the big city, small town, poor village, even a place considered the safest like Liebu town was attacked too. They dare take a risk and attack this town, even knowing there are seven sword masters here. I don't believe they didn't know this would be a loss for them."

They fell into silence as each of them was deep in thought.

Suddenly, Hilla said, "There is a pattern."

"What is it?" asked Hudo.

"No matter where the places were, they always attacked when the place was busy and crowded. If they wanted the attack to be successful, isn't it much better to attack in the most unpredictable time, when the enemy was most unguarded? Like in the middle of the night when it was quiet and nobody was aware?"

"But they didn't do that," Shiori muttered. "They attacked in the busiest time when all people gathered together."

Tami added, "They didn't aim for the number of people they harm, too. Since those demons also attacked the deserted village."

"Then... could it be they are looking for something?" Hudo offered.

"If they're looking for 'something' in the middle of the crowd of humans, wouldn't it make more sense rather than 'something', the thing they're looking for is more likely... 'someone'?" Lin speculated.

"'Someone'," Tami parroted, "as in human."

"Wait," Rion couldn't help but snort. "But why would demons look for some human? I thought they hate us?"

"They're wary of us, just like how we are wary of them," Hilla corrected gently. "But, if this is true, then the human they're looking for must be very important, as they couldn't help but to willingly take this high risk."

Hudo hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe the emperor realized this, too. And that could be the reason he insisted Immortal Apprentice Competition to be held."

"Then that makes sense," Hilla said, somewhat gloomy. "Immortal Apprentice Competition is the biggest event this year. It would be so full of people."

"And the emperor wants to lure the demons to attack the event?" Rion narrowed his eyes incredulously. "That's ridiculous!"

"But that was the biggest possibility. As even in this kind of dire situation, the emperor refused to postpone the competition."

"The emperor would use this many people as bait to see those demons' real intention." Shiori smiled grimly. "How ruthless."

Hilla shook her head in disagreement. "There was no other way to know what the demons want. We could not possibly go to the Demon Realm and demand their explanation. But we certainly couldn't let them do as they pleased and keep attacking innocent people. In the Immortal Apprentice Competition, Most people who attend would be sword masters from all over the Human Realm. If the demons ended up attacking, at least those people definitely could fight back."

"Then, in this competition, we can't just send any apprentices to attend. It would be dangerous for them," Rion said with a frown, still couldn't quite bring himself to accept the emperor's method.

"That's right," Hudo said. "Then, each of you will choose your five best and strongest apprentices to attend the Immortal Apprentice Competition. We will depart a week from today."