Tatsumi and his two companions leaned against a corner of the corridor.
There were no lights.
In the dead of night, even in the count's mansion, not every place was illuminated—or rather, the three had deliberately chosen a darker corridor for easier movement.
"How is it, Tatsumi?"
"It seems this count only arranged the外围 guards well, but doesn't care much about the inside." He turned back and shook his head.
"No one."
"No one."
Somewhat incredulous, they looked around. Though the corridor was dark, with a bit of moonlight and firelight from outside, they could make out some shadows. There wasn't a single person along the way.
"So where's the target?"
He pointed upward.
"Upstairs."
"The place with the lights earlier was upstairs."
Now the entire count's mansion was pitch black. The three could only rely on their memory of the previous positions to move forward.
They encountered no one along the way. Occasionally, a maid who had risen at night was instantly knocked out by one of them.
"Daski, what are you doing?" Tatsumi, puzzled, asked his companion.
"It has to be this way, or our movements will be exposed."
"But she's a commoner, just like us," the man questioned further. The revolutionary army's mission was to eradicate the dregs of this nation—the nobles who crushed the entire country from behind were the targets of revolution. However, toward ordinary people, the revolutionary army still had some compassion.
"You can't expect everyone to be like us. And she doesn't know our identities. The slightest noise could alert the guards, and then we wouldn't be able to act. Think about how many we've sacrificed for this mission," the woman said.
The revolutionary army was not accepted by the imperial forces. Moreover, this country was a coalition of countless imperial soldiers and wizard churches under noble leadership, so the revolutionary army could only operate underground. Once they surfaced, they risked death.
Over the years, the revolutionary army had suffered too many losses, many of which went unnoticed, quietly dealt with by the imperial forces.
Countless comrades vanished without a trace, an immense blow to the revolutionary army.
If they could die meaningfully, it might at least awaken a few people.
But to disappear like this, silently—who would know? How could the oppressed people of the empire find out that the revolutionary army still existed?
There was no choice.
The revolutionary army could only endure in the shadows of the empire.
However, in the past year, the revolutionary army had encountered its best period in over a decade. Starting from the southern part of the Basharan Empire, news of cities being destroyed emerged one after another. After the incident in Koga City, the revolutionary army within the Basharan Empire shifted its focus to the empire's south.
To form a larger organization, besides numbers, another crucial condition was a stronghold.
The revolutionary army needed a larger base.
But not just any captured location could serve as a stronghold; it required specific conditions to coexist.
External factors, internal imperial factors.
And even more, the diplomatic relations between major empires.
The tragic death of the Count of Koga City seemed to give the revolutionary army hope. The southern empire appeared to be targeted by another force, and recently, rumors spread that the Bog people in the north were dissatisfied with the Basharan Empire.
This was a good opportunity.
If they could kill this newly appointed count, whose power was still unstable, it would be a huge morale boost for the underground revolutionary army. Moreover, this region had just experienced a more severe incident, leaving the people unsettled.
Now, the three had groped their way to the door of Sean's room.
The lights were already out.
They opened the door just a crack; inside was completely dark.
A count's door was usually not tightly shut, making it convenient for servants to enter during the day and allowing someone to rush in quickly in case of danger.
Of course, some nobles entrusted the key to trusted servants.
But that clearly wasn't the case with this count.
"Shh." Daski gestured for the two to stay quiet.
The two women and one man quietly stepped into Sean's room.
The room was large, with the most conspicuous feature being the big bed, big enough for seven or eight people to sleep together.
In the center of the bed lay a sleeping figure.
The three exchanged smiles.
Though they had waited a long time to enter, the task seemed deceptively simple.
One person approached the bedside, clearly seeing the figure on the bed turn over.
"Die, imperial scum." A blade struck down, and the hand felt the impact of hitting the target.
"Cut off his head. Tomorrow, we'll hang it at the city gate for the whole city to see. Better yet, leave the revolutionary army's mark, so the oppressed people know we've arrived," said the one standing behind.
"Revolutionary army?"
The sudden voice startled the three.
Bang.
The room door slammed shut. At the same time, the person leaning over the big bed, trying to cut with a knife, suddenly realized they were cutting a large pillow. Beneath the entire bed, a mysterious magic circle pattern glowed.
Instantly, chains of black iron bound the person's limbs, while another rope, like a belt, shot out and wrapped around the other two.
The lights suddenly came on.
The room was illuminated.
Sean stood near the window, holding a magic book and a wand.
Binding magic.
The magic duration showed 0:9:59.
Twenty minutes.
This was the strongest restrictive magic recorded in the magic book, and it was a trap spell.
As for the rope, it was the same one Lucille had used to bind him before. Whether intentionally or not, she had never taken it back, and later, Calibo used it as a binding thread for the book pages, bringing it from Tylermian to here.
"Is this magic?" one of the two women bound by the rope said.
"Are you a wizard?"
"How is that possible?"
"Why is it in the count's room?" The three looked shocked.
Uh.
Sean hadn't expected their first question to be whether he was a wizard, rather than being surprised that the count could use magic.
"You're bold, attacking the lord of Oro City. Did you think I wouldn't notice?" Sean said with a smile, his weapon ready.
Their levels weren't high: two fifth-order regulators and one sixth-order.
If this binding magic wasn't as reliable as Lucille had claimed, he'd need to watch their energy fluctuations closely.
He didn't want to summon the Eye of Gheros in his own territory.
"Are you Sean Vigor, the Count?" the man trapped on the bed tried to turn around, gritting his teeth.