"Lady Ashford!" a voice came from behind.
A young man in a Knight's uniform came out from behind the trees.
Angelica turned towards the familiar voice and called out to him.
"Over here Julian!"
It was Julian Miller. He was Sir Benjamin's oldest son and a childhood friend of the Ashford siblings.
In particular with the eccentric young lady of the house.
Julian was assigned as her escort at a young age. But instead of a lady and her escort knight, they became more buddies with each passing day. To the point that Julian covered for Angelica every time she got into trouble with her father. Mostly for sneaking out at night.
Julian scanned through the scene in front of him with an astonished face. His jaw dropped at the sight of the men scattered everywhere groaning in pain. He sighed, putting his hand to support his head.
"Turns out tha scary dudes of Lampert weren't scary at all" she shrugged.
"You're the scarier one here and it's Lancel, not Lampert"
"Po-ta-to Po-ta-to. It's the same thing"
"You caught them all pretty fast this time?" Julian said as made his way towards her while trying not to step on any of the thugs lying on the ground.
"No. One of the goons ran into the forest" Angelica said, clicking her tongue.
"You" she continued pointing at Julian "clean up this mess. I'll be back in five......no three minutes"
"Wha....wait..*sigh*.......and she's gone"
Before Julian could say anything to her, Angelica took off leaving only the hood behind.
Shaking his head he picked up the hood and folded it.
'I'm becoming more and more like a nanny these days'
It was not unusual for Angelica to disappear on her own. So Julian was rather concerned about the goon she was after than for his lady.
Julian took out his communication device and contacted the other knights stationed at the entrance of the forest. He notified them of his location and ordered them to bring over a healer.
"A mess as usual" Julian smiled wryly.
The port city of Lancel bordered the Ashford territory and was governed by the household of Count Moore. The bandits they had just caught have been causing trouble for over six months. They were ex-mercenaries turned convicts mainly due to the excess taxing made by the city lords.
The bandits used the forest pathway as their hunting ground starting from robbery and assault to human trafficking which was illegal in Orion.
Appeals made by the Ashfords to reduce the taxes were rejected almost immediately but the local lords.
And any more involvement would lead to a territorial dispute between the two houses.
Petition to increase the guards near the border was also rejected. Stating that troops were already deployed to the border and telling the Ashfords to stay put.
'My lady flipped the table at their response' Julian sighed.
To resolve this, they had to lure out the bandits to the edge of Lancel. This will make it easier for the Knights to arrest the bandits since they will be under the jurisdiction of the Ashfords.
'There was a rumor of the Moore's accepting bribes from slave traffickers. With the testimony from these goons, we will be able to file a formal complaint against them and put an end to this dispute'
"Sir Julian!" a knight called out to Julian snapping him out of his thoughts.
The knights looked at the bloody scene and then at Julian's face. They were instinctively able to guess what had gone down.
"Round them all up. We'll be holding them at the local guard tower for interrogation. And where's the healer"
"Here" said the healer coming out of the crowd
"Heal the heavily injured ones. Starting with him" he said pointing to the boss who was still rolling on the ground groaning in pain.
Meanwhile, on the other side, a man was running through the trees without looking back. He felt as if something was chasing after him at a fast pace but did not dare to take a look.
"Hah hah" he stopped, leaning on a tree to catch his breath.
There was a light rustling sound before the area turned quiet again. He stood holding his rapidly beating heart.
"Boo!" A sound came from right next to his ear, sending him tumbling to the floor.
"AAAAHHHH"
Angelica was hanging upside down from a branch on the tree he had been leaning on earlier.
"Demon!" He shouted
"Not the first time I've heard that" Angelica jumped down from the tree and walked towards him.
"Don't...don't kill me" he stammered, trembling all over.
"I'm not gonna kill you. Why would you say that" Angelica said as if he was spouting nonsense.
The man crawled back in fear till his back hit a large boulder. Feeling a chill run down his spine, he looked up to find Angelica glaring at him.
"Let's go trash bag your bin awaits you" Angelica said before knocking him off.