In front of the mansion, Luke came out and shouted, "For what reason do General Helzen come to my mansion?"
"!!!" All the soldiers and the two leaders stopped and turned to the mansion, finding Luke standing in front of the doors. Suddenly, a middle-aged man came to him with his sword. "Master…"
The middle-aged man was none other than the strongest knight of the Ardagan Family, Dimitri.
"Please evacuate with madam. They don't seem to be coming peacefully. I'll hold them back." Dimitri stepped forward, trying to protect him.
However, Luke patted his shoulder and stepped forward, facing these people head-on.
Helzen walked forward and declared. "The Ardagan Family has been embezzling the kingdom's money to send it to the Greenwood Kingdom. This is a treason and the royal family has declared that the Ardagan Family has to be exterminated and all the family members are going to be executed."
"Heh. Embezzling money." Luke smirked. "What's the proof? Where's your proof? Don't make up too much nonsense. You have killed my servant and I won't let you go."
"I have the decree from the Royal Family." Helzen smirked and took out a scroll, opening it in front of them. "The royal decree states that they have annulled all Ardagan Family's achievements and deprived Luke Ardagan from his title."
"Hoh? Despite everything I've done to this country, they're going to boldly accuse me as a traitor? This is quite interesting." He glanced at Anna. "And what about you? There's no need for you to appear here. Did you run away from your house just to play knight, little girl?"
"I've come here to follow my father's instruction. I'm going to capture both you and the madam." Anna pulled out her sword.
"Do you think you can?" Luke stepped forward and said, "Then do it. Let's see whether you can even reach me here."
Luke even sat down on the stairs that led to his doors as if he invited them to come in.
Helzen furrowed his eyebrows. Although Luke was known to be generous for the people, the nobles who had investigated him was aware of his shrewdness. There was no reason for Luke to allow them to come in that easily.
'A trap?' Helzen furrowed his eyebrows while looking around. If they were caught in a trap, the situation would be dangerous, so he couldn't proceed easily.
"What are you doing? Attack him!" Anna shouted to Helzen.
"I am the commander here." Helzen glared at her back while shouting, "Surround them and attack!"
"Master…" Dimitri, on the other hand, released his Spiritual Energy and directed everything to Anna, trying to strike the weakest opponent first.
"!!!" Anna felt the boundless Spiritual Energy directly and started gasping for air. She felt like her body was crushed and her organs wanted to explode just from the Spiritual Energy alone.
Helzen clicked his tongue and came between them while releasing his Spiritual Energy, blocking Dimitri's power. "Dimitri… A Spirit Grandmaster under the Ardagan Family."
"It's an honor for General Helzen to reco—" Suddenly, Dimitri disappeared as if he turned into black smoke.
"!!!" Helzen hurriedly spun his body while swinging his sword, finding Dimitri behind Anna. Still, his sword was fast enough to hit Dimitri, preventing him from attacking Anna.
Without hesitation, Helzen approached Dimitri to prevent him from using the same trick. "Surround Luke Ardagan!"
He even commanded his soldiers to attack Luke, who was still sitting calmly in front of his mansion.
The soldiers approached him carefully. They were elite soldiers under General Helzen, so they knew that their general was wary against Luke Ardagan. There was even a possibility of traps around him.
It was proven when someone suddenly screamed.
Everyone followed the sound and saw him getting covered in a thick ice.
"There are traps!" The soldiers shouted, warning each other.
However, a woman suddenly jumped from the second floor and gracefully landed on the ground. Her tone was cold as the temperature also decreased. "There seems to be uninvited guests here. Why do I never hear any of this?"
She was none other than Leysha.
"She must be Leysha Ezenholm! Be careful, she's strong!" One of the soldiers recognized her and warned the others.
But Leysha waved her hand and in an instant, the ice spread from her feet to twenty meters to her left in a fan-shaped area, covering them in thick ice.
"Shut up. I'm not done talking." Leysha snorted.
A single wave of her attack could even harm three soldiers and one of them put his body on the line to protect the rest of the soldiers.
"…" Helzen furrowed his eyebrows. "Even the elite soldiers are not enough?"
"It seems that you have underestimated us." Dimitri smirked. "Do you think we're the same as other Counts?"
Anna suddenly shouted, "All soldiers, surround her! I'll capture Count Ardagan himself! Unlike them, Count Ardagan can't fight!"
Since her order made sense, the soldiers immediately shifted their movement to keep Leysha busy. If they could capture the count, the situation would be solved in an instant.
"Mhm?" Leysha narrowed her eyes and pointed her palm at Anna. "Freeze."
A torrential ice was formed, heading straight to Anna.
A soldier with a big shield suddenly appeared between them and planted the shield on the ground.
"Ha!" The soldier shouted as the shield released a shock wave that extended the shield's protection area, catching all the ice she shot.
Seeing the soldiers were able to stop Leysha or at least bought some time for her, Anna immediately headed straight to Count Ardagan.
"Count Ardagan. Be prepared!" Anna rushed to him while raising her sword.
However, a young man of the same age suddenly came out of the door and leaped forth, waving a black sword.
"Don't you dare!" Noel struck Anna's sword, stopping her. There was only one thought in his mind, 'This time I'm going to protect them. I'm going to protect this family.'
Anna widened her eyes in shock, both her in this illusion or her in the reality. They were blocking Noel's sword with their own as they looked at Noel, saying the same thing. "What?"