With Tyaethe's confirmation reaffirming Tiral's earlier wariness, the ice mage slowly lowered his dagger as the rest of the knights kept from trying to stab or slash at anyone else.
...
Well, save for maybe one or two, but the higher-ups could deal with them later if necessary. With the problem resolved (for the most part), Tiral sheathed his dagger and walked out of his circle, glaring daggers at the elf who was clearly speaking as if she wasn't the cause of all of their problems.
That, of course, was about as blatant as a lie as they got. Though he hadn't been close enough to the vanguard to see the man who was killed first, he had been able to get a view of a few arrows being shot; that, coupled with the earlier arrogant dialogue, spoke much more than any simple words needed to.
...
Why did the Roses let someone like her in again?
With a sigh, the mage patted his mount on the head and motioned for it to remain in place as he walked over to the fort, the stench of decaying corpses and days-old blood assaulting his nostrils. The smell of death was never pleasant, after all, but it was bearable if he could get a better view on the situation. Ignoring the one attempting to speak with the rat, Tiral stepped through the doorway, instinctively cringing as the smell got worse. The sight of the dead made him give momentary pause, and with a solitary wish for their souls to find solace and a rhetorical apology for his investigation, he moved to work.
Granted, there wasn't much to investigate in the first place; with a scenario like this, the fact that the ordeal was premeditated was as obvious as the sky was blue. Eve so, it didn't stop him from trying to find any trace at all of the plan in the first place. The culprits could just as easily have memorized the plan, to be fair, but it never hurt to check.
After a few minutes of looking around, Tiral sighed and shook his head in defeat. Nothing of note after all, then. But something like this... It felt too strange for a simple group of enemies to execute without good reason. There was definitely something else afoot, even if the enemies at hand were dealt with.
Sighing, the mage turned to leave the fort when a small slip of paper caught his eye. It was only visible to him now because his eyes had become somewhat accustomed to the relative darkness for the short while he had spent there, but the outline thereof was faintly visible against the bloodstained ground upon which it laid. Carefully picking it up, Tiral grimaced when he noticed a rather large bloodstain on the paper; it was fresh, too, which meant... Well, nothing good, obviously, but given that it was probably from one of the recently dispatched enemies he couldn't help but check it out, at the very least.
Taking the piece of paper carefully in hand, Tiral walked out of the fort and took a deep breath of the air outside. Even if there were also dead bodies and blood here, at least it wasn't stale and musty like it was there. With that in mind, Tiral slowly opened up the folded piece of paper and made out as much as he could. The bloodstain made most of the words indecipherable, but what remained was probably notable enough to report.
"Captain!" he called out, lifting his eyes off the paper to turn to his superior as he walked over. "You may wish to take a look at this. You and everyone else, actually."
Displaying the paper as one would a public declaration, Tiral stood by as whoever wanted to read the paper did so.
"Move the 'blank' ahead of schedule. Time is of the essence," he said out loud, closing his eyes to trying and figure out what that meant. "...Were there any major items passing through here recently, or was this just an incident to cover up something more malicious...?"
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