Chapter 564: What Was The Point?

"What was the point of all this?" Eris couldn’t help wondering aloud.

Commander Basil was wondering the exact same thing.

The enemy had launched a large-scale wide-spread attack on multiple locations through the southern residential district; however, the attack on the bread factory was carried out by desperate commoners who had been threatened into acting because their family members were held hostage.

If the situation was the same at all the other locations, Eris didn’t think the chances of causing damage were very high.

What’s more, the hostages were just... left here to be found. Not even guarded.

This whole time, the real enemy hadn’t shown their faces once, nor had they put in any effort to make their attacks succeed, so why go to all the trouble?

All this critical thinking was making Eris really wish Lucas was here right now.

Letting out another sigh, Eris turned to her bodyguard and muttered, "Maybe that Burt guy has some answers."

"Perhaps," Commander Basil nodded, "With the people we sent to track him, he shouldn’t be able to get away."

"En, Yuki is also following him, so there’s no way he could just disappear like what happened last time," Eris mused before suggesting, "We should head back as well."

"Agreed," Commander Basil had no objections. So far, there had been very little actual danger, but there was no guarantee it would stay that way.

Most of the bodyguard team had been dispersed to deal with various urgent tasks, and while Commander Basil was confident he could handle any threat which appeared, he would feel much better once Eris was moved to a more secure location.

With that thought in mind, the pair began making their way back to the Rising Phoenix Guild.

.....

When she arrived back at the guild, Eris was greeted by a chaotic scene, with hundreds of people all running around.

It wasn’t odd for this many people to be present at the Rising Phoenix Guild’s main hall, but it certainly wasn’t normal for so many of them to be injured or bound with ropes.

Some people were receiving medical attention, some children were crying for their parents, some less-cooperative individuals were being ’gently’ convinced to behave, and so on and so forth.

In other words, it was a mess.

Eris soon thankfully spotted her grandmother and ran over to her, hoping she had a better grasp on the situation and could explain it to her.

Teagan had naturally noticed her youngest granddaughter’s arrival and was finally able to breath a bit easier. She had received several messages from Eris over the past hour or so, many of which made her worry quite a bit, so seeing her here and unharmed was a great relief.

"Grandma!"

*Bonk!*

"Ow! What was that for?" Eris complained as she rubbed the sore spot on the crown of her head.

"Hmph! That’s for acting so foolishly!" Teagan Balfour snorted then turned to Commander Basil and scolded, "And you! You’re supposed to be guarding her, not letting her drag you around!"

"Apologize, Lady Teagan," the bodyguard bowed.

"Don’t blame Commander Basil," Eris spoke up, "He wanted to bring me back here immediately, but I refused."

"Oh? If that’s the case, are you willing to take his punishment as well as your own?" Teagan glared, trying to frighten this little rascal a bit even though she wasn’t really planning on following through.

After all, Commander Basil’s punishment would at most be a pay cut, and since Eris wasn’t getting ’paid’, how was she supposed to take on that punishment?

Contrary to her expectations, however, Eris wasn’t cowed and instead boldly declared, "Of course! It’s my fault, so I should be the one punished."

In that moment, Teagen wasn’t sure whether to be proud of her granddaughter for sticking up for her principles, or exasperated with her for her recklessness.

Commander Basil’s impression of his young charge also increased when he heard this. He had observed Eris closely in his role as her bodyguard and knew what her personality was like, but knowing something and experiencing it were two very different things.

Of course, the grown man had no intention of letting Eris take the fall for his mistake, but before he could object, Teagan waved him off and gave Eris’ head a pat, "You’re impossible, you know that?"

Eris just tilted her head in confusion, which drew a laugh from her grandmother, "Never mind. Just tell me what happened out there."

Pursing her lips, Eris somehow felt she was being patronized, but she set that slight discomfort aside and began explaining everything that had happened earlier that afternoon, starting from the strange encounter at the abandoned warehouse in the far southern district, to rescuing the hostages from the hidden basement of the back-alley house.

Commander Basil added a few details here and there, but there really wasn’t that much to explain. Everything was incredibly straight-forward, so much so that it was obvious to anyone what had happened.

The problem was, there didn’t seem to be a coherent reason for why these things had happened.

What was the purpose of all this?

What was their enemy trying to achieve?

That all remained a mystery, one that was gnawing at everyone charged with protecting Misty City.

"This just had to happen when most of the family’s masters are gone," Teagen grumbled.

"Maybe that’s why it happened now?" Eris suddenly suggested, drawing the attention of both Commander Basil and her grandmother.

"Come to think of it, the timing does seem a bit too convenient to just be a coincidence," Commander Basil mused.

Right now, Celestina, Allina, Marcus, Elliot, Samuel, and a whole host of other top powerhouses were out of the city on one mission or another.

That didn’t mean the city was vulnerable as Lord Franklin, Lady Frey, and another of the Sixth Order Snow Spirit Foxes were still around, but it was certainly the case that the number of Spirit Initiates available was quite lacking right now.

"That might explain why our enemy picked this moment to act," Teagan agreed, but then shook her head, "However, it doesn’t explain what they were trying to accomplish."

"Were any of the attacks successful?" Commander Basil asked.

"Not as far as we can tell," Teagan replied, a frown covering her face.

It was all truly bizarre.

The enemy, whoever they were, had managed to cause some chaos, and they had forced the defenders of Misty City to act, but they hadn’t caused any real damage.

"Maybe..." Eris pursed her lips, "Maybe they just... wanted to test us? See how we would react?"

"I doubt it," Teagan disagreed with her granddaughter, "If they had used a stronger force, we might have needed to respond with some special measures, but for this kind of petty assault, it should have been obvious how we would..."