Chapter 15: Make His Pockets Hurt

"So boss. Which one are we hitting today? I know that one house on the far right has some cattle we can take."

A group of six bandits sat on top of a house, using their telescopes to view the surrounding areas.

"Seriously Cardinal. You want to steal cows?" The boss groaned.

"Why can't we hit the Lord's house instead? We already know there's a shitton of Jews in there." Another suggested.

"We're trying to sow chaos and distrust Raven. If we hit Ivyred, we lose all the suspicion we've been causing."

"So if he's not affected by the robbings, they'll think he did it. Genius."

"I know. So we can either steal their cattle or salt their crops; what do you all think?"

"I can go for some meat tonight."

"We're not eating the cow, Bluejay."

"Why not?"

"Because… you know what, fair enough. Save the salt; we're taking the cows."

"Woo." The group silently cheered.

"Hopping from room to roof. They silently sneak their way over to the stable and break in. And as advertised, there were five cattle ripe for the taking.

"Alright, Bluejay, get those locks off."

"You got it, boss." Bluejay stepped forward and began fiddling with the lock. Cardinal, however, got annoyed pretty quickly and pushed Bluejay aside.

"Move. It's not that complex." Grabbing the lock, Cardinal hit it with his hand a few times, breaking it open on the fourth strike.

"How the hell?"

"Cheep locks are cheep. You can even open these locks with another lock. Now start getting these cows."

"Right. Raven, start herding those- Raven?"

The group looked back, realizing one of their own was missing. "Fucking hell, man. Cassowary, go find him."

"On it, boss." Cassowary climbed onto the roof and jumped away. Seconds later, however, a bloodcurdling scream was heard from the direction he went.

"Shit, we've been caught. We gotta leave now." Leaving the cow behind, the group began running, sneaking along the roof tops. But whatever was chasing them was relentless. A brown blur chased them, slowly making each of the bandits vanish until only the boss was left.

The lead bandit continued to run, narrowly weaving through the attacks of the brown blur. But his luck ran out, as his cloaked was grabbed, and he was dragging into the air. The blur then rushed down, ramming the lead bandit through a house and through the floor boards.

"Agh!" The boss yelled in pain. He slowly got up, but whatever was pursuing him was already gone. Still, he refused to take any chances. Pulling out his mace, he waded his way through the dark room, constantly bumping into furniture. Suddenly, he heard a groan from above. Turning around and looking up, he saw something hanging but was unable to identify it. That's when he remembered his equipment and pulled out a torch from his back pocket.

Lighting it with a match, he illuminated the room. And what he saw shocked him to his very core.

It was the beaten bodies of his crew, each of them hanging from a rope above, with a sizeable wound on the sides, supposedly a scratch.

Slowly moving back, he bumped into something. But it wasn't hard like all the other furniture, but soft and fluffy. It was almost as if there was a massive pillow blocking his path. But his hopes were quickly shattered. Looking behind him, he found no pillow, but a massive teal-colored bird towering over him.

He raised his mace, ready to strike. But his neck was suddenly grasped by a floofly tail from a squirrel demi-human.

"I've caught one Zeal! That's five to one!" Alia cheered. She tightened the grip she had on the bandit leader, making him gasp for air as she began to strangle him.

"Perfect. Let's take then to Chino for interrogation!"

"I call bad guard!" Alia claimed.

"I call worse guard!" Zeal reeled her foot back and kicked the boss in the gut. Alia kneeled beside him and picked him up.

"Don't worry. I won't do that unprompted." Alia smiled.

/~/

Day 36

Morning

"Indeed. I do know this man." Lord Ivyred sighed.

In front of him stood all six bandits, all unmasked and bandaged up. Zeal stood behind them, proud of her capture. Chino was also there, practically drooling at the thought of new prisoners to play with.

"I'm going to assume he's related to that noble in some way." Naofumi surmised.

"Indeed. I'm not sure about the rest. But the boss is one of Xeals's "elite" guardsmen, Gerald."

"He's elite! I wonder what I can do with him!"

"Sure. Just lock him up or whatever." Naofumi ordered.

"Yes sir." Zeal grabbed the boss by his long blond hair and dragged him off.

"That birds a sadist." Naofumi sighed.

"Still. It would be a lie to say I didn't chuckle a bit. But to think he'd be so direct. What else has he been affecting behind my nose?" Ivyred clenched his fist, frustrated by the events. How long has this sabotage been going on for?

It was hard to accept. But he now understands that his supposed friend, the man who he helped get out of trouble time and time again, despite his own financial struggles, was a traitor. And after today, he was looking for war.

"I actually have a list for that."

"You do!?"

"Indeed. Zalton!"

A strong gust of wind blew in direction, knocking the lord off balance. Once it subsided, there was a girl standing next to Naofumi, a pile of documents in her hands.

"The information we found."

"Atorie? Where's Zalton?" Naofumi asked as he grabbed the papers.

"The place was much bigger than we expected. We're going to need another night to find everything. Until then, this is what we could find in his secret room. The evidence in that stack is already pretty damning, however."

"Alright then. Tell Zalton I authorize another trip. But I want him back by tomorrow."

"Understood." Another gust of wind blew through, and Atorie disappeared with it?

"I- uh. That's a new spell."

"Believe me. You'd get used to it."

"Now let's go confirm some of these documents. Melty says we have to build up a legal case before we can pursue action with the crown."

"But didn't you acquire those documents by illegal means?"

"Let's not get into that. Now let's hit the fields first. Alia claims she discovered something."

/~/

"Yep. The soil you've been using has been contaminated. Even the ones you've bought from him are sabotaged. I can feel the impurities in it." Alia observed. Her hands and tail were stuck in both the fertilizer and the field.

"That was one of the things listed. The recites of the fertilizers I've bought from him. All of them were from a Siltvelt brand that had a high concentration of salt in them. Demi-human sympathizers would sell them during the war to sabotage us. The king discovered this, however, and banned all use of the brand in Melromarc borders." Ivyred confirmed.

"The bandits said they've been doing that for a few years now. Though a few of them have been captured, their mission has never been found out until now."

"But I've been buying these fertilizers at a low price two years ago. I even asked him for advice when they weren't growing. He really has been sabotaging me for this long." Ivyred's grasp on the paper grew tighter, accidentally crumpling it in the process.

"I always just assumed the soil was bad. Even the "professional help" I hired claimed the soil around here was barren. But it seems that those were part of his plans to ruin me.

"It's not like they're beyond fixing, though it may cost a bit. All we have to do is remove the contaminated soil and thoroughly wash the land to remove any salt or poisons in it. Then replace it. Surprisingly though, the soil here is actually pretty good. So you'll be able to grow an abundance of crops here!" Alia explained.

"It was certainly like that before. So that's the reason our crops suddenly began to fail. If I were to assume a timeline of events. The bandits began to posion our fields. Once crops began to fail, Xeal offered to supply me with laced fertilizer. The bandits from before would continue to poison the field, to make sure that even if we switched out fertilizers in secret, the same results would still play out, giving the illusion that our fields are failing." Ivyred surmised.

"Everything seems to add up with the bandit testimonies." Alia answered.

"I see. Xeal I got you now."

"Not yet." Naofumi interrupted.

"Lord Iwatani, surly this is enough! It's already beyond sabotage. This is a subtle declaration of war! Either the king will do something about this, or I shall begin fighting fire, with damn typhoon!!!" Ivyred declared. Though after looking at the shield hero, he cleared his throat. "Apologies for my outburst."

"No need, I understand. But let me remind you that you not only have the funding to purse a war. But your people are also slowly losing faith in you. If you want to defeat this noble and rebuild this village of yours, then we need to play the slow game."

Ivyred seemed like he was going to protest, but he calmed himself down. "You're right, Lord Iwatani." Ivyred sighed.

"We should wait for Zalton to find everything before we even think about moving forward. Until then, let's confirm the validity of more documents."

"Alright then. Still, allow me to compose a letter to the crown so we can get a meeting date as soon as we have everything. Something tells me Xeal won't sit back and watch his men be taken out so easily after all."

"I mean, we can always just waltz in with Melty. But if you want to do it the official way, I guess we can do that too." Naofumi grumbled.

The shield hero sure is lax when it comes to the rules. Ivyred though as they walked to the next area.

The next few hours were dedicated to looking over the document, then confirming its validity. Though many of them were about nonsense, many were even pornographic. The few ones that were found were, as Atorie said. Damning to say the least.

First, they continued to check the personal gardens of the farmers and confirmed that their soil has been contaminated as well, much to the shock and anger of the citizens farmers. Though it wasn't as prevalent. Some animals were also stolen, but many of the farmers thought they just broke out somehow. That was also what the bandits claimed during their interrogation.

The next area was the village guards. Immediately when they walked in, two of them attempted to run, knowing they were caught. But they were swiftly caught by Sakura.

The last one in the room played it cool, trying his best to seem innocent. But after revealing his true name, sabotage, and address of his family, and even various recordings of Zalton having some fun with them with a hidden knife, he quickly surrendered and begged for his family's life while spilling all the information he knew.

Of course, they already knew what the Lord did. Sabotaging the quality of their weapons, along with feeding information about weak points and areas of interest around the village. They also assisted in the bandit raid a few days back, drugging their "fellow" guards so they were too weak to fight back.

Needless to say, it took about two hours for the guards to stop beating on the imposters. Naofumi would constantly heal them to "prevent them from dying." But that only led to an even harder beating after realizing there were no consequences. Lord Ivyred was again pretty shocked at these events. But did nothing to stop it. He instead read through the documents, pretending not to hear the cries of the imposters.

They deserve this… No, that's Lord Iwanatani's corruption talking; this is borderline torture… but a few more minutes won't hurt. Ivyred thought. Leaving the guards to their own devices.

/~/

There were a few more areas described by the document. The malnourishment of the farm animals, leaked supply routes so the bandits could attack their trade, and even a dummy family who would constantly supply information about the village.

All of these were started years ago but slowly began to ramp up as time went on, specifically around the time Rishia came of age. The lord wanted her so badly that he wanted to bankrupt this innocent lord just to get his hands on her. Between that and the perverted lord Keel had for a bit, Naofumi had no idea who was greater when it came to degeneracy.

"And that's the last one. We have enough evidence and testimonies to bring the Xeal down. And there's supposedly more on the way. Of all the floppy barnacles."

"I swear that saying is stupid," Naofumi grumbled. "Also yes. It is quite the load of bullshit. How do you feel?"

"Pissed, frustrated, like I need to murder this man personally with a twister fueled with my mana. So I don't know, you tell me?"

"I can relate in a way, but I got a shitton of profit from it. Though it is about time we start fighting back." Naofumi grinned.

"I assume you mean hit Xeal back where it hurts?"

"Absolutely. Before taking him out legally, let's cause some chaos. We shouldn't take all of this lying down after all."

Ivyred heard the suggestion and sighed.

"You know. The villagers have called you delinquent with a heart of gold. But honestly, you're more of an angel playing the role of a demon." The Lord gathered a smirk of his very own and began to laugh. "So, what plans do you have in mind?"

/~/

Xeal Territory

Afternoon

"Where is Gerald? He was supposed to return hours ago!" Xeal slammed his desk in anger.

"Sorry, my lord. We lost contact with Gerald and his team. Their crystal ball has gone unanswered, and they haven't returned to any outpost of ours as well. The same thing happened to our planted guards."

"Damn, so they were caught. There's no way Ivyred could have one this alone. This must be the shield demons doing." Xeal grumbled. Getting up from his chair, the noble removed the carpet covering the floor, revealing a hidden staircase.

Walking down with his assistant, they soon arrived in a secret room. Bookshelves reached up to the ceiling, books and other papers filling them. A demi-human child wandered around the room, urgently trying to clean the area as fast as she could. But she couldn't complete her task in time as the noble approached her.

"I thought I wanted this room cleaned hours ago!!!"

The girl was smacked across the face and fell to the floor. Tears followed her yelp of pain as the Lord picked up the child by the hair, his fist raised. Before he could strike again, however, his assistant got his attention.

"My lord, it seems we've been compromised."

"What!?" Dropping the fox on the ground, the girl scurried out of the room before she could suffer more wrath from their master.

Rushing over to his assistant, the man snatches the paper she held in her hand and begins to read it.

"Melanie. What exactly am I looking at?" Xeal asked.

"For every document, I lace the sheet with some mana that'll burn itself upon being read. But magic still lingers on the paper despite being dispelled this very morning, so you can review your orders. Though a rookie mistake. To take notice of the magic letters hidden within the page and even copy them for a replacement. That's the work of a master. Maybe there's two?" The girl surmised.

"Well, you're a damn shadow. Figure it out."

"Don't get angry at me, my Lord. You're the one who decided to keep this much encriminated evidence in order to, and I quote. "Keep track of my orders." Melanie scoffed. "Now it's only a matter of time before all out plans are found out and-"

Boom

An explosion rang out from above, rumbling the ground.

"Retaliation happens." Pulling down her mask, Melanie lept into the mirror and disappeared. Rushing upstairs to follow, both of them arrived to see the chaos above.

"MY LORD!!! MY LORD!!! THE STORAGE FACILITY HAS BLOWN UP!!!

"Lord Xeal! The crops, the field. They're all on fire!"

"My lord. The Demihumans are escaping. Their slave seals aren't activating, and the guards are all taken out!"

"That damn Ivyred! Everyone! Stop those fires, capture those demis, and find whoever did this!!!" Xeal ordered.

"Yes sir!" Two of the three messengers ran off, with one staying there to address the lord.

"The hell are you waiting for? Go find that man."

"No need to do that last one. I just wanted to get your attention after all."

Looking over at the room, they looked for the voice that just spoke but found no one.

"Apologies, I was still throwing my voice from earlier. Allow me to introduce myself."

Waving a hand across his body, the illusion magic on him faded, revealing his true form to the two people. A platypus with a fancy top hat, carrying a box of matches.

"Apologies for the manor. I was aiming for the field and storage room alone, but I had some oil left over."

"You bastard! Melanie, kill him!"

"Hold on, master. So. Are you Ivyreds dog, or the shields?"

"Unfortunately, I wasn't sent to kill either of you. So my introductions would have to be unanswered for now. But I do have an anonymous message from my master. If you want answers, I ask that you listen."

Zalton cleared his throat and opened a scroll.

"Dear Lord Xeal, you have formally made an enemy of a certain lord. Back off and leave us alone, or I'll have my friend destroy everything you hold dear. Signed. Rock Valley."

As Zalton finished his message. Melanie dashed over to Zalton and swiftly cut off his head. As his body hit the ground, it turned back into a black goo and melted into Melaine shadow.

"A decoy?"

"Indeed. I sort of told a fib. I was actually on the roof this whole time." Zalton taunted as he appeared on the roof.

"Also, I'm not done, so be patient, please." Zalton cleared his throat once again and started.

"P.S. if the back of the letter is read, it means you fucked up somehow, most like trying to kill Zalton. Because of this, we decided to add some extra incentive as to why you sure give up. Have fun sleeping with the peasants tonight. Hahahahaha, sighed Rock Valley." Closing his message, the manor behind him exploded, sparking a massive fire.

Leaping off the roof, Zalton walked past Xeal with a smirk.

"Now the message is complete. I wish you a good day, sir."

A cloud floated over the area, making Zalton disappear as the shade covered them.

"Get water on this building now! Don't let the manor fall!" Melanie ordered the remaining few guards they had left before rushing over to Xeal.

"My lord, what should we do?" Melanie asked. All attempts to get through to Xeal failed, however, as the rage he felt was too great for words.

"My lord?"

"That fucking bastard! He wants a war. Oh, I'll give him a war. Melanie, get my carriage, and contact Drake and his group. We're going to take a little

visit."

"But my lord. What about Rock Valley and his-"

"I DON'T CARE!!! Get me my carriage now, or you'll be the one in that fire."

Sigh. "You shall be done, Lord Xeal."

/~/

Parenting

"Come on! You can't be scared!" Delia shouted.

"But Delia-"

"It's foreman while I'm duty!"

"I'm not calling you that. And the place roof is bound to collapse. We're going to have to do a controlled demolition and-"

"Move." Delia walked over to the front entrance and delivered a swift kick to the house. Seconds later, the house came crashing down, but also buried her in the rubble.

"Not again." Teba sighed. Before he could act, Delia burst out the rubble, a few scrapes and bruises on her.

"See." Delia coughed weakly. "Perfectly fine."

"My word. Are you alright?" A woman asked.

She was a tall, elegant woman with long, flowing green hair and a green dress who ran onto the scene to check up on the injured bunny.

"Uh, hello." Delia stammered as the woman grabbed her face.

"Not bad, just some scratches."

"I can handle-"

"No no no. Wounds are a blow to a woman's charm. Now hold still."

Delia stood in wonder as a wave of healing came from the woman's gentle voice.

What is this feeling? It's similar to dad but... different. Soothing, calm.

Delia wonders in the world of her mind, unable to grasp this new feeling of hers. That was until the healing was complete, and the woman let her go.

"There we go. Do you feel any better, young Miss?"

"Huh, sorry. Thanks mom- I mean, Mrs. Ivyred!!!" Delia panicked, flustered from her mistake. The words just left her mouth so fast that she had no way to catch herself.

The woman just laughed, however, and winked at the bunny as she walked off to help others.

"She was hot."

"Qutellin!"

"What were we both thinking it."

"I WAS NOT!!!"

/~/

AN: So ye, I was missing. No crazy story or whatever, I'm just lazy in the summer lol. Now summer is over, so be ready for more chapters.

Thanks for reading, and leave a review!