The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 262 - A Game Of Cleaning Up Breadcrumbs...

Chapter 262: Chapter 262 - A Game Of Cleaning Up Breadcrumbs...

A dozen Yecine and twice as many of their retainers strode onto the morning ’battlefield’. It was a lot less bloody and far more inactive than any of them had expected. Then again, the few family elders in the group hadn’t really known what to make of the letter that came in.

"A group of independent cultivators causing trouble during the competition? It looks more like someone caused them trouble."

Lirades’ dry tone carried out over the sound of multiple cultivators trudging through the gullies. The old woman’s sharp eyes caught the details others strode past in their haste to secure and restrain everyone.

Scuff marks from the recent combat showed that the boots of these people rushed around the most.

A short sword driven point-first into the ground that was clearly different from the weapons knocked over in a pile like the people had been.

She moved to examine that very pile of groaning bodies being dismantled before their hands and feet were bound. Her brow pinched together as she noted no signs of wild brawling. It looked like they mostly hurt each other while smashed together. Of course, considering the girl that notified them...

"This was an organized group. Look at their equipment - mostly matching quality. Likely sold from the same artisan."

One of the male elders talked about what they were seeing before motion drew attention to the ridge off to one side. Four more cultivators were being marched by the group that had spread out to search in a spiral pattern. They looked a little worse for wear than the larger group.

One especially shivered as he walked. His eyes darted like there was an enemy of some kind waiting to jump out from behind every person’s back.

"Apparently those were dealt with just as thoroughly."

Another elder quipped as Lirades approached their apparent leader. A man who sat with his back against a rock. His eyes held the glazed look of someone who’d recently faced something incredibly unexpected.

"You don’t look like you’ll be very helpful for a while yet... and it seems our small culprit made haste and departed."

Her gaze swept over the area again and noted that a few iridescent feather tufts lay on the ground. A knowing smile spread on her face as she pulled a folded note from her sleeve - delivered earlier by a particularly *smug* seeming messenger bird.

"How interesting that the note proved so accurate."

An accompanying elder caught the insinuating tone in her voice. He struggled for a few seconds to ignore her, like most usually did. But curiosity got the better of him, especially after the march all the way here due to that very missive.

"You don’t actually seem surprised."

"About the Goltbred girl being involved in something else ridiculous? Or about her choosing not to wait around here for credit or questioning over this ’suspicious activity’... with all the racket about thieves and certain missing goods has been on everyone’s lips."

They were being used for cleaning up! She watched as understanding of that slowly dawned in his stern expression. It took a little skill for someone to notice it in the stiff codgers, but she’d been stuck around them for most of her life. Behind them, the other Yecine cultivators began securing the criminals together for transport.

"Well, we know she has them. That’s good enough for now."

The second elder commented while secretly planning to make use of this potential misappropriation of recovered goods, should the Goltbred heiress decide to play stupid about where they went. He didn’t have the immediate distaste of the girl of some of his peers - but he still thought of himself as a Yecine that upholds the greater cultivator rules.

"Absolutely. Some people just prefer to solve problems quietly. Leaving others to handle the official resolution. Quite an efficient way of handling affairs, for one so young."

The praise from the older woman irked the single man there from the faction that included Anper.

"In this case, it is perhaps a touch too efficient."

The elder’s eyes lingered on how the thieves had been left like a ’gift’. Even their weapons had been collected and stacked neatly aside as if they were ready for confiscation. As far as he knew, the Goltbred had never been involved in any major incidents.

The performance at her wedding and the bridal ritual aside, few of them had believed that she was actually all that competent in martial arts. But everyone there could count bodies. Which is why when a younger Yecine member approached them with a preliminary tally of the captives and recovered items, each barely glanced at the report.

Lirades wasn’t about to let them gloss over the elephant on the plains.

"Fourteen in total. All cultivators, none of them Primalist. Probably Enchanters. Yet somehow overwhelmed by a single individual so thoroughly that none managed to escape."

Her voice carried a pride and appreciation to it. She’d seen enough combat in her centuries to recognize when someone had controlled every aspect of an encounter. From start to resolution, the Goltbred had seemingly conducted it all. While her praise and warning entered everyone’s ears, the elders didn’t comment.

"Let’s get them back. We’re wasting daylight out here."

The eldest of the Yecine was pleased by their uncomfortability. She turned to study the piece of art that was this battlefield a final time while wondering if anyone else had noticed certain clues. At least, it seemed particularly odd to her that the captives seemed so shellshocked still.

That they carried no insignias. Had spoken no complaints about being taken in. As if they felt safer this way. Like there was more danger in going free than there had been in being caught.

"It seems our heir’s little wife has stepped into something. A plot larger than even an opportune theft? How fascinating."

She began walking back toward the main group that had left without her.

’Though I suspect she knew exactly what she was doing. Sometimes the most interesting moves on the board are the ones made before anyone else realizes there’s a game being played at all. Ahaha, I feel like I’m eighty again!’