"How many people do you have besides Magician Victor?" Corey asked.
"There are quite a few knights behind us..." Donald hurried to answer.
"How many knights? Who's leading them?"
"A lot, I think... I don't know who's leading them. Oh, right, Magician Victor seemed to call him Kaz..."
"Crimson Knights?" Corey glanced at Magician Abraham, who nodded to her.
"How did you end up here?" Magician Abraham asked.
"It's all because of that old bastard... He forced us to go ahead. He said there was no danger on the mountain and that young people could run faster... I knew he was no good... If there's no danger, why are there so many knights following us..." Wesley slipped back into acting mode. Watching him sob so convincingly, even the guards nearby wondered if he might rush at Magician Victor and fight him to the death if Victor appeared just then.
"What kind of nonsense is this? You tell me!" Corey barked at Donald.
"We're with the Youth Reserve Army... Three days—no, four days ago, Captain Kane told us to cooperate with an unfamiliar mage. Yes, the one called Victor... Then they sent us up the mountain..." Donald pretended to be frightened.
"Do you know why they sent you up the mountain?" Corey continued.
"I secretly heard the knights say they were going to ambush someone here. And, and, they kept talking about Celtic Duke and things like that..."
At the mention of Celtic, Corey's expression changed dramatically. She stopped questioning them and paced back and forth, clearly struggling with a fierce inner conflict.
With nothing better to do, Magician Abraham picked up the Magic Gun the knights had confiscated from the ground and asked curiously, "What's this?"
"My hiking staff," Donald answered quickly. He was worried Abraham might notice the Mithril