Upon hearing that someone was preparing to play the oriole behind the mantis, Makelele immediately had his men prepare for battle while contacting the Masked Mage Guild, which had been maintaining a perimeter around the area.
"Mage Griffin, be careful. Enemies are approaching from the perimeter!" Although Makelele sensed an unpleasant aura from the woman beside Solam, he still trusted Solam's subordinates' capabilities. It was better to be safe than sorry. Even if she was wrong, there would be no loss—but if she was right, things would be very bad indeed.
Sure enough, the magical communicator in Makelele's hand received no response whatsoever!
Because of Athkatla's unique customs, the Masked Mages tried to avoid using spells in combat within the city whenever possible. This time was no exception. When Makelele had brought his men to provide support, the Masked Mages' task had been to keep watch and establish control around the perimeter. They only needed to use magic to conceal the battle here and prevent enemies from escaping. Makelele was confident he could handle everything else.
But now that something had gone wrong, Makelele naturally needed to notify those Masked Mages at once, so they could be ready to cooperate with them and eliminate the incoming enemy at any time.
"Don't bother calling. I saw their corpses earlier."
Xianna spoke calmly to Makelele. At first, Xianna had not known that those masked corpses belonged to the so-called Masked Mages. After all, Xianna had once been an ordinary person, and for certain reasons, she could even be considered rather ignorant of the world. It was Makelele's reaction that allowed her to confirm that those masked people had been his companions.
Makelele froze. Holding the communicator, he turned to look at Xianna, hoping to see something on her face—something to suggest that