( Meanwhile Ben )
While Leo contemplated his next steps, Ben abruptly left the boundary of Crest-Hill Barony, when he failed to find Leo within.
Initially wanting to confront him, Ben went aggressively looking for him back at the Manor, however, to his dismay he only found Albert back there and no-one else.
Apparently, Leo had chosen to reside in Briarhelm instead of returning home after his victory, which only infuriated Ben even more.
"That boy is forgetting his roots! He built this town-up from the shit-hole that it was when he first arrived here into the wonderful place that it is today.
Not one resident here resents him even though he is a rebel, yet he chooses to reside in Briarhelm.
Foolishness!" Ben condemned, as he swiftly left Crest-Hill Barony and headed straight towards Briarhelm with Lin Mu by his side.
Choosing to hire a horse, Ben rode the poor mount at its top speed for hours, reaching Briarhelm in just under 6 hours, where he ditched the mounts and entered the city in secrecy.
********
"Look at this place…. There's barely any citizens out on the streets, no hustle or bustle of traffic, no playful screams of children.
This is a city of dead men.
Just what has that brat done to this place?" Ben wondered, as after the rebel victory, to maintain law and order in the city, ChaosBringer had decided to put it under a strict curfew until the rebels could establish the new normal.
Leo had coincidentally nothing to do with how the city was run, as that was the last thing he really cared about.
However, since he was the 'Rebel Leader' in the eyes of the Empire, Ben assumed that this was all his doing, which made the old assassin even more angry towards his disciple.
"I will give him a good spanking when I get my hands on him…. I'm going to enjoy toying with that boy–" Ben said, as he rubbed his hands in anticipation.
Beside him, Lin Mu giggled at his words, as contrary to Ben, she quite enjoyed the calmness of the city.
Unlike the usual chaos, the calmer city seemed clean and orderly, which was coincidentally how she preferred her surroundings to be, and hence, she quite respected Leo's decision to make it this way.
Naturally, she did not voice her opinion in order to not offend Ben, and instead only asked him an alternate question.
"Teacher Ben, this city is huge, how will we even find Jin here?" She asked, as Ben smiled rather evilly and pointed towards two rebel soldiers who were on patrol.
"See them?" He asked, as Lin Mu nodded in acknowledgement.
"We will torture them for the information we need" Ben said shamelessly, as before Lin Mu could even register her protest towards such an approach, Ben already knocked one of the two guards out with a blow to his neck, and dragged the other to a dark alley where he started to beat him up.
A few seconds later, he walked out of the alley with a slightly bloody fist, as he gave her a thumbs up sign with a smile.
"I've got the location of the brat, let's go–" he said, as Lin Mu shook her head in disappointment.
She could see now where Jin got his erratic nature from, as in more ways than one, the master-disciple duo had the same personality overall.
********
Leo was housed in the servant quarters near the Duke's manor, and his apartment was an isolated one that used to be previously occupied by the head butler and his family.
Nobody except Dumpy was allowed near his house, and the only point of physical contact appointed between him and the uprising was a single uprising member, who Dumpy was instructed to let-in as and when necessary.
Over the past few days, when Leo had not logged into the game, there were a few instances of players who tried to sneak into his house in hopes of assassinating him, however, they had all been eliminated by Dumpy without fail, as Dumpy guarded Leo more fiercely than a dog.
Most of those who tried to take down Leo were low level uprising members who were tempted to claim the 1 million gold coin bounty on his head, however, to their dismay, they were dispatched to their quick deaths before they could even set a single foot inside Leo's home by his massive pet.
And surprisingly, the same happened to Ben and Lin Mu as well, as to Ben's surprise, the second they walked into the perimeter controlled by Dumpy around Leo's apartment, the giant frog who was in the middle of his sword training session, immediately leapt into action, as it tried to intercept the intruders before they disturbed his master.
*THUD*
Landing strongly a few meters in front of Ben and Lin Mu, Dumpy pointed his sword towards them, as he gazed down upon them in contempt.
"How dare you mongrels try and sneak-up on my master! How dare you show killing intent against him!
For this heinous crime, I, Dumpy, his glorious pet, shall never forgive you–" Dumpy said, as just like Leo who could not register that a frog was talking to him the first time Dumpy spoke, Ben had the exact same reaction.
"Who dare I? How dare you puny frog.... WAIT WHAT? DID THIS FROG JUST TALK?" Ben said, looking surprised, as he blinked in absolute disbelief towards Dumpy.
Beside him, Lin Mu also stared at the frog with her mouth agape, as just like Ben, she too had never seen or heard of such a creature before in her entire life.
Today, since Ben was in a masked disguise, Dumpy was unable to recognise who he was, but if it were not for that mask that Ben wore, Dumpy would have identified him immediately as Lord Grandmaster.
Back during his infancy days, Leo had often shown him photos of Ben, talking in great depth about his tales, however, because his face was covered today, Dumpy was unable to recognise him.
Ben had only covered his face today, because he wanted to give Leo a good beating before revealing that he was back, however, because of this small decision, Ben accidentally started a chain of events that he had absolutely no control over.