Silas was shocked when he and Callan went to the Tower of Conclave.
He did not expect to directly go there when Callan told him the Head of Conclave wanted to speak with him.
He never thought a time would come where he would meet the Head of Conclave. After all, he was just an average mercenary.
Now, all he could do was sit in silence as they rode the carriage going to the Tower.
Callan looked at Silas and could not help but chuckle. It was not the first time he saw people get all nervous when told they would meet Malek. But seeing how nervous Silas was now, Callan wondered what his reaction would be if he found that he was not only going to meet Malek but also the Lord of the Tower?
“Young Silas, you do not have to be nervous,” Callan said with a smile.
Silas looked up and smiled nervously. He said, “W-Well, I…..”
“Why don’t we talk for a bit? Do you have any questions you wanted to ask?”
After Callan said this, Silas felt like hitting himself.
That’s right! What the hell was wrong with him getting all nervous? He needed to get his act straight. Did he not do a better job when he met the Regis Patriarch?
“I do, actually. But I’m not sure if it is alright to talk here,” Silas said and looked around him.
Callan understood what he meant and immediately said, “You do not have to worry. This carriage has a concealment spell. It is to ensure that we are not followed by ‘others’ when we go to the Tower of Conclave. Apart from this, it is sound-protected, so anything we talked about here will not be heard outside.”
Silas was initially surprised. But then he thought they were to meet the Head of Conclave so this kind of security was a given.
“That’s good,” he said with a slight nod.
“Then what do you want to ask?”
Silas looked at Callan and asked respectfully, “President. I am not sure if you know what Gage gave you, but-.”
“About that, let me explain for a moment.” Callan interrupted him with an apologetic smile.
“Of course. Not at all.”
“We did not receive anything from Gage,” Callan explained.
“What?” Silas exclaimed.
“The truth, we only know about your ‘visit’ from the Head Master.”
Silas looked at him in confusion. But he did not reply and just let Callan continue.
“As for your friend, Gage, was it?”
“Yes.”
“Currently, we have no idea where he is.”
Silas shifted nervously in his seat, and Callan added hastily, “No need to worry. We are told that someone trustworthy went to find him.”
“Who is it?” Silas asked nervously.
Even though Callan said the person who looked for Gage was trustworthy, he was still worried that something might have happened to him. If it did, the item he had might fall into the wrong hands, which was not good.
“I do not know. But rest assured, when that person said he was trustworthy, then your friend is in good hands.”
“That person?”
Callan only smiled.
Silas did not pry because he was more worried about Gage’s whereabouts.
“President, the truth, what Gage is supposed to give is very important-.”
Callan raised his hand to stop Silas.
“You do not need to tell me now. Once we get to the Tower, you can tell everything to the Head Master and the Lord.”
Silas frowned slightly.
Was not he supposed to meet the Head of Conclave only? Who was this Lord?
Seeing the look of uncertainty on Silas’s face, Callan said, “I assure you, young Silas. It will be alright.”
Silas fell silent. He could not very well doubt who the President trusts. Silas just hoped he would not get in trouble. After all, he was now the Regis’s Emissary. If this were leaked, it would become a big problem for himself and the Conclave.
“I understand,” Silas answered after a short pause.
===================
When the squads from the nearby towns arrived in the periphery of the Misty Forest, all squad leaders gathered to discuss how they would proceed in the investigation.
Apart from the forest beasts they encountered along the way, they confirmed that the miasma was still within the forest, and everything appeared normal. So what they needed to find out was the cause of that phenomenon.
However, they could not enter the forest and could only find some clues around its border.
While they divided the areas where each town would focus, a few kilometers inside the forest, at the branch of a tree, Kyran hid as he observed them.
‘These guys are from at least four nearby towns,’ Kyran guessed after seeing their uniforms. He estimated that at least two squads were representing each town.
‘Looks like something did happen while I was unconscious,’ he thought with a sigh. ‘It doesn’t matter. I only have to avoid their detection.’
With that in thought, Kyran left his hiding spot and went further west. When he found a safe location, he took out his mask and wore it. Then he focused on a spot a few kilometers outside the forest and warped.
After he warped away from the forest, he continued to his next destination.
On his way, Kyran had to reassess his current situation. After confirming that he was behind at least an hour from his next destination, he had to adjust his plan. Initially, he planned to rest for an hour before continuing south. Now, he decided to rest after he arrived at the town near the Valley of Morte. The valley where the Theohorns were found.
There were two towns near the valley of Morte’; Nhadal, and Leycombe.
Nhadal had almost 4,000 population, while Leycombe had 2,500, which starkly contrasts with Tarrin’s population. This number was because both Nhadal and Leycombe towns attracted a lot of hunters and mercenaries who migrated there to hunt forest beasts and find rare materials in the Valley of Morte.
While the Misty Forest had richer resources, no one would dare go in and plunder these. After all, most people were unsure if these materials were not contaminated by ‘poison’ because of the miasma. To this day, Kyran was the only one bold enough to collect some rare herbs and materials from the Misty Forest. Because he knew the miasma was not actually poison. Apart from this, there were no forest beasts to hunt. So although the forest had richer resources, their options were limited.
Kyran planned to go to Nhadal. He chose this town not because it was closer to the Valley of Morte but because the Mercenary Hall had a branch there.
Hugh told him there were quarters where mercenaries could stay and rest inside the guild. He also said that when a mercenary found rare items in the Valley of Morte, the quarters served as a protection to their mercenaries. Because depending on the rarity of the item they found, outsiders tend to plot against them.
Noir also explained to Kyran that all Conclave establishments had defensive arrays to guard against outsiders looking for trouble and protect all their people. When Kyran asked what the defensive arrays could do, he was intrigued to find that one of the array’s features was camouflaging a mage’s magic signature.
And this feature was the reason why Kyran wanted to go to the Mercenary Guild in Nhadal. Not so he could rest, but to transport the materials he collected so far to the Tower. To do this, he needed a private room where he could use his magic without being detected by the Royal Army’s magic detector.
After finalizing the adjustments to his plan, Kyran checked his current location.
‘I have at least two hours to go to Nhadal,’ he thought.
He then felt his central core and confirmed that he could still use his warp ability four times based on his remaining magic energy. It was enough for him. He did not plan to warp inside Nhadal anyway. Because he did not know the range of the magic detectors, he only intended to warp at least a couple of meters outside Nhadal.
Finally, Kyran warped again.
‘Hm?’
Kyran smelled something after he warped the second time. He immediately stopped and hid at one of the trees. Then he roused his Draconic core and used the Regis Body Tempering Technique.
A couple of meters away, he saw the aftermath of a battle. The ground was littered with pieces of burnt wood from the wreckage of a caravan. The nearby trees were also burnt and destroyed. There were also magic residues in the air.
Kyran’s eyes narrowed. Because his senses were heightened, he could also smell burnt flesh and blood. He cautiously approached the wreckage, and although the whole place stinks, he did not see any dead or burning bodies.
Who or what attacked them? Was it a forest beast? Or forest beasts?
If they did, Kyran did not have to worry too much. Because if the forest beasts did this, most likely, the bodies were already eaten by them.
But if another group of people ambushed the people in the caravan, then it would be a problem.
‘No dead bodies, meant the people from the caravan escaped and possibly being hunt down by their attackers.’ Kyran thought as he looked at his surrounding.
There were no clues that a forest beast was here.
Kyran felt an incoming headache.
The last thing he wanted was to encounter this kind of trouble. While he anticipated this kind of situation, it was his worst-case scenario. After all, this route was still close to the Misty Forest, and during this time of the year, it was rare for anyone to travel to this part.
‘If I am not careful, I might end up seeing them.’ He thought with a slight frown.
If he ended up seeing them, whether he was seen in Tyr’s face or his own was bad.
The Mercenary Hall just submitted that Tyr saw ‘Kyran’ going south just a few days ago. If the army investigated and found witnesses seeing Tyr in this place as soon as he submitted the information, it would raise questions. If he were seen as Kyran, although it wouldn’t pose much threat, it would hinder their plan in milking money from the army.
Kyran took a deep breath. He covered half of his face with his coat and left.
If it came to it, he would have to silence them for good.
