The Blue Lotus was a small faction in the west of the Ylfaen Empire. They also dealt with information gathering and trading. Still, they only focused on small businesses because they could not compete with the Conclave, which had more manpower, resources, and a larger network.
Kyran read about them from Stella’s record.
The Conclave initially created their profile because they were in the same line of business and had to keep tabs on their activities. However, after much investigation, they found out that the Blue Lotus had another business in the dark.
It was illegal, but the Conclave turned a blind eye because they knew their reasons. And as long as it would not affect them, then they would not expose them.
“The Blue Lotus, huh.” Kyran tilted his head to the side and said, “And?”
The man gulped down his fear and looked at him.
He replied, “A-And… Y-Your skills are exceptional, w-why not put it to good use and work with us? I-I may not look like it, but I have a good reputation within the Blue Lotus. I-I can give you a good word with our employer.”
…
Kyran stared at him blankly. He was not expecting this.
This man actually resorted to recruiting him to save his life?
“You make it sound as if I am in need of work. Did it not occur to you that I may be a mercenary out on a bounty mission?”
The man made an audible gasp as his jaw dropped open.
He did not think about it!
When the man blinked twice with a gaping mouth, Kyran was slightly reminded of a fish and had an urge to laugh. Instead, he took a sharp breath to dispel it.
The man misinterpreted Kyran’s action as being annoyed, and he hastily said, “T-Then I will hire you! Name your price.”
Black lines appeared on Kyran’s head as he looked at the man with a blank expression, “I said I ‘may’ be a mercenary, I did not say I am.”
The man’s face paled as he gaped at the man in black in horror. He was right! What was wrong with him? Had his common sense left him in the face of death?
He looked at the man in black who stood up again, and his blood ran cold.
Before the man in black could step forward, he moved at once and kowtowed.
“Merciful, good sir, please spare my life, and I am willing to follow you!” He shouted.
Silence.
The man remained on the ground as he waited for the man in black to move or speak. After almost a minute, however, the man in black did not make any sound.
Mustering what was left of his courage, the man lifted his head and looked up at the man in black. What he saw made his blood run dry.
From his point of view, the man in black’s blank stare was almost like a god of death looking down on his prey.
To Kyran, however, after he heard the man said those words, he stopped because an idea slowly formed in his mind.
Right now, he was thinking about how to proceed from here.
If the man were a small-time lackey from the Blue Lotus, Kyran would kill him. But now that he admitted to having a good reputation within the Blue Lotus, this might be a good opportunity.
Because Kyran was interested in the Blue Lotus’s illegal business, it was also the reason why he did not immediately kill this guy after blurting that he was from the Blue Lotus.
“G-Good sir..?”
Kyran looked down at the man and asked, “You mentioned having a good reputation within the Blue Lotus. How good?”
“H-How?”
Kyran’s brow twitched. This man kept stammering that it was getting a little annoying.
Was he that scary?
“Speak straight, or I’ll kill you.”
“Y-Yes-!” The man immediately covered his mouth in fright.
Black lines appeared on Kyran’s head. He intended to scare this man so he would not run but he did not intend to frighten him to this extent.
“Sit properly.”
The man nodded and straightened his back while still on his knees. He then lowered his hand and cleared his throat.
“Now answer my question,” Kyran said and moved back. He sat crossed-legged a few feet away and looked at the man.
“I’m the leader of the Blue Lotus’s right-hand man, good sir,” the man answered respectfully.
Kyran frowned not from the man’s answer but how he called him.
“Stop calling me good sir,” he told him.
“Understood!”
“Don’t shout. I can hear you.”
“Understood.” The man replied, his voice lowering at once.
Kyran looked at him in silence.
This man said he was the only one who knew about some ‘coordinates,’ meaning his position as a right-hand man might be true. But he remembered those men back at Tarrin called him captain, which was confusing. Was the Blue Lotus’s right-hand man only at captain level?
Kyran would not have a problem confirming this man’s identity if he knew all the information about the Blue Lotus. Unfortunately, the record Stella shared with him was only a record of all the factions within the Yflaen Empire, and the information written on it was not complete. He also did not ask Stella for it because he did not want her to know he was interested in them.
“What’s your name?” Kyran asked.
“Byron, sir.”
“Back in Tarrin they called you captain, and yet you claimed to be the leader’s, right-hand man. Is the Blue Lotus’s right-hand has such a low rank?”
Byron hesitated.
Seeing him hesitated, Kyran subtly took out a small knife from his pouch and posed as if he was examining the blades.
When Byron saw this, his throat went dry and he had to swallow before he could reply, “We’re on an undercover mission. And I am acting as their Captain.”
“I see. So your mission is going to that coordinates you mentioned.”
“Yes.”
Kyran’s eyes narrowed. If they were hiding their identity, there was a good chance that the mission had something to do with their ‘illegal business’.
“What is in there that you even have to hide your identity?” Kyran asked.
Byron’s expression turned sour. He knew his survival depended on his answers but while he said he would cooperate with the man in black when he thought he was part of the people who ambushed them, he did not mean it. He only wanted to buy time until he could find a way to escape. Even now he was only waiting for his armor’s ability to complete its cooldown so he could escape.
“If you don’t want to answer that’s fine.”
Byran heaved a sigh of relief.
“Just stay silent for the rest of your life,” the man in black said and suddenly moved.
He bolted with the knife glinting maliciously toward him.
“A ruin! The coordinates leads to a ruin!” Byron blurted just in time before the knife on the man in black’s hand touched his neck.
Blood trickled down his neck from where the knife’s blade touched.
It was not even deep but he was already cut. Just how sharp was the knife?
Kyran squinted. He was right. But why did they have to be so secretive?
It was true that the Royal Family monopolized all the ruins inside the empire. But they were open for negotiations. One example was the Shaiha Ruins. After the Templar Code negotiated with the Royal Family, they bought the ruins.
Kyran knew that the Blue Lotus might not have the means to buy the ruins they found, but that was how negotiation works. If they negotiated well with the Royal Family, they could come to an agreement. Besides, as far as the Conclave described the Blue Lotus, they were not doing business to earn a profit. Even their ‘illegal’ business was not profitable.
“Tell me more about this ruin. Keep silent and I won’t mind silencing you for good.” Kyran threatened, with the knife still on Byron’s neck.
“I’ll talk. I’ll talk,” Byron answered and gulped nervously.
“Then talk.”
“Um, the knife-.”
“Talk.”
“Yes.”
Byron took a shaky breath and replied, “The ruin is hidden in the heart of the Valley of Morte. And it is filled with high-grade spirit stones.”
Hearing this, Kyran now understood why they hired a lot of hunters. Because the ruins was located at Valley of Morte where forest beasts lurked, they needed someone who could deal with the beasts and also know how to excavate these stones.
But Kyran felt something was still missing. And so he tauntingly asked, “Are the Blue Lotus that desperate for spirit stones that you even have to hide your identity to excavate them?”
As Kyran intended, Byron scowled at his words and he answered, “The spirit stones are obviously not the main reason. When we first explored the ruins, we are prepared to negotiate with the Royal Family to buy the ruins. But, after going deeper, we actually found traces of magic residue and found an underground grove. The underground grove was nothing special at first glance, but the prohibition around it is very powerful. When we decipher the writings near the entrance, we found that it was actually one of the lost treasure groves of the Void Master!”
As soon as Byron finished, his expression paled and he covered his mouth at once. He was not meant to blurt that out!
On the other hand, a smile appeared on Kyran’s lips from this piece of information.