Kyran took out a parchment from his pouch and approached Gage.
“The ruins you found, did it looked like this?” He asked while unrolling the parchment and showing the content to Gage and Nolan.
The parchment showed an image of a dilapidated entrance leading to a village where the buildings were either half-destroyed or completely in rubbles. The image itself looked like a typical abandoned village, but what made it look different was how the buildings were all made of concrete and painted red.
Gage scowled at the image with a thoughtful expression.
“Could be. I don’t remember seeing that particular area though.”
Kyran creased his brows in confusion, “What do you mean?”
“The ruins we found is located inside a cliffside,” Gage replied. “The buildings are painted in red like that in the image.”
Nolan looked at Kyran with both his brows raised. He asked, “What? Is that the place you planned to go?”
Kyran smiled bitterly. This was not the first time he encountered a coincidence, but he felt this coincidence was too cruel.
If the ruins they entered were the Shaiha Ruins, they might be the unknown ‘group’ the Templar Code and the Conclave was currently looking for. Kyran’s suspicion was further raised by the fact that the people from the Chamber of Commerce had found traces of one of the group’s members. This might be Gage, who appeared to be alone as he moved around the forest.
If Kyran’s suspicion was correct, from the way Gage and Nolan bombarded him earlier, then they might’ve killed most of those following them. Kyran did not hear any casualties from the Chamber of Commerce’s side, but today, they were supposed to make a move, so he could not eliminate the possibility they already met.
‘Find out first,’ Kyran decided.
Worst case scenario, the Conclave had to sort things out with the families who ended up as victims of this incident.
“Did you encounter anyone else today?” Kyran asked.
“A lot,” Gage replied.
Nolan also nodded. He saw the uneasiness in Kyran’s expression. It was annoying as hell, so he asked, “If you got something to say, just spit it.”
Kyran sighed. He really hoped they had not encountered the Chamber of Commerce.
“The thing is…”
Kyran spent around five minutes explaining the situation.
Nolan and Gage did not need them for Kyran to spell out why he looked distressed. Basically, if both sides met since they were not aware that they were on the ‘same side’, any casualty on both sides would be too cruel.
Nolan could not help but shake his head with a sigh. He looked straight at Kyran and said, “This sort of things happen. Don’t get worked up.”
Kyran looked at him and did not say a word.
What Nolan said was true. During his first year in military school, different scenarios were taught to them during their Situational Theory class. And one of them was a scenario where both departments on the same side ended up hurting each other because of misinformation. On a positive note, if both departments did not successfully collect the other department’s information, then that meant the data security of both departments was good.
“We have not encountered anyone from the Chamber of Commerce though,” Gage interjected.
He said it with such confidence that both Kyran and Nolan looked at him.
“How did you know? As far as I remember, those guys we’ve met did not belong to one group. If they did, we would’ve notived a unique mark or feature that identifies their group. Like a tattoo or dress code,” Nolan reasoned.
‘I don’t want to hear that from a guy who could not even remember other people’s face,’ Gage thought, as he remembered Nolan’s reason for taking Kyran’s bounty poster.
“That’s true. But at most, those people belonged to three groups.”
Kyran frowned. He made a mental list of the possible groups after them and drew up three: Templar Code, Royal Army, and the Chamber of Commerce.
‘Unless the Templar Code or the Royal Army hired a third-party for additional hand,’ Kyran thought, remembering how the army was using the Mercenary Hall to ‘look’ for him.
“Three?” Nolan looked at him and raised his brows in amazement. “Whoa, Baldie, did not expect you have high perception.”
Gage’s brow twitched.
“It’s not about perception,” he replied, looking a bit helpless at Nolan. “It’s from the way they smell.”
“Are you related to dogs?” Nolan exclaimed with wide eyes.
“Who’re you calling a dog?” Gage growled.
“Can you guys argue later?” Kyran said in exasperation. He realized that with Nolan around, any serious discussions tend to go off-topic from his random comments.
“What do you mean the way they smell?”
“If you meet a group of people, there is 90% chance they will have a distinct smell around them. The smell may come from the places they where just in, things they touched, a beast they encountered, the food they eat, even the water they drink.”
After hearing Gage’s explanation, Kyran was surprised. To be honest, he had not thought of that. Although few people could do such a feat, distinguishing if people belonged to the same group through their smell would be very helpful for identification.
“Hm,” Nolan nodded his head in agreement. “But this is only possible if you have a very keen sense of smell, and if the people you encountered did not prepare any smell-concealment spell.”
Kyran looked at Nolan in surprise. He asked, “There is a smell-concealment spell?”
“Of course.”
Gage sneered. He said, “Humph. No smell-concealment spell can help hide their scent from me.”
“So you really are related to dogs?”
“I’m not!”
Kyran rolled his eyes and said, “So you are sure you haven’t encountered any from the Chamber of Commerce?”
Gage nodded.
“Yeah. I know what those guys smell like.”
“Perv.”
“It’s not like that!”
Kyran also looked at Nolan with a blank face.
Nolan was not acting like his age, again. He said he was the sworn brother of Kyran’s father, which meant both were more or less of the same age. But how come Nolan’s mentality was that of a teenager.
No, wait. Kyran was in his teens, and those he knew with the same age also did not act this way!
Pushing all these random thoughts aside, Kyran said, “In that case, it’s still good.”
Nolan shook his head.
“Not really. There is no guarantee that we are the group that broke into the Shaiha Ruins, and those people after us may have mistaken us as part of the group only.”
Kyran understood what Nolan meant. He also thought of that possibility.
“Either way, I’ll find out when I meet them.”
Then he recalled something and asked, “Did you guys find anything in the ruins?”
“Nope.”
“Just a bunch of red buildings.”
Kyran sighed in his heart. Meaning they did not know the location of the rare stones. This information was a little problematic.
‘But at least the two of them had been inside, so if I ask either Nolan or Gage…’ he recalled Nolan’s lousy sense of direction, ‘… If I ask Gage to use the transmission scroll it would be easier to enter the ruins. The Templar Code tightened their security but using the Cloaking array, will be helpful.’
He looked at his forearm, where he previously cut himself to use his blood in creating the transmission scroll.
‘It will be dangerous to create another transmission scroll,’ he thought. ‘Because healing potions do not help replenish blood loss. But…”
He looked at the parchment in his hand and stared at the Shaiha Ruins.
‘If I want to get there without alarming the Templar Code, I have few choices.’
“What are you thinking, kid?”
Nolan’s question snapped Kyran out of his reverie.
Kyran looked at Nolan and was about to reply when an idea crossed his mind. His brain went into overdrive as he formulated the plan surrounding this idea.
After a short pause, he finally said, “I need help.”
==================
Around noon in Gael’s office, Fiona knocked on the door.
There was a curt reply of “Come in” before she entered.
Inside, Gael was reading update reports from different departments in Meliora and the three Deputy Marshal’s jurisdictions; Timen, Thunknam Peak, and Northbliss Castle.
Without looking up, Gael said, “Make it quick.”
“Grand Marshal.”
Fiona bowed slightly before adding, “The royal attendant has finally replied. He said the emperor will return in the evening and has agreed to meet with you.”
Gael, who was about to turn the page of the report in his hand, suddenly paused. He lowered the report and finally looked at Fiona.
“In the evening? Did they say his majesty’s schedule?”
“The emperor is expected to return by six in the evening. And he will dine with the empress and the crown princess at seven. The emperor will then be free from eight to ten in the evening,” Fiona replied.
Gael leaned back on his chair and nodded.
“Good. Tell them we will be there in the palace at eight.”
Fiona bowed her head in acknowledgment.
“Right away, Grand Marshal.”
Without waiting for Gael to dismiss her, Fiona had already turned and left the room.
Once the door closed behind her, Gael’s expression turned thoughtful.