The next day, Kyran and Nolan appeared fifty kilometers outside of Starhorn.
Since they ran on a tight schedule, they did not travel normally. They also did not want to waste any transmission scrolls, so they used Kyran’s warp ability.
To Kyran’s utmost amazement and perhaps, annoyance, Nolan was not affected by his warping abilities. Alas, there would still be people who were unaffected by the hidden deadly capability of his warp. It left him feeling a little bitter, knowing he could not take advantage of his warp’s secret attack when he got annoyed by Nolan.
Upon entering the gates of Starhorn City, they immediately felt an invisible force wrapping around their body. It seemed to imprint itself in their bodies, trying to pry some information about them. Aside from its added range, this force was a new feature added to the city’s magic detector tower.
The Void’s magic energy inside Kyran immediately circulated, blocking the invisible force.
On the other hand, Nolan simply snorted, and the invisible force could only see superficial information in his body.
Their method of blocking and dispelling the invisible force had gone unnoticed. Since it was only a prototype, any flaw had yet to be studied and improved.
[This invisible force seemed to have been implemented recently and only around Meliora and Starhorn.]
Nolan’s voice sounded in Kyran’s head.
“How did you know?” Kyran asked with a slight frown.
Nolan snorted and replied.
[Because my magic is omnipotent.]
Kyran ignored him.
During the past few days in the ‘cottage,’ Kyran learned to ignore Nolan’s nonsense. He picked up this habit from Anette, who seemed very adept in dealing with him.
Because Nolan did not want to give him a decent answer, Kyran activated the Regis Body Tempering Technique to gather information using his senses.
Soon he was able to pick up hushed conversations from mercenaries and hunters in the vicinity talking about the new announcement posted in the city’s Town Hall.
The announcement had detailed the changes done to the city’s magic detector tower. It also mentioned a new protocol for dealing with people with questionable backgrounds. All of these changes were to make sure the master of disguise Gray would not slip from the Royal Family and their Elite Force’s radar.
Kyran was unsure how much of the information was true, but he could not help but glance sideways at the person in question leisurely walking beside him.
So much for not letting ‘Gray’ escape their radar. Wasn’t he walking without a care in the middle of the city right now?
Kyran had been wary of the Royal Army’s magic detectors. He even had this feeling that once he was inside a magic detector’s range, his every move and even magic circulation would be seen through. However, because of Nolan’s uncaring attitude about it, Kyran was starting to feel that magic detectors were not that scary after all.
Speaking of magic detectors, Kyran remembered Nolan’s offhanded remark about changing one’s magic signature. He never had a chance to bring it up during their conversations, but he would ask Nolan about it during their trip to that ‘place.’
After a few minutes, the two reached the Mercenary Hall’s premises. They did not go in. They only stood outside.
[Alright. Let’s meet here in the evening. I’ll visit missy and get my payment.]
Kyran already knew what Nolan meant about payment. Although he did not know the full details, Nolan expected some remuneration after Stella commissioned him as an exclusive mercenary and saved Gage from imminent death.
Nodding his head slightly, Kyran muttered an almost inaudible, “Hm,” before going in a different direction.
They agreed it was best to go separately. Nolan did not have to meet Byron. So he would go to the Tower of Conclave alone. The recorder with proof of Kyran’s whereabouts was already with Nolan, as well as the communication device Kyran created, which would serve as his means of communicating with Stella to share and receive information and items.
Initially, Kyran wanted to ask Nolan to borrow the book about Ancient Magic from Stella but decided to call her when he got the time. Besides, he reckoned he would not have much time to study it because he would be busy training.
As for meeting Byron in Starhorn, Kyran would use his Sigil to locate his whereabouts.
A week ago, when they parted at Nhadal, Byron confirmed that he would not be staying at the Valley of Morte. His sole purpose of coming there was to bring the hunters to their site, and then he would return to their head office. The Blue Lotus’s main headquarters was stationed in the western part of the Ylfaen Empire. However, they had a few head offices on each corner of the empire. Kyran confirmed which head office Byron would return to after leaving the Valley of Morte. He would be going to the Blue Lotus’s Eastern Branch in Starhorn.
After a quarter of an hour, Kyran finally felt Byron’s Sigil react.
Meanwhile, on the eastern side of Starhorn, where the Blue Lotus Eastern Branch was located, Byron sat on a chair inside the manager’s office on the first level. He had a bored expression as he picked on his nose while listening to the east branch manager’s report.
It was not part of his responsibility to listen to the manager’s report. He only had to collect their monthly report and send it over to the leader. Unfortunately, the leader with the rest of the organization’s executives was still in Meliora. A few days ago, they attended a meeting that the emperor had personally arranged, and they had not returned yet.
“…and as it stands, after the release of two bounties, our sales have also increased. If we managed to hire more people to gather enough information on the first bounty there is a greater chance for us to add more profit to our—.”
Byron abruptly stood up, which made the middle-aged man in front of him, the manager of the east branch, almost fall back on his seat.
“D-Did I say something wrong—?”
“Compile all the report and put it here! I need to leave for a few… hours or days… weeks? Doesn’t matter!” Byron exclaimed and threw a memory orb to the manager before dashing out the door.
“B-But… we need you to sign some documents—.”
“I’ll check it when I get back!”
Byron replied.
The manager blinked. In the end, he could only sigh in resignation. He had been in the Blue Lotus for more than three years, and still, he found the leader’s right-hand man hard to deal with. Byron was not irresponsible. He was actually very passionate. Too passionate, even to the point where he would leave in the middle of whatever he was doing if the leader asked him to do something. Byron would even go to such great lengths to accomplish his task, even at the cost of his life. It was a wonder at times how he managed to stay alive because of his passionate character. The leader sometimes mentioned that Byron was the organization’s lucky star.
As for the manager’s opinion, Byron was just lucky.
With a shake of his head, the manager compiled his report and started recording it inside the memory orb.
Outside, Byron was running at a breakneck speed toward the eastern outskirts of Starhorn.
The reason for this was that he received a message from his master!
Initially, Byron thought he had imagined the voice because he would sometimes imagine his master calling him ever since they parted in Nhadal.
Kyran did say he would find him in a week, and it’s already been a week, and yet there had been no indication of him showing up. So now that he ‘heard’ his master’s voice, he did not immediately believe it. But the curtness of the message, not to mention the coldness of his master’s voice, was different from the ones in his imagination! After all, Byron could never imagine his master’s cold and curt way of speaking. When he imagined his master calling him, his voice was endearing most of the time.
Of course, if his master knew he had imagined things about him, he would probably get punished. However, the thought of being punished by his master was not scary to Byron. On the contrary, he felt thrilled by the idea.
If Kyran knew Byron was having weird thoughts about him, he would probably indulge him and show him what kind of punishment he was capable of.
In less than half an hour, Byron arrived at the location where his master had said. There was no specific location whatsoever when he heard the message. However, he could sense his master’s presence from the Sigil in his body, and thus, he simply followed it.
“Master! I’m here!” Byron shouted in excitement. He did not see Kyran but knew he was there somewhere.
Kyran immediately frowned at Byron’s loud voice. He jumped down from above the tree branch while simultaneously giving him a kick on the back.
“Don’t shout!” He hissed at him.
Byron fell face-first on the ground. However, he recovered immediately and turned to look at Kyran with a goofy grin on his face.
“Master! I mi—huwaaaaaaaat? What happened to your handsome face Master? How did you suddenly turn ugly?” Byron exclaimed in fright.
Previously, Kyran was using Tyr’s face. His face was half-covered then, but Byron could still guess Kyran’s handsome looks. However, Kyran’s using Nar’s face right now, and he did not bother to cover it.
The difference shocked Byron to his core. His master was a handsome young man that women and men alike would fawn over. How did his master’s face suddenly become… err… let’s just say, ugly.
Kyran’s brow twitched. He belatedly remembered how much Byron loved to shout and stubbornly believed he was the Void Master.
Putting on a stern expression, Kyran warned Byron, “If you shout one more time…”
Byron immediately covered his mouth with both hands and shook his head vigorously.
Kyran leaned on the tree behind him with a sigh while looking at Byron. He crossed his arms across his chest and said, “This is a disguise. Do you think I’ll go walking around in broad daylight with my real face?”
Byron’s eyes widened in understanding. He lowered his hand and looked at Kyran in pure adoration.
“Good job, Master! With such an ugly face, no one will ever think it is you!” He said in a reasonably low voice.
What kind of logic did Byron have? Nar’s face was not that ugly, alright. Besides, Tyr’s face was not even Kyran’s real one. He suddenly had an imaginary headache just thinking about Byron’s reaction once he revealed his natural face.
Maybe he should bash Byron’s head so he would have a memory loss. No, wait. Perhaps he could learn a memory wipe spell or something so he could use it on Byron and make him forget Tyr’s face and the weird notion that the Void Master was such a handsome guy.
Oh, right, Kyran was not the Void Master. He was his successor.
Pushing these random thoughts at the back of his mind, Kyran decided to get down to business, “Have you done what I asked?”
Byron’s expression turned serious as he nodded in earnest.
“Yes, Master. I have found a place for you. I also managed to forge your new identity… just…” He paused, looking a little embarrassed.
Seeing Byron’s expression gave Kyran a bad premonition.
“What?” He asked.
“Well,” Byron laughed uneasily as he scratched his head. “I said you’re my long lost brother.”
Kyran kept an indifferent expression. But in his mind, he was flipping an imaginary table.
Of all the identity Byron could give him, why did he settle with him being his long-lost brother? They did not even look the same!
“So, Master… You’re real face…”
Kyran immediately frowned, “Did you provide a picture?”
“Oh, no, no, no, no, no!” Byron answered while shaking his head. Then he laughed uneasily while scratching the back of his head and said, “But I’ve told most of my men how handsome my long lost brother is so…”
Kyran gave him a dull look and decided to ignore his nonsense. He straightened and started to walk.
“Did you get me a list of the job request?” He asked, changing the subject.
“Master!” Byron complained in frustration. He could not believe his master was ignoring his plea.
Kyran glared at him, his eyes slightly turning purple, “What?”
Feeling the sudden drop in temperature in the surroundings, Byron shook his head and decided to drop the matter. He would have to convince his master to use his handsome face when he introduced him to his men another time.
“Nothing,” Byron answered.
“And?”
“Oh, right,” Byron followed Kyran as they walked deeper into the woods. “I have gathered most except for those highly classified job requests.”
Kyran looked at him, “Why? Do you need a higher clearance to access those?”
Byron nodded. “Actually, I can ask leader for it, but because of the matter about Gray, all executives had to attend the meeting the emperor had arranged and I haven’t got a chance to talk to leader.”
Kyran heard about the meeting. The Blue Lotus was just a small faction, but they were still part of the empire’s parliament.
Nodding his head, Kyran did not dwell on the subject and said, “When you get all the details, send it over to me. I’ll have to check all of them. Once I confirmed the targets I’ll be taking, I’ll trouble you to get it under my bucket list.”
“No problem, Master,” Byron replied with a short nod.
“Here,” Kyran took out a dark purple communication disc and handed it to Byron. “That’s a communication device I crafted myself. Use your magic sense to activate it. Once it record your magic, it will only respond to you. Any information or message being transmitted and recorded there will also be encrypted and if others try to decrypt it, everything inside will be destroyed.”
Byron’s eyes widened as he took the communication device.
“S-Such an advance communication device…” He looked at Kyran in pure admiration, “I know you’re an Array Specialist, but I never knew you are such an expert! As expected of Master!”
“Make sure to keep that hidden from the others. I’ll call you using that, and you can also do the same—.”
“You mean I am allowed to call you, Master?” Byron asked, his eyes sparkling just by the thought.
Kyran’s brow twitched. Maybe he should not have said that.
“You can as long as its important. If you call me without a good reason, I’ll destroy that device.”
Byron immediately nodded his head, “Of course, Master. I will only call you if its important!”
Kyran looked at him apprehensively. He was unsure whether they had the exact definition of ‘important.’ If Byron ever called him for a trifling matter, he would block him.
“You can send the information you have through that device,” Kyran told Byron.
“Yes, Master.”
“I’ll be busy for the next few days, so if you there will be any update, just send it over. I’ll check it when I’m free.”
“I understand.”
“I’m going.”
“Oka—eh? So soon?” Byron looked at him incredulously. He thought they would have to check the place he got for him. Or check the new identity he submitted.
“I’ll wait for the information. You can head back to the city,” Kyran simply said and jumped to the tree’s branch on the side.
Byron watched Kyran leave, feeling a little disappointed. For some reason, he felt like he had been abandoned.
‘Be careful when you head back. Make sure no one is keeping an eye on you.’
Kyran’s voice sounded in Byron’s head, and immediately his expression brightened. He chuckled manically as he muttered under his breath, “Seriously, Master. You and your cute side. Hehe.”
Kyran, who was standing on a tree branch twenty meters away from Byron heard him. A huge sweat appeared on his head as his brow twitched.
He really chose the wrong person to be his first Sigil. Byron had serious… issues.
Ignoring Byron’s weird behavior, Kyran silently watched him as he turned and returned to the city.
When Byron was finally out of sight, Kyran looked at the morning sky. He managed to finish his business way ahead of time and now he had nothing else to do.
‘I guess I can kill some time by hunting some forest beasts,’ he decided, thinking that Nolan was probably still on his way to the Tower of Conclave.
‘I can also find and collect some materials for array creation. It will save me a few coins and stones then,’ Kyran thought with a slight nod.
With that in mind, he jumped and went deeper into the forest to hunt.
Of course, he did not forget to activate his Cloaking Array, which he already integrated into his new coat. If not, he would only be wasting his time looking for forest beast because they would be hiding away from him.
