When the other council members left the conference hall, Stella requested a few minutes break. She also summoned refreshments for everyone.
Kyran took one glass of water and finished it in one go. It was never his nature to lead a discussion, so talking for a long time made him thirsty. When he led a team during their yearly outdoor training or joint activities in military school, their briefings were short. If his members did ask questions, it was only a question or two.
Kyran also still felt a little faint from when his magic had a strange episode. He ignored it while he led the discussion, but the fatigue overwhelmed him now that they were on break.
He silently thanked Stella for requesting a break. He was not an idiot to not notice that she did it for his sake.
While on break, Callan, Hugh, and Malek talked about the Mercenary Hall’s affairs. They discussed some of Malek’s questions on the report they submitted this morning. Stella also asked some questions of her own from time to time.
Kyran was not idle either.
He took this opportunity to check the documents Stella gave him. She had arranged them in a way where it was easy for Kyran to follow. And he realized why Stella believed this information was relevant to him.
It consisted of the army’s recent purchased materials from the Chamber of Commerce under their pseudo name. Aside from this, it also included updates from the Mercenary Hall on the army’s current activities. Because the talk Malek was having with them was related to it, Kyran understood the gist of what was happening.
Usually, Kyran would have joined their conversation and started asking questions. But because of Malek’s lead, his questions were already answered.
Did this mean, Kyran and Malek think similarly?
The idea irked Kyran.
If Malek knew what Kyran was thinking, he might have snapped and started with him again.
With his brows slightly creased together, Kyran leaned back on his chair. He stared at the parchments he spread on top of the table in front of him as he rubbed his throbbing temples.
Based on the information in these, the army planned on doing a big operation. However, the army was pressed for time. It was evident that they were in a rush to get all the materials in a few days. Even the deployment of the lower-ranked officers was completed in just one day.
Counting the days from when the army completed all the transactions of the materials they requested, there was only a few days difference from when Kyran made a mess in the Tower of Conclave. Then the deployment of the lower-ranked officers happened the other day.
From these clues, Kyran guessed that the army’s operation was scheduled either last night or today. Unfortunately, the Conclave had no news about it yet.
Kyran, however, already had an idea what the operation might be, and he was doing his best not to overthink. Besides, he noticed something strange from the army’s movement.
‘Why is the highest ranked army officer that was dispatched was only a Major,’ Kyran wondered.
So far, this was the only question Malek did not raise. Whether he deliberately avoided it or he did not realize it, only he knew the answer.
Kyran did not mind. If the discussion shifted in that direction, Stella would definitely ask what he thought, and right now, he did not want to share his thoughts with them. It was not because he did not trust them, but because he did not want them to know what he planned to do after leaving the Tower.
Taking a deep breath, Kyran reached for a piece of parchment on the table.
It was a profile of an army officer, and it included an image of a middle-aged man.
The man’s name was Jax. He was not part of any clan and had no special attributes. And although he had been in the army for more than twenty years, he was still a Major.
But what piqued Kyran’s interest was the blank information on his direct supervisor as well as his magic.
From what Kyran learned from military school, a major’s direct supervisor was a Colonel. While it was not an isolated case wherein a Major did not report to a Colonel, it was extremely rare. Apart from this, the circumstances behind the Major had to be very special. One example was that the Major’s direct supervisor had died in combat, and the Major was under assessment whether he would be promoted or transferred to new leadership. Another example, the Major had a meritorious accomplishment and would receive a promotion soon. There was another example where the Major might be a newly promoted officer and had not been assigned to a leader yet.
All of these cases, however, did not apply to Jax. Because as soon as he got promoted to a Major, there was no report of him having a supervisor. Even his accomplishments were mediocre, and the only noteworthy of his missions was he had a lot of experience in manhunts. However, because the division he was under was the Forbidden Magic Control Squad, this was already a given.
Kyran closed his eyes. He thought of a possible reason why Jax did not have a direct supervisor. He happened to read a piece of information about it from one of the classified records Stella shared with him.
In the past, there was a case wherein a low-ranked officer reported directly to the highest-ranked officer. The reason was the officer had a unique ability that the Royal Family deemed as highly classified. At that time, the army did not have a Grand Marshal yet. The highest position was only a Brigadier General, and he was also under the direct orders of the Emperor. Yes, the Emperor before directly dealt with the Royal Army’s affairs compared today. This situation made the low-ranked officer report directly to the Emperor.
But given Jax’s accomplishments, could he be directly reporting under the Royal Family? Because as far as his information was concerned, Jax was deemed by the Royal Family as a failure. That was why he could only stay as a Major.
After hearing and reading a lot about the Royal Family, especially the Emperor, Kyran also knew they were not a bunch of righteous rulers. So why would they keep such a failure in the military? And without a supervisor?
Could it have something to do with the blank information on his magic?
Kyran heaved a sigh.
He made a mental note to visit this man. Since he could not get the answers from the Conclave, he would have to get it himself. Of course, he was interested in Jax not only because of this or because he was part of the Forbidden Magic Control Squad. It was also because Kyran knew Jax was part of the team that was after him.
Leaning forward, Kyran took another three parchments on the table.
These parchments were the data of the officers that were under Jax. And all three of them, Kyran knew.
The big guy with dark red hair, whose name was Dior. The blonde guy, whose name was Luka. And last, the new addition to Jax’s team was a woman with lush reddish-brown hair named Vera.
The status of Dior was already changed to MIA or missing in action.
Only he and Nolan knew, of course, that he was dead. But Kyran knew the army was not stupid not to know Dior’s actual status.
‘So why didn’t they declare his death?’ Kyran wondered.
The more he read through this information, the more Kyran had a new theory of who he was dealing with.
After almost half an hour, they four finally concluded their discussion.
Stella looked at Kyran and asked, “Kyran, are you ready?”
Kyran nodded his head and looked at the four of them.
“I’ll try to keep this short,” he told them. “For the first proof I want you to report to the army, please provide the information of what I did to the Mercenary Hall. This way you can also have a reason why you delayed the approval of their request.”
Hugh and Callan nodded their heads in acknowledgement.
The army would not refute if the Mercenary Hall were suddenly attacked by their requested bounty target and even made a huge mess.
“This way, you can also ask for compensation from them, because they did not provide a clear information about ‘my’ capabilities. Of course, you can leave out the information about me using magic, to not complicate matters.” Kyran continued.
The compensation part made Malek’s ears perked up. While the other three could not help but sweat.
They did not realize how much Kyran wanted to milk out the army’s finances.
“Next. After you confirmed with them that you will update the bounty, you can have my ‘other identity’ submit proof of ‘my’ whereabouts escaping south.”
Upon hearing this, Hugh narrowed his eyes. He looked at Kyran and asked, “Are you planning to make them think you are going to the Chaos Palace?”
Kyran smiled.
“They probably will not think that. Because they will be more concerned about another place south, I might escape to.”
The four of them immediately realized what Kyran meant and looked at him incredulously.
“Kyran, you…” Stella looked at him worriedly.
“Chaos Palace being my destination, is probably just a secondary thought to them. I am currently a wanted man, and few information is available about the Dark Sage,” Kyran started.
Stella’s expression slightly changed when Kyran called the previous Void Master the ‘Dark Sage’, but she only bit her lip to refrain from correcting him.
“Since you will update my bounty information, they will think I will have trouble entering cities especially after what I have done in the Mercenary Hall. This will limit the places where I can gather information which, will make it hard for me to know about Chaos Palace. So the likely place, they will think I am after, is a place, I am already aware of.”
Kyran paused and looked at them. Seeing their troubled yet amazed expression, he knew they already guessed the place he wanted the army to think he was heading to.
“That’s right. The army definitely is aware that I went to military school, so they knew I have an idea of the current situation between the empire and, the Archadia Republic.”