“What’s going on here? What are you doing?”
Anne’s voice echoed across the city’s port as her curly hair fluttered in the wind. She stood atop her shop, gazing down at the sudden swarm of emissaries from the Temple of Light.
Her brows furrowed tightly upon seeing them.
There were so many of them that she couldn’t count their exact number.
‘What are they doing here? Why did they suddenly come?’
Though she didn’t fear them, she was still deeply apprehensive about the situation. Something about this entire thing felt off.
“Is nobody going to say a single thing?”
Her words once again echoed throughout the port as she looked down at the emissaries.
But yet again, she received no answers.
Her entire demeanour started to shift from there as a certain pressure started to spread out from her body and onto the emissaries beneath.
She was starting to lose her patience.
“If none of you are going to answer then—”
“Relax, calm down. Let’s keep this civil.”
Just as tensions began to rise, a soft voice cut through the pressure. In the distance, a figure draped in white appeared, his face hidden behind a golden mask. The emissaries silently parted to let him pass.
“Eh?”
Anne’s brow raised upon seeing him.
“Luminarch Jophiel?”
“That is indeed me.”
The Luminarch came to a stop just right beneath her ship, his head tilted to look at her.
The moment he appeared, Anne’s entire demeanour changed as the pressure coming out from her body started to fade.
By no means was she scared of the man who stood before her.
However… Something about him had always made her uncomfortable.
It was for that reason that she actively decided to back down. She would much rather talk than have things go bad.
A thin smile spread across her lips as she looked down.
“What have I done to grace me with your presence?”
“Nothing yet.”
The Luminarch said, his voice light and calm.
From the way he spoke, it really did seem like he was coming in peace.
That made Anne even more uncomfortable. The harder it was to see through his intentions, the more complicated the situation felt.
“Is that so? But… I’m not so sure I can believe your words when you showed up with so many people.”
“Oh, pardon me for that.”
The Luminarch looked around him.
“As you know, times are rather tough right now. In order to go out, the temple has insisted on bringing a lot of people. This is all for my protection.”
“Protection? I find that hard to believe.”
Anne almost wanted to laugh.
He was one of the strongest people within the city. There was hardly anyone who could pose a threat to him within the city.
“Haha.”
Seeing her reaction, the Luminarch laughed.
He laughed for a few seconds before looking around.
“…I guess you’re right, but who am I to reject their offer? Aren’t they cute in their own way for wanting to protect me?”
“Cute?”
Anne looked at him in disgust.
She could clearly see that he was wasting time talking with her. What was he trying to do? What was he trying to achieve?
Her sharp eyes scanned the surroundings as she tried her best to see any strange movement.
However, regardless of where she looked, she couldn’t see anything strange about the situation.
So then…?
What exactly was he planning?
Anne’s heart grew restless as she settled her gaze back towards the Luminarch. Just as her lips were about to part, a figure walked up towards the Luminarch, whispering something into his ears.
Anne tried to peer through the conversation, but she could only hear faint bits of it.
Something along the lines of…
‘Targeted… He was right… Must get rid… danger…’
Ah?
As her eyelids fluttered, she looked towards the Luminarch again as she saw him staring at her, his features hidden within his golden mask. However, despite the mask hiding his features, in that very moment, Anne felt that he was smiling.
That… he had some sort of sickening smile beneath the mask.
She felt the hair at the back of her neck rise as she grew tense.
“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news for you.”
Anne’s lips pressed tightly, her eyes narrowing as she looked down at the Luminarch. She started to have a sinking feeling that things were about to turn for the worse.
“…I’ve just had someone look at you, and… well…”
The Luminarch moved his head left and right as he tried his best to put things nicely for her. In the end, he sighed and just went straight to the point.
“You’re currently marked by the great primordial one.”
“Huh “
Anne’s face blanked.
Marked by the great primordial one?
When? What…?
“Not just you, but a couple of others within the ship have been marked.”
He pinched the lower end of his mask.
“Taking a look at your expression, you most likely don’t seem to be aware of it. Or maybe you’re pretending like you don’t know? Hmm…”
The Luminarchs’ eyes narrowed beneath.
“If my guess is correct, then you all must’ve fallen for some sort of scheme devised by Captain Sylas. I did notice that his injuries were a bit off. Only a few matched the type of weapon that you use.”
“Sylas?”
Anne’s eyes widened.
“You’ve met him? Then you should quickly go back to him! He’s not—”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ve already marked him. He won’t be able to get away even if he wants to. Just as I’m going to deal with you, I’m going to deal with him.”
Jophiel smiled as he looked at Anne.
“…I can also extract all the information that I want after I take you in. Well, if I take you in. Given the current situation, taking you in might not be ideal. In fact, I should be dealing with you as we speak.”
He raised his hand, and the emissaries next to him got into battle positions, their weapons drawn.
“You don’t have to do this.”
Anne’s expression darkened at the sight presented before her.
Looking back towards her own crew, she mumbled, ‘Get ready’ as they similarly drew their weapons while looking down at the emissaries.
The tensions escalated as Anne looked at the Luminarch.
He could only shake his head upon seeing her reaction.
“I’m sure you understand why I have to do this, right? It’s not that I want to be unreasonable, but it’s more about the fact that I have no choice but to be unreasonable. You’re currently targeted by the primordial one. If you stay here, then you’ll be putting the entire city in danger. The only real option we have is to kill you.”
“…Is there really no way we can talk about this?”
The Luminarch shook his head.
“Like I said, we have no choice in this matter.”
He gestured with his hands once more, and the emissaries started to release their own pressure.
Taking out her whip, Anne’s entire demeanour changed as she took a deep breath.
“Very well.”
She looked at her crew next to her.
It was just as she was about to attack when—
“…!”
Her expression changed as she hastily turned back and raised her whip.
Clank!
A loud metallic sound rang in the air as sparks flew across.
“What the…!”
Anne’s expression changed drastically when she saw several of her own crew members turn their weapons on her.
“What are you doing? Why are you—”
“Sorry about that, Captain. This one might be on me.”
It was the Luminarch who spoke again as he looked at her from below. He looked at her with interest.
“Your people were a lot more loyal than expected, but in the end, under our constant offers, we’ve managed to turn quite a few on our side. We’ve long known about your movements.”
“What the…”
“What?”
The Luminarch cocked his head.
“Did you really think we would let you dominate the Crimson Sea because we’re nice? Hahaha.”
The Luminarch laughed while shaking his head.
Eventually, however, his tone and expression turned serious.
“We value order above all. The only reason you’re free to sail the seas is because we permit it. If we wished, we could take full control. The temple saw no need to interfere directly when you were already keeping the waters in check on our behalf. Naturally, to preserve that balance, we had no choice but to place several spies among you.”
He looked around.
“And I guess that worked out for the best. In any case…”
He nudged the people next to him.
“It’s time we finished this. I hope that you forg—”
“What’s going on here?”
A certain voice cut through the Luminarch’s voice as a certain figure walked into the main dock, stopping to see the numerous people surrounding the ship.
His gaze was sharp, his jawline chiseled, and every aspect of him radiated refinement and elegance. Staring at the situation, the man slowly put on his glasses before eventually, his gaze fell on the Luminarch.
“Huh?”
Many of those on the boat grew startled at the sight of him.
How did he appear without them noticing?
Even Anne was shocked. However, she quickly clenched her teeth as she looked at the one surrounding the merchant.
They…
They had all once been her people. For them to turn on her like that.
How could this have happened?
Anne’s heart sank into the deepest depths. She thought she had treated them well, and yet…
And yet.. she had been too naive.
The ‘spies’ began to surround the merchant shortly after.
And yet, in spite of the situation, he looked completely unbothered as he maintained eye contact with the Luminarch.
“Hmm”
Tilting his head, the Luminarch thought for a moment before saying,
“You must be the merchant.”
“…You know me?”
“I’ve heard a little bit about you. This is the first time I’m seeing you, though.”
Jophiel calmly nodded his head while looking at the merchant. At first glance, he didn’t look like much. A hidden tier six with nothing really special about him besides his origin. Jophiel was curious about his true identity, but it was just unfortunate that he was also marked by the primordial one.
He had to go too.
“What a pity.”
Jophiel shook his head before nudging the emissaries next to him.
“Get rid of them. We have to be as fast as possible so that we can prevent the red tide.”
“Understood!”
The emissaries moved alongside the spies on the ship.
As this happened, the merchant remained indifferent. No, rather… a thin smile spread across his lips.
He’s smiling?
The moment Jophiel caught sight of the smile, his expression changed.
Something felt off.
He suddenly started to have a bad feeling.
But before he could understand it, a red leaf slowly fell on the ground.
Red leaf…?
Jophiel blinked his eyes.
Then…
Slowly raising his head, he saw an owl standing right above them, its deep eyes staring at them.
Ba… Thump! Ba… Thump!
For some reason, staring at the owl, Jophiel felt his heart beat louder than ever.
It was so loud that it started to drum inside his mind.
‘What sort of—’
Splash! Splash! Splash!
“….!?”
“What the!”
“Hey, watch out!”
Water suddenly splashed across the port as figures surged up from the depths, leaping onto the dock. Once their silhouettes became clear, the faces of many changed as they realized they were all statues.
“Be careful, move back.”
Lazarus raised his hand and forced the people back as he stared at the statues.
Though they didn’t appear strong, he could still feel they’d pose a threat to quite a few present.
What was happening?
Splash! Splash!
This continued as more and more statues emerged, appearing from all sides, their presence not lacking many of the emissaries present.
And as if the situation wasn’t getting already bad enough, a thick fog started to shroud the entire area.
“Careful!”
“Where is this from?”
“What’s going on…?”
Jophiel waved his hand to disperse the fog, but it was to his shock to see that he couldn’t do it all.
What…?
Eventually, Jophiel raised his head.
It was also then that his gaze locked with that of the merchant as he stared at him with a thin, yet calm smile.
That’s when Jophiel started to feel them.
Chills.