“Not here, Hanya.” Gudora calmly eyed the people around them, “We’ll discuss it once we return home.”
“Okay,” Hanya nodded and remained silent for the rest of the journey.
Seated in the theatre room, Inala’s eyes shot up in disappointment, ‘They didn’t say much.’
‘Do I do it, or not?’ After a moment of hesitation, he decided to take the risk, ‘If it’s a trap, I’ll be inviting myself to death in two days. I can’t avoid the risk this time.’
Thinking as such, he gave a command to the Empyrean Zinger Scout which relayed the message with a short screech through the tunnel network.
At the terrace of the Theatre was an open pipe. Two Empyrean Zinger Scouts crawled out and leaped like a pair of leeches, covering long distances with every jump by harnessing their Secondary Nature of Internal Inertial Gravity.
They stopped at the edge of the roof and observed the figures of Gudora and Hanya entering their carriage. Once the carriage started to move, the two scouts jumped down from the edge of the roof and spread their wings to glide around.
They flew in their miniature forms, not emitting any Prana as all they did was glide around using their physical prowess. They circled in the air to keep pace with the slow-moving carriage, creating distance between each other.
The goal was to sneak into the City Lord’s house and inspect the layout beforehand so that Inala could prepare. While the two scouts tailed the City Lord’s carriage, a dozen more scouts exited the pipe.
They glided over the city at a high altitude and quickly dropped onto the terrace of the houses at farther locations, one per each. They were creating a line of communication for message transfer.
After all, there was a solid chance the scouts tailing the City Lord would only have one opportunity. Therefore, their mission was to find out everything they could and transmit all the information through a shout.
This communication line formed by the Empyrean Zinger Scouts would relay the message to Inala.
While the carriage continued to move slowly, the scouts had already established their line of communication, reaching the entrance of the City Lord’s estate. 𝑜𝔳𝗅𝐞xt.𝓬𝑜𝗆
The two scouts continued to circle around on either side of the carriage, keeping their distance. But when the carriage made a turn, the scout on the left came between the carriage and the sun.
As a result, its shadow was cast on the carriage window. It was only a small dot, due to diffraction of light, but Gudora noticed it, as the shadow was cast from an unnatural angle—from a height beyond the buildings on the street.
‘Is it an attack?’ In reflex, he pointed his palm out of the carriage window and unleashed a glitter mist that slammed into the Empyrean Zinger Scout like a ray, encasing it in a layer of crystal. The scout was trapped, unable to move as it began to fall to the ground.
If it tried to break free, the commotion would cause its Prana to billow out, revealing its identity. Even though it was a scout, it was still a Silver Grade Pranic Beast, one that had been growing for more than a year.
Its strength wasn’t insignificant. Knowing that revealing its existence would offset all of Inala’s plans, the Empyrean Zinger Scout collapsed its Internal Inertial Gravity, causing a controlled singularity.
The gravitational flux pulled its body towards the centre while not affecting the crystal around it. In an instant, the Empyrean Zinger Scout’s body shrunk into a speck of dirt too small to be visible to the naked eye, erasing all traces of its existence, for it was now dead.
The carriage arrived at a halt as Gudora jumped out and stared at the crystal that fell onto the roof of a nearby building. Followed by a leap, he arrived at the terrace and picked up the crystal, one that was almost spherical in shape.
Originally, it formed the Empyrean Zinger Scout’s shape, for it had layered the scout’s body. But once the scout’s body shrunk into a dot, the absolute loss in pressure deformed the crystal’s shape, for everything happened before it had fully solidified.
As a result, it was almost spherical. Gudora frowned as he observed it, ‘Why is there nothing inside?’
He bent down to pick it up, surprised to grunt in response, “Why is it so heavy?”
Since the effect of Internal Inertial Gravity vanished, the resultant speck that the Empyrean Zinger Scout had become held its entire body weight. That was a significant amount, puzzling Gudora.
He observed the crystal from all angles and failed to notice anything inside. But the strangeness of its intense weight puzzled him, “This needs to be looked into.”
He gazed around, failing to notice anything else that was amiss…
Thud!
There was a loud sound, akin to a meteor slamming into the ground. The roof of the house nearby collapsed in response, followed by screams from within.
Gudora leaped into the house and noticed a crater on the floor, one that was almost a metre wide and a dozen centimetres deep. He stared inside and failed to see anything, ‘There’s nothing inside.’
He then observed the people in the house, asking, “Is anyone hurt?”
“N-No, City Lord.” The man of the household shook his head. “The ceiling caved in suddenly and frightened us.”
“Did you see anything?” Gudora asked next.
“No,” The man expressed his confusion, “It felt like something heavy slammed into the ground. But I didn’t see anything.”
“Hmm…” Gudora placed his hand in the crater and felt around, still unable to make out anything of notice. He got up and erected a dome around the crater, addressing the people at the house, “No one is to touch this, alright?”
“I’ll send someone to look into this later.”
“Yes, City Lord.” The people in the house accepted without any complaints.
“This is very strange,” Muttering as such, Gudora returned to his carriage and prompted the coachman to resume the drive. He stared at the heavy crystal in his possession and commented, “There’s some sort of secret in this.”
“Do we forward it to the King? He’s the one most knowledgeable about everything.” Hanya asked.
“Not yet,” Gudora said, “We need to conduct an investigation first. Only after getting some clues will it be okay to ask for assistance in the matter.”
“I feel uneasy for some reason.” Hanya said, “I feel strange ever since we visited the Theatre. I don’t have proof, but I have a hunch that something isn’t right.”
“Are you sure Inala could be trusted?”
“I never said that.” Gudora continued to stare at the spherical crystal in his hand, “There’s no account of his existence three years ago, no matter where I asked in the Kingdom. It’s a sure say that he’s from the outside.”
“But, that doesn’t mean I can suspect him for everything.”
