There were four major factions within the Ylfaen Empire.
First, the Royal Army, which was located at the center of the empire. Templar Code from the west. Aureole from the north. And last, The Conclave of the East, from the east.
These factions were all part of the Ylfaen Empire. Thus all of them were in a cooperative relationship.
However, The Conclave of the East, or Conclave for short, was a neutral faction. The Mercenary Hall was one of its constituents and the Chamber of Commerce, the Blacksmith Order, and the Alchemist Association. They had many branches inside the empire, as well as the outside.
Because the Conclave mainly dealt with manpower services, networking, and trading, they had an agreement with the Ylfaen Empire that they would only deal with their business and would not meddle with any crusade the empire would initiate. In return, the empire would also not interfere with their business. It also meant that they had no control of the information circulating within the Conclave’s networking.
That was Dior’s concern.
The last thing they wanted was their enemy from the south getting Kyran’s information.
Of course, the Royal Army made precautions to contain all information about Kyran. When they issued a bounty to the Mercenary Guild, they only provided superficial information.
But now, if Kyran’s destination was indeed the east, where he would go and what he would do next, had become the Royal Army’s bane.
If the informants of the Conclave within Starhorn get wind of the Royal Army’s movement and somehow tied it up to the newly issued bounty, it would be a matter of time before they know the rest of the story.
Dior hoped Kyran would stay in the forest and would not dare go into the city. But remembering how calm Kyran had acted even when he was cornered, Dior feared for the worse.
“I’ll return to the base and report this matter. I’ll leave you to continue with the search,” Vera told Dior.
Dior nodded, “Okay. I’ll lead two teams to search up east but will have the rest continue the search up north.”
“Yes, that would be for the best.”
Dior sighed, “If only we could force a lockdown.”
Vera shook her head, “The Grand Marshal won’t approve. He doesn’t want this matter to be known by the public.”
“I know. That’s why it has become difficult.”
“Well, if you had succeeded in your mission, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Dior glared at her.
Vera just sneered and left.
Dior and his men continued with their search.
====================
Silas read the rest of the info on the poster of the new bounty. Just like the cloaked man, he requested to have a copy. Of course, his reason was different from the cloaked man. He needed the target’s photo to ask around.
He walked along the street leading to the station, and it was noticeable how many females kept staring at him.
As usual, his handsome look was very eye-catching. It was a miracle he was able to carry out a mission without drawing attention.
“You have any idea who that cloaked bastard was?” A powerful voice spoke from behind.
Silas could not help frowning as he looked at Gage. He had known that he was walking behind him.
“Will you please not follow me?”
Gage furrowed his brows and glared at him, “I am not. I plan to start my search here.”
“Right,” Silas replied, clearly unconvinced.
“And? You know anything about that cloaked bastard?”
Silas shook his head and returned his attention to reading the information on the poster.
“No. It is my first time meeting him.”
“How did you know it’s the first time? That bastard was wearing a cloak, there’s a chance we know that punk, and he’s only hiding.”
“He is a shadow mage. I don’t know anyone who uses shadow magic.”
Gage frowned, “That fog was shadow magic?”
Silas sighed heavily and looked at Gage once again. “He concealed his magic, using that fog. I am not sure how he did it or why, but his magic is pretty powerful.”
“Hmm,” Gage could not help but agree. The penetrating power of that cloaked bastard’s magic was indeed powerful. He even damaged his weapons. Recalling what happened annoyed him.
“I’ll make that bastard pay for damaging my weapons.”
“Well, we’ll definitely meet him sooner or later.”
“How do you know?”
Silas shook his head. Dealing with Gage’s stupidity was exhausting.
“We have the same target. We’ll definitely cross paths.”
“Not if I captured that skinny brat first,” Gage sneered.
“Like I said. There is more to that kid. The information provided is too little, in my opinion.”
“Isn’t it enough? We have the location. We’ll just surround him.”
“We?” Silas could not help but raise a brow at Gage. “I thought you’re going this way because this is where you plan to search first?” he said, putting emphasis when he said ‘you’.
Gage just shrugged and replied, “Why not? Your magic has a restraining effect. When we combine your swordsmanship with my destructive magic, we will be able to develop a good strategy to corner that brat. Once we do, then I’ll break his bones.”
“I sometimes wonder whether your brain only works when it comes to fighting and strategy.”
Silas was amazed.
Gage frowned, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Silas just smirked and shook his head, “Forget it.”
“And? What do you say?”
“Well, I don’t mind teaming up with you and sharing the reward. But before we go to the location indicated on the poster, I need to gather some information first.”
“Gather information where?”
“First, let’s head to Aeren Town.”
====================
It was already late in the afternoon, and the cloaked man stood on one of the tallest trees in the forest, checking the surroundings.
Earlier, he followed the map on the poster and wanted to congratulate himself for a job well done. Then he encountered a forest beast and killed it. But when he checked the map for the next direction, he soon realized that he was lost.
‘F*cking beast. Made me lose my sense of direction,’ he cursed.
He looked at the map once again and sighed. It was no good. The map did not make any sense. All the symbols had become scribbles.
The cloaked man jumped down from the tree and picked up a broken tree branch.
“Okay, time to use my excellent luck.”
He held up the branch and let it stand on the ground. Then he let go.
The branch fell on the ground, pointing toward ‘his’ southeast direction. The orientation was based on ‘his’ direction since he currently did not know where north was.
“Alright, then southeast it is.”
The cloaked man turned and continued on his way.
A quarter of an hour later.
A large green magic array appeared around him.
“Stop there!” a voice sounded nearby.
The cloaked man frowned. But he did stop after seeing the restraining array.
Three men in green uniforms appeared and surrounded him.
“Who are you?” the man in the middle asked.
“A mercenary,” the cloaked man answered.
The man frowned and pointed at him, “Lower your cloak and let us see your face.”
“Or else what?” the cloaked man asked.
Clearly, these three men would not let him go even if he followed their instructions. He was not a fugitive, alright. He just instinctively knew that these three stooges were searching for someone. That was why they stopped him and even summoned restraining arrays to prevent him from running.
They obviously would not let him go until he could satisfy their curiosity of who he was and why he was there. And he did not want to entertain them.
“Or else we’ll use force to detain you.”
“Just detain me? Cute.”
The man on the right glowered, “Don’t be a smart-ass and just do what you are told.”
“You guys talk a lot. If you want to detain me, just do it. If not, then scram. Don’t waste my time,” the cloaked man retorted, and simultaneously, fog-like shadow seeped out from under his cloak.
“You!” the three immediately summoned three more restraining arrays.
But they were a step too late.
The fog-like shadow already wrapped around them. It was growing thicker by the second. I
Immediately, the three drew their knife and scattered.
However, as soon as they left the fog’s range and were about to attack the cloaked man, they saw that he was already gone.
“Where did he go?” one of the men asked.
“Go! Search for him. He’s definitely suspicious!”
“He might know something.”
The three of them immediately left.
As soon as the three stooges left, the fog-like shadow dispersed and revealed the cloaked man.
“Idiots,” he muttered and jumped to a nearby tree branch and continued on his way.
He seriously hated people who show up and act all arrogant, as if they own the place.
What the cloaked man did not realize at that time was that the direction he went to was actually opposite his intended direction.
After almost an hour, the sun had already set, and the forest was practically engulfed by darkness.
“Ah f*ck it, now where do I go?” he went up a higher branch on the tree he was standing on.
He surveyed his surroundings, and a few kilometers ahead, he saw a cliff with a small opening. It seemed to be a small cave.
‘Hm?’ the cloaked man frowned. He inexplicably felt a sudden chill when he saw the cave.
‘Is it a forest beast’s den?’ he wondered.
He jumped and went straight to the cave.
Using his stealth technique, he closed in on the cave’s entrance. He urged his magic and tried to feel any lurking danger inside.
He suddenly frowned after sensing a life pulse inside. But it was faint and felt very strange.
He hesitated only for a second before going inside.
He stood at the entrance for a few seconds until his eyes adjusted to the cave’s darkness. To his left, he saw a trench. An overflow of water from a gap on the wall fell into it.
‘Oh good, there’s water. I’m thirsty,’ the cloaked man thought and walked over to the trench.
However, the closer he got, his steps slowed down because he saw a silhouette of a body slumped on the edge of the trench.
His brow furrowed when he realized that the faint life pulse he felt came from this… corpse?
No, there was still life in the body, so it was not yet a corpse.
He approached the body cautiously and turned it.
The body was wet, but it felt warm. Too warm. As if the person had swum in boiling water.
“Oi, you alive? Half-dead? Err… living dead?”
After getting no response, the cloaked man dragged the body and laid it on the ground.
‘Hm?’ he frowned.
The owner of the body was a young man, and under his clothes, he was covered in bandages. This young man was wounded.
‘But how did he end up in the trench?’
He checked the young man’s state and confirmed that while his life pulse was faint, he was not in imminent danger.
He then looked around and noticed some items near the trench.
‘Must be this guy’s stuff,’ he thought and ignored it.
He turned his attention back at the young man and contemplated for a moment.
Since it was already dark, he needed a place to rest. But this young man came to this cave first. Although the young man seemed half-dead, he might wake up soon, and the cloaked man was not in the mood to find another place to rest. Thus, he would stay here tonight.
“Well, buddy, let’s share this place, alright. I did save your life.”
“….”
“Okay, your life is not really in danger, but you’ll catch a cold and die if I left you there. So technically, I did save your life.”
The cloaked man sighed. ‘What the hell am I doing?’
He stood up and walked to the cave’s entrance.
‘First, find some woods and make fire.’
He turned to look at the young man once again. ‘It’ll help dry him up too.’
With that, he went outside to pick some woods, not knowing that he actually found his target.