by L Travern
"Order Shadow Two to provoke him in non-incriminating ways. Nothing over the board, however, for the Council is paying close attention to the Valdian Kingdom. What else?"
The shadow hesitated before speaking. "The Orb of Skellage was recovered by Overlord Fleeting-Leaves." Its voice was whispered in fear.
"What?!" The Queen yelled, raising from her throne. "How?"
She was counting on presenting the Orb to the Immortal Council to get rid of the Warden of the East once and for all.
"We're not yet sure but everything points towards the Seven Isles betraying us."
"War!" The Queen yelled. "Ready the troops, we're removing the Seven Isles from the map!"
"At once, my Queen," the shadow said and vanished.
* * *
Matthew went to the city gates only to find out that the city was in lockdown due to the situation with the Temple of Time.
"Can you help?" He asked Shadow One.
She said nothing, only looking ahead without any emotion visible on her face.
"If you aren't going to make yourself useful, could you just leave me alone?" He asked, only to be met with the same response.
He sighed. If he had to stay in a city which had an agent of the Immortal Crusade on the city troops, he would rather do it on a safer environment. As for forcing his way out, it would expose his strength too much, he wouldn't do so unless needed.
He turned back without saying anything and went directly to the White Lotus Inn.
"We're finally sleeping in a bed!" Mark whispered excitedly as they approached the place.
"Why did you choose such a bad place, Master?" Sara asked with disgust in her voice.
"First, because this was plan B," Matthew replied. "Second, because I must teach you that there's always more to things than meet the eyes."
"Plan B, Young Master?" Mark asked, interested.
Matthew smiled as they entered the inn. "We left the Royal Capital without extra protection for my own reasons, but there are some safe houses waiting for us on the way to the Three Towers in case we need it."
The moment they entered the inn, every single one of the nine drunkards and the innkeeper looked at them then faked disinterest. That didn't go for long though. Matthew raised his hand high, snapped his fingers three times and said, "Cell activation!"
It was as if he had cast a spell that made magic armors immediately materialize around the bodies of the ten people. One of them pushed a table out of the way and pulled a fake section of the floor to reveal a stairway downwards, a few others locked the door and windows, and then, they all stood at attention in a row in front of Matthew.
"Reporting for duty, First Elder Champion Matthew!" The innkeeper said.
Check Level, Matthew thought.
Level: 7 — Champion Mage
Level: 6 — Notable Mage
...
Level: 6 — Notable Mage
The leader was a Champion, the other nine were all Notable mages.
"What's your name?" Matthew asked the leader, who wore an armor with common metallic color and white gemstones.
"I'm Intelligence Agent Champion Darkfox, sir!" He said, almost yelling.
Matthew nodded. "You're a very professional man. Don't it bother you to take orders from a kid?"
"Yes, sir!" He replied with honesty. "But I was informed of your brilliant mind and I'm willing to give you a chance."
"Oh," Matthew said and smiled. "Aren't you worried that I might be a demon?"
Darkfox smirked. "I'm usually active outside the Valdian Kingdom, sir. I've seen stranger things than a genius kid who thinks like a grown man."
"Did you, now? What kind of things, if I may ask?" The boy asked curiously.
"In the White Forest to the north, every tree can speak while they eat you. Is the entire White Forest filled with demons? On the Endless Desert to the west, the sand itself can take human form and use innate skills to show fake skin. Is a walking, talking, and thinking sand creature necessarily a demon? Dwarven kids are born with the size and knowledge an adult should have. Are all dwarves demons? Sentient herbs and medicine, beasts that can understand human speech from the moment they are born, fire elementals that can win in chess against human masters; this world is filled with things we don't understand, sir, and the Crusade doesn't seem to care about them. There are demons too, but just because something is different, it doesn't mean it's a demon."
With a smile, Matthew turned to Sara. "See? A wise man once said there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy."
And it was in a much more boring world than this, too, he completed in his mind.
Shadow One sneered. "This talk is borderline treason. It's because of people like you, who think like this and don't take the right precautionary measures that demons managed to run rampant in the past."
"Oh, right," Matthew said. "Darkfox, meet Shadow One. She's with the Immortal Crusade, as showcased by the black cross and the 'Immortal Crusade' written on her armor. Shadow One, meet Darkfox."
They stared at each other without saying a word.
"Darkfox," Matthew continued, "I hope you can protect us this night."
"Yes, sir!" The man said.
"Good. Down we go, people. This is a one-use-only safe house, especially now that it has been exposed to the Crusade. We better use it to the maximum. I heard you have mattresses and pillows made of Wind Fairy Wings in here?"
Matthew started going downstairs, closely followed by Darkfox.
"Yes, sir!" The man replied. "A lucky side acquisition from an operation in the Phantom Realm."
"Oh, Phantom Realm?" Matthew said with interest. "That spatial realm controlled by the Dreamers? Tell me everything about it!"
"Everything pertaining to the Phantom Realm is confidential information, sir."
"Not anymore!" Shadow One suddenly said from behind them. "The Valdian Kingdom never received permission to enter the Phantom Realm! Under the authority of the Immortal Crusade, I order you to tell me everything you know about this unlawful invasion!"
Chapter 27 - A Moment of Respite
Chapter 27 - A Moment of Respite
Darkfox shook his head. "You didn't get my meaning, miss. Confidential information means only the Ancestors know about it. If I to have operate in the Phantom Realm, I'm told things about it prior to the job and then I get my memory wiped when I get back. Standard procedure."
"Is that so? Then how do you know where the Wind Fairy Wings are from?" Shadow One asked with suspicions.
The man shrugged. "That's what the Ancestors told me."
The Crusader was about to speak something else when Matthew barged in. "Or it might be just some random material and the Ancestors lied to him. Before you confiscate the pillows, let me remind you that he's an Intelligence Agent, bound to live in the shadows most of his life. He takes these little comforts to heart and he'll fight you to death to protect it. Is it really worth it to fight over a few pillows without the hope of getting any useful data out of it?"
Just as he finished speaking, they finally got to the end of the long staircase, finding themselves in front of a small corridor and a closed metal door. Matthew could barely feel some mana disturbance coming from it, revealing it was an enchanted door.
Darkfox went ahead and touched the door with his hand. It started to slowly open by itself.
Myriad Arts – Spellcasting, Artificing, Formation Mastery – Double Elements: Space, Soul – Seventh Item Analysis!
Matthew wanted to check on the door, to use his space and soul mana to check every millimeter of it in both the material and the soul planes. However, his mana went out of his control when it approached the door and he could find nothing about it.
To be able to nullify his spell, this door had to be at least a Higher Artifact, something considered to be on the level of Eminences.
Check Item, he thought.
Item Check
Name: Arlöin's Door
Grade
: Peak Artifact
Despite its annoyingly non-descriptive name, he found out that the door was even better than he imagined! A Peak Artifact was something highly valued in the family, something that was carefully protected by the Ascenders.
Which made Matthew stop walking.
There was no way such a good item would be in a temporary safehouse like that, especially when the undercover agent in charge was only a Champion. The most likely possibilities were that the door could veil its true grade to pass up as a higher graded item or that the safe house had been compromised, its people replaced, and Matthew was, in fact, walking into a cell created by them.
"You don't need to concern yourself with how fruitful my investigation will be!" The Crusader said and walked to stop in front of them. She pointed her finger to Darkfox. "I gave you a chance to cooperate willfully and you didn't take it. This is your last chance, open your mind to be read by me right here, right now, or I'll take you by force!"
Matthew would normally try to prevent her from doing it since who knows what secrets an Intelligence Agent of the family might hide. But that was actually a very good way of removing his suspicions.
Unless, of course, the woman was in on it and was making a scene to give Matthew a false sense of security after she 'checked' on Darkfox and confirmed he was 'clear.'
He sighed. He hated situations like this. He just wanted to get over with this world, not waste time and effort to figure how likely a simple door was to be a deadly trap. Even if he had to do it, he would rather not have to deal with potential turncoats and the like.
But life wasn't perfect, he couldn't just ignore what was happening in front of him.
Objectively speaking, it didn't matter if the man was an impostor or not, since they would only spend the night in there and likely never see him again. Matthew just had to make sure whether the door, which might or not be a Peak Artifact, was a trap. And the best way to do it was to request the door for himself.
If the man refused to give the door up, Matthew could simply leave. If he did present Matthew the door, it wouldn't matter if he was an impostor or not. After all, if the man was an impostor strong enough to kill Matthew without subterfuge, he would've done it already, so the door had to be part of his ploy.
The only issue was the Crusader. If the man was indeed an impostor who wasn't in it with the Crusader and her actions blew his cover, Matthew wouldn't be able to get the door, as everything related to a man under investigation would belong to the Crusade if something happened to him.
To prevent potential loot from leaving his hands, Matthew ignored her and told Darkfox, "I want this door. Give it to me, then obey the lady."
That order had the extra advantage of making Matthew seem compliant to the Crusade despite how he had treated the woman previously. Confusing one's enemies was usually a good thing to do.
Now things got complicated for real. The man might or not be an impostor, might or not be in it with the Crusader, might or not attack, might or not run for it, and might or not acknowledge Matthew's orders.
The Crusader looked surprised at Matthew, not expecting him to give the man the order to obey. And Matthew mimicked her expression when Darkfox nodded once and the door dematerialized.
Then, he gave a small spatial bag to Matthew and sat on the ground.
"Why the surprise?" He asked with a smug expression. "People like me have no such thing like privacy. Golems might be trusted for this line of work since they can't betray their masters no matter what, but you never know when an agent might become a turncoat. My memory hasn't belonged to me for a long time."
That... Was something very strange for the man to say out of nowhere. Not his lack of privacy, but his bit on golems. It made Matthew wonder if the man was hinting at the Crusader being a golem.
Such a thing was crucial information. Spells, formations, and traps to deal with humans were different from those that dealt with golems. More than that, if she was a golem and he couldn't detect it, it meant that either whoever created her was a very talented Artificer, or that the golem itself was too strong for him and was only pretending to be a mere Eminence!
Even though Matthew was confident that he could glue the clues together of her being a golem by himself in a few days — for instance, she had a high concentration of Earth mana inside her —, now that he was directly considering it, finding out the truth would be easier and faster. More than that, if the Crusader was a golem and attacked before he had even considered that option and a stronger one than he expected at that, he might actually die!
Darkfox might just have saved his life! That was invaluable information and, in the future, Matthew would have to reward him for it.
Unless he's an impostor, Matthew thought and sighed. That was way too tiring.
"Why didn't you obey the first time?" Shadow One asked as she put her hand on Darkfox's head. It seemed her curiosity was big enough that she couldn't help herself from asking that even though she would have the answer in an instant.
"I was told to obey the First Champion," Darkfox explained. "At first, he didn't seem to want me to obey you."
Shadow One closed her eyes and Matthew felt a mana disruption around her. Darkfox's eyes rolled back on his head.
"This is terrible," Helina said in trembling voice.
Matthew looked at her. If her story was true and she was indeed a wronged pious Chosen Prophetess, she was going through a lot of things after being hunted by her own people, then seeing some of them killed, and now witnessing the ruthless of the outside world.
Yet, that hadn't shaken her faith in her Vision, following Matthew even in her state. Blind faith was both a scary and wondrous thing.
"Let's go, this mind-reading may take a while," Matthew said and went through the empty doorframe.
They found themselves in a big common room made of metal walls. Matthew didn't feel comfortable in such a cage-like environment, but at least the walls weren't enchanted, and he could dig his way out of there if needed. Just to be sure, he used his Geoscan spell to check if there weren't any objects, magical or otherwise, hidden behind the walls, ceiling, and floor. He found none.
There were multiple doors in the common room, most of them leading to bedrooms containing two bunk beds. Everything was illuminated by a dim light coming from some crystals on the ceiling.
Matthew chose the room furthest to the entrance of the common room. That was the best position in case they were attacked, as it would provide him with extra time to react.
"This one is mine," he said as he approached it. "We don't know when we'll have the chance to sleep in a safe environment again, so sleep well tonight. Tomorrow, we'll talk about our travel plans since it's obvious that reaching the Three Towers won't be easy." He made sure to say that aloud, so the Crusader would hear it.
He got to the door, stopped, and said: "Oh, and Helina, clean yourself, yes? It's not very hygienic to go around covered in blood." He closed the door as she lowered her head to check on her clothes.
He lay on the bed and set up some wards, which is how alarm spells were called, and recalled all he knew about golems, from their creation to their weaknesses.
* * *
Mark was feeling lost. Everything was just moving too quickly for him.
He felt old and tired, his legs and back hurt after walking all day, and if it wasn't for him having some willpower, he would have fainted from exhaustion already.
The reason for his state was obviously the crippling of his martial foundation but knowing it didn't make things easier for him. In fact, after seeing how the Herald of Change didn't respect the Crusade one bit, he was having mixed feelings.
That was another confirmation of Matthew's identity as the Herald of Change since no one had ever dared to treat the Crusade like that that he knew of, but Mark also didn't understand why he was collecting powerful enemies.
Maybe it was because of the wisdom about obstacles helping with growth, something Mark had never heard of even t
hough he had repeated those words to Sara as if they were a universal truth. He wondered if the Herald wasn't just messing with him.
He couldn't forget that the Herald was a mage, after all.
What if he was in it with the Immortal Crusade, the Temple of Time, and other mage organizations for some nefarious reasons? What if his aim was to hurt the warriors? His Valdian Martial Arts might be just a ruse for something bigger!
Maybe the changes the Herald was about to bring weren't beneficial to the warriors at all.
Mark shook his head. He was thinking too much like a mage. He had kowtowed to the Herald and called him master. Unless the Herald did something that showed he was plotting against the warriors without a doubt, Mark would keep obeying the man.
He got to the nearest bed and slept almost before his head hit the pillow made of Wind Fairy Wings. His last thought was that his head was hitting a paradise of softness.
He dreamed of clouds.
* * *
Sara felt relieved that they would talk the next day. She had many questions for her master.
Every word from him up until now had contained interesting new teachings, from 'following your heart,' to how to identify beasts from their markings in the forest, to how to track people without using spells, to how to fight in a ruthless way, and now, how obstacles helped with growth.
He hadn't been the one to speak about obstacles to her directly, but she knew that her master doted on the warrior for some reason and she had never heard the warriors in the family preaching such things before, even when she did an undercover operation among them.
Matthew's teachings resonated deeply within her. Literally. She was feeling it in her soul.
She had been shackled by her true name for too long, her beliefs and understandings on magic and on the world twisted by all kinds of orders. Now, she felt her soul getting stronger each day.
