SIDE:
Dad’s Intel-Gathering
“THANKS FOR SEEING ME. So is everything ready now?”
“Just about. Thanks for telling us about that temporary storage area. It was a big help.” I thanked the captain and sat down across from him. Something out of the ordinary had happened at the storage area, but the captain already knew quite a lot, so it was okay to tell him about it. I still didn’t understand why Zinal had used contracts with such heavy penalties, but to be honest, they’d helped us out a great deal. It was a contract whose worst penalty was death. I hadn’t known Hataka’s leaders long enough to be completely sure they wouldn’t do anything crazy, but I knew we would be okay. Sora said they were safe, after all, and Sora’s judgment had never been off before.
“I heard some interesting news about what happened in the storage area. Sol sure is a wonder.”
“Yeah, even I was surprised.”
This guy gets his news quickly, doesn’t he? Well, I guess his willingness to talk openly with me probably means that he won’t use the knowledge for any shady business. I looked at the captain sitting before me. He was emaciated from being asleep for two years, but there wasn’t a trace of the frailty he’d displayed when he first woke. In fact, his eyes were fiery and he looked ready for action. It was amazing how much he had changed in just a few days.
“Sorry I’m late.” The guild master entered the room. He was the other person to be part of our little conference today.
“How’d it go?”
“We secured all of them. The summoning circles have also been checked.”
“Okay. Good work.”
“All of them?” That must mean they caught Cholshi. Now we can hit the road without looking over our shoulder every minute.
“Is the house guarded?” the guild master asked.
“Don’t worry, Zephyr’s handling that,” I said. The captain nodded. Zinal and Garitt were taking care of security at the guild master’s house along with Ciel. They’d all been extremely keen when I asked them to watch Ivy while I was gone, so I was sure she’d be safe. The only problem is that I forgot to tell Ciel to take any intruders alive. If somebody breaks in, they’re dead for sure, which isn’t a good thing—we need to find out if they have any accomplices… Oh well, I messed up.
“You know, Druid, you let that savage gleam in your eye shine loud and proud when Ivy’s not around.”
“I don’t feel any need to hide it here,” I answered the guild master. That made him recoil. All I did was tell him the truth, and I went and scared him.
“Well, no matter. So, Appas, what did you learn?”
“I asked around all over. We found that six villages had been used for summoning circle experiments like the ones in Hataka. We’re the only village that survived.”
“When did people find out about this?”
“Within the past two weeks,” the captain answered.
That gave me pause. Within the past two weeks? Did that mean the other villages were being experimented on at the same time? All six of them?
“Did the experiments all start at the same time?”
“No, there was about a year’s difference between them. Also, one of the villages wasn’t discovered for a whole year.”
Not discovered for a whole year… It must have been a tiny, remote village in the middle of the forest that was rarely visited. How horrible.
“Why are the survey teams treating these missions as classified? Is it because there were a lot of casualties in the villages? Or is it because of the summoning circles?”
The guild master looked at the captain. Summoning circles were indeed classified, so it would make perfect sense for the survey teams to keep this investigation secret. But from the look on the captain’s face, I gathered there was a different reason for it being classified.
“You know how the royal family’s dealing with a little problem right now?”
The royal family? I wonder if it’s that rumor I heard…
“Is it about the succession?” I asked.
The guild master’s face twitched as the captain continued his explanation. “It is. There are two survey teams headed to Hataka, each backed by a different person.”
Each team is backed by a different person? Crown succession? Ahhh, in other words, two of the candidates for the crown must have sent their own survey teams.
“Damn it, they dragged their succession crap into this?!” the guild master grumbled, pouring some wine into a cup and gulping it down.
“Appas…Eche’s going to yell at you for real, you know.”
I gave the guild master a questioning look. Eche yelled at the captain every day… Was he saying she didn’t mean it “for real”?
“You were in a coma a week ago. You shouldn’t be drinking that wine,” the guild master rebuked him.
I poured a little into a cup to satisfy my curiosity. My throat instantly burned when I sipped it. “Yeah, this stuff is pretty strong.” It was a very high proof, but it was also delicious. Still, it certainly wasn’t wine the captain should have been drinking in his condition.
“C’mon, don’t be a killjoy.”
The guild master scowled at the captain. “Oh, fine. Just don’t come crying to me when she bites your head off.” With another glare at the captain, the guild master swallowed the rest of the wine in the cup. “Let’s get back on topic.”
The captain sighed loudly. “They predicted that we’d have more support from the nobility once the case was closed in Hataka. Each faction wanted to learn more than their rival, so they quickly sent their respective survey teams here in secret. That’s why we’ve got two survey teams headed our way.”
When the captain finished delivering his news, an indescribable atmosphere filled the room.
“Can’t they see how much destruction summoning circles leave behind?”
Exactly. But still, two survey teams? Once they arrive in Hataka, there’ll be no way for me to move about freely.
“It’s safe to assume the crown and the church are each other’s enemies, right?” the guild master asked.
The captain shook his head.
So it isn’t? Wait a minute, that contradicts something I heard earlier.
“The current monarch and the clergy are enemies—no mistake there. The crown has been chipping quite a bit of power away from the church over the years. But we don’t know how our future monarch will behave. They might have already allied with the church, for all we know.”
So we had a church that didn’t see people as human beings, and we had megalomaniac princes vying for the crown. I could definitely see them forming an alliance.
“By the way, why did the church run experiments on summoning circles? What’s their end game?”
“Yeah, about that… There just isn’t any info out there. Somebody’s suppressing it.”
Suppressing it, eh? The captain’s spy network sounded very large. And from the way he talked, I was sure some of his sources were rather high-ranking officials. If this person could suppress communications between them, they must have held a lot of power.
“Do you know who your suppressor friend is?”
“Not a clue. All I know is, if I’m too sloppy trying to find them, I’m screwed.”
“No kidding.” The guild master took a swig of wine. Just finding out about the survey teams was already an incredible feat. After all, each team was under top-secret orders from a prince who wanted to be king.
“By the way, how many princes are there in line for the crown?” the guild master asked. “Is it just two? Wait, wasn’t it three?”
The captain sighed in frustration, and I tactfully looked away. I don’t know, either. I don’t have ties with any princes who have a chance at the throne, after all.
“There used to be four…but now it’s just three. Only two of them are fighting over it, though.”
So it’s just two. But I’m surprised to hear there were four, and now three…
“Was one of them assassinated?”
“Yeah… The official story is it was illness, but who knows? There were whispers in the capital that it was murder. It happened quite a long time ago.”
The royal family sure is terrifying.
“Can the king be trusted?”
“This king? Yeah. But the two fighting over his throne? Trust is irrelevant with them.”
Taking everything I’d heard about them into account, that was a fair assessment. The current king was battling the clergy, after all.
“So we’ve got the church and summoning circles…and the royal family and the succession problem…”
Each of the problems were far too big for us to fight against alone. Also, was the king truly as trustworthy as the captain said he was? I’d heard different from Zinal. He’d said the king had evidence but wouldn’t pursue it.
“Do you know where the survey teams are right about now?” the guild master asked. I looked up at the captain.
“About five days away from Hataka.”
“Five days? Didn’t you say the same thing yesterday?”
“Well, luckily for us, the two survey teams are stalling each other. Since both teams are top secret, neither of them can make a move while the other is watching. Idiotic, right?”
“Yup, that’s idiotic.”
A scheming glint shone in the two men’s eyes. Something cold tingled down my spine, but since this would give Ivy and me a bigger window for our escape, I was grateful for whatever they were plotting.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login