Chapter 485: Mysterious Customer
Truen spent most of his time in Smargdas roaming around, trying to gather information on the three targets that Zero wanted to visit after the Freya temple was built. So far, Mitchnew and Desert Lily were doing a good job. They found out a lot of things about the three individuals such as where to find them and how to get to them.f(r)eewebn(o)vel.com
Yet, there was one person they were still unable to catch. Their mysterious client was nowhere to be found and it was unusual for them to be missing without a word for so long.
Olaf received Mitchnew's letter and brought the two dragon warriors back to Smargdas to turn in their A-ranked quests ahead of time. Truen was slightly surprised when he saw them after a long time. Both warriors had grown more handsome and felt very 'heroic'. Ladies crowded around them and they couldn't go anywhere without concealing their identity.
Tonight, everyone was gathered in Mitchnew's information guild. Desert Lily decided to pack and leave tomorrow so Truen thought that it might be good for her to at least meet some of the people from Half Moon Village who weren't there before.
"This is Gerald, Claw of the Light Dragon. Beside him with the red hair is Vrald the Fire Dragon's Wrath and this old gentleman is Olaf the Frost Dragon in human form. He's a friend of Bob's, you've met Bob before back in Half Moon Village briefly."
Desert Lily blinked without recollection until Truen explained that the lizard-like pet following Zero around all the time was a baby dragon in disguise as a monster. Olaf couldn't help but laugh at the description Truen used. How the mighty have fallen indeed! The poor Eternal Dragon was now a mere contract summon hatched from an egg Zero picked up on Endow Hill. While it wasn't false, Bob's reputation could no longer be saved in Desert Lily's eyes.
The small group enjoyed quality wine and talked about their adventures, sharing their concerns over the shifting political power in Smargdas when Truen asked if anyone knew what the King of Smargdas was up to.
"From what I heard, he has been very silent and ill. Nobody except his trusted guards and maids was allowed into his room and he didn't appear for morning court sessions for a week now," Mitchnew said.
"King Brice, was it?" Olaf asked. "I'll say that's just an excuse. He's probably moving around outside of the palace like a rat."
Truen raised a brow. "How do you know? You just returned to the city."
Olaf pointed to his nose. "I am a dragon. Do you not think I could identify a simple human King?"
Truen looked lost and Gerald smiled. "King Brice is special. He has the blessing of the church and the Holy Priest who is a follower of Archangel Michael. That blessing has a certain type of scent that is very obvious. We can identify him immediately if he was in the vicinity."
"And you would know how he smells because...?" Desert Lily couldn't help but ask.
Mitchnew laughed and Vrald scowled. "How else? We were made to attend the boring royal party at his summon after some stupid quest. Heroes have to meet the King at least once to get the title officially. The guild master forced us to attend it."
"Don't act like you didn't enjoy it," Gerald rolled his eyes. "What's her name again? Fiona? She was practically throwing herself at you and that dress has to be illegal. You can almost see her entire chest spilling out of it at the ball. I swear that if her father wasn't affiliated with Duke Zurich you would have taken her to bed!"
Olaf sipped his wine calmly as the warriors bickered and Desert Lily gave Mitchnew a questioning look.
"Duke Zurich is the king's uncle and also from the old nobility who supports slavery. He's the one we have the most headache with."
Truen sighed. Indeed. However, Duke Zurich wasn't the only one they were concerned about. Duke Connie who was King Brice's half brother was also a pain to deal with. From investigations on Desert Lily's end, they managed to confirm that he was one of Green Hawk's greatest supporters and possibly one of its founders. He would do anything for profits and had a private army of his own. While he didn't like Duke Zurich, he also didn't like his brother who was the King.
Both sides kept fighting and King Brice was simply powerless to do anything in the courtroom. Neither party cared about the poor citizens of Smargdas and they chose to side with other nations, selling everything from their citizens to their weapons to their allied countries.
Duke Zurich sided with the United Nation of the Uncanny, the Grey Legion to be exact. He sold people in return for powerful magicians to command. On the other hand, Duke Connie allied himself with the Great Forest of Altear, making a deal with the elves who wanted weapons and resources such as magic stones that they couldn't readily get because of their feud with the dwarves. In order to get those resources and fight against the magicians that Duke Zurich owned, Duke Connie started an adventurer's guild that he managed and controlled in Smargdas. Both dukes often tried to sabotage each other behind the scenes and would sometimes approach the people from the underworld like Mitchnew for information or illegal services.
"We cannot afford to offend Duke Connie as much because of our working partnership. However, we don't want to take his side either because what he does goes against our leader's principles. Zero doesn't like to see people getting hurt or killed. He's a peace protector and also a doctor," Mitchnew said and downed the remaining wine.
Truen nodded. This was the main problem. So far, the only one aligned with Zero's philosophy was the powerless King who wanted none of the alliances or profits. King Brice simply wanted to be a good King and protect the interest of his people. The king was only twenty this year and was shoved onto the throne with the crown forced upon his head to become a puppet ever since Duke Zurich assassinated his brother for the position. However, nobody knew what this King truly wanted. Some of his requests were odd and Mitchnew had to decline them because it didn't benefit Half Moon Village.
Needless to say, nobody was expecting for one of Mitchnew's recruited goons to come knocking on the door with an urgent message.
"Lady Death! The mysterious guest came in person. He says he has an urgent request that he has to see you!"
Mitchnew paused and the drinking party halted. With Olaf's help to whisk everything away, the group opened the trapdoor beneath the table and went down to hide in the cellar while Mitchnew received the mysterious guest.
"It's him!" Vrald whispered excitedly and Truen raised his brow.
"Who?"
Gerald frowned. "King Brice."
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