Chapter 52: Heavy Thoughts
"Are you not going to ask me anything?" Alex asked while rushing toward Lightbearers’ base.
Kael shook his head and said while focusing on the road ahead, "It’s just as you said. There are things that you are supposed to know and things that you are not. I’d rather know nothing than know something troublesome."
Alex’s lips curled upward and he pushed further, "Are you not curious?"
Kael chuckled. "I am, but the idiom curiosity killed the cat is famous for a reason."
A chuckle escaped Alex’s lips and the two of them reached their destination.
Upon seeing them, the guards stepped aside and the two directly went down the basement where the captured member of Dark Wolves was.
As they entered, Alex’s gaze fell on Allura and Naria waving her hand toward him with a wide cheerful grin.
Alex and Allura exchanged a nod but stayed silent seeing which Kael mumbled, "You two fought, right?"
"It was just a disagreement over something minor," Alex came clean and clicked his tongue.
Kael heaved a sigh and looked at Naria with a smile.
Naria replied with a nod of her own and Alex walked over to the member of Dark Wolves strapped to the wall.
"I don’t remember asking you to do something like this," he muttered with his hand scanning him from a distance.
The man was already beaten and looked to be at his final step before death.
"I believe it would be easier to obtain answers now," Allura said flatly.
Alex let out a deep breath and woke him up using mana.
"What’s his name?"
"Delsy," Naria answered.
"Wake up Delsy, you’ve got questions to answer," Alex whispered into his ear and the questions began.
Just as Allura had said, Desly answered most of the questions without any resistance, and about half an hour later, the three of them — Alex, Allura, and Kael — returned to Allura’s office.
"Moss had said the same thing. Which means your members can either try to reach E before Antonio returns or we defeat him and his elites before they decide to launch an attack."
Kael nodded sombrely and mumbled, "Reaching E with missions alone is near impossible. All of us need to rest and eat so we can’t just take a lot of them."
Now that Alex thought about it, he hadn’t eaten anything in nearly three days.
Well as a Pseudo Shadow Spirit with Adept Shadow affinity, I don’t really need to eat.
"We first need to know their exact location," Allura said while looking at Nyxare’s map.
"That’s right," Kael commented.
This was the main problem. None of them was Antonio and his elites actually were.
"We don’t really need to do that," Alex added.
The two turned their heads toward him and asked while frowning, "What do you mean?"
Alex stepped closer to the table and pointed at the gates of the two quarters under Dark Wolves.
"Instead of wasting our time finding them, we can have the members of the two groups level up and keep our eyes on these two gates. They can only enter the city from there after all."
Allura’s frown deepened even further and she asked, "What would be the point once they’ve entered the city?"
Alex let out an amused chuckle and looked into her eyes. "When did I say that we’ll allow them to enter?"
Kael struck his palm with his fist as he finally understood Alex’s plan and remarked, "Oh! You are planning to ambush them at the gates."
"Correct or if someone leaves the city to inform Antonio we can just follow them," Alex added.
Allura thought over the plan that he had just suggested.
Due to Antonio’s talent, he could help the Dark Wolves level up much more easily but the same wasn’t true for Allura and Kael.
She looked at Alex and mumbled, "Sir Alex..."
Alex looked at her with an awkward smile and asked, "Yes, Lady Allura?"
She clenched her fists and requested, "Can you help our members level up to E?"
Kael turned his head toward Alex. He also wanted to ask the same but he couldn’t force himself to do so because Alex was already doing a lot for them even though he didn’t need to.
Alex pondered over her request and nodded, "I can help some of your elites but I cannot make any promises. It all depends on their ability."
Allura smiled and said, "You being there to protect them would be enough."
Kael’s eyes shone with greed and he mumbled, "Sir Al—"
"I’ll help both groups," Alex stated and turned his head toward Kael. "So don’t worry, Kael."
Kael let out a forced cough and looked away.
"You two should try to get as much information as you can from the captured members of Dark Wolves..." his eyes shifted to Allura. "But try to do so without resorting to violence."
Allura lowered her head and said, "I apologize if you didn’t like my methods, Sir Alex."
Seeing her do that, Alex tightly clenched his fist and remarked inwardly, Why did I say that to her? It wasn’t like she did it because she wanted to...
He turned away from her and nodded before leaving.
As he descended the stairs, he mumbled, "I am being a hypocrite."
A sigh escaped his lips. He entered his shadow and left the building.
Once Alex left, Allura and Kael compiled a list of elites that were to go with him in the forest to level up as quickly as possible.
At the same time, they exchanged information about Dark Wolves and the Players with talents.
To defeat Dark Wolves what they needed the most wasn’t strength but an information network they could rely on and they had decided to use Players with related talents to build that very network.
While they were doing that, Alex was roaming through the streets of the outer city to clear his mind of the heavy thoughts which had lately become much heavier.
