With all of the evidence he could obtained about Permafrost's illegal activity as well as their members, Marcus made his way to the royal investigator's headquarters.
He had already made plans with Wade to deliver all of this evidence and have the kingdom take action to destroy Permafrost.
Walking up to the large, isolated building that was just outside the bounds of the royal castle, Marcus could see that there was incredibly diligent security and four high level knights along with a serious of guards were standing out front.
"Halt what business do you have at the royal investigators office." The lead knight said.
Stopping Marcus responded as Wade had told him to do and said, "I am Baronetess Irene Geist and I have come to pay my friend royal investigator Wade Ophiria a visit."
Marcus then took out and emblem that wade had given him and handed it towards the lead knight.
Taking the emblem after examining it and confirming its authenticity the knight said, "You are free to go in but make sure not to wander around or you will be arrested for trespassing. Sir Hayes take two of the guards and escort Lady Geist here to royal investigator Ophiria."
Responding to his commander's orders Sir Hayes who was one of the knights on duty selected two of the guards to help him escort Marcus before saying, "Follow me Lady Geist and do not leave my side."
Following behind Sir Hayes while two guards flanked him, Marcus wondered why a knight was escorting him.
Of course, he was right to think this was odd, but the lead knight had used his appraisal skill and seen that Marcus was level thirty-five so just to make sure he had a knight go with him.
Normally this would be considered excessive and maybe even an insult to some nobles but, these knights had been informed that a massive roundup of criminals was about to go underway, and they had to make sure that a hidden operative did not slip in.
As he was being escorted to Wade's office, Marcus could see a number of people frantically moving around within the building obviously getting ready for something big.
Naturally this made Marcus happy since it meant that wade had been able to get the royal investigators and the kingdom to take action with the evidence he had provided already.
Stopping in front a large door Marcus could see that a name plaque was next it saying Wade Ophiria.
Knocking on the door Sir Hayes said, "Sorry to interrupt you Investigator Ophiria but a quest has arrived to see you. She says she is your friend a Lady Irene Geist and she is baring your emblem."
Waiting for just a moment, the door slid open, and, in the doorway, Marcus could see Wade but further inside there were three other people who were radiating a powerful aura.
Two of them Marcus recognized, with one being the knight commander of the kingdom, and the other being Grand Archmage Aria.
However, Marcus did not recognize the other person who looked like a fairly young rabbit beast woman, but she was wearing the blue uniform of a royal investigator but hers was adorned with multiple badges and awards denoting her high rank.
"Irene you are finally here. Please come in we have a lot to talk about." Wade said with a look of relief on his face.
Walking into the room Marcus gave respectful bow to the three important people in the room and said, "It is good to see you again Grand Archmage Aria, and it is a pleasure to meet you for the first time Knight Commander Darius and investigator Ophiria's superior. I am Baronetess Irene Geist."
Waiting for the three important figures of the kingdom to respond Marcus kept bowing until he heard Knight Commander Darius say, "Ah I remember now. Erastalven told me about you. You were the one that kept River Landing from being invaded until I gallantly jumped in and saved everyone. I think that you were being called the darkligth princess or something."
Hearing his cringeworthy nickname again for the first time in a while Marcus' smile twitched a bit since he was really hoping that he would never be called that again.
"Darius if I remember correctly, I am the one who stopped the ice ants from invading the city while you were lagging behind, and the only thing you did was to steal the final blow from my apprentices." Aria said in a jabbing manner at the knight commander.
But before the two could start bickering with each other the leader of the royal investigators clapped her hands and said, "I believe that you two will have plenty of time to picker later. Right now, we have pressing matters to deal with and if we do a sloppy job, we could leave the kingdom in shambles."
After getting the two old rivals to stop arguing with each other the leader of the royal investigators stood up and introduced herself to Marcus.
"It is a pleasure to meet you lady Geist. My name is Alexandra Olympia, and I am the Head Royal investigator and as you have surmised Wade's boss. Now I have heard good things about you from Wade and he says you are the one who has recently obtained the documents that he gave me detailing a number of Permafrost's illicit activities. He also told me that you were going to be bringing more." Alexandra asked in an inquisitive manner.
Nodding his head Marcus pulled out a handful of documents, that were ledgers for the activities that Permafrost was doing.
Handing it over to her Alexandra quickly looked over the documents and said, "I see this is indeed helpful but not as substantial as Wade had made it out to be. However, we should still be able to cripple them with what you have provided."
Yet as Alexandra was looking a bit despondent Marcus said, "Sorry that was just one of the items that I was able to obtain. I have too many to put into your hands, so I just gave you one of the broader documents. If I could use the desk, I can place everything else there."
Surprised to hear that Marcus had so much evidence that he could not take it out all at once Alexandra stepped aside and allowed him access to Wade's desk, which was currently mostly clear.
That was until Marcus started dropping stacks upon stacks of paper on it which consisted of ledgers and correspondence from members of Permafrost.
However, the best evidence he had found was actually a few crystals that were able to record sound and images like a camera, that some of the highest-ranking members had used in order to act as an insurance policy in case they were ever betrayed.
Letting out a loud whistle Alexandra was impressed by everything Marcus had collected.
"I am impressed you accomplished more in one night than we normally get done in a year. With all of this there is no doubt we will be able to bury Permafrost, and anyone associated with it. I know Wade told me you already refused to become a royal investigator, but with your abilities I cannot help but ask you personally. I am even willing to give you the position as my lieutenant." Alexandra said with almost starry eyes.
But before she could continue trying to push her pitch Aria spoke up and said, "Irene here has already said that she would come and join me at the Guldur Spire and learn magic once she got tired of tinkering with Thabon."
Looking at her with a bit of surprise Alexandra said, "Oh I see so you have already taken a liking to her. That must mean she is not only talented at stealth and investigation but magic as well. However, that just makes me want to recruit her even more."
Now Alexandra was looking at him like a piece of prime meat and Marcus was wondering what this head royal investigator might be planning when Knight Commander Darius spoke up as well.
"If we are all throwing out pitches I would not mind having someone of your talents as a part of my squad of knights. I heard about your bravery when facing the ice ants and how you jumped off the wall to defend River Landing. Anyone willing to do that is always welcome in my ranks"
As the three leaders of their respective departments in the kingdom fought over him, Marcus let out a loud sigh to get their attention and said, "Again I have no intention of joining anyone of you right now. I have worked hard to hone my skills as a forgemaster and am not going to give up now that I am just finally scratching the surface."
With Marcus' vehement refusal to everyone's recruitment efforts, Wade who had been quite up until now took this momentary silence to steer things back in the right direction.
"Head investigator Alexandra, I believe that now is not the time to be fighting over where Lady Irene's talents would be best used but for us to get to work. We have much to get done if we are to land a decisive blow against Permafrost."
Coming back to her senses, Alexandra nodded her head and said, "Yes you are right. I will go and gather up as many other investigators as you can to help sort through all of this information while I work with Aria, and Darius to put together our forces."
After saying that Alexandra led the other two leaders back to her office where they would combine the forces under their command to swiftly arrest the members of Permafrost and their collaborators.
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