Chapter 19: A Familiar Back

Gael just finished looking into Jax's report. It mentioned how Vera was able to deduce that the boy might have gone east. Jax emphasized that their top priority was to confirm the boy's route. He also included possible strategies the team would carry out once they located the boy. There was also an update on the situation with the Regis clan members.

But Gael was not worried about them. At least the army already surrounded the whole Regis estate. What he wanted, was an update regarding the boy's whereabouts. After all, Jax's report came in the morning, and it had been almost a day since then. A lot could have happened.

'It really will be troublesome if the boy goes east and enters Starhorn City.' He thought.

Gael took a deep breath and leaned back on his chair. He stood up and turned to the windows, then he looked at the night sky.

The moon was still up and countless stars still lingered in the sky. Farther east, a tint of red was slowly blending into the night sky.

Soon, the sun would rise.

Gael was already thinking of his next steps once the boy did manage to escape the army's search and go east. He did not want to expose the Regis incident to the whole army because it would rouse a lot of questions from those people who coveted his position. He specifically did not want to answer the question of why they want to capture, rather than kill the boy. They would never understand his reasons.

However, Gael needed more high-ranked mages to assist in this operation.

Suddenly a thought came to his mind.

'If I can't use the mages from the army, then I'll just have to use the mercenaries.'

Gael's purpose of issuing a bounty was to have additional help for the boy's capture. However, he knew that the mercenaries would not act impulsively. They were more capable and meticulous than what they let on. Right now, he would not be surprised if some mercenaries were trying to find out the origin of the boy. Even though they would not question their client regarding a job, it would be a lie to say they never tried to find more about their target. After all, the reward was too extravagant for such a young target.

'I have to force them to speed up their search.'

Gael smiled as he thought of just how to motivate the mercenaries further.

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Before sunrise, outside the border of the Regis Estate.

Gage was walking toward the entrance to the estate, where two officers from the Royal Army disguised as Regis members, stood guard with staves on hand.

Last night, when they first scouted the area, the army was still in their uniforms. But Silas deduced that they would eventually disguise themselves as Regis members. He told him not to look at their clothes, but to observe their attitude first to confirm whether they were from the Regis or not.

From what they found from the people at the inn. The Regis clan members were very amiable. They would not attack unless others attacked them first. Even the clan members guarding the entrance to the estate would not act rashly even when someone arrived to look for trouble.

And that was Gage's purpose for coming here. He had to act as if he was looking for trouble.

'Damn that Silas. Why do I have to do such a troublesome thing?' Gage complained in his mind. But in truth, he did not mind doing this. At least it was easier than sneaking inside to look for 'clues'.

When Gage got close to the entrance, the officers moved at once to block him.

"Stop right there, and state your business. If you don't comply you will be detained right away," the man on the right arrogantly told Gage.

The man's tone immediately angered Gage. He did not need to observe further to know these two were not really from the Regis clan.

'Just the stinks coming from their mouths are enough to know they are the army's dogs,' Gage thought in anger.

"Stop me if you dare!" he roared and took his twin axes off his back.

The expression on the officers' faces changed as they pointed their staves at him.

"Unarmed yourself! This is the Regis Estate! You really dare to cause trouble?"

"Stop yapping and come!" Dark red magic arrays appeared and encircled Gage's axes.

Although his twin axes were damaged from his exchange with the cloaked bastard, the sharp ends were intact. That was enough for Gage. He did not need to exert much force to take care of these dogs.

"Insolent thug!" The man on the left shouted. Both of the officers urged their magic into the stave. Green magic arrays appeared and circled the tip of the staves.

Gage glowered, "Who are you calling a thug! Punk!"

Flames erupted on both his axes. He jumped and bashed the axes on both men.

They both blocked the axes using the tip of their staves, but Gage's force was too much for them.

"Argh!" they grunted as both their staves were pushed downward and hit the ground.

The ground also took the brunt of Gage's attack. Cracks formed on the ground and exploded forming a small crater.

The two men were blown away by the force.

From a distance, other patrolling officers, also disguised as Regis clan members heard the commotion and immediately went to investigate.

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While all of this was happening, Silas, who was hiding on a tree branch on one side of the Regis Estate's wall, was waiting for Gage's 'sign'.

"Phew," Silas whistled softly as he heard the noise that he deduced was made by Gage. "I have to applaud him for creating such a marvelous distraction."

More officers disguised as Regis clan members run toward the entrance, from Silas's side. He watched them in silence as they disappeared from the corner.

After confirming that there were no other officers coming this way, Silas jumped down and immediately went to the Regis Estate's wall.

He unsheathed his sword and light blue magic arrays simultaneously appeared and circled its blades. He pointed his sword at the bottom of the wall and blocks of ice appeared from the ground up to the top of the wall.

Using this as stepping stones, Silas stepped on the ice blocks and entered the Regis Estate.

Once he was on the other side, he undid his magic and hid behind some barrels after seeing more officers running toward the entrance.

Silas heard another explosion and smiled faintly.

'He seemed to be enjoying the 'distraction' he's doing,' he thought with a sigh.

After the officers left, Silas looked at the inner part of the estate.

'It seems there are more officers from the army in here. Something really happened, and it doesn't look good.' Silas frowned and stealthily went further inside.

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Back at the forest. In one of the army tents near where the Four-Colored Ruin Array had been.

Vera stirred from her sleep.

'What...?' She opened her eyes and saw a somewhat familiar ceiling inside the tent. As she tried to sit, pain shot from her neck.

"Ugh!" Vera touched her neck and felt a neck brace around it. She also had a bandage wrapped around her head.

Slowly, what happened in the forest came back to her. She sat up and ignored the pain not just in her neck, but all over her body as her blood boil from anger.

"Kyran Regis!" Vera screamed.

A female officer, with short brown hair and dark brown eyes, wearing a green uniform entered with a look of concern.

"Captain Vera!"

Vera looked at the woman and demanded, "Where is he?"

The woman's expression became depressed. She knew who Vera was looking for from the angered expression on her face.

"We're sorry, Captain."

"Argh!" Vera stood up and was about to leave, but the sudden movement made her dizzy and she lost her balance.

"Captain!" the woman rushed forward and supported Vera at once.

"Please Captain, calm yourself. You are injured. If the others did not arrive in time and brought you back here, you might've been..." her voice trailed off. Her eyes moistened after remembering Vera's bloodied face.

Vera looked at the woman's expression and softened a little.

To others, Vera was a strong-willed woman. But she always had a soft spot for her team members.

"Sorry I worried you, Mika."

The woman named Mika shook her head. "You're safe now, that's all that matters."

"How's the search for Captain Dior?" Vera asked, trying to calm herself.

Mika helped Vera back to the bed.

"Lieutenant Gianna hasn't come back yet. But until now, we have no clue as to where he went."

Vera frowned. If by sunrise they still failed to find Dior, they had to consider the worst-case scenario.

"How about the other three from our team?"

Mika's expression became sad, "We were too late."

Vera clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. The action aggravated her injuries, but she did not care. Her emerald green eyes glinted.

'Kyran Regis. The lives you have taken, I've taken full note of it. I will make you pay, ' Vera vowed in her heart.

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The sun had already risen in the sky when Kyran and Nolan arrived at the bustling city of Starhorn.

Tall buildings were seen everywhere. People were rushing about the street entering or queueing up a store.

This city was a haven for all merchants and the likes. After all, the Conclave of the East main office was based here.

It was not Kyran's first time coming to this city. But the first time he went here with his father, they were in an official business of the Regis Clan, so he did not have time to sightsee.

Of course, Kyran was not here to sightsee either. He looked at Nolan and could not help but break into a sweat.

"Are we really going to do it here?" he asked.

"Scaredy-cat," Nolan sneered and looked at him from under his cloak.

Kyran was disguised as Nar.

Seeing his worried expression, Nolan burst out laughing.

"Ahahaha! You look like you wanna shit on your pants!"

Kyran frowned, "Will you lower your voice?"

"Listen, kid," Nolan patted his shoulder. "What's the point of shitting your own pants? We're here to make those people targeting you shit theirs. Relax. You'll be okay."

"Easy for you to say. You won't be doing anything," Kyran grumbled and shrugged off Nolan's hand.

"What do you mean I won't be doing anything? Aren't I going to make sure you don't get caught?"

"While hiding."

"Of course! It's best to make them think you're alone."

Kyran sighed. They passed through a store for tailor-made clothes. The door opened and he immediately avoided the people coming out from the store.

Kyran glared at Nolan. "Just don't make things worse."

"Hm?" A young woman who just went out of the store, with wavy long blonde hair, and olive-green eyes, wearing a simple red dress suddenly turned to look at them.

Of course, Kyran and Nolan ignored the young woman's scrutiny.

"Ah, such a nag. I promise not to deliberately put you in harm's way, happy?" Nolan glared at Kyran.

"What's with the deliberately?"

"Tsk. Don't mind the small things, geez." Nolan said disapprovingly.

The two of them slowly blended in the crowded street.

"Millie? What's wrong?" A woman in her early twenties, with short blonde hair and similar olive-green eyes, wearing a simple light blue dress, stopped and looked at the younger woman.

The young woman named Millie was still looking at the retreating backs of the two people who were just in front of the store when they came out.

She was particularly looking at the younger man's back, her expression was thoughtful. But when she saw his profile she shook her head and looked at her companion.

"It's nothing," Millie replied. "I just thought I saw someone familiar. But it was only his back. It's not him."

"I see. Let's head home first."

Millie nodded with a smile, "Okay."