Chapter 37: Something's Off

Hugh immediately ordered to gather all available mercenaries and the Mercenary Hall Security Unit, in the basement.

Because Callan told Celine to round up the mercenaries who were present during Kyran's visit in order to manipulate their memories, it did not take long to gather everyone.

The basement had an array created by the Blacksmith Order's first Chairman upon the request of the Founder. This array was directly connected to a similar array near a location in the outskirts of the Tower of Conclave. The location had a strong concealment spell so it would be hard for others to see it. Because it was such a grand array, it needed to consume a lot of high-grade spirit stones.

But the consumption of spirit stones was less of their worry. This was actually the first time that someone dared to attack the Tower of Conclave. Unfortunately, they only received a distress signal from the private channel they had with the Conclave headquarters. The details of the attack and the attackers were incomplete.

Upon checking, they found out that the channel was damaged before the details were sent successfully. They could think of three reasons why it happened.

First, the channel was interrupted by a powerful magic fluctuation during transmission, thus damaging the content of the message. Second, the communication and transfer arrays that were part of the whole defensive array of the tower were damaged from a powerful attack. And third, the person who sent the message was killed before the message was completely sent.

No matter which of these reasons were correct, it meant that the attackers were prepared enough to target any call for reinforcements. Aside from this, in Starhorn, the Tower of Conclave had the most complex and powerful defensive array. To be able to infiltrate it or even damage it, meant that there was at least a Magus level from the attacker's side that could either break an array or damage it.

However, this was what most of them assumed. But Hugh and Callan had a bad premonition. After all, how many Magus levels were there in the whole empire? And how many of those would dare to attack the Tower of Conclave? Besides, the attack at the Tower started less than an hour ago, and even a Magus level would not be able to break or damage the array in such a short time.

Except for one. Him. The person who destroyed the Mercenary Hall's defensive array after just damaging a part of it.

'Is it him? But why? Why attack the Tower?' Hugh thought worriedly.

Callan was equally worried. What happened to Celine and Dante? Did they encounter something on their way and failed to meet him? But why would he directly attack the Tower of Conclave? Apart from that, why did Celine not use the private channel to report immediately?

'Don't tell me they...' Callan dared not entertain the thought. He clearly told Celine to emphasize their stance and that they were willing to help him. Was he not satisfied?

The Mercenary Hall gathered a total of 48 mercenaries and 30 from the Security Unit. As much as Hugh wanted to bring more of their Security Unit soldiers, because the Mercenary Hall's defensive array was damaged, he could only bring this much.

"Let's go," Hugh announced the moment everyone got inside the big transportation array.

He waved his hand and 50 high-grade spirit stones flew out of his space storage bracelet. Immediately, these stones hovered on top of 50 small arrays drawn outside the outer part of the big array.

The spirit stones glowed deep red and the small arrays sucked its energy. Soon the whole array glowed in bluish gold. About twenty meters above their heads, a golden halo started to form. It increased in size and formed a half globe enclosing everyone inside.

After a couple of minutes, the whole array burst with a blinding light, and everyone inside felt a sudden jolt.

Another few minutes passed, before the golden veil around them slowly dispersed starting from above and slowly revealed an almost dark sky. Soon they found themselves in a lush forest and ahead of them, they saw a huge transparent barrier with a bluish gold hue.

They immediately knew that this barrier was the Tower of Conclave's defensive array.

But they were all shocked because the barrier had a huge hole at the position where the main entrance was located. From that hole, everyone could see fissures crackling. They could also vaguely see that the Tower's barrier was crumbling from the edge of the hole.

"S-Such a huge hole..." Hugh gasped.

The mercenaries who saw this shivered. The damage on the Tower's barrier was very similar to the Mercenary Hall's defensive array. They remembered the cloaked man Dante fought earlier and fear crept into their hearts.

Callan manipulated their memories to forget Kyran's identity and his last words. But most of what happened in the stadium remained.

"Captain Millard, take two squads and come with me. Captain Tessa, you keep the remaining two squads and go with President Callan, head to the other transportation arrays and see if the other forces from the Alchemist Association, Blacksmith Order, and Chamber of Commerce had arrived."

The two captains in a black uniform with a golden band on their left sleeve saluted, "Yes, Chairman."

The 30 members from the Security Unit immediately separated themselves into their respective squads.

Hugh looked at Callan, "If they arrived, let me know at once. I'll check the situation inside first and then we'll reconvene."

"Yes, Chairman."

"All mercenaries separate into three groups," Hugh said and looked at the mercenaries. "One group will go to the main entrance and make sure no one leaves the premises. The other groups will similarly go to the other two entrances at the northwest and northeast and do the same.

"Leave it to us!"

The mercenaries grouped themselves.

Hugh looked at Millard, "Let's go."

"Yes!" he and his squad nodded.

They left and immediately went to the main entrance. A group of mercenaries who would stay at the main entrance also followed close by.

However, as soon as they neared the entrance, they all stopped in their tracks. Their faces paled as they saw a huge crater where the main entrance was supposed to be.

Now everyone had a vague understanding of how the barrier got that hole. It seemed a huge sphere of magic, approximately 50 meters in radius, was the reason why the barrier had such a huge hole.

When the mercenaries saw this, one was too frightened he fell on his knees trembling.

"I-It's him! The m-man who attacked the Mercenary Hall this morning!" He exclaimed.

Hugh's eyes narrowed his magic suddenly surged. No matter what his reasons were, he should never have attacked the Tower of Conclave.

"Let's go!"

"Yes, Chairman."

Together with the Security Unit, Hugh went in.

=========================

The central part of the Tower of Conclave, at the large moat leading to the main tower's entrance.

Soldiers were lying everywhere. Whether they were dead or only unconscious was unknown.

Standing in the middle of the gates, was none other than Kyran. The purple dragon scales rotated within a two-meter radius around him. At this point in time, however, there were no longer soldiers or mages around to attack him.

Inside his dragon scales, a black mist followed him from behind.

[Kid. You are crazy, and this... Hahahaha! Brilliantly crazy!]

"Are you really just going to watch and let me do everything?" He asked Nolan, who was hiding within the black mist.

Unfortunately, Nolan could not use his hide ability inside Kyran's magic. He could only hide using his black mist.

[Why not? This is your idea.]

Kyran frowned slightly, "My idea? Why do I remember differently?"

[Details. Details. Why do you always dwell on the small details?]

Kyran sighed in reply, before cautiously looking at the opened doors of the main tower. He could not help but feel this supposed infiltration was too easy.

"Don't you think it's too easy?"

'F*ck. He thinks this is 'too' easy?' Nolan cursed. However, he did feel the resistance of the Conclave soldiers and mages was lacking. As if the moment Kyran destroyed the defensive array, although they tried to stop his advances to the main tower, they decided to accept their fate and let him beat them up.

Were they disheartened at how easily Kyran destroyed the defensive array?

Impossible. These people were all professionals. Their allegiance to the Conclave was also absolute. They would not give up just because they found Kyran's presence to be... frightening.

Yeah. Frightening. That was also how Nolan felt, back at the abandoned warehouse. He still remembered Kyran's sudden change that he almost felt like he was back at the ruins where they found their memento rings.

No, that's not exactly correct. He had just met Kyran. Whether his change was sudden or not, Nolan was not sure. For all he knew, Kyran could only be hiding his real self, and after his reverse scale was triggered, it appeared.

Right now, Kyran's mood somewhat returned to normal, however, Nolan vaguely sensed that his frightening side hadn't been completely pacified.

'That's right. If that old hag failed to give a piece of satisfying information to this kid, our destination might be different.' Nolan thought as the interaction between Kyran and Celine at the abandoned warehouse flashed through his mind...

Three hours ago...

Outskirts of Starhorn, at an abandoned warehouse.

Celine sank to her knees as her complexion paled, "N-No..."

"No? You don't think the Mercenary Hall would make a move?" Kyran scowled. "Then there's no point keeping you alive either."

"W-Wait! Please believe me that we really want to help you. The Mercenary Hall had always been on good terms with the Regis Clan. I can't give you the full details though. A-And, it's true, w-we failed to really understand your... your intentions. But give me a chance." Celine begged.

Kyran tilted his head and looked at her emotionlessly. Right now, a big part of him just wanted to kill her. But a small part hesitated.

It was not out of pity. It was because he felt he was missing something.

[Kid. Let her talk. Something's a little off about her statement.]

Nolan tried to persuade Kyran as well. While he did not mind Kyran killing off the old hag. He felt there was something more to her insistence to be heard. Apart from that, her 'I can't give you the full details' statement, sounded to Nolan as 'Ask anything, I'll answer it as long as I am not spilling too much information.'

Kyran's eyes narrowed at Nolan's words. For a few minutes, he remained silent as he contemplated how he should proceed.

He repeated Celine's words before finally asking, "What do you mean you can't give me the full details. Full details on why the Mercenary Hall and my clan are on good terms?"

Celine swallowed to moisten her dry throat and answered with a shake of her head, "On the business deals the Mercenary Hall have with your family."

"I'm not really interested," Kyran immediately said with a flat voice.

"That may be so, but... it involves you."

"Me?"

Celine nodded, "Yes."

She saw Kyran's expression changed slightly. But because he remained silent, she was not sure how to proceed.

When Celine made the Soul-binding oath, she knew she could not disclose the information President Callan told her. However, she could still give small hints. And that was what she was betting on at the moment.

What Celine did not expect was Kyran's quick thought process. The moment she told him the details were about the business deals the Regis had with the Mercenary Hall, he already had an idea. Now that she confirmed it was about him. His idea became more apparent.

"Why can't you just tell me?" he asked.

Celine already knew how she would answer. "I can't. I made a soul-binding oath."

[Oh, shit. No wonder she's persistent. If she said a wrong thing then... tsktsk. She had a big secret with her.]

Kyran frowned and looked to his side where he believed Nolan was hiding, "Soul-binding oath?"

Celine blinked. Somehow, she felt his question was not directed to her.

"Yes."

Kyran turned to her when Nolan did not answer him. "What's a soul-binding oath?"

"It's an oath you make with someone. The reason could be anything, but once you made an oath, you can't break it. Else your soul will be destroyed."

"How will I know that you really made an oath?"

"Through this. My oath to Callan from the Moretti Clan stands firm," Celine said and her forehead immediately glowed and a red rune appeared.

[She's telling the truth. That is the rune seal of the soul-binding oath.]

"So she had a seal. That does not prove the details of the oath she made."

Celine's eyes grew wide, "T-That's!"

[Callan is the name of the Mercenary Hall's President. The seal will only appear if you say the name of the person you are bound to. Apart from that, look closely at the rune, the circle at the middle shows how long the oath had been made.]

Kyran looked at the middle circle of the seal and scowled, "How would I know. It is written in ancient runes. I don't read runes."

"W-What do you mean?" Celine asked in confusion.

"Shut up," Kyran told her.

[Idiot. Don't read it like how you normally read letters, use your magic sense to–argh! Why are you so clueless on all the basic stuff!]

Kyran's frown deepened.

When Celine saw this, she almost felt her heart stop from fear.

"Just tell me what it says!"

"I really can't–!" Celine started.

"I told you to shut up," Kyran glared at Celine.

[Ahahaha!]

Celine immediately closed her mouth.

[Ah kid. Seriously. You crack me up.]

"You say that one more time, and I'll really crack you up."

Celine started to shake her head.

And Nolan burst out laughing again, but he said.

[The seal is new. She probably made the oath when she spoke to the President today.]

"You just made the oath today?"

Celine nodded at once.

"So you can't tell me the details, but you still brought it up. Then what can you tell me?"

"Aren't you wondering 'how' the Mercenary Hall kept its business deals with your clan under wraps?" Celine answered with a question. She also put an emphasis on when she said the word how.

What was she on about? Obviously, they would keep it under wraps if it was about his 'magic'.

"You already said the deal has something to do with–," Kyran suddenly stopped.

Wait. She clearly asked 'how', not 'why'.

Nolan's brow creased. He was beginning to understand what that off feeling he had was all about. He looked at Kyran who was deep in thought.

"How?" Kyran finally asked after a long pause.

Celine sighed in relief. Finally, she would be able to divert his attention.

"Because someone high up, wanted to make sure it is kept that way."