Episode 50.8

"Now then, as the Insurgent Army had managed to occupy the palace and secured the townlord, they relaxed their guard. Geitglein-sama, family head of the Southern Tower assumed position as the deputy townlord and resumed the palace operation like it was business as usual. They're still besieging the Northern Tower as we speak but since the tower is situated in the northernmost edge of Yufu, people don't tend to go there. The townspeople have no idea that the Peacekeeping Knights have it surrounded."

"Hmph. So this Southern Tower head or something took the deputy position, not Viscount Waido."

"Yes. This deputy townlord was the one who met with the Royal Envoy as well."

"I see."

"Both the commander of Peacekeeping Knights, Zakwald Kirin-sama and his lord, Viscount Dantesta Waido move under Geitglein-sama's orders. My source suspected that the ringleader of all this upheavals was none other than Geitglein-sama."

"Yeah, sounds about right."

"Affairs such as this usually go much messier though. There's just something odd about all this. One other thing being unusual is the temple."

"By temple you mean this one here. In the mountain."

To the north of Walled City Yufonia is lake Guen, with Mount Ron further north. Up Mount Ron then to the east is the temple and to the west is Shadrest Mausoleum.

"Yes. The temple head is an individual that holds a huge influence over the entire Yufu, apparently he's also the type that wouldn't have overlooked and ignored such incidents normally. Yet he's not making any move. As it appears, a group of priests have put the temple head under house arrest."

"Hou."

"And thus, two months passed. They started losing patience at their unsuccessful attempts at capturing the Northern Tower, to the point that some are now entertaining the idea of shooting a ritual magic at it."

"Hm. Wasn't that a bad idea?"

"However, if by any chance the Dungeon Knights came back, the insurrection would come to an abrupt end. Dungeon Knights usually come back at the end of month four or the beginning of month five, but there have been times when they returned quicker than usual."

"I see. The Insurgent Army is getting flustered huh. But Ashidgrein and Rubianafale might die if they went ahead with that."

"Insurgent Army have secured the lord's palace. Surely there are God Cures in there. They likely believe that they should manage so long as she survived the hit."

"But doing that would erase any chance of amending their relationship with the Townlord House. Even if we assume the worst case scenario of having the townlord and this Ashidgrein killed, they still gotta make sure <Maiden of Solace> stay on their side."

"My source predicted that they intend to take Ashidgrein-sama hostage and make <Maiden of Solace>-sama do as they say."

"Hmm? Well fine. At any rate, we know now what's going on. Well done, Chubby."

"It's Gwislan."

Lecan took one big gold coin from <Storage>.

"For that trove of intel you collected in just one day. Here's the reward."

Chubby bowed and accepted the coin with both his hands.

"Even if they stocked up on food, two months must have used it up. They're probably down to some grains and root crops now. We gotta deliver fresh food at once. Eda."

"Un."

Eda took several <Boxes> out of her <Free Box>. The same <Boxes> they filled with food they bought this day.

Lecan put them all in his <Storage>.

"Alright. I'm off to Northern Tower."

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"Shall I come along with you?"

"No. Stay with Eda. Avoid engaging in battle at all cost. Weasel your way out with sweet talk."

"I gotcha."

"Well then."

Lecan opened the window, cast <Concealment> on himself and jumped into the nightown.

He was headed to the eastern rampart. There's a road leading to District Makana and District Holt at the end of the western rampart, while there's nothing at the end of the eastern rampart.

Once he arrived at the eastern rampart, Lecan ran toward the north on top of the rampart wall. There's a steep cliff to his right. A strong gust blew from the bottom up. But the top of the rampart wall is quite spacious, he could gain respectable speed even while being careful to keep the noise down.

At the northern end of the rampart is a forest. There is no rampart to the north of Yufonia.

This forest is connected to the Northern Tower which is located at the north end of the lord palace.

Lecan went in the forest and kept going north for a while before turning west.

He came out of the forest.

And came across a flowing river.

A straight river. It's about 15 to 20 step wide. There are spacious promenades on both sides of the river.

This river is called <Blessing of Coll>. It's a 3000 step long man-made river that carries water from the Holy Lake Guen sometimes as a rapid current, sometimes slowly.

It's made of stone with bridges connecting both sides built here and there. The bridges have soil on top with flowers and grass growing. Seen from afar, <Blessing of Coll> looks like it's flowing while occasionally hiding underground.

Even someone with little appreciation to culture and history like Lecan couldn't help but be in awe of Holy Yufu Kingdom's ingenuity when he saw this.

He recast <Concealment> before heading straight to the north on the promenade.

Although it's not as well lit up as the capital, Yufonia shone bright at night with the lights coming out of people's houses. He went straight to the center.

(There it is.)

(That's the Northern Tower huh.)

The Northern Tower stood tall in the darkness of the night.

It's surrounded by campfires all over its circumference. There are also magic tools placed sparsely.

Then there's the watch guards all around the tower. They must be Peacekeeping Knights and the squires. There's a bit more people at what seems to be the entrance.

The lower half of the tower is covered by mana. It must be the magic barrier. As these knights can't get past it, the barrier should be a physical type.

(Jiza's eyes would pop open if she saw this.)

According to Life Detection, there's around 20 people inside the tower.

Two of which are mana bearers. Meaning one of the them must be Rubianafale.

Is it the one with the abundant mana. But could this bearer of such an overwhelming amount of mana really be that Rubianafale.

Lecan quietly walked on <Blessing of Coll>'s promenade while being careful as to not raise a sound.