Chapter 87 - 86 Reunion

Marcus stared blankly at Lieutenant Drevon, not expecting the sudden requirement offer. Marcus thought about it for a few moments but was interrupted before he had the time to fully process what was going on.

"Do you have a block in your ears or something, it was a yes or no question are you going to join me or not."

A bit peeved by the loud and rude Lieutenant Drevon Marcus responded quickly saying, "Thanks for the offer but I have no intention of joining the army, I am just passing through and decided to help those people to the city gates."

Not having expected Marcus to turn her down Drevon looked slightly angry at Marcus' refusal.

"You really do not have much of a choice right now, you look like an adventure to me, and the emergency conscription is in place so any and all adventures iron rank or higher have to join the army ranks until this crisis is over. So, you can either join me or be placed in some random squad as a foot solider, or I suppose I could have you arrested for insubordination."

Drevon looked at Marcus smugly expecting him to realize that her offer was far better than any alternative, until Marcus took out his adventure card and showed it to her.

Seeing the bronze adventure's card in Marcus' hand Drevon was shocked since there was no way someone as strong as Marcus could possibly be such a low rank.

"Give me that and show me your ID, you are not going to be able to fake your way out of this."

Marcus then took out his Irene ID and handed it over, and as Drevon looked at them a vein on her forehead started to visibly throb.

"Do you really think that you can fool me with these, as good as they are they must be forgeries, there is no way that you could have been only level nine a month and a half ago."

Seeing that this woman was not the kind to listen to reason and was used to getting her way Marcus decided to play his final card and hope it was enough to get her off his back.

"While it may be hard to believe I really was only level nine a month and a half ago, and while I have no intention of working under you, I will help out during this crisis. I happen to actually work for royal investigator Wade so I need to go and report back to him, since I am sure he will know what to use my skills for."

Drevon's face contorted into a disgusted expression as soon as she heard Wade's name, remembering all of the unpleasant experiences she had with him.

"Fine if you want to follow that bastard you are more than welcome to, but if I hear that what you just told me is a lie when this crisis is over, I will make sure to make you are punished accordingly."

After giving Drevon one last disdainful look and giving her a quick appraisal, Marcus was surprised to see that she was level thirty-one.

'I guess she is not just filled with hot air, she has the strength to back up her attitude but that does not mean she needed to be that rude to me. Hopefully I will never have to deal with her again.'

His business concluded Marcus headed back towards the stairs and left the top of the wall.

Back on the city streets Marcus noticed the absence of people. Pretty much the only ones moving around were soldiers or city guards and it seemed that everyone else was holed up inside their residences.

'When I came back this really is not what I was expecting to see. Things have really turned for the worst around here, but hopefully it can all be resolved soon. The town is still standing, and I doubt those ants could breach the walls easily especially with how many soldier they have stationed on the walls.'

Marcus not knowing exactly where to find Wade but wanting to speak with him so he could get the full run down of the current situation, headed for the army headquarters building.

Once the army headquarters came into sight Marcus could see the frantic state everyone around it was in. There were soldiers running around with boxes full of supplies, guards handing out powerful weapons like magic storing wands, and even a massive mana cannon being wheeled out of a storehouse.

'It really is all hands-on deck, I wonder how long those ants have been around, and why haven't they been dispatched yet. The kingdom certainly cannot just allow the town to be run over by these ants, surely, they have at least a few people above level forty that could deal with this crisis.'

As he was thinking while approaching the army headquarters, when he was a few feet from the building's entrance one of the soldiers stopped him and said, "What are you doing here, we are in a time of crisis and this is no time for you to be wandering around, head back to your residence or you will be detained."

With an exacerbated look on his face Marcus said, "I am here to see royal investigator Wade, I work for him and just arrived back in River Landing so, I need to report to him."

The soldier's face then turned into a grimace since he had always heard awful rumors about royal investigators and not wanting to get on their bad side told Marcus that there office was on the top floor in the east wing.

Thanking the guard for the directions Marcus entered the building, and quickly found a quite corner where he reverted to his ghost form in order to not get stopped and questioned again.

Floating up through the ceiling Marcus soon came to the top floor which was practically deserted compared to the rest of the base.

Resolidifying Marcus then went around searching the area until he found the office of the royal investigators.

Walking inside Marcus noticed that there was only one man sitting at a desk looking over dozens of reports at a breakneck speed.

The man quickly noticed Marcus and looked up from his reports and said, "What do you need can you not see I am busy, official request are currently suspended so whatever it is you are here to report will have to wait until after this crisis is resolved."

The man then immediately went back to staring at his reports until he realized that Marcus was not leaving.

"Did, you not here me I am busy right now so get out of here unless you want me to forcefully remove you."

Sighing Marcus said, "My name is Irene, and I am looking for Wade, he should be around here somewhere, and as much as I would like to see you try to remove me, I do not want any trouble so could you just tell me where he is."

The man completely enraged stood up from his desk ready to put Marcus in his place until he remembered the name and description of the person Wade had hired to infiltrate Poulsen's manor.

Realizing his mistake, the royal investigator quickly calmed down and said, "Wade is currently in a meeting with the other higher ups, if you wait here for a bit, I am sure he will come back. Though do not expect him to give you much time this crisis is taking all of our attention."

After waiting for around two hours Marcus finally saw Wade coming into the office room along with two other royal investigators.

When Wade noticed Marcus sitting in the room his normally calm and collected face twisted into one of surprise since he was not expecting to see Marcus during this crisis.

Dismissing the other two investigators with him Wade walked over to Marcus and said, "Good to see you Irene I am glad to see that you are doing all right but if this is a curtesy visit, I am afraid I do not have the time right now. When this current crisis is resolved we can catch up with each other."

As Wade started to walk away, he felt a tingle on the back of his neck as the magic item he had the altered him to being appraised went off and he then heard Marcus say, "Level thirty-four, I figured you were at least thirty, but it is good to finally be able to put a number to you strength."

Wade then turned around a completely shocked expression on his face as he realized the implications of Marcus being able to see his level.

Wade quickly used his own appraisal skill and found that Marcus had leveled up incredibly quickly to level twenty-nine.

Letting off a quick hardy laugh Wade then said, "To think you would return at the same level that Ivar was, you have impressed me once again Irene, very well in light of you achievement I can give you a few minutes what did you want from me."