Chapter 281: Dark Truths

Chapter 281: Dark Truths

Chapter 281 - Dark Truths

Kai stilled, the papers filled with names in his hand. He strained his ears and channeled Body Augmentation to make out the sounds moving closer. There were two sets of footsteps, one heavy one light, thumping up the stairs—their words too low to make out through the walls.

Dammit.

His sister stood in front of the left desk with a journal in hand. Unless her intel failed again, one of them must be Herry Rickson, the shady informant and owner of this house. Who was the other one? Hallowed Intuition’s whispers soared despite the wards stifling its prediction.

Even before his skill warned him, facing an unknown foe inside a building engraved with deadly arrays was a bad idea. There was no window in the cluttered study and no way to run without being discovered.

Kai stored the sheets in his ring and dashed toward the door. Splitting his mind in six, he used Mana Engraving to redraw the lines that disabled the trigger. Any amateur enchanter could spot the tampering if they examined the runes. He couldn’t imagine Herry manually disabling the trap each time he entered the study.

He must have installed an automatic switchamong the enchantments.

“We must hide,” he grabbed Kea’s hand.

Whoever was coming probably wouldn't treat kindly two intruders hiding in their hideout. It was also possible he had triggered some warning, and the owners were coming to get them.

No, they're walking too slowly.

There were too many unknowns hanging around this affair. Despite the simple satisfaction of a fight, his instincts were telling him it could end badly. He hadn’t survived the Sanctuary without a healthy dose of caution.

Kea stared at the door without moving. “We can get some answers.”

“There are two of them. And we have no idea how strong the second person is.” Kai whispered as loud as he dared. “C’mon, we’ll get better answers by listening. There is always time to jump out once we know our enemy.”

Steps thudded in the boards outside the study, the time to take cover rapidly running out.

“—about your excuses,” a gruff voice rumbled. “We gave you the chance and resources to handle the problem, and you managed to fuck it up. Now those nuisances will run around spreading more rumors—”

Kea clenched her hand around the knife on her belt. His heart skipped a beat, he was about to take out his sword and wing it when his sister turned toward him with a curt nod.

Thank the spirits.

A silent question in her eyes: where to hide?

Piles of papers and journals cluttered the desks, closets and floor. Scanning the space, Kai headed toward a cabinet filled with yellowed volumes that had been pushed against a shelf, leaving a dusty gap behind. It had been also filled with notebooks, scrolls and empty ink bottles.

There was no time to clear the space. Kai pulled out a pile of papers, counting on the general chaos to hide their passage. He swiped his hand forward to store everything else in his spatial ring. Crouching beneath a shelf, he squeezed into the cranny and covered his mouth to muffle his coughs from the dust. His body had remained more wiry than bulky from his stay in the Sanctuary.

Kea watched him, stunned—she was the only person in his family who had yet to learn about the ring. With his only free limb, Kai pulled her inside as the door swung open, rustling the loose sheets of paper. They huddled in a tangle of limbs, cloaked by a veil of Shadow and Kea’s camouflage skill.

“—not necessarily bad,” an oily voice whined. “Mind the wire on the door. No one will believe a bunch of mongrel thrillseekers.”

From how Kea tensed beside him, Kai guessed that must be Herry.

“The consequences are irrelevant. You’ve failed us,” the deeper tone scoffed.

“It’s just a little hitch. How was I supposed to know another group of adventurers would come looking for them? It was your wards that failed!” Herry’s tone contained a sudden edge.

“I'm tired of your excuses, the wards worked perfectly. There isn’t any seeker who can break them in this town. You must have ruined the engraving when you set them up.”

It was really them... What’s going on in this town?

Kea gritted her teeth beside him. Stuck in the dark cranny and unable to turn toward her, Kai twisted his arm to hold her hand, praying she wouldn’t reveal their place. He was also angry at people sulking about how they failed to kill them, but he was more pressed to unravel the wider plot.

Are they kidnapping people? What are they doing with them?

From what he grasped from the conversation, these people had access to a considerable amount of power. Anyone capable of inscribing the inky runes buried in the tower probably had the means to directly kill his sister’s team. They only failed because they wanted to make it seem like an accident in the mist.

“Oh, please!” Herry’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “Your group would have been caught years ago without my help.”

“Pha!” The gruff laugh was followed by the low thud of a fist meeting flesh. A body crashed among the papers with a groan. “Don’t overestimate your value. You’re a drop in the river, puny and replaceable. Just like this moldy town. You have no idea of what’s at play.”

“You! You can’t treat me like this!” Herry’s indignation quickly crumbled into a sob with the shuffle of paper and steps. “Wait! I’m sorry. I must have made a mistake. It won’t happen again!”

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Yeah, sure.

Kai remembered the stories of adventures disappearing without a word he had heard in Varsea. The chances Mr. Weasel would forget about the whole affair were near nil. He was worrying Kea would kill the man when he refused to answer.

She pushed the blade closer, drawing a thin line on his neck. But despite the burning emotions lacing her voice, the hand holding the knife was steady. “You think I won’t do it?”

As a few droplets of blood flowed down his chest, Herry went two shades paler, limbs falling limp. “You— you don’t understand. I’ll take a slit throat to what they’ll do to me if I talk.”

“They who?” Kai asked, standing behind the man to not show his face.

Herry tried turning to see, but Kea held him in place. “I don’t even know myself. But they’re dangerous. More than you fools can comprehend. They have connections and eyes everywhere. You can’t esca—”

“Your friends aren’t here. I am,” Kea hissed. “If you tell us what we want to know, you still have a chance to run. I know you’ve already made plans for it. Or would you rather die here?”

“I—” Herry gulped, a bead of sweat running down his temple. “You’ll get us both killed.”

“Let me worry about that. Where is Caeden? Where have you taken him?”

“Only the Moons know. The boy was the smartest of your lot. He kept putting his nose where it didn’t belong just like you,” Herry sneered. “If you're lucky, he’s dead.”

The hand holding the knife started shaking, her voice cracking. “You’re lying!”

“I— I have n— no idea what they did to him. I swear! My job is just to provide the names of people who won’t be missed. I’m an information broker, they don’t tell me anything else and I don’t ask questions.”

Isn’t that convenient...

His nails dug into his palm, Kai had the sudden impulse to stab the lowlife himself. “How many?” he growled. “How many people have you sent to their death?”

“I don’t remember,” Herry said with a shrug. “A few dozen perhaps. I told them it was too many for a year, but no one listened to me. They would have died anyway. And I also need to eat. It’s nothing personal.”

A few dozen... You signed off their death and it isn’t personal?

That was way more than was reported by the Hall of Seekers and Valela.

Kea didn’t appear to be listening, blinking rapidly to clear her eyes, gaze lost. “He’s dead...”

Taking advantage of her slack grip, Herry pulled his hands around the knife and headbutted her nose. Free of her grip, the man dashed toward the door, far quicker than his pudgy body suggested.

Where do you think you’re going?

He was about to cast a spell to stop him when the informant slipped onto a loose sheet of paper. His body went tumbling against the entrance. The scene looked comical right till he snapped the wire stretched on the threshold.

A metallic clink echoed in the study.

Shit!

Hallowed Intuition spiked past the monotonous buzz. Kai didn’t wait to see what kind of trap was set in motion. Burning with mana, he lifted Kea and ran toward the opposite wall of the room. A sheet of ice coated his back when the flames roared, multiplying their momentum.

Without time to cast another spell, Kai channeled all his Water mana into the shield, twisting to take the impact on his shoulder and protect his sister. The rotten boards of the house gave way before his bones, they soared across the street, pushed by the blooming explosion.

A thin sheet of ice just formed around them when they smashed into a nearby building. The crash forced the air out of his lungs. Gritting his teeth, he held onto Kea and reinforced the shield as he plummeted toward the ground.

The mud softened the fall. Behind them, the house was devoured by a sea of flames.

He suppressed a grimace, holding his ribs. “Are you okay?”

Kea watched the fire, dazed. Silent tears flowed down her chin. “Yes... I’m... I’m fine.”

The lie wouldn’t have convinced a child. Kai wished he could console her, but alarmed voices were already drawing closer. With all they had discovered, being found anywhere near this place could be a death sentence.

“Can you move? We can’t stay here.” He wove a veil of Shadow around them.

His sister mutely nodded.

Hanging onto each other, they limped away.