Chapter 658 ‘X’ would Mark the Spot

Chapter 658 ‘X’ would Mark the Spot

?[The Count Bourne greets Your Imperial Maj-]

"Skip it."

Kieran wasted no time skipping all the formalities from the beginning after hearing Isaac's words, quickly fast-forwarding to the part where the real message began.

[I trust you're all aware of the Dungeon Break Incident in Lacertilia which occurred on the Fifth of May; an incident perpetrated by a certain Organization which I have clashed with repeatedly in Osto, Hobha, and Cheverton, GWE.

An organization I'm sure that some of you who are present when this message is played would be quite familiar with by now.

They were responsible for the Incident in Lacertilia, with one of their Executives making a public appearance towards the end, in an attempt to eliminate two of this generation's Heroes, Myself, and the Prince of the Beast Kingdom, David Thancreed.]

Evan's projected image showed him seated on a simple chair, with his hands placed on the desk in front of him as he spoke with a clear voice, his usual playful demeanour nowhere to be seen.

[I claim they are responsible for various reasons. What you have seen in the papers, heard on the radios, and received through your secret forces was not the full story.

Some parts were purposely left out; like the part where my party and I, encountered a second Executive of this Organisation in the Boss Room of the 'Lair of the Lizard Lord'.]

Now this was something that no one knew, as Evan and his party never spoke of Maude's presence in the dungeon to anyone until Evan had informed Kolvar and Rathal about this when he woke up.

[This called for a Two-Stage battle, where we had to first defeat this Executive who was doing something to the Boss Monster—]

Evan held up his hand and used light magic to create a projection of his memories, showing the moment when they entered the Boss Room and saw Maude.

The image showed the Lizard Lord Bhak in the centre of the Boss Room, as well as the strange magic circles on the floor.

[—before we finally engaged the Lizard Lord in Battle.]

He changed the projected images to those of his fight against the Lizard Lord, and surprise could be seen flashing through the eyes of all those present.

Most probably because the high-speed battle was something they could barely see with their Master Level kinetic vision.

[Unfortunately, the battle against the executive didn't exactly go as I wanted since I was conserving my power for the Lizard Lord.

This led to the Executive making a successful Escape "In Quote", after I had inflicted grave injuries on her.]

"Stop."

Isaac held up his hand and the playback was paused, he then looked towards Kieran and asked.

"Did he really just say 'In Quote'?"

"He did.

I can bet my title that he let her escape on purpose."

"Pfft..."

All eyes turned towards Bourne who laughed a little when he heard Kieran's words, and the man silently covered his mouth and looked away when he sensed the gazes on him.

Kieran ignored Bourne's silliness and continued the playback.

[However, before she succeeded in her escape, I managed to use one of my skills to apply a tracker on her.]

"Called it."

There's an 80% chance that he speaks the truth."

"What about the other 20%?"

"That my judgment of him was wrong. Either that or he has changed in the past year."

Kieran replied to Lierin's question calmly, with Bourne also seconding his notion of there not being any foul play on Evan's part.

"Sorry to say this Lierin, but your assessment is greatly influenced by your prejudice for GWE nobles."

Bourne added that little quip on and though Lierin glared at him in response, he didn't seem to mind and returned his gaze to Isaac.

"What do you think, Beluar?"

Isaac turned and rolled the ball to Beluar's court since he was the one whom Evan had requested. After pondering it for a moment, Beluar decided to go, as he wanted to meet with this famed 'Irregular Hero' who had been making waves for a while now.

"Is that so? Then good. Kieran, you follow him in case of any unforeseen circumstances."

"?!"

"Your Majesty?!"

The nobles had questions about Isaac's decision to send two of the three Generals present, but Isaac reminded them of the fact that the First Star was present in the capital.

"I want to go too."

When Bourne suddenly said this, Kieran, Beluar and Lierin turned towards him with gazes that asked 'What is this idiot saying?'.

"On a second thought, I don't want to go anymore."

The man very quickly succumbed to the pressure of their gazes, leading the other three Generals to sigh and press their hands to their heads.

"Now then, all that's left is for us to get the location. But what did he mean by 'X would mark the spot'?"

Isaac muttered this under his breath, and all those present shared the same thoughts as the Emperor.

It didn't take up to two days for them to have an answer to that question.

◇ ◇ ◇

"Is this real?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Emperor Isaac returned his gaze to the newspaper in his hands, pressing his fingers to his forehead as he sighed.

The Image that covered the front page, was that of two giant inclined icicles, towering over 200 metres tall and crossing each other to form a giant 'X'.

It was a picture of 'something strange' that appeared overnight in the outskirt forests of one of the Station Cities in the Southwestern part of the Country.

"In his defence, he did say that 'X would mark the spot'."

All the nobles turned towards Bourne with deadpan gazes, and the brown-haired man quickly got the hint.

"I should probably stop speaking now."

Isaac sighed once more, before turning towards Beluar and Kieran before saying.

"Just go."