Chapter 96 Going Separate Ways

While walking inside the forest to where they were going to go on their own separate ways, Anna asked, "What do you think about the bandits?"

"I think I told you last night. The mastermind is someone else, so the scenario will probably follow yours." Noel sighed.

"The method of capturing the demons to cause chaos, huh…" Anna raised her head, looking at the sky and recounting the past memory.

'In my past life, the cause of this incident was none other than the Supreme Devil Organization. The Demon Banner Army was suppressing them sooner or later until this method disappeared…' Anna suddenly remembered about Kirika and looked at Noel since he was the first one that encountered Kirika and the one who ended her life.

'Now that I think about it, Kirika managed to lure a thousand demons that crippled the Demon Banner Army, allowing the Supreme Devil Organization to attack the Demon Banner Army and gain their victory.

'If I take another look at it, how did Kirika control them? Capturing the demons and releasing them…' Anna's expression turned cold, realizing something. 'Don't tell me, they managed to do the same thing with a higher level demon? The Low Level Demon is just a trial.'

"It seems that you know about something." Noel glanced at her.

"Supreme Devil Organization. If I tell you they're the one causing this incident, will you believe me?" Anna asked nonchalantly as if she was talking random things.

"…" Noel fell silent for a moment before coming up with another theory. "Assuming that's the case, is there any connection to the one that we captured in the fort?"

"Ah!" Anna remembered that one guy.

"To be honest, having a tattoo that signify their affiliation is foolish, considering you're supposed to live in the shadows, not like the nobles who live in the open. I know that it's to spread fear to show people that they're everywhere. But if it were me, I don't want a tattoo… Just a secret code is enough."

"Well, a high ranking member of the Supreme Devil Organization can easily hide that tattoo…" Anna added the missing piece of information.

"I see. That's more understandable then. That's easy for them to send their lower ranking member to make them a scapegoat. Meanwhile, the high ranking one is hiding among us." Noel smirked.

"!!!" Anna widened her eyes in shock as if everything had come together. She thought, 'What if Kirika was just a pure woman in the past, but this hidden member influenced her?'

"Anyway, I have asked the village chief to send a message to the fort while sending the proof of the mission completion. They should be aware of this method soon and my suspicion about it. As for the rest of the information, it's best to keep it a secret first because we don't know who is a traitor. It's best for us to inform the commander himself." Noel explained.

"That's true. There's no proof either, so I can't really say much." Anna sighed.

"Anyway, we have completed with this. I think it's time for us to go separate ways." Noel stretched his body as if he was preparing to run.

"The crossroads is still 20 km away though."

Noel's reply came in the form of action as he suddenly sped up, leaving her in the dust. Anna shook her head helplessly as she also started running, catching up to him.

As soon as they saw the crossroads, Noel went to the left without saying anything while Anna could only sigh that Noel had no sign of opening himself yet.

Noel's destination had been decided. It was the Sothbame Village, near the village where the master blacksmith resided.

Since it would still take a long time to reach there, Noel took this chance to look at his system, especially the rewards for saving the hostages.

[Mission: Save 19 hostages.]

[Description: There are nineteen women that got captured by the bandits and shall be saved.]

[Reward: Ardagan Swordsmanship+1]

[Penalty: A Nightmare.]

Now that he had finished this mission, he accepted the reward and immediately checked his Ardagan Swordsmanship."

Skill: Ardagan Swordsmanship (5/15)

Requirement: 11 SP

The knowledge about the Swordsmanship entered his mind. However, he felt something was wrong with this current knowledge.

"This is…" Noel squinted his eyes, sorting the information. However, his doubt was answered soon.

[Ardagan Swordsmanship has reached level 5. Transitioning to Intermediate Swordsmanship.]

[You've acquired Sword Aura.]

[You've acquired Sword Fall.]

"Really? I got two skills just from that…" Noel muttered while sorting the new acquired knowledge to see what was going on.

"As expected, this time, the knowledge I get revolves around the assimilation of Spiritual Energy into my Swordsmanship." Noel pulled out Ardagan and wanted to test the two skills. But he suddenly stopped for a moment before asking, "Can you change to the white sword?"

As if responding to his request, all the black color in Ardagan turned into white while the red turned into gold. Unlike the demonic like blade, this sword looked like it symbolized a true knight.

After that, Noel took out the masquerade from his bag and put it on. He poured his Spiritual Energy into the mask as his hair soon changed color to blond and his eyes turned blue. He wanted to match his appearance with the sword after all.

"Perfect." Noel smiled. "From now on, my name is Iadre… call me Ia, I guess? I'm just a commoner that somehow becomes an Apprentice Knight. Also, I'm known for my Ice Control, so I won't be using this element. Instead, I'll focus on Sword Fire and Ignition Sword.

"How about Sword Aura and Sword Fall? Well, I'll use it for the time being. I can also use Rune because I'm planning to publish that Rune books. I don't know why Anna knows about Rune, but there isn't a single trace that such a book exists. According to Ardagan, my ancestor was the last person that could use Rune and the information had been lost."

Noel tried to figure out something about Anna, but she was too mysterious. Ultimately, he stopped thinking about it and shifted his focus back. "Anyway, let's try the new abilities."