Chapter 493

Chapter 493: The Cult is Recruiting Criminals

Today is a quiet day.

There’s nothing of importance today. Even though I had a difficult battle just yesterday.

Yesterday, I found hidden rooms in the sewer. And then, I fought the cult members. Those two things are something that I already think of as natural, so they are not a big problem for me. The biggest problem was after that.

I fought an artificial master level mage that I must not kill. A young boy barely in his teen.

I even got my left arm severed. It has been reattached back. And there’s no wound at all. No scars either. And I captured the boy.

If I didn’t have the element of surprise and didn’t severe his right arm at the beginning of the fight, I would have lost my life. Well, maybe not. But I will end up having no choice but to kill the boy, which I’d like to avoid as much as possible.

And now, the boy is being researched. Marie, Victoria, and other people in Varadis will experiment on the boy so they can test what they invented. From what I heard from Victoria yesterday, it seems like they are planning on making something that will erase the brainwashing. And that’s good enough to stop them from fighting.

.....

The tournament is getting closer, and the big war will happen soon. Since the boy came from Arturo, we can say that they will come from over there. Or at least the highest number of enemies will come from there. There might be other cult members coming from other location, but the number will be less since Arturo has been almost completely taken over by the cult.

As for Harold himself, I haven’t heard anything from him. But from what Sonia told me, everything in Lenko is going fine. And they don’t need my help. I guess that place will be taken over by Harold soon.

As for his children, other than Fabio who is helping Harold and Carmen in Lenko, they are all preparing themselves to attack the capital of Arturo soon. Or maybe they are already leaving by this time. They will attack as soon as I see the fake king in the capital of Consenza.

The fake king will come here with powerful guards. That’s obvious. Which mean, the defense of the capital will be at its lowest when the fake king is here. There must still be some people, but the strongest one will come here for their big plan.

Toni himself, the one who chose to stay in the den of the enemy, was asked if he’d like to visit Consenza. But he uses logical reasoning to keep staying in the capital. I heard that he made an excuse saying that the king’s job must be done even when the king is away, and he’s the one doing them.

Well, he will be an amazing ally when Harold and the others attack the capital of Arturo. That’s why I can’t leave this place before I see the fake king is here.

I can just come and go from Cassau back to here with portal, but I don’t know when they will arrive. That’s why I choose to stay at an inn here.

And today, nothing happened. Should I visit that Lenko city and help Harold? But like I said before, I can’t just leave here.

As for the cult members here, they are being very secretive. I hadn’t seen any single person with explosive device in their mouth. And I’m too lazy to go to the guild and take a request.

I can’t play with the children. Because once I see something is wrong, and the children noticed it from my reaction, they will be full of worry.

And that’s why I’m sitting alone in the audience seat in the Arena. Doing nothing.

It’s a pain to keep watch in the busy capital. And this Arena is quite far from the capital, which makes it a perfect location to relax. I can also see one entrance to the capital from here. And that entrance is supposed to be the one that the fake Arturo King will enter through if he’s travelling through the normal route. I have heard the news from Toni that he has left Arturo.

As for the cult members in Consenza without explosive device in their mouth, I can only hope that some of them will do something suspicious so I can tell that they are from the cult. I’ll just take a walk around the capital and see those cultists’ reaction.

Maybe I will start bounty hunting again while looking for the cult members? Well, I’ll do that later. I’ll just enjoy cloud watching from the Arena for a while.

I don’t expect that I can spend two whole hours watching the cloud. I guess that’s already long enough. Let’s go back to the capital and start bounty hunting.

Hmm... I see that in the restaurant, there’s a woman with a bounty in her head, talking to two other people. From what I heard in the underground meeting room; the cult is trying to recruit even criminals with bounty in their heads. If my guess is right, the two people are cult members who are trying to recruit the woman.

Well, let’s enter the restaurant and eat like a customer would while eavesdrop on them. Good thing there’s a good seat close to them. With my enhanced hearing since I became an Aura user, I should be able to hear their conversation.

I enter the restaurant, take a seat close to the three’s table, and order some meals. While waiting for the meal, I listened to the three people’s conversation.

“...so, that shop is a good target. It doesn’t have good security. Although it looks shabby, we should be able to get something,” the woman said.

“I see! As expected of our big sister! Let’s go there tonight!”

Seems like they are currently planning on stealing something. It’s not about recruiting her. I guess I was wrong. Well, I can still get something from capturing her.

For captured criminals with bounties in their heads, we can bring them to the guards or to the guild to be examined. And we can then get a reward right away.

It’s quite difficult since there are many people aiming for the bounty. Even now, I can see some two people aiming for the woman. And the two of them have Hunter Cards in their pocket. Which mean they are hunters. Though I can’t tell if they are cult members or not.

I’ll just watch them for now.

As the meal I ordered arrives, the three leaves the restaurant. And the two who were stalking them leave soon after. I just looked at them from the restaurant with my Divine Vision while I still eat.

The three who leave first entered an empty alley as they realized they are being followed. And then, one of the guys following them tries to capture them. A fight happens in the middle of the city.

Finally, the other guy arrives. And he didn’t help the other guy capturing the woman and her friends. Instead, he killed the bounty hunter with powerful magic. Expert level magic.

I finally find one expert level mage from the cult.

Now that I have finished my meal, I leave the restaurant and go to where they are in the empty alley. From what I saw, the magic he used on the bounty hunter is a fire magic. At least he doesn’t have the detection skill of earth mage or wind mage who can detect presence by the vibration on the ground or from the wind.

“How about it? Would you like to join us? We can give you everything,” the expert level mage said.

“You think we can trust you?” the woman asked.

“I can tell you this. If you decided to join us, we will help you in any way possible so you can reach expert level. What do you think?”

I’m right! He’s from the cult, and he’s trying to recruit the woman. Now, what should I do? I can just kill them all here, or I could stalk him and find where the others are hiding.

The answer is obvious. Killing more of them is better than killing just one. I’ll stalk him for now.

Oh, seems like one of the woman’s subordinate refused his offer. And he just killed him without hesitation.

Seeing that, the woman and her other subordinate looked at the man in fear as they agreed to join the cult.

“Good. Then, since you have agreed to join us, please meet us later tonight at our hiding spot in the forest. We will inform you further of what we’re doing, and how you can get stronger. We have a lot of expert level mages. Maybe you can become one of us in the future? I’ll see you later. Goodbye.”

The man then leaves the alley. It’s good that now I have the location of their hiding spot. Or at least one of them.

Good thing I didn’t act right away and wait. I guess I’ll ask the others to help me raiding the cult’s hiding spot tonight.