Dawn, Outskirts of the Capital.
Igor the tracking knight roamed with a cold look around the district. This area of the capital was dark and desolate, but Igor didn't care as he continued to walk around the district to look for an inn to stay before going down on a mercenary tavern to enjoy the night.
Although the outskirts of the Capital does not look as revolting as compared to the outskirts of other towns, the place was known as the hangout place of mercenaries, knights and warriors. As such, many of the visitors of the area were cold blooded and strong men.
This is also a good place to exchange information. So even though a typical member of a noble family or the Imperial family would stand out here, it won't stop them from exploring the place for a good piece of information.
These things combined, gave the area a dark and mysterious feel. Anyone can be hot blooded and aggressive, or wary and mysterious.
He walked with an unperturbed expression on the stone pavement, looking at the dusty and moldy road. There's the scent of alcohol and tobacco permeating in the air. Igor could determine that the scent had already stayed around the area permanently.
He went to several inns to inquire for a place to stay, however he had already visited all of the major inns yet there were no vacant rooms around.
It was due to the surge of mercenaries and armed men coming to the Capital to guard distinguished people who would be attending the upcoming winter banquet.
With a dark expression, Igor had no choice but to look for the smaller ones. He quickly got to the nearest run down inn and reserved a room.
The rundown inn made his face frown, as it has been long since he was forced to stay in this kind of accommodation due to accompanying a revered lady of the Vesala.
Without a choice, he could only grit his teeth and accept his fate of staying in a small dusty room until his mistress decides to continue their search for the doctor.
They have been chasing that particular doctor for many months, Igor could have long grown tired of the chase. But he didn't feel any drop of weariness because his thoughts were only set on helping his mistress find happiness.
Even that happiness is not and will never be him.
To see his Mistress happy, he would kill anyone, poison anyone, scheme against anyone. It doesn't matter as long as his Mistress is pleased.
He will not even spare a pregnant woman to make his Mistress feel secure. Filling his hands with innocent blood is nothing compared to his Mistress's smile.
Igor stayed idle in his bedroom to rest until he felt hungry after some time. Seeing that the night had already started he immediately stood up and went down to the nearest pub in the area.
The bustling sound of men toasting and drinking liquor rang on Igor's ears. There's also the business from the waiters and the other customers who ordered food and engaged in drinking games.
Igor solemnly sat on an empty table and ordered his food. Starting from today, this will probably be his typical routine, unless there were sudden summons around.
Unbeknownst to him, everything he did and every place he went was actually captured by the innkeeper and several people in the pub.
They were the Roaming Blades under disguise to monitor his movements.
They were also the ones who pulled the strings to manipulate Igor to stay on the run down inn he had chosen earlier so that the chances of going into this particular would increase.
With this, Leon and Kayden would have an easier time apprehending him before the winter banquet approaches.
The members of the Roaming Blades were perfectly blended in the pub, there was a disguised waiter, mercenary, cleaner and so on. Basically the pub is ridden with spies from the Roaming Blades.
Igor never noticed that he was under surveillance because there was a hard rule that the Roaming Blades strictly followed - Never ever look into the target's eyes. Never ever let an ounce of interest be detected by the target!
As such they were always successful in gathering information without being detected. Just like how they were doing right now.
They were just patiently watching Igor waiting for his food and talking to two burly men who came to his table after a few minutes.
The way they talked was rather discreet and the Blades could determine that the trio knew each other. Perking their ears up, the Blades signal each other to eavesdrop their conversation.
Getting the hint, the Blade disguised as a waiter very timely went to Igor's table to deliver his food and to ask for the other two men's order. Unbeknownst to them, the platter that the blade served had a tiny array stuck under.
It was an eavesdrop array invented by their master, Leon, to help them become more efficient in gathering information. This area does not even exist in any magical books, as everyone knew, only a devourer with enhanced hearing could do the same feat!
The activation of the array was also barely noticeable; upon activation, the voices of the three men were already entering the waiter's ears. He immediately disappeared in a corner and concentrated on transcribing the conversation he was hearing.
"These days haven't been good.." A low and rough voice was heard, there was a hint of frustration in his tone.
"We are all alone for now… Mistress was not in a good mood because of the clean up operations. All the men from the 'other branch' were forced to flee outside the territory." The other continued.
They didn't drop any names in case someone accidentally hears.
"We don't need you to play bodyguard anymore, Master and Mistress could only use us seven right now for their plans."
There was no response from Igor for a while. The other two sensed his stubbornness and continued to persuade him, "You must tell Master that you are more needed in the capital than guarding the young mistress. Time is crucial."
"We have been trained to be at the disposal of the Mistress and Master, now that it is a crucial time for them to have us as a source of power why not reunite with us, your brothers."
Finally, there was a response on Igor's side, " I know, just let me finish this one last task, and I'll go with you brothers to be at our leader's disposal."
The other man grunted, he couldn't understand why his brother insisted to continue to accompany the young miss. "Igor, remember who raised us all to become the powerful warriors that we are now. We were even able to obtain power that is beyond our abilities."
"Remember who you really have to serve, brother." They reminded him with a cold and dangerous tone.
Without waiting for Igor's response, the two were extremely vexed that they left the food they just ordered and exited the pub. Igor was left alone with an expressionless face, it was as if he didn't receive the reprimand of his two companions earlier.
He stubbornly resisted their persuasion and made them leave extremely irritated. But he didn't care. He had a more important job to do - to help his Mistress, Arabella.
In his heart, she was the one he wanted to serve, not her father, not her aunt - the Empress.
The blade calmly transcribed the entire conversation with trembling hands. He couldn't help but shudder upon realizing the underlying meaning of the three men's cryptic conversation.
Immediately, he gave his colleagues a signal, informing them that the information must be reported immediately to their Master, Leon.
He immediately used a notification paper and waited nervously for their Master's reply.
After a few minutes Leon answered. Only then that the Blade heaved a sigh of relief. He immediately proceeded to the rendezvous point Leon instructed.
Leon dutifully informed Eli that he had to meet the blade for information and immediately dragged Kayden towards the meeting point.
Under the cover of the knight, Leon and Kayden, who was disguised, met the Blade in the forest far from the capital's town.
Greeting the two with respect, the blade immediately reported everything that had transpired and immediately gave the written transcription for Leon and Kayden to read.
Even under the dim moonlight, for mages on Leon and Kayden's caliber, they could read the papers with ease without alerting anyone of using light.
As they read the transcript, the Blade could observe how Leon and Kayden's faces turn darker and darker the more they read.
"So they were trained guards who might know curses and they were seven.." Kayden coldly uttered.
"This would immediately explain why Elise would be involved with curses multiple times." Leon also started to piece everything together.
"The problem here is that we are not even sure yet of how deep their use of curses were. Could they use it directly or could they only use this only through items."
"One thing is for sure, we need my Father Emperor to know of this information!"
