With the disturbing thought in his mind, he swallowed his pride and talked with Antoine about how they would be carrying out their patrols.
The Amethyst Warlocks were composed mostly by casters with a few devourers and summoners. On the other hand, the Viridescent Summoners may have been more efficient in terms of the scale of surveillance tasks.
Kazimir thought that with Antoine's corps, the mission would be easier. Using their summoning abilities, they can expand their area of jurisdiction and there would be easier communication between the two teams in case of an encounter.
At first, Antoine was not cooperative about it as he saw that it is now high time to surpass his elder brother in terms of prominence because Kazimir was recently ridiculed
However, Kamizir persistently asked for his cooperation as he emphasized the gravity of this issue. If in case they were unable to stop the killings and get into the truth of the murders, both of them would not get their father's favor.
It doesn't matter who gets credit for the success of the mission, the most important thing was to solve the case with no further victims under their protection.
With this, the two finally have a consensus to temporarily help each other, with Kazimir's men using casting abilities and Antoine using his men's summoning talents.
"I do hope this works.." Kazimir mumbled as the slightly humid breeze of the night touched his anxious face.
"It has to be effective, for it is the honor of our family name that is at stake!" Said a man on his back leaning leisurely on the wall, Antoine.
"Let's just standby to see if there would be any suspicious culprit looming around the city. I'll stay vigil tonight. You may go first and rest for tomorrow's turn." Kazimir concluded as he looked at his brother who was now looking at him indifferently.
"Just keep your word and inform me if there's any movement during your turn…" Antoine replied, looking at Kazimir suspiciously.
If it was before Kazimir was shunned by the high society, he would have exploded and said a piece of his mind.
Antoine before would usually have a submissive and fawning attitude, always going with his whims in bullying and ridiculing their youngest brother.
Now, Antoine dared to question his words and challenge his ideas. He even dared to look at him with distrust, albeit restrained.
However, something in Kazimir must have changed for he did not find himself offended by Antoine's haughty attitude. Perhaps, he knew that he was still in an awkward position under the sanction that he was surprisingly level-headed and slow to anger at the moment.
Shrugging at his younger brother's attitude, Kazimir just looked at him amused and replied, "I would do that, that's our agreement after all."
Antoine didn't bicker any further. Kazimir did not even look at his younger brother's departing back and instead focused on the matter at hand.
After three days of taking turns in overseeing the capital, the two failed to catch a single shadow or the culprit. It was a bit unrewarding for the two troops who agreed on joining forces and apprehending evil to neither have any rescue encounters nor arrest operations.
"Do not be discouraged, this is just the third day of the operations. What if the culprits were figuring out our routes and were just waiting for us to let our guard down and strike when we are not ready?" Kazimir tried to appease the agitated troops during their meeting.
"That may be the case then, but for how long are we going to do this? What if this operation lasts for a month? This kind of heightened security patrolling would take a toll on our troops too, especially for us, the summoners." This time, Antoine was not going against Kazimir because of his intentions but because of the known weakness of the summoners.
They were not really convenient for prolonged fights, for their large storage of mana will take time to be refilled again before they could use their summoning powers again.
The summoner's role in the battle would always be the overwhelming source of offense for a team that would last for a good amount of duration. But in a fight that would last for months and years, they would have to be divided to take turns in supporting the main troops.
"..." Kazimir had no words to reply to Antoine's concern.
He couldn't propose that Antoine divide his troops for the two brothers have already laid down the assignments for each and every member of their team, any loss on both of their teams would be detrimental to the plans they have agreed to.
"Announcing, the arrival of His Majesty, Emperor and His Excellence, General Farauld!" When they were already about to give up on thinking of a solution, the voice of the chamberlain rang outside the meeting room and surprised everyone.
Kazimir and Antoine, along with the key officers of the Amethyst Warlocks and Viridescent Summoners stood with alert expressions as they welcomed the Emperor and the respected General Farauld.
"We greet His Majesty, Emperor Valentin! We greet His Excellence, General Farauld!"
"At ease!" Emperor Valentin looked at the young valiant men with a deep and unfathomable expression in his blue eyes.
His gaze stopped at Kazimir and Antoine while it briefly swept through another prominent Vesala in the room - Nikolai Kir Vesala the young master of the Vesala Duchy.
Their expressions were of surprise and nervousness, most probably from the fear of having to explain to him why they weren't able to have significant progress in the mission assigned to them.
"We are here not to ask for any updates about the assignment, we are here to have a good talk with the First and Second Prince." Emperor Valentin figured out what was bothering them and immediately dispelled their thoughts.
Immediately, the rest exited the room and left the four men to discuss.
Kazimir and Antoine sat with straight backs in the presence of the two most respected men in the entire Seirende. Although they have met and talked to them multiple times, it was not at the level of something like this - a topic as serious as the life of their very nation.
"I went to talk to you two because I know that you may have difficulties in managing the troops in case the mission may prolong to maybe a week or months. Believe me when I say that I want to resolve this matter within a span of a few days if I, myself had the solution to resolve this." Emperor Valentin looked at his two sons.
"However, what was happening right now in the capital was something deeper than a normal case of killing and murder. But a matter connected to the sinister organization - The Spectre. I will say it to you now but I trust the two of you to keep it to yourselves. You had the right to know of this matter because you are the sons of the Seirende Family…" He looked at them with a stern expression, expecting his two sons to swear an oath before he continued his explanation.
"We swore in the Seirende's name that we will keep whatever was discussed in this room will be kept only to me." The two swore a solemn oath.
"Good…" Emperor Valentin cast a look on his friend Eugine, who nodded resolutely. "This chaos was caused by a traitor in our Empire."
Kazimir and Antoine froze in their seats. Even if they readied themselves for this possibility, hearing the confirmation in their father's mouth still shook the foundations of their hearts.
For such a mighty and big Empire like Seirende, there were still foolish people who wanted to covet its glory.
Kazimir bowed his head slightly and clenched his fist, the lingering anxiety, and doubt in his heart were now growing fiercely deep. What if the traitors were from his maternal family?
Antoine also had a similar thought in his heart. The fact that someone is attempting to bring chaos to the Empire, made him think that it could only be done by a relatively large power - and his maternal family falls into that category!
"With the traitors around, we came to also tell you that the threat may have to linger for a longer time. As such, I will have a portion of my men join your team and help you in this matter." General Farauld also explained his purpose for being around.
Observing every detail of their reactions Emperor Valentin did not leak any drop of emotions as he continued, "The traitors are not yet found… But they are watching our every move. The traitors may even be in our ranks, on the streets, or inside the palace. But one thing is for sure if we do not tread carefully in this matter, then our people will be hurt!
Now, after saying this, I leave you the question. If the traitor happens to belong to your maternal family, will you stand tall and remain as a Seirende?"
