NOVEL NEXT Chapter 89: The Elites and the Enemies Meetings
Kazue POV
I explained the situation to the guys.
I started explaining things by telling them what happened lately.
For example, the fact about how I met Calm.
About how the saint is being targeted by bad people.
About what I did to keep her safe.
About what I know about the people who are trying to harm her.
About the people who I think we could trust.
And about what I'm trying to do to keep her safe.
Well, I also hid some information that I think was not necessary for me to tell.
Such as me being asked by the goddess of Life to protect Calm as the pseudo-Oracle of the God of Judgement.
And... as to how I ended up killing a person in the process.
The guys were speechless after hearing this news.
"That's about it. So do you guys have any questions?" <Kazue>
"Assassin's Order..." <Rio>
"I see it's that serious huh." <Nikko>
"Damn, It really is bad..." <Yuma>
The reaction on their faces was serious after hearing about my situation.
Nikko was feeling awkward and was trying to see how the other reacted.
Normally he would often make jokes to keep the atmosphere warm but at this time he could not do so.
Yuma on the other hand is taking my words seriously and was thinking hard about how to help.
Rio looked troubled and was in deep thought for a while now.
It looks like she was being reluctant to say something.
Thus, things were silent.
Unexpectedly enough, the first one to say their opinion was the person whom I least know about.
It was Coco, the bunny girl that came with Yuma.
"I think I can help with things on this matter." <Coco>
"Really? How?" <Kazue>
"My dad is one of the most influential people in the military here in Riles." <Coco>
"Oh, that's right! Coco's father is one of the top generals here in Riles." <Yuma>
Coco nods at Yuma's words.
"General." <Kazue>
If it is true that Coco's father is a general of such influence within the military.
Then...
There is no doubt that he could do something about Calm's situation.
But, I could not help to think about the possibility of Coco's father being one of those people who is trying to hurt Calm.
I've decided to trust Coco.
But... my nature of being doubtful of strangers made me feel conflicted about asking such a guy for help.
If Coco's father is someone who is after Calm then... it's game over.
But, at the same time if Coco's father is an ally, then Calm's safety is assured.
It seems that Coco noticed my hesitation.
She then tried to persuade me.
"Kazue-san, I understand that you are hesitating to trust others. Hearing about your situation, I understand why you're hesitating the way you are now. If I was in your situation I would also be hesitant of trusting others. But... I assure you that my dad can be trusted. My dad's name is Koccur, he's been serving in the military for more than 20 years now. My dad is also one of the most trusted people of the king of Riles. If you are still doubtful, you can ask around about my dad and I assure you, you will find nothing to doubt about my dad. He will definitely help us to protect the saint." <Coco>
Coco said this with a straight face.
She was looking me in the eyes.
There was not a single doubt behind those words.
by just looking at her eye to eye, I could tell that she was very sincere about her words.
She had a face full of determination and confidence.
She has a serious expression that constantly tells me "You can trust me."
[I think I should not overthink things.]
I decided to simplify my thoughts and based my decision on all the facts I collected.
I thought about who are the enemies I am worried about.
[The enemies are most probably the nobles, the Assassins Order, and the Empire of Ecclesia.]
I considered my trust in my former classmates.
[I trust them, I can't think of a reason why they would try to harm the saintess. No, I don't think that they would aim to harm anyone in general.]
Lastly, and most importantly, I trusted my instinct.
I glanced at Coco.
I learned that for the past 6 months of being an adventurer, one of the things I could rely upon is my instinct.
I do feel that Coco is a person I could trust.
With all this in consideration, it all pointed to one obvious decision.
With a hesitant voice, I said.
"Alright. Could I ask you to get help from your father then?" <Kazue>
With a satisfied look on her face, Coco nods.
She was happy with the fact that I decided to trust her.
"Don't worry, you will not regret this miss Kazue." <Coco>
"Yes, I am counting on you." <Kazue>
"I have a promised meeting with dad in 2 days. I can ask for help once we meet." <Coco>
"2 days, isn't that too late? Is it possible for us to meet him ASAP? I mean... this is an emergency." <Nikko>
"I would love to do that, but there is no way to contact him right now. I think he is having a top-secret meeting with the king of Riles and other influential guys in Riles. No one knows where the meeting is, dad never told me where it was either. So, unfortunately, all I can do is wait for our prior promised meeting day." <Coco>
"I will go with Coco on that day too." <Yuma>
"Rio how about you?" <Kazue>
"Huh?! oh... what?" <Rio>
"??" <Kazue>
[She's acting weird... was she that shocked to hear my circumstance that much?]
"What's the problem?" <Kazue>
"Oh... it's nothing, what did you say again Kazue?" <Rio>
"Ah, no I was just asking what you think we should do from here." <Kazue>
"Oh... that... I don't know." <Rio>
[She's acting weird...]
"Hmnn... You're acting really weird... is everything alright?." <Kazue>
"Oh, this is nothing I was just shocked after hearing what you're up to. Right! I think It is a good idea to have Coco's father help us." <Rio>
"Hmnn... As expected... you think so too. I guess we should do that..." <Kazue>
[Well, since Rio thinks that it is a good idea that asking for Coco's father's help is a good idea, then...]
I took a glance at Rio.
Rio nods vigorously.
I decided to just do what I can.
The main plan at the moment is to keep Calm's whereabouts a secret.
We will then ask for Coco's father's help.
Also, miss Alicia's servants are looking for a way to contact Aaron, Calm's most trusted Knight.
If things go well, then it's almost certain that I can keep Calm safe.
-sigh-
[I hope things go well from here.]
Meanwhile.
Noble's Summit, 6 days ago.
Koccur, Coco's father, and the war general who is directly involved in the things happening on the southern border or Riles stepped up.
The King of Riles called him toward the center of the hall to explain the current situation on the southern border of Riles.
As the person responsible for dealing with the chaos happening in the south, Koccur went up the stage and reported to all participants of the Noble Summit.
After all, he has the most crucial information that most of the people who attended the Noble's Summit wanted to hear.
The southern part of Riles is the seaside opposite of the Empire of Ecclesia, this place is where the first line of defense intercept most of Ecclesia's attempt of entering the country.
Fierce battles happens there from time to time even before the war rumors started.
For the past 4 months, The empire of Ecclesia had been attempting to enter Riles aggressively.
A lot of them were unsuccessful but from time to time some of Ecclesia's "Inquisitors" was able to secretly enter Riles and cause trouble.
Because of this, rumors about the war started.
Soon after it became clear that Ecclesia was trying harder this time compared to the past.
The highest individual who is looking over this situation is General Koccur.
Coco's father.
Constant troubles are happening in the south all the time because of this.
The difference is that the Empire of Ecclesia seemed to become more active and serious in their attempts to enter Riles as days passed.
As a result, more soldiers are being deployed and guarding this border.
Judging from just this action of the Empire, It will not be surprising if a major war starts anytime.
This also encourage a minority of nobles within the ranks of the Great Nation Alliance and Artesia who seemed to work with Ecclesia.
Their motivation was to restore the glory of their titles who once had full control over the people of the lands.
They wanted to restore this power, thus helping Ecclesia after agreeing to deals that will benefit their cause.
Several Nobles had been caught in this crime and were prosecuted for treason.
Having been informed that some nobles have been helping Ecclesia in these chaotic times, the nobles who came to this summit looked at each other with careful eyes.
This inspired speculation and talks between the participants of this summit.
After this other information was decimated to the participants of the summit.
Information about the economy, trade, and major news was also discussed during this summit.
After hours of deliberation, the summit ended.
This party started with all the participants of the summit.
Nobles, Merchants, and important people mingled with each other during this summit.
As others were having a good time, there was another discussion that is being held secret between the most influential people who came to this summit.
This discussion was about matters that not all of the participants of the summit should know.
Only a chosen few can hear about the things talked about here.
The participant in this meeting was less than 30 people in total.
All of these people are the most influential among all of the participants of this summit.
Among the participants in this meeting is the king of Riles, the highest-ranking nobles, the most riches commerce, the highest-ranking generals, and the most influential Adventurers.
"What a collection of people."
Said a woman with blonde hair after looking at the faces of the people standing before her.
The girl had a very odd hairstyle as drill-like shapes naturally formed in her hair.
She had blue eyes and was well known in both the world of nobles' and adventurers' circles of influence.
The name of this woman is Alicia Cliff Azurearosi.
The daughter of the duke of Azurearosi in the Artesia Empire.
The Azurearosi is one of 4 dukedoms in the Empire.
The four dukedoms are the dukedom of Altus, the dukedom of Whithost, the dukedom of Beaumount, and last and certainly not the least, the dukedom of Azurearosi.
The dukedom of Azurearosi is arguably the most powerful of the four dukedoms in Artesia.
Even the royal family could not simply touch a member of the Azurearosi dukedom, not to mention the only daughter of the duke.
Alicia Cliffe Azurearosi.
Not only was her name known amongst the nobles as the daughter of a duke.
Alicia is also well known for her outstanding feats as an active adventurer.
She recently became an A-rank adventurer standing side by side with the top 200 most powerful adventurers in the land.
Her stature as an adventurer equivalents her stature as the daughter of the most powerful dukedom in the most powerful Empire in the world.
With this qualification, it was only natural that she was invited to join this exclusive meeting of elites.
The discussion started.
Agendas were discussed.
The things talked about here were top-secret matters.
Even amongst the high-ranking officials involved it would not be a surprise that some if not most of the topics here are something they would hear for the first time.
Things such as...
The top-secret military missions.
The most secret transactions worth Billions and Trillions of DAL.
The secret intelligence about High ranking people suspected of Treason.
The whereabouts of the rarest treasures.
Information about the discoveries in the most dangerous dungeons.
Things of such nature.
Internally, Alicia was bored hearing about this topic.
She only came here to do her agenda.
Alicia was not paying much attention to the topics discussed thus far.
Until some time and many agendas later.
A topic pisque Alicia's attension.
This topic also became the most important matter discussed during this secret meeting.
"Well, as all of you already know. I want to talk about how to go about the missing saintess." <Koccur>
"..." <Alicia>
Although originally, she would not be interested in this topic as well.
If not because of someone she met recently, Alicia would have ignored this topic like the ones before this was discussed.
Alicia listened to this topic with more interest than the past agenda discussed prior to this one.
Why would she not listen to this?
After all, she suspects someone to be closely involved in this.
[Mizusawa... Kazue...] <Alicia>
"As you all know, the saint went missing after an assassination attempt by the assassin's order. Thankfully sir Aaron Van Ciel gave the saint an Angel Wing beforehand and thanks to that she was able to escape. As you all know, an "Angel Wing" is an Item that is capable of teleporting someone to a random location within a 5-kilometer radius where the item was used. Thanks to that, the saintess was able to escape for the time being. Well, it remains a question if the saintess is still alive. Recently a report came specks of hair together with torn clothes filled with blood were found within the area where the saint could have been teleported. As we failed to see a body we are still searching for her at the very moment." <Koccur>
Murmurs exploded within the group when this information was dropped.
It was true.
All of the people here have their web of information-gathering sources.
Because of this, Half of the people here already heard about this matter.
Leaving that aside, their knowledge about the missing saint is mostly hearsay as no one of the people here has clear info about this situation.
The things that general Koccur exposed here gave more information than the ones they already knew.
"Who is leading the search for the saint?" <Noble>
"It's sir Aaron Van Ciel." <Koccur>
"Huh? why? Isn't he the one who failed to protect the saint in the first place? Is it fine to leave this to him?" <Noble>
"It's fine. Amongst all the people around the saint, he is the person who I can trust to find and protect her. If it's not sir Aaron then who else should lead the search?" <Koccur>
No one answered.
No one dared to claim that they were more qualified to lead the search for the saint.
In this meeting, several people are more influential, more capable, and more powerful than Aaron who is merely a talented knight.
But, there is no one here who genuinely cared and knew the saint other than him.
No one in this world is more willing to put his life on the line for the saint than Aaron.
Koccur knew that no one in this world wanted to find and keep the saint safe more than Aaron.
Plus, the general thinks that Aaron is capable enough to be trusted in this matter with his raw abilities.
There is another reason why no one answered.
It was because if they do, they will be suspected as one of those people wanting the saint dead.
If they say, "Sir Aaron can't be trusted. I am more qualified to look for the saint, let me do it."
They will automatically get red flags.
[Why does he want to lead the search?]
[He's too proactive to find the saint, he must be one of the people after her.]
[Why did he say that? Suspicious, we need to keep an eye on him.]
In the end, none of them wanted close their eyes on them as they have secrets that needed to hide.
If they say they could be trusted, then they should be willing to be investigated.
If the people in this meeting looked into them closely, they might end up revealing a secret or two.
These secrets may not necessarily be related to the saint.
Secrets that can become their weakness.
Weakness that can be used against them in later power struggles.
In short, it was part of politics.
In the end, they could only ask other questions to give them a clear view of the situation.
Questions such as.
"Who are the culprits."
"What are they aiming to accomplish by killing the saint?"
"What will we do if the saint is dead?"
"As discussed earlier, were narrowed down the suspected nobles who is working with Ecclesia. And yes, among them there are reports that they have indeed hired Assassin to kill the saint---...." <Koccur>
As expected, some nobles not just in Riles but also from other kingdom and even the Empire of Artesia was behind this attack.
Names of the nobles who might be involved were discussed.
The suspected insider within the saint was also discussed.
Also, the suspected Assassin Order members within the adventurer's guild, the military, the nobles, and the members of the church guards are being monitored closely.
It seems that the main culprits of this situation were none other than the Empire of Ecclesia.
They had been coercing nobles for power, money, and specific personal wants that only the Empire of Ecclesia can provide.
The empire of ecclesia is backing up these nobles and has been giving them stipends in many forms possible.
These greedy nobles agreed to help the Empire of Ecclesia.
They are the main reason why Riles is in this current chaotic state as it is right now.
Crucial information is being dropped.
But, in the end, no one in this meeting knew where the saint was.
[The saint must be with that girl.]
Alicia smiles thinking about the girl name Mizusawa Kazue.
Then again, her main objective was not to help Kazue protect the saint.
If Kazue was with the saint, Alicia could only leave this matter in Kazue's hands.
She will give all the help she can give to Kazue if she asks her for help.
To Alicia, this is something that Kazue herself needed to fulfill on her own.
[Do your best.]
They returned to focus and were waiting for the meeting of the elites to end.
Alicia only attended this meeting to see a very specific person after all.
She wanted to meet this person in secret.
Alicia glued her sight on one person in the meeting.
Her eyes were glued to the most powerful adventurer, Svencity.
.
.
.
Present time.
Alicia still hasn't returned after the day she left with Argent.
Mizusawa Kazue, Ota Rio, Aoki Nikko, Yoshitte Yuma, and Coco had been discussing the things to do to protect Calm.
As they discussed.
In 2 days, they will be meeting Coco's dad.
While waiting for that time, they will gather information all over the place to assess the situation.
They decided to work together to gather information and look for ways to protect the saint.
Things are going well...
Or so they thought.
Assassin Order HQ.
An abandoned building located on the outskirt of the city.
The place was dusty and full of old and broken furniture.
At the present, the acting leader of the Assassins Order had been patiently looking at things in silence.
He was gathering necessary information about the saint.
A few days ago, the assassin's order was able to find clues about the saint within the forest.
They found the saint's bloody torn clothes that seem to be from a monster attack.
Although the saint's clothes were found there and appeared that she was attacked by monsters, Razor still has his doubts.
In the first place, the corpse of the saint is still missing.
Sure, one can simply say that the monster ate the body of the saint entirely, which is why there is no corpse found.
Razor could not simply stop looking for clues.
In fact, Razor does not believe that the saint is dead.
Call it a hunch but he was not convinced that the saint is dead.
In his long history of being an assassin, he saw several instances that Assassins assumed that their targets were dead, and turns out to be false.
Razor did not simply assume that the saint was dead after seeing such evidence.
He needed to see the cold body of the saint with his two eyes.
But there's no way for him to confirm it now.
At least not with the resources he has now.
"You've arrived..." <Razor>
Standing before Razor were men wearing white robes.
They looked like priests.
His outfit stood out from the crowd as most of the people standing there were wearing black robes covering every inch of their bodies.
The surrounding did not help as it was a place that priests would not visit.
"Ecclesia Inquisitors." <Razor>
Said a man within the ranks of the assassin's order.
Indeed, the men in white robes are members of Ecclesia's Inquisitors.
Inquisitors are people coming from the Empire of Ecclesia whose sole mission is to exterminate the demi-humans.
These people had been causing problems in Riles.
-chuckle-
"As expected of those nobles, they managed to sneak Inquisitors deep inside Riles. To think that they managed to reach Vestir as expected of those nobles. As expected of those greedy disgusting nobles." <Razor>
Razor said in a sarcastic tone.
"You are that famous Assassin "Razor", hmmph... to be honest I was expecting more." <Inquisitor Leader>
The leader of the Inquisitors looks at the members of the assassin order as if looking down at them.
He was obviously provoking them.
Razor remained silent.
It was not because he was trying to be modest in front of these people.
In terms of power and ability, Razor was sure that he could take on the strongest one among the men in white.
He just thought it was meaningless to provoke these people.
Since Razor, the acting leader of this assassination mission did not react, none of the members mind the words of the Inquisitors.
"Hmmph, how boring..." <Inquisitor Leader>
He smiled, but there is a certain malice within the eyes of the Inquisitor.
The leader of the Inquisitors did not insist on provoking Razor or any of the members of the Assassin Order.
The leader of the Inquisitor reached his hands out to Razor.
"We'll be working for a bit from now on. My name is Tassilo Glerniz, you can call me Tass nice to meet you, mister Razor." <Inquisitor Leader/ Tassilo>
Razor only stared at the hand but did not take the greeting.
"Don't waste your time for such pleasantries. I don't plan to become friends with you people. I am only working with you people because I heard that you people can assist us to locate the saint." <Razor>
"Hahaha! Right into business. I don't hate people like you. Whatever, we need to return some favors to those nobles who showed us the way here." <Tassilo>
Tassilo doesn't seem to be offended by Razor's action, he even found this funny.
In the first place, he was planning to throw Razor into the ground if he did reach his hand to him.
Not doing so was the right choice.
He looked at one of his subordinates and gave a slight nod at him as a signal.
The subordinate walked forward and bowed.
"This is my subordinate, Edmon Dezorsk he will be the one who will show us where the saint is right now." <Tassilo>
"I'm pleased to help." <Edmon>
He said with a confident smile.
"So, how can he help us find the saint?" <Razor>
"You see, my subordinate here has a Unique skill that would help us track the whereabouts of the saint." <Tassilo>
"Unique skill, you say? I assume it's a skill that can track someone." <Razor>
"Right, but unfortunately the place where you guys saw the bloody clothes is being guarded by some guards. We can't just go there and cause some ruckus, we are in hiding after all." <Tassilo>
"... What do you need?" <Razor>
Razor asked.
Since Tassilo was obviously making a roundabout way of explaining how his subordinates could find the saint.
Razor deduced that the unique skill of that person has conditions that need them to be in the place where they found clues to where Calm might be.
"We need Blood." <Tassilo>