September 25, Year 10009 of the Yulan Calendar.
Cole woke up.
When he opened his eyes, Delia was sitting beside the bed.
Sessler stood by the window.
Two delegation secretaries already had paper and pens ready.
"This is the Yulan Empire's embassy," Delia said. "You're safe now."
Cole looked at her without speaking for a long time.
Only after recognizing the purple banner on the wall did his tense body slowly relax.
"Special Envoy."
"Have some water first."
Delia handed him a cup of water.
Cole still had little strength in his hands.
After a few sips, he began to cough.
Sessler walked over to the bed, his emerald eyes sweeping over Cole's face.
"His spiritual energy has been suppressed for too long."
"He can't cast magic today."
"I wasn't planning to have him cast anything," Delia said.
"Then don't question him for too long."
Cole looked at the skeletal old man with some wariness in his eyes.
"He's a magical adviser we brought in," Delia said. "He won't use soul magic on you."
Sessler snorted.
"You only need to tell us what you remember."
Cole closed his eyes.
Only after a while did he speak.
"On the second day after the Morning Tide entered the Chiyan River, we encountered a river patrol boat."
"They said the nearby waterways were being dredged and told us to dock at a maintenance wharf so they could inspect the hull."
One secretary swiftly took notes.
"How many people were aboard the patrol boat?" Delia asked.
"More than twenty."
"What were they wearing?"
"The River Affairs Bureau's gray-blue uniforms."
"Did they have official documents?"
"Yes," Cole said. "The captain checked the official seal. That was why he agreed to dock."
His breathing began to quicken.
"After we docked, they had the regular crew disembark first."
"The three of us mages were kept on deck. They said they needed to check our spellcasting registrations."
"Then..."
Cole clenched the bedsheet.
"A river official took out a black box."
"Once the box was opened, I couldn't circulate my magical power."
"Other people rushed out of the warehouse."
"The guards aboard the ship had no time to fight back."
"They put anti-magic handcuffs on us and took us into the underground waterways."
Delia asked, "What about the regular crew?"
Cole fell silent.
"I don't know."
"I only heard people screaming outside."
The secretary's writing hand paused.
"Who did you see in the old waterways?"
"They all wore gray robes or black clothes."
"Did anyone wear white gloves?"
Cole thought for a long time.
"I saw someone once."
Delia's gaze sharpened.
"When?"
"On the third day after I was locked up."
"He stood outside the water prison, examining a white crystal chip."
"Someone reported to him that only two people aboard the Morning Tide qualified. The other one's spiritual energy was too weak."
"What did he say?"
"Send them away."
Cole's voice was very soft.
"That was all he said."
"I never saw the other two mages again after that."
The room fell quiet.
Delia did not question him further.
"We'll stop here for today."
She had the secretary read the record back word for word.
After confirming it, Cole pressed his fingerprint at the end.
"Keep resting."
Delia left the room.
Linley was waiting outside in the corridor.
Doehring stood beneath a tree in the courtyard.
Bebe lay on the eaves, watching the people passing outside the embassy.
"A river patrol boat," Linley said.
"And an official seal." Delia handed him the testimony. "They weren't just using the river channels illicitly now and then. They've already gained control of at least one regular patrol route."
"Joanne's people are here," Doehring said.
Footsteps sounded in the embassy's front courtyard.
A court official entered the courtyard with the director of the River Affairs Bureau.
A short middle-aged man was also being escorted behind them.
The middle-aged man wore the clothes of a River Affairs Bureau clerk. His face was ashen, and his hands were in iron cuffs.
"Special Envoy Delia." The court official bowed. "By Her Majesty's command, we have brought the River Affairs Bureau's night navigation records for the past six months."
"This man is named Huoyi. He's the River Affairs Bureau clerk responsible for issuing night navigation permits."
"He has already confessed."
"To what?" Delia asked.
Huoyi immediately dropped to his knees.
"I was greedy."
"Someone gave me gold coins to issue backdated night navigation and maintenance permits for some merchant ships."
"I didn't know they were going to abduct people, and I don't know anything about the Radiant Church."
"I did everything alone."
He spoke very quickly.
He did not even wait to be questioned.
The court official placed a wooden chest on the table.
"These are the ledgers, official seal, and Magic Crystal Card found in Huoyi's home."
Delia opened the chest.
There were six ledgers in all.
Every payment in gold, every permit, and every ship's docking time was recorded with perfect clarity.
All twelve missing merchant ships were listed.
The times when Huoyi had used the official seal without authorization also matched up one by one.
It was too complete.
Delia casually turned to the last page.
"Who gave you the gold?"
"An herb merchant," Huoyi said. "Named Rody."
"Where does he live?"
"Laurel Lane, in the north of the city."
"What does he look like?"
"Tall, brown hair, in his forties."
"How many times have you met him?"
"Twelve."
"In person every time?"
"Yes."
"A man who's spent years doing underground business in the imperial capital met you with the same face every time?"
Huoyi's face stiffened.
"I... I don't know."
Delia closed the ledger.
"Leave these ledgers here."
"Take him back for now."
The court official froze for a moment.
"Special Envoy, you don't intend to question him further?"
"He's already confessed to everything," Delia said. "What else can I ask?"
After Huoyi was taken away, Linley looked at the chest.
"Fake?"
"The gold is real, and so are the permits," Delia said. "But the ledgers are too complete."
"Would a minor official who illegally stamped documents for others record every payment he took and every time he misused the official seal, then keep those records for six months?"
Sessler sneered. "He wasn't keeping accounts. He was preparing evidence of guilt for someone."
"That herb merchant is a lead too," Linley said.
"Of course."
Delia looked at Bebe on the eaves.
"But we won't arrest him yet."
She walked over to stand beneath Bebe.
"Can you follow Huoyi without being discovered?"
Bebe tilted his head and looked at Linley.
"She's asking you," Linley said through Soul Transmission.
"Of course I can," Bebe said. "An ordinary person thinks he can spot me?"
After Linley relayed his words, Delia nodded.
"After Huoyi is taken back, he'll very likely be held temporarily, but he might also be released soon."
"Whatever happens, just watch who approaches him."
"Don't act."
"Don't alert anyone."
Bebe flicked his tail.
It leaped onto the courtyard wall and soon disappeared at the far end of the street.
"What next?" Linley asked.
"Spread the word," Delia said.
"Have the embassy staff tell people outside that three copies of the evidence from the old waterways have been made."
"One is being sent to the palace, one to the Dawson Chamber of Commerce's warehouse, and the last will be taken back to the Yulan Empire by the delegation tonight."
Yale frowned. "What about the real evidence?"
"It's all at the embassy."
"So we only put empty chests in the Chamber's warehouse?"
"Put in a copied set of false accounts."
Delia looked at Linley.
"You won't be leaving with the originals either."
Linley understood.
"Three targets. They can only choose one."
"No," Delia said. "They might strike all three."
"What we need to watch is which group commits the most people, and which groups only create a disturbance."
The news spread that afternoon.
Huoyi was also released by the River Affairs Bureau that evening and allowed to return home.
The reason given was that he had already confessed, and all the account books and official seals had been seized, so there was temporarily no need to keep him in custody.
The reason was absurd.
Yet it allowed Huoyi to return without incident to his residence in the southern part of the city.
After nightfall, he changed into old clothes and left through the back door.
Bebe lay in the shadows on a rooftop.
Huoyi crossed three streets and entered a small tavern.
He stayed inside for only a quarter of an hour.
When he emerged, he carried a packet of medicinal herbs.
Bebe followed him for two streets.
Suddenly, an herb merchant pushing a wooden cart passed beside him.
Neither man spoke.
As they passed each other, Huoyi placed the packet on the cart.
The herb merchant continued north.
Huoyi turned and headed home.
Bebe stopped on the eaves.
"Boss, someone showed up."
The Soul Transmission crossed more than half of Chiyan City and entered Linley's mind.
"An herb seller, pushing a wooden cart toward the northern part of the city."
"Follow him," Linley said. "Don't attack."
Linley was in an ordinary carriage just outside the northern part of the city.
Sessler sat opposite him.
Two low-level skeletons lurked in the shadows along the street, ready to provide support at any moment.
"Bebe found someone?" Sessler asked.
"Yes."
"Finally, no more waiting."
Sessler lifted the carriage curtain.
In the distance, a wooden cart loaded with medicinal herbs slowly entered the northern part of the city.
Linley did not get out immediately.
He merely spread his spiritual energy and kept it locked on the herb merchant from afar.
The herb merchant did not return to Laurel Lane.
He skirted two main streets and entered an abandoned bathhouse.
A moment later, a young man wearing an imperial messenger's uniform emerged from the bathhouse's back door.
His height, footsteps, and breathing were all completely different from the herb merchant's.
Linley's gaze sharpened.
"Not the same person?"
"It's the same person," Sessler said.
"A potion that alters the bones and muscles."
"People from the Radiant Church Tribunal use it often."
The young man mounted a swift horse and rode toward the embassy in the eastern part of the city.
Bebe landed on the carriage roof.
"Should we grab him?"
"No," Linley replied.
"Go back to the embassy and follow Delia's arrangements."
"We're going to the bathhouse."
Bebe glanced in the direction the young man had ridden, then looked back at Linley.
"Boss, you're not going to the embassy?"
"She can hold it."
With that, Linley got out of the carriage with Sessler.
Bebe asked no more questions.
He became a black blur, racing over the rooftops toward the eastern part of the city.
At that very moment.
Inside the River Affairs Bureau in the southern part of the city, an archive room suddenly caught fire.
Flames appeared in three places at once.
The two guards assigned to watch over Huoyi's confession lay outside the door, each with a small wound on his neck.
An explosion also rang out from the Dawson Chamber of Commerce's warehouse in the western part of the city.
Black smoke billowed into the sky.
More than a dozen masked men charged into the warehouse and seized an iron chest containing "evidence from the old waterways."
They withdrew quickly.
The Chamber's guards did not even pursue them.
Because the chest held nothing but a few scraps of wastepaper.
In the eastern part of the city, at the Yulan Empire's embassy.
The imperial messenger presented a document from the palace at the gate.
"His Majesty urgently summons Special Envoy Delia."
The embassy guards inspected the official seal.
The seal was genuine.
There were no errors in the document's format, either.
The young man was led into the front courtyard.
Delia stood on the steps.
She had already changed out of her envoy's formal attire and wore only a blue-green robe suited to spellcasting.
"His Majesty has summoned me?"
"Yes," the young man said with a bow. "There has been important progress at the River Affairs Bureau. Please enter the palace immediately, Special Envoy."
"What progress?"
"The document does not say."
"Then have His Majesty send another document that explains it clearly."
The young man raised his head.
"The matter is urgent."
"No matter how urgent it is, there's no need for a ninth-level warrior to deliver the message in person," Delia said.
The young man's gaze abruptly turned cold.
He violently tore open his uniform.
Dozens of tiny silver needles shot from his sleeves.
The needles did not fly toward Delia.
Instead, they shot toward the edges of the courtyard.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The silver needles embedded themselves in the walls.
A cloud of gray smoke spread instantly.
The embassy guards all retreated.
Delia had already begun chanting an incantation.
A fierce wind sprang up.
The gray mist had barely approached the steps before the powerful wind swept it into the sky.
The young man seized the opportunity to charge toward the study.
Two embassy guards swung their swords to intercept him.
Clang! Clang!
The young man's fists struck the blades.
Both guards were sent flying.
The strength of a ninth-level warrior erupted in full.
He smashed open the study door.
On the desk, the black crystal chip lay quietly inside a wooden box.
A flash of delight crossed the young man's eyes.
The instant he reached out, a silver-gray shadow dropped from the roof.
A sharp eagle beak pecked straight at the back of his hand.
The young man immediately withdrew his hand.
Parei spread his wings.
Countless blue-green wind blades appeared within the cramped study.
The young man crossed his arms to protect his head and face.
The wind blades sliced through his clothes, leaving bloody cuts across his skin.
He roared and drove a fist toward Parei.
But Parei had already flown up.
The young man's punch struck nothing.
A large crater was smashed into the study floor.
"A ninth-level warrior," Delia said from outside the door. "They sent only you to take the crystal chip?"
The young man did not answer.
He drew a short sword from his waist and slashed straight at the wooden box.
If I can't take it, I'll destroy it.
A black afterimage suddenly shot through the window.
Bebe slapped a claw against the flat of the short sword.
Clang!
The short sword flew from the young man's hand and embedded itself in the wall.
The young man's expression finally changed.
Bebe landed on the wooden box.
His black eyes stared coldly at the young man.
"You're too late," Delia said.
The young man turned and charged toward the window.
Parei dove from above.
Bebe lunged from the side.
Two level nine magical beasts attacked him simultaneously from both sides.
The young man had no choice but to force a change of direction.
Delia had already completed her wind magic.
Dozens of wind blades sealed off the doors and windows.
Slash!
A wind blade sliced open the young man's thigh.
The next instant, Bebe slammed into his chest.
Bang!
The young man crashed heavily into a bookcase.
Parei's sharp talons clamped down on his shoulders and pinned him to the floor.
Fewer than ten breaths had passed from the beginning of the fight to its end.
Longers had stood at the entrance to the rear courtyard the entire time.
He had not acted.
Nor had there been any need for him to act.
Delia entered the study and picked up the wooden box.
The black crystal chip was completely undamaged.
"There was trouble at the Chamber's warehouse, too," a clerk reported as he ran over. "The River Affairs Bureau's archive room caught fire, and two guards were killed."
Delia looked at the young man pinned beneath Parei.
"They struck all three places."
"But only the embassy had a ninth-level warrior sent against it."
Bebe crouched beside the wooden box and spoke to Linley through their mental link.
"Boss, the embassy is fine."
"We caught a Ninth-level Warrior. The target really was the black crystal shard."
"Understood," Linley replied.
He did not look back.
Inside the abandoned bathhouse in the northern city, Linley and Sessler had already found an underground trapdoor.
Beyond the trapdoor was a narrow passage.
The smell of potions still lingered inside.
"That messenger only passed along information," Sessler said. "This was where he changed identities."
Linley cast a low-strength Gravitational Field.
The bathhouse floor trembled slightly.
A hollow echo came from behind the wall on the left.
Sessler raised his hand.
A skeleton stepped out of a passage to the Undead Realm and smashed the wall with its bony fists.
Behind the wall, a secret passage extending northward was revealed.
The two passed through the secret passage.
At its end stood a residence on Laurel Lane.
There was no one in the courtyard.
But the light in the main house was still on.
Linley pushed open the door and entered.
Several incompletely burned sheets of paper lay on the table.
A white glove lay beside the brazier.
Sessler walked over to the brazier.
"They just left."
He extended his hand, sensing the lingering spiritual fluctuations.
"At least two people."
"One of them was the gray-robed deacon who escaped through the old waterway."
Linley looked toward the rear courtyard.
The ground was paved with neatly laid bluestone slabs.
There were no footprints.
Nor were there any signs that it had been opened.
He cast Gravitational Field again.
Fourfold gravity descended.
Tiny beads of water seeped from the edges of three of the bluestone slabs.
There was an empty space underneath.
Linley stamped down.
The bluestone shattered.
Damp air surged up from underground.
A secret passage wide enough for two people to walk abreast appeared before them.
There were wheel tracks in the passage.
Very recent fluctuations of light essence still lingered there as well.
Sessler crouched and touched the soil.
"They left no more than a quarter of an hour ago."
"Where does the passage lead?"
"Outside the northern city."
Sessler looked in the direction the water traces flowed.
"It should connect to a tributary outside the moat."
Linley recited a magical incantation.
Azure currents of air swirled around his body.
Nine afterimages flashed through the courtyard and vanished.
Wind Shadow Technique.
He did not Dragonform.
Yet his speed in human form had already reached the Saint Realm level.
"Keep up."
Linley stepped into the secret passage.
Sessler recalled the skeleton and rushed in as well.
Deep within the secret passage.
A narrow two-wheeled cart was speeding along iron rails.
The gray-robed deacon sat at the front, the wound on his back having torn open again.
The man wearing white gloves sat at the rear.
He held the white primary shard in his hand.
The black patterns on the crystal shard's surface were growing brighter and brighter.
"The embassy operation failed," the gray-robed deacon said.
"I know."
The white-gloved leader closed his hand.
"The secondary shard is still in Delia's hands."
"The residence in the northern city has been exposed too."
"Then abandon it."
A low rumble suddenly came from behind them.
The airflow in the secret passage changed.
The white-gloved leader raised his head.
An azure figure was rapidly closing in through the darkness.
Ninth-level wind magic, Wind Shadow Technique.
"Linley."
The white-gloved leader stood up.
"He didn't return to the embassy."
The gray-robed deacon's expression changed.
"Then what do we do?"
The white-gloved leader looked ahead toward the ever-nearing sound of water.
"Leave the city."
"Then bring the entire secret passage down."