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Equinox City, Salazar's castle
Inside the secret chamber underneath the castle, Ulrich Salazar contacted his subordinates for an update on the central region's situation.
However, they failed to provide anything useful in the past several days.
"What do you mean you still don't know what's happening in Sunpeak Town?! I've given you several days to find out already! How hard is it to do a single task?! Are you not a Rank 5 powerhouse?!"
Ulrich cursed through the communicator after he lost his patience.
He had been seeking an update every day, and each time he checked, he would become more disappointed than the last.
"I'm sorry for my incompetence, Your Excellency," Death Blade apologized on the other side of the communicator.
"Naturally, it's impossible for over a hundred of our members to disappear overnight without a single trace while carrying out their mission in Sunpeak Town. In fact, this subordinate believes many people inside Sunpeak Town know what happened to them."
"However, the problem is that none of our scouts have returned after entering the town to investigate, no matter what disguise they used. I feel like our opponent has a way of tracking our identities," Death Blade suspected.
"Have we not resolved Furhengir's bloodline problem with the bloodline concealers?" Ulrich asked with a dark look before continuing, "Or are you telling me the Kingdom of Black Rose possesses more advanced tracking magic tools that render my bloodline concealers useless?"
"I'm not sure if it's the work of a magic tool, Your Excellency," Death Blade said honestly.
"Although I have not entered the town myself, I have always felt like an almighty and omniscient being is overseeing the town, protecting it from all who enter it with ill intentions. At least, that's the kind of danger sense the town is giving me."
"Whoever killed Lord Smiling Knife and Lord Dream Streak is surely not an opponent I can contend with, Your Excellency," Death Blade added.
"That's no excuse for your incompetence! I am not asking you to fight whoever killed our people; I'm telling you to find out who did it!" Ulrich roared at the communicator.
"Surely, people aren't just entering the town. There should be people leaving the town as well! Just grab a few and interrogate them! I'll give you three more days to produce some useful information."
"If you continue to disappoint me, be prepared for punishments!" Ulrich warned before shutting off the communicator.
He didn't have a lot of time to handle the affairs of the Assembly of Silent Night, especially when he had many important guests in his city.
After fixing his expression, Ulrich exited his secret chamber and went to attend to the nobles and lords.
…
Meanwhile, Death Blade sighed after Ulrich's obscured display vanished from the communicator screen.
"Impatient and unreasonable as ever, huh?" Steel Jackal chuckled nearby before suggesting, "If you ever feel like betraying the leader, let me know. I'll join you."
"We are obviously dealing with someone more powerful than we can handle; the leader is practically urging us to die. It's not too late to abandon the mission and run away."
"And run where exactly?" Death Blade glanced at Steel Jackal and said, "Even if we hide in the corners of the earth, Leader will find us one way or another. He is just too strong. You should know better than to betray Leader."
"Of course. I was just joking with you, Lord Death Blade," Steel Jackal laughed it off.
However, it was uncertain whether it was truly a joke or if he was serious.
Nevertheless, Death Blade had made valid points. Even if they knew the leader's true identity, it wasn't something they could use against the person.
After all, the person was still a Peak-level Rank 5 being.
Even if they exposed Ulrich Salazar's true identity as the Devil's Contractor, the person would only lose their backing and connections. They didn't know anyone powerful enough to kill the person.
Thus, they would eventually suffer as a result of their betrayal.
"We better get to work then. We only have three days," Steel Jackal added with a sigh, getting off his lazy ass.
…
…
…
Kingdom of Black Rose, Fort Whitebridge
Sometime after Vaan and the others toured the white stone fort, the Lord of Dragontail, Agatha, and the Lord of Ironhaven, Melusina, arrived for the scheduled meeting.
However, they ran into Vaan and also made the mistake of underestimating him while he was disciplining the fort's troops and teaching them some key command words to remember.
As a result, two border lords were also beaten into submission by Aeliana, who followed closely behind him like a shadow.
"You two, stand there and watch. You'll be teaching your troops the same drills once you return to your territories. Is that clear?" Vaan instructed shortly after receiving their allegiance with the Oath of Magic.
"Y-Yes, Lord Vahn!" Agatha and Melusina answered as they kneeled on the ground with bruised cheeks and black eyes.
Unlike Artemis, who only had a bruised mark around her neck, Agatha and Melusina had evidently received a much more physical lesson from Aeliana.
However, they weren't the only ones to have received a beating in the last hour. At least several dozens of battle witches had also suffered similar surface injuries.
That said, they weren't beaten for disrespecting Aeliana's lord. Instead, they were simply unlucky enough to be Aeliana's training partners.
"May I ask what is the purpose of the current training regime, Lord Vahn?" Agatha carefully asked before mentioning, "If you reduce the fort's troops to such states, it will become more difficult to defend the fort in the face of a sudden attack."
"You don't need to worry about that. The empire won't invade before they acquire the justification and moral high ground to start a war," Vaan coolly stated before adding, "Even if they do, the fort's troops won't be able to achieve anything in their present state."
"Fort Whitebridge had known peace for too long. As a result, the battle witches are all out of shape, both physically and mentally. As such, the current training regime aims to whip them back into shape."
"It just so happens that pain stimulation and physical exercises are effective methods in achieving just that," Vaan casually stated.
Shortly after, he explained the relationship between magic and vessels.
A witch's body was a vessel for containing their magic. If the vessel were weak, so too would their magic. On the other hand, a strong vessel would be able to contain more powerful magic.
As such, it was important to strengthen the vessel.
More importantly, poor vessels prevented the battle witches from practicing the mana utilization method. With their poor concentration and control, they were prone to making mistakes.
And mistakes with the mana utilization method would result in serious—if not deadly internal injuries.
Although the battle witches did not appear to be fat, it could be seen how unfit they were. They all looked like they were about to die from a little exercise and beating.
But no matter how much they disliked their situation, they could only grit their teeth and persevere through their training regime.
After all, they were also forced to swear their allegiance to Vaan with the Oath of Magic.
Vaan wouldn't want to leave their loyalty to chances, considering military discipline was lacking, and they also had their egos.
Most importantly, it was hard to imagine the consequences if his orders weren't followed during the war.
Nevertheless, while the fort's battle witches were being ingrained with the training regime, Artemis suddenly rushed over to inform Vaan.
"Lord Vahn, we're receiving a call from one of the Holy Knight Empire's border lords, Lord Arderlard of Holsworthy City," Artemis reported.
"And you haven't answered the call?" Vaan asked.
"No, my Lord!" Artemis denied, shaking her head vehemently before saying, "I figured it was best to inform you first."
"You made the right call," Vaan acknowledged with a nod before signaling Artemis to lead the way. He also instructed Agatha and Mesulina to follow them.
"What do you think the empire wants with Lord Artemis, my Lord?" Aeliana curiously asked along the way.
"Hmm…" Vaan briefly pondered before saying, "Well, if the empire is contacting Lord Artemis around this time after they just announced their demand recently, they might be hoping to seek some information through her or gauge her stance."
"We'll know for sure once we get there," Vaan added.
Shortly after they reached the council room where the communication magic tool was last left, Vaan did not ask Artemis to accept the call immediately.
"How good is your acting?"
"I…"
Vaan didn't wait for the border lords to finish their answer.
The moment they hesitated, he immediately got his answer. As such, he instructed Aeliana to cast a temporary memory loss spell on them, forcing them to forget everything before their meeting with him and the others.
As a result, Artemis, Agatha, and Mesulina immediately frowned with confusion once the temporary memory loss spell took effect.
However, they were bound to Vaan by their Oaths of Magic.
Thus, they couldn't refuse his orders without sensing their mana circles and veins cracking even though they couldn't recognize who he was or why he could command them.
Vaan gave them time to accept their situation before instructing them to receive Lord Arderlard's call.
"Good day to you, Lord Artemis. I can see Lord Agatha and Lord Mesulina are with you as well," Lord Arderlard greeted on the other side of the communication crystal before saying, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything?"
"It sure took you some time to accept my call," Lord Arderlard added.
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