Unsealing Emptiness

He had sensed that the man was a Rank-8 Mage. And he remembered that the High Priest was actually a post only below the Bishop. It spoke volumes of how strong the Church was since there were quite a few High Priests in total. This meant that all of them could be Rank-8 Mages!

However, Ozul’s focus was not on that. Instead, he was thinking about what this man wanted with him.

‘He knows? Hm...’ Ozul could only reach such a conclusion since Garth showed extra enthusiasm towards him.

But this single fact made him sure of a lot more possibilities. If the Emperor had really told the Church about him, then it could only mean that he had left everything for the Church to deal with!

‘... Of course, they are allies. Indeed, the Silverbird Kingdom really hasn’t been sitting back all this time.’ Ozul concluded in his mind.

Many of the big powers in the continent seemed to have not been taking any part in the struggle over the Neutral Lands, but the reality was actually quite the opposite. All those powerful organizations had instead allied themselves with the ones actively taking part in it.

.....

Anyways, after realizing what the Emperor was thinking, Ozul knew what these guys would want from him. And from the friendly smile on Garth’s face hiding those ill intents, he understood that they would never ask for his cooperation first.

‘Fine by me...’ Ozul shrugged inside his mind. He did not mind teaching a few brain dead people their place.

It had been a few seconds while Ozul hadn’t moved from his place. It was quite awkward for Garth to pull his hand back after getting ignored.

“Ozul,” he simply said his name.

The few men standing behind Garth showed displeasure on their faces.

Noticing the atmosphere turning a little awkward, Garth heartily laughed again and spoke, “So, it must have been a tiring journey-”

“No,” Ozul interrupted him in the middle of his sentence.

“Huh?” Garth looked at him, dumbfounded. Even the men standing behind him were stupefied.

‘At least follow the basic courtesy!’ they were cursing him in their mind.

“It wasn’t tiring. I took proper rest,” Ozul replied while keeping his face expressionless.

“Cough... It’s fine. Follow him; he will take you to the treasury. You have all done a great service to the Church. On behalf of the whole Church, I would once again like to thank all of you. Of course, the payment will be separate, haha!” Garth quickly changed the topic.

Even as a Rank-8 Mage, Garth kept up his image as the High priest and showed his kind side.

Though Ozul knew that it wasn’t the case as he felt those corrupting emotions bubbling inside Garth.

“She will take them,” Ozul gestured towards Raven, who followed behind the man that led the other mercenaries to the treasury. He also motioned towards Blaze, who hurriedly ran after Raven.

At the same time, Rufus whispered something to his subordinates, who left the place as well.

After all the others left, silence descended around the area. Both disguised, Cyril and Mark stood quietly behind Ozul while Rufus and Garth stood opposite to them.

Cyril and Mark were observing the two men standing opposite to them, while Garth only had his eyes fixed on Ozul.

He and Rufus knew that there was something wrong about the two lean men standing behind Ozul, but they were not so important right now.

Even when all four of them were Rank-8 Mages, Rufus and Garth could not gauge the duo’s cultivation, which spoke volumes of their expertise in stealth.

“So... how long will you be staying here?” Garth asked, seemingly trying to dispel the awkwardness but with hidden motives.

“Depends,” Ozul replied.

“Depends? On what?” Garth asked confusedly.

“On you people,” Ozul again gave a brief reply, but this alarmed Garth.

‘Does he know? Hm... He probably does. But it wouldn’t change anything now, heh.’ Garth thought inside his mind while keeping a small smile on the outside.

He was just about to continue their talk when Raven and Blaze came back. They had already received the payment and stored in their Spatial Rings.

Ozul looked at Raven, who nodded her head.

“Let’s go then,” he said before the group turned around, without minding Rufus and Garth.

Garth kept up his smile even while watching them walk away. To his side, Rufus spoke, “I don’t know what you plan to do with him, but I can only advise you to be careful.”

“No matter how I look at him, he feels dangerous.”

Listening to his words, Garth’s smile disappeared for the first time that he had made his appearance.

“I know, Rufus. He indeed is an oddball. But we wouldn’t have gone to all those troubles if he was normal in the first place,” Garth said with a serious face.

To his side, Rufus could only shake his head with a sigh.

——–

Back to the group, they walked on the street with Raven occasionally turning her head towards Cyril and Mark.

She had been meaning to ask who they were for a while now, but only now she found the time. Just as she was about to say something, Ozul stopped walking, which caused others to pause as well.

“What happened?” Blaze asked. He turned his head to look at where Ozul was looking.

There was a tall building with an extravagant entrance. Tens of people kept pouring in and out of it.

A crescent shape carved on black obsidian-like stone hung on the outside. However, they could not recognize any organization with that symbol.

“Both of you will stay here,” Ozul said as both Raven and Blaze immediately sprang from their spot.

“But we have learned our lesson! There won’t be a second time, promise!” both of them shouted at the same time. They had just reunited after a whole month.

“I know, but I have something to do. Don’t worry. I will be back. Both of you need some rest as well,” Ozul said, making Raven and Blaze look down at their appearance.

They would have looked nothing less than some street beggars if it wasn’t for their appearance!

Under his persuasion, the duo had no other choice but to nod their heads reluctantly.

“Is it about these two?” Raven asked while pointing at Cyril and Mark.

Ozul nodded his head before saying, “Make sure you don’t go anywhere far from here. It might take some time for me to return.”

After saying that, Ozul quickly turned around and walked away, followed by Mark and Cyril.

‘I won’t be able to guarantee their safety while in front of a Rank-9 Mage,’ Ozul knew that they were nowhere near the level to take care of themselves in this kind of place.

“Lead the way,” Ozul said as Mark nodded his head before they increased their pace.

Their speed slowly increased to the point where they started to run, and after a few minutes, average humans couldn’t even see a shadow of them pass by.

With no one to hold them back anymore, the three increased their speed to an inhumane level.

A few moments later, they appeared at the far ends of the city, stopping on top of a thick tree.

“So, where is the headquarters?” Ozul asked as Mark released a sigh of relief. He could finally rest easy that Ozul really did know that he lied before.

“It would take us around half an hour to the northwest,” Mark replied.

Ozul nodded his head, and the group again disappeared from the tree, moving towards that direction.

Half an hour later, they arrived near a settlement. It looked like a town. Ozul wasn’t surprised to find another settlement in the Neutral Lands other than the Neutral City since it was a vast place.

“This is one of the nearest towns to the Neutral City. People call it Orita town,” Mark introduced the settlement.

“Here is your organization?” Ozul did not care about the town. He was here to talk with the person running this assassination agency.

“Yes... and well, almost every organization knows about this place. I lied before that girl about this location since it would probably reveal our identity,” Mark confirmed as he finally explained himself, not being able to hold back anymore.

As expected, Ozul did not care about that. For all he knew, these people hadn’t once shown their true appearance at all.

Even the one which they showed the very first time was their disguise!

However, he hadn’t pointed it out or forced them to take off the disguise because he did not have much enthusiasm for seeing their real appearance.

They entered the town with the duo putting on a hat just to blend in with the surrounding people. Almost everyone in the town had their faces covered up. It seemed that this place was quite famous for shady dealings.

“I assume that all of this is because of your... Order of Dusk?” Ozul had to think for a while before he remembered the name of their organization.

“Ah, yes. As I said, many are familiar with this place. Though we may be assassins, we can’t take on the missions if we are not famous enough to receive the requests in the first place.” Mark explained.

“And not to boast, but the Order of Dusk is the most powerful assassination agency on the continent!” Cyril added before he lifted his head in pride.