The Elusive Sorcerer

Chapter 252

The large city of Kuranda is the most densely populated city in Havanuheta Province. The province also has eleven major cities, several remote areas including Caestevil, Chavez, Hadon, and Todak, as well as several villages scattered throughout the territory ruled by Duke Mergane Tiaolani.

The city's population density has made it a haven for criminal groups, illegal tax collection, and activists who damage public facilities and disturb the comfort of the city's residents.

Although the authorities were flooded with reports from citizens, strangely enough, 'they' did not respond to those reports. Instead, they continued to flatter their rulers, unlike private institutions such as Cevenose and the Travelers' Club, which provided services to citizens for whatever payment they were willing to give, or prayed for the safety of the club.

Of course, with their presence, the trust of the city's residents gradually shifted toward the two institutions, marking the beginning of an internal conflict among the rulers out there.

Behind the city's calmness, every resident harbored anger in their hearts, ready to unleash it if the clash happened in the near future and support them.

Inside the Cathedral of Goddess Yarandrela, a robed man calmly walked toward the hall. With each steady step, his eyes kept glancing at the rows of seats on both sides before shifting toward the podium. Suddenly, the man with a furred robe draped over his shoulders raised his arm, faintly seeing several people standing behind the high legged table.

Then, a crystal lamp with an intricate pattern that emitted a soft blue light hung high above him, reflecting its glow and making the surrounding objects appear clearer than before.

The man fell silent for a moment, looking at several other people who had emerged from different corridors before continuing forward, approaching three men who displayed sincere yet frightening smiles from within.

Upon arriving there, the man lowered his head before firmly saying, "The search was futile. Forgive us."

The Archbishop of Yarandrela Cathedral's smile faded, replaced by a sharp gaze, followed by the grinding of his teeth.

"It seems they aren't doing this to lure us into making a move, are they?" a Vicar bluntly called out.

The bishop turned his head and stared at him for two seconds before saying, "That group must be dealt with as soon as possible. Otherwise, they will surely lead the city's residents astray."

"It seems Bishop Morisson's words are indeed correct," another Vicar said calmly. "We should expand our forces, deploy Receivers if necessary, and capture their highest leader."

Bishop Morisson nodded, realizing that his subordinate's statement was indeed correct. After the incident, he realized that failure would not be tolerated here. It could provoke the Goddess's wrath and become a disaster that threatened the residents of Kuranda City.

Especially with the various other reports, Bishop Morisson no longer hesitated to deploy the holy knights and Receivers if necessary to eradicate the heretical preachers wandering throughout their territory.

"Order your forces to search the entire city, and bring high level spells and artifacts if necessary."

'This matter cannot be taken lightly. The rulers out there, including the other Bishops, must be planning something without the knowledge of Yarandrela Cathedral, especially with the appearance of that demonic sect in Moran City! I don't understand whether they are actually taking action!'

As panic haunted his mind, Bishop Morisson quickly added to dismiss the thought.

"We have business in the city. I'll leave this to you, Lucius."

The Bishop and his two Vicars descended the small steps of the podium before leaving Lucius alone there, although several people from the corridors watched him from a distance.

After they left, knowing that they were busy tending to congregations in several areas, Lucius straightened his gaze, then turned around and looked at those people.

"Come out! I know you're there," Lucius grumbled firmly.

"Well, well. Looks like we've been found out," a man said while crossing his arms behind his head.

"Using a spell, huh?" he said unconsciously. "Does the bishop know about it?" His eyes immediately shifted to his right, toward the last corridor where the Bishop and Vicars had disappeared from his sight.

"Don't panic like that. The old man, ahem, I mean, the Archbishop must know about us, you know!" a green eyed man replied, the bright light from the chandelier above reflecting in his eyes.

Around ten people stared sharply at him, as if waiting for something from him. The man immediately realized that his mouth truly could not be controlled, making him unfit to stand before people as important as them.

"We'd better leave this place immediately," Lucius said firmly.

They nodded in unison, then followed wherever Lucius went before meeting their commander again for this investigative operation.

Their meeting with their commander was brief, after which they simultaneously moved away from the city center and dispersed to different locations where there was potential for the spread of heretical teachings to occur.

...

Meanwhile, still in the large city of Kuranda, several people from a large organization had gathered inside a large building. They were the search team from the Intersection Society Order, one of the many teams within it. Nevertheless, their contributions to the organization had earned them freedom of movement and even the authority to carry out tasks outside their main mission, although those missions had to succeed.

After a series of actions they had carried out over the past few months, they had obtained quite a lot of important information, allowing other members of the organization to move freely and overcome obstacles from other organizations.

Not only that, one piece of information had made them uneasy: a disaster would occur in the Kingdom of Norn, potentially triggering a major war.

A secret organization like the 'Intersection Society' was trying to prevent that from happening. They had sent their important members to investigate it over the past six months, although the results had been unsatisfactory.

One of the female members of the search team, Celina, approached her companion while holding something that jingled like a bell in her hand.

"Look at this! Turns out there's something unique like this!" She could not contain her admiration, realizing that something like this would be far beyond what she could afford on the black market.

A blonde woman tilted her head slightly upward before rising from the armchair. Although the room was quite dark, the woman could clearly recognize the anchor pistol.

"Wasn't this thing supposed to be in that warehouse? Eh, how much is it? Can I use it tonight?"

Celina instinctively raised an eyebrow.

"Tonight?" she repeated, confused and wary.

The blonde woman nodded and answered cheerfully, "Of course. Tonight we'll be carrying out an operation as usual. Besides, the envoy has already given us our salary, you know."

"Eh, salary?" Celina momentarily felt as though her brain were a lamp running out of gas while processing that simple statement.

The blonde woman immediately snatched the anchor pistol from her grasp and carefully inspected its structure and whether it suited her.

She nodded, as if she knew something.

"This might suit that man. But if you take more than five, perhaps we can use them."

Although the item could be useful during their covert operations at night, unlike before when things proceeded as usual under the pretext of having lost a companion who was still being searched for to this day, the woman seemed skeptical about using it herself. Therefore, the only way was to ask Celina how many of the items there were, as the person who had found them.

To be honest, she admitted that the envoy often warned their team to use the item, because something like an anchor pistol was quite flexible when used and useful in critical situations such as running out of spiritual energy.

At first, they refused because using it to escape from battle was too slow and not effective enough, especially when determining the anchor's landing point. They also agreed with Canel Hewwich's proposal to reject the idea of using anchor pistols.

However, the situation was different now, because they were in a difficult position and were forced to take them wherever they went, especially tonight.

"What time is it now, Celina?" the woman asked while returning the anchor pistol to her.

Celina happily accepted it, her previous confusion gone, and answered while making a guess, "Ten to... ten minutes to nine..."

The woman nearly frowned before suddenly laughing after seeing Celina's awkward behavior again.

'Thank goodness, she isn't being carried away by that emotion anymore. Fool, I can't imagine how she could defeat that man, when that man himself calmly defeated that terrifying monster.'

"Aaron Kwok, huh."

Celina was about to walk over to place the two anchor pistols on the table, but she suddenly froze after hearing those words. Her mind suddenly went blank, and the bones throughout her body suddenly prickled as if something terrifying had seeped into her head, swirling around inside her mind.

"Did you just say something?"

The woman, who had turned around and walked back to her seat, answered loudly, "It's just your imagination."

Fortunately, she had not been careless enough to mention that name in front of her, although luck seemed to be on her side.

After sitting down, her eyes focused on Celina, who was packing the items she had found, while her thoughts drifted toward her own problem.

'I don't know for certain, and if that's true, then that man definitely isn't an ordinary person. I remember clearly...'

She imagined the time when she and the other members of her team had once been assigned to hunt down a man named Aaron Kwok. Of course, she had seen his face and the way Aaron Kwok charged into a group of his enemies, even a Receiver.

'If I remember correctly, his ability had something to do with exorcising demons and creatures of that sort. An Exorcist, perhaps? If so, what level was he at that day?'

Various assumptions suggested that the real Aaron Kwok had been at least at level three or above when fighting that woman and her teammates, who were mostly at the third level.

However, the truth was that Aaron Kwok had been at level one at the time.

'Thinking about that is pointless. Besides, someone like him must live in fear of death and alone, because someone like him surely has no friends. How could anyone be friends with someone being targeted by a major organization out there? You really are unlucky, Aaron Kwok. If you joined the Intersection Society Order, the higher ups would surely be happy to accept you.'

Celina, who had already finished her work, frowned as she watched the woman's strange behavior as she nodded while smiling to herself.

'Has she gone crazy?'

After thinking that, Celina tried to bring her back to her senses, and afterward, the two exchanged their thoughts while waiting for their companion, who was on his way there.

The reason for their delay was none other than being busy dealing with a group of troublemakers who had been disturbing the city's residents, including them, by distributing counterfeit money.

Their actions are simple: find their information, find them, and catch them and get two rewards twice. That method sounds sneaky, but what's wrong with doing that to survive in a world where danger can lurk at any time, especially when it comes to stomach problems?

There are many problems going on and some factions are trying to take advantage of the opportunity. After all, as a commoner and someone with the authority to govern. There will definitely be new conspiracies emerging, no matter how related to position and power over supernatural abilities and the wonders of the world. Here are the real facts about how dystopian intrigue and the supernatural become the perfect combination like living amidst a wave of despair.

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