Bloed Norman.
The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes when he saw that name. He then opened the document and started to read the information inside.
When he finished reading, he furrowed his brows.
"This information is almost useless. Besides the place where he is living right now, everything else is something I already know."
The skinny man in charge of recollecting information smiled bitterly.
"You can't blame us for that. Originally, we planned to follow the target to monitor his movements and thus learn about his habits, likes, and dislikes. Unfortunately, that plan fell apart the first day."
"What happened?" Asked the middle-aged man.
"Well, he and his companions managed to find out that they were being monitored. Then, they located one of our men and caught him, forcing him to commit suicide. When we learned of that, I immediately retracted all the men in charge of monitoring him. I didn't dare to send more men to his deaths. The information I gave you was something I got after asking for help from some people of the city hall and investigating with some information brokers."
The middle-aged man frowned. "Does the boy know about us?"
"… I think he doesn't." The skinny guy said after a bit of hesitation. "Our men are professionals. They will reveal nothing even in front of the worst torture."
"Good." The middle-aged man nodded. "This is enough. From today, you are relieved from your duties in this city. Return to the capital for your next assignment."
"… R-Really?" The skinny man was startled and nervous. "B-But, did I do anything wrong?"
"Nothing like that. It's just that the work you have done in this city has been deemed enough for a promotion. Return to the capital, you will receive the details there."
The skinny man turned excited. Without hesitation, he bowed to the middle-aged man before running to his room to pack his things.
Finally, half an hour later, he departed under the orders of the middle-aged man.
But as soon as he left the house, the middle-aged man looked at one of the people with him.
"You know what to do. Wait until he leaves the city."
"Understood, Mr. Sebastian." The hooded person kneeled on the ground before disappearing.
Sebastian continued looking at the documents carefully. Even although most of the information here were things he already knew, he still did not ignore it.
At that moment, the other hooded person spoke.
"Is he our target? A C-Rank boy?"
"He is."
The hooded person giggled in amusement. "Hahaha, how interesting. A demigod and two A-Ranks were sent to catch a little C-Rank boy. Is this boy a prince or something like that, Mr. Sebastian? Or could it be that you alone are not enough to catch him?"
Sebastian frowned. A few seconds later, Sebastian shook his head.
"… You are right. Normally, this lineup would be overkill for just a boy. However, I have a bad feeling about it?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Sebastian did not answer. Inwardly, however, he remembered the silver-haired girl beside the prince.
He still remembered the sense of danger he felt when he saw that girl's eyes.
Even although that girl seemed like nothing more but a C-Rank practitioner, Sebastian knew well to trust his instincts.
Thus, just in case that girl is strong enough to fight in par with him, he brought two extra A-Ranks.
"… Let's just hope that I'm imagining things."
…
Bloed and Liu Ying were seated in the courtyard while looking in the direction of the center of the city.
Charise, the Saintess of the Church of Fate, had said that she was going to attack Bernard tonight. Thus, Bloed and Liu Ying were looking in the direction of Bernard's mansion in hopes of catching a glimpse of something announcing the start of the fight.
Unfortunately, even after the sun hid and the moon lit up the night sky, nothing seemed to happen.
"… Could it be that nothing is going to happen?"
Bloed shrugged. "Perhaps it already started, just that we did not notice anything."
Liu Ying smiled wryly. "… Yeah, that is a possibility too." She then hugged her legs and put on a pensive expression. "… But that saintess… She sure spoke a lot."
Bloed looked at Liu Ying with an amused look. "What? Are you curious about the things she said about me?"
"Huh? Y-Yes… N-No! I mean, I'm not… Well, perhaps a bit. But if you don't want to talk about it, you don't need to."
Bloed laughed briefly. "You don't need to be so nervous. Actually, you already know so much about me that knowing about this is not a problem… It's just that I don't like to talk about it very much."
"… Is it about before you were sent to the exiled lands?"
Bloed nodded. "Yeah… I told you that my mother adopted me, right? It's about my family before that. To be honest, I don't want to talk about them now."
Liu Ying fell silent. Seeing Bloed's reluctance to talk about them and remembering the fact that he is manaless, she quickly arrived at a possibility.
��… They exiled you."
Bloed smiled wryly.
"And they sent people for me now."
Liu Ying's face turned cold.
"Do they want to throw you into the exiled lands again?"
"Perhaps, who knows?" Bloed shrugged. "Whatever the reason, though, I don't want to meet them again."
"Yeah, I understand." Liu Ying nodded. She then stared at Bloed with her beautiful amber eyes. "Don't worry, I will help you."
"… Sorry for involving you in my troubles."
"What are you saying? We are friends, are we not?"
Bloed smiled and nodded.
At that moment, the pair heard a set of footsteps coming towards them.
Turning around, they saw Regina approaching with a serious expression.
"Master, I just felt several powerful energy fluctuations coming from different parts of the city."
"… Energy fluctuations? Do you mean mana? Could it be that there are people fighting in the city."
But before Regina could answer, the ground trembled.
Then–
*BOOOMMM!!!*
A powerful explosion shook the entire city.
And a giant magic circle shrouded Diadel City.
...
P4TRE0N: patr-eon.com/aidnovels