The following morning, Adam woke up early and left before the tavern keeper even noticed, only leaving a bit more pieces of gold behind. He left his nameless kingdom as quickly as he arrived, leaving nothing notable behind.
He continued on his path to travel to each kingdom, getting the general atmosphere and situations surrounding each kingdom. Each one has its unique quirk and should be taken seriously, taking advantage of what each kingdom has to offer is what Adam would use as leverage to gain influence.
The closest kingdom to Adam is the Kingdom of Ore, the only kingdom where he wasn't planning on getting any influence. Though each kingdom in the Louga Coalition has equal authority, this didn't mean that each one had equal power.
Though he did have to pass through some kingdoms, he finally made it to the Kingdom of Ore two days later.
When he reached the gates of the kingdom, he saw people getting checked and getting their belonging searched. This would've been a problem if Adam didn't already prepare in advance to act as a merchant.
After lining up, it was finally Adam's turn.
"Sir, get out of the carriage and let us search your belongings."
"By all means."
The guards opened the back and saw a few miscellaneous items from a few ordinary swords to some spices and vegetables. They half-heartedly checked each item and put it back where they found it.
"Pay the fee and you can enter."
Adam tossed a single gold coin towards the guard and was finally let through. When he entered, it was a really bright yet cloudy place. The toxic fumes were obviously concentrated on one part of the kingdom and a cheery atmosphere was concentrated on another area.
Adam chose to go to the place where everyone else beside him was going to. When he got closer to the merchant area, the sounds of people arguing about prices and people laughing mixed while still creating a very lively atmosphere.
Adam looked around the trading area looking for something that might catch his eye but sadly couldn't find anything. He then went to the middle of the square to find the City Hall to rent a place out.
When he reached the front of the City Hall, he jumped off and tied his horse down to the poles on the side. He entered the City Hall and went to the woman on the counter.
"Good morning, sir! How may I serve you today?"
"I'd like to rent out a stand. How much will it be?"
"There are quite a few stands you can rent out from a few coppers coins day to luxurious stand only costing a few gold coins. What will it be?"
"I'll take the cheapest one."
"Sorry sir, it has been all rented out. Due to a certain genius going here, daily traffic increased to an unprecedented degree. The lowest-priced stand will be 4 silver coins a day, are you going to rent it out?"
Adam received some valuable information from this simple exchange, he paid the amount for an entire week and was directed to a guide who led him to where the stand was. It was relatively close to the middle of the trading area but was far enough to be unnoticed.
He got all of his items from his carriage and laid it all out in plain view. A few customers went and looked around buying a few items. Adam made some casual conversation with his customers and received some more information regarding this genius from the Kingdom of Clouds.
Apparently, this genius is named Mathias. He has reached Tier 2 and quite skilled in a lot of spells and a master of few. He had stated that this was his first destination since he needed gear to explore this land.
Adam understood that this person was extraordinary when compared to everyone else but compared to the children in the mainland, he was nothing of note.
When night finally approached, he managed to sell the majority of his stock and decided to pack up and stay at a nearby inn. He got everything ready and when he finally reached his room, he took his mask off and wore his signature black cape.
The disguise for the day was done, it was now the time to do what he was supposed to. From the beginning of the day until now, he had been observing the guards' rotation and routes. Now, it was time to check the guards' night routine and see if there were any holes he could exploit.
Half the night passed when Adam finished observing the important routes when he finally reached the royal castle. He entered the castle unnoticed due to the black cloak masking his presence completely nullifying anyone's perception of him.
He searched the guard's rotation at each floor and marked it down for the day. It would've been fine if he had his spies check it for themselves but this was a faster method, any other route Adam missed would be filled out by his spies.
Adam reached a certain door, it was the door leading to the room that Mathias is sleeping at. When he saw the door, he saw a magic seal acting as an alarm if the door was opened. Adam easily broke through and entered the room.
He pulled out a circular disk and placed it on Mathias' chest. A few moments passed when a few symbols appeared on the screen of the device that said 'Acceleration.' When Adam saw this trait, he got a little irritated at what it meant.
This Trait, Acceleration, meant that everything that he did, the speed of it was accelerated, meaning time was irrelevant at his hands. He would've been useful but someone who was groomed by someone else at a young age was someone Adam wouldn't be able to trust.
Right after doing that, Adam left the castle and returned to his room. He wrote down the information he had gathered this night and sent it back to his castle, letting his spies know in advance.
He then decided to call it a day and take a few hours rest before setting up the following day.
Meanwhile, Zane was sitting down gathering mana when he heard a sudden knock on his door.
"Come in."
When the door opened, two girls entered with a clear motive in mind. They greeted each other to get the formalities out of the way but immediately went to explain their reason for coming here.
"Zane, do you know what Adam's been planning?"
"Huh?"
Confusion appeared on Zane's face. He had no idea where this sudden question came up but he was still willing to hear them out.
"Being the person that's been with him the longest, do you have any idea what he's planning?"
"I remember him saying something about how this will be for the greater good. It's supposed to be devastating for the time being but with time it'll benefit everyone."
Eve got closer and whispered a few words to Zane's ear, "He's going to take mana from the entire country and ripping of the root. He's going to cripple this country!"
This sudden news felt it was extremely out of place, being with Adam for the past few years, this was something that wouldn't make sense. There would be no real reason for Adam to do this since he's going to make the entire country of Garish into his enemy.
Zane stood up paced around the room thinking about what Eve just told him.
"So, why did you tell me this?"
Eve shrugged and answered, "I just wanted you to know what he's planning to do. This is something that I don't think will help anyone at all, even Adam."
Zane felt this will be the next deciding factor on what will shift his future. Ever since he was with Adam, he had gotten into fights, life and death battles where he had been thrown into. Though this was the case, he did gain power he wouldn't have even dreamed of, he was even given what he wanted at a moment's notice.
A certain bias formed within his mind and simply said, "For the time being I'll trust Adam. I don't know what he's been doing behind the scenes but from what I've seen, it has only benefitted people."
This time, Mira raised her voice at Zane's thoughts, "Are you crazy? What do you mean benefitted people?"
"You remember when I got here, that kingdom that forced people to slavery? It's now liberated. Besides, you can't honestly forget the war that you helped ended."
Mira now spoke out to her heart's content, "I heard that the kingdom was liberated by paving a path of blood! How many had to die just to free that kingdom? The war? You don't even realize what happened! They were running away but were still slaughtered without mercy! There was even that single person who was killed just because he got near to me!"
Zane simply said, "The people in that kingdom is now being ruled by Abel and Gabe, the people there are finally free and living in peace. Abel has been organizing internal affairs and Gabe had been protecting them."
Zane then stepped forward in front of Mira's face and said, "The war? I'd say cutting off loose ends. It might've seemed ruthless to you but to me, it was a necessary move. Getting rid of problems right now so that everything will be fine for the future."
Zane now was building up a very dense force within himself causing Mira to fall back, "Not everything can be fixed like in a fairy tale. Wake up, this is the real world."
Mira gathered up her courage and raised her voice, "No! There's still a path he could've taken! With how much a self-proclaimed genius he is, there was something he could've done to end it without so much bloodshed."
"That I agree but with how much importance he's had on time, this looked like the path that ended the conflict the fastest."
"Then what about his grand plan?! How will that help anyone?"
Zane let off the force that gathered inside him and dispersed it, letting him calm down, "Right now, I'll trust Adam. As much as it benefitted him, it also helped those around him. Besides, I guarantee it will definitely help you."
Mira felt Zane's piercing gaze and felt extremely hypocritical. Asking who would've benefitted from all this when, in fact, she was the most who will benefit the most. Finally being able to break away from her Trait and live normally.
"I suggest you leave now. I still have to continue my training, so should you."
Mira immediately left grabbing Eve by her arm and forcing her to come with her. Despite this move, Eve remained.
"You go ahead, I just want to make sure of something."
Mira didn't say anything and just left.
"So, what did you want to make sure of?"
"I just wanted to see if that naive kid is still there."
Eve came closer towards Zane with her hands behind her back. As she was right in front of Zane, she brought out her daggers and aimed to slice Zane's neck. With Zane's combat sense and experience, he reactively placed his hand to catch the daggers swinging at him.
"Not bad, you did learn something."
"If it's a spar you want then so be it."
Eve threw one of her daggers towards Zane's eyes but he dodged by sliding to the side. Though he managed to dodge the incoming dagger, he failed to notice Eve coming from his side with a dagger aimed at his heart. He then placed his hand in the dagger's trajectory but it stopped before it pierced his hand.
Eve jumped back and juggled the few daggers on her hands, "How about we make this even more interesting?"
Zane then brought out his sword and said, "How?"
Eve threw three daggers towards Zane simultaneously targetting different vital points but Zane blocked it all by using his giant sword.
"Loser gets to answer the winner's five questions."
"Fine by me."
After an hour of constant clashes, Eve opened the door and left, leaving a room full of sword marks and embedded daggers all around, there stood Zane just as unharmed as Eve.