In a room of the Duke Kazuo's mansion, a woman was pacing about, with a small black communication device in her hand.
"Why isn't that old man picking it up?"
As soon as she said this, the device connected and the voice of Number 1 arrived from the other end.
"Why are you calling me now?"
"There is a problem."
"What? What happened on your side? The vice leader was already pretty pissed the last time… don't tell me you messed up?"
"What? No! It's not me! Another variable has appeared!"
"The Duke found someone who could remove that spell?"
"I'm not sure but it could be."
"Explain!"
"So this person calling himself an oracle arrived earlier…"
Without wasting any time, she explained everything that had happened to Number 1 expecting to listen to his judgment.
After she had finished iterating her story, there was a moment of silence from the other side before Number 1 replied.
"Are you sure it was a real oracle?"
"Amethyst eyes."
"Maybe an artifact?"
"Old man, you really must be going senile, do you think the Duke would allow someone near his woman without verifying first?"
Number 1 felt another headache incoming.
He had never expected so many variables to start appearing and disrupting their plans.
"And where is this person now?"
"With the Duke, don't know what they are doing…"
"We can't let another variable run around disrupting our plans!"
Number 1 was extremely worried that the vice-leader would get angry and kill another Number. And he would have to spend all his time trying to find another person.
"Oracles are probably our worst opponents. No one knows how far or exactly what they can predict…"
The woman who had contacted Number 1 was listening intently.
"It would be a disaster if one of our identities got leaked…"
The woman shuddered at once. She couldn't imagine what she would do if her identity was exposed.
"Hey old man! What if he already exposed one of our identities to the Duke?"
"That probably won't happen… from what you mentioned the oracle seemed to have seen that something happened to the Duke's wife… even if he is able to recognize the spell, the Duke won't be able to find anyone to break it!"
The woman seemed to be reassured at this.
"However oracles are shrouded in mystery… what if he somehow finds a way to lift the spell? Or even worse our identity? You must not let that variable leave alive!"
"Should I kill him?"
"Wait till he finishes his talk with the Duke, follow him and injure him as much as you can… when he is about to die, try to enslave him in return for letting him stay alive and if he refuses…"
He didn't complete his words but he didn't need to.
The woman understood her task and immediately cut off the signal.
After a few moments she could hear the door of the main door opening, which either meant someone was entering or… the oracle was leaving!
Within a second, she opened her door and came out to see what was happening.
This room was on the second floor, and the corridor outside had a pretty nice view of the main door of the mansion.
'Indeed, that oracle is leaving…'
She could see the black haired oracle leave through the main door followed by two guards who closed the door behind him. The Duke was nowhere in sight, probably thinking about whatever he might have been told.
Without wasting any time, she entered the room once again, locked it from inside and vanished in a black mist.
'I feel nothing but pity for you, poor oracle… you shouldn't have poked the hornet's nest!'
She didn't know that she would soon hear the same words from the mouth of the very person she was trying to pity.
*********************************************
Ray had finished talking to the Duke already. After he revealed the 'dangerous' spell that was afflicting the Duke's wife, he had started to believe him.
Ray didn't know how such a foolish and naive person had become a Duke with only power, but compared to the East end the West, this was much easier for him to control.
He had convinced the Duke that she would start losing her memories after around two more weeks, which was, once again, completely a lie.
Ray told him to request the blood from the prince after he got crowned.
The Duke wasn't agreeing at first and wanted to immediately head out, but Ray threw out another wild theory to further increase chaos.
"What if, after she got cured, the person responsible cast the spell on her once again? The same royal blood could not help her then! You should first investigate the duchy thoroughly and only after you ensure that everything is safe should you remove her spell!"
As Ray walked out of the mansion, he was sighing internally. He now knew how this person was manipulated to almost kill him once.
This Duke literally took word for word advice of someone he met moments ago.
'As they say, love blinds you!'
Ray knew that the Duke wouldn't have even met him under normal circumstances… but when a person close to him was at risk? An easy target to manipulate.
This hidden organization had moles almost everywhere, and he didn't really want to spend time running around alone clearing every insect alone.
Now that he had instilled a suspicion in the Duke, he would run thorough investigation on everyone in the duchy and eliminate the moles himself… while the hidden organization would waste their time trying to find 'Aerich' who didn't exist in the first place.
Ray had disguised himself as a butler in the morning, used the magic circle in the castle to teleport to the main city of the Northern Duke, walked to an isolated alley, used Claire's copied skill once again to turn into Aerich and then walked back to the Duke's mansion.
While he was thinking, Ray arrived at the same isolated alley to change back his disguise into a butler.
'But before that…'
"Can you come out already? It's really annoying."
Ray said as he slowly turned back.
*Clap*Clap*Clap*
A black mist appeared from thin air and a person wearing a black cloak and mask appeared.
"As expected of an oracle, you can truly-"
"Not really, you were just lousy."
"…"
'Is that something a oracle should say?'
Ray had extremely high mana control ability, and was really sensitive to the mana surrounding him.
"You were not even trying to hide your presence properly. I didn't think they taught you that you shouldn't underestimate people, but then again it was to be expected from a bunch of cowards running around in cloaks and masks acting all arrogant…"
The figure clad in black suddenly had a bad premonition in its mind.
'Bunch of cowards running around in cloaks and masks? Did he know about our association?'
Her immediate instinct was to deny it, but she remembered that the person in front of her was supposed to be an oracle.
'I can't keep him alive; I don't know how much he knows!'
Her aura started rising sharply, and killing intent was spiking in the air.
Ray however didn't react to it and kept on calm attitude as he kept speaking.
"Sigh… what a disappointment… you shouldn't have callously followed me without hiding properly just because I am an oracle… am I right? Number 3?'
The sharply riding aura from the person faltered for a split second before it became stable once again.
But that split second was enough to confirm Ray's theory.
'Bluffing does have its perks… but now…'
Looking at the aura and killing intent that was steadily rising, Ray couldn't help but feel… excited!
'The first proper fight in this life and its going to be against someone almost on par with me!'
Ray had long guessed that even if he could somehow manage to defeat two of these so called 'Numbers' at once due to his experience and skills, based on strength or stats alone, each figure might be on par with him.
'However… Let's see who you are first! Appraisal!'
A dark screen appeared in front of him and as he looked at it his eyes widened in surprise, but turned back calm once again.
'Interesting… who would have thought…'
The corners of Ray's lips curved as a devilish smile smeared across his face.
Pulling out a sword from his regular spatial ring, he prepared for battle.
At this moment a golden window appeared before him.
[Pride System quest has been generated.]
[Pride System (Legendary)
Quest: The First Real Duel
Requirement: You have met the first hostile force on par with you. Defeat this person and win the battle.
Clear Conditions: (1) You have the pride of a warrior. Proudly win the battle using just your skills and battle techniques.
(2) You have the pride of a winner. Defeat the person using any means you can.
Rewards: (1) 5000 points, Sword of the 9th Hero-(S)
(2) Passive Skill: Battle Sense-(S)-You are extremely aware of your surroundings, the more battles you face the more you are able to develop a sixth sense that can evolve into an almost clairvoyant ability able to tell where a next attack would arrive from, 1000 points
Warning: The Item and Skill are one time Quest only rewards and will not be available in the shop.]
After he read it, Ray made his mind without a second of hesitation.
He knew which one he had to go for.
And as soon as he made his decision, the person in front of him dashed towards him with extreme speed, almost invisible to the naked eye with a dagger in the right hand.
This person was extremely confident in killing the oracle in a single strike.
She knew how strong she was and the oracle that didn't have an ounce of aura around him standing with a plain looking sword felt pathetically weak to her.