Before Murakan left, he wrote a letter to Gilly and an approximate trail that he'd take for his journey
A series of 'marks' he'd leave throughout the path, so others can track him down.
And every four days, the Seven-Colored Peacock constantly kept an eye out for these tracks. On November 20th, 1797, in a town called 'Santel' in the Krash Mountains, a battle between a dragon and a monster was reported.
One of the places where Murakan meant to leave a mark.
"Sir! There is something off. Immediately after we confirmed the mark in the mountains, we received reports of a battle between a fire dragon and a monster. Apparently the monster was completely black with wings, just like a dragon…"
"So the fire dragon fought Murakan?"
"Perhaps."
"Why? Just because there was a battle immediately after he left the mark?"
"Along with that, the village of Santel is under lockdown. Even if we send our agents, they can't breach the security lines. Everything is in flames, but not a single press release on the topic!"
It definitely looked suspicious. Even though the Krash Mountains were basically untapped landmarks, such a battle would make it to the front page easily.
The agents could scrape up some information from the villagers, but further investigation was halted.
"We barely got information regarding the monster's description. If we were even an hour late, we wouldn't have gotten primary witnesses. I definitely think it was Murakan."
Censorship lay in the hands of the monarchy.
On top of that, a fire dragon. Things weren't looking too good.
"Fire dragon and censorship. Milord, it must be the work of Zipfel."
"…A fire dragon with Zipfel, that can only be Kelliark's guardian dragon, Kadun."
Enya looked worried sick as she spoke. A dark mood filled the room.
"Jet."
"Yes, Miss Quikantel?"
"Is there anything else about the fire dragon's descriptions? Looks or fighting style."
"I've only heard that it looks rather large compared to its counterparts."
Quikantel sighed.
"It's Kadun. Jin, I think he got ambushed. We should've given this more thought and not sent him alone. Ever since he came to Vermont, Zipfel has been on him the entire time."
Quikantel looked very uncomfortable.
Even in his prime, Murakan still struggled against Kadun. Now in a state of weakness, he didn't stand a chance against him.
Quikantel knew this the best. As soon as she got the confirmation of the opposing dragon, she looked the most anxious.
"Please calm down, Miss Quikantel. Murakan definitely isn't dead. As the contractor, I haven't felt anything."
"Shit! If Kadun took down Murakan, of course he didn't kill him. If he does, then the next contract falls out of their hands. Either he's in a cage with his wings ripped off or he's under drugs. Since they want Solderet's contract, they'll use him to find you."
Jin remembered what Andrei said before.
—I applaud your ambush. However, you and your god will become ingredients for the Demon God's Orb, Jin Runcandel.
The orb's most important ingredients.
Jin could tell how important Solderet's power was to Zipfel.
Andrei and Vyureta died that day, but they could tell that the black dragon was active.
The day Jin became a provisional flag-bearer and flew away from the Garden of Swords on Murakan. When he flew to Vermont for Quikantel. Killing the Graveyard Giant. Kollon Ruins.
Even if it wasn't within the Lutero Magic Federation, Zipfel's agents could relay this information and continue to chase him down.
'As Miss Quikantel said, they might have been hunting me down from the start.'
Of course, this was because Murakan insisted on traveling alone to see Misha.
But regret didn't help the situation. They needed decisive decisions and swift actions.
"But sir, there's one more unusual clue."
"What is it?"
"Isn't the holy kingdom of Vankella a neutral state? We concluded that the censorship was on Zipfel's side, but the lockdown was done by the Vankellan paladins."
Since Santel belonged to the Shol Kingdom, it wasn't Vankella's land.
"So the battle was between Kadun and Murakan, the censorship was by Zipfel, and the lockdown by Vankella?"
"Precisely. In fact, the Shol Kingdom isn't doing anything."
Definitely an unusual outcome.
The holy kingdom of Vankella indeed dispatched their paladins and healers to protect citizens from crossfire; they never locked down an entire area.
That would be the Shol Kingdom's responsibility. If they didn't have the resources, then it should be Zipfel, who oversaw the entire area.
Jin assumed that it'd be Zipfel in the first place.
"On top of that, when the agents and other reporters gathered to enter, they got harsh retaliation from the paladins. Almost like they were being treated as intruders."
"So what you're saying is that the holy kingdom is siding with Zipfel?"
Vankella historically never took a side. Even in his past life, Jin always saw Vankella remain neutral.
"Though we aren't sure, we made that assumption."
Silence.
They couldn't gain anything else without entering Santel themselves. Gilly lay her hand on Jin's shoulder.
"Young Master, he isn't one to go down so easily. I think you should head over before you get worried sick. It may just be a monster with black wings."
Despite these words, her hand was trembling. She suppressed her emotions as much as possible to relieve Jin.
Beyond just a partner, Murakan was his family. If anything happened, he wished it upon himself rather than Murakan.
"Sir Kashimir, do we have a line to Vankella?"
"Bran and I have some priests that we know personally."
"Please investigate the situation from that end, regarding their intervention in Santel."
"Understood."
* * *
Jin, Quikantel, and Kuzan.
They made their way to Santel. Since there were no transfer gates straight there, they had to ride Shurry for one whole day from the heart of the Shol Kingdom.
And when they arrived, it looked truly devastating.
Fire continued to rage.
"…That's definitely Kadun's flames. There's only one dragon who can wield such intense flames."
Quikantel stared down the cliff and gritted her teeth. Within the village, they could see magicians and paladins trying to tame the flames.
And all of the villagers gathered on one side.
A peculiar sight.
Vankella always prioritized the lives of the people when they intervened with any natural disaster. Since the fire continued to rage on, sending out the villagers was the correct decision.
However, many armored paladins sealed the entrance to the village.
And there wasn't much else to say about it.
They stood because there was something to hide. Information that must never be leaked, and there were too many possible witnesses.
"Kadun seemed to have left already or the magicians and paladins wouldn't be putting out his shit. Let's get a little closer."
The village of Santel resided on a patch of flat land amongst the mountains. Approaching the area wasn't so easy, but thankfully, some reporters continued to harass and distract the paladins.
They slid down the cliff and approached the village and were so very close to making it in.
They made it to the western gate. No one was stationed there since it was much farther than the main gate.
"Step back."
"Take off your hood and identify yourselves. Two more steps, and we'll strike."
Coincidentally, two paladins saw them as they were patrolling. In fact, it seemed they already attacked a few, guessing from the blood on the ground.
The symbol of the scale drawn on the armor displayed their affiliation. They were the notorious troops from the holy kingdom, the 'Protectors of the Doctrine' of the Judgement Division.
Not really the type who would lock down a remote village like this.
'So they sent these guys. Seems the holy kingdom and Zipfel are on their toes.'
However, Jin had his family member's life on the line.
He didn't want to escalate any situation during this mission. It wasn't a time for some complex strategies like bribery or impersonation.
'Kuzan.'
Shing—!
Jin signaled with his eyes, and Kuzan unsheathed his dagger. He had already dipped it in a paralysis poison.
"It's an…"
Intruder!
The paladin could not finish the alert. Kuzan and Quikantel took them down in a split second.
Kuzan went immediately for the vocal cords, and Quikantel ripped open the helmet and force fed the poison.
The paladins immediately froze up and fell to the ground. Quikantel laid them along the way, and Jin cut the lock on the gate.
It would take up to ten minutes until they realized they'd been breached.
But that was enough. If they could get more information about the black monster, find out if there was spiritual energy, and figure out who won the battle, then they could withdraw before being noticed.
Creeeaaak.
But the moment the gate was opened, they saw two new paladins. Of course it was time to change shifts.