Silas was monitoring the specimen transportation to the train in the downtown of the Larov city.
He received another order from headquarters, stating that he must supervise the specimen delivery to its destination. Silas asked himself, as he always did, "Am I doing the right thing?"
Silas only snapped back to reality after he heard the report from the operation center that Damien and his friends had left the battlefield. 'Annoying bastards, they must be coming here,'
Silas sighed to himself and ordered the agents to hurry up.
Damien, Kevin, and Amelia successfully snuck into the city. They started to investigate but there weren't any people on the streets.
Wreckage and collapsed buildings stretched as far as the eye could see, accompanied by the grim sight of lifeless bodies. The city had transformed into an apocalyptic landscape.
Amelia, struggling to believe her own deduction, voiced her thoughts, "Guys, the residents of Larov City must have escaped and are likely awaiting rescue somewhere, don't you think?"
Damien and Kevin remained silent, unsure of how to respond.
Kevin decided to shift the focus and asked, "Could Frank be responsible for all of this?"
Damien, acknowledging the gravity of the situation, replied to Kevin, "We cannot be certain. The entire scenario appears suspicious—this battle, the enigmatic man in the windbreaker, the state of the city... everything."
Amelia saw some activity in the distance. There were people, and she felt her deduction was right. Shaking Damien's arm, she said, "Look, there are some people down there. They must be survivors. Let's go."
Damien looked at the place Amelia was pointing to and, using one of his skills, he looked again with clearer vision. He saw a group of masked men loading something onto a train.
Reluctant to shatter Amelia's hope and dampen her spirits, he just told her the cruel truth, "They aren't survivors. Look closely."
Amelia didn't want to be wrong, but seeing the serious expression on Damien's face, she looked more carefully and saw the masked people and what they were doing. Amelia's happiness and hope were crushed in an instant.
Damien saw the man from the city wall sitting on top of the train and pointed him out to Amelia and Kevin. He asked Amelia to use her camouflage skill again, and after that, they started heading towards where the train was.
Silas looked around and could see Amelia, Kevin, and Damien heading toward him, even with their camouflage skills.
Silas waited for them to come closer, then greeted them, "Hi, guys. You don't need to act shy. You can show yourselves. There isn't any stranger around."
The trio came to a halt, exchanging puzzled looks. Amelia inquired, "How can he see us? It's impossible to see beyond my veil."
Damien replied, "I thought so too. Until now, there weren't any people who could see behind your veil, right?"
Damien felt there wasn't any reason to hide, so he asked Amelia to remove the veil and told them, "Be careful, guys. He isn't a simple person."
Damien could now clearly see the man. Clad in a stylish windbreaker, his face was concealed by a mask adorned with crimson lines resembling blood-drenched stars.
After seeing them remove their camouflage, Silas spoke again, "Welcome to Larov City. I'm Count Silas, the person appointed by Blightweavers to supervise Larov City."
Damien took a stance and signaled the others to be ready as well. He replied to the man who introduced himself as Silas, "What is Blightweavers, and what happened to the people of Larov City?"
Silas's smile faded, replaced by a tone of regret. "You're better off not knowing," he replied.
Recognizing their inclination to fight, Silas glanced at the agents, realizing the transportation hadn't concluded yet.
Silas spoke again, hoping to distract them and stall for time, "There is no need to be hostile. You can't win."
Silas saw their expressions and gave a sign, realizing that mere words were not enough to convince them. He lifted his hand into the air.
A sudden bang echoed through the air, followed by Amelia's agonizing scream. She had been shot in the arm.
Silas spoke again, asserting, "You see, I warned you. You cannot win. Instead of fighting, why don't we engage in a civil discussion and resolve our issues?"
Silas observed as Damien inquired of Amelia's well-being and the level of pain she was experiencing, while Kevin positioned himself in front of them with his shield, attempting to protect them. However, they all seemed to disregard Silas.
Silas believed their reaction to a mere mana bullet wound was excessive, so he spoke up once more, saying, "Don't worry, guys. It's only a scratch. I don't have permission to kill you, and honestly, I have no desire to do so either."
Silas saw they were finally responding to his words, so he continued, "So, where were we? Ah, right. You asked about Blightweavers, didn't you?"
Silas waited for their response and saw them nodding their heads, so he continued to explain, "All I can say about Blightweavers is that they are a secret organization, and I am one of their agents."
After helping Amelia drink a healing potion, Damien asked Silas, "What did you mean when you said you don't have permission to kill us?"
Silas replied, "Where did you not understand? Are you stupid? What else could I have meant apart from not being able to kill you guys?"
Damien felt irritated to be addressed as stupid and asked again, "I meant, why is there an order like that?"
Silas replied, "How should I know? I am just a field agent, and I do not question the orders given to me."
After Amelia drank a healing potion, she angrily asked Silas, "Did you manipulate Frank and instigate this war?"
Silas turned to face Amelia, wearing a smile on his face. He calmly responded, "One could say that. But in my defense, Frank was well aware of being manipulated, yet he chose to overlook it."
As Silas chuckled aloud, he could hear Amelia's irritated reproach, "What's so amusing?"
Between giggles, Silas replied, "Because Frank had no inkling that the organization orchestrated Lisa's death, and I was the person undertook the mission that led to her demise. The explosion in the dungeon was my doing."
Silas continued speaking, his voice now filled with silent tears concealed beneath his mask. Silas could still vividly remember that day, so he began to tell the story.