"So you're telling me that the organization you belong to is going to attack the government while they're busy defending the city?" Enarys asked dubiously.
Nathan leaned back against the back of the wooden bench in the middle of the park and nodded as he looked up at the sky.
"Basically"
Enarys put his hand to his chin and closed his eyes thoughtfully.
"This is bad..."
"Don't even say it" Nathan snorted.
Ignoring the gaze of the several guards around them several feet away, Nathan looked at Enarys and frowned.
"Come to think of it, why did you come to Radford?"
Enarys looked back at him.
"Do we have the confidence to talk about personal matters?"
Nathan frowned and shook his head.
"Then forget it"
Chuckling softly, Enarys also looked up at the sky.
"Just kidding... I just came to investigate the castle"
Nathan nodded slightly, already having assumed that was the case. Most of the people who came to Radford at this time were for two reasons.
The first was because of the castle, and because it was the first time something like this had happened. The second reason was because they came to do business.
Enarys was the daughter of the King of the Northern Isles, a place that was almost a decade completely isolated from the outside world.
It would not be surprising to think that Enarys had come as an emissary to begin trade deals with the territory ruled by the Aeterna family. Although it was also not unreasonable to think that she came to see the castle, after all, the northern islands had a strong military power, or so it was rumored.
Nathan remembered the several months he had spent inside the castle and sighed.
"The castle? There's nothing interesting about it, it's just full of calamities"
Enarys looked at him somewhat confused.
"You talk as if you know what's inside"
Nathan shrugged.
"Well, I've been inside once, so yes, I know more or less what's inside"
Waiting for a response from Enarys, Nathan looked at her in confusion when he noticed she wasn't saying anything.
"What's wrong?"
"You were inside the realm?!"
Nathan frowned and tilted his head annoyingly at Enarys' sudden shout.
"...Yes"
Enarys patted her face.
"You would have said so sooner"
Not knowing what was going through Enarys' head, Nathan remained silent, then was surprised when she put her hands on his shoulders and held him tightly.
Staring him straight in the eyes, Enarys spoke.
"Tell me everything you saw inside, any detail no matter how small. Obviously I will pay you well"
Nathan didn't take his gaze from her eyes.
'Is it that important?'
Finally, shrugging his shoulders, Nathan agreed.
"Well, I don't have a problem with it"
Enarys' eyes twinkled slightly, and she smiled.
"Thank you very much, really"
"Uh... sure"
Enarys stood up abruptly and looked around.
"Let's talk somewhere more private"
Nathan also got up and followed Enarys.
Back at the hotel, Enarys sat down on the couch across from Nathan and placed a strange box in the middle of the table between the two of them, then Nathan noticed how she flowed some essence into the box.
A moment later, the box opened, and a figure of a dancer appeared twirling around while a faint ear pleasing melody played.
"What does it do?" Nathan asked, curious about the strange relic.
"It creates a soundless barrier around us"
Nathan opened his eyes in surprise.
"Is information about the castle that important?"
Enarys fell silent and nodded slightly.
"To us it is... I'm sorry, this is something I can't tell you"
Nathan shrugged again.
"Never mind, better for me. The less I know the better"
Enarys laughed lightly, somewhat dejectedly, then looked at him seriously.
"Then explain to me everything you know about the castle"
Nathan nodded, then began to narrate what he had experienced inside the upper realm.
A few hours later, as he was just beginning to set, Nathan sighed and took a sip from the glass of water in his hand.
"Any more questions?"
Enarys was silent for a couple of seconds wondering if he had anything to ask, finally he shook his head and sighed wearily.
"That's fine... thanks for your time"
Nathan snorted.
"Never mind, it's not like I have anything to do anyway"
Enarys was silent, deep in thought, organizing everything he had revealed to her. It was then that Nathan realized something and couldn't help but ask.
"Why didn't you ask the government for information? I'm sure they also had government agents who were inside the kingdom just like me"
Nathan remembered Faye, Lynn, and Tana.
Enarys snapped out of her thoughts and sighed.
"I did, but they refused to give me information. We don't have enough of a relationship for them to reveal such important and confidential information to me"
"You were able to buy information from the mercenaries, even on the outskirts. There were quite a few of them there"
Not only government agents, there was also the king of the mercenaries, Mesto, the leader of the outskirts and dozens of his subordinates... though most of them had died.
Enarys nodded again.
"I tried to buy information directly from the king of the mercenaries... but he has been missing since the castle appeared, the rest of the mercenaries would not give truthful and reliable information. About the outskirts... most of them are dead or unreliable either"
Nathan nodded at Enarys' explanation, then pointed to himself.
"I'm a mercenary too"
Enarys scoffed lightly.
"You're different from the others"
Nathan sighed at Enarys' thoughts, then suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, by the way" Pulling the translated letter from inside his coat, Nathan handed it to Enarys. "This is what was written in the letter from those men in the warehouse"
Enarys took the letter looking exasperatedly at Nathan.
"Anything else you forgot?"
Nathan turned his head and avoided her gaze.
"No..."
Sighing, Enarys focused on the letter and began to read it.
With each passing second, Nathan could see her complexion begin to whiten.
"Shit" Enarys cursed out loud as she finished reading the letter, then looked at Nathan more serious than before.
"Is this letter real?"
Nathan nodded seriously as well.
"Yes" Slipping his hand back inside his coat, he handed him the original letter.
Enarys received it and compared it to the other one.
Nathan expected her to ask him how he had translated it, but his worries were in vain when Enarys looked at one of her guards outside the sound barrier and motioned for him to bring her something.
Finally, the guard entered with the same book Enarys had used before and repeated the process. She wrote something on a blank page and then tore it out, only for the page to burn and disappear.
Nathan was curious to know what the book did, but just as she did not ask about the translation of the letter, he did not ask her about the mysterious book.
When Enarys finished, she looked at the letters and then at Nathan.
"Can I keep them?"
Without hesitating for more than a second, Nathan answered.
"Sure, keep them"
Enarys thanked him and then put them away. Then she leaned back tiredly on the back of the sofa and looked at Nathan.
"Thanks... Hey, can I make you another proposal?"
A grimace appeared on Nathan's face for a moment as he remembered how Enarys' previous proposal had ended, prompting him to refuse.
'If nothing else you should listen to her' Amelia told him, seeing that he was about to refuse.
Nathan paused and accepting Amelia's help changed his answer.
"...I guess it doesn't cost me anything to hear it"