Two minutes later he was already scaling the residence wall and, after throwing a quick look around, entered through the small window right under the roof.
"How in the world does he do that? He's still just a kid!" Clayton quietly whispered.
"You have no idea how he trained, he and princess Zia that is. All of us were making fun of them, but now I can see the results and only blame myself for being shortsighted." Steven replied, "The most unbelievable thing is that all his training was designed by him. Also, I didn't believe at first when Zia bragged back then that he was the one who cleansed her Qi pathways when she was eight and he was seven years old, but after the last month I would believe him even if he said he was the son of a God."
"At the seven years of age? That … that shouldn't be possible, right?" Clayton was shocked once again.
"Why would he lie? Out of all the people you know, isn't he the one who doesn't care about opinion's of others the most?" Steven shrugged, "And after you have spent this much time with him, I'm sure you're evaluation might be even higher than mine, because as a Qi master you most likely notice much more than running on the water and scaling steep cliffs. Also … remember Scarlet? … who would believe us if we told anyone about that?"
While they were whispering, Nick was crouching on the narrow stairs that led to the attic. In a dimly lit room to his left three men were having a discussion.
"But I still don't get why would the emperor entrust us with this research." Person with a young voice sounded confused, "He has the whole empire full of alchemists and rune formation masters."
"First of all, none of those are comparable to elder Jan and elder Dinnar. Their theoretical expertise is way ahead of those of the Nestri empire." An elderly patiently explained, "And the second – the product will be used on the Mainland continent to begin with! Emperor Osman doesn't need it here in case another accident happens. Even more, we are greatly interested in it and will spend resources and manpower for it's research, development and later, production. The emperor is extremely smart – not only he's taking the quickest way to complete the research of the new substance, he even cuts all the costs, or rather, doesn't spend a single silver for it!"
'This voice! I can't be mistaken! This is the one and only elder from the Holy Order who doesn't have real fighting capabilities despite being a Qi master!' Nick was so surprised and delighted at the same time, that he almost forgot the subject they were talking about.
'Elder Ernest! Long time no see!' He thought with a smile.
"But the more I look at these papers, the less they make sense." The third voice interrupted Nick's thoughts.
"According to the information emperor provided, the alchemist who did this research died in an accident before finishing it and these are just backup documents which were kept in case something unforeseen happened, just like now." Elder Ernest calmly continued his explanations, "We can see from this that even if the three pirate kings are only robbers and marauders, they still have some sense of propriety on how the research should be handled. It doesn't matter whether the three of us can make something out of it, our alchemy department will soon clarify everything and finish the research as well. We all know how terrifying elder Jan's knowledge is."
'Wait? Documents from pirates?' Nick suddenly understood, 'That means the urgency for emperor's tribute was due to the information king Red sent in that chest. Those probably are the leftovers of master Sten's research and in the hands of the Holy Order those are even more terrifying! And here I thought I destroyed everything. Damn it! I have to destroy the rest of the research as well, otherwise the world will get its first real explosive very soon and it immediately will fall in the hands of a psychotic terrorist sect!'
"But elder, is this really fine? Are these samples harmless? If this explodes, according to the description, maybe only you might survive." The youngest still sounded confused and a bit scared.
"These substances are only dangerous if mixed together." Elder Ernest finally became annoyed, "Each of them is packed in their respective boxes and therefore safe to transport. Alright, that's it! I'm tired and tomorrow will be a long day. We still haven't heard from our people in Rolum and the tournament is almost starting. If there are still no news in the morning, we'll have to go and check ourselves. The sealing of the flame wolf is important matter. Go to sleep, we might need to wake up early!"
'Great! The news about Scarlet escaping hasn't reached the capital yet. I definitely have to make sure these people don't wake up tomorrow morning!' Nick was overjoyed and started to make a plan while the three unaware victims extinguished the lights and went to their beds.
Nick felt a bit of déjà vu when weighing of his options. This situation was somewhat similar to the one he had in the alchemist's house in the Paradise city. But this time he decided to start from the strongest enemy – elder Ernest. There were way too many variables this time around and besides the three from the Holy Order, there were some servants in the house as well.
After patiently waiting for about an hour, Nick stealthily tiptoed through the room where the two deputy elders soundly slept. It wasn't clear if they were apprentices or deputy elders, but just in case he assumed the worst case scenario and expected strong opponents. Be as it may, both these people were asleep and Nick unhindered proceeded towards the exit. Behind the door there was a corridor with few more doors and he figured that elder Ernest had to be in one of the closest rooms judging by the steps he heard previously.
Nick calmed his mind and held his breath.
'Thankfully it's only elder Ernest. If it was Sonor, I probably already would've been dead meat, even before entering.'
Then he opened the closest door, to only find an empty room. The next room was empty as well and only the one after had his target deep asleep.
From Clayton Nick learned how people with developed Qi skills could feel the killing intent of others already from a distance and it was the most plausible reason for him to feel king Red's subordinate Enrico tailing him in the Paradise city. Therefore he tried to concentrate on his steps and to look at the floor planks while nearing the sleeping elder.
Maybe because Nick was cautious or skilled, or maybe elder Ernest was too careless, the Qi infused Wakizashi successfully slashed at the elder's neck, putting him to eternal sleep. Nick immediately rushed back to stand behind the door in case the other two had noticed any Qi fluctuations.
After waiting for ten minutes, he heaved a sigh of relief and returned to the first room. Both beds were on the opposite sides of the room and if these two were Qi masters, it was highly likely to get noticed after he killed the first one.
Therefore Nick thought of another tactic. He went over to one of the beds holding Wakizashi in his left hand and taking out the long thin needle covered in the paralytic poison in his right. After moment of concentration he threw the needle towards the body on the bed further away, slashed the closest one's neck and darted towards the already paralyzed first target.
His first throw of the hidden weapon in the real action scenario turned out to be a little clumsy, but still proved to be useful. The person on the furthest bed woke up the moment Nick slashed with the dagger, just to get stabbed with the previously thrown needle in his neck and another second later Wakizashi erased the confusion from the paralyzed man's face. Nick's suspicions were correct – at least one of them was a Qi master and they were sensitive enough to wake up when there were Qi fluctuations in the room.
After killing them both, Nick went behind the doors again and waited for approximately ten minutes. When he confirmed he was safe, he returned to the elder Ernest's room, checked his body and took the meteorite ring. This time he couldn't resist the temptation and had to check it, after all on the bed lie the dead treasurer of the Holy Order. And the treasurer didn't let him down – the ring was stacked full of currencies from different countries, mostly Nestri though.
Nick checked elder's body again to make sure he didn't miss anything and then wrapped it in a blanket and carried over to the room with the two others. He pulled this plan off once, and there was no reason to think it won't work for the second time.
After checking the other two bodies, Nick sprayed the whole second floor with his flammable powder mix. He didn't have much left, but he hoped the ingredients in the chest that the pirates sent over would do the most job. There was no way for him to hide the fact that the heads were cut off and he could only hope for high enough temperature to burn down even bones, thus he sprinkled powder on his victims without holding back, even the last bits of it.
Then Nick got another idea. What if the materials from pirates cause a real explosion – wouldn't it 'naturally' tear the bodies apart? In case it really happened, he quickly cut off the tendons on few legs and arms. Then, after evaluating his performance with a satisfied smile, opened the window, checked if there was no one outside and lit up the fire.
Similar to the master Sten's house, the Holy Order's residence was engulfed in fire within few seconds, at least the second floor. Nick didn't linger around, but directly jumped down from the second floor and dashed towards his companions, then in the cover of the night they quickly went back to the Riverside inn.
"What exactly happened?" When they were on the bridge and the burning building could be seen in the distance, Clayton finally couldn't hold back his curiosity.
"Dead. One of them was elder Ernest, the Holy Order's treasurer." Nick grinned back at him, "Let's go back and I'll explain in detail."
After returning to the inn they gathered in Clayton's room, but before Nick could start telling his story, someone knocked at the door. Clayton unsheathed his sword and opened the door only to see Nazim's smiling face.
"We need to talk." The old man quietly said in a calm, plain voice, "And put away that toothpick before you hurt yourself, kid."
Clayton hasn't been called like that for years and blushed in anger, but still let the old man in and sheathed his sword. Nazir, on the other hand, casually walked in and sat cross legged on the bed.
"Well boys, I think it's time for you to tell me who the hell you are and why are you running around my city, burning down houses." Although he was still smiling, his tone was cold as ice.
'None of those people the old man recommended to us were simple and this one, probably, is the most complex of them all. And, obviously, a great Qi master as well.' Nick quickly analyzed their predicament, 'But he didn't turn us in to the emperor's forces, so we have a chance here.'