"Well, they'd need to have a way to monitor the activities of the raks." Augustus swept the pieces of squeezed paper from his table, clearing it completely, "I had seen it, a silver owl— fucking twice. That woman must be here, somewhere."
She, a moon knight, was named Esmeralda and Lily's sworn enemy. He had caught one or two traces of her, but he'd displaced them as irrelevant until Arlene delivered the news of the humans. No human from this biome would dare mingle with a moon slave.
Esmeralda on the other hand, had a guard of human knights sworn piety to her god. It gave him so much headache because this matter mustn't be tied with the targeted artefact as Esmeralda was broken off the palace and acted on her accord.
"Hmm," Augustus narrowed his eyes, sitting up and around the room. He thought back to the silver owl— he could just be mistaken. Even though Esmeralda horded a battalion of surveillance owls, and was the only bastard bold enough to breed them here.
'Human activity in a random cave…' Augustus was torn between sending villagers or checking it out himself. Sending others there could expose how much he knew, but going himself may be offering the target to the enemy, 'I need more information.'
If he was sure that there were no ties between the moon slave, Esmeralda and Enryon, it would be smartest to send villagers. This way, revealing his hand to only a part instead of the whole, he would be left less exposed. No one was to be trusted, after all.
"Knock Knock."
If they were connected, then sending himself would be best. They would either try to play aggressive thinking he was in a bad position, or safe believing he outplayed them. It all depends on—
"Knock Knock."
'Someone actually knows how to use the door in this place?' Augustus stood to his feet and picked up his blade from under his table, turning to the messy room for a second, then walking to the door, "You can come in. It's not locked."
The door creaked open slowly, and Lily stepped in. She blinked, her eyes darting left to right then settling on Augustus. She blinked again, "Did you manage to get some sleep? I'd guess you were very busy knowing you since babyhood."
'Everyone of them— all moon and sun princes and princesses were transmigrated.' The smile on Augustus's face grew from polite to awkward, and he shook his head, 'To outplay each and everyone to become successful lord, I must use everything at my disposal.'
"Lily, I've got a quest for you. If you pass, your skill would be evolved." Augustus' eyes gleamed seeing her brows jump. She cleared her throat, trying to act unimpressed, but, "It is a simple raid at a nearby cave. Take Aaron with you and anyone you please."
[Quest Given!]
"Why would I go on some random quest because you said so?" Lily tried to act tough, but the light in her eyes betrayed her words. She cleared her throat, looking away, "If the system wills it so, then I will raid this cave and upgrade it!"
[Quest Taken!]
"A C-Ranked Quest?" Lily blurted out, narrowing her eyes at Augustus. Her excitement dulled, and she frowned. She read the contents of the quest the system gave, then frowned, "I am not sure Aaron would be strong enough to handle this…"
'C-Ranked? What the fuck? No quest from this biome should be above D-R—' Augustus' eyes shone as a realisation struck, then he replied Lily in a calm tone, "The system ranked it so because you were given alone. I am sure it'll be much easier with others."
This was true, but Augustus had the information on how dangerous the cave was for a person as strong as Lily. Being C-Ranked meant her chances of survival were around 45 — 50%, an alarming percentage for a trained royal.
'It means someone at the level of a prince or a group of people strong enough to beat a trained prince was in there.' Augustus watched Lily nod her head in approval, 'She doesn't have a lot of information, and once she does, it would be too late.'
"By the way, Melissa asked for you on my way here." Lily voiced as Augustus prepared to sit, scoffing seeing him pause halfway. He stood back up and she added, "She was at the Inner Rim, somewhere around the dungeons and—"
"—the garrison? It's an old trap." Augustus frowned as he sat back down in his chair, a cold gleam in his eyes, "Someone must have said something compromising about me. This means that Esmeralda and the moon slave are in fact connected… because…"
"I'm the spy?" Lily shrugged.
——
"So this is the cave? Augustus sending us here when he could have come himself." An icy growl escaped Aaron's mouth as he cut down a rak, his eyes scanning the area, "I feel something strange lurking in that place, we should wait for him."
The cave, it's maws like that of a rotting dragon's corpse, emitted a strong stench and carried by a biting cold breeze. Arlene stood with Augustus, holding a map in her hand as she stared into the cave, turning to the woman beside her, "Will it be okay?"
Aurora stared into the cave, then nodded. She turned to Aaron, her eyes gleaming in a strange light as she reached her hand to him, "Hand me the blade, I will cover the back as we head in. You can have this one. Augustus will join us later on."
"I will be good with this blade, thanks." Augustus stared at the rusty blade in his hand, but not a shred of distaste flashed in his eyes. Arlene patted his shoulder, and he chuckled, "I've been with Iron for far too long, maybe she should get reforged."
"We can think about that after we've taken whatever spoils are in this cave before the ban— band of humans return." Arlene cleared her throat, guarding the flank as Aaron and Arlene carefully walked into the cave, and she followed them.