Jacob POV
It has been four and a half month since we have finished meeting with resistance forces and gathered beast and retainers force inside the inner capital.
Even if we have found out that Emily was held captive somewhere underground Royal palace, the palace itself was that of a size of small city and considering how clever king was the facility could be hidden anywhere.
Due to the risk involved in infiltrating the Royal palace and getting caught, only i and Ethan decided to infiltrate the royal palace and locate the facility first, but even after searching for 4 months we didn't have the clue, as to where this huge facility must be.
Ethan was the 5th strongest retainer among us, whose ability was to phase through any objects. His phasing ability can also be shared with other if he physically touches them. His ability also completely erased someone's presence physically and spiritually. Combined with my illusion ability I made both of us invisible and we were able to infiltrate royal palace but even after searching for months inside the palace, we didn't have any clue regarding location of facility.
We have spied on leaders guarding the castle for whole month but couldn't find any information, and today was just another day when we were tailing the 5th leader Abby wauter because if there was any chance of finding information about Emily from anyone, it would be her.
The Royal palace was surrounded by 4 huge towers and she was guarding the northern tower. She was sitting on a meditative position with her eyes closed, spreading her senses in every direction while we were observing her from afar.
I thought today would also be a waste of time but then she suddenly stood up from her position with complicated expression on her face. Trying to understand what has happened I looked in the direction of other leaders and their condition was same.
They were more vigilant than ever and were discussing something telepathically but I couldn't understand what was they worried about.
Soon 5th leader Abby left her post and entered the Royal palace and we followed her. She arrived underground royal palace and stopped near a wall which was the dead end. We had previously scouted this area and phased through the wall but there was nothing here as far as we knew.
Placing her hand on the wall, she let her mana flow through the wall but nothing happened. Few moments later a space fluctuation appeared near the area and a rift opened in front of the wall.
Soon an old dragon stepped out of the rift to meet Abby and bowed his head. He was wearing a golden rob and from his feature I could tell that he belonged to the psychic Dragon clan.
They were bunch of crazy dragons that would do anything to gain knowledge. They were weakest dragon in the dragon realm but due to their usefulness they were under the direct protection of king.
From the time when King Azmath has ascended to the throne, he had promoted strength above all in the whole dragon realm. Whosever divert their attention from this goal would be oppressed by others and if not understood wiped out, that was the iron rule King Azmath has engraved into everyone mind.
He had monopolized most advanced knowledge in the dragon realm keeping it all to himself. Just like how he has created a space rift below the castle which could store a whole research facility. Such thing can only be created by someone like Lord Alex who has reached the realm of primordial dragon.
"I thought some guard would come to explain me the situation inside but I didn't think the head researcher Ken himself would come." Abby said eying him then our surrounding but we were hidden from her perception.
"It has been a long time since I have stepped foot outside this enclosed facility, so when you requested to open the rift, I thought it was my chance to get some fresh air." He said to abby but his eyes were focused somewhere else, it was the place where we were hidden.
'Don't need to panic, I am an ally sent by Lady Emily who will help you infiltrate this place.' He said telepathically to me and Ethan.
The first question which came to my mind was who is he?
But now that things have come to this point, we cannot infiltrate the facility without any internal help. If he wanted to sell us out he would have already done that or does he plans to lure us all and trap us.
'If you don't believe me after Leader Abby has left, dig that corner and you will find satisfying evidence.' He once again sent us the message and looked at 5th leader Abby.
I didn't reply him but Abby asked something to him.
"What is the commotion happening inside the facility?" She asked.
"One of the storage room caught fire, it happens all the time. There is nothing to worry about." He assured Abby but he was not a good actor and it was evident from his facial expression that something was amiss.
"Are you sure?" Abby asked him to confirm to which he nodded.
"You can come inside and check for yourself, if you are not satisfied with my answer." He said confidently.
"It won't be necessary, but if you find any traces of infiltration, you better let us know." She rejected his suggestion and warned him.
"Very well 5th Leader Abby." He respectfully said and vanished back into the rift which closed shortly after.
Turning around soon Abby also left the underground chamber leaving me and Ethan alone.
We observed the wall from where Abby had activated rune to open the rift but this time also we didn't find anything suspicious.
The rune was well hidden or we have to inject the mana in that specific part of wall to activate it but we didn't risk it.
After that we arrived at the location where Ken had hidden something and started digging the ground. 5 Meter beneath the ground we found 3 crystals, each having different use.
It would be risky to use them in the royal palace, so without touching it we moved them into the space rune and left the Royal palace to regroup with others.
***
Andrew POV
I thought that infiltrating the capital and fighting 3 leaders would be the most difficult part of this mission but I was wrong. The most difficult part for me was to keep patience and hold myself back from destroying this capital.
Four and a half month had passed and we have achieved no result. For 4 months our forces were on standby ready for action, the pressure of this mission which has not even started yet was increasing every day.
I was thinking about this sitting in my office when I received a communication from Jacob to gather everyone and once again all 5 retainers and 4 beasts gathered inside the meeting room within few minutes.
"We have a lead and if we trust this information, we can initiate the rescue mission tomorrow." Jacob said.
"What is the information?" I asked.
When I asked Jacob this question Jacob explained us his encounter with Ken the researcher and the things he has handed them.
They had received 3 crystals from Ken the head researcher. The 1st crystal contained the detailed map of entire research facility. There were also highlighted parts, where the two teleportation blocking arrays were situated and where Emily was imprisonment. It was a detailed holographic map of the facility which was too good to be true.
The 2nd crystal contained the mana signature of 5th leader Abby which could be used to activate the rune engraved in the wall after which the rift will open and we will be able to enter the facility.
The 3rd Crystal contained some holographic images of inside of the facility with a message.
"Jacob play the message." I said and Jacob complied.
"My name is Ken Millis; yes you have guessed right, the only son of Psychic clan leader Edward Millis. Don't try to find any information about me because king has thoroughly wiped it out, so it will only be a waste of time."
"The reason why I am able to contact you was because of information I got from Emily and the reason why I am helping Emily is because of my mana contract I have made with her." At this time the recording paused and a mana contract copy was projected in front of us.
So he is one of those knowledge hungry fool but at the same time, he is the same us longing for freedom, desperate to get out of that research lab, which felt like prison to him.
He has bargained with Emily that in exchange for helping her, she would share her knowledge with him and we have to rescue Ken from the research facility with Emily and keep him safe.
The mana contract was not fake and so the evidence given by him. It was also mentioned that the moment we open the rift the leaders will become aware of our existence and no matter what the commotion outside the capital leaders will just ignore it.
Apparently inside the rift there are three summoning circle which can be used one time to summon the leaders, so fight with them would be inevitable.
There was also information about some unique time artifact with which the leaders were equipped which could be pain in the ass to deal with.
At the end of his message Ken has attached a picture of Emily in her true dragon form floating in midair, connected with various cables.
"What do you think leader, do you believe him?" Ethan asked me a simple yet most difficult question on which not only mine but life of unaccountable number dragons depends.
What is the right thing to do, the evidences were sufficient but at the same time can be forged, and everything depends on my decision. Contemplating on the options available to me soon I came to a conclusion.
"I have made my decision, but I want to know everyone's opinion. Answer me who trust this evidence and who don't." I asked everyone.
"I DON'T." The 2nd strongest retainer Agatha spoke.
"I do, let's say it's my thief intuition which says the evidence are correct." Sam spoke he was the 4th strongest retainer after demion.
"I don't." Ethan the 5th strongest retainer spoke this time who has first-hand seen this Ken Millis.
Now everyone turned toward Jacob our last retainer. His strength may not amount to much but his intelligence and decision making was on par with Lord Alex.
"I trust the evidence." He said thinking for some time after which I turned toward the beast force.
"We would abstain from voting." Cecile spoke on behalf of all four beasts.
"Very well." Saying this I turned toward other retainers and spoke my decision.
"I believe in the evidences Ethan and Jacob has collected, and I would like to proceed with the raid further according to them, does anyone disagree with me?" I asked.
I asked looking at Sam, Agatha and beasts but nobody raised their voices.