Chapter 76 The benefit of listening

  Lira did not hesitate any longer. With the enemy clearly lying in wait in the shadows, sending more agents into that labyrinth would be tantamount to signing their death warrants. She ordered an immediate retreat and sealed the breach point, then sent a coded, urgent report through the Crow network.

  Within fifteen minutes, Kael received the condensed, chilling summary in his office in Tartiib.

  Two agents missing, presumed captured or dead.

  A confirmed underground complex of military grade complexity. No visual on hostiles or the alleged weapon.

  He read it twice, the sterile words painting a vivid picture of failure. Lira’s choice to withdraw was the only correct one,stubbornness would have piled more bodies into the dark without gaining an ounce of intelligence.

  The report confirmed one thing without a doubt. The factory was not just suspicious. It was an active, hostile stronghold. The letter’s warning was not just credible.. no!, that would be terrifyingly understated.

  It was time, Kael decided, to revisit the source. The mysterious customer clearly knew more than he had disclosed. The staggering sum he’d paid was not just for a messenger.

  This was clearly a calculated investment to ensure the warning was heard. But who was he? A concerned patriot? A rival conspirator trying to sabotage the competition?

  Or ever the benefactor who’d built the weapon himself, now having a crisis of conscience? The possibilities swirled, each making a kind of paranoid sense.

  Kael’s professional instinct was to treat the man as a hostile asset,a suspicious individual with dangerous knowledge. Something colder, more pragmatic voice argued otherwise.

  Hostility would shut down any further cooperation. The man had, after all, handed them the key to discovering this threat. He was a potential ally, or at the very least, a resource. For now, he would be treated as the former. The mask of the courteous professional would remain, but the questions would be pointed.

  He headed straight for The Gilded Pinion.

  The inn was neither shabby nor classy, occupying the comfortable middle ground favored by merchants of middling success and minor nobles traveling incognito. It was unremarkable, which made it perfect. The receptionist, a bored young man polishing a tankard, looked up as Kael entered.

  “Looking for a room, sir?”

  “I have an appointment with one of your guests. A foreign gentleman, arrived recently. Would you direct me to his room?”

  Before the receptionist could ask for a description, a voice came from the staircase. “Oh, there you are. Come up. Let’s talk in my room.”

  Val stood on the landing, his expression unreadable. Without waiting for an answer, he turned and disappeared back up the stairs. Kael gave the confused receptionist a slight nod and followed.

  The hallway on the second floor was narrower, the air smelling of wood polish and faint dust. The door to Val’s room stood ajar. Kael entered, closing it softly behind him.

  The room was simple. A bed, a washstand, a small table, and two chairs. Val had taken one by the window, the afternoon light outlining him. Kael took the other.

  “Mister… what should I call you?” Kael began, his voice resuming its smooth, neutral tone.

  Val chuckled, a dry sound. “Why don’t you continue calling me “customer”It’s served us well enough.”

  Kael didn’t smile. “You jest, sir. But you have become far more valuable to us than a simple title. If what you asserted in your letter is correct, you are not a customer. You are potentially a savior of this city.”

  Val’s eyes narrowed, the casual ease evaporating. “So. You investigated. And you still don’t believe what was in the letter?”

  Kael met his gaze, choosing his words with the precision of a surgeon. “We verified there is a significant, manned underground facility at the location implied. We have not, however, confirmed the nature of the device within. Two of my best agents entered for visual confirmation. They have not returned.” He paused, letting the weight of the loss hang in the quiet room

  “I decided it was better to ask if you possessed any more specific information than to risk more lives blindly.”

  Stolen story; please report.

  It was a masterful play. He stated facts, admitted weakness, posed a request and not a demand. He had cornered Val with honesty, without being aggressive . He had made it clear the Crows were committed, but were out of their depth.

  The ball was now in Val’s court. Whether he provided more help, or watch as they floundered, potentially triggering the catastrophe they all feared. He could only hope this gentleman came with good intentions.

  Val studied him for a long moment, then sighed, a sound of frustration rather than defeat. “Indeed, your decision was wise. Though I can’t fathom why you didn’t just storm the place with the King’s Guard. With the king’s permission, of course.”

  “A good question,” Kael conceded. “We cannot storm an enclosed, complex space where the enemy holds an unknown device of mass destruction. They could collapse tunnels, detonate the weapon prematurely, or use hostages,my agents as leverage. We lack the intelligence for a strike, and a brute force assault risks destroying the city we are trying to save. It is a tactical nightmare.”

  He was laying the Crows’ dilemma bare. They were spies and assassins,not bomb-disposal experts facing an entrenched, fanatical enemy. The admission was a form of pressure, subtle but immense.

  Val absorbed this, his gaze turning inward to some private calculation. He saw the bind Kael was in. The Crows were paralyzed by the very scale of the threat.

  “Wait here,” Val said abruptly, standing up. He walked to his travel pack and retrieved a smooth, palm sized blue stone etched with faint, swirling lines. He held it in his hand, focusing on it. After a moment, the stone emitted a soft, cerulean glow.

  A voice, slightly distorted as if coming through water, echoed faintly in the room. It was Raiz. “Val? Whats the situation?.”

  “The warning was received well i would say. The local… authorities investigated. They’ve confirmed the facility but lost some people inside. They can’t move without risking a city level event.”

  A pause on the other end. “And?”

  “They’re asking for more. For help. I’m looking at their lead operative now. The situation is contained but volatile.”

  Another, longer pause. Kael watched, fascinated and unnerved by the arcane communication. This was no simple felt complicated and profound.

  “Help them if you can,” Raiz’s voice came back, decisive. “But listen to me, Val. If it gets too dangerous, I want you to disengage. I want you both to get out. This mission is a trap within a trap. One mistake in there, and your life is gone. Do not die out there. That is an order from Moon as much as from me.”

  The concern in the bee warrior’s transmitted voice was unmistakable, cutting through the static of distance. It wasn’t just strategic advice but a concern for a family memeber.

  Val’s jaw tightened. He gave a sharp, acknowledging nod to the stone. “Roger. We’ll proceed with caution. Val out.” The light in the stone died.

  He turned back to Kael, who had observed the exchange with meticulously concealed intensity. The dynamic was clear: Val was not a lone in all this.He answered to a chain of command, one that cared for his safety. And they had just authorized cooperation.

  “It seems,” Val said, placing the blue stone on the table between them, “we are to be temporary allies. My… associates have green lit providing assistance.”

  “What form will this assistance take?” Kael asked, his mind racing. He needed assets, information, a way into that vault.

  “First, information you lack,” Val said, leaning forward. “The group calls themselves The Red Hand.They are led by a woman, a fanatic who believes burning the rotten nobility out is the only cure for the kingdom.

  Their device is not just a bomb,it’s designed to destabilise and amplify the latent mana. Its like its designed for some specific place. Like 2 ingredients that wouldnt normally be poison but if you put them together, you got yourself poison. “

  Of course all this was investigated by Amilios. While Kael was running around to confirm, he was investigating the said device. Thanks to Amilios high mana sensitivity, he could pinpoint somewhat its purpose. This doesnt need to be conveyed to Kael.

  Kael felt a cold knot form in his stomach. The only place such device could work was in the palace.The palace’s foundations were reinforced with mana conductive stone for stability and defense. To weaponize that… the devastation would be unimaginable. He told this fact to Val.

  Hearing what he said, Vak didnt oat an eye but instead continued

  “Second”

  “they have a security system. It’s not just guards. The central vault is lined with perception dampening ore. Your scanners map the tunnels, but the vault itself is a blind spot. Your agents were likely taken by silent sentries,constructs or enchanted beings that dwell in that dead zone.”

  “How do you know all this?” Kael breathed, the question slipping out before he could stop it.

  Val’s smile was thin and humorless. “Let’s just say we have our own sources. One of which is currently inside Veor, making contact with a reluctant member of theirs. We may soon have an insider’s perspective.”

  Elder Green was sent, but Kael didn’t know the name, but he understood the implication. They had been moving on multiple fronts while he’d been scrambling.

  “And the assistance?” Kael pressed.

  “We can provide a team,” Val said. “Small. Specialized. Capable of operating in that blind spot and disabling the catalyst at its core. But we need your people for two things. A complete, real-time map of all approach tunnels, and a simultaneous, coordinated diversion at every other entrance to draw their perimeter guards away.”

  Kael’s mind was already adapting, weaving this new potential into a plan. It was still monstrously risky, but it was the first real plan they’d had. “A diversion we can do. The map we can provide. When?”

  “Tonight,” Val said, his voice final. “Before they realize the missing Crow agents might have told us more than they think.Before they move the timetable up.”

  Kael stood up. The professional mask was back, but behind it was a flicker of grim hope. “Then I will return to my office and prepare . We will coordinate the details within the hour. Where shall we meet?”

  “Send your details via the innkeeper. I’ll receive them,” Val said. “And Kael… my associate’s order stands. If this goes wrong, we pull back. No last stands. Understood?”

  Kael gave a curt, professional nod. “Understood. We prefer our operations quiet, not heroic.” He turned to leave, the fate of a city now resting on a fragile, hastily forged alliance between a shadowy royal agency and a mystical outsiders.

  As he descended the stairs, the blue stone on Val’s table seemed to pulse once, faintly, as if with a distant, watchful heartbeat.