Return of the Fallen Volume 11 Chapter 146
After most of the powerful folk left for the wilds. A few remained and watched the stranger enter Viz’s territory. Those watching were a little more clever than their peers. They were aware of the clue this stranger carried but found it to be too obvious. Add the fact that Kazuki and Viz remained behind when nearly all the other factions and Gods headed out and it made these clever folk curious.
Something was off and they knew it deep down.
As this stranger entered Viz’s residence, Samuel and everyone else was already there to greet him or rather greet it. The moment this stranger arrived, Samuel and the others understood right away that this stranger was in fact not a living creature but a magic doll.
“Big brother, this is kind of like a Golem right?”
Mei was knocking on the magic doll’s chest and the sound of metal rang out. Kazuki sensed the workings of this thing and knew instantly that it was artificial.
“Yes, there is nothing organic about this doll. Though there is a fragment of someone’s soul lying within. Samuel, is this fragment from the expert your father hired?”
Samuel came forward and sensed the fragment of soul inside of this doll and confirmed it.
“This is definitely a piece of his soul. Now it makes sense as to why the other Gods left as soon as they saw him. With no real soul, it would be pointless in capturing this doll, and trying to pry information out would be an even bigger waste of time.”
Even though it was a doll, Samuel had referred to it as him due to the fact that it appeared like this on the surface. From top to bottom, this so-called magic doll had the appearance of a man, and besides the metallic shell on the outside, it looked incredibly real.
Kosaru saw Mei was having fun knocking the doll around and wanted in on the action and he began to hit it as well.
“Big brother this looks so real but it makes a funny sound.”
Kazuki inspected the doll’s ring and inside found the clue the others had seen. He was about to remove it from the ring when Samuel stopped him.
“Wait Sire Jentson!”
“What is it?”
“This magic doll may not look like it but it has a secret. If you do not remove the item within in an exact way, the item in question will be destroyed.”
Samuel pulled out his family ring. Taking a step forward, he pressed the insignia of the ring into the forehead of the magic doll. When he did this, the doll lifted its hand and its ring flashed.
The item in question fell out of the ring and slowly floated down into the palm of Samuel’s hand. Mei and Kosaru gathered around enthusiastically to see what mystery came out but the two were a bit disappointed when they saw what it was.
Viz took a look and chuckled.
“A blue flower. What kind of clue is this supposed to be? Everyone from the four great cities knows that this is an Apostriel flower. With its blue pedals and dark black and red spots, it grows on the southern mountain range of this world in the depths of the Wilds. Why send such an obvious clue? Now the others have already gotten ahead of us.”
Samuel smirked.
“True, everyone knows where this grows, which is exactly why this clue was left. Tell me Viz, would an expert be so obvious without reason? To send a clue to a merchant family, would you give them a clue to a place they’ve never been?”
The answer to that couldn’t be more clear.
“Of course not so then why would he give you this flower?”
“Merchants deal in things that are bought and sold. If I was to go to the southern mountain range, I could simply pluck one of these flowers straight from the crevices of the mountainside. But what if instead, I wished to buy it? Where would a merchant go then?”
Like a bolt of lightning, it hit him and Viz almost shouted the name but he was quick about the eyes and ears on them and kept it in.
(The Southern great city, Vestoro!)
Viz was now becoming excited as he clenched a fist.
(This hidden expert is crafty. He sent this doll on purpose because he knows people are seeking his location. This will throw most of the fools off his scent.)
Samuel crushed the flower in his hand before he called the slaves over. In an instant, they appeared in front of him and Kazuki and they all knelt down before answering their master’s call simultaneously.
“Masters!”
Each of them wore black armor styled like Samurai warriors. Kazuki would have gifted them Infinity Blades but he didn’t need to. Now that they had regained their former power, they had each remade their Divine Soul weapons. Samuel, Chaka, Bersik, Simmons, mei, and Kosaru, of course, had an Infinity Blade hanging from their side.
Samuel allowed them to stand before giving his order.
“We Move!”
That was all he said and that was all he needed to say. With it, Kazuki and Kori, along with Viz, Samuel, Marty, and everyone else, all headed to the city gate. As soon as they left Viz’s courtyard, suddenly the final cockroaches that had stayed behind, each and every one of them came scurrying out and followed Kazuki and the rest openly.
From Kazuki’s group, there weren’t a lot of people in the streets but by the time they made it to the city gate, there were a few thousand on their tail. Viz found their presence annoying but he knew now was not the time to act.
(Just wait you bugs. You will regret sticking so closely to us.)
As soon as they got outside the city, Samuel’s ring flashed and his Vajra ship took to the skies. With a single step, everyone leaped into the air and boarded the ship and before the following roaches could make a move, a radiant bright light filled the sails and they disappeared over the horizon. A single trail of light followed them from behind.
They had done this too fast and unexpectedly it caused a bit of a panic to spread among the stragglers. These people were no fools though. They quickly took out their own ships and went racing after them. A few that had responsibilities and had waited under the order of others quickly shot up signals of light into the sky before they too boarded their own ships and took off after Kazuki and the rest.
The moment they all disappeared, a strange calm spread over the rest of the residents of Gauldriss city but these people could not be happy for they knew a storm was on its way.
Flashbangs and beams of blinding light flew up high into the sky and were as bright as fallen stars. In the distance, those that had left earlier the moment they discovered the clue reacted and changed course slightly. This caused mass confusion among the early birds. Some wondered what was going on with the light and their competition’s sudden change in direction but others believed it was some sort of trick. Something designed to get them to falter.
Because of this, a large commotion was kicked up and people quickly made rash decisions. Some split their forces and sent some of their people in one direction and some people in the other. Some kept all of their forces together and stuck to their route while others changed course entirely and followed the lights in the sky. Because of this, the large group of different Factions and Gods had divided into almost two equal parts. One heading toward the southern mountain range and one headed toward the twinkling lights in the sky.
This was not in Kazuki’s nor Samuel’s calculations. After all, they did not know where the hidden expert wished to meet but at the same time, this was to their advantage. The enemies were seemingly reduced by half in a single action and they had little to do with it.
As they were traveling at blazing speeds, they could only get comfortable with the long journey ahead.
“Samuel, from here to Vestoro, that will take us three weeks right?”
Samuel nodded.
“Yes. The great city of Vestoro is around three weeks from here.”
“That hidden exert of yours is pretty cunning. With a single moe, the forces have been split. Could he have foreseen the predicament and realized there would be enemies everywhere so he made this decision.”
Samuel himself wasn’t sure but he didn’t doubt it.
“This expert has only worked for my family for a short while so I don’t know much about him. I still have never heard his name spoken. That’s how secretive he is. At the same time, he must have realized things would take a turn after Father died. This could all be because he’s incredibly brave or incredibly fearful. Instead of fulfilling his obligation to me due to his duty. He may just be terrified and wishes to get rid of the Infinity Blades once and for all and disappear into the shadows for good. Either way, his actions have made an opportunity for us so we shall take full advantage and finish things properly.”
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