Leave a comment

Thinking about it, Mira had seen Isaac late the night before, in Melville’s warehouse facility in Roseline’s capital city Irene. And there was a considerable distance between there and Sentopolly.

Riding on Pegasus it took Mira between two to three hours, but traveling by land extended that to at least half a day. But since he was there, it was likely he also possessed a means of traveling similar to Pegasus.

(I really can’t stand him, but this is rather convenient.)

Considering where she had seen him the first time, it was easy to conclude he was related to the Melville Trading Corporation. In other words, there was a high likelihood that Melville had a hand in the black market auction that was being organized. There was even a chance that Melville was that mysterious main organizer.

If she dug deeply enough, Mira might even find concrete proof of it all. Mira decided to be even more careful, while also following Isaac hoping he would provide valuable information.

Isaac kept wandering around the underground facility, exchanging words with different people who also seemed to be organizing the auction. Most of the conversations centered about the order in which the items would be presented, their starting prices, and other similar things. There was nothing of value regarding Chimera Clauzen or the Melville Trading Corporation.

But from the way he spoke and behaved it was clear he had a rather high position there. Around an hour of wandering around, he headed to a set of stairs leading upwards. After climbing for a while, he reached a metallic door, which he opened and walked through.

The door led to a rocky area in the wastelands. It was likely there were multiple other entrances like that all over the place.

They were currently to the north-north-east of Sentopolly, which was a place lined with multiple rocky hills that went from just ten to tens of meters high. Isaac headed to a path leading into a valley, which he began following without hesitating. Since the ground was rather unstable there, Mira decided to stay at a safe twenty meters of distance tailing him, trying to make as little sound as possible.

He kept walking for around an hour, the number of rocky hills around them diminishing but getting taller in turn.

「I know you’re there. Who are you!」

Isaac yelled out of the blue. Mira instantly froze, not moving a muscle as she kept observing him. Due to the time limitations of Complete Suppression she could not mask off her presence entirely. She had simply camouflaged herself, so while she was invisible, anyone with sharp senses could easily guess where she was.

(Hmm… guess he’s got some skills.)

If she had been found out, the only way to extract more information was to use force.
But as soon as she decided that…

「I guess my intel was right, you’re no ordinary foe.」

Saying that, a man stepped up to the peak of a nearby rock. He was tall but skinny, wearing long purplish red clothes, a thin sword and a crossbow hung from his hips, and he had long elliptical glasses with silver rims, his hair and eyes ashen.

(I remember him… back then.)

Mira had seen that man before. He was one of the Sky Denizens she had run into in the Libra Fortress.

「Heh, anyone would notice if such murderous eyes were turned their way.」

Isaac turned around, his eyes focused on the man atop the rock. Meanwhile Mira realized she had not been found, so she slowly began to move so she would not get roped into whatever was about to happen.

「There’s stuff I want to know, and you’ll tell me everything.」
「You want to ask something then? Hmm, so you’ve heard of me, Sentopolly’s minister of foreign trade, Layton Nox?」

The man in long clothes took his crossbow and pointed it at Isaac, who grinned while looking straight back at it without much care.

(Sentopolly’s minister of foreign trade Layton? Who’s he talking about?)

She double checked and his name was still Isaac, not Layton. She was starting to get confused about it all when the solution to the problem was revealed soon after.

「Not really. I want to talk with Chimera Clauzen’s Development Department’s deputy head, Isaac Meyer.」

Once the man in long clothes said that, Isaac raised his eyebrows slightly, probably as a reaction to hearing that name.

「Then you have the wrong person. I’m Layton Nox. I can’t say I’ve ever heard of whoever you’re looking for.」

He quickly collected himself and denied it with a calm voice. Hearing that, Mira was able to discern that Layton Nox was a cover identity used by Isaac.

「Deny it all you want, but your three underlings spoke more than enough.」

A sly smile appeared on the man’s lips as he unsheathed his sword, pointing its edge at Isaac on top of his crossbow. He did not look like had any intention of putting a criminal behind bars like a regular investigator would, instead he had all intention to kill Isaac.

「Three? I see, so it was you who made them disappear. And that bloodlust in your eyes tells me you aren’t from the Fifty Bells. I’m actually confused, who are you?」

Hearing about three people confessing, Isaac’s demeanor changed instantly since he knew who they were. He stopped pretending and instead took his short wand from his waist and pointed it at the man.

「There’s no need for you to know.」

Such was the cold and sharp reply, and he pulled the crossbow’s trigger at the same time. The arrow released from the crossbow flew in a straight line towards Isaac’s forehead.

But just before it hit its target, the arrow was engulfed in flames and burnt away. Magic, Isaac had quickly unleashed a spell that stopped the arrow flying at a high speed. That showed Isaac was a rather skilled magician, and even as her opponent, Mira was impressed with him and decided to keep watching for a while longer.

Without wasting a moment, Isaac unleashed a second fire attack, while the man in long clothes produced blue flames. That was the blue fire of exorcists. Red and blue collided between the two, sending flares of bright fire everywhere. That was only the prelude for their fight.

The fight between Isaac and the man in long clothes was fierce.

With their starting distance, Isaac had the upper hand with his magic, messing with the man in long clothes with all sorts of tricky spells of many elements and behaviors.

On top of all that, Isaac also had weapons made from black mist stones. According to the information obtained from the alchemist Johann, depending on how they were built, those could have additional effects on top of being able to devour spirits.

Isaac currently wielded a black dagger with a spiraling blade. Every time he swung it, there was a trail of black mist left which would reflect any incoming attacks back at the man in long clothes.

That was the additional power imbued in the spiral dagger, reflecting attacks. The mist left by the dagger nullified any ranged attacks, making the crossbow virtually useless at first.

Every time an arrow was fired, Isaac would swing the dagger to renew the veil of mist. But this time when the arrow hit the mist, a layer of water was sprayed out from the point of contact.