The Cage, The Floating Marketplace.
After spending most of the night in Night Paradise, Adam and Kael returned to their current base of operations—the establishnt where the previous Silver Vess operated.
On their way here, they saw Adam's wanted posters almost everywhere. Furthermore, there were also ard guards who had begun patrolling the streets, looking for the raven-haired youth.
Fortunately, the disguises Liriel had diligently worked on were quite efficient. Adam quite literally walked right past the guards, yet they were unable to truly identify him.
Liriel's skill in crafting disguises was so great that even a Rank 3 - Mana Vortex Magus wouldn't notice the discrepancies—not unless they were proactively looking for them, that is.
Currently, the pair had arrived before the doors to the office on the second floor, their expressions grave.
When the Magi standing guard saw them, they made their way, opening the door for them.
Both Adam and Kael pretended to respectfully greet Silver Vess who was sitting at the large desk, casually smoking from a long pipe.
As soon as the door closed, all three of them dropped their pretenses. Adam walked forward while weaving a few hand seals, erecting an invisible do around them that prevented sound from escaping.
The mont the barrier was erected, Liriel spoke up, "People from the Umbra Thieves were here!"
Kael's eyes narrowed at that discovery. "As expected."
"What did they say to you? Did they find anything suspicious?" Adam asked with a solemn expression.
"They were rather… ta," said Liriel, thinking of the right word. "But that's only because I'm wearing the face belonging to Silver Vess."
She paused for a mont before adding with a serious look on her face, "But they scoured the whole place clean, thoroughly checking all the guards that work here. And…"
"And what?" Adam pressed, his hands involuntarily clenching into fists.
There was imnse fury burning in Liriel's eyes and she continued, "They viciously interrogated all the slaves in this establishnt, killing everyone from the latest batch that arrived this morning."
"Bastards!" Adam spat through gritted teeth.
Kael gazed at his long-ti partner and couldn't help but ask in concern, "Liriel, are you alright?"
The elf gazed at him with complicated emotions, her lips quivering. "I'm okay."
She paused for a few monts, trying to gather her bearings. "They asked about you two since technically you both arrived here earlier this morning."
Adam started pacing around the room, asking absentmindedly, "Yeah, and what about it?"
"For now, you both are clear. But I don't know for how long I can hold them off," Liriel truthfully answered. "The Magi from the Umbra Thieves are very serious, it would seem."
Kael nodded. "Adam's wanted posters have been distributed throughout the city already."
"But how did they even know about our arrival?" Liriel couldn't help but ask in distress.
"It's that damned traitor from Ravenfell," Adam spat through gritted teeth. "The day I find out who that traitor is, I swear it, I will tear him limb from limb!"
Kael and Liriel remained silent. The situation that they had now found themselves in was very dangerous. Especially for Adam.
"Do you think this traitor is a spy for the Umbra Thieves, or…" Asked Liriel.
Adam shook his head. "I can't be sure. But if I had to make a guess, I'd say it's a spy for the Cult of Bones. The Umbra Thieves doesn't have nearly as much influence to win over a Rank 3 Magus from Ravenfell."
"The Cult of Bones, on the other hand…" His aning was clear. The cult was a powerful ancient organization that had deep resources and a network spanning the entire globe.
Naturally, they were imnsely influential. Not to ntion, their wealth wouldn't just surpass Ravenfell's, but the whole of the Acadian Empire.
"Damn it!" Adam couldn't help but curse out aloud. He took a seat at the table and conjured a gourd from his earrings. He finished the whole gourd in frustration.
Then, he cleared his mind with the help of the lotus, and spoke again, "Let us assu that this traitor is a spy of the Cult of Bones. Considering our current predicant, we shouldn't be bothered about this damned traitor, but the Cult!"
Kael and Liriel's expression turned grave. Until now, the Twilight Brotherhood had expected the Cult of Bones to back out from the playing field.
After all, the Brotherhood has been in a secret war with the Cult for a long period of ti. So naturally they knew how the Cult operated.
Based on the Cult's behavior and thod of operation, the Brotherhood believed that the Cult would discard the Umbra Thieves after their plan failed earlier, and focus on the bigger picture.
However, now it would appear that the Cult might not have abandoned the thieves' guild, after all.
Suddenly, Adam's brows creased together as he thought of sothing very peculiar. "Wait… Why did we assu that the Cult of Bones would not participate in the upcoming battle? The higher-ups in Ravenfell also didn't find anything wrong with this idea. How strange…"
"This was a sound analysis done after taking into consideration their past behaviors," said Liriel matter-of-factly.
"Is that so?" Adam mutterd in a daze.
He suddenly had a feeling of deja vu. But where did this feeling originate from? The raven-haired youth tried his best to recall that mory.
The closer he got to the answer, the colder his heart turned. He felt a chill crawl down his spine. When he lifted his sleeves a little and noticed goosebumps all over his arm.
He couldn't help but nervously gulp when he finally realized the source of this feeling of deja vu.
I see… So, that's what it was, he thought in alarm.
This is the sa feeling I got when I started to realize the bizarreness surrounding the underground tunnel in Hannes City!
At the ti, all of us were led to believe that the tunnel was sohow connected to Shadowmuir despite there being no evidence suggesting it.
Adam's sixth sense was warning him about sothing.
The sa thing is happening now… All the people from the Brotherhood as well as Ravenfell directly involved in this battle were led to believe the the Cult of Bones wouldn't be present in Blackshore, when clearly there was no evidence suggesting it.
Hannes City… Blackshore… It's the sa feeling!
Adam's eyes narrowed and a terrifying foreboding feeling welled up in his heart. He looked at Kael and Liriel, and spoke in a grave tone, "I believe Blackshore is a trap!"
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