Mystical Journey

"Hehe, these people don’t know you’re the leader of a noble household." Josephine smiled. ""You’re much more valuable than these old nobles by the streets."

"Don’t say that." Garen scolded mildly. "There should be a lot of leaders of the noble households who lost their territory, causing them to be unable to support their household’s power, right?"

"That’s true." Josephine’s smile disappeared. "I have once worked for an old noble who was in the same situation. He didn’t buy much into the industry in the kingdom and the wealth he brought along the way was lost. A few days later, we were separated as he could no longer support us. To see a household of a few hundred years collapsing just like that, sigh…"

Garen didn’t utter a single word as he listened to Josephine.

From the mouth of a driver who was hired by many nobles, he was able to obtained a lot of small intel that nobody knew. The drivers often gathered together and talked to each other and he found out that nobles with authority in the kingdom amounted to less than four hundred. Compared to the thousands of noble families in the past, this was just a drop of water in the ocean.

Josephine was originally unhappy due to his unemployment, but he didn’t expect to be hired by Lala, and became the main topic among the drivers. Although Lord Garen’s reputation was subpar, he was indeed an actual upper class noble, and rumor had it that he had a close relationships with the nobles with high authority.

The carriage finally got out of the kingdom and passed through the district and took half a turn in the kingdom. After passing through the custom, what awaited them at the front was a huge yellow-green grass field.

The grasses were green and yellow with some bushes of red fruit dotted here and there.

This field was located at the very end of the black building district, surrounded by a circular black wall, forming a huge oval shaped zone.

The giant pond in the center slowly came into view after travelling on the field for a while.

"That is the Wells Lake, the main source of water to the entire Kingdom. Other than the Wells Castle where you’re heading, the Kingdom’s Water Supply Department is located here." The driver Josephine seemed to know this place very well.

There were a few single convertible carriages heading towards the Wells Castle on the straight road as well. Occasionally, a few horses overtook Garen’s carriage, there seemed to be no one walking at all.

The carriages on the lane gradually increased, making the speed of the carriage gradually decrease as well.

After 10 minutes or so, a grey-white stone castle finally appeared.

The small castle was built on the lake, and the only connection to the castle from the land was a stone bridge.

The wall of the small castle seemed to be made out of pieces of cobblestone, which looked like goose eggs. They were uneven and densely packed together. There were four peaks at the top which formed a square point. A black chimney could be seen at the center of the of the castle.

Garen looked from afar and the castle didn’t seem to be very big, as it was about the size of a double storey residential building. There was a black traffic light set up at the entrance by the stone bridge. There were two people wearing the same black armor as Garen whispering among each other.

Garen’s carriage stopped at the empty space beside the stone bridge.

"We’re here, m’lord."

"Alright. You can head back first and not wait for me." Garen got down of the carriage and walked towards the stone bridge.

He walked past a couple of people in conversation and entered the entrance of the small castle through the stone bridge.

After passing through the pitch dark entrance, he arrived in a guest room linked together on both sides. The wall was hung with all kinds of weird accessories, most of them were weirdly shaped accessories made out of white bones. There were white deer horns, thick thighs and a skull the size of basketball.

There was a pale lady in spectacles and grey custom made armor, sitting at the reception at the right side of the guest room. She smiled as she saw Garen come in.

"Good day, you must be Viscount Garen who came reporting in right? We have already received your notice and we have a picture of you here. Please verify your identity."

Garen took out a document, which was a golden certificate given by His Majesty.

The pale lady returned Garen the document after examining it closely as she note down the relevant information onto a small notebook.

"Please wear this and head towards the second room on the right. Someone will meet you there."

She passed him a golden-black badge with a golden Z alphabet on it.

Garen followed her instructions and entered the room on the right, heading towards the small room at the far end.

The decoration of this small room was similar to the living hall as accessories made of white bones were propped up everywhere. There were two males and one female arguing over something and all of them quiet down as they heard footsteps.

As Garen entered, a guy and a girl, both in black armor, looked at him, the other guy with brown hair placed his finger into his hair with his head down. It was clear that he had yet to calm down as he kept expanding his chest.

Garen ignored them and walked directly towards the room on the left.

Whoosh…

After a series of noises, the wall split and opened a path that lead to a slanted passage.

The ceiling of the passage was made out of glass and guided the sunlight in from the outside just like the skylight.

Garen walked into it.

"Welcome welcome! Welcome Viscount Garen Trejons." A fatty walked towards him with joy and hold Garen’s hand tightly.

"I am Baidel and I’m the deputy city governor from the distant Shield Hill. I am currently seeking refuge in the Kingdom. Your arrival is a blessing to us all!"

The fatty was ecstatic as he pulled Garen enthusiastically forward and informed him of the situation as they moved forward.

"You may not know of the current situation since you have just arrived. Our overall structure in the Secret Service consists of the Headquarters, administration branch district Office and the special service group. These five layers fully cover the entire Kovitan, and this is the headquarter of the Kovitan. We manage five branches, and each branch managed their own district and we have many more groups further down. And you’re currently our most wanted Vice Captain."

"The current situation is dire and we have lost a lot of Captain level personnel. Although you’re currently just a Vice Captain, you can officially become a Captain through some training. Here, no matter if it’s the Headquarter, Branch or the District Office, our core strength comes by forming a team. The headquarter’s team is the best, followed by the team from Branch office and so on." The fatty explained swiftly.

"If the team from the District Office cannot accomplish the mission, they will report it to the Branch. After the assessment from the Branch, they will dispatch a team from the Branch to perform the mission. If the mission is still yet to be completed, they would report it to the Administration and so on until it reaches Headquarters. You are currently under the Kovitan’s Administration team. The current situation is complicated as there are a lot of situations that can't be resolved. We have sent out most of our team, 8 out of the 10 that we have. We are left with one team in the Headquartera in case of emergencies, and the other one is currently performing their duties in the Kingdom. His Majesty heard that you’ll be here so he had made preparations beforehand…"

"Wait a minute. Did you just say that you’re the Director of the District Office in the Kingdom? If this is the Headquarter of the Kovitan, then where is the branch director and the headquater director of this place?" Garen cut off his explanation.

"Uhh… They have all gone out on their respective missions…" The fatty took out a white handkerchief to wipe off his sweat. He wasn’t sure why Sir Garen’s image was totally different from the intel he received. The intel said that he was a gentle and polite person who loved beautiful women (He was once head over heels over Aquarius), and also a person who loved poetry.

However, this person who stood before him felt like a beast. Although his skin was pale and his face was indeed gentle and occasionally had a smile on his face, he also somehow gave off a feeling that sent shivers down his spine.

It was indeed weird, how could he be so fearful with his gentle smile?

The fatty felt very anxious.

"We are seriously lacking a lot of manpower, and there is also the fact that the Secret Service is being threatened as well. Raged, the general director, decided to bring out the strongest Silver Team out for this mission. It is estimated that they would return in a week’s time. Hence they've put me temporarily in charge here."

"What benefits would it bring to me if I were to join the Secret Service?" Garen asked the most important question straightaway.

"You’ll have access to the Royal Alliance’s highest level of intelligence, and you would receive a good sum of money and resources every month. You will also have the authority to kill anyone who doesn’t bear the title of Viscount and above. You will also have full authority to forcefully detain anyone who isn’t a Viscount during emergencies. If the opposing party refuses your order, they will be treated as breaking the law and become a wanted battle criminal." The fatty seemed to be very familiar with this as he explained everything in one swoop.

"Another important thing to note is that you can, based on your grade, visit any Master-level to create or service your totem from the Royal Alliance. Naturally, the expenses will be borne by you."

"Hehe… This is very beneficial." Garen couldn’t help but to feel excited as he listened.

Although he had killed so many people out there, he would immediately be hunted down by the strong people all over the country if he were to kill anyone within the Royal Alliance’s territory. If he were to have this position, he would naturally be relieved of his worry. No wonder His Majesty was constantly concerned over this department as they had such an amount of authority. If His Majesty were to not control them with his own hand, he might be in trouble as well.

"To be frank with you, the reason I joined this department was because I was aiming for the right to select at my own discretion. Hehe." The fatty told Garen what every men knew. "If you were to find any beautiful women, you can simply find a reason to fulfill your right to act, if you know what I mean."

Garen was speechless. He recalled the destruction of the Kovitan Empire in the original history. The first reason was that His Majesty had been assassinated and the second reason was that the citizens were outraged because of the abundance of power the Secret Service department held. It’s most likely because of these types of people similar to this fatty.

"Then, what do we have to sacrifice?" Garen asked again.

"Follow the orders from the upper echelon. Your superior will be Marquis Yawei, who is the Deputy Director of headquarters. He is also the person who manages the Nine Color Team. Naturally with your level which is at the Administration, you’ll be performing the same duty similar to the Deputy Director of the Administration. Hence you can freely mobilize the people below you. As the Secret Service, our main responsibility is to take care of the issues within our territory. Anything related to assassination, rebellions, riot, spying etc falls under us. The National Department will be fighting openly and the hardworking kids in the Geometry Service will be doing researching. Simply put, we are responsible for handling issues in the dark. Everyone will be doing their own stuff if nothing is going on and will risk their lives if we are tasked to do something."

"I understood." Garen understood.

Two of them walked forward and took countless turns. Soon, the lights from above dimmed and the supports of the glass became transparent. They could see the crystal clear water flowing above their heads.

Finally, they entered a small passage with two rooms placed opposite of each other, and two bronze nameplates hung above each of them.

Garen looked at the names of the plates and realized that one was orange and the other red.

He was then pulled by the fatty into an underground room to the left.

There was a long meeting table placed inside the room, and there were already four or five people sitting inside. All of them were wearing a slightly shallow grey armor and all of them seemed to be rather depressed with their hoods on.

These people didn’t react much as they saw Garen entering the room. They were minding their own business. Two women were having a conversation together and one youngster seemed to be discussing something with an old man. There was even one who directly placed his legs on the table and covered his face with his hood as he snored all the way.

"This is your red team. From today onwards, they will be your group members. I have to go as I still have other things to attend to. You’re on your own now." The damned fatty left immediately after a brief explanation.

"What do you mean I’m on my own." Garen didn’t manage to understand the whole situation and the fatty ran away. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

He stood at the entrance and looked at everyone in the room who were ignoring him. These people had used up all the chairs and didn’t even leave him one.

"Whoever knows the overall situation, can you tell me what’s going on?" Garen revealed a harmless smile.

The youngster and the old man paused their discussion. The white haired old man raised his head and squinted his eyes as he looked at him.

"Young man, are you the new team leader?"

"Based on the fatty’s statement, I believe I am." Garen showed his emblem.

"You should go back from where you came from." The old man shook his head. "This is not a place where a small kid can enter freely."

Garen smiled and didn’t say much.

"Am I not the person in charge of this team?"