The Deceitful One

The pale crescent moon shone like a silver claw in the dark night sky as the cold wind hissed through the trees that were now covered in orange and red leaves.

The light of the gas lamp posts shone on the trees, vividly highlighting the colors of the leaves. September was the month that officially welcomed the fall season.

Sometimes the days were unexpectedly warm but most of the time it got colder and darker as the leaves continued to slowly fall from the trees. The lingering warmth served as a constant reminder of the harsh cold to come.

A black horse-drawn carriage slowly stopped in front of a bar on Laurent Avenue and three good-looking men wearing fine suits alighted from it.

Naturally, they were Bryan, Andrew, and Elijah who had come out to drink and have some fun. Elijah paid the carriage driver and thanked him. He turned to look at his two friends and asked excitedly, "So are we getting drunk or what?"

Other than tinkering with machinery, if there was anything else that Elijah could call a hobby, it was most certainly drinking. And he had quite the tolerance for it.

Bryan put his arm around Andrew's shoulders and smirked, "Sure but not until Andrew loses some money first, hehe."

Andrew grumpily removed Bryan's hand and walked ahead, "Hmph, as if! Let's go."

Bryan and Elijah looked at each other and began chuckling. They followed after Andrew as they entered Kilroy's Bar which was a relatively well-known bar in Damascus. It wasn't the best but it certainly wasn't the worst.

After joining the Silver Owls, Bryan mostly spent time with Andrew and Elijah at this bar after he was done with work. Although he didn't have much work since he joined, that didn't mean that he was vacant all day.

These first 2 weeks could be considered a sort of orientation for him. Bryan had gotten to know how the Silver Owls operated and what their modus operandi was.

He found it to be very systematic and efficient, just like the myriad gears of a clock working together in congruence. Other than that he mostly read books or practiced spells and combat at the HQ.

After entering Kilroy's Bar, the trio sat by the bar counter and ordered their drinks respectively. Bryan ordered a glass of bourbon whereas Andrew and Elijah ordered a wheat ale.

While Bryan was waiting for the drink to be served, he took out his silver cigarette case from his coat pocket.

He took one cigarette out for himself and then offered one to Elijah. Andrew didn't like smoking, however, Elijah quite liked the taste of Bright-leaf tobacco.

Bryan put the tip of the cigarette between his lips ad then lit it with his gas lighter. After taking a puff and enjoying the strong buzz of nicotine, he then proceeded to help Elijah light his cigarette.

Andrew saw his two friends who were enjoying smoking tobacco and shook his head, "You know it's really harmful to your lungs right?"

"Kekk, so what? We can always ask Livia to heal us. Although she's quite grumpy most of the time, she really cares about our well-being, hehe." Elijah chuckled as he inhaled another puff of the cigarette.

Bryan couldn't help but shake his head as he smiled, "Having a healer on the team is truly a blessing."

He knew that smoking tobacco had harmful effects on the lungs but what he was surprised to learn was that Livia was able to cure this if he consulted with her on a regular basis.

Or he could just buy magical potions concocted by her and consume them regularly. This would help cancel out the harmful effects brought about by smoking tobacco.

The common people would never have imagined that such a thing was even possible. That's why Bryan felt so grateful. Or else, at the rate he was smoking cigarettes, he would have fallen sick very soon.

The bartender soon served their drinks on the bar counter. Andrew picked up his glass of ale and spoke in a low voice, "By the way, boys, don't drink too much. We have a gathering to attend in an hour."

Bryan raised his eyebrows as he took yet another puff of the cigarette, "What gathering? Weren't we going to play poker?"

Meanwhile, Elijah's eyes shone with excitement as he probed, "You mean.."

Andrew nodded his head as his lips curled up into a smirk, "That's right. It's a secret Transcendent convention!"

Bryan's eyes turned round as he was barely able to control his voice, "A secret Transcendent convention? You mean there are other Transcendents in Damascus other than the ones from the Church!?"

Andrew looked at Bryan as if he was looking at an idiot, "Well, no shit Bryan! The population of the Western Continent is in the billions. The Belize kingdom itself has a population of more than five hundred million.

Although our Damascus city can barely be considered a city, it is still a city nonetheless with a population of around a million.

Now, even if you hypothetically consider the Transcendent population to be only 0.5% of the total population, how many does that make in Damascus?"

Bryan was taken aback at the astute reasoning given by Andrew. Only now did he realize how stupid his question was.

He scratched the back of his head as he sheepishly acknowledged, "You're right, hehe. Now, tell me more about this secret convention."

Andrew took a large mouthful of ale as he explained, "Just like the name suggests, it is a secret gathering of Transcendents where they buy and sell resources.

Potion recipes, main ingredients, meditation techniques, materials required to craft artifacts, information, you name it.

You can find quite a lot of Transcendent related items, provided they are available. Similarly, you can even place an order for them if you don't find it at the convention."

"Wait a minute," Bryan interjected, "Aren't Transcendents supposed to be strictly regulated? How come the people that convene this secret gathering have not been caught yet?

Moreover, aren't these secret gatherings an opportunity for rogue Transcendents to grow further?"

Andrew's lips curled up into a smirk. He looked at Elijah who was enjoying his ale and cigarette and nodded.

Confused, Bryan looked at Elijah who took out a square metallic device from his pocket. There was a button on the surface of the device and through the gaps on the surface, one could see gears working together in harmony.

Elijah then pressed the button on the device. Following that, the area around the three was covered by a dome of spiritual force, instantly blocking the loud noise coming from the people in the bar.

Bryan's eye twinkled as he enquired, "Whoa! Elijah, what's this gadget?"

Elijah smirked, pride evident in his tone, "This is a gadget I've invented that blocks all noise from the outside. But most importantly, it prevents any sound from inside the spiritual force dome to leak to the outside."

Bryan was enlightened. There was only one reason why Andrew would have Elijah do this. This meant that what they were going to speak about was extremely confidential and couldn't be risked getting leaked, no matter what.

He then turned back to look at Andrew and gestured for him to continue.

Andrew took another large mouthful of the ale and smirked, "The reason why the people behind this secret gathering haven't been caught is that they are one of us!"