Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 104: What a Monster!

The convoy was still on the outskirts of the Capital City. They were on the road that most people took off from the City.

Their real journey had not yet begun, so the group was not overly tense.

So when they saw that an old man with his face brimming with energy, stood in the distance with a carriage and a horse strapped in the front, the group did not mind it.

However, Raven and Blaze, who were chatting with each other earlier, recognized the face instantly.

“What is that old man doing here? His name was... Uhm, Irvin?”- Blaze muttered.

“Let’s go and inform Ozul.”- Raven said to him, thinking that if it was something important, it was best to inform Ozul first.

They again went to the back of the convoy to wake up Ozul.

.....

*Zzzzzzzz*

When they looked inside the carriage, all they could see was that Ozul was sleeping in one corner while Orsella, the maroon-haired woman was staring at him like he was some animal in a zoo.

“Uhm...”

*Woosh*

Raven was contemplating how to wake him up without angering him, but when Ozul suddenly stood up, her words were stuck in her mouth.

Orsella was also surprised by the sudden movement since she had been staring at him unmoving for a while.

“What happened?”-Orsella asked, noticing that Raven and Blaze had also returned.

*Sigh*

“It better be worth it, Irvin.”- Ozul muttered to himself and got off the carriage, and no one bothered to reply to the woman with maroon hair.

Raven and Blaze did not have to say anything further since it seemed that Ozul had already learned of Irvin’s appearance without them doing anything.

Raven internally heaved a sigh of relief. She was sure that the consequences would have been harsh if she was personally the one to disturb his sleep.

“Ughh. Who does he think he is?!”- Orsella was a calm woman and seldom lost her calm, but it seemed that Ozul had a knack for infuriating others.

However, she did not follow out behind them. Orsella thought that it would only anger her the more she stayed near that guy.

Outside, with the hat on top, Ozul marched with the rest of the group, slowly increasing his pace.

As the convoy approached the old man, they ignored him and started to pass right by him. Some did have their guard up against him, but it was just that and nothing more.

They couldn’t sense anything from the man, so no one paid attention to him-no one, except the men hidden in the surroundings.

Since Irvin had no magical items to hide his aura, Rufus had easily identified him as a fellow Rank-8 Mage.

On the other hand, the hidden men all had one of the best equipment to camouflage their auras, so Rufus was sure that no one knew about their presence.

Just at this moment, Ozul approached Irvin. Fortunately, the other Mercenaries didn’t care about it. Even Clive ignored it since he was aware that if it were something suspicious, it would be dealt with.

“Young Master!”- Irvin did a small bow and said with a firm voice.

“Yeah yeah, what did you come here for? We are already on the mission.”- Ozul said, staring at Irvin’s face with a deadpan look.

“I had already taken control of the organization when I got to know that you did not have any carriage, so I took a carriage with me and came to see you off.”- Irvin explained himself.

“Oh? At least someone is competent enough.”- Ozul sarcastically said to himself.

Behind him, Raven and Blaze both smiled weirdly. They knew that the words were directed at them, but could they even do anything at this point?

‘Damn it! I should have bought the carriage when we were shopping!’- Raven regretted that she had forgotten such a thing.

Actually, it was no one’s fault. Since almost everyone at their rank and above did not need some carriages to move from cities to cities.

If they were to move alone, it would have been faster. However, they had to escort an important individual, so they could not be careless.

Even now, there was almost no one in the group who couldn’t keep up with their pace. However, it was a rash move that could put everyone at risk, especially since they were probably going through a lot of harsh environments during the journey.

“Good work. I shall go back to sleep now.”- Ozul motioned towards Raven to take the driver seat of the carriage and moved to the back of it.

This structure of the carriage was the same as the previous one. It had a roof. However, the backside was completely open.

Ozul went inside from the back and laid inside it, instantly falling to sleep again.

Blaze hadn’t learned to drive the carriage, but Raven had some experience. So she had to take the driver’s seat.

As the escort group was still moving, she started driving and joined at the end of the row.

Seeing them leave, Irvin made a 90-degree bow towards Ozul and stayed in the same position until the convoy had moved far out of his sight.

– – – – – – – –

Rufus and his men had seen all the interaction between the trio and that old man, but he couldn’t find anything suspicious.

However, since it was a required course of action, Rufus signaled two of his men to follow Irvin back and investigate him.

Just as the men were about to move out, Rufus was suddenly brought out of his thinking and hurriedly stopped the men from following him.

“Stop. That man is too dangerous. We will just follow the original plan.”- Rufus commanded the rest of the team and moved on.

Though the Rank-7 Mages were all confused by the sudden reaction of their leader, they didn’t voice out their thoughts. Everyone was a professional, and they knew when not to ask any questions.

As their team caught up with the convoy, Rufus only had one thing in his mind;

‘What a monster!’

The images of the scene flashed through his mind, distracting him from the task at hand.

He remembered when the old man had bowed towards the disappearing carriage, and eased his bow after the convoy was no longer visible due to the distance and the trees.

‘We were hundreds of meters apart. And yet... Yet, that old man turned to look straight at me!’

Rufus was so surprised since he was sure that if placed in the position of that man, he would have never been able to notice them.

They were using the special items provided by Emperor Luthien himself. The small beads were called Aura Erasure Beads.

The Emperor had assured them that unless it was some old monster who was at least an End-Stage of Rank-8 or higher, no one would ever be able to sense them.

Rufus had complete trust in his Majesty, so the only conclusion that he could come to was that the man was an End-Stage Rank-8 Mage!

“And that wild smirk...”- Rufus shuddered, remembering the smirk on that man’s face when he looked straight at him.

It couldn’t be helped. Even when Irvin was only at the Middle-Stage of the Rank-8, he had an experience of the End Stage already. He had dealt with many such tricky items that would conceal other’s powers in the past.

It displayed a wide disparity of power between the stages of higher ranks.

“And that monster was bowing towards that kid like a servant. *Sigh* That kid is becoming more and more of a mystery.”- Rufus muttered to himself.

“Could it be that he really is a young master of a prominent House around the continent? But which House could hire such a monster as a kid’s servant?”

The more Rufus tried to find the answers, the more questions he ended up having.

Realizing that it was going nowhere without any concrete proof, Rufus pushed these thoughts away from his mind and decided to focus on the task at hand.

‘I will still have to inform his Majesty about this matter...’- Rufus thought before calling one of his men.

He gave him all the instructions and sent him back to the Royal Palace to inform his Majesty. It wouldn’t take long for him to catch up to them since they hadn’t gotten far from the Capital yet.

– – – – – – – –

Back to Irvin, he was leisurely strolling back to his place.

“I think this will be enough to inform those official rats about my existence, wouldn’t it~?” Irvin muttered to himself before whistling on the way.

“Oh, Sh*t! Haley must be waiting for me! Damn... she is going to turn me into a punching bag if I am late again...”