Unsealing Emptiness

Chapter 78: Surprised, are we?

On the street, Irene led the trio towards the place where her grandfather stayed.

When they reached the place, Ozul noticed that they had arrived at the place where once the Count’s estate stood.

He internally praised the efficiency of these Silver Knights since they were able to create small structures in just a day.

Using Mages as a part of the construction team was not something anyone could afford. This performance of theirs showcased how much power they held.

Looking in the vicinity, Ozul saw that there were still many Mercenary squads with varying expressions on their faces. Some were annoyed at their situation while others didn’t care much.

Irene had regained her composure as she approached the large structure in the centermost area, followed by the trio. The two lean men had already left to do their work when they had arrived at the location.

When they entered the room, Ozul saw that Rufus sat behind a pile of files holding onto his head with one hand while the other held a pen. The data and reports on the table almost towered to hide his figure.

.....

It appeared that Rufus was in quite a predicament. However, Ozul was quite indifferent to this and went forward to take the only other seat in the room.

Only now, Rufus looked up from his documents and frowned while observing Ozul’s behavior. He had already confirmed that the trio were only some Silver Rank Mercenaries, but the powers of the other two didn’t match their Rank.

Even those two were acceptable since they had only recently joined the Mercenary Guild. But no matter how much he probed, the man in front of him remained a mystery.

Rufus had been questioning every Mercenary personally since only they were the people that had survived the Incident last night.

However, all that he obtained from those Mercenaries was that they were on a mission from Duke Edwin. Everyone had heard the ear-splitting screams from the forest and began to rush towards it to find out the cause.

But no one was even able to reach the location due to the interference from all those Beasts.

It was the extent of information that Rufus could collect from the Mercenaries. The only remaining clue was the man that nonchalantly sat in front of him.

This time Rufus carefully examined Ozul from head to toe. The more he looked, the more astonished he was.

Rufus was the Chief Leader of Silver Knights. They not only trained as Mages but also cultivated their bodies as a Fighter. So, he was experienced in examining others’ bodies.

‘How could something be so... so perfect!?’- Rufus thought as he could not make head or tail of the situation.

He was a Rank-8 Mage, and yet he could not even feel a speck of Mana on him.

‘But if he does not even have Mana, how is his body so perfect!?’-

Rufus himself was a Rank-9 Fighter, and when he compared his body to the kid before him, he did not even come close!

“What? Surprised, are we?”

This voice woke him up from his thoughts and made him realize that he had been staring at the kid all this time.

Ozul’s tone made him think as if he was naked under his gaze. It seemed as though the kid before him could easily read his thoughts.

*Cough.*

“Tell me, young man, what are your secrets!?...”

The whole room turned silent as even Irene looked dumbfounded at her grandfather. Feeling all the gazes directed at him, Rufus realized his blunder as he corrected himself;

“*Cough.* I mean, tell me what happened yesterday night at the scene!”

Rufus maintained his calm composure on the outside, but he was burning from the inside.

‘I surely sounded like some creepy old man, sigh...’- Rufus thought while looking at the amused expression on Ozul’s face as he petted the black cat on his lap.

“Ah, we are here for that? Well, many things happened yesterday... I don’t like to talk so much, though.”

Rufus was finally gaining some light in his eyes when he heard Ozul’s first line, but the last part made him grit his teeth in anger. This kid was still playing with him!

In his entire life of being the Chief Leader, no one had dared to say anything funny to his face except for his Royal Majesty and the Empress.

But this kid did not even give him any face! And ignoring the grave event that had happened, he was here on the orders of Emperor Luthien himself! How could he be so impudent!?

Though just as Rufus was about to erupt with anger, Ozul motioned towards Raven as she came forward.

Both Rufus and Irene were confused, but due to different reasons. The latter was perplexed at the situation. She couldn’t find even one reason as to why both the black-haired girl and the stony-faced cyan haired guy would follow his orders.

Unlike Rufus, her grandfather, she did not have any observation skills, or else figuring out that Ozul was not an average human wouldn’t have been a problem.

Moreover, she was a muscle brain. Even a little taunting and she would lose her cool. So she also did not have the time to observe Ozul. Shaking her head to dismiss these thoughts, Irene focused on Raven.

“As you know, we are Mercenaries. What else do you want to know?”

Raven asked in a deadpanned voice, seemingly quite bored with the situation. It irked Rufus since even a standard Rank-5 Mage talked to him with such tone. However, he held it in since she was ready to speak.

“I want to know what happened at that sight last night.”

Raven looked at Ozul for confirmation, and they did not even say a word before she faced Rufus and began to explain everything.

“You should already be aware of the Eclipse’s Order. Well, they were creating a Monster by sacrificing about 500 or so children.”

Rufus was listening with keen eyes, and when Raven said the last part, many things started to make sense in his mind.

The inhumane shriek that shook the City to the core, and the Mana waves that reached even the Capital City from here-it was all because of the Monster created by sacrificing hundreds of children!

“So what happened after that? How did it die? And more importantly, what happened to Duke Edwin?”

Rufus started bombarding Raven with questions once he had digested the previous information.

“The Monster just died on its own, while Duke Edwin and the leader of Eclipse’s Order were killed by the former before it died.”

“Well, strictly said, the leader of Eclipse’s Order perished because he could not contain all the energy in his body after trying to absorb the Monster.”

“While Duke Edwin, well, he was a great hero. When he noticed that there was no one else to stop the Monster, he sacrificed all his being to stop it. Regrettably, his efforts were in vain since all his men still died due to the last attack from that Evil Creature.”

Raven said the last part while shaking her head and releasing a fake sigh. For a moment, Rufus had believed everything that she said.

But then he remembered his encounters with Duke Edwin. Rufus knew that there was no way in hell that someone like Edwin could ever be so ‘heroic’.

That man had massacred his brother’s whole family for god sake, how could he sacrifice his own life for others?!