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Ch187-White Black Gold 

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As Sylver approached his house, he was informed that there were 5 people with very poor control over their mana standing near the front gates. They were talking to Ging, but due to the natural barrier that their leaking mana created, Spring had no idea what was being said.

Sylver materialized on the roof of the house directly opposite his and stayed prone on it while he observed the people below. Sylver was too far away, and the sound didn’t travel well enough for him to hear them.

All 5 of them were wearing a full suit of white/orange/red armor. They had what looked like star constellations on their backs, but Sylver had no idea what they meant. The one talking to Ging had one pattern, and the 4 people standing behind had a different pattern.

The one on the person Sylver assumed was the leader did look a bit familiar, but then again, Sylver had lived long enough that everything looked a bit familiar. Sylver sent Spring inside the house, and barely a moment later Benny was laying down next to him.

“Did they say what they’re here for yet?” Sylver asked the small rabbit.

Benny disappeared for roughly 2 seconds, and then he returned.

“Ging said they want to organize a meeting, but they’re refusing to tell him what they want to talk to you about. As per your orders he’s asking that they return when they can disclose why they wish to meet with you,” Benny explained, and Sylver nodded approvingly at him.

Sylver’s exact words had been, ‘tell those cunts that I don’t fucking care who they are. I’m not going to talk to people too proud to tell my steward what they want. Tell them that my time is precious and limited and I refuse to waste it on their “oh so very important” bullshit. They want my help, they approach me on my terms, or they can all go eat shit and piss off.’

Ging caught Sylver at a bad time. 

He had just failed at bending space using fungus and wasn’t thrilled about the interruption. Thankfully Ging didn’t take it personally and accepted Sylver’s apology without any issue.

But Sylver did have a point, even if he was drunk, and covered from head to toe in mushroom spores. If someone wanted to be secretive and mysterious, Sylver didn’t want to bother with them. He wanted people who would be able to tell him everything he needed to know in 100 words or less.

Mostly because Sylver already had everything he wanted/needed, except the most important thing. Unless someone was offering the location, or information, regarding people from the Ibis, Sylver wasn’t going to accept their quest.

He had more money than he knew what to do with, Lola had enough influence and connections to get him whatever he wanted, so doing a quest for any reason other than finding another Ibis member, was a waste of time.

And even if they were offering information about someone from the Ibis, Sylver doubted he would do whatever it is they asked. If they were powerful enough that it was easier to complete their request, sure.

But they would need to be stronger than Sylver, the Cord, all of the hirable adventurers and mercenaries in Arda, all the private forces Novva and his noble friends had, and Bruno’s army of chimeras. 

And because manipulating the flow of information was an option, Sylver could even get the person, or group declared as a treasonous enemy of the high king. Although that could lead to war, that was a sacrifice Sylver was willing to make.

“Who’s home right now?” Sylver asked as he continued watching Ging very politely and courteously ask the 5 paladins to leave.

“Maul, Leo, Wen, Misha, Chrys, and Ria. Everyone else is out shopping to prepare for the banquet. Would you like me to call the guards?” Benny asked.

Sylver raised his head slightly and looked around. The rooftops were empty, those 5 were alone. Sylver went back to observing them and realized why the constellation on the leader’s armor looked familiar. 

Sophia had the same thing tattooed on her back. And now that he looked at them, the way the armor was colored did look a little like the red sun tattoo Sophia had on her shoulders.

“Tell Ging I’ll talk to the leader if they make the other 4 leave,” Sylver said, as Benny disappeared.

He vaguely saw a blur appear near Ging, but it was so fast that it looked more like a trick of the light, as opposed to an impossibly fast rabbit. As the 5 paladins started looking around, Sylver didn’t bother ducking down and even waved at them when they spotted him.

From his vantage point he could see the way their stances changed, they were relaxed before, but now they looked as if they were being stared down by a giant monster.

Sylver didn’t think this was a good matchup for him. Aside from his weakness against holy magic, how ineffective the shades would be, and the lack of any significant amount of earth, water, or plant life, meant it would be a difficult fight.

But if it came down to it, Sylver didn’t need to win, he needed to slip past them and cross the gates. And with [Fog Form] and a generous handful of explosives, Sylver had little doubt he would be able to do that.

The 5 paladins didn’t react to Ging and continued staring at him.

“Tell Ging I want the leader to disarm themselves,” Sylver said.

The 5 paladins remained where they were.

It was only after Ging said something else, that they turned to look at him. Ging spoke for about a minute, before the leader fiddled with the sword at their hip, and handed it over to one of the paladins. The four paladins with matching constellations disappeared in a muted flash of light.

Sylver used [Fog Form] and materialized near the wall of the building he had been laying on. Sylver did his best to be as non-threatening as possible, but it was hard not to be a little bit on guard when facing one of the few people that were a very real threat.

Now that he was standing on the same level as the paladin, Sylver was surprised to see they were taller than him. Ging was too short for Sylver to accurately compare, but this paladin was at least half a head taller than Sylver was.

[Human – Grand Paladin+Lesser Blade Lord– 246]
[HP: N/A – 100%]
[MP: N/A – 88%]
[Stamina: N/A – 32%]

[Arcane Insight (IV) Proficiency increased to 6%!]

Sylver saw the paladin very slightly shift their weight.

[A skill similar to [Appraisal] has been successfully blocked!]

Despite himself, Sylver smiled a little at the notification. If the paladin's change in stance was anything to go by, apparently the smile was a lot less friendly than Sylver imagined it to be.

Sylver walked slowly and calmly towards the paladin until they were both within each other’s grappling range.

The two just stared at each other before Sylver decided to see how far he could push them. He already had a tendril of fog that was within his home’s territory, just in case things went poorly. Ging was standing by Sylver’s side, and by the looks of things, Benny had been sent away for the time being.

“I would prefer it if we spoke face to face, not face to helmet,” Sylver said gently, almost as if he didn’t care one way or the other. 

The paladin cocked their head just the slightest amount before they reached up with their hands and undid the strap holding the helmet in place.

As it was pulled off, a waterfall of brilliant bright yellow hair descended onto the paladin's face. She moved the helmet backward, and in the process brushed all of the loose hair out of her face. The helmet stopped somewhere near the back of her neck and clicked into place.

“Sylver Sezari,” Sylver said calmly.

“Blanca Rabelo,” the paladin woman, Blanca, said.

They just stared at each other. 

Blanca looked so similar to Sophia that Sylver had to guess they were either related or came from the same area. She had a healed-up burn on the lower left half of her jaw, that made it look as if she had an unshaved beard. Her eyes were bright green, and her golden eyebrows were so light that they were invisible against her caramel-colored skin.

There was a hardened look to her face, that was helped along by her unwavering and unflinching gaze. Her neck-

Ging shifted on his feet and that was enough to break Sylver out of his minor trance. Sylver kept looking Blanca in the eye as he spoke.

“Would you be interested in joining me for lunch?” Sylver offered, and could tell immediately he had misread the look she was giving him.

“Respectfully… but I would prefer to slit my own throat,” Blanca answered, in such a warm tone of voice that she might as well have been offering him a glass of wine.

There was another moment of awkward silence.

“Since sharing a meal is out, how do you feel about sharing a bed?” Sylver asked.

Blanca didn’t react.

“If you are willing to have your dark magic sealed, I would be open to that,” Blanca said.

Her soul was completely unreadable to him because of how much holy mana was leaking out of her, and the armor was too heavy to give away any detailed hints with her body language.

“With the pleasantries out of the way, why are you here Blanca Rabelo?” Sylver asked with a slight smile. 

Blanca matched his smile, but it didn’t go up to her eyes.

“5 years ago, Sophia Rala uncovered and arrested a number of demon worshipers. Later we discovered that a man that matching your description-”

“You’re disarmingly attractive Blanca. But as of now, you have 100 words to tell me why you are here, and what you want from me,” Sylver interrupted, and once again, Blanca didn’t so much as blink.

It was like talking to a statue.

“I wish to learn the location of Sobek’s corpse. I know it has a physical location, in this realm, and I am willing to offer myself to you if you were to tell me where it is,” Blanca explained.

After Spring reminded him that Sobek was the name Sophia had once asked him about, Sylver pretended to consider the woman’s words.

“No. You have 63 words left,” Sylver answered.

Once again, Blanca didn’t seem to be breathing.

“What do you want in exchange?” Blanco asked.

“Nothing that you or your temple would be able to give me. 57 words left,” Sylver said.

Blanca reacted for the first time, she ground her back teeth against each other, and it made a muted clicking noise. She seemed to chew them for a second or two before she spoke again.

“The temple of Ra is currently divided. In the event you find yourself at odds with the current head priest, be aware that he is acting on his own,” Blanco said.

Sylver crossed his arms over his chest, and his smile disappeared completely.

“No. In the hypothetical event that the head priest and I are at odds, I will consider everyone who could have stopped him, but didn’t, to be equally responsible. You have 28 words left,” Sylver said calmly.

Blanca clicked her teeth by rubbing them together for a second or two before she shrugged her armored shoulders. She opened her mouth to say something three times before she changed her mind and said something else.

“If you happen to see Sophia, please tell her to return as soon as possible,” Blanco said.

“If I see her, I will… If at any point in the future you want to have a proper conversation, come alone, come unarmed, unarmored, and talk to Ging beforehand. Also, please be aware that my offer to join me in bed is still very much on the table,” Sylver explained with a completely blank look on his face.

“You’re welcome to come fully armored, it will make it more fun if anything,” Sylver added.

Blanca didn’t react as she disappeared in a muted flash of light that caused Sylver’s robe to shiver. Sylver brushed the fabric down and then turned to face Ging.

“Did any of them threaten you? What did they say?” Sylver asked as the small rabbit man shrugged his shoulders.

“They were warned by the previous Head Priest Sophia, to be extremely careful when interacting with you. And our house, by extension,” Ging said, while he walked next to Sylver.

“Good… In the future, if you ever find someone waiting for me outside my house, feel free to tell them that I won’t meet with them without a meeting being arranged beforehand,” Sylver said.

“Alright.”

“And if they try to explain that their request is important, urgent, or if they say some variation of “how dare you,” or, “do you know who I am,” please tell them that if I see them outside my house, I will scalp them,” Sylver added.

“What do you mean by scalp?” Ging asked as the front doors swung open.

“I mean I will make a small incision on their forehead. Then I will stick my finger into the hole, and pull hard enough to tear a strip of skin off their skull. And I’ll keep doing that until the area where their head should grow hair is completely devoid of flesh,” Sylver explained.

Ging nodded and then disappeared to go do whatever it is he did during this time of day.

Sylver didn’t waste any time and funneled his fog through a tiny tube that led directly into his workshop.