It’s been about 2 month since we arrived here—The Moonlight Kingdom of La’mast region—The kingdom which was famous for conquering a floating dungeon called Labyrinth of Lumina. The citizen of this kingdom consists of mortals and a few minorities from the Envoy of Nature; such as dwarves, druids, pixies.
With the conquered dungeon as its legacy, the citizen of the kingdom flourished. Especially Magi as the bustling growth in the number of official Magi in the kingdom is high.
As the main source of capital in the kingdom, the labyrinth provides an astounding amount of magical related resource such as magic mineral growing around the labyrinth or inside the labyrinth, runic component of the labyrinth containing knowledge, and magical beasts. But most importantly Mana, as the Mana concentration in the air is thicker in the appearance of the Dungeon.
By also obtaining a fierce magic aspect of Luminescent Star from the dungeon, the military force of the Moonlight Kingdom is terrifying combined with high Mana concentration. Another thing to note is that this kingdom is ruled by the humans, which make things easier for us to blend in.
At least, that’s what I’ve gathered. Today I’m on an errand of collecting data again. It was horrid up here as the hot air from below makes any mortal’s throat dry. High-Sols could be seen in the sky with naked eyes.
As per usual, that Tasha only laze around the ‘base’ saying that it’s better to stay rather than making a ruckus of challenging all the lords throughout the kingdom with his temper.
I’ll make sure he has a piece of my mind after this.
“Excuse me, Aaron sent me here.”
“Oh, a costumer eh? What do you need?”
“2 months ago, a falling star from Ma’least. ” I made the number two with my fingers.
He is the leader of the rogue Magi network, a collector of intel. Right now I’m at the mountain area near the city, inside a Magi’s hideout. Surprisingly, he isn’t on the guard even though a stranger appeared behind him while he is taking a stroll inside the hideout’s wall.
“four, no further than that. What do you have?”
“Hmph, three for it. The shift of the royal palace’s back entrance. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
His eyes widen instantly.
“Three it is then, deal.”
It is the exchange of spies. It involves a subtle meaning behind words where two people negotiate the value of the intelligence. In the world of professional spies, they will not trade information with money, material or anything at all. They will trade intel with another intel to grow their database. The premises are, the one who proposed question will provide more valuable information to opposing party. If the first party wants general information, then equal value. If the first party wants a detailed information, then two to four times the value. If the information is very valuable—for example concerning a nation—it can exceed five.
This system encourages spies to gather more intel, and avoid the authorities. Is it also important to note that how specific the info can affect its value.
“The fallen star is no star. It is a sophisticated Flying Ark no one has ever seen before, a technology from the Ma’least region.”
“I know that. I want to know its whereabouts and who is involved.”
“Relax. It’s in the central part of the Royal Research Institute. Did you know that the main group had been working tirelessly for a month to breach it but to no avail? It even gave headaches to the chief.”
I let a sigh of relief when I heard that. Two months of role-playing as a spy finally paid off.
“It’s not until two newbies joining the research group that the research had a breakthrough. The two new members managed to disable the protective wards outside the vessel. That instantly promotes them, making them the lead researcher and closer to the chief.”
“Excuse me?”
What!? Dammit what the hell happened? Don’t tell me…
“Does the new member have appearance of a young boy with blond hair and a girl with a white hair?”
“Not sure, but my boys said that it is a young boy and a girl.”
It is them! Those two are really getting on my nerves this time. Let’s see how Tasha will ‘teach’ you guys a lesson when we meet next time.
Yes that’s right. Tasha’s ‘teaching’. I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.
The Infallible Magi, The Wise One, E’machias E’lir (He who fought a winning battle by wits,) and The Slayer of Deus. These were some of the more famous title of that person back when our guild was still in its glorious days.
Anywhere we go, he would make infamous feats. Creating problem was like his second nature. Honestly, it still baffles me how he managed to be the guild leader, and the fact that we agreed for him to continue being the guild leader for years.
Like that one time he said he was taking a stroll when we were in a serious mission. Everyone was against it obviously. When he was back, the vice-leader even went on his way saying that he should contribute more to the team rather than just commanding everyone. Just for him to brush it off by showing a miniature castle of the enemy’s kingdom suspended in a sealing spell. Or to put it, he stole an enemy’s ENTIRE castle, essentially completing the task alone faster than any of us could do.
“I solved our mission on my own as you can see. But it is boring and it just tires me. I would prefer completing our mission with strategies and with the help of my friend. Isn’t more fun when we do it together?” He said that time.
But there is one title he held that wasn’t well known to the public. “Death Tutor” as we call him in the guild.
Why Death Tutor you might ask? Well because everyone he trained were as if they were in the brink of death, and he can decide at any moment whether you live or die. He pushes the limit of everyone’s magic further by letting them experience near death. Or should I say; made them believe they were in a near death situation, looking back.
Never in my entire life would I see someone beg lower than a peasant when they were training magic. Yes I saw it with my own eyes, I experienced it myself too.
But it is very potent—his training method that is—and efficient indeed. He noticed your weaknesses quickly and trained you the best and most suitable with your talent and temper. He improves your traits and doesn’t discourage you. He certainly treated everyone as equals, no matter your background, potential, or abilities.
He uses hard and painful method, not because he is cruel, but because the world is cruel he said. Not a single one of us fail to succeed.
Well of course—when your life depends on it, you can do more things that you think was more or less impossible before. Trust me. In a way, his personality is gentle, caring and patient when he trains us. It’s just that his preferred method of training was killing us, literally.
.-.-.-.-.-.
I walked in a shady alleyway. It was sandwiched between two tall buildings. It was way neater than before we find it. You can even find herbs thriving in this damp and shaded alley, growing. As if someone was radiating life energy for them to thrive.
I went back earlier than expected.
Walking pass the rejuvenated paving and slabs of smooth stone, I began to walk on dirt. This time, a lot more vegetation can be seen, clustering on what seems to be a meeting point of the four alley way with no-face building surrounding it.
The fountain was no longer with vines, as it is spewing clear freshwater that you can drink directly.
Looking through the fountain, you can find a modest 3 storey building. It was designed with simple material—acacia wood and stone. With natural arches detailing throughout the building and a 45 degree roof. It blends well with the surrounding green and red vegetation.
I went inside and found a guy sitting in living room.
He was sitting in a wooden furniture. Enjoying a cup of mildly fragrant herbs while crossing his legs. His brown hair and leather coat almost matches in color. You can find relaxed expression on his face.
Yes, he is Tasha.
“Took you long enough, I assume you already started our plan?”
“Yeah, we can start the infiltration at three days of time. Also I found something about both of them. That leaves us with that perv, and that woman to find.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
I was dumbfounded. Did he lose his memories or something? Did the fighter on the coliseum hit his head to hard perhaps?
“Of course it’s the engine-head siblings. Who else can it be? They were at the research group base with the Flying Ark all along! Guess what? They joined the research group and they were in the middle of the project.”
His expression changes instantly.
“Oh that? Yeah, I already knew where they are. Didn’t they tell you when they visited a week ago?”
You what? Already knew? A week ago?
I stared him speechlessly. The ‘me’ standing here right now is no different than the tree outside. I was trying to process what just happened.
“So it meant that… my effort of gathering intelligence for the past couple of weeks is useless? Y-you! Why didn’t you tell me EARLIER!”
I lashed out immediately at him at his collar. I don’t care about anything at the moment. I’m gonna beat his ass with my fist at the moment. ‘Fuck it’ as Tasha used to say in his weird dialect.
“W-wait! Shit… Listen to me firs- ACKH! That fucking hurts! The project! Goddammit, they didn’t tell anything about it! Stop!” Tasha screamed.
I stopped. Yes, the project. I calmed my mind with the thought of how Tasha will ‘teach’ them
“It hurts dammit! The hell is wrong you suddenly punching me in the face? Do you want to give it go? Calm down for heaven’s sake. You were in the base when they visited, so I thought you knew.”
‘Yes, it’s not Tasha’s fault. They’re just messing with me. Dammit!’
I let go of him, and tried my best to calm down.
“Tell me about the project.”
I recounted everything to him what the spy said.
“Those bastards… one second I turn my back, and they were already this bold to hide shit from me. Imagine if I’m in my old days later!”
He scrams out instantly. He went to grab something in his room, but he is back within seconds.
He threw two shining hand-bracer at me from inside his bag. It was my Artifact.
“Prepare yourself Weiss, we’re gonna kick some ass. Mostly me, but you get the drill.”
