Chapter 134 : Chapter 134

Chapter 134. A Conspiracy

In a densely packed residential area in Gede Town, inside an old, small house.

Curtis entered a room and opened the door to the basement, slipping inside.

In the basement, there were already four people waiting. Upon seeing someone enter, they all instinctively reached for the weapons at their waists.

However, when they saw it was Curtis, they relaxed slightly, maintaining the same posture but easing their tension.

"Where’s Kate?"

The leader, a man wearing crude leather armor with a fine-quality leather vest faintly visible underneath his clothes, asked.

"Captain Braden, I’m sorry, I waited at the meeting point for a long time, but Kate didn’t show up, so I decided to leave and gather some information," Curtis explained. "I heard about a man with brown hair, blue eyes, and a scar on his left cheek being captured by the guards. That must have been Kate."

"I went back to check, and the meeting point hadn’t been disturbed, so I came here directly."

A stir ran through the group as they were about to speak, but Braden silenced them, saying slowly, "Don’t rush to move. Let’s clean up our traces before we leave."

"If Kate listened to what I told him, he won’t reveal any information until tonight. We still have time."

At Braden’s reminder, the group relaxed a little.

"How was he discovered? Didn’t the guy we hired to make the fake documents work for over twenty years?" Braden asked, seeking to understand the details of Kate’s capture. He needed to determine if their fake documents were still usable.

Curtis looked awkward for a moment before speaking slowly.

"It seems he didn’t let anyone else pass while queuing, and the guards grew suspicious... Captain, you know our weapons are custom-made, and a real search would have exposed them. That’s why he couldn’t escape."

The group exchanged confused looks, not understanding why queuing could be considered suspicious. Isn’t it natural to wait your turn?

Braden paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth in anger.

"Damn it, Kate, did he not receive proper infiltration training? He’s standing behind a formal mage..."

At this, everyone understood why Kate had been captured. Curtis quickly defended Kate.

"Captain, maybe Kate didn’t want to look around and expose himself..."

Braden waved his hand, signaling Curtis to stop, before saying, "Alright, Kate’s fate is his own. We can’t do anything about it. If he comes back, I’ll only punish him for failing the mission."

"Now, let’s talk about our target..."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"Costi, before you arrived, we discussed the intel we’ve gathered—nothing useful. What about you?"

He looked at Costi expectantly, hoping he had some good news.

But Costi shook his head. "Sorry, I haven’t made any progress either."

The temperature in the basement seemed to drop, and the only sound that could be heard was their soft breathing.

Braden broke the silence, continuing, "So no one has found any information. Where the hell is that thing... Damn it, wasn’t it supposed to be here? Why are there no signs?"

Costi suddenly spoke up.

"Captain, is it possible that the owner of this town has already taken the item and is preparing to offer it to the Alliance...?"

His suggestion was immediately met with doubt.

"What are you talking about? Other factions might need that item, but the Magic Alliance certainly doesn’t. They already have enough lords..."

Another person interrupted.

"That’s not impossible. The Alliance may not want it, but what if he just wants to study it? You know how mages are—when they come across something, they want to study it, even if everyone else thinks it’s trash..."

But another person quickly rebutted, "If we’re saying that mages would take such an item, then our target is already much broader—counting the mage Kate encountered today, there have already been three formal mages passing through this town this month..."

"And with our team, how are we supposed to take something from a group of formal mages? We can’t even take them in a sneak attack..."

Costi immediately spoke up to calm everyone down.

"Alright, stop arguing, discussing this won’t help. Let’s talk about how we’ll find it next."

He looked toward Braden, and the others followed suit, awaiting his response.

Braden took a moment before speaking uncertainly, "If that item is in the hands of those mages, we don’t need to steal it from them..."

He continued, "The mission I received from my superiors was to assist our allies. If the item really is here, all we need to do is report its exact location."

"If our allies really want it, they can come to the Alliance to get it themselves!"

"If they’re willing to pay a high price, the Alliance will surely hand it over to them."

His words also revealed some dissatisfaction with his allies, who had sent him to investigate rather than handling the matter themselves.

They were clearly afraid of the Alliance, which was why they had sent him and his team as "assistants."

To make matters worse, he had already lost a member—he had no idea if Kate would return. After all, they were in the Alliance's territory, where even the guards might be capable of casting two spells.

And as for the Alliance's city managers, almost all of them were powerful formal mages.

This wasn’t the case in their homeland, where it was difficult to find someone who could even hope to rise to the formal level, let alone push such people into managerial positions.

"Alright, let's pack up... We’ll execute the original plan and infiltrate the residence of the Gede Town administrator to see if we can find the item. As for those mages, we’ll deal with them later."

At his command, everyone began to get ready, and Braden walked to a corner, pulling out a piece of paper that had a description of the item they were after.

As spies, they referred to it simply as "that thing."

This item was not inherently important, but it was a symbol of the territory of Antir. Whoever possessed it would have the opportunity to claim that land.

The item wasn’t important in itself, as only the lords could use it, and it could only be used on their own territory.

Even without the item, there were other ways to seize that land. But this method was convenient and didn’t leave any hidden dangers.