Unsealing Emptiness

Sense of Urgency.

The next day, Ozul and the team again visited Count Oliver’s Manor. Oliver had a stern expression on his face.

The trio knew that something must’ve happened for Oliver to appear so worried.

Count Oliver sighed when the trio sat down near him. Ozul did not need to ask as Oliver explained;

“I sent the report yesterday...*Sigh* You were right, those two Cities have become the most suspicious now.”-

“What happened?”- Ozul asked, ignoring Oliver’s dejected tone.

“The kidnappings all over the Cities have stopped. Also, There were several sightings of unfamiliar faces appearing near or in those two Cities...”- Oliver’s voice trailed off at the end.

It seemed as if Oliver was still embarrassed over his poor judgment.

Ozul did not pay any attention to the gloomy vibes released from Oliver as he was busy thinking things through.

.....

‘The Leader of this Eclipse’s Order seems like a crafty guy. He could somehow predict that the Kingdom would underestimate him, and he used it for his advantage...’- Ozul internally praised the man.

“We cannot waste any more time...”- Ozul said before he sighed. It seemed as if no one wanted him to sit back and enjoy the show.

“Our opponent is a sly fox... he went against the whole Silverbird kingdom... it means that he is either stupid or confident... and it seems the latter in this case.”- Ozul explained as all the people present looked at him weirdly.

Ozul would usually not take the initiative to give his opinion before other people. But it showed how grave the matter was for even him to cast away his laziness.

Count Oliver was eager to solve this matter because he could gain a massive amount of merits.

On the other hand, Ozul was concerned about his limbs.

He can instinctually feel that his severed ‘parts’ still have vitality in them and are in one piece. However, he cannot know what will happen soon.

They may be fine now, but the next moment, they could be gone! How would he know if they are even protected enough?

It seemed that after 20 years, Ozul was finally feeling a sense of urgency to obtain his limbs back.

He considered himself a smart man, but how stupid he was to actually think that his ‘parts’ would always remain intact.

Ozul shook his head as it was not the time to drown in worries.

“The Leader of the Eclipse’s Order diverted all the attention toward the locations.. while he must’ve prepared things in one of the remaining two Cities... Even now, there are two Cities, one of them would be the real hideout.”-

Ozul began to explain the situation in small details.

“Our opponent was smart enough to leave two Cities unharmed... which would take even more time to find their real location.”-

If the Leader had only left one City unscathed, not only would it garner more attention, but it would also be easier to locate him.

It seemed as if the guy had thought everything through.

Fortunately, both of the Cities were next to each other, which would ease their burden even if a little.

“But even if there are only two Cities, how could you locate them?”- Oliver asked. They had no lead whatsoever that could help them. Searching two whole Cities with only three of them sounded absurd!

“Hey, Oliver... Tell me, if you were hiding in a City... Where would you hide?”- Ozul asked.

“Huh?... I will probably hide in the woods?”- Oliver did not know where this was going, but he replied nevertheless.

“Mhm.”- Ozul nodded as he asked the next question.

“Now tell me... If you were a smart man... and knew that people would start their search in the forest, where would you hide?” It seemed as if Ozul was leading Oliver to an answer by asking such questions.

Ozul always did this when he felt that explaining was too dull and boring.

“Eh?! ... In the slums?” Oliver again answered confusingly.

“Yes... everyone would. But you also have a group to hide with you—a group big enough to invade Cities...”- Ozul added the condition of people hiding with you.

“Then... find some big estate? Where no one would bother to search?”- Even though Oliver answered as such, he was unsure of his answer.

“Indeed... You are correct. If the Leader of this Eclipse’s Order truly is a smart man... he would choose this approach...”- Ozul explained.

Ozul guessed that hiding in plain sight was his opponent’s best choice. Even though it was only a guess, he could not think of any other way to whittle down their area of search.

It wasn’t that no one else would have thought about it, but the politics needed to issue and issue a single command took a lot of time.

Everyone had their own point of view and unless someone with absolute authority had a headstrong opinion as well, it would take days to come to a final agreement. And Ozul guessed that such people might have not even cared enough to put a little thought into it.

He left the Manor with Raven and Blaze following him like some bodyguards while the Count was still thinking about where the Leader of Eclipse’s Order would choose to hide.

. . .

“We have two City Lords’ estate’s to check... hurry up.” Ozul said while Raven and Blaze were surprised.

They did not think that their opponent would actually hide in the City Lords’ estates!

“Don’t be surprised... One of the City Lord is a greedy bastard...while the other is a pervert old man... Anyone can easily take advantage of them...”- Ozul explained when he saw their confused expressions.

It was his best bet. Because if they could not find the Eclipse’s Order in this way, they would have to search everywhere around the Cities.

“Will we split up?”- Blaze asked after a while.

“No... it will be too risky... I have chances of winning against a Rank-8 Mage, but both of you won’t be able to do anything.”- Ozul shook his head.

Even if both Blaze and Raven work together against a Rank-7 Mage, they will not survive. Much less their opponent—who was a Rank-8 Mage!

However, in the past few days, Raven had managed to create the Spell that Ozul required. She named it ‘Night’s Shade’.

Ozul was satisfied with the Spell because it generated black smoke all around the target. The black smoke would spread about 10 meters.

Not only that, if their opponent is not skilled enough, their other senses would also be disrupted!

With the creation of this Spell, Ozul was confident that he could fight against a Rank-8 Mage! This would be the first step to obtain his parts back.

“Prepare everything... we will leave today.”- Ozul said. Since he had enough power to get at least one of his ‘parts’ back, he was anxious to hurry up the process.

Raven and Blaze thoughtfully nodded their heads as they could feel that Ozul was serious about this situation.

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