Chapter 349 The Faceless Ones
The next morning...
It was a sunny day in Ironcrest, with the local coastline calm and clear, like a perfect summer's day.
There was one area of the second largest city in the province that was even more compatible with the weather that morning than most of the city, where there was a large area surrounded by trees typical of tropical coastal areas.
There were lawns, gardens, swimming pools, and more, things similar to what Vicente remembered from resorts or even special clubs on Earth.
Polaris Realm and Earth had many differences. But leisure was valued by the people of both places. Even in the magic world, there were places like this one in Ironcrest where families often went to spend an afternoon or even a whole weekend.
On this sunny day, this large local club was already near capacity, with many carriages and mounts in the appropriate places for such transportation.
Meanwhile, in a mansion in the middle of this more than 15,000 square meter area, a group of men stood around an artificial lake playing a typical Seidel Kingdom game on what looked like a golf course.
Nearby was an artificial lake with dozens of colorful fish, while trees and plants decorated the surrounding area.
These men had drinks or cigars in their hands and were dressed in casual clothes, but their helpers in the surrounding area were dressed like businessmen.
While they were gambling, drinking, and smoking in peace at the beginning of the day, one of the men dressed in official attire answered a call on his communicator and soon became more serious.
"Bosses, we have a situation with one of our groups." A man with black hair and a bushy beard said as he put away his communication device, something that could send and receive voice messages over distances of less than 20 kilometers.
Communications in Polaris Realm were far from the level of those on Earth. Anyone in the old world of Vice could communicate with people tens of thousands of kilometers away. But in this magic world, only the strongest could communicate over distances of more than a few tens of kilometers.
In the magic world, devices of all kinds vary in efficiency and range according to the level of their creators. That meant that only the most powerful professionals could create truly powerful things, which naturally carried the value of the work of such individuals.
The result was obvious. A small fraction of the population lived as well or better than the wealthy people on Earth, while most of the world lived like servants from the European Middle Ages of such a blue world.
In any case, even Mages would be unlikely to have communication devices that could keep them in touch with, let's say, contacts across an entire province. Most of them would at most have devices like that bearded man's, which only worked well in the vicinity of a city.
But there were ways around this kind of problem, such as having people and devices like that strategically scattered throughout a given area. Through such a network, one person could pass on another's message until it reached the intended recipient.
That's how the message the bearded man had just received had arrived!
"It seems that Tyson and Kaleb's group ran into trouble in the Millfall area. We have information that they have kidnapped the girl Jasmine Barber, daughter of the Sacred Devotee Barber." The bearded man said as he looked at the three men who were dressed differently from the people in the area.
Hearing this, a man with a cigar in his mouth took his eyes off one of his partner's moves and turned his attention to the subordinate.
"What?" This tall, thin man with a large bald head and brown eyes asked in surprise, not expecting such a thing.
When he heard the exclamation of this Mid-level Mage, the strongest there, the only High-level Mage in the group, a man with red hair, medium height and very strong, he said. "Explain that better, Quinn."
"Yes, boss. It seems that Tyson's group has recently found an opportunity. Sacred Devotee Barber's daughter was kidnapped by a man named Cesar Mazzanti, a mercenary from Millfall.
A partner of this woman, Jasmine, used an old contact she had in our group and convinced Tyson's group to help him with this problem. However, contrary to the intentions of this Millfall Temple boy, Tyson, and Kaleb saw him as a chance to get their hands on Jasmine and then use her to negotiate with the Sacred Devotee Barber.
From what these two men said, they intended to get a reward for rescuing her but also to interrogate her in search of compromising information for us to use against Sovereign Barber."
"Oh?" The third of this faction's three strongest men, The Faceless Ones, a Mid-level Mage, made an interested expression on his old face, arching his gray eyebrows. "That sounds interesting. We can pin the blame on Cesar Mazzanti and act as the party that rescued this young woman. Not a bad plan."
"It wouldn't be a bad plan..." The man with the black beard commented.
"What do you mean?" The man smoking his cigar asked doubtfully.
"First of all, Tyson, Kaleb, and more of their men left their companions in Millfall a few days ago and haven't given any answers since. On the other hand, the 'rescue' of Jasmine Barber didn't go as smoothly as planned.
Our men in Millfall were without their leaders and ended up having a hard time moving away from our enemies.
In short, a witness to our actions was not eliminated, and one of our men did not join the group that fled Millfall the night before."
The three strongest members of The Faceless Ones looked at the subordinate with concern.
Even though they were powerful Mages and even had a Marquis behind them, they weren't confident enough to face a Sovereign head-on.
As much as they could make it look like they were rescuing Jasmine from her real captors, any strange action against a Sovereign's daughter could have unimaginable consequences.
"Not only is there a witness, but Jasmine Barber herself seems to see us as her real enemies, not the man who kidnapped her..." The man finished, delivering the last bit of bad news to his leaders.
"Fuck!"
"If that's the case, we've got a big problem in Millfall!"
Their leader then ordered. "I want you to take this girl to Ironcrest. In the meantime, send a group to investigate Tyson and Kaleb's situation and deal with the remaining witness in Millfall."
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