The base finally came into sight after what felt like a long journey.
By now, the sun had already made itself comfortable in the sky, and no more oranges or reds could be seen.
The galloping of horses came to a halt as the group arrived at the destination.
The entrance to the base was a thick gate that could only be unlocked from the inside or with a mana stone key, which the Grand Duke possessed. The key would only react to those with royal or holy blood at a certain concentration, so only a select group of people could actually use it.
Dorian unlocked the fence. A commander who worked under the general took on the role as gatekeeper, and two other high-ranking officers assumed the job of directing people to their proper barracks.
Yunho got off the back of the horse and thanked the knight who let him take a ride.
The knight nodded and went off somewhere, leaving Yunho by himself.
Yunho looked around the surrounding woods. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the area for something. Then, he saw them.
Three black birds were perched on a low-hanging branch of a nearby tree. There were no other birds around, so the three made for a very conspicuous group.
Yunho grinned, "Couldn't even hide yourselves better?"
Yunho reached into his bag and wrapped his fingers around the "perfume bottle" inside. He quickly took it out and began rapidly spraying into the air. The birds quickly took off with a few loud, shrieking caws, but they were gone. He sighed and placed it back into the bag.
But when Yunho looked around, he realized that everyone had been staring at him with puzzled expressions. He couldn't stop his face from turning red with embarrassment.
"Ah, sorry. I just like the scent of this perfume a lot… ha ha."
Yunho could still feel some judgment radiating towards him, but everyone resumed what they were doing. The young man sighed and placed the bottle back in his bag after he made sure he didn't see any more birds.
"You're judging me, but I'm helping far more than you realize."
Unlike Lucivia, which prioritized combat within its military, a lot of the Bahit military task force was composed of mages. Especially those who specialized in blood magic using mana stones. The mages in the Bahitan army were specifically trained to perform blood magic that allowed for some of the owner of the blood's consciousness to reside in the stone when activated. If a mage infused some of their blood into a stone and fed it to an animal, when the mage activated their blood, the stone and blood would merge with the organism and take over their body.
But since most animals can't handle this takeover, they die soon after the magic is activated. That's why the Bahitan army's animal of choice was the black dewbird, a common species in Bahit and west Lucivia. Small and numerous, the black dewbird was easier to take over than larger species and was inconspicuous for the most part. This allowed for near-perfect surveillance.
However, there was one major flaw with using black dewbirds, just the smell of "poet's plume", a flower sometimes used as medicine or a perfume scent, was enough to scare them off. The flower, which is highly toxic to the black dewbirds, has a scent that smells calming to humans but horrible to most birds.
And, the bottle that was now tucked into Yunho's bag was a strong perfume, consisting 80% of poet's plume extract. He'd spray some more for safe measure once he got into the base, but for now, the coast was clear. Yunho caught a whiff of the perfume; it was a little too heavy but still left a nice fragrance.
"It's not like it smells bad either…"
Yunho walked up to the base entrance. Most of the group had already entered and were helping set up the base or heading to their barracks, but there were a few straddlers, including Yunho, who had yet to come inside the base. Mostly the temple workers who seemed to enjoy taking their sweet time, gathering their stuff from the carriage.
One of the soldiers in charge of directing people spotted Yunho and called him closer.
"Hey, the man with the silver hair, come over here!"
Yunho obliged and was soon standing in front of the taller man. The soldier looked him over and then placed his hand out with his palm open.
"The thing you were spraying earlier. I need to inspect it."
Yunho handed the man the bottle.
The soldier took off the cap of the bottle and smelt its contents. After finding nothing unusual, he handed the bottle back to Yunho and nodded.
"Well, I think you're assigned to stay in building 4. You are Iris de Evastine, right?"
Yunho nodded.
"Building 4 should be north of the center of the base." The soldier said and then left to help the other people lingering at the entrance.
Yunho entered the base and looked around.
The base was quite sizable, allowing for multiple buildings and dorms, connected by beaten paths in the grass. None of the buildings was flashy and were quite brutalist in aesthetic. Yet, bushes and small wildflowers still bloomed everywhere it wasn't cleared for ease of walking.
People were bustling around, setting things up and transporting supplies. Some soldiers were already walking around, helping with patrols.
Yunho wasn't sure what to do at the moment, so he decided to look for his assigned building. Starting from the center of the base, which was where the canteen was located, Yunho began wandering north before he finally spotted a building labeled with a sign that had the number 4 on it.
When Yunho pushed open the door, he saw that the rooms had a similar dorm-like structure to the resting room on the training grounds. It was just that there were more rooms in base building 4 than the resting room.
Since specific rooms weren't assigned, Yunho chose a random room near the end of the hallway and decided that it would be his. He entered the room and assessed what he'd be dealing with. The room only had a bed and a window, but on a good note, it could be locked from the inside.
Yunho almost laughed at how empty the room was, but he was too tired. He turned around, locked the door, and quickly plopped down on the solitary bed.
From being abruptly woken up to having to travel all the way to the base, Yunho just wanted to rest.
He set his bag down at the foot of the bed and lay down to take a quick nap.
Everything slowly drowned out as Yunho's eyes slowly came to a close.
—
In his dreamland, Yunho felt his whole body was enveloped in cold warmth, an oxymoron that somehow made sense in this dream. He couldn't see where he was, but he also felt like he didn't need to.
Not yet.
A soft voice dripped down into his ears.
"My child, you belong here more than you think…"
—
Then, Yunho woke up.
"Mmm"
Yunho's eyelids slowly opened, letting his eyes get accustomed to his new environment.
Not like there was much to get accustomed to. The only thing in the room was the bed, and he was already lying on it.
He couldn't vividly remember his dream, but Yunho still felt an odd sense of calm. As if something in his dream had welcomed him and put him at ease.
Yunho rubbed his eyes.
"Well, I still have things to do. I can't sleep all day."
So, Yunho left building 4 and began walking around the base. While walking, Yunho noticed that the canteen seemed to be filled with people.
"Ah, it's probably lunch time. I am hungry…"
Yunho walked inside the canteen and was a little surprised. Didn't this place look a lot like the hospital cafeteria? Yunho inwardly chuckled.
There was a set cook for the base and some helpers who assisted in keeping the canteen running. So, a line didn't have to queue up, and getting food was relatively quick.
Yunho sat down with his food at a table. He didn't have anyone to sit with, but he also didn't intend on staying here long. Yunho looked around.
"He's not here…"
Yunho's face went red, and he shook away the thought that began to poke into his mind. Who was he looking for just now?
Yunho rubbed his temples.
"Why has he been on my mind so much lately?" Yunho inwardly thought. He looked down at the chicken stew and bread on the dish in front of him.
It's just because he's useful… It's normal to think about people whom you've interacted with a lot.
But, while Yunho was trying to convince himself, he caught a glimpse of a conversation happening between two soldiers who were seated behind him.
"As expected, the high priestess is very hardworking. She and the temple workers didn't even take one day of rest and immediately went to distribute aid to the nearby villages." One of the soldiers said.
"Anyone chosen by Baihye is virtuous, of course. I'm just personally surprised that the Crown Prince came along for the trip." The other soldier said.
"Hah, the beauty and purity of the high priestess combined with the prestige and charm of the crown prince… The kingdom is really going to go into good hands." The first soldier replied.
The two went on to talk about other things that weren't of importance to Yunho. But, he still felt like he gained some good information.
"I was wondering why I hadn't seen any temple workers when I was walking around…" Yunho thought.
He was actually quite relieved to hear Irene, the crown prince, and the temple workers would be gone for a while.
That just meant that he'd be less likely to run into anyone while completing his next goal: Leaving traces of the Poet's Plume perfume near important areas on the base, stopping any enchanted black dewbirds from landing within earshot.
Yunho retrieved the bottle from his bag and began skulking around the base. He was searching about anywhere in case there was a dewbird hidden there.
Some people would pass by him and give him a weird look, but they'd always just keep on going on their way.
"Everyone probably thinks I'm crazy." Yunho sighed.
Since Yunho didn't want to use up all of the perfume in one day, he decided to focus on places of priority. So, he went to the quarters for the Grand Duke and the Crown Prince.
Yunho didn't want to go inside, so he stayed outside and sprayed a few spritz of the perfume.
"Hm?"
Yunho didn't know why, but he felt like someone was watching him. He turned around.
But there was no one there.
A chill went down his spine. Suddenly, he was reminded of another detail of the novel. There was a spy who infiltrated the base, disguised as a soldier. They waited for most of the base to be gone, responding to an approaching attack by the Bahitan army, to strike.
Yunho still remembered the pages describing the attack. All the innocent workers on the base that stayed behind were slaughtered. And, the spy put a curse on the base that latched onto the crown prince.
Of course, the spy was eventually dealt with, and the curse was lifted by Irene, (it was used as a plot device to push their romance and show Irene's skills). But Yunho didn't feel it was right to let that many people die in the name of plot if he could do anything about it.
But Yunho really couldn't remember the spy's name… He got a little bored during that section so he just skimmed over the reveal.
All Yunho could remember was that it wasn't an important character. He was pretty sure that before that point, they hadn't been introduced.
So, besides the main cast of characters, it could be anyone…
But Yunho still had the advantage. He knew that there was a spy, so he was already looking for suspicious behavior. He didn't have any proof to come to the Grand Duke with, so for the time being, this would be a solo objective.
Finding the spy and foiling all the Bahitan surveillance tactics, all while trying to prevent as many unnecessary deaths as possible…
How hard could that be? Ha ha…
Yunho whispered to himself.
"Being a transmigrator is way too hard!"
Yunho was sulking when he heard the door to the quarters open behind him. He glanced back to see the Grand Duke standing in the doorway.
"Iris? What are you doing here?"
—
End of Chapter 33