'This building must have some kind of barrier. How is it that people have failed to note the only building that looked man made. It lacks the synchronicity with the forest, making it stick out. I have seen similar buildings in the woods of Elleria, but everyone only uses them until they can commission a permanent resident – apparently even the guild used to be a normal building before the queen approved it.'
The Knight had teleported itself and Cathina into a quieter part of the building, even with the goo monster distraction, the Knights presence is in-concealable, some might be coming this way to investigate. So, after searching the area, the Knight would teleport away with haste. This made it hard for anyone to view this disturbance as a priority. They had the monster in front to deal with, and in the end the strong presence was moving around like an anomaly, which wasn't too strange for them, as such they stopped searching.
Even though the place had guards, the Knight could feel a strange presence, but it failed to gauge its strength. There was no need though, since this was a rescue not a takedown. Still, to save time, the Knight made sure to stay clear of this presence.
The Knight found it strange, all the cells were empty, and there were no guards in the corridors. After going over the place, the Knight realised something, this place is built like a trap. Sure, it had been teleporting around, but the layout was crazy, and held no form of efficiency, meaning that it didn't serve to hold captives, it was indeed a trap.
They tell those they blackmail, that here they will hold their loved ones, then when they are betrayed, they get to either box in the rescue force sent or even abandon the place since it hold almost no trace to them.
'They sure have gone through a lot to keep people like Cathina obedient without taking any risks. Who are they really? This seems like a decent job, they must have someone with hight knowledge stats on their sides. Whist most knights are decently high, I have to say this is the first time I have encountered someone in the world of the living with knowledge stats this high.'
The Knight looked around and noticed something that made it instantly teleport out.
"Boss, why did you go, you barely made a dent in the search?"
'You didn't see it now, did you Mugaw? Just like the thought during the conversation with the Yiril, what I just figured out was a distraction from the actual use of the place.'
"What makes you say that?"
'I thought to myself, if I was them, my plan would have been more thought out, then I realised this is based on the assumption that in fact my knowledge stats are higher. But for an instance if I imagine me and them being of similar or even they, being superior, I noticed something – it would mean I was led to that false conclusion on purpose.'
Mugaw flicked in the wind, "So, tell me then, what's the actual conclusion?"
The Knight looked back to the building, and mentally ordered Dsace to teleport away, no distraction was needed anymore.
'The brother is most likely dead.'
Mugaw began to kackle, "Now that's one big leap boss!"
It had even forgotten to use its inside voice, so Cathina heard.
"What was that?"
The Knight looked down to her, "It's the blue soul on my feather."
"What soul?"
"There is one on my plume, if you get stronger or come to possess the eyes of the forest folk you would see it."
"Really?"
This time the Knight chose not to answer her, which prompted her to think of a knew question to ask.
"So, there's really a soul on there, what did it mean by 'big leap'?"
"It just talking about what we are talking about."
She then took a step back in her head and thought, 'wait, did that thing call him boss? I know Knights are a strange bunch, but he's something. Or maybe it's because this is the first one I have had to be so close to for so long. Should I even ask what their conversation is about – you know what, I think I should mind my business, what I need to ask about is why did we teleport out?'
"Can I ask why we left the building?"
The Knight then chose to save itself time and answer her and Mugaw at the same time.
"Your brother might be dead already."
She stuttered back, almost falling to her knees, the Knight could feel how sunken her heart had become, after all, she is one of the believers, her emotions might as well be on a vision board.
"Let me explain. I will skip most of the details, for the most part it goes like this, those prison cells look like they had housed dozens of prisoners each, however I know from experience that they had barely been used. That would not be a problem if not for the fact that it was a distraction – meaning they aren't bothering to hold anyone there, seen in their failure to grasp how a used prison cell is supposed to look like."
"Boss, I am still not getting it."
"The prison cells were made to look like they were used, but in fact they had not. It's a trap for people like you Cathina. One thing about their place was off."
It then explained more to Mugaw in thought. 'Just like with my human captives in the cage of bones, I noticed that that their imitation prison lacked proper understanding in how a human interacts with a prison, minor details, only someone who had ever run a prison could notice.'
"These inconsistencies allowed me to see that, they had never imprisoned anyone, meaning that they probably slaughter all their captives, then pretend to still have them in captivity. But don't despair, this could also mean that they keep them in facilities less like a prison cell, meaning he's elsewhere."
"So… so…. what you are saying is that he might be alive."
The Knight was not liking the fact it had such an adversary, one as keen as this.
"Let me simplify it more, it is either your brother is dead, or that he is probably well taken care of. So, I ask you, would you rather live with the fact that your brother is dead, or to rescue the selfish boy who abandoned you."
"Boss! How sure are you that he is like that."
'Don't worry, I was just wondering, just how much she is willing to go through for her brother. He might still be alive, but he certainly isn't here.
Whoever these people are, they have done some kind of soul tainting to them, thus her brother is either dead or not even sure of who he once was. What I am not sure of is if they did this by fault or purpose.'
"You really are terrifying, not only do you possess this much power, but you were able to learn so much. This isn't even deduction. You possess the knowledge stats to surmise so much."
'It is just because the mind of their leader(s) mind is near my level, slightly above or below. All I had to do was simulate myself as a human who grew up as one and eventually became part of this organisation. Then I had to come up with a plan that kept many obedient while having almost no risk of getting caught or even risk of the plan from failing from the inside.
Actually, I am sure I am slightly above their computational abilities. The main thing though is that, for such an organisation, the best plan is to either kill them or someone make them willing captives…'
The conversation with Mugaw was quick and voiceless, due to it being done in the thought. Cathina however was surrounded by silence and only her thoughts to fill the vacancy of noise.
{'I knew I shouldn't have left him with them!'
Another voice in her head spoke…
'What now?'
Then another…
'You even bothered a Knight Bachelor with this!'
'Just kill yourself already, after this, do tell me, what is it do you think you will do? The guild? Your loving party? Or maybe we can go back to that empty house, with blood stains as only as your clothes? Or wait, don't tell me you think you can just run away and find peace elsewhere? NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! That itself is the height of insolence, thinking that is even an insult. Just die already, you even know a spell that freezes all your internal organs solid, Oh! No! just make sickles in your heart and brain, maybe the pain will ease the pain of losing him…'}
And just like this her thought kept going, with every sentence it escalated even further, but she herself is no weakling, she is over level 200, so the voice of hope managed to find her.
Softly it whispered, 'Didn't he say he could still be alive.'
Instantly after hearing this she shut down every other though, even going as far as to ignore what the Knight had said about how her brother might as well be dead, on the slim chance they find him.
"Sir Knight, you said he might be alive, would you mind if we…"
She found it hard to say the rest, but it was enough, the knight didn't like talking much either, so after that it grabbed her arm and they kept teleporting.
It knew where to find them, it had recognised the style used for this building, since there are barely any man-made buildings in here. So, it knew just who to ask. The building's interior looked like the buildings that had been temporarily put after the battle of the queen and the lord of Spells.
Once it arrived it looked around and saw it. This town placed so close to palace, had someone who was ready and willing to provide makeshift shelter. It was the Silent Inn. The one used by some of the adventures due to it being close to the guild. The Inn had not come in direct path with the battle.
The Knight then opened the doors and walked in. The people inside stared, after all this was a four-metre Knight, walking into an Inn? It had left Cathina a teleportation leap away, and left Dsace to protect her in the shadows, she was none the wiser.
The Knight then reached the receptionist.
"May I help you sir?"
The Knight was sure this was the place, the logo on the place was slightly different, but removing a few elements one could see the exact same logo hiding beneath. The Knight then make ants out of fire, now that it had unleashed it could control them better, but it was not enough. The extent of its abilities capped at making around fifty ants, and it needed more to search the Inn, since the Knight did not possess a scanning skill.
'We can't have that now can we, whisper, how many slaughter points would it take to evolve the flame tame skill?'
It will require 500 slaughter points to upgrade Fire Tamer from III to IV. Confirm?
'… Confirm.'
Flame Tamer skill has been updated.
With that the ants numbered over a thousand. The Knight dimmed their brightness so low one could not tell the difference. The people were all so focused on the Knight they failed to notice that an ant was leaving the base of its sabatons.
The Knight was incapable of making flames, so it had summoned the same old [Flame Bladed], which it just sent to the inventory after making the ants. The crowd watched as it vanished, its flame was even brighter in order to distract them from the ants. And now with the weapon out of hand, the people became less tense, but they still sported a confused expression at the spectacle.
Whist simultaneously looking through all 1000+ ant eyes, it also looked at the receptionist and responded.
"Yes. There is in fact something you could help me with."