Chapter 137: Mission of the Tricloud group

Following the steps and Sarey's hands, Allan was in a good mood. “I guess we can call it a successful trip, isn't it?” he asked.

“I guess we can, but this talk about the war in the Guild of Questions led to a bitter ending, didn't it?” Sarey sighed, her mood was still wandering through the series of Ronauld's words and the truth that hurt.

“Do you trust the Tricloud Alliance or the power of your Region?”

“Of course, I trust my home. Why should I not?” Sarey barked back, quickly turning her voice to normal. “ I am sorry… It's still hard. It's my home and even the possibility of the old Alliance from the surrounding nations was hard to ask. Ronauld doesn't think it's possible, and it makes me angry just to think about it. Wouldn't it be great if the nations stuck together against the bigger foes? In the past, we of the Tricloud and others went against the past Timeless Kingdom. It was great.”

“It would be wonderful for sure. Let's hope for the best of this chance and perhaps the nations and kingdoms will grow tired of seeing this war. At the moment, we are all too weak to even worry about helping or doing anything against this…war.” Allan honestly said, telling the last word with a great deal of hesitation, or hidden anger.

It wasn't about being pessimistic, or realistic. It was more of a neutral realistic attitude that he had. It was the best that he could even try, and believing in something too much would end in crushing disappointment.

Similarly to him, this sort of thing could also be said for one particular individual who was strolling the street alongside his group. Rengiward was no longer sweating as much because the sun already disappeared beyond the horizon. The night went on to being the main character of this part of the time, making it pleasant and windless.

To his side, pair of burly brothers, Reez Dias and Roseanne weren't maintaining any vigilance. Even though the notion of going to do their mission, this was nothing more than a stroll in the street. Nothing much would pose a threat to them in this environment, and the war was far from their side. Perhaps, that is.

They walked with no particular lead, and after reaching the ordinary street with unassuming buildings, the silent Roseanne lead the group to one door. She opened it with some key and pushed it open with a creaking sound. Dust was long beyond the door, making it seems no one was here for a long time.

Regardless of the appearance, this was the building that was maintained as an office for the folks of the Tricloud Alliance. Usually in case of meetings or missions surrounding this particular section of the region. After all, the Griontesse city was big, considering the size of the other cities in its proximity.

The inside of the building went into a few wide halls which went to their respective rooms. It had everything in surprisingly good condition with a kitchen, beds, and even a bathtub. It seemed the main entrance wasn't the case of usual entrance, since there was someone here in the past month for sure.

“Roseanne? Did the previous orders come a bit too late? I thought we had a deal about weapons for this sort of mission?” Dias asked after checking every room first, not finding what he hoped for.

“They did, but regardless of that, it shouldn't be a problem. It's Alliance we talk about, so I think it is around here?” She walked upon checking the kitchen, and there was an unassuming wardrobe with locked handles which looked as if it couldn't be opened at all.

Handling it with little care, a cracking sound sounded from her grip. She shattered the sturdy lock apart with her hands, causing a bunch of weapons to drop to the ground from the insides.

There were swords, spears, knives of all sizes, and many others. The shields and other sharp-looking weapons and armor made it quite ready for any sort of mission.

“There we go. Alright! Folk!” Dias clapped his hands, shouting out loud to notify everyone who went to explore this place. “Let's gather around and prepare for the traveling mission. This is what we came here for.” Dias ordered, and in no time 4 people were standing in the room, facing his stern-looking self.

“How funny this sight is. A mission with such a good, yet quite a silent night.” Dias sighed and pointed to the living room around the corner. “Let's take a seat so we shall proceed to the next part.”

Around the table, the others followed his lead, although with some suspicion. Dias looked at his friends and colleagues with a look of wonder, as if something strange was going on. Only he knew what this was about, and it was about time to reveal their mission.

He took a piece of a scroll underneath his clothes, placing it in the middle of the table. It was a closed scroll and the surrounding people noticed the purpose of this scroll right away. Yet still, Dias glared at his friend with a questionable look, but this time, they also shot their glances at him.

This was a high-ranking military mission and the kind which they thought wasn't the one they had.

“B-boss?” burly brothers said at the same time, speaking the first out of this group.

“Oh yes yes. I know that already. I have no clue whatsoever about this mission at all.” Dias said calmly.

“What!?” Rengiward exclaimed, not understanding this at all. What was the stuff about "him" about? I thought you and your leader had some sort of deal regarding my involvement.”

“Yea, I am hearing that Rengiward. There is more to that than that so calm down first, and let's hear about it now. Shall we?” Dias added in a dismissive matter, dropping a piece of crystal from his pocket into the scroll.

Reciting some sort of incantation of an unknown language, Dias's words caused the small crystal to explode into a lighting pillar. It subsided in around a minute, taking the form of dust and lighting matter. In this way, the flowing energy resembled a figure of the small silhouette of a few dozen centimeters tall man.

“Greetings, soldiers.” The small, yet loud being talked in the form of words that came from the unknown. Flabbergasted, the pair of brothers and Rengiward were surprised to see this sort of thing with their own eyes. This was a precious and protected formation of the intermediate long-distance contacting scroll. A piece of treasure that can enable people to talk with each other with no interference or need to travel. In this case, it was in the hands of Dias by the decision of the head of the Tricloud Alliance or someone below him. It should be someone of a high rank who ordered Dias into this mission, and actions.

“Being in this position, I take it as the location was reached successfully?” The masculine voice said.

“Yes sir.” Dias saluted. “We are currently in the offices of the Tricloud Alliance located in Griontesse city. It's according to the first task you gave me, sir.”

“Good. Good. In this regard, the mission shall start from this point onwards. The general failure of acceptance is set to the grade of 4, so do what you can about the upcoming situation. Though, the section of care and secrecy is without a doubt high, so no talking about it in your free time.”

All of the people around the table fell into deeper shocking silence, more so than they already had. Upon hearing the boss of his boss talking about grade 4 failure, they reached the significance of that in a few moments.

“Reez Dias will act as a leader. A small addition of former merchant Rengiward will act as the beginning factor in the negotiations. Plus, he knows the direction of the mission. In that regard, further information shall proceed with Dias's intervention. The unfolding of the document I did give you in the headquarters has the all necessary information.” Figure talked with no place to talk back. It was clear that his seniority, as well as his status, was higher than the ceiling itself. It was a voice of a General and a powerful one at that.

“Inspector Grim? Do you mean the additional document in the scroll that was for the intermediate distance contact scroll?” Dias asked as he pulled out a rough-looking paper from within the ashes. It was still fine, with an intact seal on top.

“Precisely. All details will be there about this….” Inspector Grim's voice turned weak amidst the transmission of voice.

“Roger that, sir. We shall proceed with the mission as for the standards of the Tricloud Alliance.” Dias saluted as there was no way to sustain the call any longer. The figure of Inspector Grim disappeared in the dust, making the dust turn nothing more then what a paper would look like.

The rest of the group apart from Dias was a little shocked, and each of them looked at their boss.

“Boss!? Don't open this. I beg you.” Pier cried out first, faking his tears by spilling some water from his pocket bottle.

“Be a man, big guy!” Roseanne refuted his words, but even she had dubious questions about this mission.

Only a single person out of the group who was over the imminent acceptance was Rengiward who was deadly pale. Leaning on his chair, he was mumbling something inaudible under his nose. “I am a death meat… Heavens did forsake me. God is making me suffer.”

He had many kinds of information to think this way, and it came long before getting into this group. It happened in the headquarters of the Tricloud Alliance after he was done with some merchant work. A summons from direct headquarters wasn't something he could refuse, so he went along with it. He could tell some important people asked him about Zigmund but as for why and what for?

He had some hunch, but there was no way he want to sell out his prided words. After all, it was an unspoken rule of trade and merchants. For some reason or another, he didn't need to talk about that since the Alliance wasn't interested in his trade at all. So he talked with different meanings, and it all seemed the people wanted ZIgmund for some reason. Why? He did ask a lot, but the answers were dubious, to say the least.

To his bad luck his openness led to the current situation where the Tricloud alliance was aiming toward that man and Rengiward wasn't willing to risk his life over it. It was just a massive fortune… What sort of reason does a Tricloud Alliance ask for, or want from him?

“Do they want him dead? Recruit him? Torture him? Eat him alive? Enslave him? What is it? I would not forgive myself if it's number 1 or 3… Not for the sake of his daughter… damnation!” He cursed wildly in his mind, forgetting the existence of his collages.

“Dias, if it's the stage 4 acceptance of failure, this mission indeed seems rather strange. How about some care and think this through?” Roseanne added, smiling in Dias's direction.

“I don't question orders, nor should you. As for you, Rengiward. let's go with the plan for now and see what is this all about. How about it?” Dias said as he shattered the sealing from the scroll.

Folding it open, Its content was revealed to his eyes as well as the eyes of others. The scroll looked like a regular mission protocol. It consisted of the members and corresponding superiors who decided to order this mission.

Below it was the cause of the frown of everyone in the room, including Roseanne and obviously Rengiward. Dias took the piece of paper for himself, going to a private corner to read without other's interventions.

“Huh? This seems like an easy job. What is this about?” He mumbled, his eyes reading the words dozens of times.

“Dias.” Roseanne got up and went closer to him. Surprisingly, Dias didn't mind even when she looked at the paper beside his face. “It seems like it's some sort of capturing mission, but why are the superiors so careful about this?” Roseanne asked straight on.

“I would rather not question this sort of mission, even though the failure of Grade 4 is strange for such a mission. Considering it, it is either problematic or the person who we are going to meet is troublesome even for our superiors.” Dias deducted from the small amount of information he got.

In the scroll section of the mission was written:

Seeking the person of the past Tricloud Alliance.

Meeting and seeking shall proceed with absolute caution.

Name: Zigmund Troutman

Affiliation: Unknown

Level of danger: Currently unknown but carefulness is due.

The leader of the group Reez Dias will be in charge of seeking this man. Merchant Rengiward will be the side effect to proceed with the seeking. Leader Dias shall compel Zigmund Troutman to listen from the further sealed message down below. Failure acceptance of stage 4 is enlisted for the potential problems. Dangers are unknown, but risks are high.

At the bottom of the scroll was a singular piece of a sealed letter so no one could read it.

“Zigmund Troutman? This doesn't ring a bell to me at all.” Dias thought, finding this rather peculiar. It was dangerous because of this man, but what for and why?

Scratching his head, Dias left this be. “It is what it is. What about it, Rengiward? Do you have something to tell about this man?” He asked the obvious man in the room who seemed to understand more about what was going on with this man. He was directly related to this mission which caused him to be sought out by Dias's superiors. That was something Dias long found strange, and it was well-founded.

After all, it wasn't all that easy to join the Tricloud Alliance and its military departments. Even talent and standing didn't mean a high chance of getting there unless the one was from the Three schools, or was somewhat related to them. Neither of these was something Rengiward was, and he still got his job? What sort of deal he did or not caused Dias to be suspicious of him? That, or he made a really great deal to his superiors.

Rengiward frowned at the question that was directed at him, and even the rest of the group looked in his direction

“I do not need to tell much more of anything. I think that the history of that man is much more questionable to the Alliance than I can even tell myself.” He found the right excuse.

“But you were directly known by him or vice-versa. What was it about?” Roseanne added from the sidelines.

“I was a merchant. I got to know him, but I would never question my clients about anything. He purchased a vast amount of materials both from the regular market, underground one around the region, and a few distant ones. It was kind of shady, I get it, but it is what it is. Merchants do this sort of job all the damn time, you know? I did nothing wrong.” Rengiward revealed pretty much everything he knew apart from the most obvious thing. The payment.

“What did he make, or how much gold was his purchases?” Dias asked straight to the sensitive topic. Rengiward twisted his butt cheeks on the table, clearly nervous.

“It goes against my pride as a merchant. He wished for discreet exchange with the whole process of my work.”

“So it was confidential information by you? Why not tell us then?”

“You are questioning my pride as a merchant, of course, I won't tell it. I still have some pride in myself.” Rengiward said without batting an eye at Dias's superiority. “As for the materials, they all include forging materials of high mortal value. It ranged from the quite expensive furnace to the ores, ingots, plates, and even wood for everything. Is that fair enough? It wasn't the least bit strange.” he said, but can't help but think otherwise. After all, the little bit of that or this was great, but asking for a lot more than even 10 blacksmithing workshops ordered in a year was too much!

“No need to get upset, Rengiward. I am only finding reasonable information about this issue of ours. Very little is said in this scroll so I can't help but find this situation to be more than reasonable. Asking you questions about this man is a priority, and I have no problem with this since you will have to lead us to him.” Dias said, indicating the truth that Rengiward can't escape.

A rather tense situation went on with his questioning. It seemed Rengiward held his ground quite well against the more experienced Dias whose gaze was quite frightening. In truth, Rengiward was long ago sweating profusely from his back and even his hands trembled below the table.

Upon having no further lead or good questions, Roseanne went between them, ending this exchange. Looking at Dias with a questionable look, she took the scroll from his hands for a more careful look.

“Zigmund Troutman? Never heard of the name Troutman before. Hmmm. Seems like we will find out more about him after we find him, isn't it right, Rengiward?” She said with a decisive look at Rengiward.

No one knew what he was aware of, but there was no point in talking about it. His fate was long decided to follow through with this, and he will lead them to his home.

“Why does it all matter boss?! We will accomplish this mission as every mission to this day! Hehehehha!” Peon of the two brothers jumped between them as well with his loud voice.

“Calm down, another big guy.” Roseanne slammed the top of his head with her palm, stopping his laughter. “What is the next course of action, Dias? We shall proceed with the mission, am I right?” Roseanne said, returning the scroll that she already read before. The brothers had no need to see its consent, and Rengiward read it all after a single glance from his masterful merchant eyes. It was indeed the Zigmund he feared.

“Yes. We will proceed with the mission, so get ready, we will do it right now. I have no particular feelings about this one, but the time is strange since the Timeless Kingdom attacked. It makes me think this could be connected to them in some form, but who knows?” He commented, but couldn't do much more than make a guess.

Nonetheless, he made his stance quite clear, and this group who have some form of mission to retrieve Zigmund got ready in no time.

Hiding some flying knives in the pockets or booths, as well as a few pairs of weapons on their back, they were all armed to the teeth.

Preparedness was a key to a good soldier's life and everyone apart from Rengiward was a master of combat. With that said, the equipment of a good soldier could sometimes make a decision between life and death.