161 Chapter 84: Before The Battle 1 Part 1

Kesley, a highly developed urban area most prominently known for the fact that Vermillion's main base of operations is in it. It is the 'business hub', as some like you to call it, of the western-European nation known as Orland Union of States, or simply Orland Union.

That said though, while Kesley is certainly the most economically prosperous city in this relatively small but advanced nation, there are certain other cities that have quite a bit of fame as well.

One of them is the capital city, Ruri. While it's known for many things even aside from the fact that it is the capital, what it is most prominent for in the supernatural world is the fact that Vampire Kingdom has set camp here. Bronzer, Reid and Darcy have been operating mainly from here for a while. However, now they have also been joined by the Four Great Generals and Valdis, including a lot of other important Generals in the Vampire Kingdom.

Ruri and Kesley are almost a 1000 kilometers away, with Ruri being at the north and Kesley being in the southern parts of Orland Union. A city that will almost form a right triangle with the two would be Frilis.

Frilis is in the north-eastern parts of the nation, at a distance of 350 kilometers from Ruri and 1075 kilometers from Kesley. It isn't exactly among the most prosperous of the cities in Orland Union but it is where Kais used to live, as well as where Julius Rome used to live.

The neighbouring city to that is a slightly better known city by the name of Gorto and it is the place Ethan Kales was given a house in by Abyss. Between Gorto and Frilis comes the lands where Halogen Dietrich's church was in.

As of now, the third faction has taken Trisha, whose house was in a different but not very important city of Orland Union, to the most eastern borders of the nation, where the mountains are, where the Aural Groups live as monks.

Basically, they are in the most eastern part of the nation, while the Phoenix and Vermillion's base is in the southernmost part of the nation. At the same time, the Vampire Kingdom's base is in the northern parts of the nation.

Who does that leave Gorto and Ethan's house to? No one.

So, anyone could break into his house and search through all his belongings.

And that is exactly what the three Hellfires, Vaika Smith, Akio Miyamoto and Halogen Dietrich, are trying to do.

Akio: "Tell me again why we have to bother coming to this place."

Standing in front of Ethan's house, and with an exasperated sigh and a bored expression, he asks the other two.

Halogen: "Miyamoto-san, it's because the man this is the abode of is highly likely to have connections with Abgere. We may a find a clue as to where Abgere is right now."

Halogen replies with a smiling face, making a vein pop up on Akio's forehead as he hears the '-san' at the end of his name despite telling Halogen not to use it.

However,

Vaika says, rubbing sweat off his forehead.

Vaika: "I have been trying to open the lock on his door through telekinesis but it doesn't seem like it'll work. Breaking through force might be our only option."

Akio: "Why not do it then?"

Vaika: "Right."

Nodding once, he steps back and uses Aura Manipulation to charge up his fists, and after he has charged enough, he simply punches the door to break it open.

And it opens. However,

Halogen: "Oh my, what is that?!"

What comes in their sight is the scene of dozens of books stacked one upon the other and blocking the way in.

Akio: "Is that supposed to be a fortress or something? It's pretty lame if that is the case."

Vaika nods but then notices that the books kept there are all related to supernaturals. Titles like 'The History of Vermillion', 'The Controversies of Vermillion', 'The Psychic Island: Truth or Myth', etc are lined up at the top.

Noticing that, the other two grow cautious as well.

Halogen: "Well, well, it's like he knew we were going to come here."

Saying so, Halogen picks up the book closest to him, 'The History of Vermillion', and opens it with caution.

As he opens it though, there end up being no booby traps awaiting him inside the book and his caution almost goes to waste, almost. Instead of any traps there, he notices something else.

Halogen: "My ancestor, Jonas Dietrich, wrote this book. It is said to be the most accurate book to read if one wants to find out about the origins of Vermillion and how it developed itself so long ago, as well as how it sustained itself when the war between Ozyllus and Abyss was going on."

Akio: "Yes, we know all that. What about it?"

Halogen: "Well, looks like someone thinks it's NOT that accurate."

With a disgruntled expression, the fake priest shows the book to the other two. For anyone who likes to keep things as clean or untouched as possible, seeing this book would be a nightmare come to life.

Not only is every single paragraph marked with an ugly marker pen, and not only are countless lines labelled as 'lies', but the very book itself at its index page has a bookmark with 'INACCURATE AND PURPOSEFULLY DECEPTIVE' written on top of it.

Vaika: "This was done by Ethan Kales, huh?"

Akio: "Doesn't seem like anyone else could have done it."

Vaika, putting his hand on his chin, smiles and wonders, leaving the other two guessing for what is going on in his head.

Halogen: "Mr. Smith, while I love enigmas and people keeping secrets from one another, now may not be the best time to do that."

With a conflicted tone and genuinely disgusted voice, Halogen Dietrich says as he puts the book back and picks up another one. This time it is 'The Psychic Island: Truth or Myth'. Just like before though, this is marked countless times and the index page has a bookmark saying 'BULLSHIT AND OVER EXAGGERATED'.

Vaika: "Analyze these markings and tell me, how long ago do you think they were made?"

He asks of the other two, who do as he says.

Akio: "It seems these markings were made a few years ago, about four to five years ago."

Akio gives the results of his analysis, only to then realize what Vaika is getting at.

Vaika: "He made these markings, labelling things as 'inaccurate' and 'deceptive' before he even went to the Psychic Island, before the war even started, before The Dragon Alliance even existed."

Akio: "...!"

Halogen: "...!"

Vaika: "This man has known about the inaccuracy of these scriptures for so long now. It's like some outside force helped him in finding all this out."

Being the upper echelon of Vermillion, the three know about the lies in the written history. So, unlike anyone else who would just call Ethan a Satanist for dismissing all of their ancestor's great deeds as lies, the three of them know that he is someone who has known about far too much for too long.

There was no way he could have done all this if he had never met Abyss. And while the fact that he was helped by Abyss is still not known to everyone, the fact that he was helped by someone is obvious for the three Hellfires to see.

Realizing everything, Akio sighs and says,

Akio: "Let's go and search the rest of the place."

Halogen puts the book back, scouring the place with narrowed eyes while Vaika steps forward and heads into other rooms to search.

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