Chapter 383: Espionage

Maerr-viki Continent, Seraph Kingdom, inside the royal training grounds.

Gritting his teeth in anger from the information Dane gave him, Vanadir hastily took in a few deep breaths as he decided to ask a question that was important to his goal at hand. "Do you have any information on what Arshe and that envoy have talked about?"

With a shake of his head, Dane replied, "Unfortunately, we have not obtained much information in that area, Your Highness. Hopefully, I'll be updated later this day or tomorrow as to whether or not we have obtained information on what they talked about."

Vanadir nodded in response as he placed the thought at the back of his head. Since there was nothing they can do on that part, then there was no point thinking about it. Nevertheless, another question formed in his mind, prompting him to ask not long after, "Do any of the other princes know of this information as well?"

Surprisingly, Dane nodded in response to the Ninth Prince's question, telling the latter, "As far as I know, those that are part of the Third Prince's alliance have brief knowledge regarding the matter. As for the First Prince, he was actually the one who gave me a heads-up on the situation, Your Highness."

"So, that means he knows more about what's going on than I do." Vanadir came to that conclusion. Pondering in silence for a bit, he then told Dane, "Could you ask Zeldrion if it would be possible for the two of us to meet up later?"

Nodding, Dane then did a few gestures with his hands as strands of mana appeared and disappeared in front of him. A few seconds later, a couple of larger mana strands appeared in front of him, prompting him to close his eyes for a bit before looking at the Ninth Prince with a light nod. "The First Prince has responded. He tells me that he is free later. Now, he's currently asking for the rendezvous point. Your Highness, where will that be?"

"Hmm…" Vanadir went silent for a bit as he pondered on where the best place for them to talk would be. Their meeting at the pavilion was fortunately covered up by their information networks, but this time around, the chances of them succeeding once again would probably be next to nil as the other teams would probably become suspicious. With that, he had to figure out a place that didn't seem out of place for another prince to appear.

Eventually, the right place had popped up in his mind, telling Dane with a smile, "Tell Zeldrion that we'll meet up at the place where my team member's birthday party is going to be held. Also, tell him that he has to tell his team members that he's attending the event because he has something to talk about with me."

He then continued, "If he asks for the specifics of the location, tell him that I'll tell him as soon as possible."

In response, Dane went silent for a bit as he processed the information given to him. Eventually, a question came out of his mouth as he asked, "Your Highness, wouldn't the others take the First Prince's words at face value? What if they really think we're colluding? Wouldn't our secret alliance be found out?"

"That's more or less the thing they're not going to do," Vanadir responded. "Although it is indeed possible for them to take it at face value, since we're all suspicious of each other, they would mull too much over it and eventually think that it was just a lie to rile them up. The art of reverse psychology can do wonders at the right moments."

"Right…" Listening to the Ninth Prince's explanation, Dane then sent out a message back to the First Prince verbatim, knowing very well that he wouldn't be able to make it sound any better than what it already was. Fortunately, the First Prince understood the Ninth Prince's intention, allowing Dane to tell Vanadir that the First Prince was now just waiting for the location of the rendezvous point.

Nodding, Vanadir then urged Dane that they should catch up to the two, prompting them to use all of their movement speed boosting skills and spells as they tried to track down where Valentia and Griselle had gone. Thankfully, they had only been a few streets away from the palace, allowing the two to catch up within minutes.

Once they had arrived, both Valentia and Griselle were already carrying a lot of items on both hands. Some of them were even wrapped around their arms, making people wonder as to how they were carrying so much at once. In any case, they weren't bothered with what they carrying as both of them sported smiles, thinking of the surprise and glee on Erea's face when she eventually found out that they were going to celebrate her birthday.

"So, where are we going to hold the party?" Vanadir asked, removing his crown as he gave it to Dane, who stored it in a rift.

"We're going to hold the party at an inn slightly far away from the palace," Valentia responded before telling the two of them, "Since we've already taken care of the foodstuffs and other necessities, how about you two buy the decorations for the party?"

"Alright, we can do that," Vanadir replied with a nod, making Griselle and Valentia nod back with a smile as they soon left for the inn. A few seconds later, an expression of panic appeared on Vanadir's face as he told Dane, "I don't know what to do. What should we do?"

"Relax, Your Highness," Dane replied, snapping his fingers soon after as his red robe transformed into a set of clothes a normal person would wear. Combine that with his black-rimmed eyeglasses, then he had an appearance that would definitely make women stop and stare for a while. "I'll take care of this."

After that, Dane started to head towards a certain direction, with Vanadir following behind him. Of course, as they made their way to the location Dane had in mind, Vanadir decided to change his appearance as well, knowing very well that he would easily be recognized since he was a prince.

With that, he messed up the hairdo he usually sported as he used a bit of mana to slightly modify the shape of his face. Since he had no spell capable of changing appearances, this was as far as he could go. In any case, he was certain that no one would be able to recognize him.

And so, the two of them eventually arrived in front of a large building after walking for about ten minutes or so. Without hesitation, Dane entered the building while Vanadir followed suit, instantly being greeted by multiple items with flashy colors and designs. While Vanadir was still adjusting to the instant bombardment of various colors, Dane silently looked at the various items on sale before picking out a few items that he thought would suit Erea's tastes.

He then headed to where the cashier was, who quickly checked through the items before telling Dane, "Your total is 7 silver and 35 copper coins, sir."

Clink!

Dropping a gold coin on the counter, Dane grabbed the items as he told the cashier, "Keep the change."

Coolly, he turned around as he soon left the building. As for Vanadir, he only left the building about a minute or so after Dane left. As for the cashier that attended to Dane, she would never forget the appearance of the man that coolly gave her a gold coin.

…

While making their way to the place that Griselle and Valentia told them, Vanadir finally seemed to have snapped back to reality as he asked Dane, "Have you told Zeldrion where we're going to meet up yet?"

"Ah, right." In response, Dane hastily sent out a few strands of mana that disappeared a few seconds later. Sometime later along their walk, a couple of mana strands appeared in front of him, prompting him to process the information in them before telling Vanadir with a light smile, "The First Prince has told me that he'll be there, Your Highness."

"That's great, then," Vanadir said with a light smile. "In any case, let's hurry up. We shouldn't let Griselle and the others wait for us."

With a nod, the two then sped up their paces as they soon arrived at the inn around twenty minutes after they bought the decorations, opening the door to the inn that was surprisingly empty.

"Did you guys rent out this whole inn out for the day?" Vanadir could not help but ask, to which Griselle nodded with a smile. "Yep. Even asked the chefs to stay for the night. Of course, I paid them a premium."

"Now, how about those decorations you bou—" Just as Griselle was about to grab the decorations Dane and Vanadir bought, they instantly noticed how contrasting the decorations they picked were compared to how Griselle and Valentia were planning Erea's birthday party out. Without hesitation, Griselle let out a sigh as she brought out another set of decorations while saying, "We appreciate the effort, but…how about you two help out on something else instead?"

With both of them scratching their heads, Dane and Vanadir went ahead and helped out in other areas that needed more hands. Eventually, the whole inn was set up for what seemed to be an extravagant birthday party. The only thing missing from the party was the celebrant herself.

Realizing that, Griselle, Valentia, and Vanadir stared at Dane, who bitterly smiled as he snapped his fingers to return to his red robe. After that, he disappeared from the inn, only to come back a few minutes later with a girl accompanying him.

Currently, the girl had her eyes closed as she asked, "Teacher, where did you bring me?"

With a chuckle, Dane replied, "Take a look and see for yourself, Erea."

Hearing those words, Erea opened her eyes, only to be greeted by a great sight as Vanadir and the others told her great wishes on her birthday. Naturally, Erea was left at a loss for words. Nevertheless, she was glad that someone was celebrating her birthday, something she had spent for the greater portion of her life alone.

Of course, multiple things had happened over the course of the birthday party, with great food to eat and great people accompanying them. By the time the party was over, nighttime had already arrived, prompting Dane to teleport Erea back to the Arcana Tower since they had a curfew for the younger mages in the tower. As for Valentia and Griselle, they were notified by Vanadir on what they were about to do, allowing the two to understand as they headed back to the royal palace.

With that, only Dane and Vanadir were left in the inn, save for a few staff that were cleaning the dirty kitchens. After a few minutes of silence, a knock could be heard on the door to the inn, which prompted Dane to open it. Unsurprisingly, the person behind the door was the First Prince, who had a light smile on his face as he noticed the aftermath of the birthday party.

"Did your team member have fun?" he asked, to which Vanadir said in response, "I sure hope she did."

"Anyways, let's head to a private room," he continued, motioning for the First Prince to follow him and Dane. Eventually, they had arrived at a place where no one could listen in on their conversation, allowing Zeldrion to let out a sigh of relief as he said, "Alright then. Let's go down to business."

"What do you want to know regarding the Third Prince and the envoy?"

"Everything you know," Vanadir replied, with Dane standing behind him. Hearing those words, Zeldrion could not help but let out a chuckle as he responded, "I knew you were going to say that, but unfortunately for you, I'm at the same place as you when it comes to information like the topic they talked about."

"So…this meeting was actually useless?" The Ninth Prince could not help but let out a sigh in response to those words. Though, the First Prince wasn't dismayed by this. Instead, a grin could be seen on his face, prompting Vanadir to ask, "Did you have another motive in mind when you agreed to this meeting?"

"Indeed, I did." Zeldrion nodded before asking Vanadir a question that truly left him at a loss for words.

"Since we don't know anything too private regarding the Third Prince…"

"How about we plant a spy into their team?"