Chapter 90: Final revolution

"How much would that cost?" Evin asked.

"It's a low-end half-core spell, when one thought about the mana costs that are used to maintain it, so the cost is only 9 gold, give or take a few bronze coins. But if we add the World of Thought spell on it, it becomes 59 gold. You might say that it's a bit expensive, but you must understand that we're basically helping you so that you will never have to buy this scroll again in the future," the boy explained.

Evin didn't have a reason to refuse, as his primary way of moving about had become the floating spell.

After a few minutes of staring at the boy show off his calligraphy skills, Evin had received a brand new scroll alongside his old one. According to the boy, it would take about 5-6 days of practicing for Evin to learn about the contents of the scroll fully. It was perfect for Evin, since he also had to wait a week for his channeling artifact to be finished.

Evin noticed that Arza was also looking at some scroll intently, so he offered to buy it for him. He was feeling high from spending his money, so his mood was very good.

Evin also didn't mind splurging on Arza, since he might've died at the hands of Norna, if Aran and Liza didn't help out his family when they were in need.

At the end of it, Evin had 32 gold left over and the group went back to Kena's house. As they walked through the streets, they couldn't notice that there were a pair of eyes cautiously stalking their every move.

…

In one of the inn rooms located inside the City of Nevernight, two men sat silently, warily eyeing the residents on the street through their open windows. Since the city was located underground, the weather would usually stay warm most of the time, so most of the houses and buildings didn't have glass windows.

One of the men wore ragged clothing, with a featureless mask covering his faces. He was holding a pendant that showed a symbol depicting a big star, with a dozen or so smaller stars surrounding it.

The other did not wear a mask, but a cloak that covered most of his face in shadows. He faced the window, as his hands played around with a silver dagger.

Soon after, the door to the room opened and a female figure came in. The newcomer wore a tight-fitting wool hose and shirt, alongside a blandly painted chest armor with a similarly blank mask.

"Li'shal, you've come," one of the men said.

"Lock this room," said the newcomer, Li'shal, and one of the men created a World of Storms barrier around the open window and the door.

"Well, what do you think?" one of them men asked.

"They just went shopping for a bit, bought a channeling artifact and two scrolls. Couldn't hear what the scrolls were for, but they looked like utility ones. Afterwards, they went to the owner's place," the woman answered.

"Are you sure they were the ones who killed our men?" the hooded man asked, as he pulled back his hood. A handsome blonde appeared from under the hood.

"Zantis, you doubt me? I can recognize the smell of our own, even after it had decayed on a soul of a stranger for decades. This one is still quite fresh, probably happened two years ago. There's no room for mistake," the masked man said in a threatening tone.

"Hor'rak, No… But from what I can see, this doesn't seem to be an easily executable vengeance mission. The Cosmic is obviously a half-core, and the two children had also become peak quarter-cores. Not to mention the twin-horn," Zantis said.

"So what? We're all half-cores here, you're saying we'll have trouble against two greenhorns and a cat?" the man named Hor'rak said.

"That's not the only problem, they're obviously guests of Lord Kena. And judging from how long they've been staying there, I don't think it's one of his normal guests," Zantis explained.

"Don't call that disgusting man a Lord. The old fucker's probably just taking his time picking through their brains for whatever thing he found interesting in it," Hor'rak snarled.

"I know you don't like the man, but we all know he can put the Final Rebellion in an extremely precarious situation if we ever act out of line and pull his attention," Zantis reminded.

Hearing that their organization might be affected, Hor'rak calmed down a bit.

"Any news from our handlers?" Li'shan asked.

"There was… It seemed that it was quite easy to find, since they're quite a unique bunch. Most likely, they killed our team that was sent to capture one of the revived test subjects, one named Karan, that ended up on one of the Northern counties of the kingdom after dying. It was a team lead by someone named Elashin. In one of his weekly reports, he mentioned a Child of the Empress who was accompanied by a Cosmic," Zantis recited.

"Then, do they know of the test subject?"

"We're not sure. The last report from Elashin said that their team was about to head into a nearby forest, since none of the children in the town seemed to be the test subject. Their handlers requested for backup and another team was sent to the forest, but they weren't able to find the bodies. I suppose they couldn't afford to send a Soulsniffer like Hor'rak here. And since there weren't any signs that we were found out, Headquarters seemingly decided that the Soulbound Oath did its job," Zantis answered.

"And what's their orders?"

"They want us to decide ourselves. Our main mission still takes precedence, but it's still a long time before we're needed," Zantis explained.

"I think that we should kill them. From what I know, Kena never interferes with someone he has traded with. After he takes what he needs, he will let his guests stay at his perfect city for a while. But after they leave the underground city and emerge on the surface city, he wouldn't give two shits even if the whole City of Smog tries to rob his "guests"," Hor'rak said.

"Well, we only met that group accidentally, and even if they've met this Karan, they seem to only know peanuts. I don't want to risk our situation for an unnecessary vengeance. We can do that after the our mission goal is achieved," Li'shan said.

"And what?! Leave those murderers of our kin to leave without paying?!" Hor'rak raged.

"I understand your emotions, but I also don't wish to mess with that party. The risk is too much for whatever the benefit we're going to receive," Zantis sighed in annoyance as he replied.

"You only talk about benefits, when will you actually start thinking about the Rebellion?!" Hor'rak spoke.

"Listen here, dumbass, if you couldn't guess from the name, we're a fucking Rebellion, we're not supposed to exist in the eyes of the four countries. You understand that if the official organizations find out about us, they'll do everything in their power to destroy us, right? I don't know about you, but I don't want to be the first to leak out information about the Final Rebellion. Use your fucking brain for once, yeah?" Zantis berated the masked man.

"In a group of three, unless ordered by the higher-ups, decisions are made by the majority. Since it is two against one, we leave the kids be," Li'shan said.

"Fine…" replied Hor'rak unwillingly.

"I'll tell our handler, then," Zantis said and took out a device, which emitted a silverish hue. His face became completely expressionless, only a blurry silver shape could be seen instead. Zantis stayed like that for a few minutes until his silver hue soon disappeared and the man came back to himself with ragged breath.

"Seems it's your lucky day, Hor'rak. New orders, they're sending a "Revolutionary" for the vengeance mission," Zantis said while panting.