Chapter 232: Worms
The manager was still as can be as he watched the three disappear, until their steps no longer echoed in the tunnel. Only then did he stop smiling and shift in place. "What do we know about them?"
Suddenly, a person that wasn’t there was there. A man appeared as if from thin air itself. He was an elderly man with white hair, but his eyes were sharp like blades, and an aura of concealed power lay around him. The gang leader of the Gloomspire.
"Nothing. They entered the tunnels four days ago, and the Mistwalkers got their eyes on them. It was normal. But now... it’s highly abnormal."
The manager nodded.
To outsiders, the guides and the gangs were uncooperative entities, but those who knew, knew how united the two were in making territories big.
"I have sent my men to retrace their steps, but we have found nothing so far. It was as if the two dropped from the sky, and it’s not really that surprising with the war going on..."
With the war between the two academies, there was a great shift of passage through the mountains. It had brought both profits and danger in equal measure. "Besides, there is news that a group of Magus attacked Eboncrypt. The academy castle itself, and even killed the dream beast!"
The gang leader’s eyes widened as he finally turned his head to look at the manager. The gangs were also known for selling information, so it was expected that he would hear news faster than anyone.
But the thing he just said!
"Do you think that woman is part of them?"
The manager shrugged. "I can’t say, but one thing I can say is that there will be a lot of activity in the mountains. And with how angry Eboncrypt is, they might lock down the entrance.
"We should get ready to answer questions from new people passing through our territory in recent days."
The gang leader grunted, then his eyes gleamed as he smiled. "If they are the ones, imagine the profits we will reap. Send your men after them, the best. Just keep their eyes on them. We will know their true nature in time."
The manager smiled back. The only thing anyone and everyone in the mountains was after was profit. "I already did. We’ll wait for the profile of those they must be searching for, and then we’ll know."
The gang leader shook his head. "Just be careful. Nothing traced back to you. She might actually be a hidden master... no, no matter what she is, she was responsible for the death of three circle Magus and thirty-something Magus. That kind of power isn’t something we want focused on us. No matter if we would win, it will still cost us profits."
The manager nodded after a while. "You are right. My men are like shadows without bodies. Nothing can be traced back."
☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆
Vacuse did not like walking in the tunnels.
It was something he realized after he spent two days walking through near darkness. Maybe it was the initiate instincts of dragons to hate places where they couldn’t spread their wings, he couldn’t tell, but he had remained grumpy.
Although the tunnel was the strangest type he had ever witnessed in his life. The ceilings were as tall as the sky, and the main tunnel—the one that stretched from one end of the mountains to the other, punching through individual peaks—was wide enough to allow thirty of his dragon constructs to pass through at once with their wings stretched and not touch each other.
Lady Slave... Maraget told him that there was once a monster worm that made the mountains its home back in the days. It was said that the main tunnel was the length of the worm, and the smaller ones were its children.
No matter if it was true or not, Vacuse didn’t like the tunnel.
"We should really stop for the night here," Yukata insisted. His earlier warning had been dismissed by Vacuse, and thus they had pressed on.
Vacuse nodded without making a fuss, and their guide led them from the main tunnel toward a cavern in the ground where they would spend the night.
A lot of places like this dotted the mountains. Sometimes they were caves, or sometimes just human-sized cracks in the wall that the guides knew about and would lead their people into.
After all, being in the open, especially when sleeping, wasn’t wise. Humans and monsters were abundant.
They sat on the cavern ground, and Yukata went about his business setting up camp. The guide carried a spatial bag on his back, and it was from there that he removed numerous things to set up camp.
Soft pillows to sit on, wood to create fire and warmth, enchanted tools to create shields and alarms, cooking pots enchanted to create heat of their own, and lots of other things. Even an enchanted jug that held water like a river.
At the beginning, he even had a large tent, but Vacuse had declared that they wouldn’t be sleeping under tents. He wanted to open his eyes and see his surroundings.
Of course, all of the luxuries weren’t normal for those traveling through the mountains, but Vacuse had made a lot through the sale of the armors and weapons he took from the Mistwalkers.
He decided he was owed a little comfort after months of being a slave.
At one side, an enchanted cloth hung in the air in a circle, and going in, one could wash and clean themselves. It was exactly where Vacuse went immediately after the camp was set, and he came out wearing a new set of black robes, his hair wet behind him. He even used a new strip to bind his eyes.
He sat on the pillow and took the cold wine that Yukata passed him. "Alright. We’ll be arriving at two gang territories tomorrow, right? But we don’t need to stop. We’ll just keep going..."
They began making plans.