After some careful consideration, Noel made his decision. "I'm going."
"Young Master…" Dimitri frowned. He was worried about Noel's life, considering the place was extremely dangerous.
Noel shook his head and said, "I'm going to assemble all the best fighters I can get. At the very least, we should be able to withstand their onslaught."
"I—" Dimitri wanted to say something, but Noel immediately corrected him. "You are going to have a different mission. Your task is not to protect me, but to investigate the Plant Lord."
Dimitri was stunned because he couldn't accept this task over his young master's safety. After all, Dimitri had acknowledged Noel as his master, but because of the last test, he was still forbidden to refer to him as such. So, there was no way he could agree if his master wanted to go to a dangerous place without his protection.
"Don't worry. If everything is right, then we will have Captain Clara, Captain Shale, Captain Septa as well as the Stone Lord. What I want you to do is investigate the Plant Lord since he might be a spy from the Supreme Devil Organization. You should remember about the plants that were supposed to be extinct, right? Yeah, that mission might be related to him."
"What?!" Dimitri widened his eyes in shock. It looked like the protection was enough with four people like them. But there was no way the Plant Lord would stay still if he was indeed a spy, tilting the balance to the demon's favor.
"Well, I'm planning to find a way to meet Marquis Stargaze, my father's best friend. So, I might be able to cooperate with him, making the expedition a bit safer. But who knows if I can draw him out or not." Noel sighed.
"Although it would be good for me to investigate that person, I'm still an assassin, Young Master. I exist to kill, not to investigate. Instead of me, you should have Septa investigate the Plant Lord."
"I did consider that option. But no matter how I tried to convince him, Septa would suspect me instead. After all, there was no way a person with no connection like me could get such information."
Dimitri thought for a moment. "In that case, I will inform the previous captain of his squad. Although he has retired, Septa should still listen to him. I'm going to let him tell Septa to investigate the Plant Lord. This way, he will trust the information and not know that the information comes from you. But are you sure about it, Young Master?"
"The information came from the Water Lord. What do you think?"
Dimitri paused, finding all the information he had about the Water Lord. After a while, Dimitri nodded. "Alright. I could convey it to that person. Septa will investigate the Plant Lord and I shall take care of your safety, Young Master. I might have to force you to back off from the expedition if you can't agree to this condition."
"You sure are a worrywart." Noel shook his head helplessly. Knowing that Dimitri wouldn't back down, he could only accept it. Of course, Dimitri wasn't trying to be annoying or dictating. He was just worried because the danger from the expedition far surpassed anything he had faced so far.
After agreeing to Dimitri's request, Noel continued his preparation. He also came up with a few scenarios and plans to deal with the enemies.
Dimitri had told him a few things that might be useful in an expedition, so he started working on them to ensure the safety of his group.
After two weeks, Noel finally left the headquarters, heading straight to the expedition camp.
…
His action was watched by a few parties. Among them were the Third Prince and Anna.
As soon as Anna received the news about the expedition, she couldn't help but gasp.
"Huh, expedition… I don't think the Demon Relief Squad took any expedition back then…" Anna looked down, horrified. "That's right. The Demon Relief Squad was too weak back then. The one who was supposed to go was the Demon Bearer Group. But if I'm not wrong, the expedition led to a disastrous defeat."
"There were a lot of strong demons inside the facility. No, wait… The facility was abandoned for a while, but before they realized it, the Supreme Devil Organization had taken over the facility… Don't tell me, they were involved in that expedition and forced them to leave? There must be something useful for them…"
Anna fell into deep thought. She had just returned to her family before she got a letter concerning Noel via bird.
After some consideration, she realized that she might have to participate in the expedition in one way or another.
However, the expedition would be extremely dangerous since even if they combined their strength, both of them were still no match against a Superior Demon.
So, Anna thought of another thing.
It didn't take too long for her to decide to meet her father.
*Knock!*
*Knock!*
"Father, it's me, Anna." She knocked on the door that led to her father's office. It seemed that her father had sensed her presence before she came as the door immediately opened.
'The Spiritual Energy is opening the door?' Anna thought while observing what was happening. Though, she soon focused on her father, who was working with a lot of documents.
"Sorry, but your father is a bit busy. If you don't mind, can we talk while I'm working like this?"
"Yes. I know you are very busy, Father. That's why I hope that you can spare some time so that we can take a vacation together. I don't want you to be too tired, Father. After all, I have caused a lot of problems for you. The least I can do is to accompany you like this…" Anna made a big smile, trying to coax her father.
Even Marquis Stargaze had to drop his pen as if he felt weird from the persuasion. He looked at Anna and asked, "I know you have changed, but I didn't think you would change this much. You have become a bit too cunning after joining the organization for more than six months. As much as I want to follow the suggestion, I can't do it without any proper reason…"
His expression turned serious as he asked with a strict tone, expecting her not to lie to him. "Give me a reason."
