While Vicente went to Ironcrest to boost the strength of his less talented men, as well as himself and Rory, the men of Rexnelts Academy were not the only ones to learn of his presence in the city that day!
At the local Awakening Temple, the members of this Congregation of Revelations post were already preparing the place for the next Awakenings.
It was night now, but at dawn, more young people would arrive with their families and friends for another day of awakening, so everything had to be ready.
But while the weakest and lowest-ranking people in the temple were busy cleaning and organizing the place, on the top level of the temple, the local organization's leaders were talking about the topic of the moment.
"Senior, it seems that the first magician to receive a yellow pentagram while only at the 2nd stage was at Rexnelts Academy a few hours ago." A man dressed in the uniform commonly seen on members of this force around temples like this all over the kingdom said to the strongest of the three men in the room he had just entered.
"Oh? What happened? Do we have confirmation that the teacher's words were true?" One of the three Mages asked.
Earlier, they had heard from an informant that a magician had absorbed a yellow pentagram while only at level 1 of the 2nd stage.
No one there had believed such a man, even though they had issued a warning about the Rexnelts Academy.
The level 5 Acolyte, standing near these men, seated on various couches around a small table, said. "Yes, we believe the words of that Rexnelts Academy teacher to be true.
Earlier, a group of four people had been escorted by soldiers to the head of the academy, where envoys from the kingdom's magic college were present.
The envoys from the magic college then left the academy building with satisfied expressions, and the group of four masked people spent some time talking to Professor Newton behind closed doors.
That leads us to believe that the professor's words are true."
The leader of this temple was interested, even though he wasn't sure what his man had concluded.
His network of informants was outstanding. But there was no way they could know what Newton, the envoys from the magic college, and Director Scott had said to those four men.
The best they could do was to analyze the information from their informants and draw their own conclusions.
The leader of this group then said. "All right, there's a good chance that one of these four has indeed absorbed the yellow pentagram."
"What should we do then?" The third Mage there, a man dressed all in white, asked.
The leader, a man with black hair and a large mustache, looked at the man in white and said. "Killian, go to Rexnelts Academy and meet old Scott. See what you can find out from him."
"Okay."
"What about me?" A blond man, dressed in armor even though he was in his headquarters, asked with a smile, already imagining what his old friend would say.
"Keep an eye on these four. Depending on what Killian finds out, I want you to go to Millfall and investigate his life." Levi Logan said, narrowing his eyes as he held a drink cup in one hand.
"If we can't find out anything useful from Scott, we'll find out everything there is to know about him in Millfall.
If he doesn't want to join us for good, then it will be in the hard way."
"I'll do my best." The blond man stood up and soon left to look for Vice and his men.
Meanwhile, Levi sat alone in his office and thought about what to do with Cesar.
'You must become valuable to us. I hope you're smart and don't need to be 'encouraged,' Cesar.' He thought in silence, sipping his drink, amazed at the possibility of getting someone like Vice.
...
Hours later, the night passed, and the busy streets of Ironcrest were deserted in the early hours of a new day.
The sky was still dark, and the morning chill was present, keeping the few on the streets well-dressed as they gathered in small groups near the whale oil lamps on some of the poles or even small fires here and there.
Only a small fraction of the local workforce roamed the central streets of Ironcrest, dealing with the arrival and departure of resources through the local port.
As one might imagine, in a world where the roads were as dangerous as they were there, the most common means of transportation for large families or organizations was by ship.
A coastal city like this had a lot of traffic in its harbor at all times of the day.
The movement of the ports created a movement of workers around the city, although not enough to cause disturbances at the beginning of the day when most of the citizens were at home sleeping.
In addition to these workers, most people in the streets were soldiers on guard duty, doing surveillance work, the main job of people in such a position.
But in the midst of all this, three people on horseback arrived in the city, one man and two women, all wearing hoods with the symbol of the Congregation of Revelation.
"He's here." A light pink-haired woman, level 5, commented in a low voice to her companions. "I can see his mana mark is still in the city. He definitely hasn't left Ironcrest yet."
"This is good. We can finally go after him." The only man there clenched his fists before adding. "But we have to be careful. He'll probably leave Ironcrest soon. We'd better watch him and see what he does. If he leaves the city, we'd better attack him afterward."
"Yes, dealing with someone here in Ironcrest will be more dangerous. There are many powerful Mages here who could interfere with our actions." Jasmine's friend said, agreeing with Mark.
Mark looked at her with a strange smile and nodded his head. 'It will be easier for me to get rid of you that way!'
Since her two companions agreed on that, Jasmine didn't try to contradict them. "Very well. Let's find out where he is and start watching the bastard. We'll do what you want as soon as we know what he's up to."
They walked until they reached the center of Ironcrest, where the inn where Vice and his men were staying was located.
