On Casey's property, in a simple apartment in Millfall...
Two very well-dressed women with veils over their faces stood at Casey's front door and called out to him.
After a moment, the door opened after several security mechanisms were moved.
When they saw the door open, the two level 5 women saw a man with tanned skin, shirtless, looking at them as if he had just woken up.
"Mister Amnesia, I'm here with my friend to solve our problem."
Hearing Jasmine's voice, Casey recognized who these women with the dark veils on their heads were and understood why they were there.
"Is this one of the people who was with you the day you attacked Cesar?" He asked as he led the way for them to enter his property.
Jasmine nodded affirmatively. "Yes, this is Layla, my friend. She's here to prove she hasn't given anyone any information about Cesar and that day."
"So that's it..." Casey drank a glass of water when he heard that, understanding why they had knocked on his door instead of Vicente's men coming to call him.
"Mister Amnesia, be careful going through her memories. Cesar promised me he wouldn't do anything bad to my friend if she proved her innocence and was willing to work with him." Jasmine said, trying to make sure this man wouldn't do anything dangerous to Layla.
"I know. You don't have to worry." Casey declared, motioning for Layla to take off her veil and sit in an armchair in the middle of the small apartment's living room.
"If there's nothing wrong, you can wait for Cesar to return from The Rocky Gorge to sign an agreement with him. In the meantime, you should..." He was saying when Jasmine took off her veil and looked at Casey strangely.
"When he gets back? Haven't you heard the latest news?" Jasmine exclaimed.
"What latest news?"
"Cesar returned almost an hour ago, Mister Amnesia! What have you been doing? Sleeping?" Jasmine asked, surprised that someone so important didn't know that.
"I was meditating. What happened?" He opened his eyes wider, much more attentive now that Jasmine had caught his eye.
"Cesar came back from The Rocky Gorge with the 3rdistage basilisk. Somehow, he tamed the beast!" Layla was the one who shocked Vicente's associate.
"What?"
...
While Casey was getting the latest news from Jasmine and Layla, the first groups of the royal army returning from The Rocky Gorge because of the basilisk finally arrived in Millfall!
Traveling by land was much slower than traveling by air. Even though the groups of soldiers hunting in the forest had been recalled to Millfall almost simultaneously with the basilisk's departure, they took much longer to return to the city than the creature did.
As a result, when the first groups arrived in Millfall, they were filled with fear and anxiety, fearing that something worse had happened.
But when they realized there were no signs of destruction in the city, the groups of soldiers would soon discover what had happened.
Among them, Commander Christopher Hogan's group, to which Nova belonged, would learn of Cesar's incredible feat with much more surprise than the others.
As shocking as it was for everyone to discover that a 2nd-stage magician had mastered a 3rd-stage beast, it was even more shocking for those who had known Cesar the longest.
That's because they knew that he was just an Apprentice weeks ago!
For those who saw Cesar now, there was no way to know his age or how talented he was just by looking at his current achievements. But his accomplishments were much more extreme for those who had followed his story longer and knew how young he was.
Nova was particularly startled to discover that Cesar had mastered the powerful basilisk that had forced her and him to flee from The Rocky Gorge weeks ago.
When she discovered his growth, she was naturally annoyed, feeling that she had to raise her own magic level as soon as possible, or this outlaw would overtake her.
...
At the royal army post in Millfall...
Nova was with some of the Captains from that post, talking about what had happened and how they had been forced to give up the hunt for the basilisk halfway through. It was frustrating for them all.
But as some of the strongest Acolytes from the outpost were doing so, news of Brody Wright's demise reached them.
"People, the bloody Brody has been found dead! The Scarlet Syndicate is under new command!" A level 5 blonde woman said as she sat on one of the benches around the table in the headquarters cafeteria where Nova's group was chatting.
"What?" A black-haired man listened in amazement. "Right now? Isn't that too much of a coincidence for you?" He asked.
Nova said nothing, but she agreed wholeheartedly. Brody dying after Cesar returned to the city with the basilisk was very strange.
Considering how the two were connected, it wasn't hard for Nova to connect Brody's death to Cesar!
But even though Cesar killing Brody could cause problems for the leader of the Mazzanti family due to the prohibition on assassinations in the cities of the kingdom, who would demand justice?
The Scarlet Syndicate had used the excuse that they had found their leader dead and were effectively under new management.
With no one to denounce Cesar's crime and Brody's body likely already destroyed, there was no evidence of the Mazzanti family leader's possible crime!
'Damn it, Cesar!' Nova clenched her fists as she stood.
"Nova, where are you going?" The blonde woman wearing the same uniform as Nova asked as she looked at the blue-haired woman walking away.
"I'm going to the Mazzanti family. I want to see what Cesar is up to."
"Are you crazy? He's got the basilisk on his side. It'll be dangerous." One of the soldiers said.
"So what? I'm a Captain of the Seidel Kingdom! Will he dare to do anything against me?" She said confidently, eager to discover what that man had in mind.
As her great rival in this city, Nova didn't want to stay away from Cesar. To best prepare against him, she needed to be close to find him.
That's what she thought, so she left the barracks soon, taking advantage of the free time she would have on her post-mission leave.
In part, she was curious to see the basilisk, but what interested her most was the ascending Cesar Mazzanti!
