When Kohen saw the 1st-stage Novice running with a scroll in his hand, he immediately took the paper from the member of the Millfall temple.
Narrowing his eyes, he instantly forgot Assistant Temple Master Sim's earlier words when he saw the Mazzanti family's mark on the scroll.
'Kohen, if you want me to join your faction, it's not impossible. I have considered your proposal, and I'm willing to accept it.'
As Kohen read this, a smile appeared on his face as he realized his plans to eliminate Cesar with the help of the Assistant Temple Master of Ironcrest temple and the 3rd-stage Prior of that post were unnecessary.
As Vicente had predicted, Kohen only wanted to give him time to make up his mind, while this person had no allies to help him eliminate Cesar. When Killian and Levi were in Millfall in two days, Vicente would either join them or die at their hands!
'It looks like you chose life in the end...' Kohen continued to read the message with a satisfied smile.
'Due to problems that require my presence outside of Millfall, I can't make a deal with you locally for the time being. I'll be gone for a week. But if you're in a hurry, meet me at The Vile Altar in three days.'
'The Vile Altar?' Kohen's eyes narrowed as he lost his smile.
The Vile Altar was a temple about 100 kilometers west of Millfall. This place was one of the many outposts of an ancient faith of Polaris Realm, similar to the Congregation of Revelations.
However, this faith had fallen, and all its followers and members had been wiped out in a war 2,000 years ago.
Its existence was now part of the history books, but some temples still existed around Polaris Realm. These temples were mostly found in poor areas, places of little interest to the human experts responsible for the downfall of such a faith.
But what drew Kohen's attention to the choice of Vicente for their meeting was not the history of such faith but what its temples represented.
That was an organization that had been wiped out many centuries ago. As such, all temples of such a religion had been attacked in the past and could be considered ancient ruins, areas with dangers.
A single malfunctioning mechanism left in one of these temples could be extremely dangerous for anyone who decided to venture into such places.
At the same time, even if there was nothing in such an area, it would be perfect for setting traps.
'Damned Cesar!' Kohen crushed the scroll in his hands while making an ugly expression. 'Are you trying to lure me into a trap, or are you serious?'
...
Meanwhile, the Mages of the royal army had already made their moves the night before and warned Vicente of their plans.
Vicente was currently in one of the taverns in the Mazzanti family's territory, having sent someone to deliver a message to Kohen minutes ago and someone to deliver a message to the local army.
Vicente had many contacts in Millfall these days. When the army soldiers asked for permission from the Martial Court to move against the Mazzanti family, young Fuller quickly learned of it through his contacts at the court.
But even though he was quickly warned, he couldn't stop the army's Mages from moving in.
Unable to do anything about the invasion of his headquarters by the men of the royal army, Vicente advanced the plans he had already discussed with Liam.
"They really want to threaten me..." Vicente muttered with a terrible look on his face.
"What are we going to do, boss? The soldiers of the kingdom are clearly abusive in their actions." The man next to Vicente said while he had an aggrieved look on his face, feeling oppressed, something he thought he would no longer feel after the basilisk joined their group.
Vicente handed the man a small ring and said. "Take this to Rory. He'll know what to do."
The man put it on one of his fingers but didn't dare look at it.
"Tell our men to prepare for the worst. I'm leaving town to deal with this problem. But you won't be able to rest in peace in our post. Surely someone powerful will try to challenge you in the next hours or days." Vicente stood up and drank the entire contents of a glass of alcohol.
'Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to study the forge lately... Otherwise, I could have prepared some equipment for my family.' Vicente thought as he closed his eyes.
Since he had not yet reached the level of knowledge required to create 2nd-grade firearms, Vicente could not create new weapons for his men, even though he was already a level 3 Acolyte.
"Be careful. I'll be back as soon as possible." He said before leaving, leaving his trusted soldier even more nervous.
Looking at the spatial ring in his hands, the man knew the danger it represented and quickly left to hand it over to one of the Mazzanti family's soldiers.
'I hope the boss manages to get all those pesky Mages out of town.' He thought as he moved, breaking into a cold sweat.
...
Meanwhile, Commander Hogan had just received the other note from Vicente, another of young Fuller's invitations to the meeting of experts he planned to hold at The Vile Altar.
But Cesar's invitation to Commander Hogan was a little different from Kohen's.
'If you want my 3rd-stage weed, come and meet me at The Vile Altar, royal army dogs. You think I don't know you're looking for me?
Hurry up, my alchemist will be ready with what you so desperately want in two more days!'
That was Vicente's message to the four Commanders in Millfall, which, of course, provoked some of the men enough.
"That brat! He's challenging us!" One of the four said, not liking it at all.
However, they had already entered the Mazzanti estate earlier and couldn't do much more than go to meet Cesar.
With no concrete evidence against Vicente, they either had to give up the 3rd-stage herb or risk falling into his trap!
"This is obviously a trap." Commander Christopher Hogan said, calmer than some of his comrades. "But this is exactly the reaction we wanted when we entered the Mazzanti building earlier.
We wanted Cesar to show himself and allow us to deal with him. What are you going to do now? Give up?"
"What if he's not at The Vile Altar?" Christopher's older brother asked, a little uncertain.
"What if he is?" Christopher asked back. "Our doubts don't matter. If we want this herb, we have only one choice. If we don't go to him, we can forget about it."
The other three looked at each other, aware of how dangerous it could be to go to The Vile Altar, while Cesar had the advantage of being able to set traps in such a place.
"There are four of us Mages. Cesar's basilisk is in Millfall, so he'll probably be alone." Arthur said.
"But what if Cesar plans to get us all out of Millfall while the 3rd-stage weed is already in the hands of one of his local subordinates?" The Mage from the capital raised this hypothesis.
