The next day...
The soldiers who had just arrived in Millfall were already at work, investigating the disturbing events that had recently occurred in the city.
With only one day's work under their belts, some of the group's investigators had already uncovered some clues. They were studying them, tracking down possible violators of the royal laws.
While this was happening, another group of Mages arrived in town on the afternoon of that new day.
This group hadn't come from the capital but from Ironcrest, and they were finally in Millfall to find out what had happened to their group after the auction a few days ago!
The Faceless Ones faction had finally arrived in Millfall to deal with the deaths of three of their Mages and the disappearance of Sarah Mercer.
But as soon as this group of Low-level and Mid-level Mages arrived in this city, they noticed a big problem on the ground!
"Boss, what should we do? Soldiers from the capital are in town to investigate some recent events." One of the weakest of the group said to their leader after quickly gathering information about the many Mages they had sensed in the city center a few minutes ago.
The number three of The Faceless Ones faction listened seriously, knowing it wouldn't be easy to act under the observation of this group of soldiers from the capital.
He said. "First, let's look at the situation with the Mazzanti family. We need to find out what happened to Sarah and find a way to get her back. Even if we can't destroy the enemies because of these soldiers, getting our companion back shouldn't be too much of a problem."
"Okay!"
The group headed to the east side of town, where the Mazzanti family headquarters were located.
Little did they know that soldiers from the capital had already found some of the clues left by Vicente's men and were slowly getting closer to information about their soldiers' involvement with The Faceless Ones and the deaths of members of the Congregation of Revelation.
...
Meanwhile, Vicente and his group had traveled almost all the way between Millfall and Ironcrest, even passing through the area of the Alpine Woodpecker Forest.
He, Layla, and Sarah were now standing near the top of a mountain range, where they could see the ocean and their destination city.
After resting in this beautiful place, they would need a little over two hours to reach Ironcrest.
Looking at this view he had seen a few weeks ago, he remembered that he was only a low-level Acolyte when he came to this place and met Newton.
Amidst this, he was calm about his family's situation. Many things might have happened in Millfall, but he thought that even if his family's enemies got there before the soldiers from the capital, they wouldn't be able to act immediately.
With Sarah in his hands, he had the guarantee that the enemy would try to investigate their situation before acting because this woman was important within The Faceless Ones.
Of course, he couldn't be sure, and all he had was the knowledge that the chances of his group still standing were high.
But Vicente was different from the kind of person who felt the need to control everything 100% of the time. He did his best to keep things under his control as much as possible, but he knew that at a certain point, all you could do was wait and see how the situation developed.
He had armed his family with weapons capable of killing Mages, left behind powerful armor, the 3rd-stage basilisk, and a comfortable situation in Millfall for his men. If all that wasn't enough, he could only regret it.
After all, his family was there to help him achieve his goals, not the other way around. They had to be able to support themselves in his absence and help him grow faster.
Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to have a family!
So, while he rested and regained his strength to continue the journey ahead, Vicente was at peace with the situation in Millfall, worrying more about Jasmine and what he and Layla would be doing very soon.
The gray-haired woman was very worried and asked. "What are we going to do when we get to Ironcrest? Will we go straight to the places this woman told us about?"
"No. We're going to separate. I want you to go to someone and give him a message. In the meantime, I'll go undercover and check out the enemy posts." He answered her.
"Who do you want me to meet? Do you really think it's worth splitting up?"
"Your skill is easy to detect. If you and I act together, someone will more likely recognize you. That would be bad for our plans..." He said, looking at the mask that hid the rest of Layla. "Your job will be to infiltrate the enemy base while I distract them, rescue Jasmine, and get away. So I don't want you to be with me unnecessarily."
She had nothing to debate since her ability was more compatible with what Vicente had in mind.
He said. "But you will first meet a friend of mine to do me a favor. It will not affect our mission but help me with other things. We're not going to act until at least next night, so you're free until then."
"Why don't you go and talk to this contact personally? Would that compromise you?" She asked. As much as she wanted to work with Vice, she didn't want to be his errand girl.
"That's the case. I've already met this man with my current identity. If I do this now, I could be identified by our enemies." He said before handing Layla a closed scroll and an open letter.
"You must give the scroll to the person I am talking about in this letter." He gestured to her as she began to read what he had written.
Vicente didn't know what might happen in the next few days, so he preferred not to reveal anything about himself to Sarah, who watched them with a sharp expression.
Layla quickly discovered that Vicente was in contact with Newton, a provincial genius praised even by the king of the state.
'I didn't expect that... When did he manage to make contact with this guy?' She wondered as she looked at Vicente's mask.
"Okay, I'll go to him and give him the parchment." She put it in her spatial ring. "Anything else? I can look into other things since I'll be working as a message girl for you. How about we check out the situation at the local temple? I heard that the Mages of this outpost recently fell."
Layla didn't know everything about the people she was dealing with. Even though she was Vicente's ally, she was in the dark about the fact that he had lured three members of the same organization as her to The Vile Altar, where they died.
Even though Vicente hadn't killed any of them, he had always caused the death of those three.
He remembered that. "No, avoid this organization. Concentrate on the person I referred you to. You'll find out from him if there's anything else for you to do."
With that, they would soon finish their rest and get back on the road to Ironcrest, where they would arrive in the early evening.
