The next morning...
Vicente was still guarding the post where Jasmine was being held hostage. He had changed his position to avoid attracting the enemy's attention, moving to an unoccupied house near the enemy's building.
As he spied on The Faceless Ones' outpost through the gaps in a window, he noticed more men arriving at the outpost under his observation.
'Something is happening... Have they discovered that the investigators of the Congregation of Revelation are already watching them?'
'That seems to be the case, master.' Torne said to Vicente, who was also watching the place intently. 'The High-level Mage on that estate seems to be very angry. He's just received some bad news.'
Torne couldn't hear what the men of The Faceless Ones were saying inside the mansion, but he could practically see the expressions on the faces of the people there.
His mastery of his mana and the elements was so strong that even more than 90 meters away from the enemy leader, separated by several walls, he could use the mana in the surroundings to read the facial expressions and movements of that and other men!
He had once been a Sovereign, so even though he wasn't one anymore, he could still do things only 4th-stage magicians could do.
While Vicente watched the outside of the enemy post with Torne assisting him, inside the building, the leader of The Faceless Ones, Nash, was now as red as a tomato, almost exploding with hatred as he heard worrying things from his men.
"You've got to be kidding me!" He shouted as he stood up and punched the table in front of him, not believing that the night had turned so bad for him and his group.
Up until the night before, his group had been fine. They had Jasmine in their custody, and the group sent to Millfall was supposed to take care of the problems in that town before they could finally contact Sovereign Barber.
However, in a single night, they discovered that not only were the Congregation of Revelation investigators in the city looking at their group, but so was the royal army!
The subordinate who had just brought them some updates felt terrible but said everything he knew. "Our men in Millfall have just sent us information about the situation in that city. The soldiers sent from the capital to investigate The Vile Altar incident are plotting against us.
They have recently issued a royal edict signaling the betrayal of four army soldiers and the conspiracy of three of those soldiers with members of our group to act at The Vile Altar.
According to them, the soldiers acted independently, and further investigation will be conducted to determine the culprits and bring them to the king's justice.
The two strongest comrades besides Nash heard this with ugly expressions on their faces, somewhat surprised by the turn of events.
They had also investigated The Vile Altar incident weeks ago. But at that time, they had found practically nothing relevant.
However, things seemed to have changed a lot overnight!
"How? Previous investigations said it would be difficult to find out exactly what happened there and who was involved in the incident!" The second strongest of the faction commented in disbelief.
The man who brought the news shook his head negatively. "I don't know either. But it seems that the soldiers from the capital discovered what happened at The Vile Altar very quickly after arriving in Millfall. The same thing happened to the investigators from the Congregation of Revelation, and maybe that's why they reacted so quickly...
It's a fact now that these two forces are looking at us differently, bosses. I can tell you that the army battalions in our city are already aware of this information, and the investigators from the Congregation of Revelation are keeping an eye on us."
The weakest of the three Mages in the room said. "If that's the case, we have to be careful with these investigators from the Congregation of Revelation. As much as royal soldiers were involved in this, we're the weakest link. They'll try to attack us before they solve their problems with the royal family."
That was the logical thing to consider, and the other two Mages couldn't help but look at each other worriedly.
"What are we going to do? If these investigators try anything against us while we're with that girl, our situation could become untenable.
All it would take is for someone to find out that we're with the Sacred Devotee Barber's daughter for the entire Congregation of Revelation in the Seidel Kingdom to turn against us.
Even the Marquis would abandon us in such a situation."
Nash clenched his fists as he felt sweat trickle down his body, apprehensive.
Then he thought about who had put them in this situation. "And Cesar Mazzanti? That all happened because of him. Our men only went to The Vile Altar because of the weed he had. But he was the only one who survived that incident. Why are we only those targeted by the army and the Congregation of Revelations?"
That obviously was because Vicente had been the one to facilitate the investigations of the Congregation of Revelation and the army to cover his tracks and turn these two forces against this Ironcrest faction!
How could he manipulate these two organizations without hiding his own existence?
There was a way for these two great forces to discover his involvement in The Vile Altar incident. But after he manipulated the investigation of the two groups, the chances of that happening were greatly reduced.
Now that the army was trying to eliminate the problem with the Congregation of Revelation, no one in that royal force wanted to know about Cesar!
As for the Congregation of Revelation, they didn't know about Vicente's involvement in all this, but this young man was just an Acolyte until recently. Meanwhile, Mages of The Faceless Ones were at The Vile Altar!
"He left Millfall after reaching the 3rd stage. But we don't know where he is now. The city's forces believe that he has gone searching for his third pentagram." The subordinate of those men said before expressing his opinion. "It makes sense to me. He probably wants to take Jasmine back from us, but that could be dangerous. He'll try to strengthen himself by absorbing his next pentagram before he looks at us."
The weakest of the three Mages said. "We can try to put some of the blame for what happened at The Vile Altar on Cesar. But that won't be as effective. We're still going to have some problems with the Congregation of Revelations and the army."
Nash said in a harsh tone. "Do that. Spread the rumor that Cesar was responsible for this incident. He killed all of our men that day and may have been responsible for the deaths of the men from the local temple..."
As Nash spoke, there was suddenly a loud banging outside his building as someone rushed into his living room.
"Bosses, emissaries from the Congregation of Revelation are here! They demand to speak with you!" An Acolyte said in a nervous tone that made the three Mages in the command room turn cold.
The enemy was at their door!
