480 Against a Sovereign!
Adams narrowed his eyes and got right to the point. "What is your relationship to Cesar Mazzanti?"
As soon as his words were out of his mouth, Adams could feel Vicente's men getting increasingly nervous, obviously frightened by his interrogation.
'It looks like you really are from the Mazzanti family.' Adams thought to himself, confirming this local rumor. 'But this one doesn't seem the least bit nervous... Why is that? Is he someone very well trained?'
While Adams thought about Vicente, Shelby smiled and said. "Cesar is a local mercenary who occasionally offers his skills to those interested in paying his price. I have a relationship with him similar to that of dozens of people in this city, including other local nobles."
Adams asked another question. "So you must know where he is, right? If you're so close to him, it shouldn't be difficult to know his whereabouts and the places he's been."
"I know, but why is the Colonel asking? Certain things are one's privacy. I can't talk about it if he doesn't want others to know where he is."
Adams laughed. "But of course. I'm just curious about some rumors about him, Miss Staples. It would be interesting if you cooperate with me. There are a lot of strange rumors about you, but if you help me, those doubts might disappear."
"Oh? I'd be grateful." She made a gesture of gratitude.
"Do you know where Cesar was during the Long Bay Correctional Facility escape?" He came right to the point.
He had suspected that Cesar had been involved in such an incident not long ago. Since he didn't know where Don Mazzanti was, he decided to question someone who seemed close to that person but also interested in protecting herself.
"I see," Shelby muttered. "I don't know where he was at the time. He must have been chasing his third pentagram. Cesar had reached the 3rd stage days before this incident."
"So that's it..." He said, very interested in Vicente, the only one in the group who didn't seem the least bit nervous.
'That person behaved like that in front of me, too.' He remembered the fake Oscar. 'But this person seems to be stronger than my enemy... Is it because of his third pentagram?'
Adams could sense Vicente a little, even though the young man was hiding. But the feeling he got from Vicente's pentagrams was slightly different from the one he got from the fake Oscar.
Still, he was suspicious of such a person.
"Where are you going?" He asked. "By the way, may I know more about your guards? They seem quite capable. I'd like to know who trained them."
Vicente glanced sideways at Adams, uncomfortable. 'Did he recognize me?'
Shelby replied. "I'm here to see my student. She's an extraordinary little girl." After gesturing toward the Fuller estate, she pointed to her men. "This is Tyson, Dickson, Pyke, and Drew. But I don't know much about them either. I hired them to replace some of the dead men in my family."
"Drew, huh?" He looked at Vicente and showed one of his hands. "You look pretty strong, young man. Where are you from?"
Vicente wondered if the enemy had recognized him, but he had no choice. If he remained silent or refused to shake Adams' hand, his situation would only get worse.
He shook Adams' right hand and said. "I'm from Dryhaven. But I'm not as strong as the Colonel thinks."
Adams squeezed Vicente's hand, feeling something that told him not to let this young man go.
At the very least, he had to examine him. It was unusual for humans to hide their emotions so perfectly from Sovereigns!
Adams had only seen two people who could do that in his entire life. One was Snow Claw, and the other was the impostor who broke into Long Bay Correctional Facility.
He squeezed Vicente's hand tighter as his Earth Sovereign aura appeared, causing everyone around him to change their expressions.
"Can I see your face?" Adams asked in a slightly different tone but still seemingly calm.
However, no one there could believe that he was calm.
"Colonel Adams, what does this mean?" Shelby exclaimed as she felt drops of sweat forming on her body.
The army soldiers put their hands on their weapons as they prepared to act if necessary.
Vicente's men took a step back but also prepared to draw their weapons.
All of them were level 4 Acolytes, armed with devices capable of killing Mages, like some of the men in Adams' group.
Adams ignored Shelby as he stared at the part of Vicente's mask that hid the young man's forehead. 'Could it be you? If it really is you, I have to kill you right here, right now!' He thought, not wanting to let this person survive if this one really was his target.
If this was the fake Oscar, he was ridiculously talented and should be killed before he became too strong to be stopped!
Vicente felt trapped, unable to see a peaceful way out of this situation. 'Shit! This leaves me with no alternatives!'
He said. "Colonel, have I offended you in any way? There's no reason for you to take authoritative action against me. As a citizen of the kingdom, I have my rights."
"Tsk! Either take off your mask for good, or I'll take it off for you, Drew!" Adams said in a harsher tone, causing Shelby to turn pale and walk away from them.
'Damn it! What am I going to do?' The orange-haired woman asked herself, very nervous because she had suggested that Vicente walk beside her when he wanted to get around town.
But that was exactly why they were in this situation now!
Vicente looked around in silence, feeling the number of witnesses to this situation.
'My three soldiers, Shelby, Adams, 7 royal soldiers, and 9 passers-by.' He counted as his mana became more and more agitated. 'I must kill these nine people and then hide what will happen here.'
Then he opened his mouth and let out a laugh. "It looks like it's time for me to overcome myself, Colonel Adams."
As his words left his mouth, three pentagrams emerged from him and slowly showed the 21 people in the surrounding area his two green pentagrams and one orange one.
As the eyes of the royal soldiers widened and the jaws of the innocent bystanders almost dropped to the ground, the light in the surrounding area changed under Vicente's manipulation.
Both for the people within a space of up to 60 meters from Vicente and for the people outside that space, the space seemed to have changed, with a dark sphere forming around that space.
But there was nothing between that space and the outside. That was merely a manipulation of the light in the area, with Vicente preventing light from entering the area where the current situation was develoking.
"Unbelievable!" One of the royal army soldiers opened his mouth as their surroundings went dark, and they could no longer see the rest of the street they were on. They could only see what was within 60 meters of Vicente.
Everything else seemed to have suddenly vanished!
Adams was surprised by Vicente's pentagram configuration but also by this display of power, not caring at all what it meant.
But he didn't hesitate in the face of his opponent's move, quickly attacking in the direction of Vicente's face.
At the same time, Vicente did what he had to do, making huge metal spears appear from the ground in the surrounding area, not hesitating to eliminate all witnesses not connected to him.
"Since you're here, I'll send you to Yama!" He said as he took a step back, his mask falling from his face.
