Three months later...
In the capital of the Western Empire...
Right now, one of the mercenaries who had recently been in the Black Plain Empire was now going through the imperial palace's security protocols.
After months since that group's departure from Dry City, they had already reached their homeland and returned to their routine activities there.
Some of them had taken time out for themselves since they had earned enough in that period to go months or even years without working. So even those less interested in resting had taken time for themselves, like the man who had taken Grant's message.
But after a few days of relaxing, this fellow had decided to fulfill old Grant's mission and was at this very moment in one of the wings of the imperial palace responsible for low-level affairs.
In the Western Empire, 8th-stage individuals, as was the case with this man, were considered experts. But there were many of them, and there were not only Spiritual Sages above them in the local hierarchy but also Spiritual Demigods.
As such, although people like this were recognized as experts, they had no real chance of coming into contact with the core of any local organization. At most, someone like this mercenary could enter the low-level area of the imperial palace to deliver messages!
"Next!" A woman dressed in armor and with a level 81 cultivation said this as she looked toward this level 78 mercenary.
Walking up to such a person, this man was as humble as he could be and said nothing, waiting for her to ask the questions.
"What is your purpose here?" She questioned him from outside her workplace, where normally the imperial guard would do primary screening to accept or not accept entry or delivery of things by men like this mercenary.
"Delivering a message." He said in a low voice, not showing all the confidence he had in the Black Plain.
"Who is the message for? And who sent it?"
"The message is addressed to the Emperor..." He said in a half-embarrassed tone, trying to make it clear to this woman that he was only a messenger and had no relation to such a person who dared to do this.
She looked at this man strangely as she put one of her hands on the sword on her waist.
He then quickly finished explaining himself. "As for who sent it, that is a supposed former member of the imperial guard, Grant Yates, formerly..." Finally, he told some of the stories of how Grant got lost in the North Sea, something that man had told him to help him in this situation.
Grant had been missing for a long time, so he was probably reported dead or a dissident. But even with these problems, his record in the imperial family should still exist. If one were to search through the list of dead or missing from the group he was part of, they should see his record.
"A former member of the imperial guard?" That woman muttered in surprise as she dropped her hand from the pommel of her sword.
She still could not say for sure if this person was really carrying the letter of a former member of the imperial guard. But this mercenary had given so many relevant and easy-to-analyze details that, at this first moment, she judged his words as accurate.
"Yes, that was the story he told me and asked me to repeat it, Your Excellency."
"But the incident you cited happened many centuries ago... Why did it take him so long to report?" She asked with a serious expression as she indicated for that man to accompany her into a room.
As she walked, she added another question. "By the way, from what you said, he shouldn't have a good hierarchy within the family. Then how dare he try to communicate directly with the emperor? Does he think His Majesty is a bum to take messages from someone of his level?"
This mercenary smiled bitterly and said. "According to Grant, his motives are in the letter. But I can advance that the problem is related to the cause of the sinking of that group's ship in the North Sea. So I believe that is why he wants to communicate directly with the emperor."
"Oh? North Sea?" Her eyebrows drew together since that place would really justify informing the emperor. After all, that terrible place was a nightmare even for Spiritual Sages!
But still, she did not like the idea of a fellow who had disappeared for so long having the chance to communicate directly with the emperor.
'Perhaps this is important, so I will not completely discard this message. But I will not send it to the emperor. Instead, I will let one of the princess' trusted men receive such a thing.' She pondered in silence before hearing that mercenary's other response.
"As for a reason for his delay, Your Excellency Grant was crippled by that incident and only narrowly survived." He said while making a regretful expression since he had heard the stories of many people regarding the way Grant had arrived in Dry City without legs.
"He lost his cultivation and also his legs. Also, it took him quite a while to recover minimally, so he wasn't in danger. After that, he had no means of returning to the Empire." He explained. "Only more recently was he able to join a force in the northern region where he had a chance to regain his legs and improve his situation somewhat."
"It was also through that force that he had the chance to contact me, who agreed to bring his message here."
"I see..." She commented as she realized that Grant had suffered quite a bit and had reasonable justifications for his situation.
It was not ideal, to tell you the truth. He would have been better off risking his own life and trying to come to the empire as soon as possible. But it was not as if he was wasting his time in that region either. On the contrary, he had suffered terrible losses that prevented him from acting as he should.
After thinking for a few moments, she said to that mercenary. "Very well. I will pass this message on to the person responsible for this kind of matter and communicate to the family intelligence regarding this person's situation."
"Sigh..."
"All right." He said as he felt better about accomplishing this mission without any significant problems.
But then this level 78 man heard that woman add. "But I want you to leave your information and means for us to communicate with you. If His Majesty or the family intelligence decide to receive more information regarding Grant's situation, we will contact you."
"What?" He asked in surprise, thinking it would be terrible to get involved this way with the powerful and feared Quinn family.
The Quinn family was the highest-level power family in this empire, an organization full of plots and specialists that someone like this mercenary could not handle.
So for him, it was naturally problematic to be involved with them like this!
He would be a contact, but if he was unlucky, he could soon be marked as someone to die or be tortured!
'Damn it. I didn't want that!' He lamented. 'If I have to give out information from you and the Black Plain, don't blame me for it, Grant...'
