"By the way, miss Fiona, how were you able to track Agatha to the city of White Raven?"
Eren couldn't help asking Fiona as she waited for the city staff to fetch a colt for her. The evening sky had finally turned dark after the sun had disappeared into the horizon.
"Oh! Using this array disk. This artifact is specially created for half-bloods like us. It uses one's bloodline energy to track the person.
It could also be used to track the child of parents who were half-bloods. I had found the residual mana signatures of Agatha's parents from her previous home in the Southern duchy."
Fiona produced a saucer-like artifact with various runes on it. It featured a clock-like levitating hand that was still pointing in the direction of Eren's city. Eren realized how the half-blood was able to track and rescue other half-bloods.
As Eren held the disk in his hands, he coated it in mana before responding.
"That's a pretty handy device, miss Fiona. Would you mind giving one for my personal use?"
Eren asked while observing the intricacies of the array disk. Fiona nodded at him before producing a second artifact for him. She explained how it worked to him before adding.
"I hope you can make better use of the array disk, Adept Eren. With it, you can rescue more half-bloods who are unaware of their origins. I'd urge you to provide them with temporary shelter until I can lead them to a secure location.
If that is not possible, you can at least contact me and I'll see what I can do from my end. You already have my contact imprint.
And please make sure that the disk doesn't fall into a stranger's hands. Although it could only be used by half-bloods by default, I have a reason to believe that the kingdom's special forces may have gotten their hands on one such disk and used it to track half-bloods."
Eren raised his eyebrows when he heard Fiona's warning. He looked at Alephee who was by his right side and handed the artifact to her for examination. The latter closed her eyes and wrapped the array disk in her soul sense and pondered a bit before speaking up.
"Hmm. These disks work on the properties of bloodline energy. Reverse engineering the array disk so that it could be used by normal rankers is indeed possible. But it's not something that can be done casually by everyone.
After all, the bloodline energy can lay dormant and be hidden. But it cannot be duplicated easily. I don't think the kingdom of Edinburgh would resort to such lengths. Especially when there are simpler ways.
They must be using some other means to track half-bloods."
Alephee gave her verdict after examining the artifact. She then handed the disk back to Eren who proceeded to secure it in his storage.
Fiona didn't like the fact that her opinion was discarded because she seemed much younger than her. Plus, Alephee came across as an Adept ranker. Thus, being an Adept ranker herself, Fiona didn't think that her expertise mattered much.
"Yeah? Like what?"
Fiona asked Alephee with disbelief in her tone. The latter smirked before responding.
"Being a half-blood is to exist in duality. And duality never produces consistent results.
That's why bloodline energy is not something that can be easily identified. Plus, it gets even more difficult to track the half-bloods if their mutagen is dormant within them.
This was the same reason why you had your doubts about referring to Eren as a half-blood. Your array disk had mixed readings when you used it on Eren right?"
Fiona was tongue-tied when Alephee explained the situation just as it had happened to her. That statement alone was convincing enough for her to see Alephee as some artifact or bloodline energy expert.
Only now did Eren realize why Fiona wasn't sure when she had asked him if he was a half-blood or not. He was also sure that Alephee wasn't telling Fiona the whole truth. And that his special bloodline had more to do with the misinterpretation of readings by the array disk.
'Eren, tell the city staff not to come here. There's a minor nuisance. We are getting surrounded.'
Eren was busy processing Alephee's explanation in his head when he received her instructions. His senses suddenly sharpened, and he looked around him while spreading his soul sense.
He could indeed sense something was up when he used his soul sense. But the readings he received were too vague for him to know exactly what it was.
However, judging by Alephee's reaction, Eren knew that she had deemed the situation as within her control. He could also understand what she was thinking. She wanted him to get rid of the incoming problem for good, lest it follows him to the city of White Raven.
Eren quickly followed Alephee's instructions without spooking Fiona. The half-blood was still curious about the knowledge Alephee possessed and her deductions. Thus, she couldn't help asking her next question to the homunculus.
"You said there are other options, Miss Alephee. Can you tell me what they are? Maybe I can take countermeasures against them in advance when I'm on another assignment to rescue half-bloods."
Alephee didn't act anything different even when she could sense what was happening. She smiled strangely as she looked around before answering.
"Well. There are several ways. But the easiest way would be to track down the owner of these array disks. Tracking those with these array disks would give someone the same results as having the artifacts in their possession for the most part.
They just have to make sure that the person they are tracking isn't aware of this. That way, they wouldn't have to deal with anything related to bloodline energy and still be able to get their hands on the half-bloods that the possessor of the array disk comes in contact with.
Do you understand what I am saying, Fiona?"
Alephee looked at Fiona as she completed her explanation. But the latter had an inkling that it wasn't addressed solely to her. She was initially confused by what Alephee was trying to say. But soon the grim realization dawned on her.
"You mean… they are tracking… me?"
Fiona said in a shaky voice. She refused to believe Alephee's wild conjectures at first. But the more she thought, the more it made sense to her.
"Half of my missions…. The Blood-Punisher Force was able to find the half-bloods only after I spotted them and waited for the right time to approach them.
That means they were using me to get to them."
Fiona had a look of horror and utter sorrow on her face as she mumbled to herself. The tears in her eyes welled up and they threatened to spill as she looked at Eren and Alephee for something that could alleviate her guilt. She felt as if she were being crushed under a mountain of guilt.
'*Sigh. She's no use to us, Eren. The quagmire of guilt she has found herself in won't let her deal with our incoming guests. I'm moving her somewhere safe.'
Alephee said to Eren before opening her grimoire. She flipped its pages with her gaze and focused on a particular array. In the next moment, the same array imprint appeared over the ground Fiona was standing on.
"What…."
Fiona was in mental turmoil when she found herself standing inside an array all of a sudden. Before she could ask her audience what it was about, she was teleported away from her current location.
***
Alephee had sent Fiona to a distant location that was around three days of colt ride away from the city of White Raven. She had left Fiona with a few parting words and told her to seek guidance from her seniors related to the fact that she had been being tracked.
Fiona was seen near the border of a small town. Naive as she might be sometimes, the half-blood wasn't dense in her head. She had come to realize that she had attracted trouble for Eren and possibly Agatha as well by meeting them.
She was sure that it was the same Blood Punisher Force that had ambushed and killed several uninitiated half-bloods in Edinburgh. And they had now surrounded Eren and Alphee.
She also wanted to fight with the Blood Punisher Force. But the orders given to her by the Last Blood Bastian regarding them were clear. They had already specifically asked her to avoid contact or conflict with them.
Still, Fiona would have fought alongside Eren and Alephee when she knew that she was being cornered along with them. But she also knew that she wasn't mentally stable. So she could only thank Eren and Alephee for letting her get away from the predicament.
Fiona clenched her fists before using her movement spell to reach the town. She aimed to reach the Last Blood Bastion as soon as possible by hiring a colt. After all, she had to report about the potentially lucrative business partnership with the White Raven guild. She also wanted to resolve the issue of her being tracked by the Blood Punisher Force. She couldn't let the same mistake happen to her again.
***
An Adept-rank isolation barrier was created in the zone spanning a radius of about 300 meters, trapping Eren and Alephee within it. The barrier was erected just as Fiona was teleported away by Alephee, which ensured her safety.
'Heh! This should be fun. I was missing live dummies and old Rey didn't really serve that purpose.'
Eren thought to himself and made a few cracking sounds by rotating his neck and wrists. Contrary to how his new guests were expecting him to act, the butcher was very excited about his fight.
AN: The Blood Punisher Force was first mentioned in chapter 648. The fact that Fiona was being tracked is also vaguely hinted at in the same chapter.
Traveling interstate. 12-hour drive and I'd have to take the wheel soon. Had to write this chapter from the shotgun seat. So there will only be one release today. Will make up for it soon. ;)
