Chapter 410: Searching (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: Kurisu
In the garden outside the castle, there were guests chatting while walking around. Most of them were the young ones of the noble families and the rest were the merchant families. They looked polite and elegant with the wine glasses in their hands.
Angele followed the woman through the door and arrived at the dinner hall.
The hall was painted in gold, with a thick yellow carpet on the floor. There were several servers putting down dishes on the long rectangular table.
There were crispy roast geese, colorful vegetable salads, soft white bread, saucy dark cow liver, and thick honey soup.
The guests could select the food they wanted and servers would pour wine for them.
Angele glanced at the guests. His sight fell upon a middle-aged nobleman that was surrounded by several nobles while talking with a noblewoman.
The middle-aged man was about 30 or 40 years old and there was a gentle smile on his face. He had a muscular body, hidden under his white army suit, and behaved elegantly. It seemed like he had been serving in the army.
He noticed that Angele was looking at him and turned his head to Angele.
"Excuse me." He bowed slightly to the other nobles and went across the hall, stopping in front of Angele.
"So, you're here? I thought you'd be late." The man raised his right hand. He was prepared for Angele's arrival.
Angele raised his right hand as well and gave the man a high five.
"Well, that's a weird way to greet people."
"Is that so?" The man chuckled. "Someone said the same thing to me before. Nice to meet you. Let me introduce myself, I'm the Count of the Wheat City."
"The name's Green. I know you're the Count, but what's your name?" Angele grabbed a glass of green fruit wine from the server's plate.
"Name? Everyone knows that I'm the Count of the Wheat City. No one has called me using my real name for so long that I forgot what my name is. Just call me Count, it's fine."
"Alright." Angele shrugged. "Is there a better place to talk?"
"Follow me." The Count turned around and walked to the hallway on the left of the hall.
Angele followed after the Count, who stopped the guards or servants that wanted to help him.
The hallway was getting darker and the oil lamps on the walls started fading. Some of the oil lamps were already extinguished.
The light in the hallway weakened as well.
They almost walked around the whole castle while in the same hallway.
On the left side of the hallway, there were white stone pillars lining up. Outside those stone pillars, there was an unorganized garden, a gentle wind blowing over its plants.
The nobleman stopped by a round fountain and turned around.
"This is the back of the castle and also my private garden. No one will interrupt us here." The man was still wearing a gentle smile on his face, but the expression looked a bit strange under the dim light cast by the flame.
"As one of the people in charge, I need to know the details of the plan." Angele checked the surroundings using his mentality and asked directly.
"Details of the plan, huh? That'll take a while." The Count turned around and pressed on the white wall.
*WOO*
A twisted black rune that was about two meters long appeared on the surface of the wall, surrounded by tiny floral patterns on its edge.
Black glow flashed on the surface of the rune. The Count stepped into the wall without any hesitation. He disappeared into the wall without any problems.
Angele narrowed his eyes as he saw the man disappearing into the wall. He tapped on his pouch and created a translucent energy barrier.
The energy barrier turned invisible within seconds and Angele stepped into the wall as well.
*CHI*
He disappeared into the wall and arrived in a dark tiny room.
There was a fist-sized oil lamp on the wall, the Count was standing beside it. He just lighted the oil lamp up and turned to face Angele.
"This is one of the secret chambers in the castle. Alright, I'll show you my plan."
There was a yellow sand plate in the center of the room. The mountains, rivers, and forests were simulated on the plate and the cities were represented by tiny models. It felt like looking at the central continent from the sky.
There were several black arrows that were drawn with ink beside those city models.
Angele walked to the other side of the sand plate and approached the Count.
"That's how you improve your plan?"
The Count nodded. "I was the only one in charge of the area and I could complete the plan by myself. Purple Eye, you can write a report and inform the headquarters about the situation." He stopped for a second and pushed a city model slightly forward. "It's great to have someone to talk to."
"So, you're confident in your plan?" Angele looked at the sand plate. The sand plate successfully simulated the landscape of the whole central continent.
The Count chuckled. "It's not about how confident I am. The plan must succeed." He pointed at a city in front of him. "That's our current location. The edge of the Tarry River area and the Molten River area. The war going on in the Tarry River area is also part of my plan."
Angele knew that the Count did not want to tell him the actual situation so that the Count would be the one who contributed the most to the plan.
"If you're confident, I'll be your assistant and follow your orders. There's not much I can do if the plan is already completed, but can you tell me about the progression?"
"Of course." The Count smiled and pressed on the edge of the sand plate.
*KA*
Light flashed upon the sand plate; dozens of white light dots and red light dots appeared on the map.
The light dots slightly brightened up the room.
Angele looked at those light dots carefully and listened to the Count's explanation. "The white dots represent the locations or organizations that already joined the plan, but none of them knows about the actual situation. The red dots still need some work, but everything is almost done. It took me more than 30 years to finish all those."
The Count sounded relaxed.
Angele glared at the Count and looked at the sand plate again.
Most of the light dots were white on the map created with the sand plate. Some of the red dots were slowly turning white, they were still in the process of joining the plan.
"Impressive. I know why you were selected by the organization now. I'm willing to help you if you need." Angele smiled.
"Sure, I'm counting on you, Master Purple Eye." The Count laughed and rubbed his beard.
*PA*
One of the red dot suddenly exploded when the two were talking to each other.
"Huh?!" The Count's expression changed as he looked at the sand plate.
"What happened?" Angele wondered. "Is there anything wrong?"
"No worries, it's just a small problem." The smile returned to the Count's face. "I'll take care of it."
"It's probably not the first time it happened?" Angele looked at the red dot. It was a small city beside the river named White Elephant. "Do you need my help?"
"It's fine. I have my methods," the Count responded confidently.
Angele looked at the Count and he noticed that the man was trying to warn him. The Count wanted to be the one that was rewarded by the organization since he'd been preparing the plan for years.
The Count raised his right hand and tapped on the location where the red dot exploded.
*CHI*
A triangular white light screen with clear images flashing on it appeared over the sand plate.
It was night. Beside a building that was burning with intense flames, a wounded man and a girl were looking at the conflagration, their bodies illuminated by the orange light.
Beside the two people, there were many dead bodies in white outfits. It seemed like they were from the same organization. One of the dead bodies was a tall and muscular man. He died with his eyes open while he was still standing
Angele noticed that the Count's expression changed again as he checked the scene. It seemed like he knew the man and the girl. Those dead bodies were probably members of the Count's team.
Angele looked at the man and the girl. They looked familiar to him.
Blue light dots flashed in front of Angele's eyes.
"He's the son of the Lord from the Thousand Waterfall City. Why is he here?" He was a bit surprised.
Angele glared at the Count and noticed that the man's face twitched. He knew that he was correct.
"The girl standing beside him must be Suman's lover, Sella," Angele continued.
"You're… correct." Smile returned to the Count's face again. "You've only met them once at the party held by Shozo and you recognized them immediately. Ah, you and Shozo are taught by the same teacher, right? Sella is a relative of Shozo. I want to eliminate Suman and Sella, I wonder if it'll be a problem to you."
"Of course not," Angele responded in a serious tone. "However, it seemed like they defeated your men... again, do you need my help?"
"Don't worry." The Count calmed down. "Again, I'll take care of it myself."