Legacy of the Dark Sage

Even as the idea crossed his mind, Kyran rejected it. He did not want the Guardians to know his movements in Somuli.

Besides, he only agreed to be their consultant— a third party. Thus, asking for their help meant asking for their favor, and he wanted to avoid that. A spy might be amongst the Guardians, too. If Flos sent that spy and they got wind of the reason he went to Somuli, chances that they would come after the Saint was high.

In any case, Kyran knew his business in Somuli would not be a secret for long. But before that, he had to confirm the identity of the Saint.

Which led him back to finding an identification as soon as possible.

Suddenly, he thought of an idea— a somewhat crazy and reckless one.

If Nolan had been there, he would have approved it— not his mother, though. Because if it did not play out the way he intended to, he might end up getting sent to the gallows.

Is sending an offender to the gallows even considered a punishment here?

Kyran put aside all his unnecessary thoughts and teleported to the north gate of the town.

The Adventurer Guild was three towns north. He did not want to wait until sunrise to go there. Besides, he did not have to worry about beasts since his innate ability was working here with no problem. He only had to worry about 'beast-like' who might attacked him.

From what Kyran heard in town, there were beast-like bandits targeting complete beings lately, and when someone from Eidum arrived to investigate, they would twist the story into the complete beings attacking them.

It had been ongoing for some time, which was why the community of the complete beings had been on edge lately.

Kyran was not afraid of those beast-like bandits, thought. He was not even afraid to kill them if they messed with him. With his magic it was easy to erase any trace of a 'crime scene.'

Not wasting any time, Kyran left town.

It took him about five hours to get to the town where the closest Adventurer Guild was.

Knowing it would be too suspicious to go directly to the guild, he decided to confront the town's guards first.

Kyran might have thought of something crazy and reckless, but it was not to the point where he planned to draw unnecessary attention to himself. If he had appeared to the guild without an identification, they would wonder how he got inside the town. But if he confronted the guards, they would not think it was that strange because towns were usually separated by lush forest.

Basically, anything could happen in the forest, with all the forest beasts and bandits lurking there.

Before appearing before the guards, Kyran changed his face. After that, he ripped some parts of his clothes, and even cut himself to make him look as if he had only been attacked.

Doing both was actually a problem, since he enchanted all his clothes to repair itself when it got damaged. As for cutting himself, his healing ability was too monstrous that only a fatal attack could wound him— given that the attack hit him, of course.

Even before Kyran could approach the guards at the town's south gates, one of them had already noticed him.

"Oi!"

One of the guards tapped his partner and pointed at Kyran.

"Seems like another case of bandits," the other guard responded after seeing Kyran.

Kyran kept a pained expression as he approached them. He already knew what they thought of him because of his sharp hearing and could not help but smile inwardly.

'Right, just think of me as a victim here,' he thought.

"Stop for a moment," the guard who noticed Kyran first ordered as he approached. "What happened to you?"

"P-Please," Kyran pleaded, sounding as troubled as he could. "S-Someone attacked us... a-and m-my family... t-they are still in the forest. Please help them!"

"Do you remember the exact location where they are—?"

"Sorry, we are only the town's guards," the other guard interrupted the first guard at once.

These guards had a protocol they had to follow and could not act as they pleased.

"If you can stay here, we'll call the town's security group to check on your family's situation."

"Anything will do," Kyran responded while eagerly nodding his head. "Just please act fast. I'm afraid my f-family will not be able to—."

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

From a distance, a series of loud explosions made Kyran and the two guards crouch while covering their ears.

"W-We're under attack!"

A guard at a nearby tower shouted and immediately sounded the alarm.

Inside the town, the security group moved at once. Even the natives, seemingly aware of what they had to do in instances like this, ran out of the buildings and followed some of the security groups already leading them to safety.

Meanwhile, the first guard who noticed Kyran grabbed him and ushered him inside the town.

"Get inside and follow the crowd! Don't get left behind!"

"Oi!" his partner scowled at him. "You can't just let him in without asking for his identification."

"This is an emergency! We can ask him later! Intercepting the attackers is the priority."

"True, but—."

"What are you two still doing here? The alarm has already sounded. Go report to your leaders!"

A beast-like wearing a green armor scolded the two guards.

"Yes sir!"

"And you," the beast-like in green armor looked at Kyran. "Follow the crowd, and don't be left behind!"

"I-I won't!" Kyran replied and went inside the town while staggering.

The second guard looked at Kyran's back with a scowl, but since a security group member had spoken, he could not refute it.

Kyran kept up with his act as he followed the crowd. But as soon as he was out of sight from those who had seen him at the gates, his face changed, his clothes repaired instantly, and his cuts healed.

'Entering town completed, now to the second part, going in the Adventurer Guild,' Kyran thought.

That was right. The explosion just now had been his doing. He timed it so the guards would not have time to check on his 'identification.'

As for how he would gather information in the Adventurer Guild, he already had a plan in mind.

But first, the commotion would last for a while. Until the security group confirmed that there was no real threat, all civilians would stay in a safe place.

Outside, the security group, all wearing green armor, had already sent a scout to check on the situation.

When the scout did not return, the leader of the security group sent out another. This time he had three scouts dispatched.

However, after waiting for a while. None of their scouts returned, which alarmed all of them.

Without sending out another group of scouts, they dispatched three teams to three locations.

Meanwhile, Kyran joined the civilians who were ushered to safety.

The safe place they went to was actually an underground shelter that could easily house up to five hundred people.

Kyran was quite impressed at how this town's emergency protocol.

This was only a town, yet they had everything in place.

Back in the Ylfaen Empire, such protocol would only be provided in major cities like Meliora.

Kyran sat in a corner while observing the security group near the entrance of the underground shelter.

No one noticed him observing them because most civilians listened to the town's leader talking up front.

Using his sharp hearing, Kyran listened in on the conversation between the security group and could not help but frown.

It appeared quite a number of their people had gone missing after investigating the locations where the explosions occurred.

'This... Don't tell me someone has been planning an attack all this time, and it happened at the same time as I arrived?' 

This notion was not impossible. There might truly be a group of beast-like or even complete beings who had been planning to attack a town where an Adventurer Guild was located.

One reason was a grudge. Since adventurers worked similarly to mercenaries, some might have accepted a bounty or a request that resulted in them receiving a grudge.

Another was resources. The attackers might be bandits eyeing this town because they believed the Adventurer Guild had plenty of resources.

They were not wrong. If the guild could issue a request or a bounty, they had the means to pay the rewards.

The last possible reason Kyran could think of was a territorial dispute.

This part of Somuli might be under an upright ruler, but that did not mean no such disputes were occurring around towns. And the town seemed prepared for it judging by the emergency protocol it had in place.

In any case, Kyran did not know whether this incident had played out well for him.

At first glance, it might seem like it did. But at a closer look, he might have become an accomplice without meaning to.