Jacob, who has been listening to the hobgoblin and Gila’s chattering, almost lost interest when he suddenly heard something unexpected.
"...Myriad Galaxy King!"
The wine glass in Jacob’s hand trembled slightly as his eyes turned deadly sharp towards Gila, and the latter felt a fatal chill run down his spine, twisting his head towards Jacob’s direction.
Jacob didn’t avert his eyes at all, and when Gila saw the dark elf’s icy glare, he felt as if he was being glared at by a grim ripper, and quickly turned back while sweating slightly.
’What the hell is wrong with that guy!? Could it be he wanted to silence me because I said too much?’ Gila’s heart trembled as this thought surfaced in his mind.
Although Gila might look like he was being generous with the hobgoblin and appeared to have a loose mouth, in actuality, he was only following orders to spread this news as far and wide as he could among the unofficial nobles and mercenaries within Noxvalis City!
At first, Gila didn’t think much of this task, as it seemed easy and posed no danger. He decided to bring the hobgoblin into the Prince’s Chalice, a place frequented by many top adventurers and dark nobles.
That’s why he chose not to use a private room for such an important meeting, instead sitting in the public area and ’accidentally’ speaking out loud about this mission.
However, he wasn’t expecting to encounter Jacob. Now he was feeling slightly nervous and apprehensive while thinking that he might have taken a dangerous mission, and that person knew about it, so he decided to use him as cannon fodder.
"Myriad Galaxy King?" The hobgoblin, unaware of Gila’s dilemma, muttered this name and couldn’t help but exclaim, "Are you saying this traitor is a Legendary King!?"
The crowd who had been eavesdropping also felt a chill down their spines because they all knew the dangerous implications of tracking a Legendary King, and they finally understood why this mission had such a huge reward attached to it.
Gila was forced to calm down and was about to reply to the hobgoblin while thinking of a way to make an exit when a powerful hand gripped his shoulder, and the grip was like an iron claw.
But before he could turn his head around, a cold, commanding voice rang, "Come with me!"
Right at that moment, thereafter, under the bewildered looks of the crowd and the hobgoblin, Gila submerged into the shadows with the elvish figure like a ghost!
Gila suddenly felt his entire vision blackened, and he was locked entirely by the strong soul force at his place without any ability to resist at all; it was like he was in a prison of this eerie darkness.
When Gila’s vision cleared, he found himself in a completely different space, surrounded by nothing but silence. At that moment, the grip on his shoulder loosened before he finally saw the figure who had kidnapped him out of nowhere.
"S-sir?" Gila’s voice trembled as he realized it was the same dark elf who had reacted strongly upon hearing about the ’mission’, and his legs felt weak because, in that short while, he had already guessed that this person was far more powerful than he was!
Jacob ignored Gila’s current feelings and asked coldly, "Tell me everything you know about the Myriad Galaxy King, and when he appeared? Oh, I forgot to tell you that I’m an official Dark Duke, which means I can kill you without any precautions. So, I advise you to think carefully before you speak!"
Jacob directly used Dark Star’s status as an official Dark Duke to make Gila not hide anything. He could’ve taken Gila into his infinite space, revealed his true body, and performed a soul search on him, but he chose not to, as he didn’t need to go through all that trouble.
Gila’s eyes widened with astonishment when he realized the elf in front of him was an official dark duke, a rank he knew would be reserved for the inner sanctum, not the public area of the Prince’s Chalice.
Gila was now convinced that this mission wasn’t as simple as it seemed, and he suspected that the other party might have harmed him. He was terrified of the Dark Duke, whose threat wasn’t without merit.
A Dark Duke can kill an official Dark Viscount as long as the latter offended them, much less an unofficial Dark Baron like him, so he, without hesitation, spilled the beans!
"S-spare me, my lord! It was Dark Marquis Miles who had me spread the news about this dark mission! I didn’t dare to break the rules of the Dark Kingdom!"
Gila instantly knelt before Jacob, begging for mercy, as he believed the Dark Duke had captured him due to his unhappiness about sharing this mission with low-ranking dark nobles.
However, Jacob didn’t care about it all, and he clarified coldly, "I don’t care who told you to reveal this news; all I want to know is about the Myriad Galaxy King!"
Gila was startled and confused but didn’t dare to delay his response and replied, "My lord, the Myriad Galaxy King was presumed missing and even dead for many years, but all of a sudden, he appeared in the Myriad Galaxy City again one day, and he was seen by many.
"The Alchemy Guild naturally took notice and issued a warrant, but since they were busy with the Great War, this didn’t give rise to any commotions. However, for some reason, the Noxvalis City also issued a Dark Mission, and the Deathless Prince himself directly issued it. When..."
When Gila was about to continue, Jacob cut him off because he had already heard this part and asked, "Where is the Myriad Galaxy King right now? Is there any more news about his current whereabouts?"
"I-I don’t know, really, my lord. If anyone could have this news, it should be the Deathless Price, and Dark Marquis Miles is a close confidante of the Dark Prince.
"I...I believe Dark Marquis Miles assigned me to this task because the Deathless Prince directly ordered it. I don’t know anything else, I swear on my life, and I can even take a soul oath...ahh..." Gila was startled at this moment because Jacob vanished again without him even noticing.
Gila was bewildered first before nervously looking around, and after a while, when he was sure that the Dark Duke had left, and he really spared his life, he almost collapsed as if he had escaped from the gates of hell.
Without hesitation, Gila felt for his life, and that day, he escaped from Noxvalis City and was never seen again...
---
Jacob, on the other hand, didn’t care about a small fry like Gila, and the moment he got everything he wanted, he left without bothering with him.
However, Jacob’s mind was now occupied with another problem as he thought with a hint of ecstasy and rare worry, ’So, Autarch has already completed his evolution, and I only managed to find out now. I need to find Autarch with the method I left behind!’