After Adrien and Madden left the baron castle, they moved towards the south of the Sturgeon region, traveling on a huge black whale with thunder-like markings. Its speed was even faster than that of the water lightning whale.
"Master, I don't understand why we have to alert Baron Gerald about his secretive matter?" Adrien asked at this moment, hinting at confusion.
Madden smiled as he looked at Adrien before replying, "You still have much to learn, my dear disciple. Although we showed ourselves to the baron, it was necessary to check something."
"What do you mean?" Adrien was even more confused.
Madden replied sternly, "Before coming here, I investigated the Sturgeon region, and you know what I found? There seemed to be many reports of people missing in this region in the past decade. Not only that, but an entire city at the edge of the Sturgeon region turned into ruin.
"But the strangest part is we never received any report about it from the Baron castle. This was all reported by someone from the other city under the baron's rule, and even they wouldn't have noticed it if they didn't have some relative in that ruined city."
Adrien was shocked, "Could it be you suspect the baron is behind it all? Then shouldn't we apprehend him and investigate this matter?"
Madden shook his head, "This is what I thought at first, but after meeting the baron, I used my secret ability on him to scan him thoroughly. He was completely normal. Moreover, if he had killed all those people, there would have been a unique nefarious aura hidden within his body, but I found nothing. So, I'm sure it wasn't him who did this."
"Then isn't it strange that he didn't know anything about the disappearance of a whole city, or is he trying to hide it from us? No matter what, he's very suspicious," Adrien said with a frown.
"There are only two explanations I could think of; the first one is that the Baron is afraid of reporting it since he had to suffer the repercussions from not only the imperial city but also lose all the trust of his citizens.
"The second is that Gerald knows the person who caused all of this, and he's helping this person hide this either willingly or forcibly. But Gerald didn't seem to be under any threat, so I'm assuming that he's either in cohort with his person or simply too cowardly to investigate this incident," Madden stated with uncertainty.
"Then isn't it bad to tell him about our presence? What if he alerts this mysterious killer?" Adrien was speechless as he still didn't understand why Madden revealed so much to someone so suspicious.
Madden's lips curled up in a shrewd smile as he answered, "Hah, if he's really behind all this or has any hand in these incidents, this will make it even easier to sniff him out.
"Because he's in cohort with this killer, he'll alert him, and the disappearance would stop for good or at least for some time until they are completely sure that we are gone.
"Furthermore, since I've told me about our secret task but didn't give him actual details, if this mysterious killer is greedy and overconfident by nature, he might show himself in that place. In any case, we'll know for sure if Baron Gerald is involved in this or not!"
Adrien's expression brightened, and admiration shimmered in his eyes for Madden's cunning scheme. He bowed his head, "I'm ashamed to call myself your disciple."
"Hah, you'll learn in time. There's no hurry. You're still young and ignorant. Always pay attention to your surroundings, and you'll start to see the clues." Madden beamed, clearly very pleased with Adrien's expression. Still, we need to be careful since we can't mess up this task."
"Just why did the imperial palace suddenly bring up this strange plan?" Adrien frowned. He knew little about this secret task and finally couldn't contain his curiosity.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Madden smiled wryly, "But from my sources, I've heard that it wasn't just us who were given this task. In fact, before us, many imperial guards were sent to the same mission in different regions of the empire. There's something strange going on in the ocean…"
---
While an invisible current rose among the ocean races, Jacob sat crossed with closed eyes on a mountain of bones. The surrounding water was now crimson, like a demon sleeping within the sea of blood.
At his moment, his eyes suddenly opened, and a red current flashed through his golden eyes. 'Envoys from the Imperial Whale City are interested in the southern part of the Sturgeon region. This is also where this coral is located.
'Could it be related to all the killing Autarch has been doing for me? But in his message, he said those envoys didn't ask about the missing population at all, or they had already suspected his puppet.
'Well, this place is quite barren, and I'm already done with my experiments, so I should change locations and then start the Cursed Bone Marrow Amalgamation!
'It took me almost two decades to completely comprehend just two blood glyphs out of 99. It's a good thing that they are enough for me to start the Cursed Bone Marrow Amalgamation.
'If I had to comprehend the entire chapter, I don't know how many hundreds or even thousands of years it would take me to do so. After all, the deeper I understand the Cursed Blood Progenitor, the more profound it gets.
'Even the second glyph is still all about blood manipulation, but compared to the understanding I got from the first glyph, it's like learning about making a handgun and a ballistic missile!'
Jacob sighed as he remembered the bitter twenty years he had spent doing nothing but comprehending the two blood glyphs. It was his first time spending so much time on something, and he knew this was just the start.
But he didn't worry about it at all and even found it enjoyable. He was learning something new, and he could feel he was growing like never before. Furthermore, these two blood glyphs have completely changed his perception of the magic of this world.
He had only scratched the surface, and he was looking forward to growing even more and exploring the hidden mysteries of the zodiac plains and cursed Immortality!