Kyle quickly ran towards his team, which was waiting around 20 kilometers to the east of Sunrise.
He couldn't find them since they were very good at hiding, but when they noticed him, they made themselves known.
"Did something happen?" Bormine asked with narrowed eyes.
Kyle wasn't supposed to be here yet.
"The party knows that they are the target of our mission," Kyle said. "They asked the Sandsuns for help. If we strike them, the Sandsuns will ambush us."
The mood became serious.
"How did you find out?" Falk asked with interest.
"I saw one of their Servants sneaking into the Sandsuns' headquarters. If they were just there to spread the Divine Light, they wouldn't be so sneaky about it," Kyle said.
Naturally, that was a lie.
However, Kyle decided against telling them the truth.
'Killing a brother is against the rules. Any judgment is for the Guild to decide.'
'But I'm not going to let a filthy rat like that get a chance to escape!'
'Sure, my word would be worth more since I am supposed to be here, and he isn't, but that's not evidence.'
'Most likely, he would be put on a watchlist or something and be treated with more scrutiny, but they wouldn't throw him out or fire him without evidence.'
'Fuck the rules! I do what I think is right!'
Naturally, Theodor also told Kyle not to tell anyone.
People died all the time in the wilderness, and since Dylan was not supposed to be here, he was probably also very sneaky when he left headquarters.
He could've gone anywhere.
Chances were that people wouldn't even think he was dead.
Most likely, he just quit and went somewhere else.
Sure, he would be blacklisted by all the Fighter Guilds since nobody wanted to hire somebody who ran away from a Fighter Guild, but there were more ways to become stronger than joining a Fighter Guild.
Maybe he was trying his luck with the royal army?
Maybe he joined a tournament team?
Nobody would suspect that Horatio's team killed him.
"What are we going to do now?" Tracy asked. "We didn't sign up to fight another Guild."
"Nothing's changed," Bormine said with a steely voice. "We have a mission, and it is our duty to complete the mission."
"But the information on the mission is incomplete," Falk said from the side. "We created this team based on the reports. If we knew that there was also a team of the Sandsuns present, we wouldn't have accepted the mission with our current configuration."
"Missions are missions," Bormine said. "Unexpected developments always happen, and we have to adapt."
"Kyle," Horatio said.
"Yes?" Kyle asked.
"What do you think we should do?" he asked.
Kyle rubbed his chin, and everyone looked at him in silence.
"Wait here," Kyle said. "Then, when our target arrives, we are going to let them pass without attacking. The group of the Sandsuns will arrive sometime later, and we will ambush them."
Tracy became nervous when she heard that, and Falk furrowed his brows.
"That's stupid. If they know about us, they will not take a risk and hire a team that's more powerful than us. Additionally, when we fight the Sandsuns, they will just flee," Falk said.
"I don't think so," Kyle answered. "They have three Paladins and three Servants. That's already a considerable force. Additionally, do you think they have so much money to spare? They just need one or two Fighters to turn the tide."
Falk wasn't convinced. "They do not know who is attacking them. As far as they know, we are a group of Mid Fighters. They are not going to take a risk."
"They know about us," Kyle said.
Silence.
"What do you mean?" Bormine asked.
"They know about our configuration and levels. They know that five Initial Fighters are going to attack them," Kyle said.
Bormine and Falk grew suspicious.
"How do they know that?" Bormine asked coldly. "And how do you know that they know that?"
"Don't ask," Kyle said. "I will not tell you."
"That's suspicious," Falk said. "Did you tell them?"
"No," Kyle said with an annoyed expression.
"Kyle, you're not doing a good job convincing us," Horatio said with a bitter smile.
Kyle groaned. "Seriously, I don't want to tell you how I know, and quite frankly, you wished you wouldn't know if I told you."
The others weren't convinced.
Kyle ruffled his hair in frustration.
"Fine, but I'm only telling one of you! You decide which one you trust the most to be impartial, and I will tell them in secret! Then, they can vouch for me!" Kyle said.
The others weren't happy with that course of action, but it was better than nothing.
After a while, they decided on a person.
Horatio was too strange and felt like a snake. They wouldn't pick him.
Tracy seemed a bit unsure and manipulatable.
That left Falk and Bormine.
In the end, they went with Bormine.
He seemed quite strict and direct.
Meanwhile, Falk seemed a bit too hesitant and unsure.
Bormine and Kyle walked away from the group and talked.
"So?" Bormine asked. 'Well, gotta tell one of them, at least,' Kyle thought.
"Dylan warned them," Kyle said.
Bormine narrowed his eyes. "That is quite an accusation."
"Yes, but it's the truth," Kyle said.
"Why did you want to keep this secret?" Bormine asked.
"Because Dylan won't be a problem anymore," Kyle answered.
Bormine looked at Kyle with an intense gaze.
"Elaborate," he said.
"He. Won't. Be. A. Problem. Anymore," Kyle said.
"Did you kill him?" Bormine asked.
Kyle slowly pulled out his hammer, making Bormine wary.
The next moment, Metal Mana appeared on Kyle's hammer, but he didn't move it.
"That answer your question?" he asked.
"Pilebunker," Bormine said. "You never used that in our spars."
"Would you have wanted me to use it?" Kyle asked.
Annoyance appeared on Bormine's face.
"No," he said.
"So, do you believe me now?" Kyle asked.
"Yes," Bormine said, "but you do know that you can't just kill a brother, right?"
"I am fully aware of that," Kyle answered.
"Then, why did you do it?"
"Because that rat wanted to kill us," Kyle said with anger and disgust.
Bormine remained silent for a while.
"Good job," he said. "I would've done the same thing. There's nothing more I hate than traitors."
"I will vouch for you."
Bormine turned around to walk back to the team, but after a step, he stopped.
"Just so you know," he said without turning around. "You're not the only one who has killed a brother before."
"Why are you telling me?" Kyle asked.
"Honesty is important to me," Bormine said. "I don't like having power over my friends when they don't have power over me."
'Friend?' Kyle thought in surprise.
Bormine and Kyle had fought many times before, but Bormine always seemed so serious and annoyed during the fights.
On top of that, Bormine rarely talked.
Kyle hadn't thought that Bormine was a friend.
But apparently, Bormine thought of him as a friend.
"We will never talk of this again," Bormine said before he resumed walking.
Kyle smiled widely.
"Bromine!"
"It's Bormine."
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