Chapter 105: Waking Up
"The mission came from the Dragonborn of Radagan. It’s a search mission."
Alpha’s brow creased in a slight frown. Radagan? She tried to remember what world Radagan was again, and it was only after a few seconds that she remembered them. Radagan was a world populated by Dragon and Wyvern riders about five Dimensional Leaps away from Kari. From her information in that part of the Primordial Expanse, she knew that they were currently going through a coup d’état that led to the death of the incoming king and queen. The Dragonborn all possessed high affinities to fire-based magic, and there was a time when Alpha thought about recruiting some of them into her Phantoms. But she decided against it. The world of Radagan was filled with powerful warriors, but they were prideful and quick to anger, so they weren’t suitable for her line of work. Alpha only accepted people she could control.
Alpha’s voice came out in a smooth tone.
"Is the mission to search and eliminate?"
"No. It is a search and retrieval mission. The target is Riyala, the former princess of the Dragonborn who is now an exile. The client also asked us to eliminate anyone standing in our way. Discretion is not necessary."
Alpha’s only reaction was a calm blink as she watched one of her men tear a gold ring away from a woman’s finger. She narrowed her eyes when the man tried to put the ring on, and the man immediately looked up at her in fear as he felt her mana reaching for him. He quickly put the ring into a bag that held other valuables, and Alpha turned away from him and glanced back.
"Does the client know where the princess ran off to?"
The man behind her shook his head. He could already tell that this mission would take a long time, so he made sure that the client explained things as thoroughly as possible. But even the client was in the dark about Riyala’s whereabouts.
"There was an incident between the Imperial Guards on Radagan and Riyala. They chased her down on dragonback when she escaped from the palace, but when none of them came back with news, a second group was sent out to investigate. They found the dead bodies of two of the Imperial guards along with a dragon and wyvern. The third Imperial Guard and his dragon had disappeared along with Riyala."
"They believe she escaped into a Dimensional Tear?"
"Yes, that is the most likely situation."
Alpha hummed as she closed her eyes and thought things through for a few seconds. This could be difficult for them to handle since there was very limited information on what happened. If Riyala simply jumped into any random dimensional tear, then it was possible that she could have ended up in any dimension at all. And if she continued jumping through dimensions after the first jump, then they could be dealing with a very long search through tens of dimensions.
But things like that weren’t enough to stop Alpha. Alpha had dealt with much worse as a soldier of Raksha, so she had learned the importance of patience. The Dragonborn princess was being chased down when she jumped through dimensions, so it was unlikely that she had enough energy to make another dimensional jump after the first one. And if one of the Imperial Guards made it through the Dimensional Tear and chased her down, then they were dealing with one of two possibilities.
Either the princess fought against the Imperial Guard and somehow managed to kill him. If this was the case, then Alpha was sure the princess wouldn’t have any means of getting through to another dimension since she would be too tired to move at all. But the second possibility was that both the princess and the Imperial Guard had been attacked by a monster from within the Gate and they were both dead.
It was unlikely that the Imperial Guard managed to kill the princess. If he did, then he would have gone back to Radagan to report it already,
’Regardless of what happened, it would be easy to find her if we split up and searched all the worlds that are connected to Radagan from that location. Yes, it should be possible.’
Alpha nodded internally before she finally spoke up.
"Split the men into five groups of ten with an A Rank leading each group and tell them to prepare the Magic Hounds. The rest of the men are going to be with me. We’ll make our way to Radagan tonight and begin the search. Finally, let the client know that the price will be double the usual. Half upfront and half after the job is complete."
The man didn’t bother to comment about the steep increase in the cost. He knew that the client would complain about being extorted, but there was no way they wouldn’t pay. Alpha had realized from what she heard that this princess was very important to the Dragonborn for some reason. The Dragonborn wouldn’t be going out of their way to employ the Phantoms unless they needed her back at all costs. And if she was really that important, then they would be willing to pay at least twice what they were used to paying for their services.
The man vanished into the shadows once again and Alpha turned to watch as her men finished their plundering. The men began to slip into the shadows one after the other before phasing across the ground to regroup at their hideout. She remained there with the same calm look on her face and watched until the last of the men had phased away before she also sank into the shadows beneath her and vanished into the night. All that was left in their absence was the stench of blood and dead bodies.
...
Jason’s eyes snapped open and he sighed as he felt the rays of the morning sun hitting his face. Jason ran a hand across his face as he tried to get his bearings back. He was still not used to being perfectly awake the moment he opened his eyes in the morning. There was a weight on his chest and he looked down to see Gina snuggling against him. Her mouth was slightly open as she slept, and her face was set in a look of contentedness. She wasn’t wearing anything under the covers and Jason could already feel himself reacting to her naked breast pressing against his chest.
’I need to get up.’
Jason sighed before he slowly untangled himself from Gina’s hold. They had been sleeping on a large duvet that Jason brought out to the living room since his bed was currently occupied by an unconscious princess. Gina frowned once Jason left her alone, but when Jason drew the covers higher to cover her properly and then kissed her forehead, her frown slowly dissolved into a smile.
Jason always woke up before Gina, and since they came back really late from the party at his mother’s house last night, Jason was sure that Gina would be out for a few more hours at least. Today was Friday and Jason turned to look at the clock with narrowed eyes and saw that it was already seven in the morning.
’I’m late for school.’
This thought passed through Jason’s mind and he ran a hand through his dark hair while going to the bathroom. Jason brushed his teeth at the sink and leaned back against the bathroom wall while checking on the subordinates who had been watching the sleeping princess as well as the government agent outside his house. Three magic crystals appeared in Jason’s hand and he threw them in his mouth and chewed on them while speaking with his subordinates about what happened last night.