Nero eventually overcame the bush, and did not forget to use Radix Augmentation, but as usual, the feedback he got was a lot reduced. Covered in countless scratches on his face, Nero walked out of the bush, completely ignoring his father who was already sitting in the car.
Nero did not allow the man to gain satisfaction by complaining about being thrown in the bush. Instead, he remained silent as they left, his mind revolving around what his father had told him.
If his mothers heritage revolved around card making, then that meant Nero needed to work on his crafting skills. Currently, he was only at a passable level, and it would require a lot of study and training.
Shortly after the van left the first, a couple of people showed up. The courts had the power to directly pass instructions to the military police, but that was only in regards to matters pertaining to their cases. For their own security, the judges were assigned another, independent security force known as Judgement Wardens.
The Judgement Wardens were an elite force who answered to no one else, and in fact did not even answer to the judges. They were not the judges' private army - they were just the security for the judges, since they regularly encountered difficult and dangerous cases and people.
The two figures that showed up wore the badges of the Judgement Wardens. They arrived at a site a small distance away from where Edward and Nero had destroyed the tree. In front of them was a man, kneeling on the ground, drool dripping down his face, his eyes rolled back into his head.
He was perfectly unharmed, but he was clearly unconscious. There was also a single item missing from his possession: a warrant for Edwards arrest.
"At least we can confirm the identity of Whisper Guard's newest rabid dog now," one of the Wardens said as he looked down at the drooling guard.
"What good does knowing his identity do us?" complained the second, shorter man as he pulled out a cigarette. He lit it up, took a deep puff, but then his frustration got the better of him, and he ended up slamming the cigarette on the ground and stomping on it.
"What is Sage Triss doing, giving Whisper Guard such a free hand? They're trampling over the laws of the nation! They're a bunch of blood crazed dogs!"
"Sage Triss is doing nothing," the first man said, his tone uninfluenced by his partner's agitation. "To be clear, she is not stopping the Whisper Guard from acting out, but she also does not protect them if they are arrested."
The Whisper Guard, as a secret branch of the military, most likely fell under the purview of Sage Triss, who led the Felix Corp, which was incharge of Kolar's domestic affairs. Of course, it could be under the purview of one of the other corps, no one knew for certain. But everyone agreed that since the Whisper Guard mostly acted within Kolar, it was most certainly under the Felix Corp.
"This is not the end. Does he think that it's so simple? Burn up the warrant and we'll let things be? We'll send the warrant to every military police station in Kolar, and bring that man down in chains! How dare he demand the execution of a judge?"
The reason the short man was so incensed was because when Edwrad threatened the life of the judge, all the Wardens nearby were trapped in his illusion. The man, from across the prison, had embarrassed all the Judgement Wardens in the area.
"Don't you think it's unusual that he so openly revealed his identity?"
"They're thugs and goons," the short man answered. "What do they know of discretion? You will see, I will make sure he will never see the light of day again!"
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," said the taller man, still relatively indifferent. He stook a step back, and pulled the shorter man to exactly where he had been standing. All around them were trees, but in front of them there was an abrupt clearing in a straight line, as if everything in that path had been annihilated. It was where Edward had shot the tree.
From that clearing, a road was visible upon which a van was travelling in the distance. More importantly, there was one other vehicle on the road: it was an impressive truck, barreling towards the prison.
On the front of the car bonnet, the letters 'MIA' were boldly printed in black. They were coming. For the first time in Kolar history, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was coming so openly and boldly for one of their judges.
The short man trembled, and his shoulders slumped. With great difficulty, he pulled out another cigarette, but before he could light it, it turned into an Apparition curse. A fight broke out.
*****
The Aether Mountain range covered Kolar in the south and on the west, but the chain of mountains on the west were often referred to as the arm, or the leg of the Aether Mountain range. Some even called it the little pinky finger of the mountain range, but that was besides the point.
Each individual mountain also had names as well, though most people did not bother learning them. Only locals who lived nearby, and the army who regularly sweeped them for curses knew the individual names.
For example, the mountain that Pattrick was currently descending was called the Matterhorn. It was a particularly tall, easily identifiable mountain even amidst the range. Its fame, though, mostly derived from the fact that despite its great height, its slopes were easier to descend than others.
"You're way too good at this," said Invictus who was trailing behind Patrick, despite using a hiking stick. The snow covered mountains were not easy to traverse, even when there was a path, and summer was not necessarily better than winter for crossing.
In the winter, one could be buried in the soft snow, or buried under an avalanche which were more common than one expected, or fall into a pit covered by snow, eventually becoming buried once more. All in all, crossing the mountain in winters, one did not need a grave, as it would be readily provided.
In the summers, however, the melting snow made the ground unstable. Fresh streams would sometimes follow old paths, but other times they would go where there was no path of a stream, making the ground wet and slippery. Heavy winds and rain storms were likely to cause landslides. The recovering greeny would attract curses.
All in all, crossing the mountain in summers, one should be mentally prepared for their corpse to become cursed or be fed on by scavengers birds.
"Spend two years in the mountains and you'll become good at this too," said Patrick as he surveyed the lands in front of them. In a few more hours, they would finally descend from the mountain completely, and enter into Saint Codale. From there, they would need to find a nearby town or village, acquire a horse and then head towards the Evergreen Sect.
That was where Kolari agencies believed that Clear Path had brought Irene to.
"Do you think they've discovered that you're missing by now?" Invictus asked casually as he looked back into the mountains.
"Cursed zones are not as tight on discipline as you'd think - mostly out of necessity. They're too busy fighting to take care of anything else. Sooner or later they'll notice I'm missing, but I suspect it will take a week at the very least."
"And then, what? They'll tag you as a deserter?"
Patrick turned, and gave Invictus an amused look.
"Missing people in cursed zones are assumed to be KIA (killed in action), not MIA (missing in action) or AWOL (away without leave). No one will look for me. After all, trying to leave a cursed zone isn't any easier than fighting in a cursed zone. Only a suicidal idiot would do that."
"What does that say about us, you think?" Invictus asked as he finally reached Patrick. "By the way, Cursed Plant ahead, 250 meters. Possibly Arcanist level."
"I think that means we're exceptional," Patrick said with a straight face, no signs of humility in it. He continued to walk straight, as that was the fastest way towards Saint Codale, and towards finding his wife. The snow on the path around him suddenly started to melt, and a faint, yellow flame began to envelope him.
"Hey, walk slowly. You're melting all the snow, it's making the ground slippery," Invictus complained as he chased after Patrick, heading straight towards the cursed plants.
A few days ago, when he delivered the letter to Patrick, he did not know it contained a couple of new identification cards as badges, one for Patrick, and one for him. Without warning or ceremony, they had joined the ranks of the Whisper Guard, and already had their first mission, which was to find and retrieve all the kidnapped personnel, dead or alive.
Invictus naturally was not intimidated by the excessively difficult mission, but he was quite curious to learn that Patrick was neither surprised by the difficulty of the mission, or his instatement to the Whisper Guard.
Invictus always knew that he was destined to join their hallowed ranks - it had been decided from his birth - but why was Patrick so casual about it? This was not exactly the usual route to join. Unfortunately for Invictus, Patrick kept his mouth shut on the matter. To be fair, he was very concentrated on finding the kidnapees. Such a dedicated soldier.