Chapter 352 Retribution 1
Back in the private booth that belonged to the Kingdom of Lanthanor, Daneel was in a meeting with the Raven who was his friend and the clone of the Queen of Arafell.
"Thank you so much for allowing me to take point in the situation. I know you spoke to your soldiers and were only doing your duty to help save your citizens, but your decision was instrumental. I really appreciate it."
"That's fine. Just remember our revised deal."
"Ah-ahem. Of course, Queen. Please contact me if you need anything."
As the Queen teleported away with the help of her commander, Faxul pecked on the table to get Daneel's attention.
Touching the communication trinket in his pocket, Daneel received his friend's communication.
"Deal? What deal? You didn't give me any deal! And you know my Kingdom still has apprehensions! Apprehensions that might have disappeared for the large part by now, but they are still there! Come on, if you're giving her something, you gotta give me something too!"
It seemed that being a Raven had made his friend prone to speaking more, as Faxul continued to talk about how he had had a meeting with his council who had implored that if Daneel was very close to achieving the goal of uniting the two Kingdoms, if he was willing to do a little…something more.
Clearly, they were trying to fleece him a little bit more for their Kingdom, and although Daneel understood their motive, he didn't have the time or patience to deal with it now.
"She wanted to advertise some trinket of hers in the finals, but obviously, she didn't have the chance. So…she renegotiated it so that she can use the Network. As for you, we can think of something later on. Eloise, report."
Till now, Eloise had been in a protected area where she had been overseeing the operations of the aftermath of the mosquito incident.
After all the golden mosquitoes had been subdued and brought under Daneel's control, he had given them the order to hide.
There was no need whatsoever for the people to see and remember the horror they had been through, so this had felt as if it was the right decision.
Next, all the living people had been assigned areas where they could lodge under the barrier.
The most crucial operation going on was the collection of all the bodies of those who could still be revived. This was being undertaken by all the soldiers available, and it was going on briskly.
However, there had been a lot of deaths, and the number was currently at around 10,000.
Daneel felt really saddened at this, and the rage that he had pushed down before threatened to overwhelm him again.
After Eloise was done updating him, he banged his hands on the table once again with anger.
Controlling his emotions, he sent a message.
A few seconds later, Sister Xuan and Molan appeared in the room.
"Do you have any idea who caused all this?! Could it have been the Church?"
Hearing the angry tone with which Daneel threw these words, Sister Xuan flinched a bit, making Daneel realize that she seemed very high-strung.
If a Warrior-level individual was flinching due to mere words, there was definitely something worrying her.
"I'm sorry, what's wrong? Is there something I should know about?"
"I-its nothing. We are just…worried about the man outside. Have you realized that the sounds have gone down in intensity? It either means that he's losing, or that he managed to defeat two possibly Champion-level Knights by himself, which is very unlikely. He is the person with the greatest talent this continent has seen in centuries, and he might die. We were just worried."
Daneel frowned on hearing this, as he had had no idea that that bald man was so important.
His entire focus had been on the people inside the barrier, and now that this problem had been solved, he realized that it was time to think of other matters too.
Sister Xuan continued after a few moments.
"I've asked the Matron, and she says with certainty that it is not the Church. She cannot elaborate, but she asked me to tell you that the Church prioritize human lives, at least when they are on this scale. Releasing a potentially race-eradicating threat is not something they would do. She also…asked me to tell you that you did a great job, and that she's waiting to talk to you afterward. In 10 minutes, the outer barrier will be breached."
Waiting…to talk to him?
Daneel felt a chill at those words, but he suddenly became distracted due to an urgent message he had just received from Luther via the oathstone.
"Your Highness, there is someone that I really think you should talk to. He has some important information that you need to hear."
Although Daneel was slightly puzzled, he trusted his commander to prioritize things properly, so he just said, "Bring him up."
If it wasn't the Church, then it HAD to be Axelor.
Daneel knew it in his gut, but there was simply no proof.
He had checked in every way he could, but the perpetrators had been very thorough.
Still, after going through everything one more time in his head, Daneel had only one clue which he realized was what he was basing his entire hypothesis around: the look on the Minister's face during the entire process of defending the people from the mosquitoes.
The man hadn't been frowning for having to work with the other Kingdoms, nor had he been careful so that Lanthanor wouldn't take advantage of him.
Instead, he had been nervous, which was a major indication of guilt.
This was frustrating. SO frustrating.
He could even understand their possible motives. They had been losing, and they wanted the event to be ruined.
Hell, they might even be thinking right now that they had done their job.
Right now, he wished that there was something, anything he could do to not let them smile smugly.
He could never have expected that coincidentally, his next meeting was going to give him just what he needed.
After a few seconds, as Norcet appeared in the room along with a mage of Lanthanor, Daneel just said "We don't have a lot of time, so be quick," while continuing his pacing which he had started because of the frustration.
Norcet nodded and took a few moments before speaking, and his words had such an effect over everyone in the room that they could only just stare at him, as if he was out of his mind.
"My Lord, I saw an Axelorian mage, specifically one of those who is rumored to be an outsider, carry two female bodies inside a building in Olympia. I also caught a glimpse of the indoors, where there were more female bodies and more such soldiers."
Seeing the stares, Norcet felt nervous, so he felt the need to explain himself.
"During the chaos, I saw someone carrying the bodies and I followed. The zoom trinkets made it so that I didn't have to enter their scope of detection. I am sure of this, My Lord."
"Where?"
"Wha-"
Feeling his shoulders suddenly caught by the King who had just walked over quickly, Norcet was startled.
The King's face still had the disgust from hearing such a despicable thing, but there was also joy at having found an opportunity.
"Where did you see this?"
"Royal Quarters, building 98."
Barely a minute later, Norcet found himself feeling woozy as he was currently standing in the air far away from Olympia.
The King's hand was draped around his shoulder, and honestly, this was starting to make him feel a little uncomfortable.
However, if he knew just how elated the King was feeling at having found a vulnerability, he would have understood.
[Champion-level anti-detection trinket is actively cloaking the building's ground floor. Even the gold strain mosquitoes wouldn't be able to detect the humans inside unless they are very close. It is impossible even for peak Exalted Human Mages to detect even the existence of this trinket.]
Hearing the explanation from the system, Daneel understood exactly why no one had been able to uncover this place.
The mages had relied on simple spells before to direct all the people to the stadium, so they must have missed these individuals.
Now, the only question was what he was going to do about it.
Whoever was inside was doing inhuman things and they had to be caught, but everyone knew that their background made them people who weren't supposed to be messed with.
However, honestly, right now, Daneel didn't care.
He had a plan, but it was risky.