Fire Mage (Web Novel)

Chapter 56: Guesses

Charles's eyes widened as he heard those words from the metal box.

'What is this situation?' He stared at Luke's back for a moment and soon heard Luke's reply.

"Charles is not here, Your Highness. I'm pretty sure that he is hiding somewhere in the City."

Charles's face went stiff for a moment as he heard those words.

'What the hell? Why is he searching for me? Moreover, who is the other party? Why did Luke mention him as Your Highness?' Questions whirled in Charles's mind as he hid his slim body behind a large tree trunk and patiently listened.

"Impossible. Check again. If he is in the City, I would have known by now." The monotonous voice paused for a second and soon asked.

"What about Jimmy? Did he show any abnormal reaction?"

"He didn't, Your Highness. Jimmy is acting very normal these days. I can't even confirm if the Holem's Crown is with him or not." Luke sat on the rock and said in a solemn tone.

"Hmm, monitor them constantly and if you need any help, ask 'Twilight'. He will lend you a hand." The monotonous voice said.

"What about the Escort Mission? Once our team reaches the Thirteenth Chaotic Zone, our job will be over, Your Highness." Luke said in a confused tone.

"Worry not. I already gave one emergency sealed letter to 'Twilight' before he went on this mission. When the time comes, he will use that letter and shut Emilia's mouth." The monotonous voice responded eerily.

"Then I will proceed according to our plan, Your Highness," Luke said while curling his lips upward into a twisted one and soon muttered.

"Holem's Crown is already in our grasp. Once we led the Crown into the 35th Rift, Chaos Wanderer will take care of the rest."

"Don't be too happy. We need to find Charles first; he is the main problem now." The monotonous voice interrupted his talking and then continued after a short deliberation.

"I will also send 'Evil' to look for him in the Wind Villa. If Charles isn't there, then we have no choice but to speed up the process. Nowadays, I can't even predict his action using my power of 'Fate' at all. Charles should have contacted the 'Holem's Crown' by now, but that damned [Historian] kid interfered and messed up our plan." After saying those words, the monotonous voice heaved a deep sigh and then cut off the connection.

Meanwhile, Luke stood in silence for a minute and then shook his head. After that, he stored the metal box in his void pouch and moved from there.

In the meantime, Charles stood with a dazed face for a whole minute and soon turned his face into a gloomy one.

'Luke Clark… What is this situation? Is 'Devil' his nickname? Then, who is this 'Highness'? Moreover, there seem to be two more persons in this group. Evil and Twilight. I didn't expect that Luke would be a schemer… Highness… Hmm? Wait a sec. I once read in a book that people use this title only to call the princes… Prince-'

Charles's jade eyes squinted sharper as his lips trembled for a moment.

'Red Prince.'

That word suddenly appeared in his mind!

'Damn it, I should have noticed it. That really is possible. So, Luke Clark might be just a pawn of Red Prince. Upon seeing Luke's [Devil's Heart] unique skill during the first mission, I didn't doubt him at all. I actually thought of it as a cool skill at that time.' Charles wore a wry smile and soon began to ponder.

'If what I'm guessing is right, then I can tell now that this Luke is just a puppet of the real mastermind. Then, that monotonous voice must belong to the real Red Prince. Now that I think about it, isn't Luke the one who recommended me to join the search mission? Did Red Prince kidnap those three [Historians]? Did he do that just to create a search mission? Something is not right. Wait, he did mention about a damned [Historian] kid interfered with the Fate, right?… Historian? Who is he cursing at?'

He frowned for a moment and soon recalled the fake Arbiter of Storm, Willy Pickton's words.

'Yes, Willy Pickton also mentioned about a damned kid colluding with an underworld broker to blackmail him… He is also our third suspect, John Wayne's employer's son. What is his name again?' Charles rubbed his temple for a second and soon started recalling the conversation.

'I think his name is Max or something. He is an archeological student who got interested in Holem's Crown and researched about it in Slum Street. But when he went near Jimmy's house, a dark human shadow fell from the sky and kidnapped him along with his two other [Historian] class friends. That's what John Wayne told us when we asked about the disappearance of three [Historians].'

'From the words of 'Highness,' I can tell that this Max has somehow escaped and seemed to have changed the trajectory of Fate. But he is just a [Historian] class member, right? Then, how did he escape? I'm missing some important information…' Charles tapped the wooden bark lightly and soon began to think.

'Other than this, he also encountered multiple coincidences before he was kidnapped… Wait… Only Rank-2 and Rank-3 encountered those strange coincidences, right? Then, how come he encountered one?' He suddenly stopped tapping the bark and soon curled his lips.

'What if Max is a Rank-2 or a Rank-3 Mystic? It is possible. Red Prince and his pawns must have thought of him as a normal Rank-1 mystic and tried to silence him off along with his friends. But this guy must have perceived the danger and escaped. As for the other two [Historians], they must have killed off by the dark shadow that descended from the sky. As for the identity of the dark shadow, it may be the Red Prince himself. From John Wayne's words, this Red Prince seems to have abilities that could affect one's senses like sudden Blindness, Deafness, Anosmia, and so on.'

'That must be the reason Holem's Crown didn't contact me even when I went near him. It must have perceived that someone was checking its movement all the time.'

'Damn, what a big scheme. If the Holem's Crown had acted at that time and revealed its presence to me, Luke would have acted in time and captured it…' Charles felt that the earlier puzzles seemed to be weaved together and formed into a gigantic spider net.

'Hmm, I did feel something was off about our first suspect's death. When Jeffery Dahmer was under Team Leader Emilia's hypnosis effect, he suddenly cursed after he mentioned the word 'Red-Prince' and detonated himself…No; I read in a book that those types of skills have a distance limit and are very hard to master. Which leaves with only one option, and that is an artifact. The enemy must have used some artifact on Jeffery to kill him. Still, that doesn't explain why his body exploded all of a sudden when mentioning the 'Red Prince' word…

I'm pretty sure that there is no passcode-like artifact available in this world. Even if there was one, those artifacts should come under Series-type artifacts. The possibility of the enemy using a Series Artifact to kill Jeffery is almost none. It means the enemy must have monitored us all the time while hiding somewhere nearby and activated the ranked artifact when Jeffery was about to reveal more information… And, that enemy must be Luke Carter.' Charles organized his thoughts and soon nodded in understanding. He also remembered the moment when Luke rejected Team Leader Emilia's order and asked him to monitor Jimmy.

'There seem to be more members in this group. Twilight. Who could it be?' Doubt appeared in his mind as he raised his eyebrows and soon widened his jade eyes.

'It might be Daniel's nickname or Night-Eye's nickname. Yes, other than Daniel and Night-Eye, Luke isn't closer to anyone. As for the 'Evil,' there is no information about his real identity.'

Charles soon shook his head and then stealthily went back to the camping area.

After returning to the camp, he stayed in his tent and then began to take some rest.

The dark red night passed in a blink. In the early morning, the group packed their belongings and resumed their journey once again. They continued their journey in hot, burning daylight.

When they stopped near the Night River to take some rest around the afternoon, Charles casually walked past Emilia and silently dropped a small piece of paper. After that, he turned around and went near the flowing river to refill her water can.

In the meantime, Emilia became surprised by his action and picked up the paper before others could notice. She then went near a Sycamore tree to sit in the tree shadow and then opened the rolled paper.

In it, she saw three words written in the Blen language and became stunned for a moment.

'Beware of Luke? What does that mean?' She furrowed her and soon stored that slip into her void pouch. After that, she leaned her back against the tree trunk and fell into deep thoughts.

'Looks like Charles found something about Luke but he seems to be afraid of alerting the enemy.'

In the meantime, Charles filled all his empty water cans and leather pouches and went near Jimmy, who was discussing something with Henry.

"We need to talk." He said with a smile before he turns around and then went near a large rock. His feminine words implied other meanings to outsiders, which made them subconsciously turn their heads and stare at Jimmy with daggering eyes. All those male Mystics from Slitherer's Rowdy Gang, including Richard, felt jealousy all of a sudden. They couldn't understand when Jimmy got closer to Edith and started whispering like gossiping old ladies. They want to find out whether those two were dating or not!

Unaware of their inner thoughts, Jimmy went near the rock and soon asked cautiously,

"What do you want, Miss Edith?"

"I called you here to tell you an important piece of information, Jimmy Holmes." Charles purposefully paused for a second and then said with a suppressing tone.

"During the past few days, I noticed that the bowman was acting very suspicious, so I followed him and found something very interesting. Do you want to hear it?" He asked with a sly smile on his face.