104 What a Monster! (2/2)

”Good work. I shall go back to sleep now.”- Ozul motioned towards Raven to take the driver seat of the carriage and moved to the back of it.

This structure of the carriage was the same as the previous one. It had a roof. However, the backside was completely open.

Ozul went inside from the back and laid inside it, instantly falling to sleep again.

Blaze hadn't learned to drive the carriage, but Raven had some experience. So she had to take the driver's seat.

As the escort group was still moving, she started driving and joined at the end of the row.

Seeing them leave, Irvin made a 90-degree bow towards Ozul and stayed in the same position until the convoy had moved far out of his sight.

- - - - - - - -

Rufus and his men had seen all the interaction between the trio and that old man, but he couldn't find anything suspicious.

However, since it was a required course of action, Rufus signaled two of his men to follow Irvin back and investigate him.

Just as the men were about to move out, Rufus was suddenly brought out of his thinking and hurriedly stopped the men from following him.

”Stop. That man is too dangerous. We will just follow the original plan.”- Rufus commanded the rest of the team and moved on.

Though the Rank-7 Mages were all confused by the sudden reaction of their leader, they didn't voice out their thoughts. Everyone was a professional, and they knew when not to ask any questions.

As their team caught up with the convoy, Rufus only had one thing in his mind;

'What a monster!'

The images of the scene flashed through his mind, distracting him from the task at hand.

He remembered when the old man had bowed towards the disappearing carriage, and eased his bow after the convoy was no longer visible due to the distance and the trees.

'We were hundreds of meters apart. And yet... Yet, that old man turned to look straight at me!'

Rufus was so surprised since he was sure that if placed in the position of that man, he would have never been able to notice them.

They were using the special items provided by Emperor Luthien himself. The small beads were called Aura Erasure Beads.

The Emperor had assured them that unless it was some old monster who was at least an End-Stage of Rank-8 or higher, no one would ever be able to sense them.

Rufus had complete trust in his Majesty, so the only conclusion that he could come to was that the man was an End-Stage Rank-8 Mage!

”And that wild smirk...”- Rufus shuddered, remembering the smirk on that man's face when he looked straight at him.

It couldn't be helped. Even when Irvin was only at the Middle-Stage of the Rank-8, he had an experience of the End Stage already. He had dealt with many such tricky items that would conceal other's powers in the past.

It displayed a wide disparity of power between the stages of higher ranks.

”And that monster was bowing towards that kid like a servant. *Sigh* That kid is becoming more and more of a mystery.”- Rufus muttered to himself.

”Could it be that he really is a young master of a prominent House around the continent? But which House could hire such a monster as a kid's servant?”

The more Rufus tried to find the answers, the more questions he ended up having.

Realizing that it was going nowhere without any concrete proof, Rufus pushed these thoughts away from his mind and decided to focus on the task at hand.

'I will still have to inform his Majesty about this matter...'- Rufus thought before calling one of his men.

He gave him all the instructions and sent him back to the Royal Palace to inform his Majesty. It wouldn't take long for him to catch up to them since they hadn't gotten far from the Capital yet.

- - - - - - - -

Back to Irvin, he was leisurely strolling back to his place.

”I think this will be enough to inform those official rats about my existence, wouldn't it~?” Irvin muttered to himself before whistling on the way.

”Oh, Sh*t! Haley must be waiting for me! Damn... she is going to turn me into a punching bag if I am late again...”