[MGM]: 75 - Hidden

We settled into our chairs, the tension thick in the air. As I looked at Tristane Feylance, I saw a storm of emotions brewing underneath his hardened eyes.

To be honest, I could understand some of his burden; he was after all dealing with the situation that could potentially lead him to getting charged with treason at best or publicly executed at worst. Or both. In either case, I absolutely despised the fact that I had thrown my feet in to muddy the waters.

"I appreciate the help you've provided in identifying the cause, you will be well-rewarded," he said, with a put-upon smile. "That said, I need to request one more favor from you. You can ask for anything in return."

"Before that, I would like ask you something," Amara said.

"Anything." The Baron nodded.

"Why exactly did the Royal Family not provide any aid during the monster tide?" She asked. "The overarching effects of such an economic disaster would've effected even them eventually, so why remain passive observers?"

The Baron remained silent at this query, but Amara leveled a steady gaze at him. Finally, he sighed and answered, "They did."

His answer, however, was met with skepticism, as expected. The Baron decided to elaborate. "They did offer their help," he said. "They sent their forces to provide aid to Erdwatch, with Sir Zeke—an A-Rank Hunter—himself leading the charge."

I hummed quietly to myself, suddenly realizing that I had indeed heard of this person. I recalled reading the name from the booklet I had purchased, but more importantly I recalled that Jacob—that Royal Hunter—had once mentioned him to us.

"But then something happened," I said, leaning forward with a smile, suddenly finding the situation oddly exciting. "Something big enough that they had to recall all the soldiers back to the Capital."

The Baron looked at me with an odd gaze and nodded. "Yes."

"What happened?" Amara asked.

"Adrian died," the Baron answered tersely. "The Kingdom was already under pressure from the recent uptick in activity near the Red Forest. It was becoming a serious concern, so a court meeting was promptly arranged. Sir Adrian, head of the Tower of Spirituality, had deigned to attend the meeting.

"Everything was going well until the news of the assault arrived. I mean, can you imagine the shock when the King heard that a portion of his borders was besieged by a horde of monsters and that they might overrun and destroy his territory?"

As he leaned back with a mirthless laugh, I asked, "Then why recall his troops instead of sending more help?"

The Baron sighed. "Like I said," he repeated, "Adrian died."

"And that changed everything how?"

"The Barriers are not the property of the Royal Family, not really. They were installed a long time ago by the Hunters' Guild. Can you guess who would be held responsible if the barriers were to fail?"

There was no need to ponder over what was a transparent situation. The Baron continued.

"Once the Royal Family held the Guild accountable, the Hunters' Guild would undoubtedly use its entire strength to get to the bottom of this matter. And if they did that, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to afford any further protection for you."

Amara narrowed her eyes. "Even so, you still haven't explained why Adrian's death changed everything. What are you keeping from us, Lord Baron Feylance?"

For a brief moment, the silence that followed was nearly suffocating. I had to give credit to the Baron for not buckling under her intense stare. At last, he sighed.

"I wish I could answer you, but I'm so—" He spoke up to that point before breaking into a coughing fit, covering his mouth with his hand.

We patiently waited for him to stop, and when he did, Amara asked a couple more questions before we left the room. By then, we had come to the realization that our choice might not have been a good one. With the Baron no longer capable of offering us respite, we would soon have to be on our way.

"We'll have to move our plans forward a bit," Amara noted.

I nodded as we walked down the hallway. The initial plan had been to spend as much time as possible consolidating our relationships and strength before investigating further.

This time, with Tania's help, Amara speculated that we should be able to teleport back to that cavern. Once there, not only would we be able to investigate the origins of that Dragon, but we could also pocket a cache of those Mana Crystals.

It irritated me to know that we would have to abandon this place soon, as I had already seen a noticeable increase in my skills. With my proficiency, I could nearly match Luna, despite the Wolfkin being far more skillful.

My victories were mostly the result of my higher attributes, but honestly, my attributes weren't as high as they seemed. More than a third of them actually went into my Spirit, which didn’t directly contribute to my strength. But indirectly, the benefits were overwhelming.

After my last night's tryst with Amara, her attribute synchronization had shot up to 15%. Nearly 350 points of my agility actually came from her, making up more than a third of my entire agility attribute. It was a lot, and it made me glad that I had spent every point on Spirit until now.

"Does that mean we are going to leave soon?" I was jolted from my thoughts by Tania's question, though it wasn't directed at me.

"Most likely," Amara answered. "It would depend on the severity of the issue. Since the Baron refuses to tell us, though, we are left with no choice but to find things out on our own."

"About that," I said, "what do you think the Baron was trying to hide?"

Amara tapped her index finger to her chin and said, "No idea," then asked, "What is near the Red Forest?"

"Elves," I answered.

"Elves concern the Kingdom that much?" Amara raised a brow as she asked.

I shook my head. "They alone aren’t a problem, but they have always brought in support from the Dwarves of the Sunrise Desert and some other monster races."

The silver-haired woman nodded and said, "I think something is happening that we lack the understanding for. This Adrian guy died, so maybe he was killed for something, and the perpetrator intends to frame the Baron."

"And with the evidence pointing directly to the Baron as being responsible for the lack of a monster proximity alert, suspicion will solidify into certainty," I added with a look of sudden realization.

"Wait a minute," Tania suddenly chimed in. "Doesn't our involvement only worsen the situation, then?"

"What do you—" Amara began to ask before her eyes suddenly went wide. "Oh. OH! This could get messy, real messy."

I haven't had the best luck since childhood. My mother died young, my father turned into a drunkard, and when I did get my Origin, it turned out to be so common that calling it common somehow felt like an insult to all that was common.

But even by my standards, accidentally getting embroiled in a floating conspiracy just because we happened to be present in the wrong place at the wrong time was another level of bad luck.

With the Baron already turning into a prime suspect, our sudden and unexpected appearance would most certainly lead to everyone concluding that we had been the colluding party or even the masterminds behind everything that took place. Even if the theory seemed far-fetched, people would still chase after loose ends so long as it meant they had a chance to solve the problem.

This world did, after all, work on the standards of strength, and without sufficient strength, it was our destiny to submit to the strong.

We were close to our rooms when I asked, "Tania, do you have anything to say to me?"

"No," the dwarf answered. "Why?"

"Just 'cause," I said, shrugging. "I feel like you've been acting a little distant today. Why's that?"

"You must be imagining things. I always act the same."

I stepped forward and blocked her path. "Is this about what happened between Amara and me? Is that what's bothering you?"

As I stepped closer, narrowing my eyes, I saw Tania flush and stumble back. Her eyes darted between Amara and me as she floundered. "N—No. I, uh, I was just thinking about work. Right. Work, yeah. That's what I was thinking about."

I took another step forward, then another, until her back hit the wall and her face turned crimson red. I lifted her chin with my index finger, forcing her to look into my eyes, and asked, "Then this shouldn't bother you, right?"

I leaned closer and pressed my lips against hers, kissing her softly. Tania melted under my touch, her knees growing weak and her eyes misty. For a second, I was seriously concerned she might drop unconscious to the ground. Thankfully, she didn't.

When we finally separated, Tania spoke, her breath slightly uneven.

"They are... waiting for you inside," she said. "To discuss things going forward."

Suddenly, I was left wondering what had happened to my days of adventuring and when my life had become the center stage for harem politics.

[A sneak peak at Rust & Radiance has been uploaded, check that out.]