novelraw Chapter 197 : A Fish Delivered to the Door
Chapter 197 : A Fish Delivered to the Door
Chapter 197: A Fish Delivered to the Door
“Sir, an Invisible One requested an audience.”
“An Invisible One?” A young man in an Aust Empire commander’s uniform frowned slightly. “What is his serial code?”
“Silent.”
“From the intelligence unit?” The young commander’s expression shifted. “Let him in immediately.”
“Yes.”
The soldier quickly withdrew.
Not long after, he returned with a Tyrella man.
“Commander, greetings. I apologize that I can only appear before you now in this outcast’s guise.” The soldier—who had recently been entrusted with an important task by Aches—saluted the commander and then spoke. “I was a Silent of the Invisible Guard, authentication code: Empire,
Silence, No Word. The third sun of the Fifth Night.”
The commander himself was not a bloodline user; he was merely an ordinary non-blood officer.
By contrast, the Silent who was reporting now was a genuine bloodline user.
Although his bloodline tier was not high, in the Tyrella Kingdom even a first-tier bloodline user already belonged to the knightly, quasi-noble class. It was simply impossible for them to report to an ordinary person in this manner, let alone salute them with such respect.
But such things were commonplace in the Aust Empire.
Compared with the Tyrella Kingdom, the Aust Empire valued “talent” more.
They believed a bloodline’s status and power were important, but in certain fields and ranks they were not the sole factor.
So in the Aust Empire’s military, middle- and lower-level command sequences did not mandate that commanders be bloodline users. That was why commanders were often ordinary people while their deputies were the bloodline users. However, the situation was different for high-ranking commanders who held significant status and influence: to prevent the enemy from threatening the command system with decapitation tactics, the Aust Empire required high-ranking commanders to be bloodline users of a certain capability.
“Thank you for your efforts, Silent.” The young commander said in a low voice. “Report. If I recall correctly, your mission was to lure enemy forces and collect related intelligence to provide necessary information for the Faceless Ones’ infiltration.”
This grassroots commander did not know much about the “Invisible Guard” that Duke of Blood William Hastings had formed.
He only knew that the Invisible Guard was divided into two operational sequences.
One sequence consisted of Silents responsible for intelligence gathering and reconnaissance; its members were generally second-tier bloodline users, rarely first-tier, and were therefore called the intelligence unit. The other sequence was the Faceless Ones, whose duties were covert infiltration and behind-enemy-lines sabotage; all its members were third-tier bloodline users or above.
Whether second- or third-tier, rumor had it they excelled at disguise and concealment, and there were almost no cases of them being discovered.
Duke of Blood William Hastings had relied on such a special force to achieve brilliant victories in many major campaigns and was even once called the military god of the Aust Empire. The commander who led this Invisible Guard—
that duke’s granddaughter—was notorious for stirring chaos in enemy rear areas from the shadows, even causing plots and internal conflicts and many bloody incidents, earning the terrifying epithet “the Bloody Hand.”
This commander had learned those rumors because he was one of the three commanders responsible for operations behind enemy lines this time, and so he had access to some of the intelligence: for instance, the Invisible Guard operating in this region now comprised four Silents and one Faceless.
This, it was said, was a standard operational squad: four intelligence operatives collected large amounts of information, then consolidated it and passed it to the infiltrator—who would disguise, lie in wait, and create chaos and destruction behind enemy lines when the opportunity arose.
In this plan, the guarantee the three of them had to provide was to draw the enemy’s attention and facilitate the special squad’s infiltration.
Most crucial, of course, were the reports the Silents gathered.
At this moment, in response to the commander’s question, the Silent immediately produced a letter from his person and handed it to him.
The young commander inspected it and confirmed it bore nothing special; no additional restoration procedures were required, so he quickly opened the letter.
Unfortunately, the meaningless scribbles and sigils on the paper were incomprehensible to him.
“I have learned that the garrison commander in this area was a third-tier bloodline user named Yam Soderbell; his nephew, Aches Soderbell, is the rat that has fallen into the trap this time. I have gained the other side’s trust and was required to deliver this letter into Yam Soderbell’s hands, because they have a special contact code between them.”
“If they did not have that code, Yam Soderbell would know his nephew was in trouble, and the strategic plans we made based on the intelligence we collected would have to be adjusted. That regularly scheduled report must not be delivered.”
“In addition, I learned that a settlement we previously burned contains a hidden storeroom. Aches Soderbell and his men were heading there to lie in wait and rescue. It was said the storeroom stored a large amount of supplies, enough to support twenty people for over a month.”
“Is that true?” The commander was startled.
“Yes.” The Silent nodded. “Based on my assessment, Aches Soderbell had a very high capture value. We could use his identity to infiltrate; this would have significant strategic importance for our sabotage behind enemy lines.”
“I understand.” The commander nodded. “I will immediately dispatch troops to search and capture. You must deliver this letter to Yam Soderbell as planned and win his trust. Try to decipher the contact code on the letter; it will greatly help our subsequent actions.”
“Yes!” The Silent saluted again and then turned to leave.
The commander returned swiftly to the strategic map and fixed his gaze on the Bayor Territory map they had surveyed.
Previously, they had seized a topographical map of the Bayor Territory from Aches; by comparing the two, they had discovered two hidden passages they had not detected before, and they recorded them all. They even realized the enemy’s knowledge of the Bayor Territory’s terrain was in some respects far inferior to theirs. Whether the lord of Bayor Territory had intended that or not, the commander considered it good news.
“Men!”
“Relay my orders: immediately concentrate all troops around Objective Four. Even if you must dig three feet into the ground, find that storeroom!”
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“I don’t understand why you are so concerned about those guys to the north.”
Akar stood before the operational meeting room map and watched Yam frown. “Those northerners have turned on one another—shouldn’t that be good? It will greatly reduce our pressure and workload.”
Akar had arrived yesterday afternoon with reinforcements from the Gem Territory and a batch of logistics provided by the Red River Territory.
His arrival meant the Bayor Territory now had over four thousand troops assembled.
Yam had originally planned to lead half the force north to finish off those fleeing Aust Empire soldiers. If he could not eliminate them, he could at least force them to flee over the mountains toward Heye Territory; the other half was to remain at the fortress under Akar’s command to be ready to support him or Aches at any time.
But before he could prepare to march, Aliman brought troubling news.
The fleeing Aust Empire troops in northern Bayor Territory had turned on each other.
Several routed units had suddenly erupted into conflict in a settlement; the civil war quickly spread and the place devolved into chaos.
Under these circumstances, Yam dared not rashly send troops, fearing he might accidentally provoke the enemy and cause them to unite against a common foe.
“I worry there may be special circumstances we do not know about; it could even be a huge conspiracy trap.” Yam said in a low voice. “Worse, we do not yet know whether it would be advantageous for us to send troops or not.”
“That…” Akar was momentarily stunned.
“Lord Yam.”
At that moment, a report came: “Outside, a messenger sent by Lord Aches requests an audience. He says he must personally deliver important intelligence—this is Lord Aches’s order.”
“Aches ordered that the intelligence be delivered to my hands?”
“Yes!” the messenger said.
“Let him in.” Yam nodded, though his face had darkened considerably.
“Aches is in trouble?” Akar immediately grew tense.
“I had instructed Sien to report every five to seven days; today was the fifth day.” Yam said in a low voice. “Under normal circumstances a scheduled report would not require personal delivery, but Aches had insisted. Something special must have happened.”
Upon hearing Yam, Akar’s expression also turned grave.
Akar had watched Aches’s behavior these years; he knew Aches was not reckless but cautious to the point of timidity.
So if Aches insisted, the situation might indeed be as Yam suggested.
Aches was unmarried and had no heirs; he was his elder brother’s only bloodline left in the world.
If anything happened to him, Akar could not bear to imagine the consequences—this was not the same as when he knew his own elder brother had died; only after losing did one truly understand pain.
Soon, the messenger Aches had sent was brought in. As he entered the room he quickly glanced at the furnishings. The gesture seemed casual curiosity, but Yam sensed something unusual at once.
“Aches sent you?”
“Yes!” The messenger showed agitation. “We were ambushed! Lord Aches ordered me to do everything to escape and return, and to deliver this intelligence to you. This is the letter Aches commanded me to give you! Lord Yam, please save Lord Aches and Lord Sien!”
Akar was filled with a vexed impatience.
Yam’s face soured, but he forced himself to open the letter.
After only a glance, Yam relaxed and even smiled as he handed the letter to Akar. “Look at this; Aches is clever.”
Akar took the letter, read it, and then smiled too. “Indeed. He even knew to lure a big fish to our doorstep.”
A big fish?
Lure it to our doorstep?
The messenger’s face went pale. He spun and tried to flee.
But with only second-tier strength and standing alone before three third-tier bloodline users, he had no chance.
Before Aliman could react, Yam and Akar had already struck.
Yam suddenly drew his longsword, strode forward, and dashed behind the Silent; one cut severed the Silent’s hand. Akar did not remain idle—without taking his bow, he moved his right hand and five pebble-like small fireballs became five thin darts that pierced through the Silent’s legs, bringing him to the ground.
Only then did Aliman realize what was happening.
But before he could act, the brief fight was over.
Yam hurried to the captive, gripped his jaw with his right hand, and applied force—dislocating the jaw and preventing him from biting his tongue to die or chewing through poison in his mouth.
At that moment the door was smashed open and several guards poured in.
They cried out at the scene: “My lord!”
“I am fine.” Yam rose and shook his head. “Take him away, keep strict watch, and forbid anyone from contacting him. If he dies, I will find you.”
“Yes!”
The guards—rarely seeing Yam so angry—were frightened into silence and hurriedly dragged the man away.
“Has Young Master Aches been harmed?” Aliman asked anxiously.
“He should be safe for now.” Akar handed the letter to Aliman.
Aliman’s expression stiffened as he read; the symbols were incomprehensible to him.
“These are the sigils my father used when he formed the mercenary band; every three segments of text represent one meaning.”
Yam knew Aliman could not read them and explained: “There are eighteen segments; their meanings are: before us, enemy, big fish, capture, dispatch troops, safe. It means the messenger in front of us is the enemy; he is a big fish we must capture. Aches is safe for now and wants us to dispatch troops. I estimate it is not asking for a rescue, but that he needs us to break the enemy’s blockade so he can return.”