《The Order and The Lost》27. Kel'thar (1)
Advertisement
Kel’thar prided himself on being quite mysterious. It was the kind of act that, in most circumstances, was a terrible idea, because it attracted the kind of attention that a duplicitous schemer could not afford; however, for the kind of clients that he kept, nobody really seemed to mind. They really should have.
Kel’thar would have to work hard to think of exactly how many contracts he was fulfilling right now, but preferred instead to order them by immediacy. He worked, of course, for Lord Amon Egrethore, but that was the least important contract. He was, of course, a sometimes-informant for King Horace, but he knew that the king trusted him very little, so little that Kel’thar honestly had no idea how many spies the King had in Amon’s estate, let alone who they were. He had several open-ended contracts which he could fulfil at any time by delivering Amon’s technology or goods, or by killing or kidnapping members of the household. He had already passed along word of Roan’s suicidal outbreak, which would earn him any one of a number of different rewards, depending on how things played out.
And he was, of course, an agent of the Dark Lord. As far as he was from the Empire, anyone would think that was the least of his concerns, but that contract always managed to rank near the top. Part of it was how much he owed the Dark Lord, for healing his sister and enhancing his own magic powers, for having his wife’s previous husband assassinated and her family threatened, for not having him assassinated for… the one or two times he had less than deliberately betrayed him. Part of it was what he owed, and part of it was the simple knowledge that death could come at any time if you made the Dark Lord upset.
Advertisement
Right now, his many contracts had him in a bit of a mess. He sat in a hiddden room at the base of the large tower, inaccessible except to anyone who knew the house’s hidden wall-ways… or anyone willing to smash open stone walls, which of course would become more and more plausible as the investigation wore on. Or, he supposed, another wind mage, if they decided to reach in through the slits in the stone and strangle him to death, but it would take some effort to do that at a distance.
The voidling in the Order’s carriage made for a clear and present threat, not simply because he had the clarity to see Kel’thar’s sensory thread, but because he must have understood that the information he had given up was poison pill. Kel’thar had already heard that the metal was a triple-type metal; the samples alone would be worth dozens of gold to the right buyer. If as Chai had said it was more useful than it was valuable, then it must be very useful to Amon right now.
Which was very interesting, except Amon was the least important of Kel’thar’s contracts. In fact, if the Egrethore group survived this encounter, Kel’thar was more or less obliged to continue keeping up this charade and not cashing out. Kel’thar had already pushed two or three different times towards making everything collapse, most recently by helping twist Roan’s mind at a critical moment. Sticking around when those sort of things might accidentally come to light… was not really what he had in mind.
Now that the house had four samples of this mysterious triple-blend metal, with a fifth one missing, Kel’thar really just wanted to burn everything down and run. What stopped him was the idea that the metal was useful right now. To his understanding, there were only two basic metal types that were a triple-blend, and most were assuming that the unnamed trash-human had stumbled blindly onto another lesser Starmetal. The other possibility, that he had somehow formulated Deite while enslaved, beaten, starved, corrupted, and magically tainted, was absolutely ridiculous.
Advertisement
But that seemed to be what the Voidling was suggesting.
Deite was perhaps the most useful thing that the Egrethore estate could possibly find. A talented mage could use it to break open space and cross directly into the next plane, to emerge at a place of their choosing; with so many samples, they might simply take everything of value and walk away from the estate, appearing who-knows-where in the country to continue their work. It would be damned-near impossible to chase them down.
If Kel’thar offered that knowledge to the Egrethores, they would set him up for life. But as long as he got his hands on at least one sample, he would find someone to sell it to. Most likely the Dark Lord, because he had to come first, in everything.
So Kel’thar had decided to keep his mouth shut about that for now, and was watching the investigators as they started prowling around the house again. This time, though, there was a difference; he felt a passing headache and found that something had slipped his mind. After a brief magical cure, he checked on them again,only to find he wasn’t sure where the male investigator had gone, and the guards didn’t seem to notice or care.
The investigator--what was his name, Wilke?--had bothered him several times, but it was only now that he remembered. He had become famous for winning a tournament, or something. Martial arts stuff, which didn’t interest Kel’thar much… normally. Except now that talented martial artist was invisible, possibly forgotten by the guards, and loose in the estate whose secrets might change the fate of the nation, and maybe the world. And right now, Kel’thar was hidden in a place where his body wouldn’t immediately be found, making him a very plausible target.
Kel’thar decided this was a fantastic time to retire his contract with Amon, and started crawling through the wall-ways towards the locked rooms where the metal ingots were stashed.
A ways away, Chai’s face lit up in a very brief smile, but he had forgotten why half a moment later.
Advertisement
- In Serial173 Chapters
Master of the System
Leveling systems create overpowered main characters. Cooking systems create master chefs capable of conquering any stomach. Founder systems create monstrous sects from nothing. However, who creates the systems?
8 5938 - In Serial100 Chapters
Pandemonium
Anima, the primary source of energy in the world of Janus. It resides in the soul of all living things and in nature itself. It can be used to do all kind of magical things from powering vehicles to walking on water. Of course, it can be used for violence as well. One person took the phrase "used for violence" and took it to an next level. That person eventually became known as the first true God. This God plunged the world into a millennium of darkness, until another true god appeared and brought back light to the world. These two became known as the Night God and Sacred God respectively. This story takes place thousands of years after their battle.... This is the tale of Amelia Rosa, who came across a living legend, who was thought to have disappeared from the world over a century ago. Having been caught in a conspiracy by the country she served all her life, she was forced to slaughter countless enemies until the point of exhaustion. She was later saved by this legend known as the Devil King Rory, who showed that his title as a legend was rightfully earned. With no attachment to her country left, she embarked on a journey with him to find her place in the world. There was one problem....Rory was completely shameless contrary to his legends! He was naked and drunk in the streets when they first met, and was still naked when he saved her. He had no shame or morals whatsoever and was a failure of a person. Even so, Amelia had no choice but to follow him. Follow the two as the travel the broad world, and watch as Rory's past slowly revealing itself; along with the hidden truth of the world.
8 158 - In Serial100 Chapters
Divine Locket
A locket filled with mysterious origins. A young boy with a sorry fate. A world with countless opportunities accompanied by dangers. How far can one reach before finally settling into history? Join the discord server to help out! https://discord.gg/H53rFmN Ps. Everything posted here are rough drafts. Releases/week = 7chaps/week A slightly more edited version is on www.webnovel.com.
8 62 - In Serial32 Chapters
He's My Mate! He's A Rogue!
Sequal to He's My Mate! He Pushed Me Out Of A Tree When I Was Eight! must read the first one first people! or you will get confused!For those who read the first one good job! ;)Stef is seventeen soon to be eighteen. when a rouge comes into the packs land, one with a troubled past. he's parents died a few years before and now he's on the run from a phycotic chick who's in love with him. did i mention she thinks their mates? well they aren't so when he denies the fake mateing the chicks father, who is that packs alpha, sends trackers after him to bring him back and force the marriage on him that he dose not want. so when he meets his mate he's estatic. but will there love last? after all she is the next alpha of her pack. and he's a rouge.
8 87 - In Serial15 Chapters
Glass Cannon
Mortal Coil is the best VRMMO in the market with millions of people playing it! In this game, two best friends made a bet with each other. Whoever becomes the #1 ranked would win. Such a simple bet, but to them, it was like a declaration of war. Being two of the most stubborn individuals on the planet that saw loss as a personal offense, they made this last bet before cutting off their friendship due to some... complicated matters(Don't worry It'll get explained in the book). The problem was, that one was super talented at the game, and the other was super shit. This story revolves around that player. No, not the talented one, the shit one. Hated by many for his rather "uncouth" strategies (one of which included hitting a guy in the back of the head with a wooden board, stealing all his stuff and leaving him stark naked in the middle of the woods), his name is Jack. Oh, and did I mention he's a min-Maxed for health which drives people insane? Unfortunately, as luck would have it, he stumbles upon the worst possible hidden class for him. Warrior of Glass. A class with insanely high attack power... and insanely low HP. He's also given a quest to retrieve a sword in the middle of the Ashen Forest (lovingly nicknamed "Suicide Woods" by the players) and another quest to kill 7 insanely powerful demon lords that roam the lands so he can fulfill his predecessor's legacy. Now, armed only with a veeery high damage output, an unbendable will of steel and his almost nonexistent sense of guilt (emphasis on almost), he still aims to become the #1 player. This time, with some serious handicaps.
8 199 - In Serial16 Chapters
Titan Sol
Cast aside by his family and friends as trash Seshwan, a young noble who’s only ever known the life of a high-class citizen arrives in the remote trading port city of Scarlet’s cove. Having been sent to live with his uncle, the cruel city lord, Seshwan is distanced from the people of the city. This separation furthers the hatred of those around him. His old life has slipped out of reach. Without the power to reclaim what he had he seeks out work with mercenary guilds in the city. After being turned away from several guilds, he resigns to his inevitable fate. Though as he’s contemplating his options he stumbles upon an injured boy in an alley; An encounter that will forever change his fate. Spoiler: Spoiler look for the up to date story on Wattpad, or Wuxiaworld.com under original creations
8 319