CLAP!

"You truly have my undying gratitude, without you we would all have died today, please allow me to show you my gratitude after we reach Pleasas city," Alexis said as he shook Fionn's hand.

"It's nothing, I'm sure you'd have survived even without me," Fionn replied modestly.

"No, we couldn't have, we might have been able to struggle against a normal rank 1, but Brody has a set of rank 1 relics on him," Alexis stated solemnly.

" Why did you decide to accompany us when you could have travelled on your own with your level of strength?" Liliana inquired from the side.

"I'm currently on my way to Legacy; before I left, my grandfather advised me not to rush the trip, but rather to take my time and meet as many people as possible, because I've been cooped up at home since childhood, so helping you guys is just a byproduct; I just wanted your company for the journey. " Fionn, nonchalantly, replied.

""We're grateful anyway," Alexis said with a smile.

"Oh yeah, do you know what this thing is?" Fionn asked as he took out the Golden Token.

"It's a Puppet Seal, where did you get it?" Alexis inquired, his face solemn.

"After I gave Brody the killing blow, I discovered this instead of his corpse, what is this thing?" Fionn asked, intrigued.

"There is a faction called Rune Bearers most of which is composed of people who do not have an Avatar, they first appeared about 10 years ago that time they were quite insignificant, recruiting people from countryside there moto unclear, authorities at that time ignored them because of major issues at hand and 'what can a bunch of commoners do' they thought but that turned out to be quite a huge mistake" said Alexis with a sigh.

" What happened?" asked Fionn, his interest peaked.

"In the last decade, ten Rank 2 Noble families have vanished, and investigations have revealed that all of the incidents were caused by Rune Bearers." Alexis replied, his face flushed with rage.

"What do you mean by vanished?" Fionn inquired, perplexed.

" All of their attacks occurred at night and at a time when all of the family members were gathered together at a location; their attacking methods are unknown because when investigators checked the scene, there were no signs of fighting; it was as if everyone had simply vanished." Answered Alexis calming down.

"Are they abducting nobles? And, if so, for what purpose? Is there a specific kind of nobles that they target? "Fionn asked a question.

"Don't think of them as Messiahs punishing nobles for their misdeeds; their victims include many innocent noble families who had nothing to do with kingdom politics And it's still unclear what their motivations are, and we don't even know if those missing noble families are still alive or not."

"In recent years, authorities have been able to apprehend a few senior members of the faction and claim to have gained some understanding about Rune Bearers, but the information is classified, and only leaders of major noble families have access to it." Alexis responded.

"Even as the eldest son of the Larson family, I only have access to basic information about them, and coincidentally, that thing in your hand is one of the things I can identify." Continued Alexis.

" Oh, elaborate" requested Fionn

"Rune Bearers implant these Puppet Seals in every low status member to prevent them from leaking any confidential information and to store their body after death so that no one with strange methods, such as a necromancer, can search their soul for information." Answered Alexis.

"It has another name, token of death, because anyone who picks this token rarely survives, you're in trouble now that you've picked it up, it leaves a mark on anyone who picks it up, and every member of Rune Bears can sense that mark, from today onwards they'll come after you indefinitely until you're dead." Continued Alexis with a sigh.

"Where is that mark, and how do I get rid of it?" As he checked his body, Fionn asked, disgusted.

Alexis, mystified by Fionn's reaction, responded, "the mark is invisible, and I don't know how to remove it."

Fionn smirked sinisterly as he motioned them to step back, saying, "If there is no logical way, the way of brute force is always available."