“We have the location”, said the Weils’s follower. “Lets return to the lord inquisitor quickly!”

It seemed he was in a hurry. Kaden had no reason to stay in the sect grounds any longer than was needed. A remnant was far more interesting endeavor.

The mercenaries seemed to have similar thoughts. To begin with, the church probably only cared to send someone like Weils to check the sect because there was something far more important to deal with.

Back outside Weils seemed to also be done with Jares. Things were proceeding quickly. It was probably because the sect only wanted to slow things down. They did not have power to stop everything entirely. If they tried, they’d be dead soon after.

“Inquisitor, I was able to get the remnant location!” The Weils’s follower immediately informed Weils. “It is just as we expected. The sect is there even as we speak to take everything.”

He then took out the map and pointed at the location and told what Shizzle had revealed.

Everyone except the priest and a few other people listened with great interest. Kaden determined the priest was the one to actually decide, if the sect were heretics or not. Weils was there for legitimacy.

The church was totally planning on being deceitful and collect riches forcibly with some excuse and had been doing that all the way from the start.

Kaden felt it was to be expected. Thats just how church and other such followers of the gods were. Not that it was illogical. Church knew how to get power and stay in power. Personally Kaden would have done exactly the same.

“Very good!” Weils said. “We will leave there immediately!”

As expected, Weils quickly ordered most of the people go move out and go to claim the remnant as soon as possible. Excuse was the same ‘it’s ancient remnant, it could be important, church must see it’ and also to see where this sect originated at. Excuses were easy to come up.

Kaden felt relieved by the time they were out of the sect he considered extremely strange.

-----

While Kaden was on his way to the remnant, Nelsen was pacing around in his room while deep in thought. Despite having already informed of assortment of punishments he received from concealing the matter of Erral, he was still completely set on fulfilling his promise to Erral. He would find the culprit.

He had seen Erral’s previous investigations, but just like Erral, Nelsen was not able to find anything. Yet, he knew there was certainly some foul play involved considering how Erral died. With vengeance mana. Mana like that did not simply appear with no reason.

“With how I handled the matter and I’m allowed to do very little due to punishment, there is very little I can do right now”, Nelsen muttered to himself. “I need to clear my head.”

Nelsen sighed and put away his investigation material. It was a good time to have a walk.

In truth, Nelsen didn’t mind the punishment regarding his actions. It was perfectly acceptable in comparison to finding the truth about Erral and his death. There was no way he could ignore it with good conscience.

As Nelsen wandered the streets, he happened to notice something unusual. It was as if he was being followed. He frowned and continued normally, but keeping an eye out for potential followers.

Then he noticed the person.

“Either this guy isn’t trying to truly hide or is very inexperienced”, Nelsen thought. “I better test it.”

After a while he took turn to a more discreet location. He hoped he would be followed there. It was succesfull, but it was not surprising considering how it all went.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Nelsen suddenly appeared from around a corner.

The man who had followed him gave him a smile and did a slight bow.

“My lord would like to meet you”, he said.

“Who is your lord?” Nelsen asked.

The man took out a signet and showed it to Nelsen who immediately recognized it as a noble’s sign. One that he even knew. It was Olren’s family. Ever since Olren disapeared in the remnant along with the others from their family, Nelsen had expected to hear from them, but no such thing had happened. Until now that is. He had thought the nobles didn’t simply care about some minor members of their family and simply wrote them off. Some power play might have been involved too. Yet, now it seemed they had yet to let go of the matter truly.

Nelsen felt he had no other relevant connection to them than Olren who he knew they had wanted to promote. Perhaps now that he was in a bind, they had another attempt from another angle? They were surely aware what he was doing. Perhaps they had information? Then again, it would likely come at a price...

“Fine”, Nelsen replied. He was somewhat interested what they wanted. It was unlikely to be anything bad for him. “Lead the way.”

Nelsen followed the man towards the fourth layer. Soon after they entered that layer, Nelsen was led just a bit out of sight into a house. It was not exactly a home or anything, but seemed more like an office. Inside, Nelsen was led up some stairs and then stopped by a door.

“Lord awaits you”, the man said as he pointed Nelsen to enter.

Nelsen went inside and found a man, clearly a noble due to his expensive clothes. In general the room was also filled with good quality furnitures, books, tools and other such things. The noble was drinking tea.

“I hear you wish to meet with me”, Nelsen said calmly. “Considering the way this meeting was arranged, I suppose this isn’t something you wish to be public.”

The gave a slight smile. “Please sit”, the noble pointed to a chair. “If you feel like it, you may pour a cup of tea too.”

Nelsen sat down, but did not take the tea. The noble nodded.

“I asked you to come here due certain matter”, the noble said. “You can call me Derrit."

“All right, Derrit, what is this matter?” Nelsen asked. “I’m certain you know of my current status and reasons for it. I don’t like to play games.”

“Ah, yes, the matter of Erral”, Derrit said and took a sip from his tea cup. “Nasty business that one.”

Nelsen didn’t show much reaction, but he was somewhat annoyed.

“There is something you can do for me and I believe you also will do it… at least after you think it through”, Derrit continued. “Why? It might lead you forward with your own investigations.”

“And what will you get out of it?” Nelsen asked.

“Remove a persistent obstacle that has proved to be more stubborn than expected”, Derrit replied after a moment. “There has been no good reason to waste anymore resources on something for mere spitefulness at this point, but if it can be done with a few words, then it is another thing.”

Nelsen frowned.

“I take it that you are the nobles that have caused trouble to my underling”, Nelsen said. “I did kind of guess it was you, but there was no proof.”

“That mutant, yes”, Derrit said. “He stood in our way and what was supposed to be simple … adjustment, but ended up much bigger matter. Now, several members of our family, even minor one like the young Olren, just happened to disapear.”

“You believe Kaden had something to do with that?” Nelsen questioned. “I recall there being a pretty good group with Olren and his elder brother. It is far more likely that they merely perished inside the remnant. There was friction between Olren and Kaden, but that is all. Anyway, I also don’t see how this relates to Erral. I do not know any reason why Kaden would have anything to do with it.”

Derrit took another sip of tea.

“Are you certain?” Derrit said after he put down his cup. “There have been some strange things happening around the mutant. All the way from his origins to deaths, disapearances and events. What do you actually know about him? Anything concrete?”

“He has been investigated by military”, Nelsen replied. “He is obviously strange, but there has been nothing to point to anything else. He has loyally completed all tasks given to him. Even the inquisitor inspected him.”

“And yet, he is around when things happen, such as Erral’s unfortunate passing”, Derrit continued calmly. “One should start to ask questions when such things happen repeatedly. I would be concerned, if I … accidentally sent enemy right next to my friend and that friend just happened to die, don’t you think?”

Nelsen frowned. Erral’s death had quite a few open questions. He had believed Kaden should not have anything to do with it. Could Kaden even beat Erral in combat? Yet, with Derrit’s words, some suspicion found its way into his mind. Kaden was probably nearest person to Erral at the time of his death. As Derrit put it, things happened when Kaden was near.

Motive? There was even vengeance mana in Erral’s body. Kaden’s behavior had always been quite aggressive, but he completed all his tasks calmly and without questions. He was also a devout worshipper of gods. He didn’t seem like the usual sort of people who used vengeance mana. Then again, some of them were able to remain calm and collected, not rush in rage at their targets, even if most of them were raging lunatics.

“There is no proof”, Nelsen said after thinking for a while. “You wish that I will do your dirty work for you because you couldn’t do it yourself.”

“Perhaps so”, Derrit said. “Words are cheap and yet perhaps all it takes is these words I told you to solve my problem and yours too. I have no need to convince you. You may do it yourself.”

“I’m not going to attack one of my more promising subordinates just because you people have grudge with him that you even started all by yourselves”, Nelsen replied with some annoyance.

“As I said, you can convince yourself”, Derrit repeated his way of thinking.

“Then I believe we are done here”, Nelsen replied in turn. “I might recommend you to not start troubles for yourselves in the future that you can’t handle.”

“I’ll take your suggestion into consideration”, Derrit said still calmly and continued drinking his tea like nothing had happened.

Nelsen snorted and left.

“Kaden, huh?” Nelsen thought to himself after a while. “I might as well investigate this. Its not like I have any other leads, even if this lead came from a questionable source. Still, there should be no connection between Kaden and Erral. Maybe I should just directly ask him and look through his things. If I’m wrong, I can explain my reasoning and compensate him. I should probably start here at Corand. Maybe Sidon, the arena master, can tell me something. He was the one who brought Kaden out of the forest.”

Nelsen saw no reason to tarry so he went to look for Sidon. Yet, what he found was the arena that was basically closed down. It seemed some of the people who had worked under Sidon had tried to keep it going, but with very limited success.

“What? Sidon disapeared?” Nelsen was told after he asked some questions.

“We think not just disapeared, dead should be more accurate”, said Ulrin, the healer who had worked for Sidon. “One day he just disapeared. No signs or leads. Just gone.”

Nelsen stepped out. Another person who was connected to Kaden was apparently now most likely dead.

“Maybe I should start taking this seriously...”, Nelsen thought. “That noble might have a point. I better go through all the incidents related to Kaden.”

He was starting to worry. Had he sent the one person he should not have to Erral’s side?