On a wagon rumbling down the road toward the inner region of the Kingdom of Rovar, four individuals sat hunched, their features covered by dark cloaks.

“Not only did we fail to find the core, but our plan to cover our escape failed as well,” Eileen Vanis groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose as if holding back a headache.

“I’m sorry,” Maxwell Rovar muttered, unable to meet the eyes of his compatriots.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Quincy Rambalt replied while waving the apology away. “Not finding the core aside, the second plan wasn’t particularly good in the first place. She may have been a seraph, but that young lady didn’t qualify to be used yet. There’s no way anybody would believe that she killed the four of us.”

Siegfried Lancaster nodded his agreement.

“At the level of strength we revealed in Cairel, they might have believed that she beat one of us. All four of us, though? Definitely not.”

Eileen shook her head.

“The point was that people needed to have an excuse for our disappearance. It’s too early to let people know about our plans and things will get really complicated if anybody starts searching for us. Our efforts were entirely wasted, though. We left a way to find her when we need her again later, so for now let's focus on finding the core.”

The wagon jolted as a wheel rolled over a divot in the road.

“So where are we meeting up with the brat?” Quincy asked.

She responded with a glare.

“Where are we meeting His Holiness?” he corrected with a sigh.

“He may be crazy, a coward, and self-centered, but he is the only person that the Dark Lady will speak to. It’s better to be accustomed to speaking respectfully so that there aren’t any accidental slip-ups,” Eileen reprimanded him.

“I know, I know…” Quincy muttered. “I just can’t stand the guy.”

Siegfried grit his teeth.

“None of us can, but we have to for now. He knows that, which is why he refuses to let us know any more details beyond the next step in the process. We’re all only sticking around because we want the Dark Lady’s gift.”

Max nodded silently.

“Still, I’ve been slaving away for that guy for a decade now and we haven’t seen a lot of progress. Where the hell could the dungeon core be?” Quincy grumbled.

“We’ll ask Phineas when we get to the capital. He said he’ll meet us there,” Eileen replied.

Siegfried, Max, and Quincy all jolted in their seats, staring at her with wide eyes.

“He’s leaving the base? That guy? I’ve never seen him outside his stupid throne room before!” Quincy half-shouted in amazement.

Eileen shrugged.

“He said something was happening and he needed to leave before it got worse. I didn’t ask for any details, but he was complaining about ‘dead mana experiments’ and some angsty ‘summoned hero’.”

The four of them exchanged glances.

They each knew that they were all thinking the same thing.

If that guy was jumping ship, then they didn’t want to go anywhere near the New American Empire for at least a decade.

That guy was a prophet, after all.

-----------------------------

To be continued in Legion, God of Monsters 2: Contagion.