Ball of Nothing

Mitchnew got the answer that she wanted within the first fifteen minutes but seeing that the truth-spell was still working, the assassin went an extra mile to get all the information she possibly could about the United Nation of the Uncanny as well as the political situation elsewhere. Needless to say, she wasn't disappointed with what she learned and Truen would be dying to know this.

Apart from the insiders of the Undead Nation, nobody truly understood what they did or who was important. They just knew not to mess with them too much and generally avoided them entirely for non-business transactions. Who knew what sort of curses you could get if you accidentally offended someone who knew magic?

Sylvia the Silver Witch was the one true mistress in power of that messed up country so it surprised Mitchnew greatly to know that while she controlled of the best magic school on Earth and was the main go-to person for mage services, there were still other parties who allied themselves with smaller merchant groups and guilds. The person who took on most of these illegal deals was the mistress of Grey Legion and someone jealous of Sylvia's success.

"We know who is behind Grey Legion and a lead for the slaves are taken to," Mitchnew told Truen when he was finally finished his soak. The spell's effect had finally worn off and their hostage simply became very silent, horrified by the things he told them under the influence of Seraph's Command.

Patiently, Truen listened to Mitchnew introduce the mastermind as a banshee necromancer. Initially, he thought that all necromancers were undead or liches like Soon but he was wrong. The Banshee called Jynx with the title of "The Engraver" for her ability to 'engrave' beautiful undead puppets was actually a ghost. She led the ghost and spirit race instead of the undead.

"And the purpose of slavery is...?" he asked.

Mitchnew turned grim. "Souls. They require souls for furthering the ghost path of cultivation. As for the bodies, she sells it to whoever wants them, mostly to the undead nation and sometimes to Sylvia who might need something for her organic transmutation experiments. From what I heard, Sylvia is crazy about creating that perfect body and as a result, many chimaeras were born."

"Is that really it?" he asked.

For some reason, the information didn't add up. There were many ways to harvest loitering souls for cultivation even if this was a method frowned upon. Jynx sounded shady and the information they received might not be entirely accurate although they now knew who was backing Grey Legion.

"How powerful is Jynx the Engraver? Compared to Sylvia the Silver Witch I mean."

Shrugging, Mitchnew could only look at the necromancer in their captivity. "I don't think that's something he can answer. I need more time and resources to investigate it that far. What should we do about him?"

Ordinarily, Truen would have disposed of people like him. However, he was currently on Half Moon Village's grounds. If Zero tried so hard to keep this territory blood-free, he shouldn't be the first to taint it.

"Bring him out of Endow Hill first. You can decide what to do about him after that. Also, we need to find a way to ensure New Moon Village's safety. The villagers are too underequipped and still not independent enough. It would reflect badly on Zero's leadership abilities if we allowed our allies to be bullied."

Mitchnew got the hint and smirked. "Understood. I will talk to Roovan to arrange for supplies. I think Schaf gave me a merchant's token before he left. It should be useful in Smargdas. Some of the nobles have fallen low enough to want certain things."

The political situation in Smargdas wasn't very good and even if the King looked like he was governing well on the surface, Truen knew better. The nobles were divided into different factions and the monarch was truly just a figurehead with no real power to make decisions.

"Are the nobles anyone useful for the village?" he asked out of curiosity and Mitchnew hummed.

"There is one person I find interesting who frequents our services but I've never really met them in person. I'm not sure which faction they belong to or how influential they are but they have a rather fresh take on the political arena. Some of the requests they sent in had to be rejected because it went against Half Moon Village's interest but they've never taken offence."

This made Truen curious. "They sound rather wise. Were you able to hunt them down?"

The assassin laughed. "Not at all. However, that made the answer more obvious. I have no proof but all evidence points towards only one person who would do such a thing. I have a feeling even Zero might know their identity if I told him all the things we went through."

She wasn't wrong. When Truen heard how Mitchnew took all sorts of measures to trace the letter sender and how the traces were 'erased' effectively by a matter of 'coincidence' every single time by the law or a new rule, he also figured out who that special customer might be.

"In that case, I'll leave the negotiations to you. Let's try to guide that special customer to align themselves with us. I have a feeling we would need their help in controlling the trade of slaves in the most troublesome region. New Moon Village can also thrive on trading with Smargdas and not just Deadman Town."

"I agree," Mitchnew sighed. "Still, I'll start making arrangements to send the next batch of potions and medicine to Deadman Town. Will you set off with Jermine?"

Truen shook his head. "Not yet. I need to meet up with Zero. The escorting and bringing back of the mole folks will be entrusted to Monoman. I believe the villagers can manage the rest of the building once Jermine has finished excavating what she has to. Raj and the gnomes can oversee the rest of the project."

"Understood," Mitchnew nodded and hauled the terrified necromancer over her shoulder. "I will return first to sort out the rest of the pending issues. Please take more time to rest and recover and thank you for the spell. It made my job a lot easier."

The archer laughed. "It's not for free. Treat that as my down payment for a request. I know it's going to be difficult so I don't expect complete success but I need information on three rather powerful individuals. The more information, the better. Zero needs to see these people no matter what and I would like to be as prepared as I possibly could, the nova cannon incident made me aware of how lacking I truly am in the face of such power."

He didn't need to explain further, Mitchnew understood where Truen was coming from. If he was paranoid before, he was worse now because of his guilt and self-doubt. Honestly, she couldn't blame him for feeling that way. Nobody could have seen that coming and while it wasn't Truen's fault, it was hard for the person involved in the incident to forgive himself. If she was the one with Zero, she would have blamed herself too.

"What are their names?"

"You already know the first one," he smiled. "Sylvia the Silver Witch. Spriggan Alex of the Weeping Willow in Altear. Queen Leah of Indra Seagloo. Don't know the details but Zero insists that he has to win them over because there was something he needed from them."

He thought for a while and added later on, "Maybe it's time to involve the dragon heroes. If we rattle the political arena in Smargdas, this slavery nonsense can finally come to cease."

"Roger that. Anything else?"

Truen shook his head. Finally, the wheel was in motion. It would take a while but it would be worth it. The rest of the countries they had yet to visit were slightly messier to deal with and honestly, Truen didn't know where to start once Zero was sufficiently recovered to resume his adventures. He only had two months to think and plan ahead while Dorgon built the statue and Monoman escorted Jermine back home to bring her clan over.