Chapter 147: Can We Trust Her?
I went home without going anywhere else as Victoria is with Veronica. I still can"t put my trust in Veronica, hence why I never show my face to her. And I also altered my voice back then. I just hope that Victoria won"t leak my ident.i.ties. And she"s already leaking the fact that Albert"s involvement in destroying the cult.
Well, if she can be trusted, then it"s the best outcome. But if she can"t, it will be h.e.l.l for us. And even if she can be trusted, we need to check on her properly first in case she"s being watched by the cult.
The fact that she hated the cult might be known by some of the cult members, and they might have put some people to watch her.
And about her subordinates. Or to be exact, her worshippers. It will be good if they joined the cult just because of her. So when she leaves the cult, they might leave as well. But I won"t count on that.
I guess I"ll report this to Albert and the others first. That"s why I returned home in haste.
"Welcome back! That was quick. Did you get hungry or what?" Angela welcomed me back at the hotel and teased me, but I"m in no mood to play along.
"Gather everyone who"s free. And where"s Sonia? I have something important to tell everyone and she need to inform Albert quickly." I said seriously.
Seeing me being serious, everyone"s mood changed. They must have thought that this information is extremely important after seeing my expression. Angela then went to look for the others and called them. The others also did the same.
I waited until everyone is here at the dining hall.
Soon, Angela returned with Kayla, Sophie, Candy, Lina, and Shirley entered the hall. Then Hill followed by his subordinate who will be in charge for evacuation during the D-day. Lastly, Ms. Wendy entered the dining hall along with few other agents. Not everyone is here since some agents are still patrolling. But I will have Ms. Wendy to inform them.
As for Sonia, she is already waiting beside me.
Seeing everyone is here, I begin to talk.
"So is this everyone?"
"Some agents are still investigating and went on a hunt. So yes, this is everyone." Ms. Wendy reported the ones who are not present.
"By the way, where"s Victoria?" Kayla noticed that Victoria isn"t with me.
"She"s doing an independent mission which result might change our situation to better or worse. Let"s hope it"s for the better." I replied.
"So that"s why you gathered us here? Please continue." Said Kayla.
Hearing my response, everyone became tense. Even though it seems that we were just having fun until today, everyone still know what"s at stake here.
"Well, firstly, I went on a cleaning duty and managed to kill some members of the cult. But that"s not the important thing I wanted to share."
Then I told them about seeing a woman who got herself grabbed by a group of men. Unexpectedly, she"s a higher up of the cult. And she is Veronica, the woman that a certain faction of the cult worshipped.
"Wasn"t she the one with big b.r.e.a.s.t.s? Or was it a.s.s?" Angela seem to remember about her.
"a.s.s. She was grabbed on purpose to lure me out and capture me. I guess my antic during the exam bear consequence already. Unexpectedly, she"s an expert level mage."
"What?! Expert level you say?!"
Everyone is stunned hearing the level of one member of the cult. So was I. It was a good thing that I saw her magic before I did anything stupid.
While I was feeling relieved that I didn"t do anything stupid to Veronica, the other is in a heated discussion over Veronica"s magic level.
"Expert level? If she planned to attack the city as well, we"re doomed. All our planning has come to naught!" Ms. Wendy said.
"I never thought that our opponent is an expert level. I think running away is a good choice. We can try to get as many citizen to escape before the stampede." Candy suggested to escape.
"How about we trap her? Even if she"s an expert level, she"s still human being, right?" It was Hill who said that.
"Not to mention, she"s one of the higher ups in the cult. Who knows if there are more people are strong as she is? And not counting the numbers of people above her. This is a suicide mission. I"ll talk to my brother to cancel our plans." Shirley said.
"Wait! Roy said that Victoria is in a mission that will decide our fate. He hasn"t explained what her mission is." Kayla calmly stopped the quarrel.
Everyone quieted down in an instant and put their attention to me.
"Well, here"s the thing. When that Veronica sent people to check the area leaving her alone behind, we saw her hugged her knees and cried. Victoria took pity on her and approached her. I know that seems stupid, but it already happened. Then she told Victoria about her past and how she ended up as a member of the cult. Victoria sympathized with her so she thought that we might be able to get her on our side." I explained what happened.
"What?! That"s stupid! Why did she do that? What about you, Roy? Can you trust her?" Angela asked me.
"I don"t. But I thought that it"s a good idea to have her on our side. I left the scene without having her see my face. She already know that Victoria is a monster and Albert is involved because Victoria told her. We can only trust in Victoria"s judgment. I"ll summon her tomorrow after lunch so we will have our discussion again then. But before that, tell me what you all think."
I asked for everyone"s opinions. Maybe we could get better idea on what to do next. But still, what"s important is what Victoria will find out.
"Then… should I inform Albert first?" Sonia asked me if she can go.
"Yes, please. And ask for his opinion as well. And he might need you to send messages to other cities as well so you need to stay with him for a while."
"Alright. I"ll go now." Sonia disappear and she should be at Albert"s side now.
"Well? Anyone?" I asked if anyone can give any ideas.
"Tell us about your thought first. You must have thinking about this ever since the time you met that Veronica, right?" Kayla told me to give my opinion first.
"Well, I think it we need to hear what information she gave to Victoria first, but to be prepared in case she betray us. Even if she tell us the truth, there"s also a chance that she"s being watched. But for me personally, it will be best if we escape. We can also bring some citizen with us just like Candy suggested." I answered my thought honestly.
"So all we need to do is wait for Victoria?" Hill asked.
"Yes. If she can bring Veronica on our side, our chance to win will increase. That"s why this is an important mission for her that we can"t ignore." I said.
"I"m of the same opinion. All we can do now is to wait for Victoria. I don"t think there"s nothing else we can do now. After Victoria returns, only then we can finalize our plan. Let"s hope Veronica can be trusted." Kayla calmly said.
"By the way, why did Victoria approach her? Just because she"s crying?" Sophie asked me curiously.
"Stupid reason just like how she is. She said that in stories, it"s normal for a protagonist to get help from former enemy. She thought herself as the protagonist and thought that Veronica will join us."
"…seriously?" Ms. Wendy asked for confirmation.
"That"s what she said." I nodded at her.
"Well, we can"t do anything about it. But at least we have important information. It"s about the existence of expert level mage in the cult." Kayla changed the topic.
"And we need to think that they might have more of them. How do we handle them?" Candy asked.
I might have or might not have killed an expert level mage before. It was the scarred palm guy. I don"t know how strong he was and just a.s.sumed that he"s an expert level mage when I killed him.
And I killed him by using element of surprise. I might be able to kill more expert level mage as long as I can close the distance quickly.
If Veronica"s an expert level mage, then she should have realized when I was hiding in the building close to her, right? I mean the scarred palm guy noticed me when I"m about twenty meters away.
Maybe Veronica know someone is approaching her and she put up an act to get my sympathy. Or maybe she doesn"t notice me at all since she was busy with the group that tried to get her.
"What do you think, Roy?" Kayla asked me if I could handle an expert level mage.
"If the enemy is just one and I caught him/her by surprise, I can kill that mage. Other than sneak attack, it was too risky to make a move."
While we"re discussing about how to handle expert level mages, Sonia return with an order from Albert.
"I"m back. Albert said to wait until Victoria return with information. Until then, continue investigating the cult member secretly like usual." Sonia delivered Albert"s message. It will be dangerous to move on without information.
"Alright. Let"s do that. We"ll continue tomorrow with Victoria." I dismissed everyone and Sonia disappeared again. She must be reporting the situation to other agents in another city. There should be at least one person who received accessory to call Sonia in each city.
I returned to my room and just have an early sleep. I hope Victoria returns with good news.