Chapter 257 – Kaglai"s PredictionA visitor arrived at Kaglai"s room in the middle of the night. Normally, there wouldn"t be any guests at a time like this, but given that they were in a state of emergency, and the fact that the visitor said he"d just enter the bedroom anyway whether they liked it or not, the maid showed him in reluctantly. It was none other than Silver Face, and someone else covered in a black robe.
「It is already quite late.」
Kaglai, wearing his nightclothes, ushered Hikaru in, showing no particular emotion. The reception office next to his bedroom was bright, and steam was rising from the tea that was prepared in a hurry.
「Yeah, well, this is important.」
「Who is that?」
「First, I need the room cleared out.」
「Very well. Leave us.」Kaglai said.
The maids complied, but the knights expression changed.
「Your Majesty. No matter the circ.u.mstances, we cannot leave you alone with someone this late without a guard. If you really insist, you will have to kill me first.」The most capable one among them glared at the masked man.
Hikaru sighed.「We don"t have much time. One of you can stay. You can even stand beside Kaglai if you want. But everything you see or hear will not leave this room. If info is leaked, it might worsen our current situation. Can you do that?」
「Of course. By the sound of it, you are about share something very important.」
「That"s right. I"m quite busy myself, you know. I didn"t want to come here this late.」
Kaglai raised his brow, as though saying “The first time you came to see me, it was late at night, and that was the same case the other day as well,” but Hikaru ignored it. One knight remained and stood behind Kaglai, his right hand on his sword"s grip, ready to react at any sort of situation.
「So, what business do you have?」
Hikaru nodded and removed the hood of the person beside him.
「It can not be!」
「What?!」
Kaglai and the knight froze in shock, an understandable reaction, for the one standing before them had silver hair and purple skin—a person from the Ruined Continent.
「Introduce yourself, Deena.」
「Right. My name is Deena, secretary of the Grand Dream"s navy"s commander.」
The emperor brought his hand to his forehead and looked up. A few seconds later, he turned his head back down, his face calm once more.「This is part of the ceasefire negotiations, yes? 」
Deena"s mouth opened in surprise.「H-How did you know?」
「First, I cannot think of any other reason. Negotiations and infiltrations are not necessary if you wish to fight Second is the fact that you are not a soldier. Silver Face bringing you here means you came directly from their ship. This man is not foolish enough to bring a spy by mistake.」
Hikaru shrugged at the compliment.
「Not foolish, but a bit thoughtless.」
It wasn"t a compliment.
「Since you are fluent in both languages and the commander"s trusted aide, I can conclude that you know, to an extent, how both parties can reach a compromise.」
「I-I"m not his trusted aide…」
Being modest at this point was not a good idea. It seemed she was not involved in any negotiations before, as she let her real feelings show.
「Then let us hear your conditions for a ceasefire.」Kaglai said.「And your objective for invading us.」
「Before that…」Deena"s expression turned serious.「The commander doesn"t know I"m here. Please let me see Gorja so he can send a message to him. Then I"ll tell you what you want to know.」
Kaglai shot a glance at Hikaru, trying to ask two questions. First, Deena implied they had a method to contact their ship. Do you know what it is? Hikaru didn"t know. Second, how come the commander does not know about this? How did you bring her here? Hikaru didn"t want to answer. He shook his head twice.
「I understand. I will let you see Sir Gorja, then.」Kaglai said, sensing trouble.
Once again, the emperor shot a meaningful glance at Hikaru who nodded in response—an affirmation.
The next day, Luke Landon arrived with a carriage at the Supreme Leader Patricia Zylberstein"s residence early in the morning, along with six guards. Despite the early hours, a Quinbland carriage was already parked outside, its doors closed, making it impossible to see who was inside.
「What"s a carriage from Quinbland doing here so early in the morning?」
The carriage that Luke led carried the messenger from the Ruined Continent, Gorja. They came here early to not draw attention and cause unnecessary chaos.
The door to the Quinbland carriage opened and out came Silver Face. The masked man nodded, and Luke nodded in return.
Some kind of a mission? Luke wondered as he pa.s.sed by Hikaru.
「Gorja! Can you hear me? It"s me, Deena! The commander"s secretary!」
Luke couldn"t keep his eyes off the other person who stepped out of the carriage. Silver hair and purple skin—a citizen of the Ruined Continent.
『What"s going on here?!』
Before Luke could even stop him, Gorja opened the carriage door and stepped out. The two faced each other in front of the mansion.
『I"ll keep it short. I arrived here last night. I want to ask you to contact Commander Grucel—』Deena rattled on, while Gorja listened, still confused.
Luke quickly approached Hikaru.「What do you think you"re doing, Silver Face?!」
「Can"t you see? It"s an emotional reunion.」
「No, I don"t see that! Explain yourself!」
「Her name is Deena, a secretary. She said she had business with Gorja so I brought her here. Gorja would"ve been stuck in negotiations all day.」
「Bulls.h.i.t! You just can"t stop an official messenger without prior notice! Where"d that lady even come from?!」
「From their battleship out at sea.」
「What?!」
While they were arguing, Deena asked Gorja to send a message informing the commander that she was fine and they should not fight among themselves. She also told him how she got here.
『I"m buying time, saying I"ll tell them of the commander"s objective.』Deen said.『I"m wondering if I should actually tell them or not.』
『Whoa, it"s best if you don"t. You"ll get punished later.』
『But the king"s condition will only keep on worsening! If Primeval promises to help, we can avoid any conflict between the commander and Duinkler as well.』
『They know about their dispute?』
『Yes. They infiltrated the ship last night.』
『What?! They slipped past security?! They"re more competent than what we though… This is not good. They think that if they waste time negotiating, we"ll eventually concede.』
『R-Really?』
『I"ll get in touch with the commander tonight. Until then, do not say a word, okay?』
『I understand!』
They finished their discussion. Silver Face simply evaded Luke"s questions.
「Sir Luke Landon. We"re done talking.」Hikaru said.「She"s a civilian, and not a messenger, so I"m leaving her with Quinbland. You may see her anytime. We"ll be waiting.」
「Why, you…!」
「Sorry for the wait.」Gorja cut in.「I didn"t expect to see my brethren here.」
「You don"t plan on taking her with you?」
「My mission is not with her.」
Luke couldn"t voice any complaints. Glaring at Hikaru, he entered the mansion together with Gorja.
「Okay. Let"s go.」Hikaru said.
「Um, was that all right?」
「What are you talking about?」
「What you did was against regulations, right?」Deena asked timidly.
「Don"t worry about it. Bringing you here is already a huge violation in an of itself.」
「Th-That"s true…」
「Let"s go, then.」
Everything was going as expected. She not only told Gorja what she wanted to say, but they exchanged opinions as well. They did so because the people here couldn"t understand a word they were saying.
Last night, Kaglai"s look meant this:「They might exchange information. Are you sure about this?」
Hikaru didn"t mind, of course. Which is why he nodded back at the emperor. Deena should ask for advice from Gorja and the latter would tell her not to do anything without permission. Telling her how to get back to the warship in this short amount of time was impossible. In other words, it could be said that Hikaru was the one who successfully bought time.
「Where are we going?」
Hikaru flashed a grin.「Sightseeing.」
He grabbed her hand and the two of them disappeared.