"So, basically it"s around here?"「yEs!!」
After a few hours later, Val and Cole were situated around a holographic map in the centre of the room that covered the entire centre table. It was super realistic and it was as if it were a mini world playing on the desk.
There were pieces of paper strewn about everywhere with doodles at the level of a child. Although it was hard to tell, you could find that the doodles somehow corresponded to the holographic map.
Val collapsed down on the floor from exhaustion but he mustered up the last bit of energy he had in him to ask Cole a question.
「Why do you need all this information? Isn"t it just a waste of time?」
"You asking such a question is the waste of time."
「!」
Val put on a shocked face and comically slammed his palm to his chest and said in a small voice "Ouch."
Cole shrugged off his friend"s reaction. Although he had said such harsh words (he didn"t think Val was offended by it), he decided to take the time to quickly explain what he needed Val"s info for.
"Information is the key to everything. No matter how small or irrelevant it may seem to be."
The only reason they took so long was that Val was terrible at describing things and he had an absolute zero for the Art department.
"Even in your daily life, information is essential."
Cole spun the hologram a bit and it was just simply breathtaking on how life-like it was. It wouldn"t have been so beautiful it Dragons didn"t naturally have a good memory which would allow Val to remember every single detail he saw.
Val quickly hurried over to the table and stared at the spinning hologram with the bright eyes of a child.
"As for our current situation. It can help me determine the ecological situation in the area. The Dragon"s preferred foods. Habits. Possible support pillars in the cave that are weak and could cause it to collapse."
As Cole said such, the hologram slowed down its spinning speed bit as it did, small fish started to die one after the other. The big fish that ate the small fish slowly decreased in population which also caused a few other forms of marine plants and wildlife to wither up and die.
"All of this is essential."
After all, Val..."
Cole intentionally paused a bit before he had the hologram showered in a red light which caused ma.s.s destruction to unfold on the mini-world.
"Information is a weapon."
"Wow... Cole is smart."
Val felt a bit impressed at Cole. All Dragons were naturally born with a bit of pride inside of them so Val only thought to himself that he was a BIT impressed.
But, Val also felt a bit proud that he had such a cool friend.
「Oh...」
When Val realized what he just thought to himself, he couldn"t help but think of a very distant memory from his past.
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"Hey, Val."
"? What is it?"
On a hill located near a small village. A young boy and an elderly figure could be seen sitting together.
The figure was a kind-looking old man and the boy was a bit strange. He had black hair with a purplish tint and royal purple eyes. But that wasn"t the strange part about him.
His ears were pointed and there was a pair of small, purplish-black horns budding from his head.
Despite the huge gap in the pair"s ages and the difference in race, they were chatting with each other as if they had been friends for a long time. But the old man suddenly stopped smiling and his eyes hid his sadness in them.
A struggle could be seen within them but it faded away when the old let out a sigh and faced the boy next to him with a new resolve in his eyes.
"Val, as a good friend. I need you to do something for me."
"What?"
The boy turned to look at the old man. His eyes stared right into his. They were still filled with the brightness and naivety every child his age would have. But it was like they could see through everything.
But the old man had made his decision.
"Find someone you can be friends with for your lifetime."
"Because there"s no one here that can do that for you."
The boy slowly turned his gaze to the ground he was sitting on. A gentle breeze started to come in causing leaves to be blown off trees, patches of gra.s.ses to sway slightly and for people"s hair to be ruffled up by the wind.
"Haa..."
The boy looked at the setting sky before him with a stare that was saying, "This again?"
He then stood up but his body shivered slightly as he did so. He tried to walk away like he was still composed but in the end, he ran away from the elderly figure.
The old man let him run away even when he could hear faint sniffling sounds trailing off. He wanted to chase after the boy and pull him back but he stayed as still as a rock.
Because he knew that even if he wanted to do such a thing...
"...I"m sorry."
He couldn"t anymore.
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As Val left the room, he couldn"t help but stare at the bright full moon that was shining in the night sky. It wasn"t the same one but it reminded him of the times where he would bring his friends to gaze at a great spot he found when he was just a hatchling.
「...」
He would end up bringing a new friend every 50 years. And he would usually only be able to bring them there once. His sense of time when he was that young couldn"t adapt quickly to that of a human"s.
Sometimes he would be lucky and would meet a dwarf or elf or some sacred Sword Saint and he would be able to bring them there at least twice.
But the record so far was three times. When he realized that there was no one in the〈Mid Plane〉who could go with him to that place for any more than that, he stopped looking for friends there. He stopped going to his secret place.
「...Mechanica"s live for a long time, right?」
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"Oh, you three are back."
A bit after Val had left the room, the twins along with Felicia had entered Cole"s room. But there was also an unknown guest being roughly dragged by Felicia by the collar.
The twins were still wearing their ancient China costumes. However, Felicia"s robe"s upper half was now hanging down on her waist. Revealing a light and thin combat vest with packs of C4 strapped to her chest.
"..."
Cole had sent the three to go capture one of the people most likely to have information on the instigator of the war they were hoping to prevent in the〈Huaxia Zone〉
It was a man who was the head of a major organization who mainly sold different kinds of aphrodisiacs and incenses that increased l.u.s.t in a person"s body. But Cole was currently busy pondering over why Felicia was wearing a combat vest underneath her clothes.
"?"
Noticing Cole"s stare, Felicia c.o.c.ked her head a bit to the side.
"That"s..."
"Concerning?"
"Life-threatening?"
The twins had already settled down on the sofa as they tried to finish Cole"s question.
"Questionable. Is that why your chest looked bigger than usual?"
Felicia threw the man she was holding straight at Cole while he was in mid-sentence but he safely caught him and laid him on the floor as he continued to talk.
"Anyway, let"s get to questioning him."
Cole dragged the man to a wall first and started to inspect him.
He was scheduled to have a drug deal in the outside forest but had to do it in the back alleys of the city since it was currently banned to exit out of the city due to the recent incident. So if anyone was to attempt to exit the city while rebuilding was still taking place, they would be deemed as someone suspicious.
There was also the possibility that the transaction would be postponed instead of having it moved somewhere else. But judging from the receipts of ingredients bought and records of cash flow that Gemi and Mini found. As well as the best time to use said ingredients based on the instruction manual provided to new workers and Alchemy manuals.
It was also because of the kind of drug the man was dealing with.
Incense.
Although incense sticks didn"t really have a set expiry date and could last for a long time, the demand would change that. The other man he was selling to was the owner of a very popular brothel.
Ha? How did Cole learn all of this?
It was the same reason why he didn"t have Felicia teleport them straight to their destination. It was also the same thing that he lectured Val about just a while ago
Information.
Because they went through the country, Cole was able to listen in on the conversations of gossip-hungry wives and drunk rumour-spreading men.
He would visit pubs where information would be dealt and red-light districts where a lot of shady deals occurred. He even played Russian Roulette a few times with some tight-lipped people over there.
Because of that, he was able to narrow the possible instigator to a few suspects. He just needed a bit more info to pinpoint who exactly it is.
Cole stood up and pulled the man"s head up by the hair and peered into his eyes. The man was also starting to slowly open his eyes but when saw Cole"s face, he wished that he had stayed pa.s.sed out.
"Now, shall we get started?"