Agent of Seraphim-Chapter 49: Footages

Brand felt a slight numbness as the air tingled with the sparks of lightning. He thought he could do a weather forecast at this point, that Karl would be raining down soon.

He didn’t even need to see the Map to know that Karl was arriving.

"Not long after, a flash of lightning struck the ground, stirring sand and debris into the air. Karl came crashing down, his cape fluttering as it glowed with a bright blue light."

"Damn..." Brand was displeased with the entrance of his team lead. His eyes were stinging from the dust and bright lights.

"They’re fine," Karl said. "I took off ahead of them to check on the situation here first."

’He didn’t beat around the bush this time.’

Brand thought that Karl had gotten serious after checking that his friends were hurt.

"Do you mean the traitors?"

Brand planned to brief on the incident so far, although he planned to tone down the interrogation description.

"The trai–"

But he soon stopped after Karl leaned forward to him, with a weird expression. He looked like he was trying to whisper something to him.

"I mean you and Ruby..." Karl whispered while bouncing his gaze between him and Ruby.

"..."

Brand was speechless. He turned and saw Ruby, who was beside him, shooting Karl with a fiery gaze.

"After this expedition, I think she will burn him." Seraphine felt amused.

"The traitor was taken care of, and I retrieved information from them." He ignored Karl’s question and proceeded to report the findings of a lurking enemy in the village.

He retrieved the device from his pocket and activated the switch, for it to start playing the footage recorded by the two outsiders.

Karl didn’t react to him when he took out the device. It was only when images started appearing from the metal that he reacted with a look of dumbfounded astonishment. Karl dropped the metal rod in his hand with his mouth gaping open.

He examined the device everywhere, showing a similar reaction to Ruby’s.

"You’re distracting my explanation here..." He pushed Karl’s head away and retrieved the device.

"Focus on Brand’s explanation," Ruby said coldly to Karl.

Karl shrugged in response, with the expression of ’can’t help it’. But he soon regained his composure and appeared ready to listen.

Brand cleared his throat and started his explanations.

"The two traitors were mercenaries hired by the Third Prince of the Sanalia Kingdom."

"Those two were actually spies, working under orders to collect information on our village."

He then played footage of their information gathering, from the entrance of the village, to the streets, and even the alleyways. It was a complete, detailed walkthrough of the village. Capturing all the paths a person would go through, and even the daily activities of the villagers.

Karl’s expression shifted from curious to grim with each new footage. One of the scenes that Karl reacted to the most was the footage from the Tavern of Brawl.

He noticed that Karl was staring at the two outsiders he captured earlier in the tavern.

’Maybe they are related to each other?’

’What about the old man who was observing me?’

"Do you think the mercenaries and the foreign traveller captured were related?" He decided to test his guess by asking Karl for his opinion.

"It would be a disaster if they were related... though it seemed..." Karl was hesitant to acknowledge it, as it spelled out the worst-case scenario.

"Likely yes, because the traveller was looking directly at this recording device occasionally, which was unnatural." He guided Karl on the logical reasoning he reached.

Karl was silent for a brief moment, then raised his eyes.

"We interrogated the two travellers we captured in the tavern back then."

"They were working under Dual-Axe Morgan, the notorious bandit around the region, not far from our village."

"We have constantly clashed with their bandit troupe, as they target our merchants often."

He listened to Karl’s explanations, thinking they made sense for the reaction of both villagers and travelers when they heard the chief bandit’s name. The villagers were constantly in fear of an invasion attack from the bandits.

"Dual-Axe Morgan is quite a villain in the region. He had the same strength as our chief." Karl said. "Oh, by the way, the chiefs were having a meeting, the five villages’ chiefs."

’That explained their absence in the village...’

"So the village is unguarded now..." Brand muttered.

"We have to quickly clear the demon rift then." He came to his conclusion after listening to Karl’s tales.

"If the mercenary commissioned by the Third Prince was in close contact with the bandits, they might be colluding to attack our village."

"The problem is, what’s his motive?"

He explained his thoughts and let Karl decide on the next course of action for the expedition team. He thought they must first understand the enemy’s motive.

Based on the footage, they effectively covered all the potential escape paths of villagers in the event of a full-blown invasion.

’Were they trying to erase the entire Emas Tribe?’

’And the bandits...’

"The bandits were their arrow." Karl reached the same conclusion as him.

"They were disposable, and the Third Prince doesn’t want to dirty his own hands." Brand chimed in.

"But there must be something he is looking for." He continued. "Do you have any idea?"

Honestly, based on the footage, there was nothing special. The footage was captured along the evacuation path and during the warrior’s training session.

’Likely to know our strength.’

"The two spies must be surprised when they witnessed our strength." He shared his opinion. "Which made them try to sabotage the raid completion, by targeting the Worm Statue."

"Hold on... what do you mean by they witnessed our strength?" Karl asked, with a serious expression. "Don’t tell me..."

"They captured footage of us fighting the demon worms, and even Raml-d’ah," Brand replied.

"Show me, now," Karl ordered, his eyes were sharp, with a commanding aura. He even fluttered his cape as he spoke.

"..." Brand had nothing to say, but still showed him the scenes recorded.