Chapter 95
Chapter 95: The Dark Mantle stronghold
Clark had expressed his obvious love for Fanny during the trials within the Dark Forest, but had been forced away by Han Shuo’s evil scheme. Who would’ve thought that Han Shuo would soon see him again within Academy grounds a few months later?
Duke and Clark spoke within a house in the knight school, with the senior swordsman standing guard in front of the door as if deathly afraid of someone coming over and bothering the two.
Duke personally set up a wall of wind within the house. When Han Shuo’s original demon approached, it could only keep an eye on senior swordsman Erick standing guard outside, because they felt a faint pulse of magic. The original demon didn’t dare to brashly enter, and thus was unable to overhear what the two were talking about.
When Duke and Camilla had met last time in the classrooms of the dark major, they had chosen to meet in the middle of the night. They must’ve surely thought that no one would discover them, and so hadn’t taken these extra preventative measures, but it was daytime now, not to mention that they were in the middle of the knight school. No wonder Duke took such precautions.
Duke and Clark walked out from the house after a while. Duke retraced his steps and left the knight school alone. The original demon followed behind Duke and Erick and discovered that Duke returned to the wind major buildings, whereas Clark remained within a training ground of the knight school to practice his techniques.
This was precisely the time of day when knight students would practice their techniques, and Han Shuo didn’t stay in the same place to continue observing. He headed directly towards one of the training grounds to find Lawrence, according to the directions he had previously left.
Apart from a variety of weapons in the training grounds, there were also several battlesteeds, fully clad in heavy armor, that looked quite fierce. The biggest difference between knights and swordsmen was that knights relied heavily on horses during battles. Ability in controlling horses was an important skill that knights had to master. They could make use of a battlesteed’s force and speed to deploy an even greater amount of strength.
Lawrence was dressed in bright silver armor and wielded a long spear, dashing to and fro within the training ground. The battlesteed beneath his leads leapt over several high obstacles. As they charged forward, the spear within his hand was like a flash of lightning as glorious fighting aura blossomed from it in midair.
“Hi Lawrence!” Han Shuo stood in front of the door, observed for a while, and suddenly opened his mouth in greeting.
The three original demons had to be recalled back into Han Shuo’s body due to the issue of distance. When he found out Clark’s identity, Han Shuo felt that something was amiss with this matter.
As the eldest son of the chief of the Empire’s Gryphon Legion, why would he meet with an emissary of the Kasi Empire and stay in that room so surreptitiously? Although he didn’t know what the two had talked about, Han Shuo felt that the earlier he reported something he couldn’t control to the senior executives of the “Dark Mantle” for them to fret over, the better.
There was large manor to the northern part of the city that was only three hundred meters away from Phoebe’s collapsed residence. Han Shuo took out the “Dark Mantle” medallion that was his identity and knocked on the metal door after being unable to detect any abnormalities from the outside. A thin, short youth opened the door after a long while.
He first looked at Han Shuo up and down, sizing him up, then asked brusquely, “Who are you looking for?”
Han Shuo didn’t say much and only handed the medallion over to the youth. The youth looked at the medallion and turned his body to the side to let Han Shuo pass by. The youth returned the medallion to Han Shuo after the latter had entered. The youth had relaxed his facial expression and said faintly, “You’ve just joined us haven’t you? I’ve never seen you before. Your medallion is also one that a newcomer would carry. Who’s in charge of you?”
As he followed the youth inside, Han Shuo discovered that there wasn’t any particular magical boundaries or mechanisms within the entire manor. This made Han Shuo feel quite astonished and he observed his surroundings even more closely. He responded carelessly, “I just joined a few days ago, an old man called Candide is in charge of me!”
“Wh-what? Are you certain? Sir Candide is in charge of you just after you’ve joined?” The youth was noticeably surprised as he asked Han Shuo with a soft exclamation.
Nodding, Han Shuo asked, perplexed, “Yes, is there a problem?”
“Eh, not a problem per se, but Sir Candide is one of the three heavyweights who grasps true power within our ‘Dark Mantle’ organization. Sir Candide can directly deploy the troops of every city through the Empire without obtaining approval from His Majesty first. He can directly kill ordinary nobles and military officials. You’re a newcomer, yet you’re directly reporting to Sir Candide?”
Shrugging, Han Shuo said, “How would I know? He’s the one who brought me in anyhow. I’ve come looking for him this time. Right, I’ve looked around and discovered that this secret stronghold doesn’t seem to have any defensive capabilities. What’s going on here?”
“Heh heh, you’re a newbie alright. Come with me, I’ll show you around!” The skinny person adopted a tone of an elder as he led Han Shou in with a smile.