1367: Motive

Motive

After the occasion commemorating Ruth's advance, Minos returned to his work, dealing with matters concerning mainly his army.2

He had constantly been getting his men to spread stories throughout the empire, something he wanted to use to contact the Spiritual Sage helping Abe.

Abe on his own was tricky since this fellow had specialized in running away since the event in the Vogel capital. But without the Spiritual Sage who would save him in certain situations, that former prince could be taken down after some work.

The problem was that no amount of work would be worth it if he were somehow rescued every time. So Minos devised a plan to try to communicate with the Spiritual Sage in question to get this individual away from Abe.

He would not be able to get close to someone at the 9th stage, so the only way Minos had thought of had been precisely through rumors.

The Spiritual Sage could be powerful and not even need to sleep or have mortal activities, such as eating. But people hardly ignored society altogether, for the most part, always having at least their ears to it.

Minos was aware of this and expected at least a sign from this individual who had been standing in his way for months.

...

While Minos was leading his efforts in Dry City, the Spiritual Sage of the Eastern Empire had already heard some rumors circulating throughout that empire.

But he was not interested in anything of the sort, even considering some unusual stories that had reached him.

He was fully aware of who he was working for and was in this state only to keep an eye on Abe and keep that individual alive. Hence, he would not approach Minos without reason highly connected to that fellow from the Vogel family.

"Sigh..."

'It's just a shame that I have to stay in those areas just because we need this guy.' This expert lamented in his mind, remembering what he had heard when he came to these areas.

Abe's importance to the group he represented was an excuse. That is, the organization he represented had some non-aggression agreements with the Spiritual Church that greatly limited their action against the interests of the other party.

But the parties' agreement had its weaknesses. One of them, the easiest to use, was precisely the one that involved using someone not connected to them, who had a real motivation, other than crystals, in coming to this region and causing trouble.

Therefore, as long as Abe existed, they could use contacts to get the crystals to this individual, and he would be able to do the damage he wanted. At the same time, this organization searched for what it was after.

If Abe ceased to exist, they would not have that option. Entering the northern region as they were currently doing could be risky. That is, it would not be the Church acting against them, but a fucking lightning punishment!

That was the point. Abe was an individual with the will, who had not been bought, and who led the whole thing virtually single-handedly. 

Could there be others like this young Vogel with the same characteristics?

Of course!

The problem would be for these influential people to find some other of these people!

But not only that, Abe had been raised to be a king and someone from nearby. In other words, he knew the area and the population's mentality.

In this way, he had more than just will. Abe had knowledge favorable to a conflict, something the organization behind this man wanted to happen for as long as possible.

On the other hand, it was only on Abe's account that the Spiritual Church did not act in this situation. After all, he was outside the bounds of their agreement without changing their contractual obligations.

In this way, the Church had a temporary defeat because of Abe's existence and because he had found the 'right' people.

That's why the current situation is so complicated!

'This situation is really complicated... We have many teams looking for the damn map of the Ancient Seraphim Sarcophagus, but there is no sign of it.' He made a strange expression as he pondered the purpose of his organization coming to this area.

'It's as if the fucking map has been taken to another dimension...'

He sighed once again, not understanding how his organization's search devices could fail.

The Church was searching for an ancient item that led to a location that belonged to the Church itself. But by a twist of fate, those who had the means to find this map were the members of this Eastern Empire organization!

They had been involved in a situation millions of years ago, something that coincidentally placed some of the members of this organization in the vicinity of where the Ancient Seraphim had been 'buried.'

At that time, these people had secretly left behind a tracking item that had copied the signs of the map in question.

Through this ancient device, the current members of this organization could go after the map with relative ease.

It was only a pity for them that only in the last decade had they found out about such a thing and the current plans of the imperial family of the Evergreen Empire...

'I wonder where it is? Did those things in the North Sea find it before we did?'

...

Meanwhile, inside the Spatial Kingdom, Sarah was sitting on the floor of one of the lake house offices, playing with a piece of cloth in her little hands.

"Mama, look..." She rolled such a piece of cloth into a cylindrical tube and placed it in front of one of her eyes to watch her mother.

Gloria saw that and smiled at her daughter. "Very good, little Sarah." This redheaded woman ignored what that was, considering that the one manipulating was just a child, unable to damage that item of Minos.

'It's probably nothing...' She looked at that once more and went back to making some reports of local situations to send to Spiritual Church headquarters.

Gloria had already requested reinforcements from the Church headquarters, as well as an intervention regarding just the Spiritual Sage who had been hindering them from achieving their current goal.

But unfortunately, the Church refused whenever she asked, only saying that the current circumstances were not favorable for action from headquarters.

Since she was only a low-level Matriarch, Gloria could not question much else and tried to appeal to luck and get someone interested in acting individually.

'Unfortunately, there are few Spiritual Sages who are mercenaries in the Central Continent...' She sighed while ignoring Sarah's noises. 'If it were on the Divine Continent, we would find a few such individuals capable of attending to us.'

'It's just a shame we're too far away and don't have the means to hire people like that.'

They could use the same weapon that Abe was using. But unlike this individual who had gone to the Western Empire and made his connections, Minos had done no such thing. So, he could hardly get someone reliable without first making a similar trip.

Hence, for them, it was pretty risky to hire mercenaries from afar, which was why they had been keeping up with the current situation.

'Perhaps Minos should become the master of the Gray Clouds Sect to solve these terrorist attacks?' This Matriarch wondered, thinking of ways to help her family.

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