Re: Tales of the Rune-Tech Sage

Chapter 194: Field Trip Behind Enemy Lines

CH194 Field Trip Behind Enemy Lines

***

Two days later...

Alex was deep within Kellerman territory.

After the meeting with Earl Drake and the Fury Army’s military officers, Alex had been authorised to travel into enemy land in pursuit of the truth. He was to obtain the information he needed however he saw fit, so long as it brought clarity to his suspicions.

Of course, as Earl Drake’s heir, he had to first spend some time convincing the Earl’s vassals. They were staunchly opposed to the idea of sending the young lord of the family branch behind enemy lines.

Alex argued that he was the only one who knew the right questions to ask. There was no template he could pass on or prepare in advance. He needed to be present—on-site—to sense the flow of information and react accordingly. The questions would only arise in the moment, shaped by the opposition’s responses.

This reasoning didn’t satisfy the vassals. One after another, they proposed alternatives that didn’t involve Alex putting himself in harm’s way.

But their opposition could only go so far—especially in the face of Earl Drake’s own approval of his son’s audacious plan.

And so, Alex left the fort with Allen Holder, bound for an espionage-style operation deep within Kellerman lands.

Only Udara, his ever-present shadow guard, accompanied them in secret. The rest of his platoon had been left behind, unaware that their commander had even departed the fort.

Even Fen had been left behind.

The awakening of the Fire aspect of the wolf’s bloodline was imminent. Bringing such an unstable, volatile element into a mission that required subtlety and composure would’ve been far too dangerous.

To soothe the adolescent wolf—as it had grown and could no longer be called a cub—Alex had used his authority to secure access to a private cultivation chamber saturated with fire-elemental mana. He hoped it would accelerate Fen’s transformation.

At the very least, Fen seemed so comfortable in the chamber—despite his Ice affinity—that he forgave Alex for leaving him behind.

With that final detail settled, Alex, Udara, and Allen Holder mounted two specially trained gryphons—Alex and Udara sharing one—and took flight toward Kellerman territory.

The journey gave Alex a new understanding of why air travel wasn’t as common as one might expect.

He had never doubted that the mages and craftsmen of this world could create a flying vessel. After all, even sea-bound ships used levitation magic to glide more efficiently. Theoretically, adapting that same technology, at greater heights, to the skies shouldn’t have been too difficult.

But theory and practice were very different things.

Air travel was inherently perilous—for one reason above all: beasts.

Unlike on land, where magical creatures maintained rigid territories and predictable domains, airborne beasts had a far more fluid sense of territory. Their ”domain” was often a shifting aerial radius, moving as they moved.

And if the creature happened to be one of those apex predators that soared the skies with impunity, then its domain would never remain in a fixed location at all...

In such a fluid environment, it was difficult for most to see a viable market for air travel—one where profit might only be possible through large-scale operations, given the immense effort and resources required to make it sustainable.

For much of the journey, Allen Holder had to release his Saintly aura to keep airborne creatures from approaching them.

More often than not, regardless of race, most beings who had reached Class 5 rarely sought confrontation with others of their rank unless absolutely necessary.

As such, most Class 5 beasts they encountered simply ignored them, while those below Class 5 fled at their approach.

As for Class 6—Legendary beasts—those were hegemon powerhouses that would not stir unless it was worth their while. They were apex entities whose very emergence triggered distinct environmental phenomena, making them easy to detect and avoid... provided one hadn’t already caught their attention—or landed on their menu.

The entire trip was a revelation for Alex. His inventiveness surged as he pondered ways to tap into this obvious gap in the market.

Even if not for profit, the military implications alone of being able to deploy personnel and assets by air could not be overstated—especially in a world like this, where aerial forces were seen as the pinnacle of elite military units, if only due to their sheer rarity.

Alex barely noticed the two days pass before they entered the Kellerman heartlands.

Naturally, they didn’t fly straight into any major city. Instead, after the first day, they landed on the outskirts of a small resupply city. From there, they boarded a merchant carriage that had been pre-arranged by a Black Mantle operative.

By the following day, the trio had arrived at their destination.

Udara no longer bothered hiding in the shadows.

While it wasn’t without risk, trying to remain unseen could attract more attention than it avoided—especially from the more observant powerhouses within this major territory of the Kellerman fief.

It was more pragmatic to protect Alex openly in their current circumstances. Besides, Allen had identified her long before the journey even began, so there was little point in secrecy.

Following Allen’s suggestion, she donned leather armour and posed as a hired mercenary escorting a client on a merchant trip.

As for Alex, he dyed his hair black and adjusted his appearance slightly to reduce his resemblance to Earl Drake.

According to Allen, with the black hair and slight facial tweaks, no one within the Kellerman fief would recognise him as a Fury. His ruby-red eyes differed significantly from the intense crimson that marked the Furor bloodline, adding an extra layer of disassociation.

Under Udara’s insistence—and Alex’s casual agreement—they booked two separate rooms at an inn in Warlton City ahead of the operation, one shared by him and Udara.

The Kellerman family stood out amongst the nobility for several reasons—one of which was their peculiar practice of separating their political, administrative, and economic capitals.

This stood in stark contrast to the usual noble tradition of consolidating all three spheres into a single city directly under the family’s control.

What made this even more bizarre was the Kellermans’ strong advocacy for the concentration of power into a single family branch.

One would have expected them to centralise everything into one city as well. But reality, as always, was more complicated.

Fortunately for Alex, this oddity played to his advantage. It meant he didn’t have to reach too deep into the lion’s maw to get what he needed.

Warlton City served as the administrative and economic capital of the Kellerman Earldom. It was located roughly a hundred kilometres west of Warrington City—the political and military capital of the fief, and the seat of Earl Kellerman’s power.

It was for this reason that Warlton and Warrington were often referred to as the twin capitals of the Kellerman domain.

Back at the Dankrot North Fort, Alex had raised more than a few brows among the assembled military officers when he told them he wasn’t heading to Warrington, but to Warlton.

His stated reason? To ”ask” whether the Kellermans truly intended to attack Fury lands.

On the surface, war and conquest appeared to be matters of politics and military might. But from his past life’s experience, Alex knew better. Wars were, more often than not, administrative in origin—and always driven by economic motives.

Besides, none of the political or military leadership would give him the answers he wanted, even if he asked... ’nicely’.

Instead, his aim was to approach someone else who would give him the information he needed—without even realising they were doing so.

He reviewed a series of documents he had requested from Allen Holder. These were intelligence reports compiled by Black Mantle agents embedded within Kellerman territory.

The reports gave him the baseline knowledge required to approach his chosen target with the right questions.

Thanks to his Eidetic Memory, Alex quickly absorbed and internalised the information.

As midnight approached, the trio slipped out of the inn in silence.

[Silent Steps]

[Abyssal Conqueror’s Steps: Second Step – Phantom’s Veil]

[Shadow Stroll]

Each of them—Udara, Alex, and Allen—activated their high-grade stealth movement techniques, bypassing Warlton’s patrols as they headed towards a quiet residence tucked away near the city’s inner district.

The target was a modestly opulent bungalow, with a modest garden up front and thick greenery behind.

Its location spoke volumes—this was the sort of home that only an upper-middle-class citizen could afford, likely purchased after saving every coin across a lifetime.

The three Fury operatives exchanged glances in the moonlight.

Then, without a word, they moved in.

***