Child of Destiny

Felix and Felicia, who were hiding behind the rock formations some distance away from the oasis, observed the approaching caravan.

At least a dozen carriages were lined up beside the oasis. Each one carried several barrels of varying sizes, which were used to store the water they collected before transporting it back to the fortress.

Like the other oases scattered throughout the Green Marbly Kingdom, this one was protected by a magic formation with several designated entrances.

These special entrances were the only points through which the oasis could be accessed, allowing the NPCs to enter and collect its precious water.

The long caravan was lined up before one of these entrances, patiently waiting for its turn to enter.

The NPCs guarding the carriages remained highly vigilant despite knowing that they were in complete control of the surrounding area.

That alone demonstrated how important this operation was to them.

After all, within the Green Marbly Kingdom, water remained one of the most vital resources, regardless of how many minerals and other unique resources the kingdom produced.

”It looks like they’re collecting more water in the afternoon than in the morning,” Felix commented after observing the long caravan beside the oasis.

He recalled the reports shared by the Deicide operatives before mumbling, ”It seems to be almost twice the amount according to the data we have.”

”That’s only natural,” Felicia nodded before continuing. ”They need enough to last through the night as well.”

”But do they really need that much water at night?” Felix asked before quickly adding, ”Moreover, they’ve been collecting water every day.”

”They can’t be wasting that much water. Otherwise, why would they need to gather this much every single day?” he asked.

Water was far too valuable a resource for everyone within the kingdom, so they had to remain mindful of how much they consumed and stored.

Felicia then turned her gaze toward the massive fortress not far from the oasis.

”Well... to support a fortress of that size, they should have a fixed schedule for every household and facility inside.”

Hearing this, Felix could only nod in agreement.

...

In the meantime, Shin and Diablo were already moving under stealth as they made their way toward the caravan.

Logically, moving under stealth was extremely difficult in certain environments where one’s movements could be easily detected, such as swamps or shallow water. Any unusual movement could create disturbances on the surface, immediately exposing an intruder.

The same was true for places where individuals could easily leave footprints, such as snowy fields or scorching deserts.

Moving across such terrain inevitably left traces that a sufficiently vigilant and observant opponent could identify.

Fortunately, both Shin and Diablo were masters of light-footed movement. Even while traversing the desert, they were able to move across the sand without leaving any obvious traces behind.

The soles and toes of their feet barely sank into the sand as they moved, allowing them to pass without leaving noticeable footprints.

Moreover, they could use the existing tracks left by the caravan and its escorts to conceal their own movements.

Combined with their powerful stealth abilities, getting close to the caravan was relatively easy.

The two swiftly approached the largest carriages, which were carrying the biggest barrels in the convoy.

Shin knew that poisoning every water supply in the caravan would be impossible, even if he had brought enough bottled poison.

Covering the entire convoy would require too much time and effort, and the two of them simply didn’t have enough manpower to handle everything.

Instead, Shin decided to target the largest barrels.

After all, it was only natural that these larger water supplies would be reserved for the most important facilities and households within the fortress.

The greater the amount of water being delivered, the more important the destination was likely to be.

Shin also suspected that these oversized barrels were intended for the high-ranking officials within the fortress, especially after noticing that the carriages carrying them were using a different entrance from the rest of the convoy.

The two godly experts encountered no trouble during their infiltration.

They swiftly made their way through the area, silently observing the personnel gathering the water while remaining in stealth. At the same time, they tried to gather as much information as possible from the idle conversations between the guards and the convoy personnel.

Unfortunately, they weren’t able to obtain much useful information that could directly assist them with the operation.

Still, they managed to piece together a few important details.

Shin then sent a message to Diablo through their team channel.

Sickarius: Diablo, take that wagon bearing the special crest. The water it’s carrying is most likely intended for someone important inside the fortress.

Sickarius: Once you’re inside, prioritize locating the fortress leader. Use the Knockout Potion we obtained from Adept Hands when you get the chance.

Sickarius: We need to make sure he’s unconscious—or at least incapacitated and unable to move freely—before we begin the next stage of the operation.

Given Diablo’s class and unique abilities, he was the most suitable person to track down the leader of the remnant faction.

He might not be able to fight a nearly Level 300 Grand Marshal-ranked NPC, let alone a King-Class NPC, in terms of raw attributes.

However, he would have little trouble escaping if he were discovered.

Diablo: Roger that.

Diablo replied without hesitation before immediately carrying out Shin’s instructions.

At the same time, Shin selected another carriage bearing a different crest from the one he had pointed out to Diablo.

It wasn’t long before the collection of water was completed.

The carriages immediately lined up again, where specialists and guards inspected each shipment.

Once they confirmed that everything was in order, the caravan began moving again, heading back toward the fortress.

The moment the caravan reached the fortress gate, every shipment was thoroughly inspected once again to ensure that nothing was amiss and that no one had managed to sneak into the convoy.

The guards even used special identification tools and detection spells on every NPC and carriage, demonstrating just how tight the fortress’s security was.

However, no matter how thorough a security system was, there were always brief windows of opportunity whenever the personnel shifted their attention from one carriage to another.

Shin and Diablo were able to recognize those openings immediately thanks to their experience and abilities.

Long before the security personnel finished inspecting the carriages carrying their targets, the two had already slipped out of them and moved into nearby blind spots.

They concealed themselves among the surrounding structures under their stealth and waited patiently as the inspections continued.

Whenever a guard moved away after completing his search, they quietly advanced to the next position.

Whenever another group of inspectors approached, they would disappear into the shadows before anyone could notice them.

They repeated this process several times, gradually moving deeper into the fortress without ever crossing the same security checkpoint twice.

Their timing had to be precise.

A single mistake would be enough to expose them.

Fortunately, both Shin and Diablo had extensive experience with infiltration. They could read the guards’ movements, recognize their patrol patterns, and predict where their attention would shift next.

Most importantly, once a carriage had already been cleared, the guards had little reason to inspect it again.

They had already confirmed that nothing was wrong with its contents.

Thus, the moment the inspectors moved on, Shin and Diablo used that brief lapse in attention to slip farther inside.

By the time the security personnel completed their inspection of the entire convoy, the two had already been brought deeper into the fortress by the very carriages that they had just checked.

While being transported deeper into the fortress, Shin immediately realized that its facilities were far more advanced than he had initially expected.

Not only were there multiple military posts scattered throughout the fortress, but there were also numerous cannon towers positioned across the area, providing overlapping coverage over nearly every corner of the fortress.

”Tsk! Tsk! As expected of a wealthy organization,” Shin clicked his tongue as he observed the fortress’s interior. ”Don’t tell me they’ve invested all the money they’ve stolen into their military strength and the defenses of this fortress?”

”Are they really that afraid of Big Sis?” he mumbled, becoming curious about how Shiella had dealt with these ’traitors’ after the coup within the Silver Knives for them to be this well prepared for a possible retaliation.

Just as Shin and the others had initially suspected, the carriages were separated after entering the fortress and sent toward different destinations.

Some were brought toward the residential districts, while others headed toward the military facilities.

The larger carriages bearing different crests, however, were taken toward the deeper sections of the fortress.

This made it much easier for Shin and Diablo to infiltrate the inner parts of the fortress.

Not long after, several potential target locations appeared before Shin.

After following one of the routes taken by his carriage, Shin immediately jumped off and disappeared into a nearby alley.

He had already given Diablo his primary objective. Now it was time to take care of his own.

His first target was the massive building standing before him.

”Based on the conversations I’ve heard... this should be the main canteen of the fortress, right?”

......