The Devil’s Cage

A secret door from the side of the foyer hall led them out.

Kieran was following Phandle, crossing through wriggly paths and ending up before a high tower.

The white tower was built using white marble, it was covered with green vines, climbing up through the seams and gaps and mixing with many mossy spots.

There wasn’t anything unusual about the high tower in Kieran’s eyes except its height.

Kieran raised his head and tried to spot the tip of the tower but even with his exceptional sight, he couldn’t.

All he could see was that the white tower pierced the clouds and blended together with the sky.

Kieran didn’t even conceal his shocked expression as he sized up the tower before him, seemingly connecting the heaven and earth.

He was certain when he arrived on the Sanctuary Island, there wasn’t a tower like this. In fact, let alone boarding the island, one would easily spot the ridiculously tall tower from the sea.

”Covered by some kind of illusion magic?”

Kieran guessed and at the same time speculating the story behind the tower and its purpose.

After all, even for the mystical realm, it was not an easy feat to cover a tower of such height and after building one like this, it must serve a purpose.

A prison? It would be a joke to place the prisoners in such a high tower, an underground dungeon would be more effective and simple.

”What is it for then?” Kieran guessed.

He kept moving forward, following behind Phandle and reached the entrance of the tower.

The seemingly old weathered wooden door was pushed open, leading both of them inside.

The moment Kieran stepped foot into the tower, he clearly felt a that someone’s gaze glance over him. Although it went off like a spark, the vigilance behind the gaze was very obvious.

”Guards!” Kieran laid an interesting gaze at the shadowy spot inside the high tower.

Their identity was almost certain but what caught Kieran’s interest was the hiding technique presented.

Kieran had not seen much of the Sanctuary members but neither had he seen too little of them, yet whether Smulder the current Holy Knight or the common knights-in-reserve, every one of them presented a straightforward battle style, preferring to be in the light side and a hiding technique such as this was the first encounter within Sanctuary premises.

Subconsciously, it reminded Kieran of Guntherson, the old knight of Dawn. Sharing the same identity as knight, he was skilled in a frontal assault yet possessed the skillsets of an assassin.

Though, the guards and Guntherson were different. Guntherson was forced to change his battle style, but what about the guards?

No doubt they were purposely trained.

”The shadow under the light eh?” Kieran muttered in his heart and switched his attention back to Phandle.

If there was darkness brewing within the Sanctuary, Kieran would definitely pick Phandle as the suspected target. His shameless and basically zero baselines fit all the criteria.

Phandle received Kieran’s dubious gaze but still presented his kind and warm expression.

”Hugh, please head up here, Ohara is waiting for you.”

Phandle said before heading towards the entrance of the tower.

It seemed like he wasn’t prepared to accompany Kieran from that point onwards.

Kieran squinted his eyes and went on the only flight of stairs that led up.

The stairs abruptly stopped after one single round and at the end of the stairs was a wooden door. Kieran wasn’t surprised at all at the structure.

”I see now!”

If the only flight of stairs could really connect the entire high tower, Phandle wouldn’t let Kieran go up alone. Though, whether it was the stairs that were covered by some illusion magic or there was another flight of stairs that connected the entire tower, Kieran’s attention was already placed on the wooden door before him.

Behind the wooden door was definitely Ohara.

Kieran couldn’t help but take a deep breath when his mind reminded him of her frenzied face that concealed her real age. Persuading a lady who was crazy over relationship problems was not an easy task.

Kieran stood before the wooden door, his mind had prepared a couple of plans for him to proceed and after running through all his plans by himself, he knocked on the door.

Dong, Dong Dong!

The clear knocking noise sounded on the wooden door upon contact.

”Come in.”

To Kieran’s surprise, the person inside gave a reply.

He knocked on the door out of manners and habits, he’d never expected any reply from a person who shut herself away from others.

With the surprise lingering in his head, he opened the door.

A room filled with books revealed itself before Kieran. The racks and study table were the only furniture inside, other than that, the books inside were scattered everywhere, some being in a row, some being piled up high, some neatly arranged, some messy.

Ohara was sitting among the books, reading a black leather skinned book in her hand.

When she saw Kieran entered the room, she softly said, ”Did Phandle persuade you to be here?”

Her voice was calm, even as far as feeling cold; her face was showing a casual expression, seemingly not caring about Kieran at all.

The rage and frenzy from the first encounter were absent altogether, yet the calmed Ohara made Kieran frown.

Although the moment Kieran heard Ohara’s reply on the knock, he knew things would unfold beyond his expectation yet when he saw Ohara’s condition with his own eyes, he realized he was being too optimistic.

To be honest, persuading a lady who was crazy over her relationship was no easy feat but would persuading a lady who was calm be any easier? It might be even more difficult.

At least going crazy because of a relationship problem, she might be blinded by her sudden emotions and her judgment would be clouded, if that was the case, all Kieran had to do was to get a grip of a certain point in the relationship to form a channel of communication. It might be hard but not impossible.

Though when such a person calmed down, the situation would drastically change.

A clear mind with decisive judgment would allow her to form layers of mental barriers, defending her own emotions and blocking all possible channels of communication. More importantly, after Ohara’s question, Kieran realized all the plans that he prepared had been rendered useless.

Kieran’s head was spinning fast, trying to improvise against Ohara who had no trouble, or taboo in speaking of that matter. At the same time, Kieran blasted out what he could.

”Phandle? That shameless bastard reinstated the definition of shameless in my mind but from a certain aspect, his almost non-existence baseline made a deep impression on me as well. I’ve promised him to talk to you so he could grant me access to the Hall of Legacy and all the records regarding Saint Thorns. He highly claimed that I am the reincarnation of that Holy Knight Hugh but at a different perspective in this bargain, it seems like the one he cared about most is you.”

”You do know the Sanctuary is in big trouble right? Your collaborator has really caught them off guard, Simon, and Maya, the other Archdeacon’s ambushing plans were forced to a stalemate, even dragging Smulder into the fight right after he woke up. At this point, a full-scale war between the Sanctuary and West Coast Government is inevitable!”

Kieran wanted to just brush her off with some stories but eventually turned into a statement of the situation. It was soon enough for Kieran to realize the lady before him was no ordinary woman.

She was Ohara, one of the three Archdeacons of the Sanctuary. Maybe her specialty wasn’t placed in battle but the fact that she was able to take up the position, how could she be an idiot?

The answer was no! So, some lies and trick of words will not work at her, it might even be a burden for Kieran.

Rather than risking a negative effect, might as well spill the whole truth before her. Maybe it might still be hopeful but it seemed that Kieran might have underestimated her point of conflict.

”What does that has to do with me? If you are done, please leave! A reincarnated Holy Knight and imprisoned sinner that committed great mistakes being together in a room is nothing honorable!” Ohara said directly.

Kieran frowned, but soon enough, he had a grasp of the clues from her words, thus easing his furrowed brows.