The Devil’s Cage

A slot for baptism?

Kieran was stunned. He wasn’t a stranger regarding baptism matters.

Back in Nikorei’s book collection, there was an abundance of introductions to such rituals. However, Kieran didn’t know that stealing the Holy Thorn Grail was just to get a slot in the baptism.

More importantly, the people that could hold a baptism ritual…

The gears in Kieran’s mind spun fast as he looked down at Mizelle with colder eyes.

“Baptism? What kind of joke is this? Baptism for a bunch of thieves? You think your childish tricks can deceive me? Or did me keeping you alive give you a wrong impression of me?” Kieran stepped harder on the palm.

“My lord! My lord! I dare not deceive you! That person can really hold a baptism ritual! I saw it with my own eyes! That is why I decided to be a part of this!” Mizelle explained quickly.

“The baptism ritual has been held?” Kieran squinted his eyes.

“Y-Yes! The two core members had held a baptism the second day the Holy Thorn Grail was stolen. Me and a few others stood aside and witnessed the process with our own eyes! And he promised us that if we carried out the mission as ordered, he will perform a baptism on us as well!”

Mizelle nodded repeatedly.

“How many of you?” Kieran continued.

“Six! Including the four outer rim members. Other than me, the remaining three are carrying out other missions,” Mizelle answered honestly.

“What missions?”

This time, Mizelle was a little hesitant but when the pain in his wrist increased, he chose to compromise.

“Their mission is to intercept and kill a itinerant merchant and take his disguise to enter Naveya City! After meeting up with us, we will leave Naveya using that merchant’s identity!”

Mizelle spilled all he knew.

Kieran then continued questioning Mizelle. On top of what he got from Mizelle, he added more information from what he had gotten just to make sure.

After making sure everything, Kieran knocked the man out.

“You can come out now,” Kieran said.

Starbeck carefully walked out of the shadows.

Although Starbeck was extremely short of Golden Skill Points, he still could rely on his Points and Skill Points to increase his [Undercover] to Musou level, together with some other techniques, Starbeck’s [Undercover] currently wasn’t all that weak compared to common Transcendence.

Unfortunately, it felt outrageously wrong for a cowardly person to have such good techniques.

Starbeck was in [Undercover] mode a moment ago, the silence of his presence should feel like a great thief hiding in shadows but instead he looked like a quail freezing in the wind.

Shivering and trembling non-stop.

Looking at Starbeck, Kieran quietly shook his head before telling him, “This is our lodging spot for the next two days. This guy has some stored food and water, you can even use his bed if you like.”

“T-Thanks.”

Starbeck stuttered his gratitude before climbing up to the bed but he didn’t go to sleep right away. He shrunk at a corner of the bed like a little chicken that had just left its nest. He was looking at Kieran carefully.

“Don’t worry. We are both on the same boat, we are bound together for good or bad. I won’t give up on your if there is no absolute threat to my own life. So you better listen to what I say and don’t go making your own decisions, understand?”

Kieran gave his promise to Starbeck.

“I understand.” Starbeck spoke clearly when the matters were related to his life.

“Can you tell me more about Broker? You can skip the parts where you are restricted by the contract.” Kieran pulled over a chair and sat in front of Starbeck.

Kieran always treated every enemy with caution, let alone Broker who had the utmost cunning and was always in hiding. So, Kieran wouldn’t give up any chances he had to ask more about the guy.

“I don’t know much about Broker. Most of what I know are my own guesses during our trades. Only during our first few deals, he displayed some of his abilities in a certain area just to get close to me and quickly gain my trust. When you paid a certain cost, you can get the “system”‘s help, including buying the things that are usually not for sale and delay the time of the cyber law enforcer’s appearance in the big city,” Starbeck answered.

Kieran had his own guesses about what Starbeck said, so he wasn’t really surprised but he was still very concerned.

“These abilities came from his Unique Title? Then when did he find out that you had the [Blade of the Daybreaker (Main Scroll)]?” Kieran asked.

“I don’t know! I got the [Blade of the Daybreaker (Main Scroll)] during the trial dungeon and before knowing that you had the sub scroll, I never told anyone before! But…”

“I feel that Broker already knew all of these from the start,” Starbeck said with a bitter smile.

“Is it also because of his Unique Title?” Kieran frowned.

“I don’t know! After I completed the trial dungeon and was feeling lost, Broker took the initiative and approach me and we started our first deal. And I am not the only one Broker approached, back then he would purposely find other players to trade with them. Now those players that he once traded have become quite well-known. So my own guess is, Broker must have been able to see other player’s ratings or rewards after the first trial dungeon by paying a certain cost.”

Starbeck shook in uncertainty when he stated his theory.

Kieran however didn’t want to comment on Starbeck’s uncertainty. He’d never deny Broker had a unique eye to things, whether was it relying on his own abilities or his Unique Title to locate all these players that were worth his investment, Kieran was not surprised at all but he didn’t care about all that.

Kieran had branched out to other aspects from Starbeck’s statement.

“Those players that Broker approached, did anyone of them die of accidents?” Kieran asked.

“Yes! I’ve paid attention to those players before, a lot of them disappeared in the underground game and a part of the disappearances were related to Broker but most of them died off in their own single player dungeon!”

Starbeck replied before even filtering his thoughts.

When Kieran heard his reply, he was slightly relieved.

“Thank God! Otherwise I would have to consider whether it would be better for me to surrender willingly. Trying to win against an opponent that has full preparation beforehand is hard but it’s much better than facing an opponent that can see the future!” Kieran said with a laugh.

“Then what should we do?”

Starbeck was much more open when he saw Kieran laughed.

“Rest, and wait.”

Kieran then looked at the unconscious Mizelle.

In order to move around Naveya City freely, getting a new and reliable identity was crucial and being an itinerant merchant was quite a decent option.