The Devil’s Cage

Kieran and Wilberst walked past each other in the darkness.

Grak!

A clear cracking noise later, Wilberst’s neck snapped into bits.

Wilberst, his mouth wide open, fell to the ground. His face still had that fearful, disbelieving look from the moment before his death, thinking he shouldn’t have died like this.

All he had wanted was a chance to speak and he had confidence that he could persuade Kieran, just like he always had.

As long as he remained breathing, he would rise again another day.

Besides, he thought Kieran would give him a chance to speak, unless…

Kieran wasn’t curious about what happened.

Humans are curious animals.

Wilberst believed Kieran was one as well, so when Kieran walked over to him, he already had an excuse in his mind, the very reasonable kind.

But before the words even came out, he was welcomed by death.

Why?

Why did it end like this?

With a pair of wide eyes absent of any signs of life, it was like Wilberst was still questioning Kieran.

Kieran?

He ignored the gaze. He not only took the cone from Wilberst, but also ripped the silver softmail from him.

[Name: Silver Sanction Replica]

[Type: Softmail]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Defense: Strong]

[Attribute: 1. Blood Kin Repel 1/2; 2. Werewolf Repel 1/2]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Remark: It is a replica of a piece of equipment once worn by a legendary Monster Hunter. It’s a lot weaker than the original but still effective against Blood Kin and Werewolves.]

…

[Blood Kin Repel: Under the silver brilliance, Blood Kin attacks below Advance Ranks will be nullified and will receive Strong reflection damage. 1 minute duration]

[Werewolf Repel: Under the silver brilliance, Werewolves will be forcefully reverted to their human form. 1 minute duration]

……

After a glance at [Silver Sanction Replica], Kieran looked further away.

A group of fully armed Special Affairs members were shuttling through the dark and heading toward the graveyard quickly. The leader of the group was a commissioner that he had met once before: Beadles.

When he saw Kieran, Beadles immediately showed a flattering smile. “Good evening, Lord D. Is it dealt with?”

A greeting before the question.

“En,” Kieran nodded.

The commissioner quickly went over to Wilberst’s body; he was stunned after a quick check.

“Wilberst?! How could it be him?” He looked at Kieran, hoping for an answer.

“How could it not be him?” Kieran asked back.

“But, isn’t he dead?” The commissioner became more confused.

“Quaker Wilberst is also dead but is that really him under the grave? During the first meeting, ‘Wilberst’ here showed sufficient sadness and anger. So given the circumstances, he should have at least cleaned his son’s grave properly—this grave had been visited before, but that was a very long time ago.

“I’m afraid that after the day of the service and when they buried the body, no one cared about Quaker Wilberst anymore, including his father who vowed to avenge his son,” Kieran said calmly.

“So, there is no such thing as Wilberst killing Hardy Lynne to avenge his son? But.. how do you know that Cook and Wilberst were seeing each other? In order to keep it a secret, their meetings would have had to be very secretive, and no one should have been able to notice.” The commissioner continued asking about the parts that baffled him.

“The smell. The smell of Cook’s cigar. I got the same smell from ‘Wilberst’ before. With that as a start, after connecting both of them together and a little more deducing, the picture was clarified immensely.”

“I see.” The commissioner nodded in realization.

He then looked at the cone in Kieran’s hand.

“That is the item that the lord is seeking, can you…”

Before he could finish, Kieran stuffed the cone into Beadles’ arms.

After comparing the cone with the information at hand and making sure it was the same, the commissioner showed a smile.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done for the lord,” the commissioner said while bowing to Kieran. After the respectful bow, the commissioner looked up at the dark night sky.

“It’s almost midnight,” he said suddenly.

Then, he continued on to say, “Nothing, I’m just exclaiming how surreal all of this is. Everything seems a little too easy, just like how I never thought you could bring this thing out from there.”

The commissioner then shook his head in praise as if Kieran had made some remarkable feat.

“Is it because of the secret inside? Or… some rules?” Kieran squinted at the man.

“You know about all of this as well? Well, I guess that was inevitable! Given how smart you are, you must have started suspecting something when Syro Derl died a horrible death after using the mystical power. There is indeed a rule inside there, a hateful rule that was set by the previous generation of rulers of Eiders.”

The commissioner showed an abhorrent and mocking expression. Then he seemed to realize it was disrespectful to show such an expression before Kieran, so he put it away and put on his flattering smile once more.

“Like?” Kieran asked.

“Like? There are too many things, to the point that I don’t have time to tell you everything. After all… It’s midnight, you should rest now.”

The commissioner then grinned widely; his feet did not move but his person retreated backward like the wind, taking the cone along with him.

The Special Affairs Division members around the graveyard launched their attack.

Fire!

A sea of fire like divine flames fell from the sky and drowned Kieran completely.

And this controlled fire didn’t just simply burn its prey. The fire formed mystical runes and danced in the darkness like fire sprites, raising the temperature of the fire.

The scarier thing was, a blurry figure was growling at the sky from inside the sea of fire. It was like the overlord of the flames, not just burning to death with its breath, but also not leaving cinders behind.

“The ice covered in flames, other than becoming a puddle of water… No, no, my bad, I said it wrong. How could you become a puddle of water? You will be vapourized into steam!”

As he told his lousy joke, the commissioner looked at the blazing scene again, his face showing a malicious smile.

He then turned around and walked to the darkness beside him.

In that dark spot, there were two people. One was a Special Affairs member on guard duty and the other was an unconscious person on the ground.

The commissioner’s malicious smile grew wider when he saw the unconscious person on the ground.

“Did you really think that you could stop me by putting yourself in a coma? Or do you think I really have no idea how to get around the rules set by the old bastards from the previous era? You are too naive, so naive that I thought I might be stopped by some guy jumping out from a secluded corner. But in reality? How could the ‘person’ you mentioned appear? Or should I say, how could the ‘person’ appear without my knowing? This is such a good joke! My stomach even hurts!”

After all the ranting, the commissioner laughed in an irritating way, but before his tears could roll down, a calm voice entered his ears suddenly.

“Is that so?”