Age of Adepts

Greem easily made his way into Zola after paying the toll.

He spent half the day strolling through the city and quickly grew disappointed.

There was indeed a Holy Light Chapel in the city, but its scale was much smaller than the one in Hakans. Greem only felt a single Second Grade energy aura in the city, while the rest were all First Grade or lower.

After some hesitation, he gave up on the idea of attacking the chapel. Instead, he headed to a tavern at the eastern edge of the city.

Rose and Wine.

That was the name of the tavern. It sounded classy, but when Greem pushed open the two grimy doors and set foot within, he was immediately assaulted by the stench of cheap perfume, sweat, and the unique fragrance of oatmeal stouts. He frowned.

The sun had not even set, but the place was already filled with customers.

Greem was still dressed like a mercenary with a sword. His two-meter stature made him appear particularly intimidating, and he radiated a threatening aura just by standing in the dim entrance of the tavern.

Several muscular men who were hollering and swaying their way out of the doors ran into him. Their drunk eyes crossed the two cold eyes of the towering figure, and they immediately became half-sober.

These men were all members of the Willie Brotherhood in the downtown area of Zola City. They were typically rough and barbaric men and were known for being mean brawlers on the streets. Yet, for some reason, their hearts were beating wildly today just by running into this tall figure whose face they could not even see clearly. They stepped aside obediently and left the way to the counter open.

Everyone that Greem passed, be they passionate drunkards, waitresses with food on their trays, or even hooded figures whispering in the shadows, turned pale when he walked by them. They hastily got out of his way.

Many people who thought of themselves as courageous also instinctively stepped back only to realize their cowardice after the affair. However, while anger rose in their hearts and they prepared to rely on the alcohol in their system to start some trouble, their rising emotions were immediately quenched when they saw the towering back of that person once more.

The fat tavern owner wiped off the beads of sweat from his face with his oily rag and pushed a smile onto his face.

“This…sir, what are you looking for?”

It was obvious that Greem was a wandering mercenary from the way he dressed. However, when you stood in front of him and looked into his eyes, an indescribable spiritual pressure would fall upon you that was so dense that you felt like you were suffocating.

The difference in the lifeform level between them was too significant. Even when Greem tried his best to restrain his spiritual pressure and energy, ordinary people still could not remain calm when they stood in front of him.

“I need information.”

Greem was not trying to hide his intentions, either. He calmly stated his goal as he tossed a small bag onto the counter.

The crisp sound of coins rang as the bag fell on the grimy counter. The expression of the tavern owner immediately turned into a passionate one.

His right hand swiped across the counter with agility utterly disproportionate to his size, and the heavy bag vanished in an instant. He moved so quickly that even Greem somewhat suspected that he had ‘Thief’ as a secondary profession.

The fat meat on the owner’s face jiggled as he put on a fawning smile.

“Sir, do you see that skinny man in the corner. His name is Locke. He’s the leading source of information here in Zola. You can ask him anything you want. Don’t tell him I told you this, but he’s a senior member of the Little Knife Association!” Greem tilted his head and looked at the man in the corner of the tavern, even as he listened to the tavern owner’s rambling introduction.

It was a skinny man dressed in black clothes. He looked very ordinary, without any distinguishing characteristics on his entire person. Only his spirited and wandering eyes betrayed his sharp and agile mind.

Locke had already noticed Greem the moment he entered the tavern. He was now whispering with the companions beside him while glancing at Greem from the corner of his eyes. When Greem looked toward him at the tavern owner’s words, Locke couldn’t help but wince slightly.

Greem’s towering figure was already looming over Locke’s table before he could think of a way to slip out of the tavern. The massive shadow he cast caused the faces of everyone on the table to turn. Sweat started to appear on their foreheads.

“You are Locke? I need to buy some information from you!” Greem got straight to the issue, speaking with a tone as cold as ice.

Upon hearing that he was here for Locke, the other people who were dressed like him immediately vacated the table and left the space to the two of them.

“So you are here to buy information? That’s good, that’s good.” Locke relaxed as a fawning smile appeared on his sharp and skinny face, “How may I call you, sir? And what kind of information do you intend to purchase?”

“I want to know what happened in Hakans.”

The smile on Locke’s face instantly vanished when he heard Greem’s words, replaced by an unconcealable shock and terror. His gaze then wandered over Greem’s person with suspicion and shock before he softly whispered, “Sir, what you want to know is all classified information. The imperial intelligence officers have already warned us not to go snooping about the matter.”

“You mean…you have no idea at all?” Greem’s voice turned cold.

“Hehehehe. Sir, don’t look down on our Little Knife Association. We do have the information you want. The problem is that it’s limited to the Empire only. We can’t sell it any outsiders!”

Before Locke could finish speaking, a white crystal the size of a fist rolled across the table before him.

Even in this darkest corner of the tavern, where the pillars had obscured most of the light from the oil lamps, there was no hiding the unique magical light of the white crystal. The dim light immediately triggered magical energy resonance in the white crystal when it shone upon the gem, causing it to glow brilliantly and illuminate a good half of the tavern as if it was high noon.

The white crystal was a magical gemstone that was best used to absorb, gather, and magnify light. It was one of the best treasures that holy knights used to forge their high-grade holy weapons. As such, it was definitely worth a fortune in Henvic Plane.

Locke immediately dropped his calm facade and slipped the crystal under his shirt. The blinding white light finally faded once the crystal had been hidden from the light. The corner of the tavern turned dark once more.

The entire tavern had fallen silent. Several people who had been blinded by the light were rubbing their eyes while secretly glancing at them.

“That’s enough, more than enough. Sir, that is definitely more than worth the cost! But,” Locke explained with clenched teeth, “The Empire has reminded us to keep an eye for anyone who is looking for information on Hakans. As such, if I don’t know your identity, I…”

Locke’s words hung in midair.

The towering figure kept his back against the people in the tavern and held his right hand over his chest. A small, milky-white light slowly appeared on his palm. The white light was so pure and so holy that even Locke couldn’t help but let out a few prayers for the Holy Light in repentance of his past wrongdoings.

“So that’s who you are indeed! It’s much easier then. I won’t conceal anything. Just tell me what you want to know.”

Holy knights held tremendous influence in Henvic Plane that exceeded the worldly realm. The many virtuous, holy knights that willingly traveled the land to exterminate beasts, punish evil, and save the injured caused this group of righteous fighters to be accepted as the holiest profession by people from all walks of life.

Even someone like Locke, who walked in the shadows and darkness, showed due respect and admiration when he met a holy knight.

“Sir, I can’t take this. Just tell me what you want to know. I will help you to the best of my abilities.”

Greem shook his head and did not take the white crystal back. Instead, he started to ask some questions in a soft voice.

Several minutes later, Greem nodded in satisfaction and turned to leave the tavern.

Greem had already obtained the answers he wanted from Locke. As such, he no longer had a reason to stay in Zola. He bought two muscular horses, some food and water, and headed south out of the southern city gates.

The Little Knife Association was indeed a famous intelligence organization of the Zambez Empire. They might not have a perfect grasp of everything that happened in Hakans, but they had gotten the basics right.

The Zola City that Locke lived in was a good eight hundred kilometers away from Hakans. It had only been four days since the battle of Hakans, yet he already had such detailed information.

That was already unexpected for an underground organization that worked in the darkness!

Greem had managed to verify the trustworthiness of Locke’s information through this test. What he really wanted to know was not the Empire’s information on Hakans, but the location of the two Deceit Witches.

They had entered Henvic with him two months ago and were only scattered due to some unexpected factors. Greem heard from Locke that commotion seemed to have risen to the west of the Empire one month ago. Someone had reported the appearance of a witch there.

The Holy Light Chapel had sent a large group of holy knights to hunt down the witch and seemed to have trapped the enemy in a place known as the Forest of Darkness.

Greem felt like he needed to go there and investigate, regardless of whether the witch was actually Rena.