Chapter 244 (1/2)

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Chapter 244 – Secret Meeting with Emperor Kaglai

A man of small stature—if he were human, his looks would paint him as a young man—was sitting in front of his desk, writing. It was late at night. Magic lamps illuminated Emperor Kaglai G. Quinbland's room.

The light wasn't too bright, but unlike candles, it didn't sway in the light wind, producing only a fixed amount of brightness that dimly lit the chambers.

All of a sudden, Kaglai's hand stopped moving.「You have finally arrived. One day later and I would have left already.」

「That's one way of talking considering you're the one who called me.」

Kaglai turned around, seemingly unsurprised at the figure wearing a black cloak and a silver mask that appeared in the room out of nowhere.

Silver Face tossed a silver mask at Kaglai's feet, the one displayed on the palace gates for almost a month now.

「I could not think of any other way to contact you.」Kaglai said.

「It's not like I want people to call me all the time anyway.」

「Yet you came here. Why?」

「Hey, you're the one who called me here. I should be asking you that.」

「It was the same with Unken's case. You appear to not want to meddle in worldly affairs as much as possible, yet you delivered his letter to me. You did that for personal reasons, yes?」

He was right. Hikaru could've ignored the summons, yet he still came. He figured he could try to be more proactive, although not as much as Selica.

「Let's just say I'm doing this on a whim.」Hikaru dodged the question, not wanting to tell the truth.

「I see. That is fine. I have a favor to ask of you, Silver Face.」

「Of course you do. That's why you called me here.」

「I am heading to Vireocean and I want you to accompany me.」

As he suspected, it was indeed related to Vireocean.「Hmm.」

「You do not sound surprised.」

「I don't really know the details, though.」

「We depart at noon tomorrow. Come to the palace gates then.」

「Wait a minute. Why are you a.s.suming I'm going? Besides, this is all too sudden.」

Hikaru left Lavia and Paula in Pond since Drake was still asleep and moving with them would draw much more attention than going alone.

「I waited for you to come. Had you arrived a day later, I would have been long gone.」

The Emperor waited that long for Silver Face. He said he delayed his departure until the last minute, even going against his retainers' advice.

「Why would you even wait that long for me? It doesn't make any sense.」

「Perhaps. But the current situation requires me to go to Vireocean.」

「What in the world happened?」

「I will explain on the way… or I suppose you will not agree to that. I will tell you now.」

Kaglai stood up and brought a lamp to a small table carved with the map of the continent. The Imperial Capital was represented with an embedded gem.

「Do you know of the Ruined Continent?」

「Nope. No clue.」

Hikaru scanned his memories, but nothing came to mind. Even Roland, who received proper education as a n.o.ble, didn't have any information about it. Kaglai seemed to have expected his answer, however.

「What about Dew Roke?」

「I believe it's an island located to the east of Vireocean.」

Too big to be called an “island,” there was once a small country on it which was occupied in a past war and now a part of Vireocean's territory.

「Yes. This right here.」Kaglai said, pointing at a small circle at the easternmost part of the map. The map ended there.

「The Ruined Continent is over here.」