The Insider System

Chapter 419: Hidden Hostility Pt.1

After being brought to the healers, Lake passed on Nia to them before being asked to leave the room so they could work on her while protecting her modesty. If he had felt that the healers were untrustworthy, he would have probably denied their request for privacy, but he honestly didn't see them trying to kill Nia.

After waiting in a smaller room for a few minutes, Lake decided to use Mana Vision to look around but didn't really get to use his skill before the door opened, and the guard and Lucas walked in. "Master Lucas, I'm sorry to bother you, but I found one of your members and thought you might want to know."

The way Lake said this was weird, making them sound unfamiliar with one another, but he didn't want to give away too much before the guard left on the off chance taking Nia from Demon Worshipers would be a problem.

Lucas seemed to pick up on him pretending they didn't know each other because he responded similarly. "I thank you for the help. Were you able to get the name of the person you rescued?" Of course, Lake knew the name, but he had no way of saying this because Nia had been unconscious from the second he rescued her, so he said. "No, but the healers are working on her now, so I'm sure she'll be able to tell you herself soon enough."

"Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to ask if you'd like to see the Oracle guard you were here to meet earlier. I figured since you were already inside, meeting them would save you from needing to come back at a later date." Lake had expected this to happen when he decided to come in, but that didn't mean he had a response that didn't sound weird already ready.

"No, that's alright. I thought about it, and I'll come back the next time I'm in the city. I'm sure the guard's too busy to see me for something that can wait." After he finished speaking, Lake decided his excuse had actually sounded pretty good for something he came up with while saying it.

"Oh, Okay, I'll see you then." However, it didn't seem the guard had completely bought into it as they were giving him a confused look as they left the room. Deciding there was nothing that could be done about it since chasing after them to explain himself further would just make it worse, he just let them leave before turning to Lucas to say. "It's Nia."

He was probably going to leave soon to avoid whatever trouble could come about from his actions so far, so Lucas needed to know what was happening before he was gone. "Nia's alive? Are you sure it's actually her?"

Lake was decently sure because of finding her using Detector, so he nodded before saying. " She was being held captive by Demon Worshipers, and they have about 20 other prisoners, but I decided on only saving Nia because I didn't want to start a fight without making sure you were okay with it first."

Lake was sure there were at least a few other people there that Lucas would have liked saved, but at the time, he hadn't thought of using Detector to look for other members of The Alchemist Guild. "No, it's good that you didn't do anything to make them mad at us. I'm currently negotiating with both the Metal Domain and the Demon Worshipers in the Domain about how our business will be allowed to continue."

Lake was about to say that's what he figured was going on, but he felt a sudden spike in attention on him. he didn't know the exact cause, but Lake could guess the guard from earlier had told the Oracle guard that he was here before going back outside to guard the door.

The oracle card was aware that he was a member of the Temple of Light, which was the group that was holding the Oracle he was supposed to protect. "I need to leave now. I think they've realized I'm a member of the Temple of Light."

Lucas didn't say anything to stop him and just watched as he left the room. In the hall, Lake didn't see anyone around paying extreme attention to him, so he knew the Oracle guard hadn't yet sent out an order to capture him.

There was no guarantee this would ever happen, but Lake wanted to leave before it did, so he quickly headed towards the front door. About halfway there, he felt the attention spike again and assumed the guard had just asked for help in finding him, but it was already too late for them to catch him because, with just a small burst of speed, he made it to the front door before anyone tried to stop him.

A few seconds after he made it outside, Lake heard Lucas's voice in his head. "They just entered the room asking about you. I told them you rushed off soon after I thanked you for helping save the girl." Lake was sure the more intelligent people inside the temple would realize how odd it was that he'd randomly saved a member of the Alchemist Guild and that he'd known Lucas was there, but nothing completely condemning should be obvious.

It might also take them a while to notice these small things, but if they tried to accuse Lucas of working with the Temple of Light in some way, Lucas could just play along by pretending he found it weird as well, so there was very little chance his actions would reflect poorly on The Alchemist Guild.

They also had broken any rules that he was aware of, so even if Lucas just admitted he was a member of The Alchemist Guild as well, there was little they could do to make Lucas hand him over.

Leaving the city, Lake headed for a mountain nearby to pass the time until Lucas was ready. Finding a nice rock, he sat down and took out his map to see if he had been right about other members of the Alchemist Guild being kidnapped and held inside the city. After setting Detector, Lake saw three hot spots filled with multiple dots appear on the map.

"These are probably the prisons they have in the city." In total, it looked like there were around seven prisoners that belonged to the Alchemist Guild, and just out of curiosity, Lake set it to look for people from the Temple of Light. Surprisingly, only a single dot appeared on the map with this new setting.

He didn't understand why this would be the case, but he was sure the prisoner had been a part of the group the Temple of Light sent to help the Metal Domain because there had been no other Temple members in the city at the time of the crisis that he knew of.

After some time passed, Lake realized The Insider wasn't about to make him go and save them, and he switched his focus back to the Alchemist Guild. He'd just saved someone Millie cared about, and he couldn't help but think this would reflect positively on the types of food she would be making for him.

"Speaking of food." Taking the bread out of his bag, Lake tore a small piece off and made a mini sandwich using some of the other ingredients he had. When he was done, he had two bites worth of food, which he made last for around 10 minutes by taking small bites.

When he finished his food, he went back to playing with his map to see if there were other things he could find out about what was going on in the city. He really didn't want to get involved, but he knew The Insider would eventually have him go back to the Temple of Light, where he would benefit greatly from having the information.

In the next hours, Lake found a few interesting things; for example, Demon Worshiper spies throughout the city, more undead than he could count, and a small group of people from the Temple of Light on the outskirts of the city.

The last one interested him the most because it meant that either some of the people they'd sent days ago survived or the Temple had sent another group hoping to have a small foothold here in the metal domain, in case it became important.

Either way, all these things showed the war was still on, just being fought more quietly for the time being. The next hour passed in silence as Lake got bored of playing with the map. "I should bring a book next time just on the off chance this happens again."

"Lake, I'm on my way out of the city now." Hearing Lucas' voice once again, he used the mark placed on Lucas to see where the man was so they could meet soon after Lucas left the boundary of the city.