Rising god
Chapter 43: Mortuary Ruin

Chapter 43: Mortuary Ruin

Baines left the Orion Assembly with a quiet, steady pace, exiting through a different passage that opened discreetly to the outside of the building.

The exchange had cost him a pill, but it was worth every grain of its composition. He had information now. The organizations and powers involved and the result of their fall. With a face unreadable as stone, he re-entered the Harper Hawks building to find Sir Dolik waiting.

The knight stood in the same spot, hands behind his back.

’Where did he go?’ Dolik mused, narrowing his eyes. He could sense the faint shift in energy around Baines, but he remained silent. As a guard, he wasn’t entitled to questions. He was there to follow, then figure out the rest from clues.

Still, Dolik’s instincts were sharp, he knew something had transpired.

"I lost interest in the vacation," Baines said flatly, brushing past him and heading toward the carriage. "I’m returning."

Dolik blinked, caught off guard by the sudden change.

A few hours ago, the young warrior had spoken of rest and exploration. Now, he was already heading back.

The worst part was, Baines didn’t even bother crafting a believable excuse.

Something in that attitude unsettled Dolik more than any lie could have.

I don’t owe you an explanation.

That was how he perceived it, but Dolik said nothing and followed silently, still uncertain whether Baines was hiding secrets or simply living in one.

Back at the Darkan family estate, when questioned about the abrupt return, Baines gave the same simple answer: "I lost interest."

Everyone with half a brain knew better. He went to do something, possibly related to the people he was looking for, but what could they do?

What even made it more obvious was that he requested his vacation to be put on hold and that he would go again when he was ready.

But the family accepted it to let the matter rest.

...

In the privacy of his room, Baines unfurled a large parchment from his coat and spread it across the floor.

The paper, worn but carefully preserved, covered a span of two full meters. It was filled with drawings carved around, little magic circles which showed descriptions, and markings of possible changes that might have occurred due to time.

It was the most accurate draft of the world that the Orion assembly had with them.

He placed his hand on it.

"Eye, scan."

[SCANNING...]

[SCAN COMPLETE]

[REQUESTING TO TRANSFER INFORMATION]

"Do it."

Pain surged through his nerves as streams of encoded knowledge wormed their way into his consciousness. He gritted his teeth, growling through the burning sensation behind his eyes.

Two minutes later, his irises returned to their normal hue.

He exhaled deeply, then opened his eyes wide to behold the mental picture now engraved into his memory.

"So, this... is the world."

Until now, Baines had only vague ideas of geopolitical borders and global powers. His knowledge had been narrow, limited to the free principalities where he was from, the Solaris Empire, and a few other places. But now? Now he could see the vastness of the world and its intricate layers.

And if there was one thing he didn’t expect, it was that the Solaris Empire, which had always seemed large in his imagination, appeared modest on the global scale.

Compared to the Lunar dominion or even the ruins of Ashenfall, which they were the closest to, the empire was smaller and weaker in comparison.

He also saw another empire that spanned a continent, the locations of many kingdoms, organizations, hidden and not, and their descriptions.

It was good information, but none of this was the reason he had acquired it.

He drew another object from within his robe, a leather-bound book, old and almost forgotten.

This book was among the collections gathered by his ancestors, and it contained predicted locations of treasures around the world by a genius law reader.

"Eye, scan."

[SCANNING...]

[SCAN COMPLETE]

[REQUESTING TO TRANSFER INFORMATION]

"Do it."

The pain returned, stronger this time. Baines clutched the ground, breathing harshly, trembling from the intensity.

Five minutes later, when it ended, he slowly sat back and opened his eyes again.

What he was trying to do was overlay the treasure book over the world map to know the exact locations of predicted treasures. And his discovery made his eyes widen.

It was because there were four of them in the Solaris empire, no, more specifically, there were two of them in this Darkan land.

His lips parted, astonished.

And luckily, one of them was among the requirements for his emperor’s body.

...

A week passed without disturbance before it was time for the next mission.

He met Tasha and the rest of the squad in the Dragon’s Pit.

This time, Tasha stood at the center, holding three sealed letters.

"With sixty percent of the underground factions eradicated, the rest have gone into hiding," she announced. "That leaves us with minor missions to handle while the high council deals with the rest."

She raised the first letter. "Since we are six, we can take the missions in pairs. This mission involves the Treyl family, one of our vassals. They’ve been acting suspiciously, and we are to find out what it is they are doing under the guise of checking their records. We’re to accompany the family’s clerks and we are to assist them if the need be or report them if need be."

Her gaze lingered briefly on Baines.

She didn’t need to say it, this was the kind of subtle work he excelled in. Finding clues and suspicious movements was a perfect field for him.

She lifted the second, "We were requested for a joint teamwork with other vassal families in the clearing of the mortuary ruin."

Lastly, the third, "This is a request for an escort for the young lady of the Lindell family to an event."

Everyone’s eyes turned to Baines.

The Lindell family is a family of top-tier mages, on par with the Darkans. That they were requesting an escort, despite having capable mages, was obviously a ploy to draw Baines in.

"So, which one are you picking?" Tasha asked, saying she would take the first request.

"I’ll also take the first." The 5th star man also declared he would take the first request, earning a glare from Tasha.

"I’ll take the third."

"Me too."

Tasha and the 5th star were going to the Vassal family, and ironically, the two remaining females in the team were going to escort the Lindell young lady.

That left Baines and a 3rd-star trainee for the second mission.

And Baines was about to smile.

Why not?

In the first place, what were the chances that his mission just happened to be in one of the locations of the two treasures? He had been thinking about how to leave the family when he had just pulled an obvious stunt on them all.

Who would have thought it would be delivered to him on a silver platter?

"Good luck," Tasha said, nodding. The group dispersed.

...

After a long and silent ride, eventually, Baines and his companion reached the outskirts of the ruin site, nestled near a decayed forest.

Tents and transport beasts cluttered the clearing as squads from various regions registered their presence.

This was an event for the younger generation, meaning those here were only his age group. Even the person in charge of the registration seemed to be only slightly older than them.

"Affiliation?" she asked, pen poised.

"Darkan family," the 3rd-star trainee answered.

Her head shot up. "Oh?"

They had truly sent a request to them, however, they didn’t expect a response.

Well, after clearing out most of their criminals, they didn’t have many urgent situations, so once again, the Darkan could participate in the friendly battles.

She recovered and smiled, "Names?"

"I am Todd, and he’s Jin."

"Todd and Jin, right. Wait, J-Jin?" She dropped her pen and raised her head again in shock.

The signature scarf around his neck and dull-looking eyes. It really was the Jin from the rumors.

...

It didn’t take long for everyone there to become aware of Jin’s existence.

Soon, a crowd formed around them.

"Jin, I heard about your match against the Silent Monks!"

"I’m Tussel, from the East!"

"Are you really the one who—"

Baines didn’t wait.

He turned, eyes sharp, and unleashed his full aura.

A surge of pressure collapsed onto the clearing like a tidal wave.

"Don’t. Fucking. Come near me."

The air turned heavy. People stepped back instinctively and gulped in the face of a terrifying aura, their instincts screaming danger.

It had to be known, the talented in the empire usually reached reach 5th star at 20 years of age, meaning, he who did it two years earlier was more talented.

However, there was another issue. It was that there were also some 5th stars among them, and they couldn’t stand his aura. Well, after all he had gone through, it would have been weirder if he were weaker than the average 5th star.

With this demonstration, he had made his point.

And just like that, he silenced any potential friendship or talk that didn’t help his reputation in any way.

Anyone only ever knew his achievements, so it was only the Darkan who knew his true attitude, and they didn’t reveal such information.

Now, the public would know his true attitude. They would mask it as being arrogant because of his talent, or that he thought of others as lesser.

But did he care about all that? No.

***

In another location,

"Sir, there’s been news, he was spotted close to the mortuary ruins." A subordinate bowed his head to his superior.

"That place?" The man spoke as he released a dangerous aura around him.

"Round up the boys, we are going."