To be honest, Kaden half expected man like Erral come out and let everything be solved. Then again, inquisitors were sometimes… rough. They also had no proof Erral was uninvolved. Kaden knew the church, and thus inquisitors, had ways to determine what gods people worshipped. This worked for accepted gods easily. There was no reason to hide anything.
While the same method did work for worshippers of God of Lies, it wasn’t certain to work. The cultists had long since found ways to obscure things. Like continuing to worship other gods. To be checked in such a way and come out clean there was no certainty that you weren’t a cultist. In the first place, God of Lies was chained down by the other gods and his influence upon the world was not as direct as the other gods. It was difficult for church to determine his worship unlike other gods.
Simply put, coming out was not necessarily a good move for Erral. Cooperation would not clear him. He needed proof. Kaden eventually decided this was likely what Erral was doing. He needed evidence to clear himself.
That and he probably wanted to find the culprit behind the bombing too.
Still, Kaden was not in a hurry. Erral would eventually pop out somewhere somehow. The entire matter had grown too big.
“Hehe”, Kaden chuckled to himself. “Perhaps I should look into demon summoning once again. The demon has been quite useful to me. Even if it is sent back to hell, I could bring it back.”
There was no way he could have arranged everything and blown up the matter so wide without the demon’s help. Then again, just like Erral, the demon was also one of the things that were deeply tied to everything. People were looking for it too. Perhaps it too would eventually pop out somehow.
There was indeed no rush. Every part of the plan was still moving about chaotically and Kaden could not predict and move until things calmed down a bit.
Instead, since he was under Nelsen and as such out of the search, he spent his time with his usual past time. Cultivation, experiments and crafting cheap items to sell for profit.
Then a few days later there was yet another commotion. The demon had been found!
Military was called to the area, but it was church and their own troops that fought against it. Military was there to close escape paths and keep everything else in control such as stop people under the demon’s control doing anything.
For this reason Kaden got to watch from the distance as the church battled against the demon.
“It really got to grow quite strong”, Kaden thought to himself. “When the cultists summoned it, it surely was not this strong. At any rate, it was overconfident. Shame, it was useful.”
As far as Kaden could tell from the blasts and amount of mana being used, it was fighting against Condensation stage experts. It probably got enough negative emotions during all the chaos recently.
The fight didn’t actually last as long as had been expected. Apparently the demon annoyed some True Magus that came and put an end to its struggles.
Even Kaden could hear some of its screams as it was banished back to hell.
“Well, thats that”, Kaden muttered to himself. “With the demon gone, it is unlikely that anything can be connected back to me. The demon was still under deal that it would not harm me, but perhaps some of the people under its thrall were not so loyal. Also, the chaos it sowed is still an ongoing matter so people have a lot more to think about.”
Kaden had already quietly arranged an ‘accident’ to that store owner when he met with the demon. As for the man that followed the demon, he was not someone Kaden had ever seen again. That might be a possible leak, but it is likely the demon had had pretty good hold on its minions. The demon wouldn’t leave such weaknesses for its closest servants so Kaden didn’t worry much.
Everything was still being investigated. Despite this, Kaden felt pretty safe. Church and the military wanted to erase any possible taint of God of Lies from where ever it might have found a hiding place. Yet, there should be nothing connecting Kaden to any of this.
Perhaps the matter of why the demon even agreed to begin with? Why did it agree to take the riskiest part of the deal with Kaden? Where did it even need him? Kaden himself believed it was because the demon wanted to take part in his rage. It had wanted that already when he met it the first time. Then it had asked for whatever remained of Serin’s soul. At any rate, none of these matters were something that would be possible to be found out by anyone else.
Where did the bomb come from? It is unlikely the demon could have crafted them by itself and to manipulate someone do such intricate work as formations was difficult. Someone might notice this at some point, but Kaden had taken the precautions of not using his own mana and such. Perhaps some conclusions about a collaborator might come up, but each and every formation master could craft an explosive formation. It was an extremely simple matter.
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As Kaden went over possible flaws, the more he became convinced of his safety.
A few more days passed until his phone rang. Kaden checked it and it was Nelsen.
“Kaden, would you be interested in an… unofficial mission?” Nelsen asked Kaden. “Due to that, I cannot order you to do it, but I cannot simply stand by and watch terrible injustice happen.”
“What is this?” Kaden though to himself and then answered to Nelsen. “Can you share with me any details?”
“Only that should this be revealed publicly, there will be consequences to us”, Nelsen replied. “I am too well known and so is Judgement. You, on the other hand, are very discreet and very few even notice you or know of you. As I know, this is how you prefer things. This makes you the best choice.”
Kaden felt curious. This could be important! Nelsen who worshipped Jorn, God of Laws, to break rules to correct some injustice?
“Fine”, Kaden replied finally. “I accept this mission.”
Nelsen gave then Kaden some directions so that they could meet in person without being noticed. The place of meeting was an alley at the second layer. Nelsen waited Kaden there with a concealment formation.
“Nelsen is on complete secrecy mode”, Kaden though to himself.
“As you probably know, the demon was banished back to hell”, Nelsen started talking and motioned Kaden to follow him along the alleys. He didn’t seem to want to stay still at any single place for long. “Yet, the damage is done. The search for God of Lies cultists and my friend Erral tied to it after being framed maliciously. His family murdered. Instead they are hunting him rather than investigating the murder!”
Could it be?! Kaden was laughing in his mind, but externally he showed a stern face showing one of his elation.
“As it happens”, Nelsen said after a moment. “Erral approached me soon after the demon was banished. The search will now concentrate on finding him and he requested help from me. I agreed to it. I do not believe he had anything to do with those evil cultists. I have arranged him a hiding place where he can stay for the time being and try to find proof of his innocence. I am looking for proof too, but I cannot come into contact with him. Doing so would lead to his discovery. This is where you come in. You will provide him supplies, information and other such things. In other words you act as a middleman between me and him.”
“I understand”, Kaden said still hiding his true feelings and making sure to keep his face calm and not sneer openly. “I must still ask something. While I will agree to do this, I wonder what will you do, if it turns out you are wrong about Erral.”
Nelsen stared quietly at Kaden for a moment. Then he sighed.
“I refuse to believe that”, Nelsen replied. “But… If it does turn out to be true, without question, I will be the first one to strike him down.”
Kaden did not reply, but instead kept following Nelsen.
“Hehehe”, Kaden laughed in his mind. “I am lucky. So very lucky. This is a bit risky, if I’m found ‘aiding’ Erral, but this gets me right next to him. Hehehe. It was a good idea to accept Nelsen’s request. Now I can arrange everything just behind Erral’s back and then kill him. Yet, it must be done in a way that Nelsen does not think I did it. It should be possible.”
Kaden started to think how to arrange everything. Erral himself should be weakened. He did not have the support of military any longer. Still, Kaden felt he wouldn’t be able to fight a high ranked officer and veteran like Erral. If things truly became a fight, Erral would be discovered as their fight was noticed. This would shatter his useful connection to Nelsen.
As for any other repercussions. Erral was a fugitive. To reveal Erral’s location would be likely rewarded by church and the military. For a moment Kaden wondered, if he should take this path and abandon Nelsen. He then decided not to do it. It would be a last resort. This would move Erral out of his hands.
“It would be best, if I can kill him on my own”, Kaden thought.
After a while Nelsen and Kaden arriwed a house deep inside the shadier areas of the second layer. Kaden was well aware of many hidden places. He had after all hunted criminals in there for a while and was generally versed in how the underworld worked.
Nelsen knocked door three times with different intervals.
“Remember this, three knocks, one longer and two quick”, Nelsen said. “This is knock to say all is fine. Should it be the case that you need to warn him or unable to so otherwise, do knocks with long intervals.”
Kaden nodded.
Soon after a there were clicking sounds behind the door and then it opened. It was Erral.
“Quickly, come in”, Erral said and motioned both Nelsen and Kaden come in.
As soon as Kaden stepped into the place which seemed outside yet another nondescript house, he noticed all the walls being covered with concealment formations. What had looked nothing outside, was inside very well hidden base.
“This is one of my places”, Nelsen said. “It is good to be prepared and have hiding places ready just in case you ever need them.”
“I see”, Kaden said.
“Erral, as you know, this is Kaden”, Nelsen said. “He is a very… straighforward person. Appreciates strength above all alse and is tough as nails.”
“I did notice him already that time back in the volcano remnant”, Erral replied.
“Speaking of which”, Kaden said. “I know I am already here, but Nelsen, are you sure I am truly the best choice for this. I have a very distinct appearance and also have the problems with the nobles.”
It was good to make himself sound a bit unsure so that he wouldn’t seem too eager.
“Nobles that have chosen to do nothing about you for years”, Nelsen pointed out. “From what I see, they just maintain the suppression. I also know how you support yourself by selling weapons around these parts. You going around isn’t anything odd.”
“I guess you weighed good and bad sides before you even contacted me”, Kaden said agreeably and then turned to face Erral. “I guess I will be coming here every now and then. Is there anything particular you require?”
“Right now, I require news”, Erral said. “It is very difficult for me to know what is happening. I will be hiding here probably for a while as I try to piece together who was the bastard that helped the demon and murdered my family. Therefore I will require basic supplies like food too. Come here every few days and if there is something else I need, it will request it then.”
While Erral did seem relatively calm right then, Kaden could sense hidden rage inside him. He knew of such rage very well and it was exactly as he wanted. Erral should know the feeling of loss just like he did.
He would get to stew in that rage for a while longer. Kaden’s mind was at hard work to arrange Erral’s doom.