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Chapter 091: Zelga’s Coercion
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“I’ve detected the source —ah, now he’s gone.”
Cortana’s warning and report come in a beat late as Siva, although not stopping his float, had felt it very clearly.
For normal players with normal stat parameters, a spell of that caliber wouldn’t be detected. But to him, after his tempering, his CONSTITUTION and ENERGY stats have a reading of 600, five times abnormally higher than everybody else.
His sensitivity to spells were higher and his own ability to detect Mana, albeit unable to use it, has gone up to another level that a spell that should kill an ordinary mortal wouldn’t affect him at all.
As such, a spell that shouldn’t be detected by a normal mortal man draped his body like a cold bath that as soon as he felt it, he instantly feared that he was being targeted by a spell with homing capabilities.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a spell that was meant for injuring him since he felt no hostility towards him from the spell.
Still, he doesn’t have an idea what it was and who cast that spell and so, he felt wary of it.
This incident left a mark on his consciousness and he took note of it seriously, thinking that he had to emphasize on improving the [Active Scan] function and training on Cortana’s [Link] as much as he can.
“Have you taken note of his body scan data?”
“The Auricle Scan does not have that capability so I am unable to record anything else aside from his body shape, pulse rate, and disposition. Though I took note of his pacing which gives us a little bit of a 5% chance of finding him out if he ever gets close to us again.”
“Send me the data.”
“You might stop moving.”
“Don’t make it so.”
“Yes sir.”
After a sharp jolt of pain, Siva’s pacing almost did stagger a bit but it was so miniscule that only the ones who are paying attention to his floating could notice it.
But of course, while his body continued to float in the outside, his ‘body’ is currently cooling down from the ‘after-pain’ of the [Link] occurring.
This [Link] has the same cooldown time as his [Focus] and while using either of the two, within the 30 seconds cooldown time, Siva cannot use either of the two non-system abilities.
Also, although the [Link] is useful, Cortana can only feed him 10% of her 100% capability since this was an ‘ability’ that heavily relied on how much ‘load’ Siva’s brain could handle.
—and that was considering that her own hardware installed directly on his brain is serving as ancillary to the brain stress.
That said, Siva can only unleash an entire 10% of the 100% capability of his [Focus] and thus, that’s only as much as Cortana can give to Siva as well.
Still, a mere 10% of Cortana’s 500YB (Yottabyte) processing capability is more than enough to get Siva a result that surpassed even a hundred of him thinking the same things at the same time.
He was decisive.
That one spell frightened Siva and although he did not know what that spell was for, he still felt that he had been marked… magically… so he did not mind the pain as he wanted to know exactly how that person who cast a spell on him looked like.
“Who… are… you?” Siva didn’t mind the mental pain and just focused on processing the data, hissing the words with anger, fear, anxiety, and perhaps even anticipation. He decided that he would take revenge in the near future if the two of them would meet again.
On his mind, the scan range of the augmented Active Auricle Scan within the [Absolute Domain] showed a 200m wide circle with the unassociated people around him rendered as blue figures, and the 13 High Magistrates as green human figures.
The crowding people didn’t come close to him by 50m while the people who didn’t care at him and treated him as only passersby, were as close to their group as 5m away… although fewer.
And then, there was the brown-colored rendering of the buildings and the light grey pavement road beneath his feet.
Finally, in a place 45m away from him, on his left, at the alley they had just passed by 5 seconds ago, there was a red coloured hooded figure that held an orb item on his hand.
Everything Siva was seeing right now was mere thin-framed humanoid figures aside from that red-labeled hooded character.
Siva gave it a thought and focused all his mental powers into analyzing—memorizing—the person’s shape and body data until finally…
“Rendering facial features…” Cortana read Siva’s thoughts as she downloaded rendering apps in the Net at a speed of light, and then used the data in the Absolute Domain’s default NanoField to reshape and reestablish the person’s face that was hiding under the cloak.
After a moment, “Done.”
Siva was now looking at the face of the person.
“A girl?”
“There was insufficient data to render the color of her hair but the length can be determined and the shape of her body also hides her identity very cleverly. But her facial features, height, and the tone of her voice when she spoke indicated a 60% probability that she is a woman.”
Siva eyes narrowed, “I don’t care. Keep an eye out for his facial features. If she comes inside the 100m scan zone, make the [Mage] subdue her in an instant.”
“Yes sir.”
From the moment the [Link] was initiated and the moment he gave his command, ten seconds had gone by.
Siva had reached the entrance of the gates to the Warehouse and the number of knights in here had increased dramatically, with the hostility and antagonism radiated by these knights focusing solely on him.
He stopped and stood there in front of two knight elements, with the one on his right the one who yelled “stop” a bit earlier.
“Sir, a familiar face is hiding in the shadows.”
Upon Cortana’s report, a panel window pop open on his vision and the scan results rendered the face of the perpetrator of everything, Zelga. He was hiding 50m away from the gates and was in a very remote and shadowed area in the vicinity.
He could see that there was a group of men and women behind him and he was giving orders to someone who seemed to be his deputy.
“Read his lips.”
“Done. He’s saying to keep an eye on you and that when you leave the safe zones, under any circumstances, you must die. Oh, and it seems that he bear animosity with the Grand Knight for some reason. He also says he doesn’t care if you are a Ranked NPC with a Title or something. And, oh, the vibrations in the air had also picked up the way he was addressed by those followers.”
“What is it?”
“He was being called ‘Your Highness’ with respect and fidelity. I don’t think they are just cosplaying.”
Siva raised a brow regarding the report and the fact that Cortana said that she was ‘thinking’.
But that’s just it. It wasn’t something important and he also knew and trusted that Cortana was also evolving every moment for his sake.
“Just keep an eye out for his movements. Since we can pick up what he’s saying through sonar capability, unless he lipped his words, then we wouldn’t have to waste more time to process what he was saying.”
“Well, I only need an additional ten milliseconds to process the NanoField displacement data to give you that result.”
“Do it.”
Cortana ‘felt’ he was glad so she replied proudly.
“Yes sir.”
“Since he had already showed his intent, let’s just let him dance for now.”
While they were talking mentally, Siva didn’t stop even as he was ordered as he continued his walk and only stopped when there were ten to twenty knights gathering up to stop him forcefully.
“Are you deaf or something?” growled the first knight to yell ‘stop’ at him. “Who are you and why are you here? This is off limits to civilians and to other knights outside of The Wall. Be quick and state your business or we will bring you in for a questioning.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Sir, these guys are provoking you. They knew who you are but they are trying to incite you to raise your hand so they wouldn’t lose all of these resources.”
Siva smiled under his faceless mask. It was a very sinister smile of anger and violence directed towards that Grand Knight.
“Where is he?” he asked her.
“He is not in my scan range, sir.”
Siva kept his silence but gave Cortana an order to alert him of the bastard.
He then raised his head towards the knight who didn’t hide his enmity towards him and said, “I am here in accordance to the agreement your Grand trash —I mean Knight had given me. I forgot his name though, sorry.”
Siva was provoked so he would provoke them as well. and true enough, when he told them that he forgot Grand Knight and Council of Elder member Blue Draco —a name that even toddlers in the capital know of— the knight in question showed a visible ripple of anger to his face that mirrored the same way on the other knights in front of him.
He found himself enjoying this reaction.
The knight half-way unsheathed his sword and the other knights in the gate also did the same.
“I dare you to say that again, civilian.”
In the world of knights, being addressed as mere civilian despite wearing Knight Uniform is a polite way of insulting one’s status.
A Knight is a Knight, not a civilian. The status of a Knight is as noble as the sky. But to be called as a civilian, it was the clear indicator of contempt from a Knight of another party.
But Siva wasn’t actually a Knight in the first place so he didn’t mind and just did as he was told.
“What do you want me to repeat?” he was still as calm as before but the people behind Siva were in a battle-ready state already.
They were High Magistrates of The Temple with ranks comparable to a Captain (Full General) in Knightly Ranks. To be called civilians is one thing, but the one they’re provoking, the one in front of them... is an exalted Magic Knight that has status that is comparable to their Council of Elder.
For a lowly guard to talk big in front of that person is clearly not looking at their Magic Knight’s status at all. In fact, he was disdainful of it.
Scarlet is also a High Magistrate of a Lower Elder Level (a grade lower than “High Elder” where the exalted Halma belonged to) comparable to a rank that these guys call as their Grand Knight… yet, she was also being addressed with contempt.
Although it can be faulted to her disguise at this very moment, her pride still did not accept it.
She had her disabling spell already ready but she didn’t dare to cast it out as she was specifically told earlier that she and her company must act as indifferent to everything as possible.
Thus, as much as she wanted to vent out all her building frustrations to the knight’s disrespectful attitude, she had to hold it all in at all cost.
Siva’s silence was also one reason for this.
“Civilian, you have insulted a high-ranking official once and that is already punishable by castigation and lashing. But insulting the same high-ranking official once again will result in punishment that belongs to a higher-grade. You are intruding in a property managed by The Wall of Jeremiah with neither indication nor statement of your purpose in coming despite being asked once.” At this time, the knight sneered, "But we are noble knights of the glorious Wall of Jeremiah so I will ask you this time, once again, who are you and what is your purpose for coming in here? Failure to comply will result in your clear violation of the rules of The Kingdom and as one of her loyal Knights, I shall enforce the law without a hint of restraint and mercy upon the offender.”
The knight sure knows how the laws work. In his long speech, he was clearly steering off between the boundaries of his rank’s jurisdiction and limits, while also clearly stating what he had done, what he was capable of doing, and what he will enforce to do if Siva continued to defy on his demands.
For an NPC, Siva was amazed by the level of this guy’s intelligence —which once again proved one hypothesis in his mind about the [truth] this world.
“Speak, civilian, or we will act.” The knight warned and his ‘mates’ who shared the same grounds and emotions as him, unsheathed their swords or cast their spells, ready to subdue him.
Siva only let the knight release all of his contempt and insulted him over, and waited for him to finish as he asked, “You mean to say that you have not received any instructions whatsoever that I am coming here tonight to take what was offered to me by your Grand Trash? Also, do you really want me say what my purpose for coming here is? You might want to kill yourself if you learn of it. Do you still want to know?”
Siva didn’t dare hide his contempt as well. He only maintained his composed voice and tone, though deep inside, he was furious because they are wasting his precious time here.
And regarding what he said; indeed… if he told this knight and his colleagues that he was here to collect their Grand Knight’s bribery for his silence, they might want to commit suicide for feeling greatly betrayed—
—because it is clearly a betrayal of their high and noble expectations of a Grand Knight.
Though the content of Siva’s statement left this knight with no reply since they have been left an official written instruction that “he” was coming, all of them here are still directed by Zelga using his status as King Candidate and are told a different story in regards to what had occurred in the West Market Region.
Adding to the ill-intentions they built from Zelga’s story towards Siva, the added fact that, again, this guy had just badmouthed their illustrious Grand Knight, calling him “trash” with a “grand” adjective, is enough to erase all the knight’s restraints as he prepared to use “justice” for insulting the name of their Knight Order’s high-ranking Knight Officer as pretext to unleash his anger.
In regards to the provocation battle, Siva’s cool and aloof approach won over the man’s burning and unrestrained hostility.
In the shadows, Zelga was actually smiling and he was waiting for the moment they erupt into a fight to intervene and adjudicate this ‘intrusion’ incident and regain his name from the earlier humiliation.
“Speak!” the knight commanded and Siva sighed as he swiped the air.
“You asked for my purpose, here you go.”
Using a hologram projector, he showed them the events from the market and then how he warned Zelga, his ‘justified’ plea to stop them, until the time they were brought to the Guard Captain’s Office.
The useless events were fast-forwarded but the words spoken in between were not and is in fact even highlighted completed with surround sound.
Fifty percent of the knights in the gates became confused as some became conflicted and with a few whose devotion to the Order was high, not believing a bit of what they are seeing.
“This is a fake!” someone shouted, riling up those who had doubts on what they are seeing.
“Right! This is a fake!”
“Don’t believe in this lie!”
“He’s trying to tarnish the noble name of a King Candidate!”
“We must move now and punish him!”
No one knew who it was that shouted first but Siva does and he was laughing as he saw him come out of the shadows in a hurry.
“Boss, he’s moving.”
“Let him be.” Siva grinned sadistically.
Then, the highlight of his movie: the events that happened in the Guard Captain’s Office, including the very thing that the gate keeper asked for.
From the back and not in the shadows, Zelga had appeared with a face red from both shame and furious enmity. But he held it back as he stared at Siva and yelled, “What are you trying to do here?”
Siva grinned and his voice layered with joy, spoke in accordance to it, “Ho? Don’t want to hide in the shadows anymore… Your Highness?”
That part where one of Zelga’s lackeys demanded for Siva to call him Your Highness had just past so the knights in the gates felt the unhindered and blatant provocation from him.
After that, Siva paused the movie because this is the part where Grand Knight Blue Draco will be appearing soon and the exchange will happen.
But that’s not the most important thing.
What was important is the reason why, at the next instant, even the Guard Captain will not hide his anger towards Zelga. Of course, Zelga wouldn’t want the tables turned drastically at him at this point in time, right?
He wanted to stop this broadcast as much and as soon as possible.
Zelga’s expression sunk. He did not expect Siva to have a recording of what had happened in the Guard Captain’s Office. He really underestimated this damned NPC…!!
One of his followers, someone who wasn’t there at the time, felt angry at the unbridled scorn at the man’s tone of voice.
But just as he was about to berate Siva, he was stopped by a hand from the one who seemed to be in-charged of his retainers.
“You must be Sir Knight. I’m sorry, we are not yet aware of your name so may we call you plainly as Sir Knight, then?”
Of course, of all of Zelga’s retainers, aside from the four at the far back who didn’t want to even look at Siva, he was the one who was clearly more aware of his charge’s tendencies and mistake.
When he spoke, he clearly had a look of a calm leader in him and this made Siva smile widely.
“At least there is someone who knows how to see things clearly.” Siva was clearly addressing Zelga and his retainers, along with the knights who, by now, had understood a few things when Zelga did not even refute when he was mocked. “But I am sorry to disappoint you. I have no plans to tell you or anyone else my name and my purpose here is only to get what was offered to me by your Grand Knight. You have already wasted my time and I am very angry right now. You, King Candidate, have been hiding in the back this entire time and waited for things to heat up before jumping in carrying the flag of justice to enact your punishment as a King Candidate. You don’t have to pretend that you do not know since I’m not stupid and you’ve clearly underestimated me. I am a Magic Knight of The Temple for decades and I am not some snot nosed inexperienced bastard such as you who only knows how to use your status to walk the streets pretending to a king. I have waited for you to come here just so I could show you how smart you are at this moment. Do you still want to test my patience, boy?”
Siva didn’t show the rest of the movie nor did he mention anything in regards to the incident, but he did showed just who the superior between him and Zelga is.
What more… he spoke of one topic that caught everyone’s ears, and even made those who know of a few things in the past, very surprised.
—that he is indeed, a legendary Magic Knight.
To Zelga, he had of course heard of the warning from Blue Draco that if he is indeed a legendary Magic Knight from the rumours, then he would be having the same rank as a Council of Elders member…. someone who had the right to dictate and even order him, a King Candidate, around.
A few of the knights in the gate trembled, visibly, and they backed off, fearing that their almost offending a high-ranking official, would warrant them their heads this time.
Besides, whether what they know of, saw, and even heard on the movie were true or not, just the fact alone that Zelga wasn’t speaking anything and only accepted all that while gritting his teeth, is enough for them to stitch a few clues up.
Zelga had lied to them and tried to coerce them to offend a ‘true’ high-ranking official of a force.
Their fear from Siva shifted into fury towards the silent Zelga and the man in question could only grit his teeth as he didn’t dare to provoke Siva on playing the rest of the video. If he did, then not only these knights, but the entire world of Terroa would hate him without a doubt.
If that happens, then all of his plans would fall. He can’t let that happen.
At this point, another voice echoed from the far back, from the direction of the warehouse.
“You are here, at last, Sir Knight.”
“I’ve been here for quite a while now. I am very surprised that you are showing up just now. How unlikely of someone of your status. To not greet me in your front gate when I have actually come here to help you save face and dignity and all? I wonder then, were you really sincere when you offered me those things?”
Siva didn’t dare to hide his contempt and his hate at this moment. This bastard cost him time and it wasn’t something he was willing to let go of.
Draco’s face was twitching. But he already had his foot on the tiger’s tail. He had no choice but to accept the man’s anger since he failed on his plan to coerce Siva from taking action.
Who told him he had a recording of everything?
Draco quickly, forcefully, shifted his expression and smiled a flattering smile as he scratched his head with a blush, “I’m really sorry. My wife called me because she wanted me to eat dinner back at home… you know me, I am a family man. Haha… hahaha… hahahahaha…”
While he burst out laughing, Siva only stared at him… although his face was blank since there is no face in that mask to translate at all.
He didn’t care about that lame excuse at all but he did take note of Draco’s ability to lever situations that doesn’t go on his bidding.
“Is that so?” Siva casually replied and started to walk towards the warehouse. “We’re wasting time talking here. Show me the things.”
Draco shot a glare at Zelga as he turned around and walked beside Siva’s left... a place only meant for subordinates to a superior... wearing his smile.
His glare and this action was also directed to the knights in here. Since Draco had already lost face for himself, he wouldn’t allow the entire Order to lose face because of him and his meddling. This is clearly an indication of his experience.
The knights understood it.
…and that’s why they hated Zelga all the more.
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Zelga’s hate is rising.
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