RISE OF EROS

Everyone was surprised to hear what the hooded man sent by the emperor had said. They never imagined that the emperor, with all the power he has, would find out about this situation from a stranger.

The most surprised of all was Emilse, because she knows Andrew personally, however, in her mind there is the image of a poor worker who struggled for food every day on her farm.

She couldn't imagine how Andrew had managed to achieve this feat with the little money she had given him. She was aware that Andrew must have strengthened himself to the maximum to achieve something like this and that made her ask for more details because she still couldn't believe it.

The hooded man did not hold anything back, as it is common knowledge in the capital about Andrew's exploits, so he told her what Andrew had achieved in these few years since his arrival in the capital.

Emilse was even more surprised as she listened, but the marquis and Pedro, who are men, intelligent and of nobility, went a little beyond the exploits and focused on the danger.

According to the hooded man, Andrew was not part of, nor a partner of, the emperor. In fact, they had some surveillance on him, so the fact that this young man could pull off something like this was suspicious.

This is the nature of nobles, to be suspicious of everything, especially if they are loyal to the empire, since they have to see everything through the eyes of a protector of the empire. When the hooded man finished his story, he did not wait to be asked more questions and instead asked a question, "Do you know where Castor is?"

Emilse shook her head and said that Castor had approached her and that he did not reveal anything about his identity and stay. The only thing he told her was his name, that he worked for someone she knew, and the information she had already told them.

The hooded man wrinkled his eyebrows, but quickly composed himself and said, "Well, that's not important. I will be in charge of finding him and I will also direct the investigation to verify the information received."

After declaring this, he turned to look at the marquis and said, "I hope the marquis will lend his help," to which the marquis without hesitation responded, "That is not necessary to ask. This is my territory, my negligence caused this, so I will provide all necessary help."

After that, they fired Emilse, because although she was involved, she was not a noble or completely trustworthy person, so they did not include her in the plans they would make next.

After Emilse left, the three men discussed the steps to follow and in less than an hour, the hooded man left to fulfill his duty. The marquis instructed Pedro to provide all necessary help to the emperor's envoy and thus began the investigation.

Meanwhile, Castor was with Vala in his old house in the marginal area of the city. While Hell's agents under the Emperor's command were elite at stealth and information gathering, they could not go unnoticed by the surveillance of Shadow's agents commanded by Castor.

The two of them were discussing when they would retreat back to the Palace of Cannaris when one of the intelligence agents accompanying them appeared from the shadows.

"Mr. Castor, Miss Vala, the Emperor's intelligence agents have arrived in the city," Shadow's agent said, surprising Castor and Vala. Since they had already received the message from Andrew that they had notified Marquis Valoide, they believed that it would be his men who would come, they never thought that the emperor himself would make a move.

After learning this, they asked for details, since it depended on whether they would continue in the city or withdraw. Although Andrew asked them to leave, they were free to remain if they so desired.

They argued for a few minutes and Castor decided to stay in town. He believed it was necessary and even took the initiative to meet the emperor's intelligence agents.

Unfortunately, finding these agents would be difficult, so Castor decided to send a Shadow agent to Marquis Calci's mansion, knowing that through him they could find the emperor's men.

With the orders received from him, Shadow's agent disappeared and went to the Marquis' mansion. Obviously, he couldn't infiltrate the mansion like the emperor's man had done, so he dressed in simple clothes and approached as a visitor.

The guards at the entrance, seeing him arrive, immediately put themselves on guard, but Shadow's agent did not flinch and approached naturally. "Gentlemen, I will be bothering you to inform the marquis that an envoy from Mr. Castor is visiting him."

The guards looked at him suspiciously. Shadow's agent was of regular and simple appearance and clothing, so they doubted his words, but at the same time, they knew that he could be an important guest.

It is common for nobles to have informants and allies who seem like regular people and that is why they were hesitant. Unable to decide, they called another fellow guard and asked him to inform the marquis of the message.

Shadow's agent knew that these guards doubted him and therefore, they sent another person, while they watched him. He made no move and just waited for the message to be delivered.

The guard who went to deliver the message despite the doubts his colleagues had, was not negligent and quickly arrived at the marquis' office. The guards at the door stopped him and asked, "What were you doing there?"

Although they are all guards, their attitude is very different from the guards at the entrance of the mansion. While both provide security, it is different when you protect the entrance than when you protect the person in question.

The guard did not find it disrespectful that his colleagues questioned him and calmly explained the situation. Unlike the guards at the entrance, they knew a little more about the situation, so they assessed that it was an important message, so they knocked on the door.

After a few seconds, Pedro's elderly voice was heard allowing entry and the guard entered the office. The marquis and Pedro know all the guards at their mansion, so they knew that this young man who visited them was one of those protecting the entrance.

The young guard bowed and began to report. The marquis and Pedro were surprised to find out that the man they were looking for had come looking for them and they immediately gave the order to let him enter.

The young guard ran to the entrance, where he informed his companions of the marquis' order. The Shadow agent was then guided to the marquis' office, accompanied by two guards.

While they wanted to meet with Castor, they were not foolish enough to trust him just because he had given them valuable information. Once in the office, Shadow's agent greeted the Marquis and Pedro with proper etiquette.

"Marquis Calci, Sir Pedro, I thank you for agreeing to receive me," said Shadow's agent. The two men were not surprised at the etiquette of the young man in front of them and immediately began to question.

"Are you Castor?" the marquis asked to which the Shadow agent shook his head and replied, "No, marquis. I am a subordinate sent by him, to schedule a meeting with you and the emperor's envoys."

These words surprised the Marquis and Pedro because they could not believe that they knew of the arrival of the emperor's agents. The marquis immediately thought that there were spies in his mansion and as if reading the marquis' thoughts, Shadow's agent spoke again, "You don't need to worry, we are not infiltrated in your mansion."

The agent paused and upon seeing the expression of distrust on the marquis and his right-hand man, he spoke again, "Give yourself more credit, sir, it is really not easy to infiltrate here, if that were the case, I would not have entered through the door".

This seemed to relax the Marquis and Pedro a little, but they were still vigilant. "Why does Castor want to meet with us?" the marquis asked and the agent replied, "Because we have a common enemy and we can support each other."

The marquis was going to ask again, but suddenly the hooded man sent by the emperor appeared from the shadows and said, "When?" Everyone was surprised by the appearance of this man because they did not notice him at all.

Even the Shadow agent was surprised, as he is an expert in stealth, so he is good at detecting other stealth masters and he had not sensed anything until the man spoke.

This demonstrated the difference in abilities, but he quickly recovered and said, "Whenever you wish," and the hooded man asked again, "Conditions?", to which Shadow's agent replied, "The villa on Miss Emilse's farm".

Shadow's agent's response surprised everyone and the marquis could not stop himself from asking, "Why there?", to which the agent responded, "It is neutral ground and we can avoid unnecessary conflicts."

"Are you saying there will be conflicts?" the hooded man asked coldly, but Shadow's agent, undaunted, replied, "We are not ignorant. We know that the empire is on guard against us, but we really have no bad intentions, we just want to keep the peace."

Although they did not believe him, they agreed to the meeting with Castor that night and Shadow's agent left. He wasn't stupid, so he didn't return to where Castor was, because, although he couldn't sense them, he knew they were following him.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

For this reason, he preferred to enter an inn and rent a room. The Hell agents following him immediately noticed that they had been discovered and would not be able to see Castor in that location, but they still remained vigilant.

They knew that this young man would try to send a message to Castor and that way they would find who they were looking for, but they never thought that Castor was in that same inn. They had planned this because they knew they would be followed, so they arranged to meet at this place.

Unbeknownst to the Emperor's spies, Shadow's agent had already met with Castor and informed him of what had happened. After that, Castor and Vala left the inn disguised as a normal couple, without being discovered.