CHAPTER 139: WHO IS THIS??

Who is This??

Traveling by air wasn’t a simple task.

After Mana descended, the sky had become its own domain around the planet.

That was to say, it was entirely possible to find entire ecosystems within the sky, with all sorts of beasts—usually avian or some form of elementals—reigning supreme there.

In fact, when it came to traveling over long distances, it was generally accepted that air travel was more dangerous than land travel, despite how dangerous the wilderness tended to be. This spoke volumes about the difficulty of sky travel, despite its advantages when it came to covering distance faster.

Moreover, the reasons were a bit skewed, but the average rank of beasts in the sky was higher than those on the ground, and they tended to have some nasty abilities along with the fact that, well, to stay in such a place, one needed to be able to fly.

Something most beasts or humans couldn’t do.

To summarize, traveling through the sky was tough, and the resources that went into it were quite expensive, even for singular trips. That’s why it’s usually only rich individuals or expedition parties that travel through the sky for one reason or another.

The moment a Citadel managed to develop its own—relatively safe—air travel, it was a sign that they were moving up.

Or they just invested a lot in air travel.

Regardless, this is important to note because the investigators arrived by air looking unscathed.

In short, they seemed to make a journey through one of Azure Star’s most volatile environments without a problem, which only seemed to make them all the more intimidating.

Jessica glanced at her teammates, who were exiting the large vessel they arrived with.

Blake, Harry, Petra, Vance, and Orphie.

The 5 of them were comrades she valued greatly, and they had worked on several cases together across several Citadels in the past. Not only were they all good at their jobs, but she also trusted them all greatly, to the point where she had no issue placing her life in their hands.

Today was another day of investigating. Granted, they hadn’t needed to look into a Bastion-Class Citadel in a while, outside their training days anyway. But the matter at hand was far too sensitive to look down on simply due to the level of the Citadel.

The six of them had already discussed thoroughly on the matter and how they would gain the information they wanted.

However, their initial plans got halted a bit when Jessica saw the Citadel Lord.

On their way here, she’d done in-depth research on the man.

William Lecter. The man had led the Citadel for 40 years and had once been a major player in the Citadel’s Military.

After a particularly nasty political struggle that forced the previous Citadel Lord to retire, he took up the reins and led the Citadel to where it is now.

The file had a lot of details, from his achievements to his mistakes. Nothing damning, but information could easily be manipulated.

He was set to be among the first people to receive their team when they arrived, so Jessica was prepared to meet the aged man and try to acquire information from him.

She could easily pressure him using her position, however. She knew that if he truly had his hand in any bad deals all these years, then he was bound to be cunning, so a bit of pressure was most likely something he expected.

’He may possibly expect us to just try and scare him into giving up information instead of truly investigating.’ She mused. ’That is, of course, under the assumption that he has something to hide.’

Jessica wasn’t a huge fan of believing her fellow humans to be part of such vile activities, especially with someone with a track record like his.

’Only time will tell...?’ Jessica’s thoughts trailed off as her eyes showed a trace of confusion.

In front of the group that had emerged from the ramp of the vessel, a man surrounded by soldiers waited for them.

Jessica did a cursory glance, and her confusion only grew.

Didn’t William say he’d be the one to meet them? From what it looked like, there was a young-ish person in their front with five soldiers flanking him. His attire made her suspect he was the assistant or someone of similar stature.

Regardless, the realization left a bit of a bad taste in her mouth.

Was he hiding now?

She resisted a snort as she shared a brief glance with her teammates. They all seemed to share her confusion and dissatisfaction at the situation. However, none of them made a fuss. They’d dealt with worse.

Soon enough, they reached the bottom of the ramp, and the man she assumed was his assistant stepped forward with the soldiers.

"Good morning, all of you. I hope your journey treated you well. Welcome to our humble Citadel, we hope your stay here will be pleasant while you conduct your duties." The man said with a pleasant smile, but Jessica wasn’t buying it.

However, she inspected his face a bit closely and realized that he looked a bit familiar.

She recalled a picture of William she’d seen when she was looking into his past, and this man looked quite similar to him back then.

’Is he his son then? But the information never said anything about him having any direct descendants or even a spouse. Interesting.’ Jessica mused and decided to respond.

"Our journey was as pleasant as it could be. Thank you." She looked right at him. "I understand this is the time for formalities, but believe me when I say my comrades and I are all well rested, and if possible, we can begin looking into the matter immediately." She said curtly while observing the man’s reaction.

She expected some nervousness, maybe even fear. But he just smiled, like he’d expected such a result.

’A tricky one.’ She judged.

"Very well, follow me?" It was phrased more as a question as he didn’t want to make it seem like he was giving them orders and instead asking for their opinions to avoid offending them.

Jessica didn’t particularly care. She simply nodded, and the man led the way.

As they walked, she felt a faint prick at her consciousness, and she didn’t hesitate to let it in, knowing it was from her teammate.

’Initial thoughts?’ She asked through the mental link that had been created by one of them.

’Teal is quiet.’ Blake replied almost immediately.

’That’s a good sign. Still, it’s not enough. Then again, this is our initial interaction, we will know more as we talk with him more.’ Jessica pointed out.

’His body language is relaxed, and he doesn’t seem to be faking it either. However, he’s had years to perfect his acting skills. Like the captain said, we’ll need to assess him more.’ Orphie pointed out, and everyone agreed.

Soon enough, the group arrived at a door that had the words ’Citadel Lord’ written on it.

’Hm, if we still got escorted here, then I guess it’s alright.’ Jessica mused, glad that they weren’t trying to be stalled or anything.

The doors were opened and they were led inside. The office was quite large with numerous decorations and portraits of previous Citadel Lords hung on the walls. There were comfortable-looking leather chairs facing a wooden table with a chair behind it. On the chair was a plaque that once more read ’Citadel Lord’. However as soon as they were inside, the group had varying reactions, none of them positive.

Because the seat was empty.

Jessica narrowed her eyes and was about to say something. However, the man who had escorted them suddenly walked towards the table with a surprising amount of familiarity, and to their surprise and slight shock, he sat down in the chair meant for the Citadel Lord like he owned the place.

"Now then, may we begin?" He asked with a faint smile.

"... What is the meaning of this?" Jessica asked, her tone noticeably colder than it was a few minutes ago.

It wasn’t just her, as the expressions of her teammates had darkened considerably and while they were keeping their composure, they seemed to be seconds away from rushing the man in the seat.

He blinked.

"What is the meaning of what? You said you wanted to get started right away, here we are." He said sounding genuinely confused, but Jessica wasn’t buying it.

"We came for the Citadel Lord. Just because you are related to him doesn’t mean you can stand in for him. This isn’t a joking matter, and if he can’t face us himself, then we have grounds to believe that he is hiding something." The more she spoke, the more confused and surprised the man looked, which is when a look of realization appeared on his face, and he burst out laughing.

The sudden action took the group by surprise, and it took him a few moments to calm himself. Down.

"Oh, I am so sorry. Your information wouldn’t have been able to update itself so quickly, considering how quick the recent sequence of events was." He said confusing the group even more.

He cleared his throat and schooled his expression, suddenly turning serious.

"Right, this might seem like a surprise to you, but the truth is, I am the Citadel Lord, William Lectern."