The Devil’s Cage

Each time Kieran said something, the looks on the southern councilmen grew more sour.

When they heard the words, ‘trickery,”schemes,’ and ‘destruction,’ their looks were beyond ugly.

As councilmen of the Silent Night Secret Society, they too once hid among the people and had experienced the catastrophic aftereffects of the Black Cataclysm. They were clear that words that were used to describe a God weren’t mere decorations, it was a summary of their powers.

For example, God of War! He was valiant and fierce in a battle.

Another example, Lady Calamity! She was unstoppable when the plague wreaked havoc.

Then, this new God with trickery, schemes, and destruction…

All the southern councilmen shuddered en masse.

They were not afraid of a face-to-face brawl, even if they were going up against a true God. With their current power and influence, plus their trump card, they would be able to fight if they teamed up.

But what if this God hid in the shadows?

A frontal assault wasn’t scary, the scary thing was the dagger from the dark.

Kieran, who had been observing the southern councilmen, saw the expected scene.

He then continued, “Do you all think there’s a little too much coincidence in the things that we experienced? Things that shouldn’t be able to complete, completed, after a series of coincidences; things that should be in the bag, failed, similarly after a series of accidents. And it always happened at the most critical moment!” Kieran’s voice suddenly became heavy.

The southern councilmen felt the same way as they looked at Kieran, they understood what Kieran meant.

Everything was very obvious.

Things that happened in Edatine royal court, things that happened with the Demon Hunters, everything was a little too coincidental.

Others aside, the sole fact that the Demon Hunters were almost annihilated back then was something they pondered upon!

It was too easy!

Although there were elements of a trap, all of them were resolute enough to die in battle!

Yet how did it turn out?

Everything was inconceivably smooth!

Not only that! After that unusual incident, things that followed which should have been smooth sailing ran into many obstacles, which made them into who and what they were now.

The southern councilmen expanded their thoughts following Kieran’s words.

The first thing they could think of was matters that they were closely related to. It was very common of a human being though, likewise it was also the setting up that Kieran provided after he considered the consequences of doing so.

He hoped the the southern councilmen would believe there was indeed another God in play.

And as long as the councilmen believed this, his goal for the date would be half completed.

As for the other half, it would be finding the ‘God’. No, it should be locating the traces left behind by Broker.

That’s right, it was Broker!

Kieran went through all those setups, not just because it was related to his gains, it was also because of Broker. The latter was more important.

Similar to how Kieran never believed Broker picked Borl out of random, he too did not believe that Broker picked Borl just because of a simple ‘pagan’ army.

Based on Kieran’s understanding of Broker, the cunning merchant must have some hidden goals to achieve, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten this far for all this.

As a matter of fact, Kieran already had some thoughts on it, but…

He needed solid evidence to prove his thoughts and it wasn’t something that he could achieve alone.

Therefore, he needed his identity as Edatine and Snake Sect’s heir.

The higher the numbers, the bigger the power, similar to how quantity incites qualitative changes, it tends to seep into people’s hearts.

If he could bring Silent Night Secret Society into the setup, he wouldn’t mind at all.

Besides that, in certain times, Silent Night Secret Society tends to find those traces and inklings in the dark a little better. It was not that the Edatine royal court wasn’t strong enough, it was just the royal court’s forte was in another field.

With brazen sorrow, Kieran deeply inhaled. He said, “May the dead rest in peace.”

Right away, the southern councilmen, who were still in guesses, got verifications.

It seemed like Black Cataclysm was also the handy work of that God, but maybe because he wasn’t this strong back then, all he sent out was an emissary of sorts to do his biddings.

Coupled with the traitor in the Demon Hunter ranks, the ‘disruptor’ from Silent Night Secret Society, the death of Edatine V, the damaged prestige of God of War, and the stagnant state of Lady Calamity…

“Hey, before this, I thought we clutched a win that time, but now it seems like…That ‘he’ is the true victor in the end, right? Many parties are being toyed with in the bastard’s hand like nothing!” said the hot-tempered councilmen fiercely.

Following his words, the presence of the other councilmen started to fluctuate, to the point that the projection images that they used for communication started to ripple.

These councilmen felt a sense of rage without a doubt. No one liked to be toyed, let alone these proud high ranking elders.

However, as higher-ups themselves, they too had their forte.

Soon enough, the presence of the councilmen calmed down.

“Is Snake Sect hiding in the dark because of the investigation of this particular God?” asked Eindefern.

“No. At first, Snake Sect was just a precaution. In fact, before Black Cataclysm happened, Snake Sect never thought of coming into the limelight. We are used to living lives in other identities but the annihilation of Wolf Sect shocked us. As an observer, we discovered many unreasonable things, so we started to investigate silently, but that God and his men were too cunning. They come and go like the wind and are very good at controlling people’s minds. They almost never left behind any traces and even if they did, the traces would be wiped quickly enough. If my teacher hadn’t confirmed that God’s existence, we all would have thought it was something that doesn’t exist.”

Kieran shook his head, using Broker as his reference and spewing the lies that he had scripted before this.

His lies won recognition from the southern councilmen right away.

The southern councilmen were already brought into the scenario, nodding one after another.

“Yeah. If we were unable to confirm things that shouldn’t have happened, we would also never believe the existence of something like this. Is his Majesty Mist one of your preparations?” Eindefern asked casually.

Kieran didn’t say anything, he looked straight at Eindefern.

The atmosphere came to a standstill.

Two to three seconds later, Eindefern smiled awkwardly.

“Your Highness, I don’t…”

“The Mist’s appearance is similar to Lady Calamity—this is my answer and at the same time, I hope that Sir Eindefern can understand although we are allies now, we are not that close. We are not there yet, telling each other about our bottomline. I also hope that your little test can stop so that you don’t cause some misunderstandings between us, just like what happened before.”

Kieran interrupted Eindefern’s words right away and the councilman did not say anything else.

After that, both sides double confirmed the compensation and the negotiated goods plus the time for the trade, then the meeting came to an end.

Everyone from Silent Night Secret Society left in a sequence.

The royal guardians re-entered White Deer Restaurant.

“We are going to the slums at Lower Seven Ring,” said Kieran, but he did not move out right away. Instead, he headed to the dining table.

Right away, Monte handed Kieran a piece of napkin.

After gobbling down the food like a tornado, Kieran wiped his mouth and then boarded the wagon.

Leaning back on the seat and looking at the setting sun, Kieran squinted his eyes.

He knew what he would have to face next.

His true test awaited.