Smoke of Deception - II

I had entered the capital of the Shulian. The protests were rampant and people were gathered in small crowds every few steps. I guess they're against the war.

"Lizette, should we go straight to the king?" I asked.

"Yes, we need to inform the situation to him and see what we can do from there on."

She held onto me as I flew up in the air and dashed towards the palace. We entered the throne room through a window and landed in front of the king.

We bowed ever so slightly to show our respect but not enough since bowing at a lower angle will make people question our allegiance. World of aristocracy is quite annoying with it's subtle rules.

"Ah! Lizette and Kenji of Ascendants. I had been waiting for you." He seemed like a nice guy but he also is ready to kill to expand his nation, so, I have to be careful. I scanned the room to see if there was anything off. Kristine was in the corner with some other woman who I didn't know.

"I'm Feishu." The girl next to Kristine spoke up. "The crown princess of this nation. You must be Kenji, Kristine's boyfriend."

I nodded.

"Since you made the efforts to come here, you can rest first if you want." King Shulian spoke again. He might not want to make nobility present to become suspicious but king had be suspicious of his subordinates and wanted us to spy without making things too obvious.

"Right. We are quite tired. Kenji, let's go rest."

I left the throne room with Lizette and we were taken to a different and more private room. It was a sort of meeting room with how the furniture was arranged.

We sat on the chair and waited for the king.

"Anyone suspicious?" She asked.

"Can't say. Too many were suspicious of us." I responded. "I'll go start with spying while you discuss things and brief me later." I said and activated my invisibility ability and left the room through the window. First, I need to spy on Feishu. There could be a possibility that she wants her dad to die so she can take the throne. I would not be surprised if that were to be the case. I flew up and back into the castle through another window and started searching for Feishu's room. Since Kristine is on her side, her resume as a criminal keeps becoming longer and longer. I won't be able to protect her anymore if she ends up getting locked or executed.

I found the room and entered to see Feishu and Kristine talking.

"He was with that girl, imagine if-"

"Shut up!" Kristine sighed with a bit of blush. "They're both ascendants, so, it's obvious they'd work together."

"But why are they here?" She asked.

"Not sure. He doesn't tell me anything. In fact this is the second time I've seen him in last 8-9 months. He looks scary and changed too but I'm yet to find out why. He was also exceptionally strong but I don't know how he got so much stronger in less time. But if there was anyone in our class who would become this strong, it had to be him and James."

"James? You mean the hero? Is he strong?"

"Compared to Kenji, no. I don't think James can ever defeat Kenji and apparently, he is only number four. There are three more people stronger than him." Kristine answered.

"But they might be against us, right? Dad called them so there is something going on that even we don't know. Especially how Chen was involved. I'm afraid we may not have enough information but we still have to go forward with our plan and end my dad's life. It's the only way... I don't want people to suffer."

Kristine nodded.

I left the room as I heard the confirmation that she wants to kill the king. She is definitely against the war. I returned to the room where Lizette was.

"- It makes me want to ask just has carefree you had been. YOU, THE KING OF SHULIAN, HAVE FAILED TO TAKE ACTION!" Lizette slammed the table.

"I-" Shulian looked so small in front of angry Lizette. I wouldn't want to get on her bad side either.

I deactivated my invisibility and sat next to her.

"Alright, have you rechecked all the reports sent to you by your subordinates?" She asked and he nodded.

"I read through everything and nothing really seemed out of ordinary. I never knew people were against the war. But even then I think war is the only way forward."

"It's redundant to act as a diplomat right now. Listen, king Shulian, you have failed as the king. We will protect you as per contract but do not expect us to do anything more than that." She got up and snapped her fingers and some figures appeared out of thin air. "Have your personal network for information gathering, it's basics of being a leader and you're an utter disappointment." She looked at the figures and whispered something to them before they disappeared.

"Kenji, come with me." She stormed off the room. I quickly followed her.

...

We were in our private room sharing the information we had received and reached a conclusion that it was about time we arrested Kristine. I hated the idea but she was involved in two war crimes now.

One of Lizette's informer appeared in front of us and bowed.

"Charlotte has arrived." She told us.

"Charlotte?!" She is the number two but why is she here? Is Jeoma that worried?

Charlotte entered room with a soft smile on her face. Her eyes were covered by white laced blindfold which complimented her lolita dress. My understanding is that her eyes are what gives her powers. I wonder what element is involved.

"Oh my. Am I interfering?" Charlotte spoke with her sweet as honey voice.

"Not really." Lizette responded and sighed. "Want coffee?" She asked and Charlotte obliged.

 Lizette told her everything we knew so far and she listened silently.

"His majesty asked me come here because of a weird kind of power called eye of Tryam. He is worried that this power might be too much and should be removed altogether."

"And where is it?" I asked.

"In this castle. I think we should carefully get rid of it. Those who want to get rid of the king mainly want access to this power. They've been keeping the king in dark. They want the distress of the people to spill over and so they will attack the royal family."

"Do you know names of those involved?" Lizette asked.

"Not really. I know one. The supposed leader is the Duke of Qifan. Apart from him, it is difficult to track down others. His son Chen is being manipulated too."

"Kenji, you sho-" We heard a blast.

The three of us rushed to the window and saw a mushroom cloud. 

"Lizette, go save the king! Charlotte come with me." The two of us can fly so having her made things more fluent. The two of us flew towards the mushroom cloud and saw Kristine and Feishu fighting some guy.

"That's Chen. We must stop them." Charlotte told me. We are technically on Chen's side so we landed by his side.

"Kristine, what are you doing?" I cried out.

"He is our enemy, we have to get rid of him."

"Just listen to me! He is being manipulated by-"

"Aiya! You're contracted to protect Chen and his side. Obviously you will defend him. You're not reliable." Feishu charged her weapon and dashed towards us.

Charlotte took off her blindfold and open her eyes. They were azure color with a white sunflower like pattern as iris.

"Gravitational push!" Feishu was sent flying back into the ground.

"Chen, come with me. Charlotte, let's retreat." Fighting should be avoided if we can. I grabbed onto Chen and flew up but Kristine attacked the two of us but she stopped mid-air. Charlotte stopped her mid-air.

We did manage to leave rather easily. We can't kill either of them so holding back made things slightly more difficult.

...

We were back in the castle in our room and Lizette hadn't returned.

"Explain yourself." I said to Chen.

"Explain? The king wants war and if he thinks its the only way forward then as the eldest son of the Duke, it is my duty to make sure his vision comes true."

"We are not doing any wars, don't worry. King doesn't have information either so he doesn't want war either."

"W-what?" We then explained everything to Chen when another one of Lizette's informant and informed us that Ace had gone missing for a few days now.

"He... missing? You sure you just lost track of him?" I asked.

"I apologize in case I sound arrogant but we are certain that Ace is in trouble. He was sent to track down the eye of Tryam. He entered the room but never exited."

"I see. Thanks for information. Charlotte and I will deal with it."

"Kenji, we should make haste." She put on her blindfold again.