Murmurs in the Dark.

" Ok," Blank nonchalantly replied after hearing his answer, then stood up and went inside the carriage to sleep.

Everyone would be sleeping outside, and even though the room inside the carriage was quite spacious, it could only fit two people on each seat, and Blank obviously ordered them to stay on the edge of the road.

Right after, Dean spent the next hour conversing with Lexi and Kerin, getting to know the two a little bit more.

Alex and the other guy called Henry didn't say much except for a simple introduction, but only from their few words Dean got to know a lot of helpful information about the group.

For starters, the group isn't in reality a group; it is simply a force of ten ordered to kill off Dean and retrieve the cards his family gave him.

Since Dean proved his ability to use the cards and held the title of diver, the mission was called off and everyone was ordered to head back to Stegon's capital city, Irinas.

Irinas was situated right next to the ocean, which meant that a gate was situated in that place, the divers used Stegon kingdom as a base of their operation.

As of why Stegon kingdom was just a weakling of a force?

That didn't matter in the divers eyes.

Empires, kingdoms, and everyone in the world who was a ruler were simply the face in the front. In reality, everyone knew that the Stegon kingdom was the center of their world.

The emergence of gates in that specific location made it bear that title.

Alas, Dean failed to find out any information about this so-called force of ten. For example, who sent them and which organization do they work for.

But Lexi told him those things are under the contract they are subjected to, and if they ever disclose such information they will instantly die or suffer a fate worse than death.

Kerin then assured him that all of the information currently being held from him about the chaos world and divers would be thoroughly explained the moment he entered one of the gates.

Dean didn't dwell much on the matter; they spoke a little bit more, and everyone eventually got tired and went to sleep.

The night was thick and not even a shred of light could be detected in the surroundings hundreds of meters.

The two moons that were usually around to Illuminate the world with their silver bright rays were nowhere to be seen.

' Seems like the clouds are aiding me in this mission,' Dean sighed as he gazed at the clouds obscuring the twin moon's light.

Each time he recalled their appearance, he couldn't help but marvel over the creation of this world.

Two moons operating right next to each other, yet the world didn't freeze to death and people still lived inside of it like nothing was wrong.

To make matters even a little bit cooler and unique for someone of Dean's origins.

Blanace didn't really exist in nature it seems, since the sun didn't have a twin like the moon.

' Seems like the existence of mana and mages is somehow related to that specific abnormality,' Dean thought.

' Or is it?'

Dean didn't know, but he also didn't care.

At this time, he only had one mission on hand.

Spy on Diver Blank and try to find out what she has been doing the last couple of days.

It should be known that on their journey towards the capital of Stegon, the six people were so close to each other the whole time that people might suspect them of being siblings or a close group that would never betray each other.

Dean however didn't believe in such a thing.

Sleeping in the same place around the dim bonfire is fine and all, but why is Blank sleeping inside the carriage?

' There is no way a leader will distance herself from her group as much as this; it doesn't matter if they were randomly placed together in a mission this time; it is clear Kerin, Lexi, and the others knew her for a long time.' Dean concluded.

He had been observing their behavior for this couple of days, and even though he might seem paranoid and cautious beyond belief, Dean had to.

His life was on the line here; traveling with them was only a must because he needed to reach the gates. He didn't want to risk going alone while the wind church or whoever sent him to Mountain Rock City was trailing behind his back.

It was too risky!

What if they never wanted him to leave the city and kill him off?

Dean would surely die unable to defend himself against a stronger organized force.

' This isn't some anime or manga; this is real life; I can't risk these people hiding things behind my back that may danger me!'

He didn't know what kind of secret Blank held, but he felt it was somehow related to him.

He would occasionally hear murmurs in the carriages cabin every night given his trouble sleeping peacefully out in the open.

Unfortunately, he didn't want to take any risks to see what was wrong or even ask about it openly.

That was too dangerous!

Thus, using his assassination skills and perfected techniques, he decided to sneak up on her on this last night and find out what she was doing every night.

Everyone was deep in sleep giving Dean the perfect opportunity to sneak out of his place and get closer to the carriage window.

The pitch-black night made it far easier for him to blend with the darkness that not even someone a few inches away from him would be able to detect his figure without using any special skills.

' Not even if they wake up can they see me while I'm executing this technique, but given our current location I doubt they will use such things.' He suddenly had a burst of peace fill up his soul.

Their location was safe, and he did not need to worry about Blank or any other using extreme techniques to detect people around them.

Thinking that much, Dean stealthily moved to the carriage's window.

It was a window made of high-quality glass, and even though he didn't know how they produced glass in the first place and wondered about it for some time on his first day, he didn't care.

Dean stealthily jumped on top of the carriage's roof making no sound whatsoever, and bent down for his head to reach the window glass.

His techniques were so perfect that not even his father would be able to detect him if he wasn't in a higher realm than him.

Dean lay on top of the roof there quietly for almost 20 minutes, his head hanging in the air checking the insides of the carriage.

Diver Blank was peacefully sleeping and nothing strange seemed to happen.

He was about to call it off and go to sleep.

" Maybe I really was too paranoid and just imagining things?" He thought with uncertainty.

Subsequently, Dean chose to wait some more time before he went to sleep.

He needed to make sure that tomorrow, which is the day they reach Irinas capital city, no accidents will transpire.

After 15 more minutes or so, Dean finally heard the same faint murmurs coming out of the carriage.

At this moment, his figure shrouded in darkness was lying down on top of the carriage roof, gazing at the thick clouds covering the sky.

It felt like a hand that placed the entirety of the world inside of its palm, holding firm control over the lives of every single being under it.

' Such a beautiful view; lets just hope the things I see inside the cabin aren't ugly.' He jokingly said as he turned around and went to the window glass.

Gulp!

Dean gulped his saliva as he instinctively took a deep breath.

The scene he was currently seeing made no sense.

' A demonic ritual? Or a believer?'

The murmurs got a bit louder that even Dean began easily understanding their contents.

He pricked up his ears and lay motionlessly on top of the roof.

" When the 13th gate opens and the door to the realm of the unknown emerges, the mystical card will appear. As an elder of the star guild, I hereby order you to enter the gates as soon as possible and head to this location." The voice of a young man sounded in the cabin.

Diver Blank knelt on one knee," Yes sir."

Then the white-robed woman picked up the dim crystal on the wooden floor and in an instant, the crystal vanished like it never existed.

She then leisurely laid down on the comfy seats covered by cotton and went back to sleep, all the time ignorant to the pair of two eyes and ears observing her every action.

' Seems like I was mistaken; the voice was a bit too low that I didn't notice that it belonged to a man. A mystical card huh, is this some sort of event that occurs in the chaos world or something? And what are guilds? Is this turning into a game or what!' Dean mused inwardly as he stealthily went back to his spot around the dim bonfire.

Crack! Crack!

Right inside the cabin, Blank suddenly opened her eyes, knelt on one knee again and took out a grey round crystal out of nowhere the size of her palm.

The grey crystal lit up with green light and a voice could be heard from it.

" Is he gone?"

Blank nodded.

" Good, now listen carefully to my words; what I'm gonna say is extremely important to the operation."

" Yes sir," Blank politely said.