Cannibals

Who was this old man? Why is he visiting at such an ungodly hour? Did he come here on behalf of those nobles to threaten me? Jarad was having multiple thoughts after he entered the room. Before making any hasty decision, he decided to talk to the old man first.

The old man stood up to greet him. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Jarad."

"Please sit down." he wanted to use some tough words, he was a little bit angry that someone visited his home at that time, but he chose to be humble because he was still wary of the old man's background.

"It is a pleasure to meet you again Mr. Jarad." The old man said with a big smile.

He bloomed a fake smile. "I am sorry, I can't seem to recall where we met. Would you mind refreshing my memory?"

"Oh yeah… dont beat yourself up. Your wife also had trouble recognizing me." He then shifted on his seat. "My name is Ben. I am a very close friend of Adui Hampshire."

The smile on Jarad's face vanished, and he started looking at the old man with a grim expression. "So what can I do for you, Ben?"

"I need your help. Or might I say, Adui needs your help." Hearing the old man's words Jarad sat up straight.

"Do you know where he is?" He asked straightaway.

"Yeah, I know. He is hiding." A frown appeared on Jarad's face. "Hiding from whom exactly?"

The old man chuckled. "I dont know. He sent me here, to get your help. He trusts you a lot."

"Does he now?"

"Oh yeah! Before coming here, he even made me swear not to involve your family in any way in his affairs. He instructed me not to tell you anything about his whereabouts and situation to you or your family."

Jarad couldnt believe his ears, "And what exactly do Adui want from me?"

Ben shifted in his seat, "He wants you to get me to an authority figure to whom I could talk. Preferably someone with high power in the kingdom."

He doesn't want me to get involved? What kind of shit storm did you get yourself stuck in Adui?

Before he could say something else, the door flung open and Clair walked in. She came and sat down beside her husband, and then looked at Ben. "Where is he?"

Ben looked troubled, but he didn't say anything. Clair then asked more aggressively, "I asked you, where is he?" her question remained unanswered. Ben was not opening his mouth, especially not in front of her.

Seeing the old man's resolve, Jarad decided to speak without Clair, "Clair dear, why dont you go inside and make us both a cup of tea? I will handle this."

Clair shook her head. "I am not going anywhere Jarad. I want to know where Adui is, whether he is alive or is he dead. And I am not going before I get all the answers that I need."

The old man looked undisturbed by her rambling, he was not backing out. Jarad on the other hand then decided to step his foot down. "CLAIR," he said with a clear crisp voice, his emotionless voice to make Clair aware that now he was not joking around.

"Go inside. We will talk about this later." She still was not having it, she was ready to fight her way, but seeing his serious face, she dejectedly went away.

After she was gone, he apologized. "Sorry for that. She really cares about him a lot, and his disappearance has been very stressful for her."

"It's alright." Ben said with a small smile, "As I was saying before if you could really help me meet some higher-level official, then everything would be over. I will leave and never come back to this place again."

"I will help you. But you are always welcome at my house. Adui is a good friend, he and his friends can always come here to ask for help."

Ben's face then turned serious, "Jarad, you seem like a nice lad, so let me give a piece of advice." the old man said, "Never ever tell or say something like that in front of anyone else. Adui's enemies are not something that people like you or me could handle. You saying things like that could implicate that Adui knows or cares about you, which could make you and your family a target. So be careful with your words."

Jarad then leaned forward. "What kind of enemy is he facing, that is so dangerous?" The old man also leaned forward. "I am afraid, I can't tell you that."

***

Ben stayed over that night, Jarad showed him the way to the guest room, after which he retired back to his room. Clair was waiting for him there, she wanted to know what the old man told him about the whereabouts of Adui, but he kept his mouth shut and didn't tell her a thing.

It was not like he himself knew what was going on, but based on what had been going on in the kingdom, he figured that they were better off not knowing what was happening. All of this was related to awakened ones, so they were better off not knowing what was going on there.

The next day, as soon as they had breakfast, Ben insisted that they should head off as well, seeing that he was so adamant about leaving early, Jarad also agreed. As they got into the carriage, Jarad ordered his men to take him to the Royal Palace.

Ever since the untimely assassination of the Crown Prince, the security of the Palace had doubled, when the guards stopped Jarad's carriage at the front gate, they were reluctant to let Ben in, it took some convincing and they were finally let in…

One of the many butlers of the Royal Palace escorted him and Jarad to Howard's office, while he was very nervous because it was his first time walking in such an extravagant building, it was so beautiful and serene that he could believe that humans made it.

There were intricate carvings on the pillars of the palace, the golden paint in the ceiling felt like it had been painted with actual gold, and the white walls were so clean and devoid of any dust, seeing it he felt like with just his touch would dirty the walls. He never realized how dirty he looked before coming to this place.

The butler took them to the corner of the Palace, a place guarded by two big cherry red wood plain doors, the butler slightly knocked on doors with a soft fist, and soon came a voice from inside. "Come in"

The butler entered first, he tried to follow the butler, but Jarad quickly stopped him. He didn't understand why they were stopping, he wanted to ask why they stopped, but seeing that Jarad was standing there quietly, so he copied him, also he didn't want to look like an illiterate man in this place.

Soon the butler returned and with a soft and low voice he said. "Lord Howard would see you now."

As they entered the room, the butler closed the heavy doors behind them. And he couldnt help but looked at Lord Howard's office with awe. Their shelves of books all around the place, the map of the whole Gorgon kingdom was accurately painted on the ceiling, the floor was covered in soft red carpet, and on the other end of the room, sitting on apple green wood desk was the man himself, Lord Howard.

Howard was scribbling something on a piece of paper, and without looking up, he started speaking. "I was not expecting you Jarad, not at least for a few more hours. So why do I owe the pleasure of this early meeting."

Jarad cleared his throat. "Actually, he is here to meet you, sir."

Howard looks up at Ben, scanning him from top to bottom. "Do I know you?"

Ben who was nervous coughed a little bit and cleared his throat. "Nah! My name is Ben. And I am here to talk to you about Adui Hampshire."

Hearing that name, Howard put down his pen. He was intrigued now. "What about him?"

"He sent me here, to talk to someone with authority."

"Why send you? What is he so busy doing?" Ben was about to open his mouth again, but then the old man remembered that Jarad was still there. "Can we talk in private? I was explicitly told by Adui that he didn't want Jarad and his family to get involved in all of this." Hearing this Howard looked at Jarad and then gestured for him to wait outside. He obeyed and exited the room.

***

Howard then gestured, "Ben was it, come sit down." he offered.

As they were seated on the opposite side, Howard finally started speaking. "So tell me, Ben, what is Adui doing these days?"

"Recovering. He was tortured and was almost burned alive by Gizelle Salvatore and her bloodborn family."

It was very interesting information for Howard.

Interesting… So the man faced retaliation for telling the knights about her family. Wait, Prince's convoy was also attacked the same day. Maybe all of this is connected, Gizelle and her family knew about Rupert, because of Adui. .

"So what is the purpose of your visit?" Howard asked.

"To warn you guys."

"Warn us about what?"

"Ulaspas family…" Ben said grimly. "It was all a lie. They didn't come to this land to build a Mage Tower. They came here to harvest humans."

Howard shifted in his place, he didn't understand what Ben was trying to say. "What do you mean harvesting humans?"

"Ulaspas family is a group of black mages. The recent attacks in the village, the mysterious monster roaming around the land. All of this is done by the Ulaspas family. They are the ones that are doing this."

"But why? Are they trying to plan a coup?"

"You dumb or something," Ben asked, "Those people, they are cannibals. And we are their harvest. They have not come here to conquer the land. They have come here to hunt."

Howard looked at Ben, he couldnt believe what he told him, all of this was so weird, cannibals, harvesting, all of this was too much for him. "How can I know that this isn't some sort of nasty prank or some other conspiracy?"

Ben shrugged. "I was sent here to just convey this message to you. Adui wanted me to tell you all of this because he wanted to contact JMA. They are the only ones that could stop these fuckers."

He wants us to contact the Joint Mage Association, is he insane? That organization comprises world-class awakened ones, and he wants me to contact them because a bunch of the strong awakened has entered our boundary…

It is during his internal monologue, that Howard realized something crucial. Prince Rupert destroyed the communication tower, at first they think much about it, but if he takes into consideration Adui's suggestion, then all of this fits in perfectly.

"Where is Adui Hampshire? I want to talk to him myself." Howard said.

"He is in the capital."

"Can we meet him?"

"Yes, but beware, his condition is very delicate. You must throw extreme caution when coming to meet him. You could not afford to get him getting caught or being killed."

"I understand."