Drastic Measures

A black-haired old-looking man began talking

"The operation cost us more than 30 Agents across the world, we will need at least a decade to recover the losses!

What's the point of continuing it? What will the Dynasty gain?

We don't even know what we are looking for! Perhaps that person is already dead"

The man standing to the King's right replied

"We know what we are looking for, the instructions are clear"

"Clear!!!! How come it's clear, Elroy? All we know is the target's age and a single question to ask, there are tens of millions of candidates!"

Elroy calmly replied again

"There's also the fact that the target will stand out, which should reduce the number of candidates, GREATLY"

"Such a vague term reduces nothing, and even if what you're saying is correct, it does not negate the risk nor justify the losses, we keep losing important assets!"

"Every operation has risks, you should be aware of at least that, Zalaph."

The light in the old man's eyes flickered for a second

"I'm well aware of that, I've been the leader of the Shadow Agency since before you were even born, Child."

After the situation devolved to this stage, the King raised his right hand, stopping the conversation

For the first time since the beginning of the meeting, the King began talking

"Zalaph"

Zalaph replied respectfully

"My Liege"

The King turned around and looked to his right

"Elroy"

"My Liege"

He looked back in front of him and continued

"I'm the one who ordered this operation"

Instantly, the Royals sent tens of transmissions to each other and the guards behind them, this revelation was shocking.

'King Ezekiel himself? Why?'

Initially, this operation started by the orders of the King's right hand, Elroy, the reason that was done was very simple.

If the news that the King was searching for a child spread, very few things would come to mind, and none of which would be good.

To avoid that, everything was done by Elroy.

But because of how complicated the operation was and the amount of losses incurred, the Ministers began complaining.

'Why should the Dynasty suffer this much just for The King's right hand?'

No matter how important he was, he wasn't the King.

They started by sending formal complaints to the King, but they never got any reply.

So they confronted Elroy directly and accused him of using the Dynasty's resources for personal gains.

But even that didn't make him stop the operation, so the only thing left was to directly complain to the King, face to face.

Zalaph chose his words carefully

"My Liege, if it's your order then we can't defy it ... but can't you at least explain to us, why are you searching for a child?"

Ezekiel sighed

"I can't elaborate now, but after the mission concludes, I will explain more"

"Understood, My Liege"

"The operation will continue, matter of fact, you need to fasten its pace, we can't spend decades on a single operation"

Ezekiel turned around and looked at Elroy

"Elroy, make sure the Shadow Agentcy's funds are doubled for the next five years. On top of that, triple the compensation for those who die in the mission.

Also, increase the rewards for those who bring valuable information even if they were detected"

"My Liege, but, the Shadow Agency already consum-"

"ELROY!"

"I apologize, my Liege"

Ezekiel looked back at Zalaph and continued

"Zalaph, expand the Shadow Agency with the extra funds. If you need to build more bases then take the expenses directly from the Treasury"

He glanced at the Royal Mage of Finance who nodded without uttering a word

"Is there anything more you need?"

Zalaph didn't like how things were going, at all

'I'm being trapped ...'

'Nothing comes for free ...'

But he didn't let it show on his face and replied politely

"Your servant needs nothing more, My Liege"

A smirk appeared on Ezekiel's face

"Then finish the operation in the next two years, Royals Dismissed"

Zalaph's face contorted with both anger and annoyance

'I knew there was a catch'

Ezekiel stood up, and all the seated Royals got up as well.

Within a few seconds, the room became empty except for two men and a Dragon.

Ezekiel and Elroy turned around to face the Dragon Lord, the Dragon Lord cancelled the concealing spell and began talking.

"No progress?"

Elroy replied

"Of course, there's progress. We've removed countless candidates from the list of potential targets, the progress is a bit slow, but it can't be helped, searching the entire world is not an easy feat"

The Dragon Lord crossed his arms and spoke in a hoarse voice

"That's your problem to deal with, for how long will I have to keep coming?"

Ezekiel stepped forward

"As you have heard, I increased the allotted resources for the operation, hopefully, it'll be concluded by the next time you come"

"Hmph, that's not enough"

Ezekiel narrowed his eyes

"Excuse me?"

"You need to find the target faster, I can't keep leaving my turf to come here"

"It can't be helped, the amount of scales we got is barely enough"

The Dragon Lord drew some black lines in the air.

Instantly, a Reality Pocket was opened.

He extended his hand and dropped a relatively big amount of scales on the floor then closed the Pocket.

Ezekiel and Elroy's eyes opened wide, the Dragon Lord noticed that but didn't he didn't expect any less

"You need to find the target faster, not only that, but I also want a means of communication, I can't keep coming here."

Ezekiel gulped

'This has gotten really serious really fast'

Ezekiel's plan was simple, show the Dragon Lord his seriousness in the meeting, then complain about the amount of the scales received.

The goal was to convince the Dragon Lord that he was doing his best despite the unfair pay and lower the pressure on himself.

'But it backfired'

Ezekiel quickly controlled his emotions and opened a Reality Pocket himself, from it, he took out a shiny white Crystal and handed it to the Dragon Lord.

"This is a communication Crystal. When we contact you, the Crystal will start blinking and ringing, you can also use it to send messages, but I doubt that will be of use to you."

"Hmph"

The Dragon Lord took the Crystal and turned around in the window's direction

"You better hurry"

He re-activated the spell and flew out of the window.

After leaving the Dynasty, the Dragon Lord started laughing.

'Ahahaha, now these fools will only focus on the mission and won't ever think about why I took the Crystal'

Ezekiel was no fool, if The Dragon Lord had simply asked for the Crystal, he would have probably given him a Crystal that he couldn't tamper with or an altered and heavily ciphered one.

'But now that the entire focus is on the mission, he wouldn't even think about the Crystal at all'

Naturally, the Dragon Lord didn't care about the operation even a bit, all he wanted was to hide his real target.

And he succeeded.

Back in the Dynasty's Royal Palace, both Ezekiel and Elroy were still looking at the pile of scales on the floor was a stupified look on their faces

"My Liege .... what will we do now?"

"As a start, cut off the "My Liege" bullshit when we are alone"

"Ah ... right, Brother, what will we do now?"

"I have no idea"

They both stayed silent for a while

Eventually, Ezekiel spoke up

"We have no choice. Up our search even further, the target should be six years old by now.

Every single kid between five and seven years old and is considered smart or powerful by anyone other than his mother must be asked about the Summoning Lord's name, even if our agents have to sneak into other kingdoms' palaces and question the crown prince, just do it."

"Fine, Brother"

Elroy hurriedly left the room

That night, thousands of letters, signals, and messages spread throughout the world.

The target must be found, regardless of the cost.