chapter 94

Five people from all walks of life were gathered in a room.

While only one candle lit up the interior, a blonde girl, who didn’t seem to fit into the heavy setting, opened her mouth.

“Is it true that the ‘Sword’ has made a move?”

Her voice was filled with irritation.

Shepard Jun, the middle aged man who was being glared at by the girl, could only give a bitter smile.

“He removed the barrier he placed in the forest. Trust me, Rounder Sheryl, I’ll bet my reputation on it.”

If anyone were to see this sight, they would have doubted their own eyes.

Shepard Jun, master of a magic tower and head of the renowned Jun family, was acting so differentially to a young girl?

Was he really the one who did not dare to meet this girl’s gaze and continuously avoided it?

However, there was no one in the Circle who would find fault with Shepard Jun’s actions when they heard his words.

Rounder Sheryl!

This blonde girl was none other than the second in command of the Phisfounder Armlets, one of the Three Great Circles.

On the surface, she appeared to be a blonde girl who did not exceed twenty years, but in fact, she was actually a vampire who had already lived for hundreds of years.

Sheryl smiled slightly and lifted her chin.

“Where is he headed?”

“Pillat, the city we are in currently. That’s why I called you.”

“Hmph…”

Sheryl’s sharp crimson eyes swept across the people in the room.

Most of the people who received her gaze seemed to feel uncomfortable as they hurriedly avoided meeting it.

She licked her lips once before saying.

“Well, it makes sense that you’d call for me. After all, you’re nothing but a baby chick in front of an Apocalypse.”

Crunch.

She gritted her teeth with an angry expression.

“But aren’t you forgetting the battle to subjugate Nozdog? The Trowman Rings, who were on par with the Three Great Circles, was almost completely annihilated in one battle. At that time, we only obtained one piece of information, and that was the fact that that monster had the power of death.”

Hundreds, almost thousands of people died just to obtain that one piece of information.

She knew the five of them were very talented. Even Sheryl alone had centuries worth of knowledge and experience.

As long as she had a good enough plan, she could even take down a small fortress by herself.

But the opponent this time was a Demigod. Transcendent beings who could destroy a city or even a country by themselves, depending on their power.

Shepard shook his head with a determined expression.

“Of course, I didn’t call you here to fight.”

“Then?”

“We’re thinking of tailing him.”

It was a grey-haired man who said that.

Sheryl frowned.

“You… what was your name again?”

“Heinz Blake, Rounder Sheryl.”

“The youngest executive in the Strow Necklaces? I’ve heard the rumors.”

Nevertheless, she still looked at him with her sharp gaze.

“What can we get from following him?”

“We received information that the Demigods are gathering in one place.”

Shepard was the one who spoke, but Sheryl didn’t take her eyes off of Heinz.

“From which source?”

“Me.”

Once again, it was Heinz who spoke.

Sheryl’s expression became strange.

“Is it information from the Blake family?”

“I overheard a conversation between Isaka Blake and a Demigod.”

“…”

The fact that Isaka, the head of the Blake family, had a certain relationship with the Demigods was something that was an open secret among the main figures of the Circle.

And Heinz was the one to report it.

From then on, he kept on giving the Circle information that couldn’t be obtained by normal means.

Therefore, the information that Heinz brought was highly reliable.

Nevertheless, there were still many in the Circle who doubted him.

Heinz’s expression remained calm even when he knew that she might be one of them.

He didn’t look like he was lying.

‘He’s a strange kid.’

That was the judgement Sheryl reached for Heinz.

Even with her experience, it was difficult for her to see through him.

Either he was really telling the truth, or he was really good at lying.

“The meeting will be somewhere in Luanoble, but I don’t know the exact location.”

“Luanoble? That’s the exact opposite direction from here.”

“I think he wants to use the Warp Stone here.”

For a moment silence fell in the room.

“A Demigod using a Warp Stone? Don’t they have their own form of transportation? I’ve never heard of them entering a human city just to use a Warp Stone.”

This time, it was Dugenjar, a force honor of the Phisfounder Armlets.

Shepard’s gaze turned to him.

‘He’s changed a lot.’

Dugenjar was a Wizard who was widely rumored to have a personality that didn’t quite match his ability.

Although he was a 7 star Archmage, his stubbornness and narrowmindedness made him unpopular among the other executives of the Three Great Circles.

However, this man had suddenly changed a few months ago.

It was said that he no longer argued about pointless things, and his reputation in the Circle had been climbing since then.

Shepard had been disbelieving at first, but after spending these few days together and conversing with him, he realised he really had changed.

He didn’t know what happened, but it seemed Dugenjar had come to some kind of realisation.

Then a Knight with a thick mustache tapped on his armor.

“That’s not the problem. This is a very serious situation. Can we be sure that monster doesn’t intend to just destroy Pillat completely?”

He was an executive from the Lucid Swords named Jerome Berner.

Heinz shook his head.

“If that was his purpose, he would not have moved so slowly and allowed us to catch onto his trail.”

“It could be just a whim. Nothing is more pointless than trying to rationalise a Demigod’s behaviour.”

“That’s true, but Pillat has the Blake family. The Demigods have a relationship with the Blake family, so I don’t think they will attack this place.”

“…”

Jerome didn’t say anything further because there was nothing to refute.

Sheryl pressed against her temples before speaking firmly.

“Alright. I think I understand. He’s coming to Pillat just to use the Warp Stone to head to Luanoble. Then he will attend the Demigod meeting that’s being held there somewhere. Is that everything?”

“That’s right.”

“Then what can we do with that information?”

Shepard agreed with Sheryl.

Usually, when your enemies congregated in one place, it was the perfect opportunity to strike them down in one blow.

However, their enemies were Demigods.

It would not be possible for them to overwhelm the Demigods when they were congregated together.

To put it bluntly, if dozens of Demigods gathered in one place, the Circle would be unable to do anything even if every member showed up.

Heinz spoke calmly.

“Throughout the long history of the circle, there has never been a case of more than a dozen Demigods gathering. For those arrogant beings to all gather in one place to discuss something, I’m not sure what it could be about, but I’m sure that it would be incredibly important.”

“…so you want to eavesdrop on whatever they are going to talk about.”

“I think it would be worth the risk.”

“…”

Sheryl tapped on her chin.

Certainly… Heinz was right.

It wasn’t just a matter of curiosity.

If there was something that could cause dozens of Demigods to gather, then it would be worth finding out even at the risk of their lives.

“And we don’t have to attack the Demigods directly.”

“Huh?”

“I heard the Apostles will also accompany the Demigods to the meeting.”

“…!”

This information caused a ripple to spread throughout the room.

Sheryl stared at Heinz with wide eyes.

“Are you certain of this information?”

“That’s right.”

“…”

If that were true, the situation would be completely different.

The most effective means that they knew of to hurt a Demigod was to kill their Apostle.

The Circle had not yet figured out what kind of penalty the Demigods faced when their Apostles died, but they knew it caused some form of break in their usual operation.

And the people in this room were all powerful enough to handle even the most skilled Apostles.

‘Even if we only got a few of them, it would be a great harvest.’

Everyone seemed to turn and look at Sheryl at the same time.

This was because she was the most authoritative among those gathered.

Shepard and Heinz were the ones who called this meeting, but in order to carry out such an emergency operation, Rounder Sheryl’s presence was indispensable.

They were powerless in this regard.

“Good.”

Sheryl’s lips slowly parted.

“First, we’ll stay in Pillat and monitor the situation. And after the Sword makes his move, we’ll make ours. Understood?”

Everyone nodded with serious expressions.