CHAPTER 93: SUNFIRE ROAD INCIDENT

Time went by quickly, and Abel finished divulging all the information he knew.

Apparently, the reason for the sudden emergency meeting among merchants wasn’t about the Crown Prince’s Banquet nor the banquet from Wesley.

Instead, it was about a series of lost cargoes around the Sunfire Road. The Sunfire Road was a major and popular road where carriages transporting goods traveled on.

It was guarded daily by experts without any openings.

Naturally, such secured roads meant high toll fees. But many merchants still gritted their teeth and paid the exorbitant toll fees because of its guaranteed safety for their goods.

Yet in recent days, it appeared that the situation was flawed and its guaranteed safety was being broken repeatedly.

Moreover, the supposed experts were all killed in succession, leaving zero witnesses. Although there were no witnesses, it wasn’t hard to figure out that the culprit or culprits behind the incidents were highly skillful.

"Were there any clues left behind that could tell us which organization was behind it?" Leonard inquired. He found it difficult to believe that this kind of incident was possible in a popular main trade route.

"Sir Vincent must have taken the river route to arrive here." Abel suddenly said.

"The Sunfire Road was heavily guarded, especially after the first incident. But even then, a bloody mess would occur in the afternoon and nighttime. Initially, we thought it was just some lucky individual managing to succeed a few times, but weeks had passed by, and there was still no resolution."

While Abel was explaining the situation, Leonard was starting to have a killing desire toward him for correctly deducing his choice of transport.

No, maybe it was already too late.

He had actually long messed up from the start if what Abel said was the truth.

There wasn’t even a need to kill Abel because it still wouldn’t resolve his current predicament.

After all, prior to his entry to Velastra. He had confidently made the bold claim about arriving at Velastra by land.

Other than the popular Sunfire Road, the other routes and roads were deemed unsafe and dangerous. It would have been unimaginable and hard to believe for someone of his stature to take any route other than the guaranteed safety ones.

Therefore, Jeffrey must have discerned his lie about coming here by land. Yet the former was still able to keep an indifferent expression and feigned ignorance.

They proceeded to act like a typical greedy city guard and guided him around the city as if he were clueless about everything besides the money he received.

’It appears that I have underestimated this city guard, Jeffrey, instead.’ Leonard came to a realization that Jeffrey was more than what the eyes met. He couldn’t help but feel a cold chill running down his spine.

The meticulous and near flawless disguised plan that he thought he had put up seemed to be crumbling at a rapid rate.

While he was distracted by the possibility, Abel’s body tensed up slightly.

It can’t be that Sir is displeased with my intel, right?

He had said everything he knew, even the information that he paid a fortune to investigate the situation.

"Um, Sir Vincent?" Abel rubbed his hands nervously and asked, "If you’re not satisfied with the information, I can send more people to investigate on your behalf."

Leonard finally snapped out of his daze when he heard the annoying voice again.

"There’s no need," he waved his hand and said in a somewhat dismissive tone. "You can enter the special channel first. I still wish to admire the scenery for a while to cleanse my mood."

"Yes, Sir Vincent." Feeling like he had been pardoned, Abel hurriedly excused himself.

He increased his pace and regrouped with his two companions, namely Herbert and Craig.

The two of them were also silver-ranked certified merchants. Besides their merchant rank, they were also a Castellan Family, just like Abel. Hence, they got along quite well, granted that each of their families approved of their friendship.

"What’s the matter with you, Abel?" Herbert was visibly annoyed and occasionally glanced at Leonard.

His action was quickly noticed by Abel, who hurriedly raised his hand to block his sight.

"Stop with your foolish action..." Abel hissed and warned in a low but threatening tone.

"If you don’t want to die, then just enter the special channel first."

Confused and startled by his cautiousness, both Herbert and Craig stared at each other. They weren’t foolish and had some guesses about the reason behind Abel’s action.

Knowing Abel’s temper was not one to bow to those beneath him, they adhered to their friend’s warning and approached the guards at the entrance.

When the guards spotted the trio, one of them shifted their stern expression to a friendly one.

"So it’s Sir Abel. You can just put your medal on the scanner over there and proceed to enter." The guard gently said. His attitude was a far cry from the rest, who were still lining up and awaiting their turn to verify themselves.

The process was swift and efficient. In less than a minute since they entered, they were already permitted to enter, much to the displeasure of many.

Unfortunately, not a single one of them dared to voice their complaint or express any anger.

Who told them to be low-ranked or non-certified?

This was the difference in ranking—one that left many of them frustrated at their pitiful fate.

While they could only lament their fate, Leonard watched the whole process and understood what he must do to bypass the detection formation.

Although he found the solution to his predicament, there was another major issue brooding over his mind.

"Are you perhaps worried about the lies you fabricated being exposed?" Mirelle suddenly approached him and asked.

She had heard their conversation, so she was able to pinpoint the reason behind Leonard’s emotion. It was very faint and lasted for a brief moment, but she had detected a killing intent coming from Leonard as soon as Abel mentioned the Sunfire Road incident.

Leonard remained indifferent, but his silence made it obvious that he was indeed concerned about the matter. ’This isn’t a crucifixion trial against me, right?’