Chapter 271: The Target

Four more years passed, and she had reached the age of 18, but she looked like that of mature 22 to 23 year old women with an unreal beauty that could drive any men mad the moment they looked at her, so she always had to use a mask, never showing her real face, her whole body, was also always covered. She had now taken the persona of a secret guild owner of an extensive information network. An information network primarily based on women.

Women who were the slaves of wealthy nobles, households, or various organizations, or they could be maids. Her spies were spread all over the kingdom in just 4 years, as her primary goal was to learn more about her mother. After a certain point, she had realized that her strength did not increase any further, no matter how much she killed. She felt like she was just one single step away from unlocking that humongous door within her mind. And she understood that it was related to her mother. She couldn’t take that next step until she had found her.

And she instinctively knew that her answers, the questions she had, the changes, and everything would be answered when that one mountain-like door opened within her mind. But for a long time, there were still no results on that quest of hers to find her mother. She had raided countless corrupt officials, killed them, and many pillager groups, pirate groups; none were spared. And since she was the most significant information network controller. No one could find anything about her; all the corrupt individuals and organizations, regardless of their position, had no clue about her.

Even the highest authorities, large noble families, and royals had to become weary of this matter. The king had realized far too late that there were significant information gaps in what he received. He thought that perhaps the other powerful noble houses were trying to fight against him and were slowly building the resistance underneath. But he could not be more wrong; the control and power Sophia held now was something no one could imagine, how a simple girl from a rural and disconnected village was, in fact, now the strongest individual within the entirety of the kingdom. As well as the most informed person by far.

When Sophia had reached the age of 20, her beauty had reached an unprecedented level. Now, even when her whole face was to be covered, her face masked entirely, other males would still be drawn towards her presence; her charm was just too great.

This is something that greatly disturbs her; she finds it extremely unpleasant, something that she cannot even express in mere words, how revolting it was to her. If she wanted, she could use her otherworldly beauty to her advantage. It was a potent weapon of hers that could make any man fall prey to her whims, no, not just men, even women were not entirely immune to it. Thankfully, if she chose to, she could control that influence so as not to affect women; if not, women near her would be significantly affected by it. Dulling their minds.

Precisely the reason why her information network was mainly built on women. However, the vital matter was none of those; instead, it was the fact that she finally found a trace of her mother’s location, and some evidence of the bandit group that likely looted her village was also discovered. She read the reports intently, her dark red eyes shimmering brightly.

This was a news of 6-7 years back, the current crown prince, back then used to run a secret organization, something that no one knew of, not even the king. He had built an underground dark organization that dealt with all sorts of shady and illegal businesses. That very organization had many branches, and one of them was responsible for managing certain bandit groups—the pillagers. Of course, that branch of the organization was a very minor and unmanaged part. There were only five small bandit groups under that branch of the organization.

What they mostly did was loot small and rural villages, bring in women and little girls, who would then be sold to nobles or individuals of high authority and positions. They would be exceptionally well paid if they brought in fresh and beautiful women. The women whom the crown prince personally enjoyed for as long as he wanted, and then they were killed. Sophia’s eyes gleamed in murderous intensity as he read more.

The reason it took her so damn long to find this small piece of information was that the king had found out about it—the direct connection of the prince with the most prominent underground organization of the whole kingdom. As soon as the king found out about it, he was furious at his first prince, not for running such a heinous organization that did inhuman deeds, but rather for the prince having a direct and obvious connection with it. The nobles could cause a kingdom-wide revolt if they discovered it and seized the opportunity. Thankfully, the king found it first.

The king destroyed all and everything related to that organization; every single person and their families were killed without mercy so that not a single trace of its existence would remain. But even though the first prince made such a big mistake, the king loved his first son dearly. So, he was only given a light punishment, and except for the few absolutely loyal ministers of the king, none ever found out about it. Even the queen had no clue about it.

One of her spies managed to get into the bed of a loyal minister of the king, from where she had managed to read such a secret piece of news as the old man was utterly drunk and lost himself in pleasure with beautiful young girls. He had spouted this information, unable to handle himself. But considering this piece of news, everyone who had any connection with that organization was killed alongside their families. As it was an organization only run by slaves or ordinary people, killing them was no troublesome task for the king.

But no, she didn’t think her mother was dead. Her instincts said it. She began to read through the report again, and then she understood the situation even more. The branch of that organization that handled the bandit groups was likely disbanded before its destruction and elimination by the king. But why that branch was shut down was not clear. She placed a hand on her chin, her cold and calculative side working on full power.

It was possible that it was her fault that the pillaging unit of the underground organization was shut down. The bandit groups that worked under them didn’t even know it; they knew that they had to bring in beautiful girls to be sold to them. The rest would be theirs for taking. And she had eliminated countless small and big pillaging groups ever since she left her rural village.

However, this presented another significant problem: the prince or the king’s ministers likely did not know about any remnants of those small bandit groups, if they had survived. She closed her eyes, reviewing all the memories, all the bandit groups she eliminated. The faces of those men who attacked her village. The very man who had violated her mother, his face. The carriages used by that group, the designs of them, or any symbol. Those same-looking carriages, where had she seen them?

Which of the other pillagers had those same types of carriages in their hideouts? A subtle connection began to form, a thread of a network, clues that had existed nowhere else but in her very mind, in her memories themselves. She had by now crossed the limits of a human by far. Her strength, speed, and power far surpassed even the strongest land animals. Her mind was crystal clear and sharp. She could recall almost all memories perfectly, if she wanted.

For 10 whole minutes, she made mental calculations and deductions in her mind, kept her eyes closed, and sat in silence. When she finally opened her eyes, there was a confidence in her gaze that previously held confusion and hesitation about her next step.

She had identified five particular locations; in one of those five places, there should definitely be a trace of her mother. She was sure that this was it; she would find her soon. But she didn’t know if it was for the fact that she would finally be able to save her mother, or finally have her answers, which she had wanted to know for so long. She did not know. It was also an unsurprising fact that those very five places had the least number of her spies in them.

She immediately ordered her 2nd in charge, showing those five locations in a map that depicted the kingdom they were currently in, “These five towns, I want you to use every single manpower we have, every single resources if necessary to find every last piece of information you can get from those towns, about everything for the last 10 years. I want to know even how many rats died till 10 years back.”

The second-in-charge had a frown on her face as she said cautiously, “But if we mobilize all our forces and resources at once like this, our perfectly maintained facade will….”

But before she could even finish, a bloody thick killing intent pressed onto her very soul as if a ghastly monster was staring at her, she dropped to her knees, unable to breathe.

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