The God of Jesters
Chapter 397 - 7.03.1 Problem after problem.

Chapter 397: 7.03.1 Problem after problem.

I have walked enough and seen enough of this base. Most of it is hiding underground, which I learned happened only recently after the scare of those bizarre weapons that hit Luthanza all those months ago.

This explains the tiredness of most of the soldiers here and the lack of any fauna around, considering the whole land was recently dug and rebuilt from the ground up.

A fascinating fact that I presume not many must be aware of.

"This is site 32 or in simpler words, the base of the Mechanical Magic Department." Lavana Centi, the man who just recently obtained a job acting as Amir’s servant, explained gladly to his new boss while appearing as presentable as he could in front of the site’s door.

"It’s closed, this early?" Amir wondered, but focusing a bit, there was still silence. "Site 32 is always closed during its operation out of a need for secrecy, and few are even aware of what its true purpose is."

Among Logistics, there were many departments, and unlike what Amir had expected, this was definitely not one of the ones where he could come across truck engines.

No, if he recalls the words of General Vera, he did speak something about Mage Armors. ’This is a troublesome place.’

"Should I need to knock for them to open their doors?" Amir asked Centi, showing some annoyance over the treatment. But as his words escaped his mouth, the door did open, followed by a dirty feeling, which belonged to that of a mage.

"Prince Amir, I am glad to have met you." The woman appeared beautiful even to Amir’s beauty standards. Or it might just be her appeal as a researcher in glasses and scholarly air that attracted Amir.

But whatever it was, Amir didn’t like it. ’It’s easy to think what they are thinking.’ Amir didn’t know why everyone wished to make it difficult for him.

There was Sarlen and his Master Ludwig waiting for him at his home. And then this, the place he was going to work at.

They treat him as like any other Prince, treating him lightly and putting such a trap right the moment the door opens. Isn’t their intentions obvious?

’I shouldn’t be prejudiced.’ Amir shook his head over his worthless thoughts before he nodded to the woman and asked her to show him around.

Though obviously, she asked Centi to stay back, as he was not allowed inside for obvious reasons.

"This is bigger than I had expected."

"We were given priority during reconstruction after the achievements we made during the Durum Tragedy."

Durum, a city just hundreds of kilometers away from here. It’s the place he only got to stay for a day before he had to drive to reach the barracks. But during that one day, he did see some wonderful things.

It didn’t seem as if the city had ever suffered from any massive tragedy. Time seemed to have healed all its wounds.

Only on the surface at least. What happens to the families of the victims, no one knows.

And what was here? The woman, who identified herself as Inaya Baig seemed giddy as she spoke about the achievement the leader of this operation made during those days.

How the Mage Armor exceeded all expectations and was the true winner of the bout that happened that day.

"The losses would have been higher if not for our leader, who came to stop the terrorist on time." A modified version of history was read to Amir, letting him know the kind of grand place he was in, and he should know his place to not disturb the works of other researchers and workers who were currently actively tinkering with their armors in their specialized workshop.

"You must be wondering why we are doing such an important research on the frontline... it’s because our Leader..." Her praises continued over their leader, where she told Amir all about how field tests were necessary and how the others in the higher places didn’t appreciate her Leader’s talent and pushed him out.

So now with success, he refuses to go back to them and intends to start a Tower of his own in the coming future.

But for that, he needed funds and a name. Making his story somewhat similar to Amir’s.

Of course, none of this story interested Amir at all. He just looked around this closed workshop and the metallic skeletons that were kept hanging in certain corners.

This place was bigger than he had expected, but the people here were a lot less.

"So if Prince comes this way, we can..."

"Let me meet him."

"Huh?..."

"I wish to meet your leader, Wilhelm Faust. Or is he too busy to show his face as a Prince?" There was no shred of respect in Amir’s voice, nor did he hold any emotion as he spoke to his guide Inaya.

And why would he, enough time has been wasted already. Sarlen was still waiting for him in his room, and he was in no mood to play the simple game that Faust was playing with him.

He was probably being treated like an arrogant fool. Seeing the fact that this woman called Inaya kept ignoring any actual questions that Amir had while keeping her praises of her "leader". A sign that she doesn’t consider him much and only treats him as someone who was here to waste her and other’s time.

Of course, there was a certain part of her that didn’t wish to divulge any secrets of the armor to a stranger like Amir, despite his identity as a Prince of the country.

"That is not possible. The leader at the moment is busy and hence he sent me in his place to greet you."

"There is no need to keep on the act, I am here just to do my job, but I can’t do it with peace knowing there is someone like your leader who hides behind his subordinates and refuses to present himself in front of a Royal."

"Is the thing he’s hiding more important than me at this moment?" At the end of the day, no matter how much he hated his identity, he was still a Prince. And even the General of the Battalion met with him during his arrival.

So what of the Leader of these arrogant Mages?

"Bring him here now."

******

"You were not the ones to kill these people, none of them," Perseus spoke with assurance over his reasoning.

The marks and injuries on all these dead didn’t make sense unless they killed each other.

And if it was someone else in this position, they might have panicked, including Remira, who is not so good with her lies. But Farhad, his mind worked differently. He has worked like that for a while now.

"The signs are so obvious, of course, they killed themselves, Captain. I made them do it." Farhad said, showing a small mutation in his finger which alarmed the officers for a bit before he suppressed it. "But I didn’t wish to dirty my hands, so I ordered them to kill each other, and spare the winners."

He took on all the blame without shame, he appeared manic and somewhat disgusted while looking at the slavers. "And I did set them free, by killing them." There is no way that Farhad was going to explain what happened to the ship. Nor was he going to make the excuse of giving the ship to the slaves that might have once existed in this hideout. As no slave would know how to drive a ship.

And if they did, it would be impossible for them to manage unless there was a trained crew to support them.

"What of the gun that killed him?" Perseus wondered while pointing at the bloated corpse of the slaver captain. But that too was easy to answer, as Farhad just blamed Remira for it.

Which was followed by silence, where Perseus fell into deep thoughts, before nodding his head in agreement. "I believe you."

If breathing still mattered to Farhad, he would have taken a big sigh of relief. But for now, he was glad that his lies had worked their wonders.

He could finally put his guard down. Which was a big mistake. At the moment Farhad and Perseus got out of the cave after leaving the rest of the soldiers to deal with the aftermath. Two shots flew into the air, aimed directly at the forehead of the two.

One of which struck Farhad in the head, while the other one, Perseus barely defended against while dodging out of the way.

"Ambush." He cursed, warning his men while looking at the fallen body of Farhad. But this was no time to think what just happened, he had to get his men out of here safely.

But it was at this moment he noticed something odd.

"Huh?" The weapons of his soldiers were not aimed in the direction of the shot, nor did they appear oblivious or panicked by the attack.

No, none of them seemed surprised. Instead, all of them aimed their weapon at Perseus.

"It would have been so easy if you just ate the lead." Shaking his head in disappointment, the negotiator from before, who was also an adept knight walked out from among the soldiers. "I should have assumed the moment those insects appeared, that something wrong must have happened here." From the insects, he probably means the slaves that Crow and his crew set free not too long ago.

And as he had expected, their ending was not as good as many might have thought.