The God of Jesters
Chapter 86 - 2.24.3 The boy is here

Chapter 86: 2.24.3 The boy is here

Dorian district was infamous even for the army. No matter how much they try, they can never weed out the problematic elements in that part of the city.

And with the collective strength of mercenaries that had regularly employed the military during wars. These men were trained and dangerous, while also having a stronger push as well as connection in the military than the Mages who chose to stay away from war.

Which had caused the progress in occupying the streets of Dorian district a bit hard. Not to mention, the underground market where most of the visitors have hidden is like a mage that no one has been able to map out properly.

Going there was no different than putting your head into a lion’s jaw. Hence the reason why the army never dared to go down and only kept the above-ground streets under their control.

And at times, they would regularly find some discarded bodies on the side of streets during regular patrols, of which, they could do nothing.

But this time, it was a tad bit different. A fight broke out in the bar on the surface, the area that was under their jurisdiction. And someone had died.

So, getting up from his sleep, Maisel drank a glass of water, before asking for the details.

Details, that greatly annoyed him."Poisoned?... how many?" It turned out, the body that was left and the blood all over the floor were all poisonous, and when the soldiers have come in contact with them, some of them fell ill on the spot.

"A total of three, all of whom had been sent to hospital. Nothing serious, as the poison never directly entered their body." For the blood poison to work properly, an injury or direct digestion is needed, just touching the walls only gave a slight sense of weakness which made it easier for the soldiers to detect the problem and act on time. Though, this still gave them a strong shock, causing fear to grip their hearts.

Walking any deeper into the bar would be nothing close to suicide, and even though they brought the gas masks and PPE clothing, the chances of much worse things present in the bar might not just be fantasies.

Though, after this, the employed curse users were called to the scene, who found nothing dangerous.

Of course, in the report, such details were unnecessary, as the soldier directly spoke about what they discovered on the body.

"Cuts with bladed weapons that burn the body. Specifically, the heart, which had been cooked after being stabbed."

There were many people who were capable of this feat. but in the city, among the currently active parties, only one name came to Maisel’s mind. ’It’s their job.’ The simple fact that a hidden party of Radiant Knights was active in the city was actually reassuring to Maisel. He might not like them due to personal reasons, but in a professional sense, he appreciated them a lot.

Even his flames were given to him by a Radiant Knight. A strong Knight who held one of the most sacred flames in his heart. A flame that was once used to burn the bodies of the dead so that the spirits of the deceased can obtain true peace.

A flame that was even capable of burning a dead god, or his image at least.

But that was all in the past. Maisel was here for a different, albeit connected purpose. For he knew, if the puppeteer was here, that would mean there was another chance something as bad as before might happen.

"The body pieces we recovered from the sewers, didn’t it also have some poison in it?"

"" Yes sir!!"

"... Considering the connections, we can assume these were the very men in the sewer that day.. There is no need to wait for the lab results. Go and start looking for this man’s origins, even if it leads to the underground area. I will go and talk to the Mercenary leaders tomorrow."

"As for the raid on the mages, postpone it for now, our energy is limited. Let them wait and do whatever they want to. We still have the names to hunt them down later anyways."

"Though, inform this to the Captains, privately. We don’t want the word of changes to reach the ears of the mages... as for the Sergeant and commanders, I would convene a meeting to inform them of changes in a few hours."

With those simple words, Maisel changed the plans, which was a big shock to the soldier at first, before he bowed to Maisel and left the scene. While Maisel walked to the window and looked at the night sky.

’2:48 am?’

In just a few minutes, it will be the hour of the devil, as well as the time when the spirits and creatures of the night are at their strongest. As for whether these legends were true, Maisel didn’t know.

He was a Soldier, not a ghost or cryptid hunter. And besides he believes that those alive are much more dangerous than the dead anyways.

And as he thought that, he looked to the side of the road, where a small figure covered in what seemed like sewage was walking unsteadily toward him.

’A child?’

The reason why he didn’t go to sleep and chose to keep watch over the city was due to this child, or what this child carried at least.

The samadhi flames that he carried were a direct enemy of the dead and anything corrupted. One can even call them a potent version of the flames that the Radiant Knights possessed. So like the Radiants Knight’s ability to detect corruption from far away, the same was true for the possessor of samadhi flame, but unlike the knights, the possessor of these knights was never limited to a visual medium.

Just like how he detected the time when Kairut tried his escape. The same was true here.

And even if the soldier had not come here to wake him up in time, he would still have woken up on his own when he detected such a high concentration of curse energy closing in on him. A cursed energy that felt a tad bit odd and dangerous.

"He should be the kid that Remira was talking about." Seeing the boy here as well as the history of the way the Blue Lotus cult had taken out their targets. The current target was also probably him. And if he let the boy approach him in a normal way, there might be needless loss of lives.

This was why he chose to jump down from the balcony, startling the soldiers who were making their rounds and in panic aimed their weapons at him.

"Stand down soldier, a bomb is walking toward us."

When the light from the torch fell on the "intruders" face, the soldier stood straight like a spring as they made a salute. "Sir!!" They said,

"At ease!" Maisel calmed the soldiers down before giving out orders. "You go and bring around five men with you to the roof and keep watch over my back. The enemy is a child carrying a powerful curse, so it would be appropriate to bring some curse users were as well." Though there was a time limit before the boy arrived at this place, Maisel made as much preparation as he could before approaching the fountain that was in front of the Mayor’s office.

Under his order, the soldiers moved away from the gate and opened it, as a gesture of goodwill to their enemy who might become their potential source of information.

And it was due to those factors that Maisel chose to confront this boy on his own. Killing him would be simple, a single shot to the head. But considering he was a carrier, doing so might release the curse at random and cause massive damage.

As for putting his soldiers as shields?

Maisel was not so cruel, doing so would only make those that survive to call out his authority. So the only choice that was left was to face this enemy on his own.

As for the curse itself?

Why would Maisel care about it? The flames he carried were way stronger than anything a Radiant Knight can conjure up. If he timed it right, he can directly burn this curse before it reaches him. And in case it did crash into his body, it would be something akin to a fish walking into the mouth of a shark.

It was due to such beliefs that Maisel stood tall, while there were guns aimed toward the gate as well as a tired figure covered in filth that walked toward him.

"Young boy, are you here for me?" Maisel asked the boy, whose ankles bled from all the crawling, his clothes ripped from all the jagged edges in the hidden pathways that some rats dug. And he seemed tired, a single gust of wind would be enough to cause this boy to fall down.

Such a weak boy was his assassin, someone that came to kill him.

"Are you the Marshall?" Soros didn’t speak of his family, who he was and his history with Maisel. There was not even a hint of desire in his heart as he asked such a question.

Because he was here for one purpose only, a desire to fulfill his purpose and go to the place where his family went to. A place of eternal silence and forgetfulness.

A place to drive away one’s worry and accept one’s oblivion.