Chapter 493: Not Playing Fair.
“So, tell me, what did you find?”
“Your Lordship, this is all the information our troops have been able to gather.”
Late at night, a few candlelights flickered, casting shadows over three men. One was Count Graham, seated behind his office desk. Next to him stood Grand Commander Leopold, ever vigilant, staring intently at the third man who was presenting some papers to the lord. It was immediately apparent that the Count was in a bad mood, and it was due to the thinness of the papers he was being given.
“Is this all you could gather on this man? I already know that he is a recent Professor, the rest doesn’t help with anything.”
Graham slammed his fist down on the table, causing it to rattle slightly. The papers contained information on the recent thorn in his side, Deputy Professor Wayland. While there was plenty of detail about his appearance at the Institute, the rest was quite vague. The only other connection they could make to his name, besides the Institute, was the Adventurers’ Guild. However, the records seemed fake and incomplete.
First, Wayland appeared somewhere in the region owned by the Valerian House, a place not easily accessible. Fortunately, guilds were required to keep records of adventurers, and those of Tier 3 and above had separate files. A man with the same name surfaced in a town called Albrook, but aside from confirming his name and his involvement with the local lord, there was little else.
There was a possibility that he was connected with a man named Arthur Valerian. However, Graham wondered if this was all just a ruse. Would a Knight Commander from the other side of the Kingdom suddenly appear here without his lord? It was more probable that the two weren’t related and that the Wayland from the Institute was just a cover. Perhaps the powerful mage was using this alias to obscure his true origins.
“This man could be dangerous... If he has someone willing to alter the records this much. Perhaps this Wayland was hired by someone to aid one of Valerian’s sons to destabilize the region? But what would they gain from that? ”
Many theories floated through Graham’s mind as he tried to connect the dots. There wasn’t much information, and the man was even rumored to be a runesmith, which made no sense. That story was probably a lie, and Wayland had likely been placed in Albrook for some specific reason. If his purpose was to destabilize the Valerian household, it was possible that the royal family had sent him. His connection to the Arch-Mage couldn’t be ignored either; perhaps she had finally decided to abandon her neutrality.