38 Chapter 38: Suspicions

After being distracted by the sudden collapse of the cart, Valeria excused herself as she was busy and needed to handle some affairs. But not before she handed Vulcan a ring that had a precious jewel on it.

"I know that you've already helped me and my town from not one but two Calamity beasts now. This is the best I can reward you with," she said, her voice filled with genuine gratitude.

"Is this what I think it is?" Asked Vulcan, holding the ring for inspection.

"A storage ring with enough room to fill an entire cart, like the one that just fell apart. As well as a 100 platinum coins inside. It may seem a lot, but to me, it's but a fraction of what this town is worth to me. This town, along with me and my household, are in your debt," she finished speaking then bowed her head, while her butler and knight bowed deeper. It was surprising to see a political leader have this level of integrity.

Once they left, Esteban shoved 2 bags of clinking coins on him. "I'll pay ya 100 platinum coins as well, a trophy like this is hard to come by, you know?" as he made the head of the Alpha disappear before everyone's eyes.

"How much space do you got in that ring of yours?" Vulcan asked curiously.

"More than you can ever imagine. Also, stop by tomorrow in the morning at the front desk. We will update those silver-ranked guild badges to peak silver. I wish I could offer you gold, but that would require me to send you to the northern kingdoms for you to be tested by a gold-ranked team. It would take months and maybe even years, but I'm sure you're not in a rush to rank up. Unless you kill a third Calamity beast, then the top guild masters would make it happen sooner," Esteban said as he was walking away back to the guild building but stopped midway.

"Although if you did, then I will pay handsomely for its head of course," he smirked and started laughing from a distance.

Now it was just Vulcan and Jess. He then handed the ring towards her.

"Wha- why?" She stuttered her words.

"Just keep it, I can't use the damn thing. We'll split the rewards in half. It's a team effort remember?" He said as he stored the 100 platinum coins he got from the guild master. "Plus, I have a Spatial storage device already."

When they walked back inside, the receptionist who they talked to the first day they got here noticed them. Mary was her name if he remembered correctly.

"Hey Jess, I just got off work early. Want to grab a bite and finally catch up?" Mary asked while grabbing onto her hand. "Oh my, your eyes! They're so beautiful, what happened to your green eyes?" As she took further details of her new appearance.

"I'll tell you when we catch up but first let me talk to my friend," Jess said, the 'friend' part not escaping Vulcan's attention. "Vulcan, are we doing anything else today?" Turning towards him while she asked.

"No, I was just going to go find an inn that was a little nicer for us to stay in. You can go catch up with your friend. But have uh, Steve follow you just in case you run into any trouble," he said as a random sentry walked up to her and Mary. With that, they went on their separate ways. Now it was just him alone for a while.

Going into town, he asked some people if they knew a decent place to stay in. After several recommendations, he found one that was on the upscale part of town. Its sign was carved against the black marble entrance on top reading 'Golden Noble'. His party was the only ones wearing armor inside, but the concierge at the front lobby didn't mind and only looked at him with a judgmental gaze.

"Welcome to the Golden Noble dear sirs, how may I be of service for you today?" As if he has said this line his whole life the concierge performed it with absolute class and elegance.

"Does your establishment have any rooms large enough to accommodate a group of 12 people?" He asked not knowing if they called it a suite in this world.

"Yes, we have several suites available, but do be aware it will cost 2 gold coins a night to stay sir," the concierge explained.

"Excellent, I will take one for 50 days then," he said as he placed a platinum coin in front of the concierge. For a moment, he was able to see the man break character for the smallest moment when he took out the coin.

"The lobby porter will show you to your suite, if you need anything we will be available all the time. I hope you enjoy your stay," as he vowed before Vulcan.

When he finished, a young man in a red suit and matching hat appeared before him, "Right this way good sirs," as he led the way.

It was surprising that the hotel didn't have an elevator but it was fine for him. The trip was about seven stories high. He imagined that nobles or high-paying customers had the level of strength to not be tired after walking a few flights of stairs.

Once he got to his suite, it was fully furnished with everything it needed. Marble flooring, exquisite wooden furniture, comfy large beds, and a tub large enough to be a small pool made out of marble as well. Man, this place just loved using marble a lot. The lobby porter guy even showed him the runes to activate the lights, to turn on the water in the bathroom.

"This might be a strange question but how many places like this have their rooms with this many runes for convenient use?" He asked the lobby porter.

"Very few, the Golden Noble has several of these inns in only important towns in all of Harrien Kingdom so very little I'm afraid. Runes cost a fortune to be placed so in any big town like Krestfall you might only find 3 inns out of a hundred that may have them," explained the lobby porter. He then tipped the guy 5 gold coins, not knowing if it was too much or too little in these types of places. By his reaction, it was a bit much because the lobby porter began to cry tears of joy when he handed him the money. It took five minutes of him saying 'thank you' and bowing until he finally got the man to leave his suite. After that, he sat down on a couch and was on standby mode until Jess arrived.

It had only been less than a day since he activated the medium factory. It also only took the Commandos sentries guarding it a few hours to hide the cave entrance. A few more hours and he would have his first batch of 1,000 rank 3 sentries available. This already put him on the same level as the Rodden kingdom since they had no gold stage fighters that he knew of. But once he infiltrated the kingdom by having his sentries wage war for them against Oros. He would truly find out if they were a threat to him. For now, he would consume, and grow. For the Automaton known as Vulcan was an undying and untiring machine of power.

‐----------------------------------------------

While Vulcan was forming plans for the future, in another part of town, another person was also making plans. Against the mountain of Krestfall was Marchioness Valeria's own castle, well, it was more like a small palace than a castle. Well-built walls surrounded the compound while her personally trained knights guarded the place. Inside, beautiful gardens could be seen with well-placed landscape structures like a waterfall and statues of the many generations of House Krestfall.

Inside a large study in the small palace, she was currently writing something with a fountain pen while a small stack of documents was piled next to her. Just then, she placed the pen down and fixed her posture while clasping her hands on her desk. "Report," she called out to the room.

Just then, a sparkling mote of light turned to many as it sparkled and formed into a person. It was Lucius who appeared in front of her, "He's definitely hiding something. I tracked him to an isolated part of the woods outside of town. After that, his tracks disappeared, it's as if they just vanished or flew away," he said as he sat down in front of her desk.

She pondered for a bit before asking something else, "What about the location of the Wyvern nest, can you at least confirm that he had done his job?" Looking him in the eyes.

"I arrived around the mountain of the Wyvern nest two days later as I took my time, but while I was at the base of the mountain, I heard loud roars from the Alpha wyvern and saw it take off into the sky. After that, I witnessed an aerial battle between it and Dark Sentry. I lost sight of them for a while but then saw a flaming ball of fire coming down from the sky followed by loud bangs and a small earthquake. Sounds of battle and wailing from the Alpha wyvern attracted me to where they were fighting. It was a bit out of the way so it took me a while to get there, but all that was left when I arrived was a crater and blood around the area," he reported as he told her what he saw that day.

"What about after?" She asked quickly.

"After that, I scouted the area for any more signs of where they went. A wyvern that size couldn't just be picked up that easily, you saw how they struggled carrying that thing on the cart. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a single trail and ended up fighting a mid-silver stage beast attracted by the earlier fighting and scent of blood. Even with my ability, the damn thing tracked me for two days until it gave up. When I got to the top of the mountain, nobody was there. Just an empty flat top of the mountain. Thinking that they already packed up, I made haste to come back to town using all my strength without stopping. I barely got a glimpse of them coming into town and well, you know the rest when I met up with you at the guild," he finished explaining.

Valeria sighed, "What are your thoughts on them? Should we be wary of them?" She asked his opinion.

"No, I don't think we should. If they are my Father's lackeys then they are not doing a good job at hiding their movements. They seem more like a third party that is not involved than an enemy," Lucius said, as he was thinking.

Valeria then locked her gaze with his, "If they're not with your father and they're not agents of Nyphili, then who are they?" She asked as she squinted her eyes.

"A possible ally."