1.23.1 Shush dude! There are chicks around.

Hundreds of kilometers away from Riber city, in the cold mountainous region that was once called Gareth plateaus, a small manned craft flew at the speed of sound.

The man in the craft was the messenger, whose sole job was to find the reason for the Gray Bone clan's reason for breaking the treaty. He had done this before, but it was the first time he was going to meet them under such tight circumstances.

Even if messengers had political immunity and rarely got harmed, a job like this is usually dangerous during times like these, no one knows how the other party would react to his questioning or whether he will be treated as a guest, a prisoner, or food. But this was his life and his job. For missions of this kind, one always puts his life on the line to succeed.

So just like that, he flew till he reached deeper in the mountain range till he started to see calcium deposits on the surface of the mountains, a sign that he was near the place.

And after sensing some humanoids on his infrared, the craft completely digitized and got absorbed into his body while he fell straight toward the ground, 100 meters away from the tall white figures with lizard tails.

The impact surprised the clan members of the Gray bone clan, their bodies suddenly entered combat mode while the youngest of the group suddenly ran to the other side, probably going to call for help.

"Please, no need to be wary, I am not here to fight." The messenger looking at the young and Gray bone clam members calmly explained himself after activating the translator.

"My name is Yelwis, the messenger from Riber City. I am just here to clarify some things." Looking at the surprised expression of the children, Yelwis knew something was wrong. The tribe didn't seem to be in combat mode otherwise they wouldn't let their young stray so far from their village.

'Seems like, things are not as bad as we assumed.' This was something Yelwis yearned for when he got this mission. His job got a lot easier and years of experience have taught him something. He was probably safe, for now.

*****

"This… from their words, they are not behind the attack that is coming our way." Vanras mentioned to the two elders who sat in Wilkis's study as they enjoyed some tea.

"They are lying." The old woman with myopic eyes said. She didn't exert any supernatural pressure or aura from her body, nor did she has any mechanical augments. She was just an old normal mortal without any strength called Janny and usually controlled the finances of RIber city.

Through virtue of her abilities, she had reached an unprecedented rank among the federation hierarchy and someone only below WIlkis. Even Vanras can only follow their words in absence of Wilkis.

"They might not be." The old man whose 60% of body consisted of clockwork and gears, denied the conclusion the woman came with. He was the one managing the resources of the city and was only known by the name of Mister Clock, a name he picked himself.

"It doesn't matter whether they are behind it or not, it's their people, so all the blame goes to them. Them denying it has nothing to do with it. High chance they are just lying." Janny retorted with her rhetoric.

"That might just be true and they may be lying, but if this lie stops a needless all-out war from happening, then we have to take part in their lies too. Even if we don't want to." The man with the gears clicking away on his face put out his reasoning.

His words were right too. A needless war like this won't do anyone any good. Instead, it will harm the lives of the common man and may even give the radical elements in the federation to take control.

"We can't have that, who knows what they are cooking in those mountains or how many other tribes are in cahoots with them. If we play into their lies, it might be too late.

"About that, we can know this from that friend of ours, right?" Mister clockwork asked. Looking toward Vanras for answers. He had known about the existence and powers of Girisia for a long time. He was the one that had suggested to Wilkis to shake hands with Girisia in the first place.

"We can't believe a word that man says anymore, his lies of last time are the reason Wilkis is absent from this meeting," Janny called out. She never liked Girisia since the start, though never meeting him personally. She has learned a lot about him from countless reports and Wilkis's mouth.

"Well, not like he lied, to begin with, it was the truth he knew." Vanras at this point defended Girisia.

Then turning to Mister clock, he continued. "I haven't asked about it yet from him. But I don't think we need to fear an all-out war. He had already mentioned that we never found that it was an intelligent tribe behind the attack."

"And if not for his words, we still wouldn't have found such important information. So if we truly act as if the gray bone tribe was never involved…."

"Things won't grow any bigger?" Janny interpreted. Her tone filled with ridicule.

"Yes, it may just be." Vanras hated this much attention and responsibility falling on his shoulders.

"You are too foolish and young to look at the bigger picture, you and that karabit. His words may have helped us, but those same words have also caused way bigger harm. I would have sent him for recycling if not for both of you." She said, looking at Vanras and Mister Clock one at a time. "We can't trust him or his words, for now, basing our actions around those words may harm us further.harm." The old woman slammed the desk, splashing some tea on the table. her breathing was heavy and hoarse, but her voice was filled with passion. A kind of passion that caused her to hyperventilate and cringe in pain.

"Calm down Janny!"Before Vanras can go over to support, Mister Clock went over to support Janny and placed a tablet in her mouth that he took out from his pocket.

"You are old and it's not good for your health to get so emotional." Seeing how she was slowly starting to breathe properly and looked at Mister Clock with thankful eyes, he took a sigh of relief.

"Madam Janny, I am sorry if my words caused you hurt, I didn't intend it."

"Young man don't worry too much. The is just getting old. Stuff like this happens when one gets old." The man mentioned in a melancholic voice.

Then the man turned to the old woman whose breathing was stable now.

. "And Janny is a bit easy on the young man, he already has too much to handle, and let's give him some space to adapt."

"Our primary concern needs to be the upcoming war. We should ignore the Gray bone clan till Wilkis wakes up. For now, we have to win this fight "

After the scene of the discussion stabilized Janny also returned to her former self. The topic of the discussion shifted.

"Oh yes, Vanras, I have obtained the poison you asked for." Being the premier controller of resources in Riber city. The connections of Mister Clock could never be compared to anyone in the city, including Wilkis. So Vanras had asked him for something special.

"This will be the perfect poison for our little friend. His cells are the weirdest ones I have seen till now. It was harder to find a poison that works instantly and doesn't give the cells time to mutate and create immunity to them."

"Who is its creator? I need to know, in case Korus finds out about the details of this poison in his vision." Vanras asked, he was not sure how Girisia's abilities worked but he was sure that Girisia may find the origins of the poison in one of his visions.

"That detail I will keep to myself. My friend is an introvert." With a small smile, the clockwork man handed Vanras a total of seven bottles. On which there was a red sticker with the name "0587 Death Wood" a kind of sticker that Vanras has seen before, but couldn't recall at the moment.

"One is the poisons that remain completely muted in the system and never interact with cells. They also remain muted in the body as long as a specific mineral is present in the body. A mineral that an organic body can never produce." Mister clock explained while pointing at the six bottles of the suppression antidote.

"Though those antigen bottles may not be too expensive. The poison bottle alone had left a hard mark on our finances. Vanras, make it so I don't regret wasting money on that mongrel." Janny also pitched in, showing how expensive this simple bottle of poison may just be.

"Don't worry madam! I won't let the money go to waste."

*****

"Did everyone see the streams of StarKillerTara?... didn't that bastard look a bit younger?" The member of Spoon's NPC hunting guild named coffeeHater asked other members in the camp who were cleaning their guns.

"Yeah, I saw it... Seems like the city officials are corrupted as well." The player named UlsiaMaker sprouted in anger. "Imagine giving a cunt like that the royal treatment."

With a tired sigh, CoffeeHater replied in a defeated expression. "Looks like Spoons plan to hunt him before pubic beta ends is not possible anymore. But hey, at least we had some fun pursuing that goal."

"Still man, I fucking hate it. I wanted to stab my rifle into that dirty hobo's dirty ass. But fucker got cleaned up." UlsiaMaker fantasized as he stabbed his rifle into the air. When UlsiaMaker was just a poor farmhand, he dreamed of stabbing Girisia with his makeshift spear. But now with money and power, he planned to do the same with his rifle.

"Shush man, there are girls in the group."

"Oh.. my bad."