RISE OF EROS

Chapter 188: CHAPTER 187

Although the savannah city was a bit far from the battle site, thanks to the strong and agile horses, they only spent a couple of hours to get there. The leaders of the beastmen clans were already waiting for the army that brought the enemy commander.

Since several hawk-men were among the army they had sent, the news of the battle and the capture of the enemy commander had already reached the city and everyone was waiting for the return of the brave warriors.

Inside the building where the leaders of the beastmen clans were meeting, the five were gathered in the company of the captain of the cavalry sent by Marquis Cupal, and in front of them was the unconscious enemy commander.

Beastmen are great warriors, but they are not good at tactics to get information from captives, however, they thought that if they broke some bones they could get what they wanted.

Unfortunately, they were wrong. The enemy commander was a man trained to withstand such deals, so no matter how many bones the beastmen broke, no matter how much pain he suffered, the man refused to talk.

Everyone present was upset that they could not get the information they needed and some of the short fuse like the leader of the bull clan and the leader of the dog clan were at the end of their tether and wanted to kill him.

When they thought they would have no gain and had to kill the man, out of the shadows appeared a man of short stature completely covered in a black hood, similar to the one worn by Demon.

Everyone present drew their weapons and looked cautiously at the uninvited visitor and the bull-man was the one who spoke, "Who are you?", to which the hooded man replied, "You may call me a denizen of Hell".

Hearing the hooded man's words, everyone was surprised because they knew that "Hell" was the intelligence organization under the direct command of the king, however, they did not let their guard down.

"Your proof?", asked hawk-woman with a sharp look, and the hooded man, threw a stone towards her. The hawk-woman caught the stone and upon seeing it relaxed her tension because there was the proof she needed.

The others seeing the hawk-woman relax her guard understood that the man really was a member of "Hell" and also relaxed. "Do you bring any orders from the king?", the horse-man asked.

"The king ordered me to get the information from the captured man," replied the hooded man, and without waiting for those present to say anything he approached the enemy commander who was lying on the ground with several of his limbs broken.

"I will speak alone with him for a while," said the hooded man, and the next second he had disappeared with the captive. All present are great warriors and even they could not see how they had disappeared and that surprised them.

The 6 did not worry about the hooded man leaving with the captive, as they knew that when he got some information he would tell them, what they did not expect, was that only 5 minutes later the hooded man reappeared and began to speak.

"These men are soldiers of the kingdom of Tripia, in charge of creating chaos in the savannah, to destabilize the empire. They are not the first, much less the last to do that. In the last few weeks, the capital has suffered two attacks by these men."

The hooded man's news made those present wrinkle their eyebrows because they did not understand where the kingdom of Tripia got the courage to attack the empire on so many occasions, and more important why the empire had not responded to that aggression.

"Besides, apparently they are not the only group. According to this man, there are about 4 other groups like his with the same objective, so clan leaders and Cupal soldiers, scour the savannah, find the enemies and eliminate them. Only the commanders need to be captured," the hooded man said coldly.

Upon hearing this, those present immediately put on dark expressions because if this hooded man had not arrived, they would not know that the battle was not over.

The bull-man and the dog-man were the quickest and losing no time went out to organize the troops to search for the enemies and while they were doing that, the hooded man looked at the hawk-woman and said, "I need you to send three more hawks."

The sudden request caught everyone off guard and the hawk-woman asked curiously, "Where to?" to which the hooded man replied, "One to the capital, reporting to the king. The other to the marquisate of Astivia and the other to the Green Forest, these bastards want to do the same in the house of the forest elves."

Hearing the shocking news, the hawk-woman did not dare to delay and quickly went to fetch her best 3 hawks to send the important messages.

Although the beastmen and the forest elves that inhabited the empire had no interaction whatsoever, as two minority races they tried to support each other even at a distance, which is why the hawk-woman did not want anything to happen in the elves' forest.

While all these great events were happening, in the Heavenly Palace Andrew was reviewing the accounts together with Carolina, and with every second that passed they were happier because they had obtained great profits the night before.

The inauguration of the dance room was a great success and the money raised was proof of it. Once the review of the accounts was finished, Andrew sought out Victor and instructed him on the management of the dance room, since from that day on it would be open to the public and Victor had to be more attentive.

Although Victor's workload was now heavier, he did not complain, as his salary had also increased. In addition, he felt that he was a valuable employee, as Andrew delegated more and more important responsibilities to him, and there was nothing better than feeling valued in a company.

Andrew did not do it for this purpose. Victor was simply the most capable employee he had in terms of administration after Carolina, so it was natural to ask for his help.

Although he delegated this function to Victor, Andrew did not plan to step aside immediately. He planned to oversee the dance room personally, at least for the time being while Victor got used to the new workload.

By the time Andrew finished talking to Victor and returned to the office, he could see a carrier pigeon in the window frame, but Carolina had already removed the message.

She hadn't opened it, just removed it from the pigeon's leg. When she saw Andrew come in, she ran to him and handed him the small scroll. Andrew opened it immediately, as he recognized the pigeon. It was one of the birds he used to send messages to Candice.

The message was short, just asking Andrew to visit her as soon as possible. Andrew after reading the message began to think about the reasons why Candice might ask him to visit her and all the conclusions pointed to the events that had occurred the day before.

He quickly called Oliver and they began to discuss the issue. Oliver as well as Andrew believed that what Candice wanted to discuss had to do with what happened yesterday, as such a big event would cause difficulties.

Since they did not know what Candice wanted to do, they had no choice but to visit her and discuss the matter, so Andrew in the company of Oliver left the heavenly Palace on their way to Candice's store.

This time as usual they walked. They could take a carriage, but Oliver proposed to walk to evaluate better  the surroundings and detect any abnormality. They had a very good impression of Candice, but they could not rule out that after the events of the previous day, the lady's attitude would change.

The walk was neither long nor delayed and in no time they had arrived at Candice's store. Oliver had sensed that they were being watched, but he could not determine who it was or where it was that was spying on them, so he was always on the alert.

Raven who was spying on them from a distance was surprised because although Oliver had not discovered him, he had noticed that Oliver felt his presence slightly and that made him show a serious expression because he discovered that what Donald had told him about him was far from reality.

Donald had warned Raven about Oliver, but only now did Raven understand that Donald underestimated Oliver's power, and that made him more cautious. Upon entering the store, Gaston received them as usual and after a cordial greeting led them to Candice's office.

In the office, Candice was waiting for them, but the lady's characteristic smile was nowhere to be seen. Candice had a serious expression on her face and although she greeted them cordially, the tension was palpable.

Andrew sat down opposite Candice and Oliver stood behind him, while Gaston did the same behind Candice. The silence lasted for a few seconds that seemed eternal and after a sigh, Candice spoke, "Mr. Andrew I need to ask, what is your true purpose?".

The question surprised Andrew, but he quickly regained his composure and with a smile replied, "Ms. Candice, your question is rather ambiguous. Be more specific."