Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"Since that is the case, he might try to buy time by incriminating you of something else," Orcis said. "This invasion can be one of them… even if no one saw Rain, the investigation will take a while, and in the meantime, the sea emperor will make his move."

"Indeed… in the end, our best option still is to find the prisoner and ask them to confirm who was behind the kidnappings," Branden said.

In the end, Rain felt like he just wasted time on the invasion, but at least he confirmed how much the enemy was prepared. The group soon began to fly again, even while Rain was healing himself. The bombs weren't as powerful as a dragon breath, but it still burned his skin quite a bit.

While he was doing that, Rain wondered if the enemy would have killed the last prisoner already. Considering what had happened, he could only think that Joanis was quite cunning, so he should have predicted that they would look for the prisoner and blame him for the whole situation.

"I suppose I won't have to run to conserve my mana," Rain thought. "I won't fall for the same trick twice and asking around for Intel won't do it when the informants join the enemy's side."

Time was of the essence more than ever, so Rain was willing to go all out no matter the costs. Lately, he had some fun seeing his fortune increasing, but it was time to invest all that in order to get rid of some asshole that had an unreasonable grudge.

For the next two days, the group checked three cities and two towns. While using his magic, Rain checked for buildings where the use of magic had been sealed, but he didn't find any of those. That being said, he found underground some homes of the people that were being investigated in some dungeon-like places. There were cages, chains, and other things one would use to keep someone locked down.

Still, they didn't find anyone in those places, even though it looked like they had been used recently. It didn't take long for the group to realize that Joanis and his companions had some prisoners and moved them elsewhere to make Rain and the others waste time… it almost looked like he could see what they were doing.

The group could tell that the Seadir and the others were getting tired of the lack of results… They got some results, but they wanted a big one in the shape of one of their allies.

"He is good… he probably brought all of his prisoners to the capital to make us go there as well," Branden said while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "He is several steps ahead of us and probably has other tricks to make us waste time and dance on the palm of his hands."

"In the capital, we can't capture and force him to spill the beans without making us look suspicious and he definitely will use that to his advantage," Rain while his eyebrows were twitching out of annoyance. "He might have some buildings that he can use in the city where no one knows that those places belong to him…"

"He will also be sure to annoy us as much as possible to make us do something stupid…" Lorene said while rubbing her eyes. "We can't do this by ourselves, we only have three days left, so we need to either use the king's blade or ask His Majesty to help. If we explain that situation, perhaps that will be enough."

"... He probably knows that these are our only options and he has made the necessary countermeasures against us," Branden said.

"If he has talked with His Majesty already to incriminate me, he can say that I am planning a coup d'etat… if I don't do that, he probably will use some of my informants to lie and make me look like a criminal with the letters that I sent them… since he is rich, he can convince most people to think that I am after his fortune."

The situation was getting out of hand really fast… those crazy scenarios all seemed possible and it wasn't something that he could solve just by punching around. He had to use his head really well to avoid creating even more problems.

"Let's return to the capital first, we can think of what we can do once we arrive there," Rain said while summoning the earth chamber.

The decision to return to the capital received unanimous agreement from everyone present. Rain couldn't help but reflect on Jori's earlier assessment, which had hit the mark. He realized that he was not accustomed to this line of work, and it made him question whether he should have focused on other aspects of his life.

This internal dilemma weighed on him. However, he understood that there was no use dwelling on it. The enemy had been plotting their schemes for decades, and they were only now starting to unravel the truth. It was a complex and challenging situation, and Rain had to stay focused on finding a way to overcome it.

As they soared through the sky, Rain pondered whether utilizing his tunnel to infiltrate the city might be a viable option. However, he quickly dismissed the idea as useless. It was highly probable that their adversaries were keeping a close watch not only on his home but also on Branden and anyone associated with them. Any sudden movements would likely be detected.

The most promising course of action, Rain concluded, might be to contact Lotto under the cover of darkness. Yet, even this plan was fraught with uncertainty. The clandestine nature of their mission and the looming threats left Rain wondering about the unknown, unsure of how the events would unfold in the coming hours.

All that he knew was the fact that things wouldn't be easy to solve with a few punches and that was a first for him.