My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 271: Dishonoured (2)

"Sophia, Lilly. Prepare the army. We don't have time to wait around. If we hold off on the invasion because of this, it will just give the heroes more time to fortify the cities. If push comes to shove, you might have to deploy with the army without us. That's only if it looks like we are close to solving this." Kace replied with a determined expression.

"There must be something we can do! It feels like you're trying to push us aside!" Sophia vehemently objected.

"Not at all. It's just that Grugda and I seem more capable of picking up any strange auras."

"What about me? I felt it too!" Lilly interjected. She was clearly not happy at being separated from him yet again so soon.

"True. However, you failed to realise what it was exactly and the danger that could have come with it. Instead, you dismissed it. You don't have enough experience of the world outside your grove to truly understand these things yet. So you would be better off helping Sophia." Kace firmly denied her efforts for her own good. 

"I agree. I can try. And communicate with. The earth. See if it. Will reveal anything." Grugda voiced his own backing of Kace's makeshift plan. It was not much to work with, but at least it was a start!

They each knew that it was a long shot to even attempt to resolve this quickly. However, they had to give it a go. Without the native's help, the casualties in the army would be astronomical. They might not even gain anything from it. Although the women were disgruntled with Kace's decision, they got on with what he assigned to them.

Grugda stuck with Kace as he continued to explore the place. They lost track of how many rooms and their contents they searched. However, they could not find anything that seemed like it could be of use. In this manner, a few days passed. It seemed like a never-ending cycle to Kace. They would wake up, eat the food that had already been placed out for them, search the palace, eat again and go to sleep. 

On the third day, Kace even attempted to catch whoever was laying out the food. However, he received an unexpected surprise. Nobody actually brought the food to them. It just appeared from thin air after a soft white light displayed itself at each place on the tables. This only deepened the mystery of the palace.

'I doubt it's some kind of automated process. Someone must be observing us. They're clearly using magic to transport the food here so that we don't come into contact.' It was now the fifth since they discovered the remains in the palace. This was the umpteenth time that Kace revisited the issue with the food supply.

To be fair, he was not making any progress from his investigation, so he automatically fixated on the one thing that showed a constant physical interaction. He was even disappointed by the Tu'Thrag. They had also been unable to uncover any additional information with their spying. 

'Someone has clearly covered the whole affair up. Otherwise, there would at least be a few people talking about it.' Kace was definitely convinced now that someone was deliberately withholding information from the public. In this time frame, the armour and weapons for the Tu'Thrag had also been finished. 

Since Kace had too much to do, he asked Sophia to be his representative in negotiating the price. It was not like he was of any use in that field anyway. Apparently, his stash had taken quite the hit to its funds. That was with the discount that Sophia managed to wrangle out of the store. Kace and Grugda stood before the door to the last area of the palace for them to check.

This section also housed the last room that displayed light from the exterior, so Kace's hopes were high. The other room that had held a light on the bottom floor turned out to be a storeroom that held some valuables. However, they were not in demand outside of the North. So Kace and his group had decided that it should have been a surplus of goods. They were most likely necessary for the city to continue to function in the case of an emergency.

Kace walked down the hallway with Grugda in tow. Most rooms were a mirror image of the ones they had already searched. Providing nothing new or exciting. The duo deliberately left the only locked door until last, lest they become too fixated units contents to properly pay attention to the other rooms. 

They stood before the door with many questions on their mind. 'I hope this one doesn't throw another problem at us!' Kace complained as he pushed the heavy door open. As always, it took his eyes a moment to adjust from his Night Vision to acclimatise to the light source. Grugda was the first to react! 

He was ecstatic to see that the room held a combined lab and library. The lab itself seemed to be geared towards creating potions with complicated equipment. Kace did not even pretend to understand it. Grugda probably did not understand a lot of it either and was just overreacting at finding some toys he could put to use in his own experiments.

Kace found the library half of the large room to be of more interest. The books were old and thick. Which meant that they could store a lot of valuable information. 'Maybe we can find something out about how this place is run in the history books.' Kace began to study the names of their titles as he ran a finger over their spines. 

'Kasaya's Treasury: A Master Alchemist's Notes The Tragedy of Lemdeep Lost Cities of The West Last Bastion of the Vregga Necropolis: Our Lost Allies & Grandmaster Terrell Pierce Phoenix Feathers & How To Use Them' Kace frowned as he read these titles out loud. Each of them sounded like they could hold valuable information that they could use in the future.

However, that last book caught Kace's attention. Kace dislodged it from its shelf and spread open its cover. The neat handwriting within was like a work of art. 'Pheonix Feathers & How To Use Them By Lady Rysa'