Chương 69: Chapter 70 — The Man Who Followed

Leo did not find the leader that night. He found the others instead. They had separated almost immediately after their commander disappeared, abandoning the wounded in the forest and taking different routes through the trees, apparently convinced that Leo would pursue the strongest target and leave the rest of them behind. It was a reasonable assumption, and in another situation it might have worked.

Leo, however, had spent too many years learning that the strongest person in a group was not necessarily the most important one. Sometimes the man carrying the message mattered more than the man carrying the sword. Sometimes the person running away was the one who knew where everyone else was going. And sometimes, the person who appeared to be the weakest was deliberately left behind because nobody expected anyone to question him. Leo found the first one just before midnight.

The man was sitting beneath a cedar tree with his back against the trunk, one hand pressed against the knee Leo had injured earlier. He had removed his armor and was attempting to bind the joint with a strip of cloth torn from his sleeve. He heard Leo approaching. His hand immediately moved toward the dagger at his belt. Leo stopped several meters away.

"You can put it away." The man stared at him.

"You broke my knee."

"You tried to stab me."

"You broke my knee."

"You're still alive."

"That doesn't make it better."

"No." The answer seemed to catch him off guard. Leo looked at the makeshift bandage.

"You won't be walking properly for several days." The man gave a bitter laugh.

"You came here to tell me that?"

"No." Leo sat on a fallen log opposite him. The man looked suspiciously at the distance between them.

"You're not going to interrogate me?"

"I am."

"Then why sit down?"

"Because standing while asking questions is unnecessary." The man stared at him for several seconds before slowly relaxing his grip on the dagger.

"What do you want?"

"The stone." His expression changed. Only slightly. But Leo noticed.

"What stone?"

"The black one with the silver line."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You do."

"No." Leo leaned forward.

"You were the one who searched the village." The man remained silent.

"You asked the villagers about it." Still nothing.

"You were disappointed when they didn't have it." The man's jaw tightened.

"You weren't looking for money."

"No."

"You weren't looking for food."

"No."

"You weren't looking for weapons."

"No." Leo watched him carefully.

"So why would a group of armed men enter a farming village and abduct three people for a stone they couldn't even prove existed?" The man lowered his eyes. For the first time, his confidence disappeared.

"You won't understand."

"Try me." The man looked into the darkness between the trees.

"The stone isn't important." Leo waited.

"The location is." That answer was different.

"Explain." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"I can't."

"Can't or won't?" The man said nothing. Leo stood. The man immediately reached for his dagger again. Leo did not draw his sword.

"You have two choices." The man looked up.

"You tell me what you know, or you walk back to the village and explain everything to the people you tried to kidnap." The man frowned.

"That's it?"

"Yes."

"You won't kill me?"

"No."

"You won't hand me to the authorities?"

"No."

"Why?" Leo looked at him.

"Because I don't care what happens to you." The words were colder than a threat. The man understood. Leo was not trying to frighten him. He genuinely did not care. And somehow that made the decision more difficult. After several seconds, the man lowered his head.

"The stone was supposed to be in the village."

"Who told you?"

"A woman."

"Name."

"I don't know."

"You've never met her?"

"Not directly." Leo's gaze sharpened.

"What does that mean?"

"We receive instructions through intermediaries."

"From where?" The man hesitated.

"East." Leo said nothing. The man continued.

"There are people moving between the eastern settlements. They don't wear the same clothes, they don't use the same weapons, and they don't always speak the same language, but they carry the same mark."

"The silver thread."

"Yes." Leo leaned back.

"Who are they?"

"I don't know."

"Then what do you know?" The man looked exhausted.

"They aren't an organization in the way you think." That answer irritated Leo.

"Everyone says that when they don't want to explain."

"I'm not trying to sound mysterious."

"Then speak plainly." The man took a slow breath.

"They're different groups working toward the same thing."

"What thing?"

"We don't know." Leo studied him.

"You don't know?"

"No."

"And yet you follow their orders."

"They pay."

"That's a poor reason to abduct villagers." The man shrugged.

"Most people don't ask where their money comes from." Leo almost smiled. Almost.

"How many groups?"

"I don't know."

"How far east?"

"I don't know."

"Where is your leader going?" The man's eyes moved toward the trees.

"East."

"Why?"

"He has another meeting."

"With whom?"

"I don't know." Leo stood. The man watched him.

"You're leaving?"

"Yes."

"You believe me?"

"I believe that you don't know enough to lie convincingly." The man gave a weak laugh.

"That may be the first compliment anyone has given me."

"It wasn't one."

"I know." Leo turned away. After several steps, the man called out.

"Wait." Leo stopped.

"There is something else." Leo looked back. The man reached inside his coat and pulled out a small piece of black stone. It was no larger than a coin. A thin silver line ran across its surface. Leo's expression became serious.

"Where did you get that?"

"We were given one."

"By the woman?"

"No."

"Then who?" The man shook his head.

"I never saw his face."

"What did he look like?"

"Tall."

"That's not useful."

"Black clothes."

"Also not useful."

"A metal ring on his right hand." Leo paused.

"What shape?"

"A circle."

"Any symbol?" The man frowned, trying to remember.

"Three lines." Leo's eyes narrowed.

"Three?"

"Three thin lines crossing the circle." The man looked at the fragment in his hand.

"Why?" Leo did not answer. He had seen the symbol before. Not on the stones. Not in the archive. On one of the doors beneath Blackridge. The difference was small enough that someone unfamiliar with the chamber might have missed it. But Leo had not. Three lines crossing a circle. A symbol carved into the frame of the third door. Not the silver-thread mark. Something older. Something belonging to the people who had built the network beneath the continent. Leo reached for the fragment.

The man hesitated before handing it over. The stone was cold. Then it became warm. Not from Leo's body. From within. A faint vibration passed through it. Once. Twice. Leo immediately dropped it. The fragment struck the ground. Nothing happened. The man stared.

"What was that?"

"Don't touch it."

"You touched it."

"And that's why I know." Leo crouched without touching the stone. There was no mana flowing through it. No recognizable magical circuit. No aura. Yet the fragment responded to his Internal Energy. Not by absorbing it. By reacting to its presence. That distinction mattered. Leo's mind moved quickly. The people beneath Blackridge had not created Internal Energy. The discipline was far older than this world. But the researchers who had built the doors had studied it.

Someone in this world had recently obtained a fragment designed to react to it. And that someone was sending mercenaries into villages looking for more. Leo stood.

"How many fragments do you have?" The man's face changed.

"I don't know."

"How many have you seen?"

"Three."

"Where?"

"Blackridge." Leo's attention sharpened.

"Another was in Blackridge?"

"No." The man shook his head.

"The first was found near Blackridge. The second came from the south. The third was supposed to be here."

"And the fourth?" The man stared at him.

"There isn't a fourth." Leo looked down at the fragment.

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Then whoever is sending you is either lying to you or has already found another." The man's face went pale. Leo turned toward the east. A faint wind moved through the trees. The forest smelled of wet earth and smoke.

"What happens when you collect one?" The man swallowed.

"They're taken somewhere."

"Where?"

"An old stone building."

"Description."

"Three towers."

"East?"

"Yes."

"Distance?"

"Two days if you're on horseback." Leo memorized the information. Then he walked away. The man called after him.

"You're really letting me go?" Leo stopped.

"Can you walk?"

"Eventually."

"Then go."

"Where?"

"Anywhere that isn't east." The man laughed bitterly.

"That sounds like advice."

"It is."

"Why?" Leo looked over his shoulder.

"Because you're not prepared for what you're following." Then he disappeared into the forest. The rest of the night passed without another encounter. At dawn, Leo reached a narrow stream running between two hills and washed the blood from his sword. The water was cold enough to numb his fingers. He cleaned the blade carefully, checked the edge, then sat beside the stream with his back against a tree. For the first time since leaving Blackridge, he allowed himself to think about what he had learned.

The doors were not the immediate problem. The fragments were. Someone was collecting pieces of an old system. Someone who knew enough about the ancient network to recognize the value of the stones, but apparently not enough to understand what they were actually doing. That meant there was no guarantee they were intentionally awakening the doors. They might simply be using a mechanism they did not understand. And that could be more dangerous. Leo closed his eyes. He remembered the silver-eyed man beneath Blackridge.

The man had said the doors were pressure points between different systems. If that was true, then the fragments might not be keys at all. They might be sensors. Or anchors. Or something designed to measure the distance between different forms of power. Leo opened his eyes. A shadow stood across the stream. He reached for his sword. The shadow did not move. It was a young man. Perhaps twenty years old. His clothes were simple, made from dark gray fabric, and his black hair was tied behind his head.

A narrow blade rested against his back, though it was shorter than an ordinary sword. Leo watched him.

"You've been following me." The young man did not deny it.

"Yes."

"How long?"

"Since Blackridge." Leo's hand remained on his sword.

"Why?" The young man looked toward the road behind Leo.

"Because you are going east."

"That isn't an answer."

"It is the reason."

"Then give me the purpose." The young man considered him for a moment.

"I wanted to see whether you were one of them."

"Am I?"

"No."

"Then leave."

"I can't."

"Why?" The young man finally looked directly at him.

"Because the people you're searching for are searching for you too." Leo's expression remained calm.

"Do they know my name?"

"No."

"Then what do they know?" The young man crossed the stream.

"They know someone carrying Internal Energy has entered the eastern territories." Leo's eyes hardened. The young man stopped several meters away.

"And now," he said, "they know where you are." For a moment, neither moved. Then, far away in the eastern forest, a bell rang. Once. The young man looked toward the sound. Leo did not. He already knew what it meant. Someone had found the trail.::: End of Chapter 70.