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“We didn’t want to alarm them just yet,” Kyle answered. “We feared they might have people in the government.”
Everett frowned slightly. “Why haven’t you set up your people in Lunvale?”
There was a clear reproach in his words.
Kyle replied, “Rafael said Lunvale wasn’t on our radar before. We only learned of the situation through Yuvan’s eldest son. We didn’t have time to make any preparations before coming.”
Kyle had brought out the appropriate leverage to use in this situation-Rafael. Naturally, Everett didn’t continue berating him.
Although Everett didn’t succeed in reprimanding them, it didn’t matter. He still had other tricks up his sleeves to continue teaching them a lesson.
“Some things should’ve been investigated before you arrived. The mountains around Lunvale-they’ve dug tunnels. I suspect Rafael is waiting by one of the tunnel entrances, watching for the food supplies to come through. He might capture a few people to interrogate. Conveniently, I know where all the tunnel entrances are.”
Sophie blinked in surprise, for the first time noticing how remarkably handsome and reassuring her martial uncle seemed.
A map was spread out before them, and one by one, the heads leaned in to get a closer look. The map showed a network of tunnels, crisscrossing like a spider’s web, but there were only four points of entry. Two on the east, one to the west, and another to the south. The northern entrance, near Stone Village, had no tunnel at all.
Which meant the only way in was through the northern path, where there were no tunnels.
However, saying there were only four entrances wasn’t entirely accurate. While the mountain had many entrances, the tunnels themselves only had four exits. No matter where they entered the mountain, they would eventually have to exit through one of these four points.
Before anyone could fully take in the map, Everett laid down a second one, sliding his hand across it until his finger came to rest on a marked symbol.
“These villages all have tunnels. There are 13 villages in total. Take a good look and memorize them quickly. We’ll split into teams to guard the four exits while we wait for them. As for the villages, we’ll send others to investigate.
Sophie felt the weariness lift from her shoulders. She gave her uncle a thumbs-up, her eyes brimming with flattery. “Sage Everett, you’re amazing! You came here and immediately broke the deadlock. I want to be on your team.”
Everett glanced at her with a raised brow. “I won’t be going.”
Was he supposed to go when they were only escorting two people out? What did he bring the apprentices for, then?
Sophie quickly adjusted, still smiling brightly. “Right, of course. You don’t need to go, but… can you really be sure he’s just waiting to explore the tunnels? Aren’t you worried he might be in danger?”
Everett turned the question back on her. “In all the days you’ve been running through the mountains, have you seen an orchid with missing petals?”
Everyone who had been searching the mountains shook their heads. They had only found two orchid carvings, both intact.
“Not finding a broken blossom means there’s been no injury and no danger,” Everett continued. “If there’s been no injury and he hasn’t come down, then there’s only one explanation: he’s found something. It’s something worth watching for, and that something requires waiting. The only thing to do is wait for food supplies to be delivered.”
Once he was done analyzing the situation, Everett scolded Kyle and Sophie. “What’s the use of these brains of yours? How could you not figure something so simple out?”
“We did think of it,” Kyle replied. “We just couldn’t be sure. Plus, we’re still unfamiliar with this area. We were worried something unexpected might happen, and we wouldn’t know about it…”
“Something unexpected?” Everett rolled his eyes. “Are ghosts going to pop up from the mountain and kidnap them?”
Kyle awkwardly wanted to push Sophie forward to handle this, but she was already hugging Winona and had escaped the situation.
The four tunnel entrances were all extremely well-hidden.
One of them, to the south, was located right by Tiberius’s villa outside the city-Fernbrook Villa.
So, the key task was to keep an eye on that area. If they were smuggling supplies through the tunnels, many people would have to enter Fernbrook Villa. Even if the food supplies had been sent in early, they would need enough people to manage the transport.
If the food supplies were being sent from Fernbrook Villa, they could arrest Tiberius when returning to the capital.
After Everett laid down the two maps, everyone’s minds settled.
The plan was quickly rearranged. The apprentices from Meadow Ridge who had arrived with Everett would take turns guarding Fernbrook Villa.
Sure enough, in the past couple of days, people had started entering the villa, but none had come out. Since they began watching, over 50 to 60 people had entered.
From their looks, they seemed like ordinary laborers-thick arms and robust, muscular bodies.
Sophie suspected they were long-term workers responsible for transporting the food supplies. Once they reached their destination, someone else would take over. In the end, they would never know where the food supplies were being sent.
That day, Tiberius himself arrived at Fernbrook Villa, bringing a few men along. It wasn’t long before a cart arrived carrying supplies-flour, salt, and sugar.
This shipment seemed to be a new batch. The grain had already been delivered to the villa some time ago.
The guards here weren’t overly strict, allowing Winona to sneak onto the rooftops in broad daylight, where she could eavesdrop on the villa’s activity and listen in on their conversations.
Tiberius gave orders for work to begin that very night.
It wasn’t just Fernbrook Villa where things were stirring. At the other tunnel exits, there was also frequent movement.
Everett had initially thought it would be enough to simply keep watch from the outside, but now that they were splitting into teams, he decided to send some inside the tunnels as well. That way, they could check if the map’s information was accurate.
Ideally, they would also be able to confirm whether Lunvale had only 5,000 soldiers. If that were the case, he had a bold plan in mind. Another group was coming from Meadow Ridge into the city, and the people were disguised under various identities.
This time, Everett was truly rattled. Rafael was his only direct apprentice. If anything were to happen, how would he handle it?
In his panic, he sent a letter to the major guilds of Meadow Ridge, asking them to send help to Lunvale. His unease stemmed from knowing how reliable Rafael was-his prolonged silence was deeply unsettling, and that was when his worry began.
Just before heading out, Everett reviewed all the available information on Lunvale. After some searching, he suspected Rafael might have been monitoring the tunnels, investigating Lunvale’s military structure and the actual number of private soldiers.
To be safe, he still brought along a sizable force. He prepared for the worst, hoping that if his apprentice had indeed met his end in Lunvale, at least he could recover the body and take vengeance.
When he arrived in Lunvale and spoke with Kyle, he learned that Rafael had left the complete orchid mark. This confirmed his earlier suspicions.
As for Everett’s bold plan, since he was here now, he figured he might as well try. If it failed, at least he would escape unharmed and, perhaps, expose the private army in the process.
The operation began.
Though Everett had said he wouldn’t follow, he found himself outside Fernbrook Villa alongside Sophie when the time came.
The night was heavy with darkness, and the damp cold of the air seemed to press in, making the atmosphere even more oppressive.
The group slipped into the villa in complete silence, their movements barely a whisper in the night. Violet was assigned to capture Tiberius first.
Tiberius had invited two beautiful women to stay with him at the villa. He planned to remain there for several days, overseeing the shipment until the task was complete. For him, this kind of thing was second nature. No one had ever caught on, and over time, he had grown accustomed to not bringing many men with him.
As he sat drinking wine with his two companions, the door was suddenly kicked open with a loud crash. Enraged, he jumped to his feet, but his anger quickly shifted to confusion as his eyes fell upon the woman who entered. For a moment, he thought she might be some jealous lover-perhaps someone who had come to cause a scene.