The Devil's Cage

Later that night, Kieran and Teresa returned to Edland City since they couldn’t find anything else at the campus.

Teresa went straight to investigate the Edland Museum collections while Kieran went back to Augen Manor.

He didn’t leave Augen Manor for quite a while in the upcoming days.

Other than calling Teresa asking her about the collection investigations occasionally, even for the Dandon Church’s visit, he would send Anne Aldrich Augen to step forth and palter them.

Anne Aldrich Augen, who would be the new mayor soon, did not dare underestimate the Dandon Church despite her status, especially when she had countless ties to it and wasn’t as blinded as others.

However, the Dandon Church wouldn’t just give up that easily.

They would send their men over to the manor every few days. It made Anne Aldrich Augen fed up in the end.

“What are you planning to do?”

Anne Aldrich Augen hurried to the secret spot within the manor and interrupted Kieran and Mayer’s friendly spar.

After Anne Aldrich Augen interrupted, Mayer nodded at Kieran and left of his own will.

Since Kieran came back from the university, he and Mayer had been sparing for quite a while, which elevated their relationship further but they still weren’t friends.

Unlike Kieran’s vigilance and carefulness towards anyone, Mayer devoted his heart in enhancing his own arts through training. He would not spare his attention on other things that didn’t interest him.

In fact, if it wasn’t for the spar with Kieran being able to help him enhance his skills, Mayer would not have bothered about Kieran, the same was true for Kieran in regards to Mayer.

“A little more!” Kieran said to himself after feeling his current [Hand-to-Hand Combat] status.

Within the period of time, after removing the limit on his most confident skill [Undercover], Kieran had a better understanding of removing the limit on his skills.

Just like what he was doing now. He was certain that he needed Mayer to remove the limit on [Hand-to-Hand Combat], common sparring wasn’t enough to do it, it would require a deathmatch instead.

As for the deathmatch with Mayer, it wasn’t a good idea at all.

Both of them were on par with each other in terms of strength, should the fight to the death happen, one of them would really die and the one that survived wouldn’t be too well off either.

Even though he might become the winner of the match, he had no confidence in dealing with the upcoming matters with that condition.

Not only would he have to deal with the executioners who hadn’t even shown their faces and the Dandon Church who had their eyes on Kieran like a tiger, but there was also an unexpected outsider thrown into the mix to mess things up as well.

Although it was the arrangements that “he” had set up, Kieran wouldn’t think the outsider would show any mercy to him when the time comes.

“Oi?! Can you hear me?”

Kieran didn’t reply for a long time and it upset Anne Aldrich Augen.

The lady with a long black one piece was standing in front Kieran angrily, her heels and her height allowed her beautiful eyes to stare into Kieran’s eye on a parallel eye level.

The questions and probes in her eyes were very obvious.

“I’m listening,” Kieran nodded.

“Good, tell me what you are up to? Otherwise, when the sister shows up to my door next time, I’ll let you deal with it! I might be able to trade you away for some decent leverage as well!” Anne Aldrich Augen said in a partially true, partially false manner.

To the lady in black, any man, thing, or item were all related to her own benefits.

Everything would be judged based on its ability to benefit her.

Although it wasn’t a bad habit, she could be considered an easy person to understand, at least Kieran knew what Anne Aldrich Augen was after and knew how to handle her.

Kieran walked over to the spot where he placed his bag and took out an item.

It was the [Binding Ring] after consuming all of its usage counts.

He displayed the ring in front of Anne Aldrich Augen.

“It’s just a consumable item without any usages left,” Anne Aldrich Augen said pretending to be disdainful. Her eyes, however, were shining in outstanding colors.

“Then are you willing to continue the trade?” Kieran asked with a smile.

“Of course!”

Anne Aldrich Augen took the ring and hugged it into her arms, her tone had become delighted as well as she put away her rage. She became a tamed cat and leaned over to Kieran, and said with a smiling face, “The guy you asked me to keep an eye out for, I’ve found him! But I never really thought the Winchester House explosions could result in such changes.”

“Me either…”

Kieran nodded in agreement and at the same time moving his body aside, dodging Anne Aldrich Augen.

The lady didn’t fall down due to loss of balance, on the contrary, she repositioned her steps and turned around as her dress danced along with her motions like a butterfly, standing in front of Kieran again.

“Are you mad because of my impatience just now? You should know I really hate those unknown and unconfident things, you’ll forgive me right?” Anne Aldrich Augen said in a delicate and touching tone.

“If you swear your impatience just now wasn’t just an act so that you could collect your earnings of the trade, of course, I’ll forgive you.” Kieran wasn’t moved by her actions and words.

“I swear!” Anne Aldrich Augen said in all seriousness.

Kieran rolled his eyes.

He suddenly realized he had overestimated how long she could go.

Since his return from the university, their relationship in working together had gotten closer because of certain findings.

However, Kieran didn’t reveal much, but judging from how she spilled word after word without concern, she had figured it out on her own.

Kieran wasn’t worried at all. It wasn’t that he trusted Anne Aldrich Augen’s character but initially, he’d hoped more people would find out about the matter.

The more people paid attention, the safer he would be.

He wanted to use that to find out which organization the “arbiter” and “executioner” came from.

Anne Aldrich Augen gave out a pleasant laugh when she saw Kieran’s reaction but the laugh stopped quickly and abruptly.

Kieran continued to take out two more items from his bag.

[Poison Mist Wand] and [Rapid Ring].

“What do you want?”

Anne Aldrich Augen asked solemnly after glancing over the two items.

“A two-handed greatsword, I don’t need it to be sharp but I want it to be extremely sturdy!”

Kieran admired how Anne Aldrich Augen treated official business with her serious face, he stated his request with a delightful smile.

“You are skilled in two-handed swords as well?”

Anne Aldrich Augen’s eyes were overflowing with unusual colors as she looked at the man who got more and more mysterious.

She didn’t mind the man before her eyes growing stronger.

After many instances dealing with him, she already knew the man before her was the very reliable kind from a certain aspect. Judging from that point, Anne Aldrich Augen hoped that Kieran would grow stronger. The stronger, the better!

After all, Edland City… was too little for her appetite!

“Seems like that guy is hard to deal with,” Anne Aldrich Augen said in hopes of probing for more.

“How would a guy be easy to deal with when he can hide from my senses and control the dead? Fortunately, I have my own helpers. The sister from Dandon has waited for too long. Can you arrange a meeting with her while you bring me my greatsword?”

Kieran kept his smile as he proceeded with his plan.