Chapter 983: Eventuality P7: Cause and Effect Fabric

Rumaal’s hesitation finally disappeared.

He looked at Kanis seriously.

"Friend Kanis, since you’ve asked, there is indeed something you can help me with."

Kanis raised an eyebrow.

"Alright. Please state what you want me to do."

Rumaal nodded before raising his hand.

A faint ripple of Spirit Essence spread outward, and a sound barrier instantly enveloped the two of them.

The expressions of Anaah and Mirelle remained unchanged. They had already expected Rumaal to reveal the matter privately.

Inside the sound barrier, Rumaal lowered his voice.

"You see, the situation isn’t as complex as you might think but one that requires me to resolve it as soon as I can. One of the members of King Runiye’s faction, Kalina, was killed in Orveth."

Kanis’s expression became slightly more serious.

"I heard about that."

"I’ll not say vain things like the prestige of the empire was sullied by the native cultivators of Orveth. This is a good excuse to say to the natives when we take actions against them but it’s complete bullshit.

"To be honest, her death itself isn’t the only problem," Rumaal continued. "Before she died, she was carrying several important items belonging to our faction. Those items disappeared after her death, and we’ve traced the person responsible for taking them."

Kanis’s eyes narrowed.

"Who?"

"A man named Aksai Everwood."

Kanis remained silent for a moment.

Rumaal then explained the situation in greater detail, carefully choosing his words. He spoke about Kalina’s death, the investigation that followed, and how their intelligence had eventually pointed toward Aksai.

However, he deliberately avoided mentioning the jade slips containing the Runiye Dominion’s core inheritances. That information was too sensitive to reveal, even to someone who owed him a favor.

Instead, he simply described them as important faction belongings that needed to be recovered.

Kanis listened without interrupting. When Rumaal finally finished, the young sword cultivator’s expression remained calm.

"So, you want to find this Aksai Everwood and recover the items?"

"Exactly."

Kanis nodded.

"Then consider the debt repaid. I’ll come along with you and so will the rest of my subordinates."

Rumaal couldn’t help but laugh and thanked Kanis in advance for the help he extended.

He had briefly considered asking Kanis for a rare Spirit resource as repayment, but that would have been pointless.

True Sword Cultivators were notoriously impoverished most of the time. Or, more accurately, they were poor robbers.

Most of them didn’t bother accumulating treasures or maintaining large personal treasuries. Whatever Spirit Stones and resources they obtained were quickly poured into refining their Natal Swords, cultivating Sword Intent, purchasing materials, or advancing their cultivation.

Many True Sword Cultivators essentially lived like bounty hunters, constantly taking on dangerous missions to obtain resources and then immediately spending those resources on their swords.

Kanis was probably no different. For example, he had spent four to fives of wealth on a Spirit resource that was rare just because it was most compatible to him and he didn’t like to take his time when it came to his cultivation pace.

The act of buying Thousand Epiphanies Flower had almost drained Kanis of all his wealth. If he hadn’t managed to become a half-step Nascent Soul that enabled to draw out greater benefits from Swordfall domain, he would have been forced to rob other poor Lords in some way or the other.

Rumaal knew this situation well. Thus, he asked something that wouldn’t create future troubles for both him and Kanis when they returned to their respective domains in the empire.

Besides, this favor was far more valuable than a few Spirit resources.

"Then I’ll have to trouble you, Friend Kanis."

Kanis smiled.

"You don’t need to be so formal. We are friends, after all."

The sound barrier disappeared.

Kanis turned toward the Swordfall cultivators waiting behind him and casually gave them a few instructions. The large group immediately began adjusting their formation, with several cultivators moving ahead to scout the surrounding sea.

Rumaal’s wives soon joined them.

Anaah glanced at Kanis before looking at her husband.

"So?"

Rumaal smiled.

"Kanis will be coming with us."

Anaah’s expression relaxed slightly.

Seeing that Anaah had finally calmed down, Rumaal couldn’t help but feel a little pleased with himself.

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye before a smug smile appeared on his face. Rumaal quickly sent a message directly into her mind.

Dear, you nagged me for so long about delaying our task. But look at things now. Didn’t my delay help us in the end?

His smile became even wider as he looked at the numerous cultivators from the empire traveling around them.

With so many cultivators helping us, it should be much easier to comb through the area and find that rat. And with a half-step Nascent Soul cultivator like Kanis acting as our bodyguard, we don’t even have to worry about any unexpected, life-threatening situations.

Rumaal’s chest puffed out slightly.

Doesn’t that mean that what you considered to be my irresponsible actions ended up helping us? Am I not lucky? Hahaha.

Indeed, the trio did not mention a few things specifically but they were wary of chasing after Aksai recklessly. After all, he had managed to kill Kalina despite being a native cultivator who was not even supposed to have access to Connate Spells.

By this point, the difference between the average native cultivators and that from the empire had already been established in Rumaal and his wives’ minds. No matter the type and number of trump cards a native cultivator had, they could not kill their counterparts from the empire. The difference between the two sides was just that great.

Plus, Kalina was very skilled in expressing her battle prowess to its fullest. Plus, she had access to a lot of trump cards under her sleeves as well.

It could be easy to make sense of her death if multiple native Lords had trapped her before killing her. But from their investigation, it seemed that Aksai was the only Lord present at the time the two battled.

Thus, someone from Orveth who could kill Kalina despite not having access to powerful Connate Spells couldn’t be considered as an average. If he could pose a threat to Kalina, what was stopping him from posing a threat to Rumaal and his wives?

Even though all three of them had a higher cultivation base than Kalina, Rumaal and his wives couldn’t say with confidence that their battle prowess would also exceed Kalina’s.

Therefore, it was indeed beneficial for the trio to bring along a half-step Nascent Soul powerhouse as their backup.

Anaah turned her head and looked at her husband.

Her expression was calm now, but the slight annoyance in her eyes made it clear that she had heard every word.

She remained silent for a moment before sending her own message through Spirit Essence.

Maybe it’s not that you’re lucky.

Her gaze shifted toward the distant figure of Kanis.

Perhaps that rat, Aksai or whatever his name is, is simply unlucky enough that we happened to find someone like this sword lunatic Kanis here in the middle of nowhere.

Rumaal’s smug expression stiffened slightly.

Anaah continued without giving him a chance to respond.

Hmph. It seems that the fellow used up all his luck when he killed Kalina and robbed her of her possessions and has already run out of it.

A faint, almost cruel smile appeared on her lips.

Either way, I suppose I should thank him before killing him for taking the initiative to eliminate a pest.

She glanced at Rumaal again.

Don’t you think so, my dear husband?

Rumaal’s expression became awkward.

For a moment, he wasn’t sure whether Anaah was criticising him or mock his love interest Kalina one more time post her death. However, dead cultivators of no use and living cultivators needed to be dealt with one way or the other.

Rumaal decided to act like a mature husband for once, giving his wife a win she desperately needed to keep her mouth shut. He coughed lightly and looked ahead.

...You’re right, dear.

Anaah’s lips curled upward. This time, she finally decided to drop the subject entirely.

The group continued flying toward Emerald Cove Island, with the vast Orveth Sea stretching endlessly beneath them. The waves rolled across the ocean surface, while occasional Spirit Beasts could be seen diving beneath the water before disappearing into the depths.

Rumaal flew beside Kanis for some time before his curiosity finally got the better of him.

He glanced at the young sword cultivator and asked, "Friend Kanis, although I’m glad that I met you in the middle of nowhere, what were you doing here in the first place? Were you also assigned a task by King Yuan?"

Rumaal paused briefly before adding, "I just hope your decision to help me doesn’t end up delaying you in your own mission."

Kanis smiled lightly.

"I suppose it’s fine to share this news with you since it has already spread among the empire’s cultivators dispatched to Orveth."

Rumaal raised an eyebrow.

"It’s nothing much," Kanis continued. "My king asked me to look for Prince Varesh’s whereabouts. It seems my king has become somewhat worried because the tracking technique he placed on Prince Varesh disappeared a few days ago."