Chapter 2133 One Simple Question

A week later, Michael arrived at Adam's manor in Blue Borough.

The young sergeant of the City Watch had finished his duties for the day. For the last couple of months, he had also been looking into the matter that Adam had requested him to.

Needless to say, the results were surprising.

"So what did you find?" Adam asked as they sat at a table in the living room.

Michael let out a long sigh. He placed a thin dossier, carrying no more than a handful of parchments inside.

"Not as much as I thought," he said.

Adam frowned. "Not as much? What do you mean?"

A foreboding feeling crept up inside his heart. The night Leto Morgan had been apprehended by the Watch had been far from uneventful.

"Look for yourself," Michael said, sliding the dossier across the table.

Adam quickly looked through it, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper. He read through the papers, murmuring, "Aiding and abetting a criminal suspected of having ties to the former Known Lord…"

His eyes moved to the next page. "Assisting Nigel Norwood in the grand conspiracy to embezzle millions of gold pieces…"

He continued reading.

"Leto Morgan was seen escaping from his home and rushing to the Rabbit Hole. Sought help from the proprietor. But the Watch had already arrived and apprehended him."

His eyes shifted to the next entry.

"Major disturbances in the Dock, Trade, North and South Boroughs. Large portions of Watch reserves alerted and guided to the locations. Lords' Borough secure…"

Adam stared at the report for a long moment. The pieces began to fall into place.

Lords' Borough, the seat of power in the city, secured. But the other regions had major disturbances, he thought.

That means the Watch had deliberately concentrated its force elsewhere.

And if most of the Watch had been diverted to those other regions, then one place would have been left dangerously exposed…

Blue Borough.

Adam remembered that night.

He had followed the familiar connection, rushing toward the place where Valerian had been kidnapped—the place that he called home now.

There had been no Watch guards that night on his journey. Not a single one. The streets had been almost completely deserted, with barely a soul wandering outside. Everything had been unnaturally quiet.

At the time, Adam thought nothing of it. Not much, anyway. Now, looking at the report, however, that silence suddenly made sense.

It had not been a coincidence. Blue Borough had been left practically unguarded that night. That could only mean the influence of the Somnia siblings extended further than he had imagined.

The final page of the dossier contained information about the previous owner of the manor, Antero Mortem—the man who had kidnapped Valerian and ultimately met his end at the hands of Voraxus Somnia.

It stated that he was an old Saint Magus. There was no report of his death. No report of him going missing, even.

Instead, a false report had been created stating that Magus Mortem had returned to his hometown to spend the rest of his life and had put his house on the market. And that one Adam Constantine, a new resident of Davos, had immediately purchased it.

Adam pondered silently, tapping his finger on the table.

The Somnia siblings' reach is deep enough that the death of a Saint Magus in the middle of the city could be hidden and falsified.

Although I had expected this, this is terrifying.

The City Watch was the police force of Davos, controlled directly by the Known Lord.

To falsify such a report…

Adam's expression darkened.

It meant that someone within the Watch had been involved. And not merely some low-ranking officer. Someone with enough authority to alter official records and ensure that no one came looking for Antero Mortem.

Could it be one of the Unknown Lords?

Adam couldn't help but wonder.

It can't be the Known Lord who helped the siblings. At the time, Nigel Norwood was the Known Lord, and he was…

The finger-tapping stopped abruptly.

Nigel Norwood removed from office.

Leto Morgan found guilty of explicitly helping him embezzle money.

Valerian's kidnapping and Mortem's death.

They seemed completely unrelated. But Adam had this nagging feeling that something was amiss. But what?

Michael had been silently studying him all this while. He couldn't understand why Adam was so interested in Leto Morgan or the night he had been arrested.

More confusing was the fact that Adam wanted to know more about Antero Mortem. Didn't he already meet the Saint Magus before? To purchase this manor.

Michael found something suspicious in all this. His training and experience in the City Guard told him as much.

"Adam… is something the matter?"

"I'm not sure," Adam replied absentmindedly.

He turned to his friend and asked, "You're sure these are the only reports for that day?"

"Affirmative."

Adam hesitated before saying, "Hypothetically… if someone were to tamper with reports like these, without anyone finding out. Who do you think has such power? Again, it's all hypothetical."

Michael grew more and more suspicious. He indulged Adam's query. "The Known Lord."

Adam shook his head. "Except the Known Lord."

It was very unlikely for the Known Lord at the time, Nigel Norwood, to tamper with the reports. He had already been ousted from office. There was a slim chance that the new Known Lord, Emily Damon, could be behind it. So Adam did not discard that possibility entirely.

"If not the Known Lord." Michael shrugged. "Then one of the Unknown Lords. Even the head of the City Watch doesn't wield that much power that they can hide the report from everyone in the city. So it has to be one of the Unknown Lords. For sure."

He paused for a moment, leaning forward. "What is it, Adam? You're scaring me. Did something happen that night? Do you know something?"

"Actually, I've received a mission from the Guild to investigate Leto Morgan's arrest," Adam lied smoothly. "Hilarious. I know. Probably one of his fans posted the mission. It was good money. I took it."

He then added, "And the thing about Antero Mortem. I found something… interesting in one of the hidden vaults in the basement. That's why I wanted more intel about him."

Michael nodded. If he caught Adam's lies, then he did a good job of hiding it. But he couldn't help but ask, "What's with all the hypotheticals, though?"

Adam laughed. "Will you believe me if I told you I was just worried about the defenses of our great city?"

He knew he couldn't sell this lie to Michael. He only hoped Michael didn't read too much into it, given that they were good friends and that he had saved the youth in the secret plane on numerous occasions.

Michael snorted in ridicule. "Okay, buddy."

He shook his head and added, "But rest assured, concerned citizen. The defenses of Davos are strong. Beyond strong. Not even a dragon can set foot in this city."

Adam froze.

"…What did you say?"

Michael revealed a conspiratorial smile.

"You can't tell this to anyone, okay?" He leaned forward and whispered, "Not many people know this, but during my time in the Watch, I learned something very interesting. There is a very powerful artifact somewhere in the city that prevents dragons from entering..."

Adam did not even bother to listen to the rest of Michael's words.

Because in that moment, the sense of foreboding from earlier had completely consumed him.

A simple question echoed inside his mind:

If what Michael claims is true… how had Valerian entered the city all those years ago?