Isaac left the waiter and crossed the bar, walking toward the table that Henrick occupied.
Henrick sprang from his seat, looking enthusiastic. He was not only broad but tall, very tall. Isaac's head was at his chest level.
"Finally! I was starting to think you weren't coming." He clapped Isaac on the shoulder in a friendly manner.
However, the force behind the clap was surprising. Isaac stumbled a step forward to absorb the clap, wondering just how much strength this royal guard packed.
After, he sat across from Henrick with the ease of someone who had done this before.
"Sorry for the tardiness," Isaac said in the demeanor of someone who had been delayed by something mundane and was mildly apologetic about it. "The eastern area is full of people such that navigating my way through is more difficult than the usual."
"Right, right." Henrick settled back into his chair with the specific ease of someone whose body had done this kind of thing many times. He picked up his cup. "Do you want anything?"
"Water," Isaac said.
Henrick flagged the waiter casually. Around them, the Hearthstone's festival population continued at full volume, although the noise was thankfully at a bearable level.
Isaac's senses confirmed him that no one nearby was watching them. The nearest occupied table was four meters away, and the conversation that could be overheard if tried was about the life at a rural area.
"How long has it been?" Henrick said, with the warmth of someone recalling a shared history. "Three years? Four?"
Henrick, the royal guard, was trying to ease the suspicion of whoever may secretly be watching them. Isaac understood this from the moment he put on the façade of the two being acquainted.
For now, he will play along.
"Three," Isaac said with certainty in his tone.
"Right, right." Henrick nodded. He set down his cup. His smile died slightly and his demeanor became more solemn as he spoke, "I heard a lot about you recently. From your… dissertation from House Valerius to Rite of Manifestation to the duel against Silas Fulgur." He looked at Isaac, "How are you faring?"
"Well enough, for now." Isaac said. He looked at the table's surface. He thought for a moment as to what his next words should be. "It has already been over a month since all that happened. I've grown used to my current life, and I have no complaints." He then asked, "What about you?"
On his way here, Isaac had the time to think of how an operation like this was possible. If Henrick was a standard royal guard, his face would've been known widely already.
At this point, there certainly was an additional group of soldiers who worked for the royal family, unknown to everyone else.
"Oh, I am doing fine. You know, working as a gatekeeper in the Caldwin Pass as always, except that I was given a vacation this time around because Patriarch Caldwin abruptly passed away. This is precisely why I got the chance to visit you."
Therefore, what Henrick was saying right now, was likely to be true. This status of Henrick was likely to be his actual identity—at least on the surface.
"I swear, the people there are talking about all sorts of conspiracy theories, of how he was completely healthy and expected to live a few more years, that he was actually assassinated by someone, et cetera."
Henrick raised his cup and chugged down the content.
Assassination. Isaac read the gleam in Henrick's eyes. At this moment, what he actually was referring to, was the nightly assault he and Lyra faced against.
"…I heard a little about Caldwin Pass as well." Isaac spoke, casual on the outside but not as much on the inside, "supposedly, House Zephyr and House Terra are fighting over it since the land is left ownerless?"
Henrick raised an eyebrow, grinning. "Oh? You do know. Well, House Terra is especially proactive here."
The water arrived. Isaac drained it right away.
"Are we going to have a meal here?" Isaac asked.
"Up to you," said Henrick, shrugging. "You got any other place in your mind?"
"No."
"Then, let's have it here," Henrick smiled, "Back room is quieter than here, vastly. The owner owes me a favor. We can catch up properly, without—" he gestured at the bar's ambient chaos "—all this."
Isaac pretended to give it some thought. He then replied, "Sounds good."
Soon after, Henrick exchanged a brief word with the waiter. The waiter nodded and led them through the rear corridor to a room at the building's back.
The room was small. There was a table, four chairs, and no window with a lamp on the table being the sole source of the light. The noise of the festival was present but muffled—audible as negligible background.
The door closed behind them.
Henrick sat.
The smile was gone.
What remained was the flat, contained attention of a practitioner who had been in royal guard service for fifteen years.
"Isaac Nameless," he said, coldly, as he crossed his arms. "To be frank, I don't get princess Lyra's judgment, involving… a kid like you on a mission as dangerous as this." He paused, before remarking, "at least you seem to have good intuition. F-rank skill is a huge liability, however."
Isaac didn't respond. He simply listened in silence, knowing that Henrick wasn't done yet.
"Royal guard. Directly under princess Lyra Aetherion. Refer to me as Henrick. B-rank: [Barrier]. That's all that you will be provided about myself."
He then looked at Isaac intently. "The princess briefed me on what she knows, but I want to hear it again from you, directly."
Isaac looked at him. The previous man was now non-existent. Henrick in front of him was serious rather than easy-going, cold rather than friendly. His rigidness, way of presenting himself—all of them told that he was a born soldier.
"The trail starts with Donaston Terra." Isaac relayed what he knew. "Third-year higher class student. A-rank: [Terra Force] and C-rank: [Smog Expulsion]. He is one of three individuals who entered my dormitory room during the assignment arc's sixth night. I figured this out by baiting him with a false letter that I drafted." He paused. "He's also connected to two other third-year students whose identities I have partial confirmation on."
Henrick contemplated for a moment.
"…After princess Lyra received the information from you, we did a further investigation under her order. We acquired a certain piece of information."
Through the dim light of the lamp, Henrick's eyes narrowed at Isaac.
"Sometime around this week, there will be another attempt to assassinate you."
Isaac remained silent to that, processing.
Henrick gave some time before he added on, "simply put, you are a perfect bait."
"And what, precisely, is this mission about?" Isaac asked.
"Information. Donaston Terra is just the start. We don't know how deep the traitors and spies run in the capital, and we need to figure that out." Grimly, Henrick spoke, loosening his crossed arms and letting them drop to his thighs. "The mission involves two stages within the span of a week."
He held two fingers up. Folded one.
"One, continue with the act of us being acquaintances outside. I am a commoner who is oblivious. Should they realize my identity, they will immediately withdraw."
"So let them come, you mean."
"Yes. A clash will rise. Then," said Henrick, "we capture them. Draw information directly out of their mouths."
"What if one of them has a skill of A-rank or above?"
"Unlikely." Henrick shook his head in negative. "A-rank skill is extremely rare to begin with, and those with A-rank or above skills are seldom tasked with cheap missions such as an assassination."
He noticed Isaac's gaze. Knew exactly what Isaac was talking about.
"Donaston Terra is a rare exception, and even if that were to be the case," his eyes glanced over Isaac, "we have someone who defeated S-rank: [Lightning Spear], don't we?" He huffed lightly, "you are unpredictable, and this is why you are in this mission. This is also why you are being targeted by those spies in the first place. They hate variables."
This mission is risky. Very risky, thought Isaac. As in, not because my life is at risk, but from the kingdom's point of view, it has high chance of failing.
Isaac deduced that there must be another group handling a similar operation. There was no way that they were the only card that Lyra had in her hands.
The idea of being used as a tool… Isaac didn't like it. However, he had to comply for now, for the sake of information—to protect himself.
"Then," Henrick folded his second finger, "we utilize the drawn information to attain tangible evidence. Perhaps breaking into a secret base of some sort—that is one. This part will remain vague, and be adjusted depending on how the situation develops."
"One thing to ask." Isaac then said, to which Henrick looked at him. "More than three weeks ago, professors were to capture two spies whom I detected. They did it successfully and even found an additional lead. However, upon trying to progress further, they were intercepted by five cloaked individuals of B-rank skills."
"…What about it."
"I am saying that if they will try to assassinate me again, those five individuals may potentially be the ones to come." Isaac said, "Three professors, who all own A-rank skills, were forced to withdraw, and this is significant even if they were worn out by then."
"What are you trying to say."
"I am saying that if ones like them are tasked with assassinating me," Isaac stated without blinking, "two of us won't be enough."
Henrick furrowed his brows as if confused that Isaac is able to speak of himself getting assassinated in such a calm manner.
"…Plan B always exists. That's all that I can say."
Without waiting to hear Isaac's response, Henrick then stood up from his seat.
"Take this device with you." He handed over a small, circular device to Isaac, "keep it in your pocket at all times. Press the button on it when the time comes."
Isaac inspected it in his hand.
"What does this exactly do?"
"Unfortunately, Master Andrias is left out. The device doesn't have a direct monitoring capacity like his skill does. However," Henrick explained, "pressing the button will teleport me, the possessor of its counterpart, to your location."
Simple but effective. This had to be a device built by someone with a high-ranked skill, and… Isaac knew what this skill likely was.
"Every day, we will meet here, at the fourth bell." Henrick said, "this device lasts only for a day before the skill on it dissipates."
"…A-rank: [Warp Portal]," muttered Isaac.
"Incorporated into this device via B-rank: [Synthesis], but this device isn't as mana-compatible as Master Andrias's [Mana Minicry]."
Henrick paused.
"But now you know."
Isaac pocketed the device as Henrick said.
"It isn't just the princess. Prince himself is watching us as well, if that motivates you."
Prince Gladius Aetherion.
A-rank: [Warp Portal] was one of his two known skills.