Records of the Weakest Emperor

Chapter 106: Mysterious Leaver of Clues

In a Coffee Shop known as the Captivating Fragrance Coffee Shop. A group of four people could be seen standing around a wooden table. An ordinary notebook was spread open on top of that table.

Then, a sturdy hand reached out to that notebook and flipped it open.

As the pages unfurled, rows of words appeared faintly on the surface of the notebook which elicited a variety of responses from the four people.

"This is confusing..."

Ashlynn, the sole woman employee of this Coffee Shop scratched her head in frustration.

"James, lock the doors for now. We'll analyze this info together." Ron Samuel, the supervisor of the Coffee Shop ordered and James firmly nodded his head. He walked towards the front doors and flipped the plaque that said, "Open" to "Close".

"Is that really necessary? Who would come and visit our Coffee Shop when our prices are too much. We can just keep our business as open as we speak." Ashlynn lightly chuckled.

To be honest, she liked coffee and she was the reason why the Ashmelion used a Coffee Shop as the front of their business.

Ron Samuel turned to look at him and said, "Don't be so fussy. You already know why we're doing that..."

Ashlynn nodded her head and let out a sigh.

Bruce glanced at the others and felt inexplicably proud. In the past few days, he had detected nine unknown mana signatures on the locations written on the surface of the notebook.

He gathered this intel without telling the others so that he could have as much credit as he possibly could and advance through the ranks of the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers had a ranking system.

Bruce was a Soldier, as well as the others, while Ron Samuel was a Knight. The difference between a Soldier and a Knight could be compared to the difference between heaven and earth. Bruce didn't hope to defeat and surpass the Captain, but he wanted to be the Vice-Captain.

Ashmelion's Branch of Cavaliers only had a Captain, but not a Vice-Captain.

Bruce didn't know the reason why, but for some reason. Within the past half a decade, this city's branch of Cavaliers never had a Vice-Captain. When Bruce discovered this fact, he thought that this was his chance to rise up through the ranks and overlook the world at the summit.

Feeling good about the success of his plans, Bruce stuck his chest and chin, looking proud of his achievements.

"Why did you not report your findings to us as soon as possible?"

Ron Samuel raised his head and stared coldly at Bruce.

"Uh..." Bruce abruptly froze.

One moment he was high up the clouds, and at the very next moment...

He arrived at the boiler room of hell.

"I apologize, Captain. I thought that the clues were insufficient and not worthy of our investigation so I didn't report the initial findings to you hoping that I can gather more clues enough for it to be worthy of our investigations..."

"But rest assured Captain, I think these amount of clues should be enough for us to investigate it."

Bruce replied.

"You're not even apologetic..." Ron Samuel let out a sigh.

James Branzuela glared at Bruce and said, "We will pardon you for now since this is your first mission after coming here to Ashmelion..."

"But the next time you ignore our standard operating procedure of reporting each and every clue discovered to the home base, then you will be punished based on the Cavalier's Way."

Bruce immediately paled hearing James's words.

He thought that he had done nothing wrong, but James's words made him realize how foolish he was. The rules of the Cavaliers must never be ignored.

Ron Samuel and James Branzuela were kind enough to give him amnesty, but the next time this happened...

Bruce reckoned that the two would personally destroy his Origin.

The Cavalier's Way of dealing with rule violators involved the indiscriminate destruction of their Origin. Once a Predator's Origin was destroyed, they would more or less be crippled and be bedridden for life.

Thud!

Bruce's knees crashed onto the ground as he banged his head onto the ground and cried out...

"Captain! I apologize! Please forgive me!"

Ron Samuel glanced at him for a moment, "Accepted. Stand up."

His words were succinct but pertinent. Bruce almost immediately stood up the moment he heard the pardon and a bitter smile was plastered across his face. Ashlynn turned to look at him and sneered, which further deepened his bitter smile.

At this moment, he had learned his lesson.

He took a deep breath and wiped the blood off his forehead. Afterwards, he stuck his chest out and started his report.

"Approximately four days ago, while I was investigating the contract about that elusive thief..."

"I discovered an unknown mana signature on top of the Yang Bridge. After further investigation, I found out that the mana signature does not match any mana signature of monsters recorded in the Cavalier's Bestiary..."

"In other words, the mana signature should come from a rogue Predator roaming the city."

Everyone became stern at once.

Most people do not know about the existence of Predators. The authorities, such as the Church of the Three Orthodox Gods, the police, and the royal family were actively trying to prevent ordinary civilians from getting involved with matters related to the supernatural or the Predators.

But if somebody were to find out, or they were inadvertently involved.

Two things could happen to them, first they will have the opportunity to serve one of the Churches belonging to the Church of the Three Orthodox Gods in the city where they belong, or they could also have their memories erased.

Alternatively, they could also choose to serve the church by becoming a Predator through the use of a profession bestowal ritual. The ritual involved a promise wherein one would serve a god or goddess that they have selected wholeheartedly and without any compromise.

It was basically the same as becoming a god's lackey.

But once deemed worthy and the ritual became a success.

The Predator would gain enhanced durability, mental fortitude, as well as a constitution that would allow them to resist things that could easily kill the average civilian.

A rogue Predator usually meant that the person was a Predator who pledged his or her loyalty to other gods or goddesses not belonging to the Church of the Three Orthodox Gods.

The Church of the Three Orthodox Gods only involved the Goddess Grace, the God of Eternal Fire, Ezekiel, and the God of Medicine and Poison, Aesculapius.

All other gods apart from these three were considered unorthodox due to their unusually cruel personality and greedy disposition unbecoming to that of a god.

The world of Las Felipinas had Seven Gods and Goddesses. But the common populace only knew the existence of the three Orthodox Gods, Grace, Ezekiel, and Aesculapius.

For these three were the only gods in existence that didn't find it unbecoming of their dignity to make contact with the humans and demi-humans in the world of Las Felipinas.

But to be honest, it didn't make sense.

These gods require the faith of their followers to continuously exist.

But the fact that they still existed despite hiding from the eyes of the common populace for several thousands of years made it obvious that these gods had tricks up their sleeves.

Often, they were in the form of cults, and random revelations to people stricken with grief and desperation around the world.

These gods were unscrupulous and they knew the hearts of the living beings and their nature too well.

Perhaps, this was the reason why they existed for so long despite not having a crowd of followers.

The other Unorthodox Gods, as well as their subordinate Gods, hated the three Orthodox Gods and their lackeys. This was the reason why the existence of a rogue Predator was incredibly perilous, not only to the common populace but also to the church.

Every member of the Cavaliers swore to protect the church and its residents for their entire life.

How could they let the existence of a rogue Predator go unchecked?

At this point, they didn't even care about the elusive thief anymore.

Their sights were on this rogue Predator that kept on leaving mana signatures for them to find as if they were playing with them.

"I really hate this feeling. It's like we're puppets dancing on someone's palm..."

James commented with a frown.

Bruce had completed his explanation and written within the notebook were the nine locations where he detected those unique and unknown mana signatures possibly belonging to that rogue Predator.

"Yang Bridge... Ouyang's Genuine Treasure House, United Seamen's Coalition Branch of Ashmelion, Narcista Street, Elmo's Woodworks, Dannie's Entertainment Company, Mapayapa Street, and Epifanio Street..."

Ashlynn softly uttered...

"Aaaah... no matter how I look at it, it doesn't make sense! What's so special about these places? I think he's just playing with us! He's randomly leaving these clues to mess with us!" Ashlynn clutched her head and a pained look could be seen on her face as she ranted.

James, on the other hand, had different ideas, "Do you really think that these clues were left randomly?"