ARCHDEUS

TRACEABILITY(1)

Hadalon, capital of the March of Canadia

Everything changed that day.

The clear sky now no longer reflected the carefree taste of the people staring at it.

The brighter the sky, the more people whimpered in pain.

Pedestrians were seen walking with their skin flushed like it was on fire.

It was not a burn caused by fire but by a strange disease.

In addition to experiencing nodules such as chickenpox, some sufferers are seen to experience irritation in their skin. Especially in the neck and fold area in the body. In addition, their gums look swollen accompanied by dry and chapped lips.

"Most likely people affected by the strange disease experience a lack of body fluids faster."

Iona, the only witch on the Falcon team has seen all those people. He was neither an alchemist nor a priest who knew of health magic that was commonly pinned to divine magic. He is a magician who relies on arcane magic which is inner or internal magic in the body. However, his opinion was not something wrong. Regardless of his type of magic, he was still a magician who had a high intellect.

Right now both he and the other Falcon team members were still in their inn. They are doing isolation.

Until now neither they nor the merchants who were their allies had been exposed to the strange disease at all.

"Now it seems like people have calmed down" said Darius, peeking out of the window.

A few weeks earlier they had seen above a flock of doves flying all over the city while dropping sheets of paper.

The papers contained the announcement of a national emergency and the isolation of Hadalon City.

There are riots everywhere.

The guilty ones screamed in panic. Quickly, everything immediately scattered to the city gate.

But when they came out, they were greeted by thousands of fire arrows that rained down on them.

They realized thousands of royal soldiers had blocked the city's exits.

All desperate. Even when everyone turned their eyes to the mansion belonging to the marquess of canadia, facing their lord in providing protection. There was no response from the mansion. It was as if everyone in the mansion had left.

The next few days the city was full of chaos. No authority would secure the city.

Anarchy and vandalism are everywhere.

Looting and shouts of fear could be heard all over the corner of the city.

Now that day after day passed, week after week changed, the atmosphere of the city looked calmer.

Yet it is not a tranquility that brings harmony but a gripping calm.

There are no doors or windows open during the day or night.

No bar or grocery store opened their business.

No drunk or street singers express themselves on the streets.

Everything was silent and silent like a dead city.

"It's hard to believe it was a big, crowded city" Darius said, closing his window.

"Regardless of it all, now we're stuck."

Camellia who was the vice chairman could only sigh.

He and Rionard have been trying to find an evacuation route but the whole rat road in this city is really guarded by the government. As a result, they cannot even send representatives to the government.

"Well, I can't believe it turns out that the kingdom is very competent to lock its own citizens" said Rionard.

Even Rionard, the assassin in the Falcon group to say it shows how difficult it is to escape from the city.

"No, I don't think it's just the ability of the royal warrior."

Iona refuted Rionard's words.

"Most likely they used high-level magic spells to keep an eye on the whole people and street corners of this city" he said.

"Is that possible?"

"That's actually hard to prove especially if all the magic casters in this kingdom are only able to master a level five spell down. But isn't there an arcane magician in the kingdom who is capable of using seventh and eighth level spells?"

The person Iona said was none other than the current prime minister, the Duke of Norchaster. If it excluded Pontifex Eliarius who was able to use divine magic up to the eighth level, then he was the strongest magician and the pride of the kingdom.

Everyone nodded in understanding with Iona's words. No one would be unsuspecting if indeed the Duke of Norchaster was behind this national emergency policy.

"But still, isn't that cruel enough? I mean, that guy gave us orders and now he's leaving us to get stuck here" Darius lamented.

"Huh .. well. that's enough for today's conversation. It's time to look at the stock of equipment and food we have" Richard said.

Richard, as the chairman of the Falcon team can be said to be the most senior and most responsible to them.

They've been locked up in this inn for weeks. Their food supply is also running low. Not to mention they also had to fill the stomachs of the merchants who were their allies during the mission.

It gives Richard a headache. When their food runs out then the only way is to find food by combing the city. Either later they will be able to find a store or forced to steal food in people's warehouses.

"Sir, our supplies will not be enough for the next month" Camellia said.

"So it's like that. What it means is we don't want to have to get out."

Richard hesitated a little especially when he saw this city was settled now. He is also pessimistic whether there are still shops open.

"I think the only way is for us to break into the food warehouse" Rionard said.

Richard refused the advice. Especially they were one of the elite group of soldiers belonging to the kingdom. How could a group of Royal Majestic Guards have to rob a grain warehouse just to survive.

But he could think of no other way.

Not only Richard, everyone present was also unable to take the advice of Rionard. But they cannot offer alternative advice.

The room became silent and no one dared to speak. Even Rionard who was the one giving the advice could only smile awkwardly.

But the awkward atmosphere vanished when accidentally through the sunlight that passed through the ventilation, a giant shadow suddenly appeared. Everyone is shocked. How not, right now they are upstairs and that shadow looks too big for a bird.

Darius swallowed his saliva and somehow had a bad premonition. He asked his team members not to be noisy and slowly opened the window slightly.

From the corner of the small window, he peered and saw a strange black silhouette.

It looked like someone in dark robes and soared in the sky.

Darius sweats. What he saw was clearly not a good thing.

But who would have thought the disaster came sooner.

When he was about to re-adjust his sitting position, Darius' hand accidentally pushed the window slightly so that the window sounded a little due to the rusty hinges.

Clearly, the creature looked away to look at Darius.

"Oh my God."

Darius muttered. What he saw was a creature with a face filled with dark smoke and two eyes that gave off a blood red glow.

"Far from the window!"

He shouted to everyone and immediately moved away.

Less than a second after, the window suddenly opened forcefully by an extremely strong gust of wind.

Everyone saw firsthand the appearance of a dark figure cloaked with dark smoke surrounding the creature coming into the room through the window.

Everyone became very alert. Although they did not wear combat equipment, but that did not mean their guard became loose.

"What a creature is that!"

Joseph who was in the front row shouted to the others. As the one with the highest defensive ability here, he consciously protected all of his group.

Josep took out a wooden broom not far from where he was then flowed with aura.

As a Royal Majestic Guard, of course, the swordmen and aura users in the group were the most elite among the elite. So that the aura flow to the aura insulator like wood they can do although of course the effect is not as much as draining the aura to the sword.

Joseph deftly gave an attack to the creature. But the attack from his broom was like just giving a slash in empty air. The creature was like smoke that could not be attacked by physical attacks.