BXBX NOVEL Chapter 118 Meeting A Roaming Blade, Sneaking To The Library
It has been a long time ever since his master contacted him and he almost couldn't sleep because as a roaming blade, it was very rare for them to interact with their master face to face.
Just like the crimson blades, the members of the roaming blades were rescued by Leon. However, not all of them were victims of the Spectre, unlike the crimson blades.
Most of them were victims of abuse of aristocrat's authority and crimes brought by the rebels. They looked up on Leon a lot, as they knew his capabilities in the battlefield despite a young age.
As they recovered and started a new life, they willingly pledged their loyalty to Leon for the rest of their life. However, since the majority of them were direct victims of noblemen, they couldn't take a knighthood position to directly serve Leon in order not to alarm the aristocrats and jeopardize their master's safety.
Unwilling to let their passion be wasted because of these nobles, they formed the Roaming blades.
Since the Crimson Blade would be like Leon's sharp and broadsword, where its glory could be greatly seen by other people, the Roaming Blades were like hidden swords, augmenting their weilder's chance to victory.
As their role was to support their master to ensure that he would always be going back safe from a mission that was inherently dangerous, they focused on providing him the strongest support - Information!
With information, their master and the crimson blades could prepare thoroughly before marching towards the battle. With information they could maximize their abilities while significantly lessening the threats.
Thus, Roaming Blades had been Leon and Crimson Blades' partner who had greatly brought them from the battles safely.
The Roaming Blade's strategy was pretty simple and straightforward - integrate far and deep in the society!
This means that all the members of the Roaming Blades were spies present to almost every institution holding small to significant roles, enabling access to both credible information and rumors that could possibly be a source for truth.
But the meaning of this for the Roaming Blades was twofold.
They must be capable of both gathering and protecting that information. That is why all of them were also fairly strong fighters, secretly trained by the Roaming Blade's officers from time to time.
Just like Julian, the young lad who chose to take on the role of a temple servant in order to gain access to information around the temple. He was basically adept in the workings of the temple as well as fighting.
However, Julian was feeling at a loss now. His master, whom he almost didn't see for many years, wanted him to take off his clothes!
Did his master want to check if he was keeping up with his training???
Or could it be that, after almost thirty years of singleness, his master developed a peculiar habit???
Oh no! What's happening to his master???
"What are you standing there for?" Leon asked in a cold stern tone with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Do not waste my time, I need to get to the library as soon as possible. I need that temple clothes of yours."
"O-oh!!!" Finally realizing his master's intentions, which he clearly had misinterpreted, Julian scratched his head in embarrassment. "Master, I came prepared, I brought you your own uniform."
"How could I let you wear my filthy clothes!" Julian smiled, awkwardly forming half crescent moons with his hazel brown irises.
He patted his space bag with pride and said, "Come master, let me lead you to a stealth place where you can prepare for your disguise."
Without a word, Leon followed Julian in a calm and natural manner.
He led him into a booth where no one visits and was treated as a store room. He took out the spare uniform, a badge and a map. Then briefly explained to him some reminders.
"Master, here is my badge and a map, just in case something happened and you were in a tough position. I had Mort create a duplicate of my badge for you and also draw your escape route from the library to the garden and even one which directly leads out to the temple."
"You can crush the badge after using it, because the other temple administrator may detect that someone went out of the temple premises without the permit…" He explained with a serious expression.
"Alright, thank Mort on my behalf. You too, good job!" He patted Julian's shoulder and calmly entered the store room to put on his disguise.
When he went out, he was already wearing the same uniform and completely changed his appearance into a man looking identical to Julian.
Unlike his usual disguise, this time he needed to take on another identity as the temple closely monitored everyone who accessed their library. He had to use Julian's identity for such.
Julian's hazel brown eyes shined in a fanatical way as he witnessed Leon's prowess in disguise. "Master, you are using my face yet how come my face looked so much more handsome when you used it? Master, you are amazing as always!!"
Leon couldn't help but twitch his brows, unable to reply to Julian's passionate praise. He took something in his space bag and took out a stack of notification papers, calmly giving it to Julian,
"You both can use this just in case you need help. I will also contact you through these papers."
"This!!! We thank you master!" Julian was elated, if not for the situation which they had to stay lowkey, he could have jumped in excitement.
Notification papers act the same way as communication stones wherein if one holds the part of the same stone, they could contact the other holder of the other stone parts.
Communication stones were inconvenient in mass informing people, that is why the researchers of the Farauld Magical Institute invented the notification papers.
These papers were infused with the grounded powder of a piece of communication stone. Hence, a batch of papers could create a large communication network for every individual holding a sheet of the notification paper produced on that certain batch.
With this, people were now able to communicate critically important messages without looking for a large piece of communication stone.
The major disadvantage of this was that it only was limited to a few sentences and after the other party acknowledged the message with mana, the pair or group of papers used to transmit and acknowledge the message through mana would disintegrate to ashes.
For the Roaming Blade it is a very important artifact to possess. They could immediately inform the Prince for any critical information they stumble upon. That was why Julian almost acted like receiving a treasure.
With this he and Mort could pass information without jeopardizing his cover, especially on a closely monitored temple. Especially Mort, who currently holds a higher position than him in the temple.
He was one of the temple's administrators for the servants, getting more access to almost anything in the temple. This was also why he was able to create a duplicate uniform and identification badge for Leon.
"Alright, I might take a long time in the library. Are you prepared for that?" Leon asked before preparing to leave.
Julian nodded enthusiastically, taking out his space pouch revealing his snacks and drinks before entering the storage room, laying out a clean piece of mantle and sittinf leisurely. "I am very ready, master!"
Once again, Leon was left speechless by Julian's nonchalant conduct. It turns out, he planned to chill in the abandoned storeroom and have a picnic for himself until Leon finished his trip to the library!
Leon could only nod, after receiving the direction going to the library, he immediately set out to sneak inside.
The travel to the library was smooth and easy as it was fully arranged by Julian and Mort. Using the badge to verify his 'identity', the librarian immediately granted him a pass inside.
The library was located in a large hall, with an array of books starting from the west to the east wing of the building.
The most pleasing feature of its interior was the domed round reading area located at the center of the structure. The roof of the dome was made of glass, letting the natural light in the reading area.
There were a few people roaming around the library as almost everyone convened in the round reading room for a more conducive reading experience. Leon immediately proceeded to the bookshelves to try to find the books he needed.
Unlike the modern libraries, where there was a digital catalogue for ease of locating the kinds of book needed, Leon had to look for the manual catalogue located on every edge of an aisle to check the sections of the library.
He chose a catalogue located further from the reading area and flipped through the pages hastily. He needed to find the section where the information about the curse magic was kept.
Upon flipping the whole catalogue, his heart sank in disappointment.
'As expected, they were in the restricted section..'