Chapter 82
Chapter 82
Late at night, Benjamin sat, chin in hand, lost in thought. The “safe” searches conducted with the Downstream people were proving fruitless. He sometimes sensed malice in the Marquess of Tygra’s “safety precautions.” Perhaps, under the guise of safety, the Marquess was leading them in circles, avoiding the areas where the remains were likely buried. Otherwise, how could 25 Remains Retrieval teams have found nothing? Perhaps the answer lay in a more proactive, clandestine search. Where was the unexplored territory they had overlooked?
The answer came quickly: the forest. The forest Gamon had so vehemently warned them against. The fact that they were forbidden to enter, even with Downstream guides, bothered him. And the Remains Retrieval team readily excluding it from their search was equally troubling. What if Downstream had already searched the forest and discovered something crucial, something they were now desperately trying to keep the sky city team away from? It was a distinct possibility.
‘If I can find even a clue there, it will change everything.’
Benjamin looked at an aerial photograph of Downstream taken from the sky city. The forest wasn’t as dense as the name suggested. Downstream’s harsh environment only allowed the hardiest species to survive, and even those were poisonous, making them inedible to animals. As a result, the forest wasn’t a treacherous, impenetrable maze. It covered a considerable area, and he could see settlements scattered among the sparse trees.
It didn’t look as dangerous as they claimed. That was Benjamin’s assessment.
***
But Benjamin wasn’t foolish enough to rush into the forest unprepared. He decided to wait for the next briefing; he needed to question Isaac first.
After Isaac finished briefing them on the next search area, Benjamin raised his hand. Isaac looked displeased but nodded for him to speak.
“Why is the forest excluded from the search?” Benjamin asked directly.
Isaac glanced at General Soluten.
“I believe I explained this during the tenth Remains Retrieval mission dispatch.” General Soluten sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, clearly irritated by Benjamin’s unexpected question. He couldn’t openly reprimand and dismiss Benjamin, not with him being the son of the high-ranking Lord Lenuta. He desperately wished he could.
“But I’ll explain it again. The forest is unlikely to contain any remains.”
“Why are you so certain? An animal could have carried remains into the forest.”
Isaac stared at Benjamin. Arietta was on the second floor of the mansion, directly above him. But, like every other day, he would leave without seeing her. The thought alone made him tense. He was already exercising considerable restraint to keep from barging in to see her. And now, Young Lord Benjamin, the very reason Arietta was confined here, was inexplicably fixated on the forest, a topic they had already addressed.
‘Fine,’ Isaac thought. ‘Protecting these people is largely for Arietta’s benefit anyway.’
Isaac wasn’t without his own agenda in his dealings with the sky city. He was building a weapon, using parts scavenged from sky city technology to study their power sources. But that was secondary; his primary concern was always Arietta. He needed to maintain a semblance of cooperation with them to ensure her continued protection, including the regular purification treatments for the contaminated soil. But now, Arietta was effectively in Benjamin’s hands.
On a sudden, twisted impulse, Isaac said, “Well, yes. I suppose a beast with legs could have carried remains into the forest.”
“But the forest is always excluded from the search.”
“That’s…” Isaac laid the bait. “…because it’s an area we prefer not to discuss.”
As he’d intended, Benjamin’s eyebrows shot up.
‘Go in there and die,’ Isaac thought grimly.
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