The Rebellion underground base.

Adrian and Irene walked through the main hall, their hood removed. The few members there were kept their eyes on the duo. Both of the being had otherworldly looks. But alas, fate itself envied the young man.

Soon, they reached the other side of the hall- to where the grand door was at, door to the leader of the Rebellion- a pioneer. It was morning already. He should be in there. And their senses said yes.

As soon as the door opened, the muscular old man got up on his feet walked ahead of the desk. There was a serious look on his face.

“Where were you two last night?”

Irene was half a step ahead of Adrian. “Where we ought to be.”

The man frowned.

“Your conjectures are not wrong.” She continued with an expressionless face.

The man took in deep breath. “Did you really intruded into the Carsons Estate and rob the first auxiliary treasury?”

“Yes.” Irene’s nodded before turning to Adrian.

He took a step forward and opened his rob. He whipped the garment. Tens of high grade magic crystals fell out, along with some herbs that could be used to create supreme grade potions.

One of his hands was gripping the black orb.

The man’s eyes twitched. Even though he was the leader of one of the strongest factions in the Empire, he had not seen that many high grade crystals at once before. And supreme grade potions? The whole organisation had only a few that were only meant to be used in case of emergencies.

“This is a token of our trust.” Irene pointed at the high grade crystals on the ground.

The man gulped. He was giving all of these… to the organisation? But that was not the main question he had in his mind.

“Did you… kill a sentry General? General Timothy Sprinter?”

“Was that the old man’s name?” Irene asked nonchalantly. “Yes. He was a weakling. But it was a pretty good exercise nevertheless.”

The man’s face flinched as he almost took a step back. He sucked in a cold breath. Sweat drenched his back.

General Sprinter was one of the strongest entity in the entire Empire. He was not a calamity class, but he was not that far from it either. He himself was at most an equal to the sentry general. And that same general was a weakling? He was with a good physical exercise at most?

Just where did these two come from? The Confederation? He somewhat denied the notion. Because the defensive Confederation would never send such high level individuals behind enemy lines.

Maybe they were part of the Underworld- the most secretive but chaotic faction in all of Ervilia. Whatever the case, he was not in the place to investigate the origin of the two. He might find something later that would cost his life.

He forced a smile on his face. “Umm… thank you for your contribution.” He slightly bowed towards Irene. “You getting such extravagant resources for us and killing such a high profile enemy is a massive contribution- one that we could not ever thank enough for.

“But we are in the midst of negotiations with the Imperial family. We can publicise the fact that two of our members not only robbed the first auxiliary treasure of the Imperial family, but also killed one of the generals of the Imperial Sentry, the strongest force in the world.”

Adrian frowned and stepped forward. “So, we did all these for nothing?! We lost an entire night of sleep!”

The man’s eyelids twitched while the smile on his face got even wrier. An entire night of sleep? This was the price they paid for causing one of the most turbulent upheaval in the last decade? Only the recent kidnapping of the Imperial princess could compare to that.

“No no nonono.” He aggressively shook his head. A bead of sweat trailed down his cheek.

“How can I even think of that? I am a man of my word.” He thumped his chest. “I have made another arrangement for you.”

Adrian returned to his original position, half a step behind Irene. Her eyes were fixed on the old man.

“I cannot give you an official position, as words might reach the Empire. The whole negotiations will fall apart this way. But I can give you a ‘shadow’ position.” He said, carefully looking into the eyes of the purple eyed lady and the dark eyed youth.

The lady was as nonchalant as ever- too cold. And the youth looked even more mysterious. Not getting any reactions of sort, he sighed.

“If you want anything, you can just ask me. I will relay the orders to the subordinates, and they will get the work done. This way you secretly have the same authority as me, the leader of the Rebellion. You get what you want, and the negotiations remain stable. It is a win-win situation.”

Irene opened her mouth. “I a-“

“She rejects.”

“I reject.”

“Wha… why?” He asked before giving the half faced youth a glare.

Adrian shook his head. “What if you are unavailable? We want something and you are somewhere else. Besides, how can we trust you? What if you don’t like something we want and don’t relay the orders at all?”

“This…” The man did not have any answers.

“You need to give us something tangible.” Adrian continued. “Else, we are taking everything back and leaving.”

The man turned to the multicoloured magic crystals and herbs on the floor. He bit his lips.

Adrian was just about to pick one of the magic crystals up when-

“Wait!” The man made up his mind.

He returned back to his desk. He keyed and opened a drawer before taking out a scroll. It was a bit dirty. There seemed to be a few small stains on it.

He approached the duo. “We, the pioneers, had one of these each. He sighed. This belonged to my ‘brother’. Those who wields them have great powers in the Rebellion. When I am not here, you can use this.”

Irene took the scroll. “Are you not worried we will take the organisation to doom with this?”

He shook his head with a laugh. “This is not that powerful without its original owner. You can run a few errands at most.”

“Thank you.” She left the room. Adrian followed.

The man went back to his seat and looked into the distance, heaving out a melancholic sigh.