RISE OF EROS

The reason why Andrew and the others had not noticed the hooded man watching them was not because they had been careless, but because this man was very skilled in stealth techniques.

He was also helped by the fact that Oliver, Zany, and Andrew had not used all their power to check the surroundings, as doing so could be seen as an act of hostility towards the city's experts.

That was an unwritten rule of almost every city on the continent. No matter how small a city is, there will always be at least one expert in it and this is why this unwritten rule took hold.

Andrew and the others took their horses unaware that they were being watched and rode towards the next city. Their destination was the capital, but it was a week's ride away and they had to pass through two other large cities before arriving.

Meanwhile, the falcon that the hooded man had sent arrived at the city of Manty, which is the city that Andrew and the others were heading to. This is one of the great cities of the country of Tampilla and also the territory of the marquis of the same name.

In the mansion of the city marquis, the caretaker of the messaging tower saw the arrival of the falcon and quickly took the message from its paw, and upon seeing the seal, he immediately knew that it was a message for the young master.

The caretaker of the messaging tower did not dare to delay the delivery of the message, because he knew the problems that would result from not delivering this message quickly to the young master of the Manty family.

Within a few minutes, the caretaker of the messaging tower showed up at an office in the mansion that was guarded by two sturdy guards in full armor.

"Please inform the young master that he has a message," the caretaker of the messaging tower said respectfully, as he offered the small, unopened metal tube containing the message.

The guards didn't respond to the caretaker, they just took the small tube and sent him away. Once he had delivered the message, he left and then the guard who had taken the tube turned to the door behind him and shouted, "Young master."

From inside the room was heard, "Come in," and then the guard opened the door and entered the room. A young man was sitting on a comfortable and luxurious sofa drinking wine with an annoyed expression on his face.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The guard knew the reason why this young man was upset, but he didn't say anything, he just approached and kneeling on one leg, offered him the small tube they had brought.

Unexpectedly, upon seeing the tube, the young man perked up and quickly took the tube and dismissed the guard. If Andrew, Oliver, Zany, or anyone else who participated in the black forest engagement battle saw the young man they would immediately recognize him.

It turns out that this is the young man who started the whole problem that occurred during the battle to get Zany's hand and that his parents had to go rescue him. The reason for his annoyance was this very event, as he had been publicly humiliated.

As the Marquisate Manty's heir, he had always been overbearing and arrogant. Adding to the fact that his parents pampered him too much was what led him to be disrespectful to the Amazons and created the whole problem.

The point is that this young man, instead of learning from the humiliating experience, on the contrary, was looking for ways to get revenge, but he was not stupid. He knew that he couldn't do anything against the Amazons in the black forest, so he adopted another way to do it.

Since the city from which Andrew and the others had left was a mandatory passage for everyone passing through the black forest, he had planted an informant to notify him every time he saw an Amazon in the city.

His plan was simple. Attacking the forest was a stupid move, but attacking a tree was possible, so he had decided to capture and enslave any Amazon he found and this was the reason why he was happy to see the tube.

The seal on the tube showed the sender of the message and he knew that it was his informant who had sent it. Furthermore, this informant would only send him a message if he found an Amazon in the city.

This was the reason why the moment Andrew and the others entered the prairie city, they were watched by the hooded man because he had noticed that Zany was an Amazon and the young master of the Manty family paid him a lot of money just for reporting.

The young man quickly opened the tube and began to read the message. The message was short but with a lot of information. It reported the arrival of an Amazon along with her physical description, as well as those who accompanied her and where they were going when leaving the city.

As the young man read the message, his smile widened, because according to what the message said, his objective was heading towards this city and here he was the king, so he could do whatever he wanted.

Without delay, he summoned his trusted men and began to plan what he would do the moment Zany and her companions arrived in the city. Andrew, Oliver, and Zany, unaware of this, continued on their way towards the city of Manty.

On the other hand, in the Cannaris empire things were not so peaceful either. Following Andrew's orders, Castor had informed Emilse about the possible mutiny of his ex-husband and his allies.

While she didn't trust Castor, he was smart and showed her their collected evidence. Although they were inconclusive, Emilse could tell that something strange was happening and she ultimately believed him.

She went to the mansion of the city lord, Marquis Calci, and explained what had happened. The marquis, like Emilse, was skeptical, but he also had a bad feeling and decided to intensify the city guard.

Doldo's mysterious boss instantly noticed these movements, but since he couldn't find anything suspicious other than the fact that security had been intensified, he didn't alter his plans.

He thought some high-status figure would be visiting and so the city's security was stepped up. While he did not believe this was because he had been discovered, he did not let his guard down.

Unfortunately, he didn't know that the situation would take an unexpected turn a few days later. The day after Emilse informed the Marquis Calci about the possible danger, one of the agents under Demon's command arrived at the Marquis's mansion with a message from Emperor Augustus.

The marquis, upon seeing the message, immediately became alert and, without distrusting the hooded agent in front of him, said, "Yesterday I received this same information from a prominent merchant in the city."

The hooded man wrinkled his eyebrows upon hearing this, but due to the hood covering his face, no one could see his expression. After a few seconds of silence, he said, "Can you ask her to come?"

The marquis did not even hesitate, as he shouted, "Peter," then a scholarly-looking old man entered the office where the marquis and Demon's envoy were. The old man was surprised to see the hooded man because he had not seen him enter, but he did not ask.

He saw in the marquis' expression that he did not seem to be in danger, so he simply approached the marquis and asked, "What does my lord need?", to which Marquis Calci said, "Call Emilse to come urgently".

This old man named Pedro is the right-hand man of the Marquis Calci and he knew almost everything there was to know about this city, so he knew Emilse. In fact, he knew that she had visited the previous day and talked with the marquis, but he didn't know about what.

Despite his curiosity, the old man did not reflect it on his face and immediately left to carry out the Marquis' order. He knew the marquis too well and from his expression, he knew that something serious could be happening.

In less than an hour, Emilse arrived at Marquis Calci's office and was surprised to see the hooded man. Pedro was about to leave since it seemed not to be a matter that he should know about, but the marquis said, "Peter, you don't need to go out."

Obtaining permission from the marquis to remain, Pedro sat on one of the sofas. The marquis looked at Emilse and said, "Emilse, this is an envoy from the emperor and he needs to ask you some questions about yesterday's matter."

Both Emilse and Pedro were surprised to learn that the hooded man was an envoy from the emperor and immediately became serious. The fact that the emperor sent someone meant that the topic to be discussed was very serious.

The hooded man did not delay and asked, "Mrs. Emilse, we know that this information was not obtained by you. Do you know the informant?" This question surprised everyone since the marquis thought that it was Emilse who had noticed the irregularity.

Emilse hesitated a little, but he still responded, "The lord is right. The person who gave me this information is called Castor or at least that's how he introduced himself. He said that he works for an acquaintance of mine and my ex-husband, but he did not tell me who he was."

The marquis wanted to ask something, but the hooded man asked first, "Do you know a young man named Andrew?" Emilse is an intelligent woman with a good memory, so when she heard Andrew's name she immediately knew who he was talking about.

She then proceeded to tell what had happened between her, Andrew, and Doldo, clarifying that he was the only Andrew she knew. Thanks to the description of Andrew that she gave, the hooded man knew that he was the same person.

While Andrew's appearance then and now were different, it wasn't big, so it wasn't hard to associate. "Sir, who is this young man?" the marquis asked confused and the hooded man responded, "The person who gave us the clue."