City Of Sin

51-60

Trial

She had been informed that this base used to belong to the Mensas, and had been operating for more than ten years. There were over 500 soldiers stationed, controlling a ten-kilometre radius like a small town. This place was far larger than the small outpost the Archerons had given Richard, and the difference was obvious from first sight— these walls were more than ten metres tall, unlike the minuscule ones Richard had mounted a defence behind.

With another ten stable years of operations, the family could have applied to the Church of the Eternal Dragon and have the plane earmarked and numbered. If the leader of the base remained strategic, resourceful, and unscrupulous, it wouldn’t even take that long. A plane with an identity with the Church of the Eternal Dragon would have a stable passage, which meant greater volumes of resources and benefits could be drawn from it. This was another reason why the Schumpeters were so willing to invest their capital into this.

However, the base in front of Sinclair was deathly quiet, the gates half open with not a single person in sight. The silence was deafening, and surrounded by forest the base wasn’t even connected to any other location.

How could a base with more than 2000 people, 500 of them being soldiers, survive in this barren forest? Even not considering agricultural supplies they would have had to establish more than ten hamlets nearby. Sinclair didn’t think the Mensas would make a mistake of this nature, as it was common sense.

Her eyes narrowed, a strong sense of unease building up. With a wave of his hands, the leader of the bearguard knights personally led ten knights and a great mage into the base.  

Half an hour later, they walked out of the base with extremely unpleasant looks on their faces. The knight captain and the mage stood in front of Sinclair, but they were both at a loss for words.

Sinclair spoke coldly, “Speak! What is it that you can’t say? Is there a pile of dead people inside? Even so, what’s the big deal? After all, they should all belong to the Mensa Family.”

The captain finally spoke up, “My Lady, there isn’t a single person in the base. However, everything else is still present, including armour, supplies, and clothes. The only thing absent is the humans.”

The mage opened his mouth to speak, but what he said was even more depressing. “Unfortunately, none of the items are usable. The place is overflowing with the power of time, and it is impossible to purge. These are not livable conditions.”

“And what about the Lighthouse of Time?!” she screamed in question.

The captain and mage exchanged glances, and the former admitted, “It’s been extinguished…”

“EXTINGUISHED?!” Sinclair’s voice resounded through the empty base.

“Yes.” The captain braced himself for the worst.

For her part, Sinclair was dumbfounded. Everyone grew quiet in a split second, the only sound in the area being that of the wind.

“Heh… Heh… Hahahahaha!” Sinclair started with a giggle, that grew into a full-blown laughter that startled the birds on the mountain. The manic guffawing continued on for a good ten minutes before she finally calmed down. By then, her face had started to turn a peculiar shade of red, looking even more bewitching than before.