Chapter 158: Conspiracy
That young guard came from a village outside the city. A childhood friend from the village was unfortunately bitten by a werewolf and transformed into one on a full moon night, killed his own parents, then fled the village, whereabouts unknown.
The village chief reported the matter to the Durag Union. The magistrate issued a wanted notice, but due to the inaccurate portrait and low bounty, there was no gain.
Today, that werewolf suddenly entered the city, together with several refugees, claiming to come from Claw Bay.
This statement did not arouse suspicion, because recently every day many refugees enter the city, dozens at least and hundreds at most, basically all from the Claw City-States.
After a human transforms into a werewolf, both size and appearance change significantly, but he was seen through at a glance by the young guard who knew him.
“Didn’t alert them, right?” Anse asked.
“Shouldn’t have. After the guard informed the captain, the captain didn’t dare to follow. He saw them enter a residential building with a telescope, then immediately sent someone to notify us. They’re waiting downstairs now.” Quentin replied.
“Good.” Anse paced back and forth, pondering the details.
It wasn’t strange for a werewolf to sneak into the city, but entering through the south gate mixed in with refugees, and with accomplices, that was a bit unusual.
Combined with yesterday’s warning in the Verdant Courtyard, he felt there was definitely something going on.
He came to the end of the corridor, opened the window, set up「 Far Sight」, and the Amn Barracks dozens of kilometers away came into view.
He didn’t see an obvious increase in the number of tents, nor many people on the training ground. It looked no different from yesterday.
“Not Amn people?” He felt some doubt. Werewolves alone couldn’t be this bold, right?
Full werewolves are very strong, but limited in number. If they wanted to occupy Durag, no force in the city would allow it. There was no possibility of coexistence; they would undoubtedly lose.
“Do you have a way to identify werewolves?” Quentin felt this was the trickiest part.
“Many spells can see through werewolves, but just by appearance, it’s a bit difficult. Werewolves have protruding canine teeth, eyes with red glow, and lush fur, but that’s not unique to them.” Anse shook his head slightly.
“Are werewolves afraid of silverware and garlic?” Quentin pressed.
“Not afraid of garlic, but afraid of silverware. Silverware is equivalent to magic weapons, dealing stronger damage and weakening their self-healing ability.” Anse recalled.
“Then I’ll have people prepare immediately and notify the councillors at the same time.”
“Go. Call that guard up.”
“Okay.” Quentin left quickly.
Taking the opportunity, Anse concentrated and cast the fourth-circle spell Arcane Eye, creating a floating, invulnerable invisible magic eye in the air, then manipulated it to fly toward the south gate.
All scenes along the way were transmitted into his mind through the mental connection, even clearer than seen with the naked eye.
The Arcane Eye’s movement speed wasn’t fast, about the same as an ordinary person’s running speed. Before it had gone far, the young guard came running up thump thump thump.
“P-President.” He was young, about eighteen or nineteen, holding a spear, posture stiff.
“Don’t be nervous, you’ve made a great contribution.” Anse patted his shoulder, then walked to the window on the other side of the room. “Do you know where the werewolf is?”
“I do.” The young guard took a deep breath, his expression much calmer.
Anse adjusted the「 Far Sight」 and handed it to him: “Point it out to me.”
His room was high up, and from this window, the south gate was just visible.
“Yes.” The guard set down the spear, wiped the sweat from his palms on his clothes, then took the telescope and looked toward the south gate.
The distant scenery seemed right in front of his eyes, incredibly clear. The guard couldn’t help widening his eyes, taking a while to calm down before focusing on searching for the target.
“There.” He didn’t know how to describe it, holding the telescope in one hand and pointing forward with the other. “That, that courtyard, wood piled in the corner, broken tiles on the roof…”
Anse listened to his rambling description and finally located that residential building.
He controlled the Arcane Eye to head south, silently entering the residential building through a hole in the dilapidated window and into the room.
It was very dark inside, with poor lighting, but the Arcane Eye had darkvision and saw the situation in the room clearly.
There were five people in the wooden house: three human-like, two half-human half-wolf, all gorging on half-cooked unidentified meat, no one speaking.
‘Heh, beasts can’t change their nature.’
He had just been thinking about how to identify werewolves, whether to try lip-reading, but they revealed their true nature as soon as they hid in the room. He had truly overestimated the opponent.
Werewolves are monstrosities; staying in werewolf form makes them feel more comfortable.
Anse took out 10 gold coins from the bag of holding and handed them to the young guard: “This is my personal reward to you. Next is crucial. Go notify your captain not to act rashly. Make sure you hide well and don’t get recognized by that werewolf.”
“Yes… thank you, president.” The guard took the gold coins with both hands, excitedly grabbed his spear, and left hurriedly.
Anse restrained his smile and continued controlling the Arcane Eye to search nearby residential buildings one by one. No need for careful identification; just entering and circling around gave a general idea.
He took out a piece of paper and drew a rough map, noting as he searched.
This method seemed crude but was very effective. He soon found traces of two more groups of werewolves.
Also five per group, same refugee attire. One group hid in a backyard woodshed rented to refugees, another in an inn room, not going out, not causing trouble, just eating and sleeping.
‘This is clearly organized.’ Anse felt heavy-hearted.
He didn’t know what the opponent was planning or when they would act, but the time left for him was definitely not much.
Because werewolves’ tempers are extremely unstable, hard to control their rage or bloodlust. If he were the commander, he absolutely wouldn’t let werewolves lurk too long; staying too long would breed changes.
He marked it and continued searching, finding another group in an abandoned residential building.
This scene was a bit explosive: four male werewolves and one female werewolf naked and messing around wildly, the scene frenzied and intense, biting randomly in excitement, all bleeding.
‘That’s 20 werewolves already, and they all look like mature ones.’
A werewolf against ordinary guards, with enough space, one against ten is normal. And they had to prevent bites, fighting with hands tied.
Thump thump thump, Quentin returned, with Graham and Dieluo beside him.
Dieluo’s full name is Dieluo Pisaka, a level 4 warrior and federation councillor, from an incoming noble family, usually low-key, doing business in wood and furniture.
“All notified. Should we assemble the guard?” Quentin suggested.
“This matter isn’t that simple.” Anse handed him the rough map and said gravely, “In this short time, I found four groups, twenty werewolves, lurking in the city with unknown intentions.”
Graham’s gaze sharpened slightly: “How about sealing the city? Launch a big search to force them out?”
Beating the grass to startle the snake is better than waiting for the opponent to be fully prepared. Stopping losses in time is also a strategy.
“Send people to notify Jacqueline Castle, borrow some troops to quietly enter the city. Before 3 p.m., I’ll try to find out their numbers and positions. We’ll divide into groups to watch, each led by an elite professional.
Strike simultaneously, try to wipe them out in one wave, without causing too much chaos and casualties…” Anse pondered.
“Elite professionals… afraid there aren’t enough in number.” Quentin looked troubled.
“Has that Tiefling Warrior and the Bearded Man under Salberg been checked?” Anse suddenly thought of that mercenary group.
“The Thieves Guild said they need a little time, but that Tiefling Warrior belongs to a mercenary group, has separated from Salberg, and is now staying at an inn in the west of the city.”
“Help me invite them over. I’ll talk to them.”
“Yes.”
Durag hides many elite professionals. Spending some money to reduce casualties—why not?
