Chapter 20: Intel- City Infiltration

As Silva is still recovering from her fainting spell, it took two whole days to arrive at the gates of Intel-City. To enter the city, they are deciding not to take on a practical approach. They decided to go for the sneak in rather than taking the main gate.

What really was interesting was the attitude of SIlva. She sure has changed after her latest episode.

“Geez, Silva, you were not like this a few days ago. Something sure has changed in you,” Lisa exhaustingly said, as she caught her breath.

“Sorry, but I feel like a new person after we visited the underground,” Silva confessed.

“Well, I am just glad Rufus and Rajah were able to track you down and save you,” Lisa continued to complain.

“Sorry, but I wanted to scout the area, so we can find a way in. Sadly, we might have a bit of a problem,” Silva reports.

“What do you mean?” Rufus asks.

“It seems royal delegations around the world have come here for a party celebrating the royal family's success in Intel-City. I heard their children are going to be there and now the security check is high. They are stopping any guild members IDs. If they scan mine, we are going to be in big trouble,” Silva explains.

“And what is the problem?” Julius asks.

“I am not exactly welcome here after what I did,” Silva admits.

“That is going to be complicated, but I think I can help,” Julius says approaching Silva.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?” Silva said, freaking out.

“Oh, nothing, just changing your appearance a little,” Julius said, getting to work.

A few minutes later, Julius finishes his masterpiece. “See, just change a bit of your outfit and your hair and your set, so let’s go already,” Julius said.

“Right, thank you Julius. Once we get inside the city, Julius, Scout, and Simon, head to the palace and gather as much information as you can from the royal family. Terrance and Rufus, head to the knight’s headquarters to gather info on the goddesses and anything else you can find about the city. Seth and Lisa, head to the library and see what you can find about this book or anything else about the goddesses. In the meantime, Rajah and I will head to the temple and complete the next part of my training. We will meet up at the library before nightfall,” Silva instructed her friends to do.

“Sounds like a plan,” Rufus said, taking the lead.

“Right, see you guys later,” Julius said before teleporting with Scout and Simon.

“Yeah, sure take the quickest route and leave us here. Silva, do not do anything stupid,” Lisa said before taking off and jumping into a nearby carriage.

“Hey, wait for me,” Seth said, jumping into the next one beside her.

“Well, Rajah, let's hope this works,” Silva said, walking towards the gate with Rajah hoping no one would recognize her. Silva walks behind a circus troupe and jumps into the carriage with Rajah and easily was able to sneak into the city.

Once they are safe from the guards, they jump the carriage and walk the path heading towards the temple. “Thank the goddess we made it inside. Let’s hurry to the temple before anyone notices us,” Silva said, walking quickly ahead.

“Yes, I agree,” Rajah said following Silva’s lead.

Julius, Scout, and Simon at the Palace

“Phew, I never thought breaking into a palace was going to be this hard. What makes this royal family so special,” Julius said exhausted. “And why so many guards?”

“It is the royal palace, so of course there are a lot of guards here. Also, the palace is used as the central information hub where they gather and protect all of the information from all over the world and are sent to the many kingdoms across the world,” Simon explains.

“O…ok, but how do you know so much?” Julius asks Simon curiously.

“I listen to Rufus and I have been here before,” Simon explains. “I still wonder why we were sent here.”

“Would you two stop chatting or you will get us caught,” Scout says, sounding a bit annoyed.

“Sorry, so what should we do?” Simon says.

“I am not sure, but I think I am going to raid the treasury,” Scout said, leaving.

“That sounds like a plan,” Julius said, joining Scout.

“Guess, I will collect the information then,” Simon said, rolling his eyes.

Simon alone begins the investigation of the palace. He jumps off the roof and heads inside.

Lisa and Seth

Lisa and Seth manage to enter the city without a problem. During their walk to the library, they were enjoying some sight-seeing. “Wow, this city is amazing. I never thought this city was so beautiful,” Lisa said in amusement.

“Have you ever been here before?” Seth asks curiously.

“No, I haven’t been here, but I wish I did,” Lisa admits.

“What about that time with Silva?” Seth asks.

“That was a different time. Besides I never went inside the city for that job,” Lisa admitted a small truth.

“Interesting,” Seth said.

“Yes, well, I do not want to talk about it anymore. Care to tell more about this city?” Lisa said changing the subject.

“Yes, ok, Intel-City is a beautiful and informational city where as you know all the world's information is stored here and is later transmitted into the other kingdoms' transmission towers. Even the city selects what time information is allowed to be transmitted to the world,” Seth said reading his guidebook.

“Wow, you sure do know a lot, I can see why Silva keeps you on,” Lisa teased.

“I do read a lot and I read every now and again,” Seth said, blushing a little bit.

“I knew you were a book nerd. Can we do some shopping? I need new boots,” Lisa pleaded.

“We have a job to do Lisa. Silva will kill us if we do not head to the library,” Seth said, rejecting Lisa’s proposal.

“Yeah, no Seth, Silva owes me for ruining my shoes, so I am going to shop whether she likes it or not, so come on,” Lisa said, dragging Seth along with her.

“Fine, don’t blame me if she kills you,” Seth yells as he is being dragged away.

Terrance and Rufus at the Goddess Knights Headquarters

“I never thought this city would be so big from the inside,” Rufus said admiring the city.

“It is something special. It sure has changed since the last time I was here,” Terrance said looking around at his old home.

“That’s right you grew up here right?” Rufus asked.

“Yes, I grew up here and began my knight training, but if you must know I am not originally from here. I was born in Celestial Star City on the coast of the Yurina continent,” Terrance explains.

“I have heard of Yurina. What made you come here?” Rufus asked Terrance.

“I came here because where I grew up, they did not have a Knight Job Class, so I came here to join the Goddess Knights and I became good at it,” Terrance explains.

“So, what made you head to Silva’s kingdom if you were originally stationed here?” Rufus asked.

“Well, we got word the kingdom of Earthnia killed our Goddess after she took away their magic after misusing it. Three years later, we heard rumors about the king’s daughter being the only person able to use magic in her kingdom. There were also rumors around her that she might also have inherited the Goddesses magic. No one wanted to go and investigate the kingdom since the kingdom is in disgrace, so I thought I would go there to investigate. I arrived there in the disguise of becoming a knight by joining the knights guards. This led me to meet Silva and fall in love with her,” Terrance explains a little selfishly.

“I see, so you became a knight to protect her and fell in love with the girl you are destined to protect, but doesn’t that break some kind of knight rule?” Rufus asks.

“Yes, It might have, but I will always protect her,” Terrance said, dreaming of her. “Let’s get this job done, so we can meet up with the others.”

“Yeah…I am getting a bad vibe just being here and I need a drink,” Rufus said, getting worried.

“Yeah, I think I can manage that,” Terrance answers half ignoring him.

Silva and Rajah

Silva and Rajah continue to make their way to the temple, but it was a bit of a challenge since they try not to stand out. “My lady, are you sure we are going the right way?” Rajah asks, looking around at the area.

“Just ignore them and keep walking. This may be a big city, but we will get to our destination soon. Trust me Rajah,” Silva said, ignoring everything.

“Right my lady, but you always get us lost,” Rajah whispers to himself.

“What did you say Rajah?” Silva asked.

“Nothing my lady,” Rajah quickly responded.

“Right, let’s go,” Silva said in a cheery mood.

Silva and Rajah were enjoying their time exploring the city, but it only turned out Silva did get them lost. Rajah always knew Silva’s sense of direction is not the greatest when it comes to big cities, but at other times it is pretty spot on.

“Hum…let’s go this way or maybe this way,” Silva said, trying to figure out where to go next.

“My lady, will you please make up your mind or simply ask someone for directions,” Rajah pleaded.

“Rajah, the point is to fit in, so come on let’s go,” Silva said cheerfully.

It has been two hours now since they were walking around and they finally found a sign leading to the temple.

“Look my lady, it seems the temple was right in front of us this whole time, we better go before we get lost again,” Rajah said with great joy.

“Yes, that is true, so we better start climbing,” Silva said cheerfully.

About thirty minutes have passed after climbing up the stairs only to be greeted by the priestess of the temple. “Welcome to Intel- City temple, my name is Sarafina, please follow me,” Sarafina said as she was escorting them into the temple.

Julius, Scout, and Simon

“Wow, for a place that is loaded with knowledge, it sure is going to be loaded with treasure,” Julius said, enjoying taking everything he can get his hands on.

“Boss, please lower your voice, you know if we are caught with this treasure, we are going to be killed. Besides we still have to gather information for Silva,” Scout warns Julius.

“Yes, well, we already gathered enough information we can without getting caught, so I suggest we have a little fun,” Julius suggested handing Scout a handful of gold to her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be Guild members? You are not supposed to steal anything,” Simon pointed out.

“Yes, that may be true, but I have a strange feeling that most of this gold here is stolen, so I think it will be ok if we take what we can,” Julius said, continuing to fill his bags.

“Oh, I guess you do not know, you see Julius has this ability of sensing what is stolen, he steals it from the rich and gives it to the poor. You know like an everyday Robin Hood, you can say he is a sweet guy at heart,” Scout said teasingly.

“Yeah, pretty cool, but we better get out of here soon. I have a feeling we are going to get caught,” Simon said, still worrying.

“Oh, don’t worry about that, the first thing Scout did when we arrived inside, she hacked the security system and erased our presence, so we should be safe for now,” Julius said kindly.

“Yeah, I highly doubt that. It seems there are guards heading our way and we better leave before we are caught,” Simon suggested as he peeked through the door.

“Not a problem, Scout, you know what to do,” Julius commanded Scout.

“Yeah, leave it to me boss, ok you two, hold on tight and make sure you don’t lose your manly hood,” Scout said, getting out your rocket pack.

“Alright,” Julius and Simon pointed out.

They seemed like they were going to make it, but it seemed nothing was good to be true. As they were trying to escape, a giant net appeared capturing them in mid-air.

“Well it was good while it lasted,” Julius said, annoyed.

“Yeah, but you just had to be greedy about what you take huh,” Simon pointed out.

“Would you shut up both of you, we better send a signal to Silva and the others because I have a feeling this will turn ugly really fast,” Scout said even angrier.

“Yeah, well, let me take care of this,” Julius said, sending a silent signal to the others.

The signal was sent, but not so great for them since they were being captured and tortured by the guards. Being the first group to be captured, let’s just hope the others will be smart about keeping a low profile.

Lisa and Seth

“Wow, that sure was an amazing shopping trip, I never thought there would be so many sales around here,” Lisa said excitedly, cooling out.

“Yes, that is great and all, but we really got to get to the library,” Seth said kindly.

“Yeah, well, fine, let’s go to the library,” Lisa said, gathering her bags.

An hour later, thanks to Seth, they arrived at the library.

“Hello, and welcome to the Intel- City Public Library, if there is anything you need please let me know,” the librarian said kindly.

“Yes, thank you,” Seth kindly replied.

“So…where should we start? This library is huge,” Lisa asked.

“Well, I think we should start at the back of the library,” Seth suggested.

“Ok, let’s go,” Lisa said walking with Seth to the back.

They walk through the library towards the back where the rare books are located.

“Lisa, I think we should check over here. I don’t know what it is, but I have a feeling the books are calling us to go over there,” Seth said, seeming mesmerized.

“Ok, let’s get cracking,” Lisa said before walking down the aisle.

“Right,” Seth said following Lisa’s lead.

“Are you kidding me with this, it looks like a thousand years of history here, how are we supposed to read all of this before the others get here,” Lisa said, freaking out.

“Don’t worry, we do not have to read all of them. If you see anything related to the goddess, then give it to me. I can scan it to my computer handheld,” Seth said, getting out a device.

“Right, whatever,” Lisa said, grabbing a book.

After many hours of reading those books, it seems they came across so much information that it was hard pinpointing everything in one place. “Ugh, I can’t take this anymore. There is so much to read and we do not have a lot of time. Silva is nuts, if we can find out more of this whole goddess thing,” Lisa said, getting fed up.

“Silva wants to know more about this destiny she is thrust into before she goes further on this journey,” Seth said, trying to stay calm.

“I guess, but I have a feeling if we stay here any longer, we are going to get caught, so you better hurry to find a way to get this information fast,” Lisa warned.

“We can’t really steal these books, but I can make copies of them, hang on. “Books of words here my call, replicate yourselves so I might read you and share your knowledge with the one who needs you,” Seth casting his spell. Then all the books around them began copying themselves and landed in front of Seth.

“Wow, that is amazing, ok hurry up and put the books inside my bag and let’s get out of here,” Lisa said as the books were being placed in her bag. “It seems we triggered the alarm.”

“Ah- ah, ok let’s run,” Seth said, ditching the books and running with Lisa.

“Right,” Lisa said kindly.

Seth and Lisa began running through the library trying to escape, but they only got caught as they arrived at the main entrance.

“I am so going to kill her for this,” Lisa said, pissed off.

Terrance and Rufus

Terrance and Rufus arrive at the Knight Training Grounds ready to present himself.

“Knight Terrance has returned,” Terrance said to the guard.

“Oh, yes, Knight Terrance, it has been a very long time. Welcome back. Enjoy your stay here. It also seems you brought a guest with you,” the guard greeted him.

“Yes, he is just a friend, so give him a visitor pass,” Terrance explains to the guard.

“Yes, I can do that,” the guard said, handing over a visitor's pass.

“Thank you see you later,” Terrance said, passing the guards and entering the gates.

“Thanks for letting me tag along, but I am having a strange feeling that I am not welcome here or even you for that matter,” Rufus pointed out.

“Yeah, it is always intense here. I think that is part of the reason why I left here,” Terrance confessed as he was introducing his former home to Rufus.

“This place is amazing, if I was here, I would never leave,” Rufus said, impressed.

“It is not all cracked up to be. If you stay here long enough, you will learn to hate it,” Terrance plainly confessed.

“Really?” Rufus asks suspiciously.

“Terrance is that you, you sure have been away for a long time,” a boy shouted.

“Kenneth, it sure has been a long time,” Terrance kindly said.

“So, what brings you here?” Kenneth asked.

“I came to report that I managed to find the goddess we have been waiting for,” Terrance plainly said.

“What?! Really who is she? Hey everyone Terrance found the goddess!” Kenneth shouted to get everyone’s attention.

“She is someone most remarkable, beautiful, smart, and has a fiery spirit,” Terrance said in a dreamy state.

“Cool it Terrance, this is supposed to be a secret,” Rufus whispered to him.

“Yeah, sorry,” Terrance whispers back to Rufus.

“Right, is that the reason why you were gone all this time without a word, you really are one hell of a guy,” a voice said coming behind the crowd.

“It’s good to see you again Keith,” Terrance spiked back.

“Tell me, has your skills rusted after so long away?” Keith asks to draw out his sword.

“Care to test out that theory?” Terrance asks, drawing his sword. “You will lose.”

“Bring it on,” Keith said in the attack position.

Terrance was the first to attack while Keith counterattacked with his sword. The fight seemed to be drawing a crowd and not in a good way. They began placing bets to see who will lose or win, but for Rufus something felt really off. The fight continued for about an hour and it turns out Terrance became the winner of this match.

“My, Terrance, your skills have improved over the years in isolation,” Keith said admiring Terrance’s skill.

“Well, you have improved too, Keith,” Terrance said, trying to be respected.

“Yes, well, tell us where that girl you found is, you must bring it here, so we can begin the ritual of the goddess. As her protectors, we must begin quickly,” Keith said kindly.

“I think we should wait until she has mastered her goddess magic and give her a chance to live her life,” Terrance protested.

“This is why we are here to help and train her, so if you do not bring her to us, you will be defying our code, so I suggest you corporate or we will arrest you for disobeying,” Keith orders.

“I really don’t care, so Rufus, are you ready for this?” Terrance said in an angry tone ready to fight.

“Yeah, been waiting for a long time,” Rufus said, ready to fight.

The two teamed up fighting off the knights without stopping, but it seemed too much for them to handle.

“My, it seems you are all out of energy. I suggest admit defeat or die,” Keith warned.

“Like hell we are going to surrender to you pansies. We will keep on fighting until there is none of you left,” Rufus shouted.

“Rufus, I don’t think you want to make them angry,” Terrance warned.

“That is enough, I have seen enough,” a voice shouted.

“Captain,” Terrance shouted in shock.

“Arrest these fools and take them to the dungeons,” the captain orders.

“Yes, sir!” the knights shouted, accepting their orders.

“We better warn Silva,” Rufus said kindly as he sent the signal.

Silva and Rajah

“My, it seems you take on this training quite well and picking it up so fast,” Sarafina said.

“Yes, well, I got to do what I got to do. I mean I am a girl who hates magic, but has to learn to love it,” Silva pointed out.

“Yes, I see, so you have been through a lot especially now that you have the magic of our Goddess,” Sarafina said so kindly.

“I guess, but how do you know that I have powers of the goddess, I never told you that. Who are you really?” Silva said in shock.

“I am what I say. All the Priestesses of the temple practice the Goddess’s teachings and we can sense your magic within you. We are your teachers and we are here to serve you,” Sarafina explains.

“Ok, so where do these guards come in?” Silva said, looking around.

“They are here to take you to the palace,” Sarafina said plainly.

“Wow, who would have thought a priestess will betray me, come on Rajah we are out of here,” Silva said as she jumped on Rajah trying to make a quick escape.

“I don’t think you want to do that, if I were you,” a voice said coming up the stairs.

“I never thought I would see you again, your highness,” Silva said with glare.

“Well, if it isn’t the bitch who stole two little things from me years ago.”

“Yea, well…, you got what you deserved, now if you excuse me.”

“Do you really want to leave, I have your friends captured at the palace.”

“Very well, I will go with you.”

“A good little girl trying to free her friends, so sweet, that is not the Silva I know, take her away,” the king shouted as they left.

“Right, whatever, a-hole,” Silva said, annoyed.

“I am sorry!” Sarafina shouted about crying.

Silva stared back at her and felt disappointed in her as she was being marched away to the palace.