Chapter 58: The Dwarf Traitor

To be honest, if the dwarf had not directly branded Kana with a mark of corruption, Kana would hardly have suspected him at all.

After all, he was well aware that his own actions were indeed full of coincidences, and it was entirely normal for cautious individuals to be suspicious of him.

As it turned out, a blind cat met a dead mouse; the dwarf seemed to have realized that the momentum was unstoppable and simply placed a covert mark on him.

This seemed to indicate that he was already prepared and about to find a way to deal with him.

One could only say he was a bit too decisive.

Faced with Kana's recent words,

Rurik stared at him.

At this moment, however, Kana was pondering: how should this matter be phrased to gain the appropriate trust?

Clearly, the level of trust he had obtained was certainly not as high as Retaenke's.

"Sage, as a dwarf sage, you should be able to perform some kind of divination, right?"

Kana asked abruptly.

Rurik looked at him, fell into thought for a moment, and nodded slightly.

However, he said: "Prophecy rarely yields information; most divinations are meaningless."

Most divinations were just like that, nothing out of the ordinary. More often, a prophecy was a sort of premonition; only when the premonition struck would someone capable of divination actually perform it.

"Then I'll speak plainly. I suspect that the reason those people were cursed by the plague is most likely because there is a traitor among your ranks."

"A traitor..." Rurik fell somewhat silent.

Seeing that Rurik was not surprised, Kana slapped his own head. Ah, of course.

Rurik wasn't a fool. If it weren't for himself, conducting a normal investigation would inevitably reveal some deeply suspicious problems.

One could only say that dwarfs were dwarfs; sometimes their operational plans were indeed crude. Not every dwarf could be called a dwarf sage.

Just by looking at Rurik's temperament, one could tell he was fundamentally different from other dwarfs.

The reason why this history was not heavily recorded by the dwarfs was partly because someone had turned traitor.

Yet it was more likely that the incident was resolved before it could cause any massive casualties.

Otherwise, even if it meant a scandal, the dwarfs would have recorded it in harsh detail, making every dwarf aware of this history of betrayal.

"You suspect it's Retaenke?" Rurik asked directly without hesitation.

His eyes locked firmly onto Kana.

To be honest, if Kana uttered such words, it truly sounded very much like sowing discord.

Even so, he nodded: "That's right. Not because I know you well, nor because of his rude remarks just now.

Rather, when he walked past me a moment ago, he left a mark of corruption on me.

You should be well aware that I know the Lord of Decay quite well, and his power even more so. He thought his power was well-concealed, but I am simply too sensitive to these things."

Hearing this, Rurik watched as Kana unhesitatingly unhooked his warhammer, slammed it down in front of himself, and then closed his eyes.

With that, Kana watched as the runes on the warhammer began to emit a glowing light.

After a short while, Rurik opened his eyes.

Clearly, he had obtained a fairly accurate prophecy.

He took a deep breath, evidently trying to calm his emotions, though the anger on his face remained unabated.

After quite a moment, he looked at Kana and asked: "Why were you certain that my divination would yield results?"

Kana smiled slightly: "Because turning to the Lord of Decay is not only a betrayal of you, but a betrayal of the world itself."

So-called divination was, in essence, a kind of information instinctively emitted by the world.

Therefore, anyone who endangered or harmed the world could be easily revealed through prophecy.

It simply depended on whether those with the ability to divine were willing to cast the prophecy.

"Betraying—the world?" Rurik murmured.

...

Retaenke walked out of the command room, frowning with a gloomy face, striding briskly outward.

Everyone assumed his bad mood stemmed from the earlier conflict with Kana and the others.

Only he knew that the primary reason for his foul mood was that he had never expected his clandestine actions to face the crisis of complete exposure simply because of an ordinary human.

All the concealment he had previously worked on had fallen through at the last hurdle, something entirely unacceptable to him.

Retaenke, think quickly, what remedy is left?

This matter was no longer known to Kana alone; eliminating Kana individually no longer held any meaning.

As for eliminating Rurik, that was pure delusion.

If he could eliminate Rurik in his normal state, why would he have bothered hiding anything in the first place?

Lord, grant me wisdom, and I shall offer you more and truly devoted believers.

Those dwarfs currently cursed by the plague were entirely his handiwork—a gift offered to his lord.

An evil frequency echoed within his mind.

"Yes, it is time. I shall bring them the grace of life," Retaenke muttered to himself, wearing an expression of utmost reverence.

He immediately hurried to the front of the watchtower and summoned all the dwarfs, save for those on mandatory guard duty.

"Yata brought intelligence: an enemy tunnel exists a mere hundred meters away from the north watchtower. Yet we failed to discover it at all.

This is our shame; it is our negligence that has bred their suffering.

Now, everyone, divide into four squads and head to the four watchtowers. I want you to start searching outward from the base of the tower walls.

Find me every single possible hidden passage. Not a single one is to be missed!"

The dwarfs wore solemn expressions, striking the armor on their chests with their hands, producing dull thuds.

"Understood! By the will of the Gray Mountains!"

Led by their respective captains, the dwarfs immediately split into four squads, mounting war-rams and galloping rapidly toward the various watchtowers.

The flat-topped watchtower in the northern mountains instantly emptied out, leaving behind only a few sickly, plague-cursed wretches trapped inside the tower, alongside the handful of dwarfs strictly required to remain on patrol.

Up in the watchtower, beside a window overlooking the ground below,

Kana and Rurik stood watching as they observed the entirety of Retaenke's orders.

"Just as I suspected," Rurik sighed.

Under normal circumstances, Retaenke would never issue such an order.

Especially if he genuinely suspected Kana, he would be even less likely to dispatch the vast majority of his troops to the four outposts under the guise of mere reconnaissance.

Instead, he should have sent out small reconnaissance squads while keeping the main force garrisoned firmly within the watchtower.

To play it safe, he might even have requested reinforcements from Gray Keep, dispatching more dwarfs to the area.

Then, he would keep a dead lock on Kana to prevent him from making any untoward moves.

Yet his current actions looked much more like clearing out the combat force to buy himself enough time and power to pull something off right here.

Prophecy was prophecy, but when reality was truly laid bare before him, Rurik could only let out a heavy sigh.

A gentle breeze swept past.

"Did you smell it?" Kana asked.

Rurik sniffed the breeze drifting in from outside the window; that faint, foul stench was something he would never forget.

"I must head to the top of the tower. If any unexpected situation arises, please hold the line for a while, friend!"

Rurik looked at Kana and said solemnly.

At this, a smile bloomed on Kana's face: "Right as I intended."

Hearing that Rurik was heading to the top of the tower made him immensely pleased; this wave was going to be a prime opportunity for harvesting massive amounts of experience.