Personal System Calendar: Year 00015, Day 1-28, Month VIII: The Imperium
Imperial Calendar: Year 6859, 1st to 28th day of the 8th Month
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Truth Seeker
One fair morning in the first month of fall, Juan Tamad, the leader of Maya Village's intelligence unit, began investigating a deeper truth that none of them had understood yet.
He had an inkling of understanding that something was brewing beyond the village walls. It was what he considered a series of activities that had been happening without their knowledge. Since he would only come across fragments of this information little by little, his deeper insight into it was also limited.
Of course, he kept listing down anything that seemed suspicious to him even with these limitations, while continuing to do what he did best: gathering information and becoming an unobservable presence in the crowd.
He now also had to consider his position on the broader scale of things within the village. His role as its eyes and ears would shift dramatically now that he'd risen to this new position, especially with apprentices of his own to answer for.
While he was older than them by only a few years, he respected them all the same, having seen real potential in their information-gathering abilities. They were able to notice things that were out of the ordinary. Take their first meeting, for example: the trio, Pipi, Bingi, and Buta, had noticed his presence almost immediately. They'd found him in the seemingly endless sea of people he always deliberately lost himself in.
Their intelligence unit officially didn't exist in any of the village's paperwork or organizational records. They were, on paper, just children who happened to live here. In practice, they answered directly to August, gathering real and substantial information that acted as a shield against potential harm to the village.
Juan's mantra, echoed often by his three apprentices, was this: "Knowledge is power. Information is a powerful tool. And he who controls information first will always be the one who wins."
August was, of course, aware of them. He'd seen firsthand what they were capable of. But he kept them tightly limited to information gathering alone, nothing that would put their lives at risk, especially the trio, who were still considered children, though technically they were already young adults by the standards of this world.
(Pipi, 12. Bingi, 14. Buta, 13.)
Juan was currently seen packing his meager things. He'd be away for a while, though not to abandon his post. He was leaving the village temporarily to seek the truth behind what they were all about to face, an unknown entity that had stayed hidden from the world for so long that most of the world didn't even know such a thing existed.
It had only come to light because of the Arwenian crisis, this Cabal, as his peers from the Imperial Intelligence Division had briefed them during one of the village's security meetings last month.
His plan to leave the village temporarily traced back to an earlier conversation he'd had with August about the situation that had unfolded in Arwen, one that had likely reached its conclusion, at least on the surface.
This leave of absence was tied directly to that discussion they'd had last month. Because of how limited the information he could gather within the village actually was, he could only ever catch small fragments of it, and that wasn't enough to understand the true scale of the unknown now stirring across the continent. Out there, he'd be able to learn far more.
But given his absence as the sole head of the village's intelligence unit, the only one truly capable of gathering the kind of information that could prevent harm from reaching Maya, he'd ordered his own apprentices to stand in for him while he was away.
"Listen up. You three are going to be gathering information in the village while I'm gone. I'll be leaving on an indefinite mission, let me see, it'll be concluded when I say so. So you three had better hold the fort until I'm back, you hear me?"
Buta, Pipi, and Bingi stood in awkward attention inside the unit's unofficial hideout, their base of operations.
"Yes, Boss!"
They said it in unison. Juan nodded back just as awkwardly, doing his best to keep a stoic face so the three of them would actually take him seriously.
They had always treated the gathering of information, at least when he was with them, as something delivered in a roundabout way, a small game they shared among themselves.
He never truly knew if the three of them fully understood the scope of what the four of them were doing. So he let it stay that way, the four of them almost playing pretend at it.
Though Pipi, Bingi, and Buta, in their own defense, took their roles more seriously than Juan ever gave them credit for. It showed in the quality of the information they brought him.
Trivial as most of it seemed, like aunties gossiping about a suspicious newcomer coming and going from a particular food place, asking various questions that could only be flagged as suspicious. Upon further investigation, it turned into something real: that same newcomer had been trying to steal an important family recipe, something they managed to stop before it turned into actual theft, after Juan reported it to the security division.
So in light of things like that, this trio wasn't to be underestimated for their information-gathering skills, especially given the quality of what they brought back. It was more than what met the eye. You'd have to actually have a deeper understanding of what's going on to catch cases like that.
Juan wouldn't be traveling alone this time. Someone from the Martin family would be joining him, along with, surprisingly, someone from the former group of Arwenian assassins, one who'd been serving out their sentence in Tagkarit.
In total, the unit setting out consisted of Juan Tamad, Solveig Martin, Dragnov, and Bacheon. It was the perfect mix considering what their Class is: an Information Broker, a Shadow Operator, Solveig's own preferred shorthand for what was officially a Whisper-Gatherer and Guise-Master, and two highly skilled Assassins.
Their first destination was the Martin family's ancestral stronghold, hidden somewhere in the region of Ogind. Juan had learned that the Martins, once known simply as a clan back in their years in Gremory, before settling in Maya and becoming a family in truth, had been highly sought after among Ogind's nobility, and even the royal family itself. Given that history, it stood to reason they'd have an archive worth looking into, one that would likely hold a great deal of information not easily available anywhere else.
Even a modest store of knowledge would carry written clues of the clan's missions and the events they'd been part of, both within the kingdom and beyond it, especially given they were a clan most notably known for their skill in security work. Then they would also have done their fair share of research on what was happening all around them.
Their second destination was still an open question, depending on what they would find within the Martin clan's ancestral stronghold. Two options stood before them.
The first was Arwen, the very reason this investigation had been opened in the first place, since that was where the cabal had first truly shown itself to the world. The second was north of Ogind, in the Federation of El, since it was geographically closer to their current position.
But the civil war there had only just begun. It was still too early to tell, at least by Juan's own knowledge and understanding of the geopolitics of their neighbors, to count as any real indication that the cabal was involved. It might simply be a coincidental civil war, inspired by Arwen's own collapse rather than caused by the same hand, though both could just as easily be true at once. Juan just didn't want them to waste valuable time and resources that could be put to better use elsewhere.
And August's earlier question still bothered him. Why hadn't Ogind fallen into the same kind of unrest, if the cabal really was drawing some vast ritualistic pattern across the continent, the kind Juan's own theory suggested they might be tracing out, region by region? Ogind sat closer to Arwen than the Federation of El did, and by that same theory, it should have made Ogind the more likely next target, not El. Yet Ogind remained untouched while El's civil war had already begun. It was the one piece of the pattern that refused to fit, and it nagged at him more than he cared to admit.
Either way they went would be good. They'd take their time regardless, and see what state Ogind was truly in once their search through the Martin Archives was finished.
Before they left, August had already made sure they had everything they might need for this rather treacherous journey, going as far as gifting Juan a Magical Item Pouch. It wasn't able to hold as much as the one he carried himself, but it could still hold a great deal of what they might need along the way.
The essentials it held were primarily food, enough to last them at least three months, camping gear, medicine, potions for healing and treating poison, and even the means to concoct more, extra first-aid kits, and money, since they might need it to replenish supplies or buy information, among other things it proved useful for. There was still plenty of room left over besides, for whatever else they needed to carry that wasn't already on their person.
Weapon-wise, the entire team leaned toward stealth, which shaped their choices toward weapons sleek enough to hide easily on their bodies. Their combined prime class was built around operating in the dark, assassination, and espionage, so they carried only what could stay concealed. Juan, for his part, preferred throwing knives, a trusty short sword, a dagger, and a rope fitted with a weighted ball and hook on each end.
He wasn't truly a skilled combatant in the general sense. He was more of someone who'd learned to protect himself because of the work he did, gathering information, which was exactly why his choice of weapons stayed so limited, not because he lacked skill with them, but because his role never called for more. Take the rope, for example: he could use it as a weapon to attack or defend, or as a utility tool for climbing and infiltration. All of it served his purpose well enough, unlike his companions, whose specialties ranged even into assassination itself.
Armor-wise, August had commissioned a custom set tailored to each of their preferences. But generally, their gear shared some similarities important to the mission's overall profile. First was a hood and cloak, a necessary piece for any traveler, and one just as characteristic of Maya Village's security force as a whole. It was made from the highest quality leather and hide, taken from beasts they'd hunted themselves over the years, offering comfort, function, and utility all at once. It kept them warm through cold nights, stayed waterproof on rainy days, and was stitched together using thread spun from an Armored Arachnid's web, making it especially durable along every seam. The material stayed light and functional, built to handle any weather, with some cooling property built in for daytime use as well.
Their undergarments were woven from cotton, silk-cotton sourced from their own domesticated beasts, and the same strong silk web, offering robust, versatile clothing. It wasn't water-resistant, since sweat needed somewhere to go, but the fabric excelled at insulation and regulating body temperature instead.
Their boots were rugged and versatile too, made from the toughest leather and hide available, built for any terrain in any weather.
The armor itself combined Apomayon steel with beast-derived materials, molded together into something both tough and remarkably light. It wasn't worn as a full suit of armor in their case. From the outside, it looked like ordinary clothing layered over their undergarments, but the armor was woven directly into the fabric itself, protecting only the body's most vital areas. They could have worn full conventional armor instead, but for their line of work, light clothing with armor interwoven at key points suited them far better. It stayed quiet when they moved, which mattered more than almost anything else in their class.
There were many attachment points hidden all over their armor and clothing, easily able to conceal whatever they didn't want others to see. Carrying weapons openly wasn't frowned upon, so long as you didn't draw one within a settlement. It was simply understood as an essential part of traveling, since it was your protection out on the road. But hidden tools and weapons stayed hidden from prying eyes regardless. They only wanted the bare minimum to show, whatever weapons they carried openly for the journey, and nothing more.
Each of them also carried a standard backpack kit for anything they'd need close at hand, along with a belt bag stocked with emergency tools, everything that's meant to be immediately accessible outside the main pack. The belt bag was typically worn low on their back, just above the hips, whenever they weren't wearing the backpack kit. Each of these items was built to the same standard as everything else they wore. It could hold its contents securely and hold up in any weather or condition they found themselves in.
Juan had already briefed the others on the full purpose of the journey: to uncover a truth the world had kept hidden from itself. August's own fears about what was coming had played no small part in getting this intelligence mission approved in the first place.
Now they were leaving through Maya Village's gates for the first time in a while. No one stood there to see them off. Solveig had already told her family about the mission, and they understood. None of the others had family left to tell. Juan was an orphan. Dragnov and Bacheon were survivors of the Hell's Pits, trained into killers with nothing but each other and the work itself.
And so they set out into the unknown.
Their route would take them to the Martins' hidden archive first. Beyond that, nothing was fixed. What came next, whether they turned south toward Arwen or continued on to the Federation of El, would depend on what they uncovered in the archive itself, and on how the situation in Ogind looked once they got a firsthand sense of it. It was the kind of decision better made on the road than locked in before they'd even left, and Juan expected the four of them would spend no shortage of their travel time arguing over it. After whichever path they settled on, and whatever they found at the end of it, the same team would eventually set out once more, east across the central continent, toward the civil war that was already brewing there.